Friday, December 2, 2016: St. Stephen's Cathedral, Habsberg Royal Apartments, Christkindlmarkt
We survived the first "night" abroad. I managed to eke out about six hours of sleep, albeit in two 3 hours segments with four hours of awake time in between.
While it was warm again today, in the mid-forties, it is raining fairly heavily. We decide to do "inside" today by taking the U-bahn to old town and touring St. Stephen's Cathedral where we have a great guide on the English language tour and learn tons. (This shot is taken in bright sunshine later in the afternoon.)
Here is a shot of the interior of the cathedral.
Afterwards we venture back outside and the rain has gotten quite a bit lighter. We stop for an actual lunch at another Italian restaurant in old town and I have quattro formaggi pizza.
We tour the "Royal Apartments", a rather odd name for the royal residence of the Habsburg family in Vienna. We tour room after room of silver and china and napkins and candlelabras and finally get to see how the Habsburgs lived in nineteenth century Vienna. There are no pictures from inside but here a couple of shots from the exterior.
When we come out of the "apartments" we are greeted by bright sunshine. We have a few minutes before needing to head back to the hotel and use our time wisely by taking a Starbucks break indulging in the hot chocolate, something that I would never do back home.
Late in the afternoon, we officially become Road Scholar travelers joining the program for introductions and a bus tour around the ring road of Vienna. Our tour group has 20 participants and this is a full size bus so everyone gets a window seat. Here is proof that we have joined the bus touring community.
Our bus tour stops for only a short while at the Christkindlmarkt at which we were yesterday afternoon. This is just one of nineteen Christmas markets in Vienna. It is Friday evening and buses are in town from all over Eastern Europe and the market is somewhat crowded. Here are a few nighttime market shots that I couldn't get last evening because we didn't have dark.
We arrive back at the hotel for dinner and have a glass of wine, conversation and a hand of bridge in the bar with our friends, the Lanes.
We're up for this. We can do it.
While it was warm again today, in the mid-forties, it is raining fairly heavily. We decide to do "inside" today by taking the U-bahn to old town and touring St. Stephen's Cathedral where we have a great guide on the English language tour and learn tons. (This shot is taken in bright sunshine later in the afternoon.)
Here is a shot of the interior of the cathedral.
Afterwards we venture back outside and the rain has gotten quite a bit lighter. We stop for an actual lunch at another Italian restaurant in old town and I have quattro formaggi pizza.
When we come out of the "apartments" we are greeted by bright sunshine. We have a few minutes before needing to head back to the hotel and use our time wisely by taking a Starbucks break indulging in the hot chocolate, something that I would never do back home.
Late in the afternoon, we officially become Road Scholar travelers joining the program for introductions and a bus tour around the ring road of Vienna. Our tour group has 20 participants and this is a full size bus so everyone gets a window seat. Here is proof that we have joined the bus touring community.
Our bus tour stops for only a short while at the Christkindlmarkt at which we were yesterday afternoon. This is just one of nineteen Christmas markets in Vienna. It is Friday evening and buses are in town from all over Eastern Europe and the market is somewhat crowded. Here are a few nighttime market shots that I couldn't get last evening because we didn't have dark.
We arrive back at the hotel for dinner and have a glass of wine, conversation and a hand of bridge in the bar with our friends, the Lanes.
We're up for this. We can do it.
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