The last two days of our cruise were actually on land in Vienna. We were supposed to take a side trip to Salzburg but because of US Covid testing requirements, we were unable to do that since it was quite difficult to get a test on a Sunday. Almost all shops, including pharmacies, are closed on Sundays in Vienna so it was a mad dash to find a place to get tested for our return trip. Despite that, we had an amazing time in Vienna. Our hotel was not far from the central historic district where there was a lot to be seen.
On the first day, we had a lovely tour guide who took us on a subway and a tram from the dock to the central district. We enjoyed a lovely authentic Viennese breakfast with her in Cafe Mozart. It was delightful to sit with her and learn more about life in Vienna. After, we went to a museum where we got to see so many amazing art objects. Here are some of the sights from the museum!
After the museum, we walked through the central district to reach our hotel which was near StadtPark. We had a little time to rest before heading out to Schonbrunn Palace. We did a tour of some of the balance rooms and the lovely gardens.
That night we went to the Plachutta restaurant which specializes in a very traditional Viennese dish: tafezlspitz. It’s very similar to a French Pot-au-feu in that it’s boiled beef in a consomme with vegetables and a soup bone with tasty bone marrow. It’s served with bread, applesauce with horseradish, and a chive sauce. Very tasty! As you can tell from the photo, hubby got the wiener schnitzel!
Back to the hotel for a rest and hitting the central district the next day. Since we weren’t able to go to Salzburg, we purchased tickets to see the Royal Lippazaner show. It was very interesting and the horses are absolutely beautiful. Interesting fact: their coats don’t start off white. They are actually anywhere from black to grey and slowly turn white as the horses age! We attended the show and walked around for our last day in Vienna before going home.
That night we had a lovely dinner at Figlmüller and I had some pork schnitzel. Delicious. To cap off our trip, I tried traditional Viennese pancakes called Kaiserschmarrn. These pancakes are denser than American pancakes and served with a fruit compote normally. Very tasty!
