Today was a rest day from cycling. We were still in transit to Vienna when we headed for breakfast and saw mostly rural landscape with lots of little fishing shacks built on stilts along the river as we passed.
After breakfast we had to wait until 10.30 for the English briefing so spent time on the upper deck watching as we approached, entered and lifted in one of the biggest locks on the Danube - fascinating. Incredible how the captains navigate into such a confined space. Also found that not only the top sunroof lowers to let the ship pass under the low bridges but also the whole wheelhouse descends and disappears into the ship - will have phots of the process and some will be on facebook.
After an early lunch we did a bus\walking tour of Vienna. Sounds snobbish, but now that we've seen all of what are considered the "great" cities of Europe we can make a judgement on which is the most beautiful overall and Vienna has to take the prize we think. The "ring-road" with its beautiful trees and just magnificent public buildings and parks with statues to Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven etc sets Vienna apart I think. We were able to find our way around it really easily in the free time given on the tour. Passed the stables for the Spanish horses and this time they were "at home" unlike last time so we got to see them.
Back on board at 5.00 for a early dinner as some are off to a concert which we decided to miss wich was just as well as Elizabeth has a bad headcold (a fair bit on board) so quiet, early night for us. Sadly said good-bye to John and Barbara who were our designated "table mates" on 22A as they stopped in Vienna to have a few days here before flying home to U.S. They were great company which worked out well as that was not the case for every table.
Tomorrow's (final!) ride is through the apparently spectacular Wachau Valley which is the big wine-growing area of Austria - sounds like a heap of fun!
Trivia: Johann Stauss was a huge hit with the ladies of Vienna and was in the habit of giving away locks of his famous black curly hair - only problem was he used to actually take it from his pet black poodle!
Cap report: beside me as I type!
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