Sailing on a river boat is so different than ocean cruising for many reasons but the most noticeable is you don’t feel the ship moving. You are moving and you can see your moving, but you don’t feel the movement. This made our day of sailing even more enjoyable. The day went quickly with a Mozart talk, a visit to the Wheelhouse and an Apple Strudel cooking demonstration by the Chef along with a great lunch and early dinner. 
Just before the Port Talk, we were treated to some bathers on the river bank mooning us which you don’t see on an ocean cruise.
The early dinner was because we docked in Vienna at 7:00 pm and were off to the Opera House for a Mozart & Strauss Concert. 
Even though the temperature had been in the mid 90’s all day, the air conditioning in the concert hall was turned off at the request of the performers. (Something to do with the air effecting their voices.) The performance was wonderful but the room was terribly hot. Most of us left some of our DNA in the form of perspiration in that concert hall. When we got back to the ship, the Chef had made a late night snack of traditional Hungarian Goulash Soup. Nice touch!
The next day was an early start with an Up Close Walking Tour of Vienna, 
the largest city in Austria with over 25% of its entire population living here. It’s obvious the city is very interested in the arts with advertisements of famous opera singers appearing at the Opera House, and art museums having special showings and beautiful architecture. The city is filled with large palaces and elaborately styled buildings influenced by the Turkish rule for over 500 years. It is also filled with small city streets paved in old cobblestone rounded by the horse’s hooves.
Our walking tour ended at St. Stephen’s Cathedral with ornate carvings and stained glass windows.
During the WWII, Churchill would say that Austria was the first casualty of the war but Austrians now admit that they were willing participants and joined with Hitler because of his promises to restore Austria to her once glory. Austria was once a great empire lead by the Habsburg family and in 1717 it’s reigning monarch was Maria Theresia, the only female monarch of her time who managed to lead the nation and have 16 children and 52 grandchildren. Her youngest daughter was the infamous Marie Antoinette.
Habsburg Palace in Vienna
But it did not take long for the Austrian people to figure out they were lied to and that Hitler’s methods were offensive. There is a monument erected in the 1980’s in a very prominent place in the center of the city depicting the degradation the Jewish people were subjected to and culminating in current constitution of Austria, carved on a slab taken from the concentration camp in Austria, guaranteeing equality to all. Austria, like most other free governments in the region emphasize that the atrocities of the Nazi Regime should never happen again.
Vienna is where Mozart wrote the majority of his many works, along with Strauss, Beethoven, Schubert and Haydn. Vienna was once the center of the Holy Roman Empire and has a 300+ year tradition of coffee and coffeehouses dating back to 1683. Today, drinking coffee is a popular social pastime in Austria and many of cafés feature cakes, pastries and music of some kind.
This beautiful clock was actually created by an insurance company and proves nothing is plain in Vienna.
That afternoon, even with the temperature nearing 100 degrees, we took another extra excursion to the Naschmarkt which is Vienna’s historic farmers market lead by the ship’s Chef, Adrian. Again it was pre-arranged to taste the treats in the market and we had meats, pastries, and cheeses of the region.
Along the way, the Chef pointed out one particular vegetable that looked like a dirty stick to us and we could not name. He explained that it was a root vegetable that is pealed and tastes similar to a very mild radish called Black Salisfy. Not too long after leaving Vienna, there was the vegetable on the lunch buffet.
Melted and tired, we returned to the ship for a cool shower and delicious dinner. 
After dinner we had a guest lecturer taking us through the Austrian history which was not only interesting but entertaining and fun. He defined Austrians as “an unsuccessful attempt to make Italians into a Germans”.
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