In Vienna

Apologies to all our faithful viewers

It's five in the morning in Europe and those pictures of the strudel still won't work. We do have our super tech in Australia now working on the problem so it should be fixed soon.

...and yes! We have a response from our super technician! (its highly technical, see below)

you are making me insert food pics!!!
*collapses to floor sobbing piteously*
*wails* Oh what cruel heartless parents I have!!  O_O

(hope dad at least appreciates the way I have replied - he likes the wailway.)
So .. check out the Passau to Linz section for these (and club the Pink Ponther if you see him anywhere there. The picture to the right is especially for him!!)

5.30am. Meanwhile, we dock in Vienna around breakfast time.

6.30am. In case any of you are worried for our safety, the boat has parked right outside a police station. We are so far out of town that there is no chance of walking the distance so buses have been put on to shuttle us all back and forth. The day is becoming exciting already.

One of the main squares (left) with Jillienne and one or two other folk exploring the Christmas market there. One thing we did really notice here was that there were tourists everywhere - thousands and thousands of them. Tour groups in all languages and all directions. Even on a winters day it was very hard to spot the local.
We spent about 40 mins at this - the largest of the Christmas markets in Vienna (there are many)... and there was SUCH a crush there that most of that time was taken up trying to get out!!! It would've suited us better to find the Artists Market, but it was quite a distance away and by that stage we'd had enough. Later, when we spoke with Elaine and Mal about this, they said exactly the same thing - great minds... and all that.


Later in the Afternoon.

It's cold today. Maximum temp. 2C. Very windy - apparently this happens alot in Vienna. So it feels colder. a few tiny 'snow' balls fell for a minute. This got the group very excited - but it came to nothing.

We've seen St Stephen's Cathedral... half wrapped in scaffolding, sadly, but still took a few photos. What a spectacular roof! We've  been around the Ringstrasse... seen the Opera House... viewed the old Winter Palace, which is now some government department or other... looked at the gardens - but all the roses are wrapped up for the winter... and had coffee and cake in a Viennese Coffee House (right). You can play "Where's Jillienne" with this picture - she is there. (The cafe frontage is shown in the picture below.)

As far as that went - we were obviously a "job lot", the cake was already at the tables, and although there were all sorts (we shared with Erica and Christine and tasted each others), none were anything to write home about. But then - we're not really cake people.

We strolled around the main shopping area (Graben and Kohlmarkt, we were told these were the most beautiful pedestrian streets in Vienna) - nothing there you couldn't get anywhere else. I was disappointed actually. Everything is very conservative and mostly on the boring side. So there won't be any explosions of our credit cards!!!
 Annie - you'll be disappointed for me seeing as you and Bill had such  terrific shopping experiences in Vienna. I DID have the best of intentions... !!

There were a number of horse carriages for hire. We thought they looked fine but in the bitting wind decided against trying one out. The pooper scoops behind each horse were an interesting feature. Kept the streets cleaner though.

We have returned to the ship and decided to have a lazy afternoon. Looked at a local jewellery display on board, and generally relaxed. This was the BEST decision. The weather had turned to heavy driving rain, and our warm, comfy "home" is by far the place to be!!