Wednesday, September 9, 2026. Free day in Vienna.

We had the day to explore Vienna, so developed a strategy to visit a few sights. After breakfast our first challenge was navigating the tram ticket station, but fortunately we connected with the Midwesterners, who’d done recon the night before and figured out the system. We all walked to the station, bought our tickets and hopped on the D Tram going into the city, about a 30 minute ride since our boat is docked on the outskirts of the city.

Our first impressions were that Vienna is a big city with really big old buildings. Everything seemed on a grand scale, including fountains and statues. A very different feel from the other cities we’ve experienced on this trip. We were also struck by how many people were everywhere… this is a city overloaded with tourists. 

Our first stop was a visit to the Wien (Vienna) Museum, which Teri had located. It turned out to be a great museum, with three floors of Austrian history, starting with the 16th Century on the bottom floor and ending with the 20th Century on the third floor. There was lots of good information and artifacts, most original. Austrian history is dense and complex, but the museum gave us a better feel for the major flow of history here.

After 2 hours or so we all hit museum overload, so our next goal was to visit the Naschmarkt, an old and huge open-air food and gourmet market that’s also home to numerous bars and restaurants. We spotted our friends Dana and Nancy at a restaurant table and they recommended their lunches, so we stopped there for lunch and drinks. Really good chicken-topped salads, apparently a specialty in the area. 

Following lunch we wandered through the market, then decided to walk to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, about 15 minutes away. The walk took us down Karntner Strabe, a large pedestrian street that’s packed with shops and people. So many people! The cathedral is massive and was also packed with visitors.

By this time we were all hot (upper 80’s today) and tired of the crowds, so made our way back to the tram and back toward the boat. Teri and Ralph had tickets for a concert in the city tonight, so they headed to the boat and John and I stopped in at Zum Renner for a glass of wine and a beer before heading back. Zum Renner is a “heurige”, a wine tavern that’s considered something special to this region.

Back to the ship for coffee, tea, showers and a quiet dinner since our tablemates all ate at the earlier seating so they could attend concerts.