Today is a full day in Vienna. The morning began with a lecture talking about "Musical Vienna". Following the lecture part of the group made their way to the Schönbrunn Palace. The other part of the group went to the Art Historical Museum. The 1,441-room Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural and historical monuments in the country. The tour would take the group to a mere 3% of the actual palace. The Kunsthistorisches Museum or The Art Historical Museum. The KHM contains what used to be the result of many Habsburg generations' obsession with art. Like rarely any other dynasty of Europe, the Habsburgs collected artwork like crazy and spread this passion among the high-ranking nobility of their empire. Many of the works in the museum were by painters whose subjects were part of the Biblical narrative (Madonna & child, Adam & Eve, the Road to Emmaus, the Tower of Babel, etc). There were works by Raphael, Caravaggio, Batoni, Rubens, Durer, Rembrandt, etc. It would take several days to go through the entire museum. 
Following a tour of the palace or the art museum, a shuttle took some folks back to the ship. Lisa and I elected to stay in town and have lunch, see St Stephen's Cathedral and other sightseeing. We ate at the Gutenberg Cafe. For lunch Lisa had Austrian goulash (without the fried egg) and I had sausages with goulash juice.
After lunch, we were off to see St. Stephen's Cathedral. Dating from the 12th century, St. Stephen's Cathedral is the grandest such edifice in Austria. The basilica is filled with such treasures as the carved wooden Wiener Neustadt altarpiece and the tomb of Emperor Frederick III. We decided not to climb the south tower with its 343 spiral steps for the most panoramic view in all of Vienna.
Following our visit to St. Stephen's we made our way through the streets of Vienna. Discovered St. Peter's Church. The Baroque church was begun around 1701. The design was inspired by the St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican in Rome. By 1722, most of the building was finished, and in 1733, the Peterskirche was finally consecrated to the Holy Trinity. The new church was the first domed structure in baroque Vienna.
Time for coffee! Off to Café Landtmann - a traditional Viennese café located on the Ringstraße! This was Sigmund Freud's hangout! It is amazing while you are enjoying a cup of coffee - how often you hear a Freudian slip!
Our walk took us by an apartment building where Beethoven wrote several compositions. We walked by the Parliament buildings. We then walked into Burggarten where we located a statue honoring Mozart. We also located the statue honoring Strauss.
Our walk brought us to the Kursalon, a music hall where we met the others for an hour of music featuring Strauss, Mozart and others. They welcomed us with champagne and orange juice. It was a delightful program filled with music and dancing!!
Following the program, it was back to the ship for dinner of halibut or tortellini. Then, off to bed after a wonderful day in Vienna.
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