Vienna
Day 6, 7, and beyond
“Lord, if there is a heartache Vienna cannot cure I hope never to feel it. I came home cured of everything except Vienna.”
~ Storm Jameson
Once we arrived in Vienna at the end of Day 6, we received Part I of our Vienna tour, which was divided not by geography, but by history. Our guide, Gerhard, showed us the city's highlights and landmarks from before the 20th century. We had the rest of the night to ourselves. I don't know what other folks did, but we got to check a major item off my bucket list!
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Day 7 began with Part II of our city tour. Today, Gerhard took us through the impact of the Nazi era and World War II. Gerhard is the proprietor of the Third Man Museum, which is partially a collection of memorabilia from the classic Orson Welles film, but even more prominently a time capsule of Vienna in the war years. It's fascinating, and like almost anyplace else we went on this trip, I could have spent an extra day just exploring that.
But as it turns out, Gerhard is also quite a good art historian, and he took us to the Kunsthistoriches Museum, which houses the vast collection of works accumulated by the Hapsburg dynasty over their centuries in power.
Day 8 was the final day of the official tour, but was just breakfast in the hotel. Smiling goodbyes and hugs were shared, and while we may not remember everyone's name or face, we'll always all remember what we shared together.
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While many people traveled to the airport or to other sites in Europe, we stayed for a few extra days to explore more of the excitement Vienna had to offer.