June 4, 2026 - Vienna, Austria

Our ship arrived in Vienna about 6am so we had an 8:30 bus into the old town of Vienna. Else, our tour guide, did a good job of informing us about the buildings we passed and history of the area. One of the first statues we saw was of Maria Theresa. Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position. Marie Antionette was one of her 16 children.

Believe it or not, but that is not a church in the picture below - it is the Vienna City Hall!

We continued on around the ring road and ended up near the Volksgarten. We started our walking tour there.
Babies in the garden.

Hero's Square with the Hofburg Palace in the background

Sculptures on the buildings depict Hercules and showing strength. There were several different ones.

Gate entrance to the Imperial Treasury Museum is located in the courtyard of the Imperial Palace. It is the oldest of the buildings dating back to the 12th century.

Guarding the treasury! There were two of these statues and it reminded me of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz.

Across from the Spanish Riding school is the Sisi Museum.


We were able to see part of the Corpus Christi procession as we made our way to St. Stephen's Church.

The Corpus Christi procession in Vienna is a historic, public demonstration of Catholic faith, often called "God's Court Ball" due to its imperial origins. Since the late 16th century, it has functioned as both a theological celebration of the Eucharist and a political display of the Habsburg Empire’s power. The procession traditionally involves high clergy, government officials, and military, moving through the city center. It was established by Pope Urban IV in 1264, with theology developed by Saint Thomas Aquinas. From the late 16th century, the Habsburg court used this procession as a clear demonstration of Catholic supremacy in the city. Today Corpus Christi is a public holiday in Austria, occurring on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Most of the store and businesses are closed on this day.



In smaller communities, the villages line the streets with fresh grass and birch branches and flowers to symbolize new life, renewal, and "the Body of Christ."

In 1679, Vienna suffered one of the last great plague epidemics. Fleeing the city, the Hapsburg emperor Leopold I vowed to erect a mercy column if the epidemic would end. The Plague Column is located on the Graben, was built between 1679 and 1693 (officially inaugurated in 1693/1694) to commemorate the end of the devastating 1679 plague outbreak. This Baroque masterpiece symbolizes the city’s survival and serves as a, "thank you" for the end of the epidemic.

Our city tour ended just outside St. Stephen's Cathedral. We had to wait to go in until later after the procession had made its way back and mass was ended.

Tobey, Wendy, and I had plans to explore more of the city. We headed over to the Town Hall where our guide thought there was an exhibition of e-vehicles. Turns out it was a sports exhibition and decathlon! We walked through and watched and decided to go to the Treasury Museum instead.

We passed by the Town Hall - a much closer view.

Close up of the statues on Town Hall

Stay hydrated! Today was very warm - almost 80F - and sunny. We got a chuckle out of the large drinking fountain near the Volksgarten.

Statue of Joseph Lanner, a famous Austrian composer and conductor of Viennese dance music who, along with Johann Strauss I, pioneered the development of the Viennese waltz.

We stopped by the Parliament building to see all the sculptures.

Wendy in front of the Parliament building.

The Treasury Museum was amazing! Unfortunately, several of the rooms are quite dark to protect the garments and flash photography wasn't allowed, so some of the pictures did not come out too great.


This cross is supposed to hold a piece of the original cross from Jesus' crucifixion.

This was made from amber.

2680 carat emerald

There were so many things to see there! Definitely worth the visit.

We headed back toward St. Stephen's Cathedral and stopped for lunch at the Cafe am Dom just across the walkway. You can see the beautiful brick roof which is made up of 230,000 bricks in ten different colors! It was amazing.

Inside the church


The Tomb of Friedrich III is a massive red marble sarcophagus created by Nikolaus Gerhaert van Leyden (1463) and is located inside the cathedral, holding the emperor's body.

We decided our feet had seen enough of Vienna today so we headed back to the shuttle bus stop and went back to the ship. We had time to relax before our daily preview of tomorrow's events and dinner.

Some of the people booked optional tours to a music recital but we opted to stay on board and relax. Tomorrow we are sailing in the morning enroute to Bratislava, Slovakia. 

June 3, 2026 - Melk to Dürnstein, Austria

We left the ship at 8:30 this morning for our tour of Melk Abbey in a pouring rain. It was about a ten minute bus ride from our ship.

Melk Abbey was originally a palace crowned with towers and covered in a golden hue, on a hill at the entrance of the valley. In the 11th century Leopold III handed his castle to the Benedictine monks. They converted it into a fortified abbey and from then on the spiritual and intellectual renown of Melk spread throughout Austria. It is a massive, unified Baroque complex primarily functioning as one large building structure, though it houses 497 rooms and features 1,365 windows. It includes a church, library, and multiple wings organized around several courtyards, sitting on a 60-meter-high rock. The site also runs a high school for 900 students and includes two off-site farms. Our tour guide graduated from the high school this year and will be attending University in the fall. She did an excellent job.
View as we entered the Abbey courtyard.

Walkway into the abbey

Stairway entrance

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures once we entered the stairway inside the courtyard, so I found one of the library online. This is also an aerial view of the abbey.

Its magnificent Baroque style architecture is known worldwide and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 1089, the Benedictine monks have been living and working in Melk Abbey in uninterrupted tradition. There are currently 22 monks associated with the abbey.

Melk Abbey is famous for its richly decorated Baroque interiors, including the abbey church with frescoes and gilded details, the Imperial Rooms, and the historic library with thousands of medieval manuscripts and books. From the abbey terrace we could see panoramic views over the Danube and the Wachau landscape from under our umbrellas!

View from one of the outdoor walkways on our way to the library.

This is a picture from the internet of one of the libraries!

I was amazed when we went into the church. It is so beautiful. Our guide told us that they only used 11 pounds of melted gold to make the gold leaf for the entire church! Melk Abbey is also known for its apricot brandy. We did not buy any, but we are not brandy drinkers!

Soon it was time to head back to the ship. We had the option to WALK down the hill or ride the bus. We opted to ride the bus!

Back on the ship it was almost time for lunch which was a Bavarian lunch buffet. So far the food has been fantastic, but we were disappointed in the lunch. I'm not sure how to describe it, but not what we expected.

About 1pm we were were on our way to Dürnstein and the rain mostly stopped so we to the front of the ship to watch the scenery as our tour director gave commentary on the sights.

There were several parking areas for camper vans and tents along the river.

The hills are covered with vineyards.

This was our view as we came into Dürnstein. We hiked up through the town then on a trail to the castle ruins at the top of the hill where English King Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned.

This was the town with a view of the blue church with the castle at the top of the hill.

Dürnstein is a small town of just over 900 people best known for its grape growing, and historic character. Dürnstein was first officially recorded as a town in 1347, when it was granted legal status. The area has a longer history, with its castle constructed between 1140-1145 by the Kuenring family, and mentions of the region dating back to 1019. The famous Dürnstein Abbey was founded later, in 1410. In 1192 King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, after a dispute during the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart had offended Leopold the Virtuous by casting down his standard from the walls at the Battle of Acre, and the duke suspected that King Richard ordered the murder of his cousin Conrad of Monferrat in Jerusalem. After his release in February 1194, Richard the Lionheart returned briefly to England to secure his throne, then spent his final years in Normandy fighting to regain lands seized by Philip II of France, dying in 1199 from a crossbow wound while besieging a castle.

The rain cleared off and we went into the town to start our hike to the castle ruins. Up and up and up we went! It's about a 1000 foot elevation gain in less than a mile, but we had beautiful views from the top.


We arrived back into the village and decided to check out some of the shops when the rain started again - fortunately not too hard.

We noticed lots of piles of grass and branches along the buildings and tried to figure out what they were for. Tomorrow is the Corpus Christi religious holiday so I will check out the significance and let you know.

One of the May Poles.

We made our way back to the ship and thought we would go check out the Blue Church but learned it closed at 5:00pm and it was 4:55. Needless to say, we didn't make it!

We're sail at 11:45pm tonight and tomorrow we have a day in Salzburg so we are heading to bed.