Last day/night in Vienna

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Since none of us booked optional tours we got a quiet and slow start today. We had breakfast at 7:30am instead of 6:30am. Our departure was at 9:45am. Stephane had a late breakfast too and we all rode the bus to Schonnbrun Palace to pick up the local guide and the rest of the group. At about 10am then we started our Vienna walking/bus overview tour. We unloaded by the Albertina and walked  behind the Opera House, down the pedestrian area that becomes Stephansplatz to see the outside of Stephansdom. Then we walked along the cross pedestrian area to the Plaque Column and up to the Hofburg. We crossed the Roman ruins and walked across the Hofburg complex to meet the bus again on the Ringstrasse. We spent about 20 minutes driving around the Ring and ended again at the Albertina for free time near noon. The bus would be back there at 3:15pm for a complimentary return to the hotel. We planned to make our own way back. We had plans for a free organ concert at Peterskirche.

We started our free time by going upstairs to the Albertina entrance area to get a bird's eye view and orientation. We walked to a souvenir store off the pedestrian area and hopefully cheaper. We walked down to the Stephansplatz U and used the 60 cent toilets and came back up right in front of Stephansdom and entered. There was a charge to enter the center chapel, so we just went down the side and looked at the triptych. Peter, our local guide today, had pointed out that you could pay to take an elevator up the North tower. We'd never down that and there was no line, so Clay got tickets at 6 Euros each and up we went. It was cool to look down on the ornate tiled roof and to see almost the whole city. It was really windy today and especially up there! We came back down and had our Kaffee culture experience almost next
door at Aida. The ladies had cold or iced coffees and Clay had a Coke Zero. We all had grilled ham & cheese sandwiches and Clay had a giant apple strudel to share. We got to Peterskirche about 2:30pm and it looked busy so we went on in. If we'd have arrived 15 minutes later we wouldn't have been able to find a seat! Instead of the usual just organ concert today we lucked into a rehearsal of the St. Cecilla Church Choir and St. Laurence Church Choir of Houston TX rehearsing. At 3pm, there was one organ song none of us recognized followed by 3-4 songs by the choir followed by the organ playing Hallelujah Chorus. We wished the choir had sung that! Talk about a missed opportunity. We spent an hour in there. We thought about eating dinner in the Ring, but after a failed attempt to find Mom a cross stitch or needlepoint kit, we called it quits. We walked twice as far as expected to get to a U station and took 2 trains back to the Renaissance for a break before dinner. Cost was 2.40 Euros per person. Mom and I walked back down the street before the hotel to check the needlework store there again. Still closed. We walked 2 blocks further to a Spar grocery and bought candy for a fraction of inside the Ring prices. We decided to try a different local restaurant tonight and ate at Strasser Brau. There were some different choices here and same dishes cooked differently. We all enjoyed what we had.

Even though we got rained on a few times today, I think we all had a good day in Vienna. We are foot sore but happy. We have a long 12-hour day on the bus on the way to Villach tomorrow night. Good news is that Clay & I should have the front passenger side of the bus and Mom & Carol should have to drivers side front row in the seat rotation. A good day for it!

Early start tomorrow so good night.

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