Our first full day of the cruise offered several options for seeing some of the most interesting parts of Vienna; walking tours, bus tours and a combination bus-walking tour. The Rambler chose the gentle walker version of “Morning with the Masters,” an exclusive tour of the Vienna Art History Museum; exclusive because we arrived early in the morning before it was open to the public. There were at least 3 other options of tour, for the more active passengers. The senior Rambler opted to exercise yet another option, staying on board the Princess. LOL
In the afternoon, Uniworld provided a shuttle into the city. Since we had already seen quite a bit of Vienna on the Big Red Bus, the Rambler didn’t take advantage of this opportunity. The shuttle stop was at Schwedenplatz, which is on the other side of the Danube ,but more importantly a stop on the Vienna Metro/subway.
That evening there was an opportunity to attend a concert of Mozart and Strauss music held exclusively for River Princess guests at the Klosterneuburg Abbey. The Rambler had attended two of these concerts on past cruises which were excellent, at two different Vienna concert halls. However, as this was a Masterpiece Collection event, it cost 79 Euros PP and would be held at the abbey instead of one of the many concert halls in Vienna. After checking with Heidicha, our cruise manager, I found that there were stairs with no railings in the historic monastery and decided to pass on it. This was a mistake. Everyone who went said it was wonderful, and even Jen and her 84 year old mother who was wheelchair bound were accommodated.
To repent for my omission, I have included some information on this amazing place that I wish I had seen. It was founded by St. Leopold in the 12th century and is one of the oldest and wealthiest abbeys in Austria. Although not in Vienna, it is in a close and wealthy suburb, north of Vienna, along the Danube. We would pass Klosterneuburg when we sailed the next night but we must have sailed past during the Captain’s welcome and port talk.
It is a huge place that has been added to over the centuries but its final form took shape in the 18th century. There are many things to see and even a wine tasting of the Abbey’s wine is possible.
Needless to say there was plenty of space for a concert of Mozart and Strauss on the grounds. At night the Abbey is illuminated, which was another treat for the the River Princess cruisers when they left the the Abbey. If you have a chance to visit Klosterneuberg for a concert, take advantage of it.
Although the Abbey looks majestic today, it suffered much after Hitler’s forces took over Austria in the Anschluss (1938). The Augustinians were persecuted by Hitler, and most were forced to leave Klosterneuburg. Many were drafted into the army, others were killed in the resistance while ministering to Austrian Catholics. Even after the Russians drove out the Nazi’s, some Augustinians were killed by Russian troops when they tried to prevent the rape of Austrian women by the soldiers. Nevertheless, the Abbey has made a comeback since that awful period and is still under the leadership of an Augustinian Provost.
Now back to the places the Rambler did visit that day. Our bus left the quay at 8:30 AM, as we would visit the Kunst Historiches Museum (Vienna Art Museum) before it opened to the public. We arrived at the Museum square just in time for the daily lawn watering; sprinklers everywhere. No wonder the surrounding lawns are so green.
The palatial museum opened in 1891, at the same time as the Museum of Natural History across the Maria Theresa Platz. Both were sponsored by Franz Joseph. While the Natural History Museum is devoted to the natural sciences, the Art Museum was built initially to house the art collection of the Hapsburg’s, which was extensive to say the least. However, the museum building itself is a work of art. Marble and gilding are everywhere and it is certainly worthy of the collection it houses.
As for the collection itself, as you might expect, it is strong in works from the 500 years the Hapsburg ruled a substantial part of Europe.
The foundations of the collection were laid then and its main focus is still in the 17th century: 16th-century Venetian painting (Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto), 17th-century Flemish painting (Peter Paul Rubens, Sir Anthony Van Dyck), Early Netherlands painting (Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden) and German Renaissance painting (Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach).
The museum also houses the largest collection in the world, of pictures by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, my favorite, as well as masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Raphael, Caravaggio, Velazquez and the Italian Baroque painters.
But it also includes objects from the Hapsburg Kunstkammer(treasury) opened in 2013, which includes the famous gold salt cellar created by Benvenute Cellini and other valuable objects, a coin collection and even some modern artworks. Obviously there was much to see and the gentle walkers only had an hour before the museum opened to the public at 10 AM.
We had an excellent guide who managed to lead us through the most famous galleries and we even got to the Kunstkammer gallery to view Cellini’s salt cellar which was stolen in 2003, and recovered in 2006. It had been buried in a box in the Austrian woods.
The museum was a place where the Rambler could have stayed for hours, but soon our time was up and we headed to our bus. Unfortunately neither the cafe, a perfect place to have a coffee, nor the gift shop, with many enticing objects on view was open yet. FYI for those forced to be armchair travelers in 2020, you can order from the Kunsthistoriches Museum shop online. Recently, the Rambler ordered two COVID masks from the gift shop. The shipping didn’t seem too outrageous altho they haven’t arrived yet…and your purchase supports this wonderful museum.
Our next stop was as close as our bus could get to the historic center of Vienna surrounding St. Stephens cathedral. There was much construction going on and we were lucky to have a guide who knew her way around the historic district. As we approached the amazing cathedral, we noticed a very unpleasant urine odor. Our guide explained that the fiaker(horse drawn carriage) drivers congregate around St. Stephens because it is a tourist magnet and unfortunately they have not found a way to stop the horses from urinating while the fiaker drivers wait for customers. It was quite nasty, made worse by the summer heat, but luckily, the cathedral is relatively air tight and the smell did not follow us inside.
St. Stephens is an ancient church, founded in 1137 AD, and added onto through the centuries. If you are looking for stark simplicity, you will not find it here. But somehow, the interior blends into a glorious whole. Although Catholicism has fewer believers in Vienna these days, the Rambler saw many people kneeing in prayer, including a young monk. These ancient churches have the most uncomfortable kneelers, but they were built for the ages. Just don’t let one fall, it makes quite a noise.
There are two things the gentle walkers didn’t visit at St. Stephens. The first was the crypt under the building which houses the bones of long dead Viennese. It has several rooms; the first houses the tombs of religious, the second, intestines of the Hapsburg family in separate urns, and the innermost, heaps of skeletons and bones which have been there for centuries. However, there are no more burials in the crypt since Emperor Joseph outlawed all burials in the city in 1783. The Rambler would have found the crypt interesting in a creepy way, but I suspect most of our group would not have enjoyed it.
The gentle walkers were also happy to skip climbing up the South Tower of the cathedral – only 343 narrow steps – and over 240 feet up, to the watchman’s room. The Rambler heard that it provides one of the best views in the city, but this is something she would never have enjoyed, even on her best day, because of her fear of heights.
On our way back to the bus which would take us back to the ship, we passed another macabre place where the Rambler would have stopped if she hadn’t needed to keep up with her group., This was the Kaisergruft (Imperial Crypt) in the Capuchin Church, just around the corner from the Stephansdom.
The 17th century church has a simple exterior but the large crypt underneath holds the remains of a dozen Hapsburg emperors and even more empresses and queens plus children and family members; 146 in all.
The last Hapsburg burial was in 2011, Here you will find the tomb of Franz Josef and Empress Sisi (Elizabeth of Bavaria) and their ill-fated son, Prince Rudolph. It is a fascinatingly macabre place, and the tombs themselves are masterpieces of sculpture. Even more strange, the hearts of some, but not all, are held in small urns in a special heart crypt, (Herzgruft) along with the large mausoleums and tombs.
Back in the sunshine after our virtual stay in the Kaisergruft, we headed back to the River Princess for the daily port talk and a special early dinner buffet. Unusual, since the evening meal is a sit down dinner, the buffet was scheduled so that the large group going to the Abbey that evening, would not go off hungry. It was a nice touch. The rest of us, enjoyed a relaxing evening on board after a busy day in Vienna.