Vienna, Austria August 23-24 Part 1

 

We boarded our boat in Budapest at 3 pm on the 22nd and set sail, so to speak, at 5.  We traveled most of the 23rd and arrived in Vienna at 4 pm.  On our way to Vienna we retraced our steps by going past Bratislava, Slovakia and Devin Castle.  It was interesting to see the other side of the castle.

                              

And of course there are other castles 

We had no idea but the Danube has MANY locks.  One day we went through 8 locks.  Each lock is a power generator and some required us to lower the sun deck roofs. 

  some of the locks are so small that there is only about 6 inches on each side between the wall and the boat.  The boat has rubber wheels and bumpers on each side, so it can get as close to the wall as possible.

        Later on the cruise the locks and bridges get so low that the side rails had to be removed as well.  The wheel house where the captain sits is lowerable.

We arrived in Vienna in the evening, so after dinner we went for a walk to an amusement park.  It is huge.  The big wheel is very old and still runs.  It was made from steel sent from England and the cages are actually old train cars.

                                                       

              

                                                                                  

Doesn’t this look like Cinderella should get married here?   This is the most amazing looking church, right across the river from where we docked.  The inside is not nearly as nice, so just dream about what you think the inside should look and we’ll let you keep that vision, and not ruin it for you.

When our boat docked here in Vienna, we did not tie up to the dock, we tied up to another boat.  Right, we had to walk through their boat to get to the dock.  Strange we thought.  That was until the third boat docked onto our boat and their passengers had to pass through 2 boats to get to shore.  Guess that is what you have to do when space is limited.

When we came back to the boat after a walk, we found that the boat that was tied to the dock had pulled away and our boat was sitting off shore.

                                                          

We wondered how we were going to get back on board.  We watched in amazement as the two boats, still tied together, moved sideways right into the dock and tied up there.  So we became the first boat.  Later another boat tied up to the 2 of us.  Interesting.