Sacher Torte, Apfelstrudel, Lippizaner Stallions, and Composers

April 18, 2011- Vienna is a city is so steeped in history that the entire city could be a museum.  Very little of Vienna was bombed during World War II, but those buildings that were bombed were torn down and replaced with newer buildings that just seem out of place.  Our guide explained that after the war, there was no money to spend repairing them to their original design.  So newer, less expensive buildings were built in their place.

This is the city of music.  Even if the Danube isn't quite as blue here as Johannes Strauss' waltz would have us to believe, music is in the air in this city, and concerts are held almost nightly.  Vienna was once home to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, and there are monuments and statues of each of them.

We visited St. Stephen's Cathedral (and yes, there is one in Linz and Passau, as well).  It is so beautiful to see the palmbuschen in vases around the cathedral commemorating Palm Sunday and Easter Week.  All of the crufixes are covered in purple, but will be uncovered on Easter Sunday and draped in white.

Vienna is also the home of the Lippizaner Stallions and their stables are in the heart of Vienna near the Stephensplatz (St. Stephen's plaza). 

But, Vienna is especially known for their Viennese pastries, especially the sacher torte.  We had to make a stop at Demel, the bakery for the imperials, the oldest and most famous bakery in the city of Vienna.

Keepers of the original Sacher torte recipe, Demel was the official bakery for the Emperor and has existed since 1786. It's a must see, the interior of the store has maintained its imperial style and is full of goodies such as strudels, tortes, chocolates and more. We had heard of their superb hot chocolate made with real chocolate and slowly heated milk! It was topped with whipped cream, and I mean real whipped cream, not the stuff we think of in the U.S.  In fact, Charlie ordered a double espresso with cream, and instead of a pitcher of cream, he was served a healthy serving of this delicacy.

Demel is worth visiting just to look at its artistic cakes, confectioneries and chocolates, which are now all prepared for Easter. 

What an incredible day we had just roaming the streets in beautiful 68 degree, sunshiny weather!!!

Passau & Linz, Germany

April 16, 2011 - Our ship arrived Passau early this morning.  Passau is a border city and is the last city on the Danube before crossing into Austria.  Last night I had to watch "The Sound of Music" all the way through to get the feel and excitement of Austria (Charlie's note - four times).

We did a walking tour of Passau this morning through the cobblestone streets.  Our guide took us through alleyways and along some of the back streets.  We saw the Dom of St. Stephen, a beautiful Catholic church with the largest cathedral pipe organ in the world with over 17,000 pipes and 231 registers.  We saw a monastery across the Inn River with 321 steps leading up to this Baroque pilgrimage church.  The old city of Passau was destroyed by fires in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Today, Passau is a modern town and a historical city all rolled into one.

Passau is a city on three rivers - The Danube, the Inn and the Ilz - very much like Pittsburgh without the crying towels.  The Inn River is more brownish, the Ilz River is green from the minerals scraped by glaciers and the snow melt from the Alps, and the Danube is supposed to be blue, but is actually olive drab. 

We sailed mid-morning from this beautiful city to Linz in Austria.  Linz is the home of the Linzer Torte, one of Charlie's all-time favorite desserts.  Both Mozart and Beethoven composed symphonies while staying in this city.  Both of these composers were known to have had a sweet tooth, and perhaps it was the delicious linzer torte than gave them their inspiration.