We sailed during the night from Dürnstein and woke as we sailed into Vienna - the music and art centre of Europe ( according to locals). It was stunning!

We docked across from the St Francis of Assisi Church built between 1898 and 1913. It is a beautiful building with magnificent murals painted around the sanctuary - we were glad to have time to have a look inside.

Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria, and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna has a population of about 1.757 million (2.4 million within the metropolitan area, more than 20% of Austria's population). It is also Austria's cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Until the beginning of the 20th century it was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I the city had 2 million inhabitants. Today it is third only to Berlin and Hamburg.

We enjoyed a bus and walking tour of this city with the most magnificent buildings and stautes. Points of interest included:
- Vienna Opera
- Albertina Concert Hall
- St Stephens Catholic Cathedral
- Vienna Succession Building
- Spanish Riding School Stables
- Natural History Museum
- Vienna Ferris Wheel - the first of it's kind in the world - the original wheel was built in 1897 and has since been followed by the London Eye etc.
- Museum of Military History
- Austrian Parliament Building
- the house in which Beethoven lived, and the one where Strauss was born.

There was so much more to see and do that one would need something like a week to see and do everything.

No visit to Vienna would be complete without attending a classical music concert. The venue for our special private concert was the Albertina Palace built in 1744. We had an excellent evening hearing pieces by Strauss and Mozart.

Back on board after the concert for a Viennese supper - more food!

Today's insights:

• The are over 150 concert halls in Vienna and every one has at least one concert per day.
• The results of a recent international survey of the best known Austrian personalities:
  1. Mozart
  2. Arnold Swarzenegger
  3. Strauss.
  The power of Hollywood .........
• Austria is one of the four leading countries in relation to atomic power and the United Nations Office for Nuclear Energy is based in Vienna.