Took off from Eppley on time, hit all our connections (though we really had to scramble at Amsterdam), and arrived in Vienna at 8.20am, tired but excited. Seems several of us could not sleep...

From the cabin as we transited over the UK about 4am..

The group we are joining, a school group from Alaska, gets in at 3pm. In the meantime we are off and running. Heading into Vienna center for a mini-guided tour by our tour director Silke, who met us at the airport.

We saw many of the main sites in Vienna center then strolled over to view the massive St. Stephen's Dom, or cathedral. Spectacular!

The weather was warm and windy. Haven't seen so many tourists in a long Time! Today was a state holiday, and for most of Europe, as Thursday was the Feast of the Assumption and the day after is a bank holiday so Europe starts their summer.

We met the Alaska group and walked over to our restaurant for the evening where we had traditional chicken goulash along with a dessert of Kaiser Mann, a special dessert made for the Kaiser many years ago, consisting of fried dough covered with powdered sugar and served with a plum compote. Very good and palate cleansing.  After dinner about half of the Alaska group did a quick wardrobe change and headed to the opera.  Did I mention the Alaska group is music students, teachers, and a few parents? Then the rest of us headed off in the bus for a half hour bus drive out to our hotel in the outskirts on the East side of Vienna.  We will try to get some sleep then up for breakfast at 7.30 and head off for more excitement at 8.15...