We took a brief morning bus tour of Vienna to reach the city from where the ship was docked, but decided to skip the scheduled tours as we had had our fill of detailed histories. Instead, we wanted to visit a couple of museums. Vienna boasts over 140 museums, and we chose to visit the Belvedere Museum, which houses many of Gustav Klimt’s paintings , and the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, known for its old masters and various artifacts.   Both museums were impressive. The Belvedere Museum ,...

River cruises are wonderful because the ship departs during the night and reaches the next destination by morning. On this particular evening, we were magically transported from Grein to Melk. Upon arrival, we hiked up to the Melk Benedictine Abbey, often referred to as the “Vatican of the North”. The most impressive feature of the abbey was its library, which housed thousands of volumes and manuscripts across 12 grand Baroque and Rococo rooms, with books stretching from floor to ceiling, and...

The following day, we reached Linz, known for the Linzer torte, which we didn't try as we didn't stay there. Instead, we embarked on a scenic 2-hour bus ride to Salzburg, a city renowned for being the birthplace of the illustrious composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The journey itself was quite picturesque, offering us glimpses of the beautiful Austrian countryside, with rolling hills, lush green fields, and charming villages dotting the landscape. As we approached Salzburg, the majestic peaks...