We are now in Vienna. After visiting the palace complex, I retraced our steps past the stables of the Lipizzaner horses, the statue of Mozart in the former gardens of the palace, to the Kunst Historisches.

It was just as I remembered this amazing museum, considered, I am told,  as probably the 4th greatest art collection in the world behind the Louvre, the National Gallery in London, the third I can’t recall. So many of the past masters, too many to recount, but Durer, Bosch, Hals, Holbein, and Vermeer are amongst the works on display.

My mission however was single minded as I sought out the Brueghel collection, again as I remembered it, this time recorded in far better quality, and having the privilege to absorb their atmosphere close up once more, I strolled several galleries to sample  a fleeting glimpse of some of the other incredible works, but 2 hours later my appetite was more than satisfied, one would need days to take it all in and I didn’t want to spoil the experience by overdoing it. Maybe one day I will come back again, but if I don’t, I have been very fortunate to have been here twice already. 

I walked back to the cathedral square to catch the metro back to the ship, the cathedral was open once more after the Cardinals ceremony so I took the opportunity to have a look inside this massive building before catching the train back to the port. Mission accomplished.

In the evening we headed out of Vienna to visit a wine producing area where the wineries have traditionally run wine drinking establishments for the local populace, dating back hundreds of years, the one that we visited has been in the same family since 1609, and is now in the hands of the 13th generation, they still live in the premises as their ancestors did for the last 400 years. the dinner, called Heurigen, was traditionally held once a year in November to welcome in the new harvest, now it has morphed into a tourist opportunity at any time.

In a way the evening was an Austrian version of our Hungarian experience, but the food was better, the wine about the same standard, and the music consisting of a violin and accordion more pleasant and intermittent as they moved from table to table, our guide was erudite on the history of wine in Austria, and on European politics as well so all in all it was a pleasant evening in good company.

After a great day in Vienna, we sailed at 11 for Melk.

We woke this morning to find we were passing the village of Krems, shortly thereafter it started to rain and has done so all morning as we sailed through the Wachau Valley gorge, only just stopping as we came out of the gorge and docked at Melk about 10 minutes ago. 

Despite the weather it didn’t take away from the scenery in the valley,  steep sided down to the river, with terraced vineyards clinging to the slopes, interspersed with small villages and castle ruins on promontories along the way. 

The other thing we didn’t expect that is staggering in its proportion is the number of river cruiser companies there are operating on the Danube, and the number of ships, just staggering, in port so far we have been quadruple banked at times with other Viking craft, and the other companies with their ships, similarly berthed.

We are currently berthed in Melk, any minute now we are being taken up to the Abbey to be guided through, then bussed to Ybbs further up the river to resume our passage to Pass.