We docked in old town Vienna on this very cold Thursday morning. As we had posted before, our ability to do this cruise was in question due to the COVID lockdowns implemented in the various cities along our planned route. Vienna came out of lockdown about 3 days before our planned departure and we are happy it did!
The city was slowly waking up as we disembarked walked to the nearby subway station to purchase our pass and hopped aboard for our journey to the center of town. It has been over 2 years since we have been on a public subway/tram and the experience was a bit surreal, but we quickly acclimated. The Public Transportation in Vienna was exceptionally clean, efficient, and the riders were taking the ongoing mask mandates seriously. The subway/tram/train/bike path network is extensive and convenient and connects most of the major sites in the area.
We exited the subway and boarded a tram to the Rathausplatz (city hall square) were we started our walking tour. There is a Christmas market in the square, but was still early and was not yet open. We walked around, getting our bearings and enjoying the sights and sounds of the modern European city as it was coming awake. We’ll be back later when the Christmas Markets are open.
