Day 12 - Last Stop - Vienna
Day 12 was the most sobering day of the tour. We left Hallstatt and headed toward the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Since I visited Dachau when I was in Germany in 1997, I knew the kind of experience I was in for. To make matters worse, it was an overcast and rainy day. I was hoping to take some more pictures from the remembrance monuments that now fill part of the camp, but the cold rain made that difficult. I was also not able to see the quarry, where so many lost their lives. The most emotional part of the camp is the Room of Names. It is abundantly clear that we must never forget what happened here.
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Mauthausen
Walking Tour of Vienna
After Mauthausen, we stopped for lunch at Landzeit before heading onto Vienna. Upon our arrival in Vienna, we said goodbye to John with a toast of his homemade lemoncello (none for John, he was driving!). We then checked into our hotel and were joined by Gerhard for a walking tour of Vienna. Katie's dad is big history fan and especially WWII era history. When he found out that we were going to Vienna, he asked us to find a Flak Tower. After doing our research, we knew there were a couple in Augarten, which we will visit later, but little to our surprise, there was one right next door to our hotel!
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Food for the Day!
Day 13 - Vienna
For our last full day of the tour, we began with another tour of Vienna. Our guide, Wolfgang, took us to the Opera House, the Hofburg Imperial Apartments, and the Hofburg Treasury. He provided us with great information about the height of Vienna and the Hapsburg family.
After the tour, we were on our own until our final group dinner. Katie and I took this time to visit Augarten and the Flak Towers. We were also able to enjoy some treats along the way. Katie and I did pick up some treats from Demel to take home. I have to say that the Dark Chocolate bar that I brought back may be the best ever. |
Augarten
Augarten is a public park in Vienna. It began as hunting grounds for Emperor Matthias back in 1614. In 1918, Augarten became a federally regulated park. During WWII, the military decided to construct Flak towers in Augarten. Flack towers are large concrete structures that are designed for anti-aircraft defense. There are still 6 towers in Vienna. Immediately following the war, the towers were not able to be destroyed. Currently, it is just too expensive to destroy them. Some of the other towers have been converted and are still used, but the ones at Augarten serve simply as a reminder of a time not that long ago.
Augarten is also the home to the Augarten Procelain Factory. |
Final Group Dinner
Sadly, we had reached that point in our tour where it was time to say goodbye. I enjoyed the people on this tour so much, that I wasn't really looking forward to it. We had a wonderful final group dinner at Witwe Bolte. Thankfully, the weather held out for us to enjoy this final night together outside.
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Day 14 - End of Tour, Last Day in Vienna
Katie and I decided to spend an extra day in Vienna, so even though the tour officially ended at breakfast, we had a full day ahead of us.
We spend the day by visiting St. Stephen's Cathedral, Kunsthistorisches Museum, and all that Vienna had to offer. We tried to visit St. Peter's Church, but they were closed for a service. |
Our Last Night
Katie and I decided to have Italian for our last meal in Europe. We went to Danieli Ristorante and had a truly wonderful meal. We ended the night with gelato from Zanoni & Zanoni. Katie even got the same flavors, Hazelnut and Caramel Creme, that she got on our last night in Italy.