Wow, when you sign on with Insight Tours you really do see all the highlights, get the history and they always have an expert guide to take you through the Cities you visit.
For example, first day in Vienna we meet up with Peter our guide for the day. We go through the Schonbrunn Palace and take a brief stroll in the gardens.
After a drive along the ring road and hearing about all the buildings, parks and different palaces we go into the winter palace and down into the crypts. The history of the Hapsburgs was fascinating and then…..we go into the Vienna Opera House.
We walk around inside, get backstage (by the way it is the largest one in the European World) and see the private loge and tea room of the Emperor. Opera lover or not, you get goose bumps in this place. We were told you had to wait 13 years to try and get a season ticket, checking in each year to let them know you were still alive.
For dinner we dined in a Country Inn, choosing your dinner, listening to the music, and I got picked to do a brief waltz.. I even got a certificate saying I ‘graduated”with an professional dancer
The second night in Vienna we went to a palace to enjoy a private dinner by Insight and then into a concert room to hear a concert put on with members of the Vienna Symphony (including listening to a Stradivarious violin; a couple of ballet numbers, solos and duets by two of the lead artists in an upcoming opera. All in all two wonderful days in what I still call a “pinch me” vacation.
The hotel was fabulous and th3e breakfasts are unbelievable.
Now, back in the bus tomorrow to Venice.
