James: Got to the MSP airport early at about 7:15 am. Nicci dropped us at the front door. Checked in and got through security in no time. Then we just had to wait at the gate. Did a few laps around the terminal just to get the blood flowing. Despite the airline borrowing a United gate, which led to some trepidation from several travelers, we boarded and were off on time.
When we landed in Toronto we made our way to our gate and now had 4 hours to kill before our flight to Vienna. We found various ways to amuse ourselves, eating, walking, shopping and playing cards. The terminal is interesting- acres and acres of glass and 100’ ceilings. It certainly had an airy feeling. The waiting area filled up. There would be a lot of people on our flight. We finally boarded and then had to wait an extra hour while they “rebooted one of the flight systems”. Hmmm. That’s a sentence you never want to hear on an airplane. But eventually we were able to taxi and lumbered into the air.
Settled in, had a nice compact dinner. It was interesting. I compared the different meals from the different flight tiers, and while it costs about $1500 more per person for first class, you definitely get a first class meal. Plus you get your own little pod with a reclining seat and plenty of room. Maybe after I hit the lottery. So after dinner, we all settled in for a long night. It wasn’t long before the whole plane was dark and quiet. It felt like a long uncomfortable night, but I was awakened by an extremely bright light in my eyes. At about 5 am the sun was up in the near Arctic and beaming in my window. The plane began to stir. We were rousted awake, fed a quick breakfast and prepared to land. Not many people around after we deplaned, just shuffling like mice in a maze to some unknown destination. Had to stand in line at customs but eventually made it through.
Susan: The long flight from Toronto to Vienna was surprisingly smooth and uneventful. I managed to sleep (thanks to a Tylenol PM!). Customs was a breeze. The new EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) took photos and fingerprints of everyone. We met at the Burger King in the main terminal, where we noticed other people with Road Scholar luggage tags. Later, we saw a guy with a Road Scholar sign on his head. Our group consists of people from all over the US, including Colorado, California, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Minnesota.
We boarded a large coach bus and stowed our luggage, then headed to Grinzig for lunch. We found a small café where we enjoyed fried eggs and a glass of white wine. One very busy waitress seemed to be handling everything on her own. After lunch, we strolled around the area and visited a quaint church.
JAMES: We got back on the bus for our trip to the Klostenberg Abbey. It was a good 50 minute drive so I drifted in and out of sleep along the way. Most everyone else was in a sleep-deprived state. The abbey is on the outskirts of town. It sits at the top of a small hill with a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. There are no more monks at the abbey but there are a few dozen clergy who live and worship on the property. The building is massive. There must be a couple hundred rooms plus the church. There are ancient wine cellars and elaborate statues and decor. We had an hour-long docent-led tour of the place. It has a very interesting history.
Susan: One of the main attractions of the Klostenberg Abbey is the Verdun Altar, also known as the Klostenberg Altar. It was made in 1181 by Nicholas of Verdun. The three parts of the alter comprise 51 gilded copper plates modeled on Byzantine paragons. It was originally manufactured as panels, but they were assembled as an altar around 1330. This beautiful enamel piece shows how skilled medieval goldsmiths were.
James: Done and exhausted, we piled into our bus and headed to our hotel. The streets of Vienna are of the original layout of the city, narrow and winding. There are two commuter train lines that run above ground plus cars and bicycles. Our tour bus was huge and I held my breath whenever we passed the trains. When we finally came to the side street that our hotel was on, the bus driver decided to try and drive down it. Being narrow plus having cars parked on each side of the street, he quickly reconsidered. But that meant backing up into traffic to get back on the main road. That finally accomplished, he ended up driving completely around the block and raking on the opposite end of the street. We all got off and walked the block from the bus to the hotel.
Susan: After checking in, we settled into our room and then had to meet the other ‘scholars’ in the hotel conference room for a lecture on the European Union (EU) given by Thomas Eibl titled “(Dis) Connecting Europe”. He provided background on the establishment of the EU for economic and security reasons. He is a professor at Passuau. While it was interesting, we were all pretty exhausted!
For dinner we had a three course meal of salad with yogurt dressing and turkey, baked trout and rice, dessert and we enjoyed a bottle of white wine. After all that, we were ready to hit the sack.