This morning we will set forth on a ‘double eagle’ walk around the Vienna of the Habsburgs, with views of the imperial Hofburg Palace and a visit to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, its crypt full of Habsburg potentates. We will also see the Austrian National Library, part of the Hofburg complex, once the Imperial library and the largest Baroque library in the world.  Our walk ends at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, a mighty collection of antiquities, coins, armor and the Habsburg pictures. Don’t worry, we’ll leave that until after lunch – the museum has an excellent café beneath its fabulous dome and has superb Viennese cakes, not to mention an excellent brunch, which we suggest as fuel for the afternoon.

In the afternoon, our guide will take us on a highlights tour of the Kunsthistoriches Museum, including her selection of the Cranachs, Breughels, Titians, Rubens, Caravaggios…  Enjoy time on your own to sightsee or to return to the hotel for relaxing in the spa before changing into your spiffy threads for a night at the opera.  For those who are interested, Adam will lead an excursion to the Austrian military history museum, including extraordinary relics from the fateful day in Sarajevo in June 1914 which launched Europe into the Great War.

We will enjoy a pre-theater dinner and lecture by Craig preparing us for the spectacle we are going to witness at the infamous Wien Staatsoper, the Vienna State Opera House, which just celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019!  (Schedule not out as of printing, but we will secure the best seats available)

PARK HYATT VIENNA (B,D)