09/08/08 - A day to remember in Vienna.

Our 7th capital city in 7 countries - Vienna!! (and to think we tell
people we rather stick to nature). We'd heard so much that I was
disappointed by my first impressions. This was not helped much by
arriving in a rainstorm, and that Vienna is just so big! But Vienna
must be a city that grows on you and I am glad that we purchased
tickets for the hop on hop off bus, because from that perspective I
gained a far greater appreciation of Vienna's charms.
After toying with sushi in Prague and inspired by Piotrek and Ania's
tale of all you can eat sushi for €10, would you believe it we
actually stumbled across the same place, we stuffed ourselves silly,
though the price had risen to €11. Not exactly traditional fare, so we
thought we better take in something more cultural.
Unfortunately we have arrived in this city of music during the holiday
months when Vienna sleeps, but we did purchase tickets to a very low
brow Mozart and Strauss concert. There was one Beethoven solo violin
piece to keep me happy and the program was short and varied enough to
even entertain Daniel. We were certainly not disappointed by the
program or caliber of the performances. All the musicians were regular
members of the world renown Vienna Philharmonic and there was a
variety of 1st class arias, duets and ballet interludes. The compere
was entertaining and amused us all with a virtuoso if comedic violin
solo. The venue was the Beethoven Haus and it looked 'just like Harry
Potter's school' it was intimate enough that we could see the
performers well, though unfortunate for the poor ballet dancer who
suffered a 'wardrobe malfunction'. Our complimentary half time glass
of champagne washed down a lovely day.