Vienna

We had a lovely time in Vienna. We arrived at Hotel Ruthensteiner without difficulty on Sunday afternoon. After our recent hostel experiences, it was a haven of rest. Here I am sitting in the lounge downstairs, surrounded by guitars. In the bar next door was a piano with various music books available which I also made use of. There were two garden patios with an outdoor grill, self-serve kitchen, laundromat and breakfast available as well as four fast computers available for use (2 euros for 45 minutes).


This is one side of the Stephansdom, the major cathedral in the middle of Vienna. After dinner, we wandered toward the Rathausplatz, where we heard a wonderful Polish band playing some updated (almost jazzy-sounding) folk dances--violin, accordion, clarinet, and double bass. I succumbed to buying a CD. Then we walked into the Rathauspark, where we found a large crowd gathered to watch various opera excerpts on a big screen. Many cafes and food and drink stands were there, a couple hundred seats set up near the screen, and more tables and chairs closer to the back for the people who wanted to chat while enjoying the background music. Here is a bit of a sense of that, pictured below.
This is the parliament buildings in Vienna.

A highlight of the trip for me was going past the Staatoper (State Opera) and the Musikverein (music academy), as well as going into the Haus der Musik, which had lots of interesting interactive exhibits as well as information about various composers who lived and worked for part of their lives in Vienna.As soon as we got out of the subway on Monday morning, we were accosted by a courtier (e.g. an adept salesman) dressed in the style of the nobility several hundred years ago) who solicited our attendance at a concert of Mozart opera excerpts and Strauss operetta excerpts that night at 6:30. We decided that we really had to go to a classical music concert while in Vienna, so indulged the money on it. Immediately afer making arrangements with him, we were stopped by three salesmen with similar offers).

Before the concert, we tried Sachertorte (Viennese chocolate cake) and Cardinalschnitte (vanilla mousse cake) at a local cafe recommended by an Austrian-English friend.


Here we are at the concert that night in the beautifully decorated Palais Auersperg. After the concert, we wandered over to the Rathauspark, where we watched part of another film, this time Russian ballet excerpts with the throngs of Viennese and tourists gathered there. In between outings into the centre of Vienna we enjoyed the opportunity to get caught up on email, FB, and blogs.