Picked up a local guide and drove around some of the sights of the city before getting off an the Hapsburg Winter Palace. We walked through the front gate onto the grounds of the palace. The palace is absolutely lovely and extremely large. Each of the wings of the Palace were built in stages (as with most palace complexes) and are of different styles, but is still grand.
Headed through the palace grounds, into the streets and onto St Stephens Cathedral in the city itself. The church is quite amazing with its colourful roof (restored after a fire) and medieval design. Inside the church, the sculpture is excellently crafted with beautiful, interwoven loops of stone and animals on the pulpit and the only Hapsburg grave - dated to the 15th century.
Had some free time, so Elisha and I headed to Mozart's Haus, the only surviving house where Mozart lived in Vienna. Last time we were there, we tried to take photos of the manuscripts, but without flash (not allowed due to the degradation that can occur on the old paper), and using film, these did not turn out very well. So with our new digital camera, we thought we would be able to get some clear shots.
Unfortunately, a couple of years ago, the public exhibition was privatised, so you are no longer allowed to take photos of anything - apparently for copyright reasons. What? Mozart has been dead for over 200 years. I'm sure he doesn't care. It didn't really matter that much anyway, as all but 4 pages of manuscript have been removed from the exhibition, so the €9 we spent to get in "each" was a waste of money. My comment in the book stated pretty much the same thing. Very disappointing.
To any musicians interested in Mozart, I would suggest you don't bother.
By the time we got back to our hotel, which actually isn't in Vienna, but 17 km out, we had 2 hours to wash up, get our own dinner (as it wasn't provided tonight) and head off to a concert. This may sound ok, but the only place besides the hotel to have dinner was a shopping centre; there were no pubs, nor any restaurants. I don't know what the other members of the tour did if they didn't go to the concert. Anyway, rushed over to the shopping centre and only just managed to get back in time to catch the bus.
The concert was in a beautiful theatre in the middle of Vienna. The decorations on the walls and ceiling are very ornate with wonderful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. I managed to speak to the flautist before the concert and got a couple of arty photos, although none of this helped with seating. Oh well.
We were treated to a lovely concert with pieces written by both Strauss's and Mozart, played with exquisite skill. The flautist had beautiful control and the runs on both the flute and piccolo were so smooth, it was magic. We were also treated to some opera singing and two ballet dances.
The only down side to the concert were the inconsiderate bastards talking through the performance - and I don't mean just a quiet little chat. After angrily telling one guy next to me to shut up, a group of Japs up the back decided to have a conversation in usual Jap style - loud. I nearly got up to go to them, but they must have seen me staring and shut up pretty quick. You have to wonder about some people. Why come all the way to Vienna to go to a concert and talk through a performance. Not only are they not hearing the beauty of the music, but ruining the experience for others.
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