A very special day in Vienna – Best Blogs Series

Goldener Saal Hall of the "Musikverein&qu...

Goldener Saal Hall of the “Musikverein” in Vienna. Note that its precise name is Großer Konzerthaussaal Hall, “golden” just being a later added common attribute (guess why ;). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being first time visitors to Vienna, this blog picks up some our highlights on our first day. The day starts slowly and builds to it climax.

We headed off for the U-Bahn (underground railway) and purchased a pass then spent half the day on the excellent on/off tour buses, taking in the major sites of Vienna and getting our bearings.

Lunch was a very special bowl of soup at legendary Cafe Mozart which is behind the beautiful Opera House. It was at Cafe Mozart where author Graham Green wrote the Third Man, which later became a major film success. Looking around Cafe Mozart reminded us that Vienna was the spy capital of the world in the Communist era.

The pinnacle of the day was an evening listening to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Golden Hall (Großer Musikvereinssaal)

The famous Großer Musikvereinssaal is widely-known as the best and most beautiful concert hall in the world. Moreover, the Musikverein is home to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the venue where its annual New Year’s Day Concert takes place.

Here are some excellent photos of the Großer Musikvereinssaal :

großer musikvereinssaal

Vienna to Bratislava – Marilyn Oldman

Taking the slow road to Cyprus

Image of the Old Towne Hall (Stará radnica) in... Image of the Old Towne Hall (Stará radnica) in Bratislava, at the old town square. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After a short drive of only one and half hours, we arrived in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia.  A small but very quaint old town,  where everything seems to happen around the old town square. Cafe after cafe, restaurant after restaurant, bar after bar. There are also some quite up market shops along with the usual souvenir shops. The old town square is steeped in history, going back some 700 years. Famous musicians and composers such as Franz Listz, Mozart, Beethoven and Hayden all played  here at some time in their careers.  The dominant feature is the castle in the hills, this  overlooks the old town square. So overall a very  pretty setting.

The temperature when we left Vienna was 28 degrees, and we noticed the difference in Bratislava where it was much hotter, especially in…

View original post 88 more words