Austria

Left Germany on Thursday morning and had a beautiful 6+ hour drive through lush green hills and valleys dotted with small communities, all with distinctive church steeples.  Coming through the part with the jagged, very tall mountain peaks capped with snow, we were reminded of the time when we were in those mountains at Berchas Gaden where Hitler had his special retreat called the Eagle's Nest.
I attended a music conference there at age 20.
Who would not love Vienna (Wien)?  The classical music capitol of the world.  We have a charming apartment and very sunny,very warm weather.  It is a national holiday here today(Mon the 9th)...........
All shops are closed.  Good thing the restaurants are not!  The afternoon took us along the Danube River at a huge park with tons of people.  We experienced seeing the most interesting concept in city living.  All modern day buildings; some of them sky scrapers, some high rises. All are living spaces with lower spaces for offices and the like.  This place called Danube City ( Donu City) is still under some construction.  It has a huge promenade and connects with the park and by bridges one can go over the hiway to the less new part of the city.  This whole idea is to have a community within the city.  We were taken with the whole idea.
The Danube.  A wide slow flowing river that winds through Vienna.  People were boating, swimming, sun bathing, walking and cooking on small hibachis.  The people were mostly East Indian at this part of the park.  We wondered how the women could tolerate being so bundled in dark clothing and scarves when were sweltering form the heat.  It is a melting pot of humanity wherever one goes in the world today.
Evening had us by St. Stephan's Cathedral at the Mozart Hous.  He actually only lived there for 3 months, but used the room they call a vault to compose his music and perform for the bishop of the local church there.  (not the cathedral)  There we heard an excellent chamber quartet and we were in the front row, basically arm's length from the cellist.  The music was astounding and the musical artists the best of the best.  A great experience, indeed.

In the same area we saw the Opera House and The Magic Flute was being performed that evening.
They have a huge screen so outsiders can view the live performance happening inside.
They even had chairs outside for folks to sit!
We have a few more days here, thus leaving on Tuesday morning.  We walk a lot and see a lot.
Vienna has been my dream city since I was very young.  What a privilege to be here!

Just a note:  Dan is also posting photos on his Google plus account.   captaindan31