Day Five (Dec.31): Vienna

Ø  Alte Donau

Vienna is the largest city on the Danube, where the Danube floodplain is called the Lobau, though the Innere Stadt is situated away from the main flow of the Danube. Many great pieces was composed based on the Danube. 

Ø  Hofburg Palace 

Hofburg Palace is the former imperial palace in the centre of Vienna. Part of the palace forms the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria. The Palace was built in the 13^th century and has housed some of the most powerful people in European and Austrian history. One of the inside opera house is called the Redouten Halls. It was built in 1705 under Emperor Joseph I, grand baroque operas were performed in the Redouten Halls. Several Mozart’s smaller operas were performed here.

       At a public masquerade ball in the Redouten Hall one Carnival Monday on March 3rd 1783,        Mozart performed „Masquerade“ during an intermission- a pantomime piece with music that he had    written himself. Seems like I can understand why Mozart would perform in such a place. The          Redouten Hall is filled with glamour. It must be such an honor to enjoy music in here. 

Ø  Burggarten—Mozart Denkmal

Beside Hofburg Palace, there is a sculpture park called Burggarten. Inside the park, there is an sculpture of Mozart. This sculpture has been used for one of the scene in Mozart’s famous opera—Don Giovanni. Mona and I would like to take a photo together with Mozart’s sculpture as a memorable moment of our trip.

Ø  Glodener Saal Wiener Musikvereins

Musikverein is Vienna's oldest and most modern concert halls, one of the famous concert halls in the world. It is the home to the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. It holds a lot of concerts every year. But the most famous one is on the New Year’s Day. We will be very lucky if we can book the tickets for New Year’s Eve Concert because demand is really high. We have to draw the tickets by lot over their website at the beginning of each year. We would be honored to enjoy a live elegant concert in one of the world’s top concert hall. I hope that through the playing of classical music, I can further develop my enthusiasm for music.