Oct 2 - less is more....

..is not a concept the Viennese have heard of. If I had to find one word for Vienna, it's glitz. Or opulence. Or excess. Okay, so that's three words, but who's counting, here in Vienna? Mozart didn't...he easily used three, or thirty, notes when one might have done the job. Because he could. And the concert we attended at Schonbrunn, Vienna's most spectacular Schloss, was proof...it is hard to describe the marriage of music and ambience. The notes of the Magic Flute getting tangled in the baroque gilt ornamentation of the walls and ceilings...it's difficult not to sound sappy. But the transport to another era is temporary...one look at the masses of Japanese and Americans on the gilt chairs, and the entry to the Schlosstour, not unlike an airport departure lounge with it's timed departures, will disabuse you. But when Mozart takes over, assisted by the Schloss-Orchester and soloists from the Vienna State Opera, then, just for a moment, you can imagine Wolfy..

Vienna has a Christmas atmosphere all year....the shop windows are spectacular. A  visual feast for the well-heeled consumer, especially the couture connaisseur: wall to wall designer names, like a page from Vogue: Valentino, Louis Vuitton and friends...

But possibly a highlight of glitz is the Schatzkammer (treasury) with its 1000 years of history and symbols; the crown of the Holy Roman Empire (ca 962),  its "robes of power" encrusted with pearls and laced with gold threads, it's crowns and sceptres ...but all that glitters is not gold, many of these were gold-plated silver....

Vienna puts on a veritable feast of sensual delights: for the eye, the ear and the tastebuds. And we experienced it all,from the Sacher torte in the Sacher Hotel, to the Vienna Choir boys, those imps with angelic voices, to the Lippizaner, the fabled horses of Austria, the castles, the shopping, and mostly, the art. We may need to sleep tomorrow all the way to India where more is more!