Golden Hall Concert

Concert at Vienna's Musikverein by HighlanderImages

The Musikverein concert hall in Vienna, Austria is a magnificent venue and it certainly lives up to its "Golden Hall" name. The concert I attended was a classical concert of "favorite hits" played by the musicians in period costume which added a certain grandeur to the whole event. Hit the SoundCloud button above and enjoy some of the concert.

Wiener Musikverein, (English: "Viennese Music Association"), commonly shortened to The Musikverein, has a twofold meaning: it is the name of a famous Vienna concert hall, as well as the short name for the music society, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde [Society of Music Friends], that owns the building. This building is located on Dumbastraße behind the Imperial Hotel, between Bösendorferstraße and Karlsplatz. However, because Bösendorferstraße is so small a street, the building is better known as being between Karlsplatz and Kärntner Ring (part of Ringstraße loop). The back of the building faces Canovagasse [Canova lane].

The concert hall was built by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, on a piece of land given by Emperor Franz Joseph, and it was opened on January 6, 1870. A historic organ was installed in it by the Austrian firm Rieger, in 1907. The Musikverein is famous for its acoustics and is considered to be one of the five finest concert/opera venues in the world. None of these halls was built in the modern era with the application of acoustics science, and, with the partial exception of the horseshoe-shaped Colon, all share a long, tall, and narrow shape. It is the home to the Vienna Philharmonic. The Große Musikvereinssaal, or Goldene Saal (Golden Hall), is forty-eight metres long, nineteen metres wide, and eighteen metres high. It has 1,744 seats and standing room for 300. Every year, the Vienna New Year's Concert is held here.

New York Easter Parade

I was in New York recently and my final day was Easter Sunday where I was lucky enough to witness the annual Easter Parade along 5th Avenue. It was a wonderful spectacle of easter bonnets, some bizarre costumes and essentially a fun day out for everyone. A slideshow of the event can be seen here.

The Easter parade is an American cultural event consisting of a festive strolling procession on Easter Sunday. Typically, it is a somewhat informal and unorganized event, with or without religious significance. Persons participating in an Easter parade traditionally dress in new and fashionable clothing, particularly ladies' hats, and strive to impress others with their finery. The Easter parade is most closely associated with Fifth Avenue in New York City, but Easter parades are held in many other cities. Starting as a spontaneous event in the 1870s, the New York parade became increasingly popular into the mid-20th century—in 1947, it was estimated to draw over a million people. Its popularity has declined significantly, drawing only 30,000 in 2008.

Kyoto Kimonos

Walking down from the Kiyomizu-dera Temple through the cobbled streets of the Ninenzaka preservation district I saw a wonderful trio of kimonos. These colourful costumes are still worn quite frequently by the ladies in Kyoto and certainly add to the authenticity of your visit through these stone-paved streets. 

The Ninenzaka district, like Gion to the west, is an architecturally protected 'preservation area,' with many historic structures, such as the historic house of painter Yumeji Takehisa (1884 to 1934). The area is also known as "Nene-no-saka" after Kita-no-Mandokoro, the wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who walked this route to visit the Kodaiji Temple. The narrow winding streets of Nene-no-saka are predominantly for foot traffic, and the streets are lined with arts-and-crafts shops, cafes, and food concession stalls.

Along the narrow lanes of the Sannenzaka Slope, there are many shops that sell an indigenous 'Kyo-yaki-style' ceramic pottery from this area, called kiyomizu-yaki