Vienna, Part 2

First of all, we made it to India. More on that later.

After our night at the Staasoper, we were treated to another musical delight: the Wien Philharmoniker performing Schubert's 5th and Beethoven's 6th symphonies. We bought our tickets the same day and got standing seats again (4.50 Euro), which were fine and provided a good view. During the fourth movement of Schubert, just as Eli was getting a bit weary of standing, he noticed two empty seats in the front orchestra. Simona asked the usher if we could have them, and he said after the intermission, yes. So they were ours. It seems a little wrong to attempt to describe the music we heard without the music itself, so we'll just say that the sound was perfect. As a fellow traveler put it, you heard exactly what they wanted you to hear, exactly as they wanted you to, and each instrument stood out.

We spent Monday, our last day in Vienna, wandering around the botanical gardens and the Baroque Belvedere palaces. The palaces were a bit staid, although we enjoyed their outside statutes.

On Tuesday, we packed our bags and headed for the Indian embassy in Vienna, where no "security clearance" awaited us. However, the bureaucrat administering visas decided, in his discretion, that we probably were not security threats. Simona's plaintive tears may also have persuaded him. So, just two and a half hours before our flight took off, he stamped our passports and we embarked on a mad rush to the airport.