The year was 1998 in Vienna, I was getting on 50 and now I am 70, but Vienna stays Vienna. I spend every year on 1st January in Vienna, but not physically, more televisionally. On this day every year the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra give their New Year’s concert and here is a link to the event: Vienna New Years Concert 2017 and tickets are so hard to get for the live performance, that they can only be had by lottery.  It is mainly Viennese music, lots of violins and drums and how I wish I would be there one day, instead of just watching on the TV. It is tradition in Europe and most televisions are tuned to this event, even if you are not into classic music.

Music in Vienna means Johann Strauss (father and son) so of course I had to have my photo taken in front of his statue in the town park. This morning after lunch I was watching my favourite 1st January programme. It began during the meal, but no problem, the living room is next to the kitchen, where we generally eat. And so the appartment was filled with waltzing sound of  The Blue Danube from a  full orchestra. In bettwen there are waltzing scenes of dancers taking in some of the Viennese castles, of which there are enough.

The most interesting scenes were filmed with the Lippizaner horses where they are born and reared, before showing themselves at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna when their training is complete. Although we saw the school we did not have time to go inside. However this morning I felt so moved seeing the horses where they are reared. The borses are white, it belongs to tbeir breed. When they are born they are black. It was wonderful to see the baby horses with their mothers taking their first steps. As they grow, they become brown and eventually are white. I never realised this. The final scene was a seeing the horses with their riders. I was pleased to see that the rider they featured was the only woman in the troop.

And that was my New Year beginning, full of wonderful music and beautiful horses.

And when I visited Vienna I also met this interesting gentleman in a Viennese coffee house, another part of daily life in Vienna. It is a science to know what to order if you want a coffee. Each sort has a different name, shape and size, so make sure you know what you want. And the guy – well I took him home with me, although we also arrived together 🙂 .

Daily Prompt: Year, it arrives regularly