Vienna - Welcome to the Heart of Europe
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A rainbow above Schönbrunn (“Pretty Fountain”) Palace in Vienna
“Toothache Savior” at St. Stephen’s Cathedral
City of Music
“Willkommen in Wien – Welcome to Vienna,” how does that sound? Vienna got a worldwide reputation not just for good coffee but especially as the city of music. In the States, we came up with the comparison: America without ice cubes is like China without a wall, or Austria without music. In a travel agency in Kuala Lumpur we saw the advertising slogan “Waltz into Europe via Vienna.” Famous composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven and "waltz king” Johann Strauss enriched our cultural heritage with symphonies, masses, waltzes, and operas.
The Austrian cities Vienna and Salzburg were ranking among the most popular travel destinations for Americans next to three Italian cities. Among the reasons for that may be the rich cultural offers as well as the numerous sights, among others including the National Library in Hofburg Palace right in the center of Vienna and its city landmark St. Stephen’s Cathedral – with the miraculous “Zahnwehherrgott” a.k.a. “Toothache Savior” behind it.
Vienna topped the global Mercer Quality of Living Survey for years. I began to realize the fame of Vienna in a video store near the final stop of the streetcar number forty-two, across from the Post sports field and a streetcar garage. The clerk made me aware that the same street corner was visible in the James Bond movie “The Living Daylights!” There, Vienna even appeared twice. Once posing for Bratislava and then once again posing for itself.
Continue reading in the book “BU DONG – When Strange Things Become Familiar.”
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