One impression for me of Europe is the massive networks of transport infrastructure that exist and work together despite differences in systems and in same cases, politics. They have a lot of experience moving large numbers of the population around the continent and with impressive timing.
As a cycling tourist there has been the occasional reluctance from the transport operator to put the bike on the bus or train but I have learnt to successively negotiate a favourable outcome. There have been logistical challenges along the way. To add another layer of complexity the central train stations of Venice, Salzburg and Prague are undergoing or have recently completed major reconstructions of their platforms and administration area - brand new stations basically, so you have to deal not only with the new language but navigate through half-completed construction zones.
Brahms
Also when I am riding, the journey is made easier because of the networks of dedicated cycling paths, either through villages and cities or alongside rivers or the autobahn.
Vienna (Wein) is the second Austrian city for me to visit and for good reason. Beethoven lived and composed here for some years up to the remainderof his life.
Schubert
Like Shostakovich , Beethoven is a firm and important place in my music listening repitoire. A world's most liveable city survey was conducted in 2012 and Vienna was ranked number two, behind Melbourne in Australia.
Mmmmm.... Austria, Australia - is there a connection here?
Now first about Vienna - Vienna's history began with the Romans, who established it in the 1st Century as Vindobona, one of a line of Roman defensive outposts against Germanic tribes. Vindobona's central mitiary was on the site of what is now the Hoher Markt (the "High Market" due to its relative height over the Danube), and you can still see the excavations of its foundations there today.
Vienna hosted the Habsburg court for several centuries, first as the Imperial seat of the Holy Roman Empire, then the capital of the Austrian Empire, and later of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is the cultural and economic centre of Austria and an education for my ignorance - as over a third of the population are from Slovakia, Turkey, Germany, and of course Hungary because of its legacy as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the nation split during World War 1.
Also it was home to the world's first psycho-analyst - Sigmund Freud.
Like the other cities I have stayed in, the centre of Vienna has a typically ornate Baroque architecture. Baroque is not just a musical period (around 1600-1730 after the Reanaisance and before the Classical cultural period) but an artistic style. Bach and Handel were composers in the middle to later part of this period. Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven followed in the Classical period.
Mozart
As well as the visual splendour of this city I also enjoyed the aural. By chance, one of the the world's most highly regarded symphony orchestras, the Vienna Philharmoniker performed at a free open air concert Schonbrunn Palace during the second evening I was there in their home city. I could not believe it, so despite the rain I enjoyed the performance along with several young couples who were dancing to the Viennese waltz.
I could not leave until I visited the Beethoven's final resting place and paid my respects to this German composer who was a significant musical figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western music and will in my mind be one of the most famous and influential of all composers.
It is extroadinary that his best and later works were composed when he was practically deaf.
Mozart (memorial grave as the exact location of his bones in the grounds are not known). Schubert, Brahms and Strauss along with other important historical figures are also buried along side each other in this group of significant historical figures. The Zentralfriedhof cemetry is located south east of the city of Vienna via a half hour tram ride no 71. Get off at tram stop Tor-2 on the east side of the grounds and walk a few minutes up the main path. This particular group 32A is on your left and Beethoven is grave 29 in the group.
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