going places
IN PERFECT HARMONY
DANUBE CRUISE/ROAD TRIP
What could be more relaxing than sailing down the Danube, through four very different countries, accompanied by the music of Mozart and Strauss? C)
by LESLEY BELLEW
Musical maestro johann Strauss Monument in Vienna
We are stamping our feet - while clapping louder and louder - to the Radetzky March in the concert hall in Vienna where Johann Strauss once directed his orchestra. It's a magical evening in a chandelier-lit room and just one of the highlights on a music-themed 'Melodies of the Danube' cruise from Budapest to Munich.
The occasion has been made extra special by the variety of singers and ballet dancers, whose performances complement the waltzes and polkas led by Udo Zwolfer, the Vienna Music Academytrained concertmaster. And, just like Strauss, he leads musicians from the best Viennese orchestras in his position as first violinist.
During the interval we enjoy a glass of bubbly on the Grand Terrace, overlooking City Park, in the city where composers Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Mahler and the Strauss dynasty once lived.