{"id":807,"date":"2026-02-01T05:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/?p=807"},"modified":"2026-01-31T17:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T17:40:28","slug":"ilona-cole-guest-author-story-195","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/ilona-cole-guest-author-story-195\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilona Cole, Guest Author, Story 195"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vienna 1999: Johann<\/strong> Strauss Gala Concert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My husband, Hal and I, Ilona had plans to fly to Germany in\u00a0mid May\u00a0to celebrate my birthday. My beloved sister, Friedl and her husband,\u00a0Georg\u00a0had\u00a0purchased\u00a0tickets for my\u00a0Birthday to a Johann Strauss Gala Concert in Vienna. It will be an exciting evening, guest conductor Zubin Mehta outdoors at the Helden Platz “Heroes Plaza”. Guest performers Jos\u00e9\u00a0Carreras, tenor and Andrea Rost, soprano. On both sides of this large building were two TV\u00a0screens\u00a0so the spectators in the far back on this vast grassy area were able to see the orchestra and\u00a0performance\u00a0on the outdoor stage. This extensive, half round building has high above large statues of horses and riders, very stunning and\u00a0majestic.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One can see art and enormous, beautiful buildings and spectacular statues throughout Vienna, an old and most beautiful city in Austria.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old, elegant Cafe’s and restaurants like the well known Cafe Sacher in the Sacher Hotel.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another special place to secure tickets for is the Hofburg, the home and the arena for the World famous Lippizaner horses, the beautiful, white stallions.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This evening’s performance will bring waltzes, polkas and marches, like during their televised New Years concerts every year we always watched and did not tire of. Not the music. Not the orchestra.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first piece of the orchestra was, Wiener Blut (Vienna blood) followed by Die Fledermaus (the bat). Then came in a great tempo a Csardas, the type of dance. The beautiful Loreley song, from a beautiful saga by the Rhine River about a maiden, calling out to her lover as ships past. A catching polka followed about a Nachtigal (nightingale) and love, sung in duet by Jos\u00e9 Carreras and Andrea Rost, beautiful and touching.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concert finished, like always, with a catchy march, The Radetsky March. Just to name a few pieces for this outstanding and exciting evening at the Heroe’s Plaza in Vienna. A feast for the heart and soul, an evening not ever to forget.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent a night at the Sacher Hotel, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner; a beautiful prime rib with a dark, shiny sauce made with a fine Bordeaux wine in it, green asparagus and little potato balls, served right by our table with a fine, matured Bordeaux and for dessert we had the famous “Sacher Torte”. We had a good night’s rest and the following day we did some sight seeing in a carriage with beautiful horses throughout Vienna, the city and some beautiful parks, before we went on the bullet train back to Germany. We all four had a wonderful two-week visit together, with our favorite food, especially Friedl’s desserts, good conversation and lots of love.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great birthday gift, a warm and loving visit in this beginning of summer 1999. To be thankful, grateful and happy to my beloved Friedl and husband Georg. Never to forget.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vienna 1999: Johann Strauss Gala Concert My husband, Hal and I, Ilona had plans to fly to Germany in\u00a0mid May\u00a0to celebrate my birthday. My beloved sister, Friedl and her husband,\u00a0Georg\u00a0had\u00a0purchased\u00a0tickets for my\u00a0Birthday to a Johann Strauss Gala Concert in Vienna. It will be an exciting evening, guest conductor Zubin Mehta outdoors at the Helden Platz … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Ilona Cole, Guest Author, Story 195”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811,"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcielsims.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}