2024 - Vienna - New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve in Vienna is something truly special, as here waltzes are danced – and outside!

The city traditionally offers a New Year's Eve Mile, where live music is played on various stages starting at 2 PM. Dance instructors demonstrate the correct waltzing steps, and afterwards, both Viennese locals and numerous tourists join in. Among the visitors are many Italians, Americans, and Germans as well. Of course, we joined in the dancing too, although it did get a bit too cold for us at some point.

Besides, we had tickets for a New Year's event at the Danube Tower anyway. Before enjoying a splendid dinner served there, we experienced a charming live concert featuring waltz melodies, masterfully played on the violin. Right on time at midnight, as the new year began, the Danube Waltz echoed – of course! – the unofficial anthem of Vienna and Austria. A special moment that also marks the beginning of the Johann Strauss Son Year 2025, celebrating his 200th birthday.

As you can see, we indulged in all the Viennese clichés – and enjoyed them to the fullest!

And it even continued further: On January 1, 2025, we had the opportunity to be part of a prestigious New Year's concert at the Minoritenkirche. The Les Orpheistes orchestra performed under the direction of Mario Hossen. The program? Naturally, works by Fritz Kreisler and Johann Strauss Son.

In line with this, we also visited the excellent “Johann Strauss New Dimensions” exhibition, to which I’ll link a separate post here:

https://vakantio.de/reisetante/2024-wien-johann-strauss-new-dimensions-ausstellung-0

So inspired by Strauss and the waltz, we should definitely return. The year 2025 has just begun...