Vienna, Austria will never be the same for us again.   For the past 12 years we have been participating in one of the most magnificent shows in Northern California, The Elk Grove Strauss Festival.  Dancing has been our great love for many years. With the Festival we have the opportunity to choreograph and teach some of the beautiful Viennese Waltz formation dances.    Each year we dance in the show held at the outdoor theater in the Elk Grove Park to a professional 32-piece orchestra playing polkas and waltzes written by members of the Strauss family. (Johann Strauss Jr., his brothers, Joseph and Edward as well as Johann  Strauss, the Father.) 

As we sat on the bank of the Blue Danube River, after having  visited the apartment where Johann Strauss Jr. actually lived for 15 years (and where he composed the waltz “An Der Schonen Blauen Donau”),  we contemplated the idea that we were now personally in touch with this great artist.  Oooh how we wished every dancer and every volunteer of the Strauss Festival could be with us now! The dream of Iris and Arnie Zimbelman would forever be etched in their hearts.  We actually walked where he walked, touched his piano and personally met his great niece.   This was a marvelous and touching experience for us. Our appreciation of the legacy Johann Strauss Jr. left has become personal to us now and our lives are truly enriched because of it.
 
Do you think he had any idea what a great legacy he would leave?

Many people that travel into Vienna and go to see the Danube River have commented that it is not blue.  It actually looks brown.   The legend of the Danube is that if you see the water as blue, you are in love. The day we were there the sun was out and the small ripples caused by the passing boats caused the water to dance in the sunlight and reflect the "blue" color into our eyes.  We do believe the legend now.

Thanks to connections set up by Dr. Jose Ramirez (2004 Strauss Festival co-chair) through his friend Dr. Robert Budiman we met Professor Kurt Freimuller  in Vienna.  Professor Freimuller set up the most fantastic meeting of our lives.  We met with Prof. Mag. Peter Widholz who brought with him Frau Hedwig Aigner-Strauss.  She is the great granddaughter of  Johann’s brother, Joseph Strauss.  They were the most wonderful people and spent a lot of time with us in the Stadt Park.  We were able to take some photos with them next to the Johann Strauss Jr. Statue and explain to them how Johann is honored by the City of Elk Grove through the Strauss Festival.  Their faces just lit up as they saw the photos from our laptop computer.  They were so excited that there was a show of this magnitude in California.  We plan to send them more information and keep them informed about this beautiful show.
Why will Vienna be different for us now?  This year most of the month of April was spent in the Italian Alps of Northern Italy with Popi’s family, who live in the Meran area of South Tyrol.   To top off this great adventure we were able to spend 5 days in Vienna, Austria (the birth place of Johann Strauss Jr). 

Some great relationships were established with the “Johann Strauss – Gesellschaft Wien” (The Johann Strauss Society Vienna) and we became members of this worldwide organization to honor our beloved Strauss.   We just cannot thank Professor Widholz (General Secretary of the Strauss Society) and Frau Hedwig Aigner-Strauss enough for the gracious and meaningful  reception they gave us.   It was truly a trip we will never forget.

Thanks to connections set up by Dr. Jose Ramirez (2004 Strauss Festival co-chair) through his friend Dr. Robert Budiman we met Professor Kurt Freimuller  in Vienna. 
 
Professor Kurt Freimuller teaches at the University in Vienna and is a very good friend of Dr. Budiman here in Sacramento.   He was gracious enough to meet with us at the Regina Hotel, where we were staying, and offer to arrange a meeting for us with the local Strauss Society.  We told him of the Strauss Festival in Elk Grove and were able to show him some photos from the laptop computer.  He was not aware of the magnificant event taking place in California.  After seeing the photos he was anxious to help us meet with the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna the next day. 
 
We were so very surprised and happy to meet Professor Mag. Peter Widholz and he had with him the great grand daughter of Josef Strauss, Frau Hedwig Aigner-Strauss.  At 81 years old she is very active and came all the way to the Stadt Park in the middle of Vienna to meet with us at the Statue of Johann Strauss.   We spent some time talking to them about the Strauss Festival and all the things going on in California to keep the music of the Strauss Family alive.   They were so impressed with the show and admired the passion we had for this great artist.  
 
They exchanged ideas with us and told us all about the Society they have here in Vienna.  One of the main purposes of the Society is to gather in all of the music written by the Strauss Family and make this music,  virtually unknown to the public, available to the world.   Professor Widholz told us that he could help get the music for "Eile Mit Weile" (a polka by Josef Strauss).  We have looked in every shop we know of and contacted every music store on the internet and they all told us that this music was not in print.   The short version is that we now have the full orchestra score, just 3 weeks after we got home.  They really do what they say they can.  We are so pleased with all they have done for us.
 
While we were in Vienna we spent some time in the Society office and submitted our membership application.  We are now among the 700 plus current members throughout the world and look forward to keeping in touch with our new friends in Vienna.