The ball season begins New Year’s Eve and stretches through Easter. Its history goes back at least 400 years, and the tradition is alive and well today. Besides the larger balls where debutantes make their curtsies, every association, large and small, has its own ball: the Medical Ball, the Legal Ball, the Coffee House Owners’ Ball, and on down through the humbler trades like plumbing and pipefitting. Some lucky little girl will be wearing this dress in a glorious swirl of color and movement, maybe in the Hofburg or the Rathaus.

Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum

I’m awed by the grand surroundings of Vienna’s museums, built during the height of the empire and stuffed with treasures. I can only imagine sweeping down a grand staircase in a long rustling gown, maybe with a camellia in my hair.

Will I attend a ball?  Hmm, I’d have to travel to Vienna in January or later.  And I’d have to take a crash course in waltzing.  Maybe…

Join me next time for more explorations in the art and history of Europe!