The Vienna Opera Mosh Pit

Yesterday: caught a 8 am train to Fussen from Munich, a two hour train ride. From Fussen, its another 20 minutes by bus to the jumping off point for Castle Neuswanstein (or however its spelled). Like its Disneyland counterpart, it was packed with hordes of american and japanese tourists. Lines were phenomenal. We ended up walking there and forgoing an hour wait for the 35 minute interior tour. Got some really nice pictures from the bridge overlooking the castle, then hopped back on the bus, then the train back to Munich. Our gear we left at the hotel for the day, so we hopped off the train, ran back to the hotel, picked up our stuff, ran back to the train station and boarded a train within 15 minutes. That train departed less than 2 minutes later. It was the direct line to Vienna that we didnt even consider catching. Our luck on this trip has remained nothing short of spectacular.
On the train, we sat in a compartment with Peter, who turned out to be an international emerald trader, one of only 20 people worldwide licenced to do gem business in Colombia, where he packs a pistol. We meet a lot of interesting people on these trains.
Vienna is a lot like the other european cities we have visited so far, but its a much more musical town. This morning, we did laundry and played chess on big peices outside. This afternoon, we went to the Haus Der Music, a sort of science museum for the ear, with lots of interactive exhibits and stuff about Beethoven, Shubert, Mozart, etc. By far, the coolest room was a stereo room, an oval room pumping out 10,000 watts of music from 30 high end speakers, 7.1 surround sound, 2 woofers. It was incredible. The msst perfect stero system I have ever heard. Something to work for once I pay off this trip.
After the museum we walked to the state opera house and bought standing tickets to a Puccini opera that evening. They missed my flip flops, and I got in. Tickets were 3.50 euro. I dont remember the name of the opera, something like L----- M------, but it was the worst opera experiance I have ever had. At 3.50 these tickets were overpriced. When they say standign room, they mean, in the aisle, unless you arrive more than an hour before the show. I was kicked away from the side of a standing bar because it had already been 'claimed' with a scarf. I ultimately ended up with a decent view of the stage, almost in the exact middle, but literally in the back of the theater. There was not even room to move it was so packed.
The opera was really really really boring. The music was nothing special, despite being conducted by Ozawa. It opened with a bunch of ladies looking at windows. The most exciting thing that happened in the first 45 minutes was that someones car was stolen. Not even violenty. As far as I could tell, what I saw was that one guy asked a girl to elope with him in a stolen car. I left after the curtain fell on the scene. First rate opera company, Fourth rate Puccini, Tenth rate 'seats'. We found a cafe on a city street and had a snack as we watched the sun set on the hapsburg palaces.
We are planning on hitting Budapest next, just 19 euros from here, and off the eurail pass.