State Opera House, Vienna, Austria. Even to this day, this is the epicenter of social life in Vienna, and one of the world's premier performance venues. Craning our necks upwards and back from the center floor seats, we spy the balcony of the president's box, where countless luminaries have enjoyed a plush evening of operatic bliss.

While the building's facade, outside walls and grand staircase are original, and date back to 1869, the bombs of WW II destroyed the interior in 1945 -- what you see here is a reconstruction from 1955, very fine, though not quite as opulent as the original.