Still exploring viola...! I LOVE it ! This viola's tone melts my heart !

I think violas are quite underrated in the Strings world ! 

This is a 15.5" viola.  I just bought it - very used, scratches and dents, tattered old strings - from a local amateur violist.  He said he had learned on this 15.5", but now he plays a "real viola" of 18 inch.  For me, this 15.5" viola is a stretch (physically and musically).  I went from exploring a 3/4 size violin (my kid's violin), to a 4/4 size violin, (back down) to a 13.5" size viola (my kid's viola), and now to a 15.5" viola!  My arms are just long enough for a 15.5" viola, but, gees, it's so much more heavy than a 4/4 violin!  Viola bow strokes are more difficult to manage, too!

I never intended to learn viola (nor even violin).  Growing up, I only dreamed of learning piano, which I am still learning.  Somehow, in the recent few years, watching my kid learn during her violin lessons got me hooked up with the violin's sounds.  Then, as this year has marched on, with all the stress in this pandemic time, the sounds of a viola suddenly become more appealing as well.  I also love the sounds of a cello, but it is too big for me physically.  NO, I will not be bewitched by a cello to explore it!  Enough is enough !