I've been watching the moon an venus from here nightly.
Not keeping up on my astronomy while here in Germany. I wondered what the bright star was next to the Moon on Wednesday but I forgot to look it up. Nice to know.
It's been spectacular here also ... leaves you breathless.
We had one cloudless evening a few nights ago and I caught it through the trees. The moon was a very thin crescent. Sadly for me, it reminded me of a configuration before sunrise shortly after the attack of 9/11/01. I was living in NYC at that time and I remember remarking to a buddy, "I hope that's not a 'sign'."
Sorry if I'm being a bit of a downer, but I just can't seem to shake the impotent rage I still feel over the attack. Prolly take it to my grave.