Vienna

Tuesday night was my last concert in Europe. I stayed up most of the night celebrating with the orchestra and conductor after our (and my personal favorite) concert. The first half of the concert was the final round of the Meistersinger Competition. Every singer was on fire that evening. Singer after singer brought everything they had to the stage. It was an emotional roller coaster you didn't want to miss. While the judges left to decide the winners, we continued with the concert performing Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin. The rehearsals, the attention to detail, the gentle but pulling expectation for unified mastery, and above all the energy made this my favorite concert here. It's rare to have a time of work seem so exciting. The conductor was amazing, and while I could wish and hope that I'll play with him again, instead I'll do my best to hang on to his energy for music that was so captivating.
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Well, I've arrived safely back in the States and am currently in Atlanta trying to put down a few thoughts from my last trip. Wednesday morning I got up at 5:30 (I had only gotten to bed only 2 hours before) to catch the train to Vienna. I've spent 5 1/2 weeks in Europe, over half of it in Austria, and I hadn't yet gotten over to Vienna. I felt like that would be a mistake to miss.

The trams to the train station were spaced out more than I expected in the morning and I wound up actually missing the train that I wanted to catch. So, I chilled out by myself for an hour and had some Schokoschnecke for breakfast at the train station. Which by the way, this is by far my favorite Austrian dessert pastry I've come across. If you haven't tried one yet, do it.

I arrived in Vienna around 10:00. I got off the train and for a moment I almost panicked. I had specifically chosen to do this trip solo. And, for a second almost wished I hadn't. There's a lot of comfort being able to cross check your decisions with another person. Like"I think it's over here. Uh, no, it's this way." Alone, you kind of have to just go for it.

First I went to the information center and got a map. Which, by the way, was one of the most frustrating maps I've dealt with yet. There's no way to look at the thing without looking like a complete tourist. Particularly as you're having to shuffling it front to back constantly to figure out where you want to go and what metro line you should take. With my quickly growing travel expertise, I give it a 3 out of 10 for travel friendliness.

First thing I went to was St. Stephens Cathedral. It was beautiful and huge. Knowing the connection between Budapest and Vienna, it was hard not to compare their churches. So far I think I like St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest better. I know they're obviously very different, but Vienna's didn't seem to be as well taken care of, or as pristine.

After St. Stephen's, I then found the Mozarthause which was conveniently just around the corner. That was really cool. While he was living there, he wrote the Marriage of Figaro. For a while it was known as the Figaro Hause. I was taking pictures during the tour and came across a paper with Mozart's signature next to his father's. I'm trying desperately to take a non-blurry picture when this man sneaks up on the side of me and whispers  in my ear "I'm watching you." I look at him shocked/horrified, trying to decide how the heck am I supposed to respond to that? Then he points to the video cameras in the corner and shaking his finger at me says, "no pictures".  Good golly, that was a creepy way to say "please, stop."

I only had a limited time as I had to catch the 8 pm train back to Graz. So, after the tour I quickly grab a bite to eat at a cafe. I order something that's described a meat filled pancake. It winds up looking and tasting like a Goulash filled Crepe. Very tasty.  

After lunch I head over to the Opera house to catch one of the last tours for the day. It was very beautiful. And very big, I might add. Again, I couldn't help but compare the opera house to Budapest's. While I think I would rather perform in Vienna's, I would definitely rather attend Budapest's. Vienna's was bigger, but Budapest's was far prettier in my opinion. No wonder the Emperor was pissed when he went to the opening performance. He told Hungary they couldn't build their opera house bigger than Vienna's but he forgot to say it couldn't be more beautiful.

After the tour, I took my friend's advice and found a dessert cafe across the street from the Opera house. Mt friend says most opera houses have really fine dessert places near them. I stopped at a place and they didn't have much. But, I went against my gut to keep looking, and ordered something anyway. The dessert wasn't great. I should have listened to myself and tried to find another place, but oh well.

After cake, I went walking around seeing various churches and statues. I really enjoyed this part because I could walk or stay and take pictures at my leisure. As a result, I was pleased with a number of shots that came out. But, there were a lot of horse drawn carriages everywhere, I had to be careful to pay attention and not get run over. Can't be too leisurely in the middle of the street...

Well, after missing my intended morning train, I made sure to get to the train station super early. I was pretty exhausted since I didn't get much sleep. And, I still had packing to look forward to when I got back to the dorm.

Well, at this point, I think this is my last post about my summer in Europe. Thanks to everyone who has followed my posts and continued to read. It's been fun sharing, and I hope you've enjoyed reading.