Pastries for lunch, who cares?

That was the motto of last weekend's trip to Prague.  Shannon and I got up early last Friday morning to catch our student bus from Vienna to Prague.  Thank goodness we left an hour and a half early because it took us an hour to find the bus stop.....apparently in Vienna they label bus stops on the street side of the stop instead of the sidewalk side.  That was really scary for a moment.  In any case, though, we found the bus and were whisked five hours northwest to Prague, where the wonderful Elizabeth was waiting for us!  Elizabeth is a Dartmouth '10 who is currently spending the year in Prague.  She was the DSO manager last year and is also from Pittsburgh, and it was great to see her again!  After dropping our stuff off at her flat, we visited....yes you guessed it....a bakery!  We sat, ate wonderful cake, and caught up.  Then we walked around Prague a little bit, in the center of the Old Town.  The classic Easter Markets were set up, and it was great to see Prague at such a vibrant time.  Then we went to a restaurant for a classic Czech dinner...which looks absolutely disgusting, I know.  But I swear it was delicious!  It was Svíčková -  beef in this slightly sweet brown sauce served with sour cream, cranberries, and bread dumplings to soak up the sauce.

The next day, Elizabeth had a rehearsal for a Czech folk music group, and Shannon and I got to observe.  It was so exciting to see and hear these folk melodies being played, something especially incredible since they use no music.  It's all by ear!  Then they combined the music with dancers and singers, and it became quite an interesting thing to watch.  After rehearsal, we went off to a farmer's market for lunch.  We had intended on getting sausages, but the person in front of us in line bought the last ones, so we took that as a sign that we were only supposed to eat baked goods.  And so we did (we all had an apple though).  After that, we walked around the city a bit more, and we headed to...yes....another bakery for the best větrníky in the city, and boy were they amazing.  Kind of like a cream puff dough filled with two types of custard and glazed with a caramel.  Absolutely delicious.  We ate our pastries on top of a hill overlooking the city, and then we walked around the hill.  A castle used to be built up there, and now there are lots of graves, and we got to pay our respects to dear old Dvorak and Smetana (right in front of the Moldau, no less!).


By this point, we were really craving vegetables, so we walked down the mountain and through the city and ate dinner at a great vegetarian place.  Afterwards, we sat and talked some more, and then it was time to take our midnight bus back to Vienna.  It was sad to say goodbye to Elizabeth, but hopefully she can come and visit us in a few weeks.


Back in Vienna, we headed to our one and only Vienna Philharmonic concert of the term - absolutely incredible.  This past week has been fairly uneventful.  We saw two operas (Dialogues des Carmélites by Poulenc and Gounod's Faust - the Poulenc opera was WONDERFUL.  if you ever have an opportunity to see it, make sure you go.)  Since it's Easter, the Vienna concerts have all been religious themed for the past week or so.  It's so interesting to see all the Christian repertoire come out!  And soon, we'll be back to the symphonies.


Yesterday was our first student recital.  I played the second movement of Brahms' second clarinet sonata....hopefully I can link to a YouTube video of the performance.


That's been about my week!  After last night's concert, we're officially on Easter Break until next Wednesday.  Shannon and I are departing for London in a few hours - we're going to visit a friend from Dartmouth who is interning there all term.  It should be great!  And then when we get back, my Dad is coming to visit Vienna!  He's tacking a visit onto the end of a business trip to Germany.  It will be great to see him.


Okay, picture time:

Easter Markets in Old Town Square

The Astronomical Clock....which was out of order

Svíčková

The two hamburger-like things are the větrníky.

All gone!

Dvorak

Smetana

Vltava!

Mmmmmmm vegetables.  And fizzy ginger lemonade.