Mind the Gap, Please!

So I am going to begin this blog post the same way that I have began the past few.....apologizing for the lengthy delay!  Tons has happened since I last posted - in fact, I have been in four countries since that last post - so let's get started!

During our travel break over the Easter weekend, Shannon and I traveled to London to visit Rachel, a friend from Dartmouth interning there this term.  But unfortunately we had to fly there through the Bratislava International Airport.....simply put, my favorite thing in Bratislava was the duty free shop and the Haribo gummy candies sold there.  In any case, we finally got to London.  Over the next few days we wandered around the city.  We toured Westminster Abbey, the British Library, and the British Museum (where we saw the Rosetta Stone).  We visited Platform 9 3/4 (which was unfortunately under construction, but at least something was still there), toured a house where Charles Dickens lived, and saw the Tower of London (where we saw the Crown Jewels, the armor of King Henry VIII, and the spot where Anne Boleyn got the chop).  Other than that, we walked around the city and took in all London had to offer.  Food wise: Great Indian food?  Check.  Traditional Fish and Chips?  Check.  Pastries?  Check.  English High Tea?  Check.

Sadly, there were no tickets available for Hamlet at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre....

Pure glee.  Enough said.

This is on all the street crossings so tourists don't get run over.

Rosetta Stone

Mmmmmmm.....the chocolate mousse in the middle was divine.

Fish, chips, and mushy peas!

"The perfect Sunday roast served with lashings of gravy!"

221b Baker Street - Home of Sherlock Holmes

High Tea: I am now a HUGE fan of scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam :)

Westminster Abbey isn't so well equipped for the wiring needed to broadcast the Royal Wedding...

Armor of King Henry VIII

We had to......

Changing of the guard at the Tower of London

We arrived back in Vienna late last Tuesday night, and on Thursday Dad came to visit!  He was in Germany on a business trip and decided stop by Vienna on his way home.  It was really, really great to see him, and even though he was only here 24 hours or so, we got an opportunity to walk around a lot of the city.  We had some gelato, went into Stephansdom Cathedral in the center of town, and generally had a good time.  It was definitely sad to say goodbye and made me more excited for whenever I get to come back here with my whole family.

With the State Opera in the background.....I think Dad was talking....

Then, this past weekend, our whole FSP took a trip back to Prague, something that Shannon and I were really looking forward to since we so enjoyed the city the last time we were there.  We made a point to find that wonderful bakery again and buy větrníky (those wonderful pillow doughnut things).  The Easter Markets were still set up and we even managed to find our way back to the vegetarian restaurant, taking some of our FSP-mates there.  But we also explored many news places in Prague: we walked over the Charles Bridge, toured one of the largest Jewish ghettos in Europe, cruised the Vltava, saw Mozart's Don Giovanni in the original theatre in which it was performed (the production was very tacky, but it was cool nonetheless), and heard the Czech Philharmonic.  Apparently Prague is also known for its jazz scene, so we also visited two jazz clubs while there, which was a really cool experience (Bill Clinton played at one of them in 1994).  All in all, I really love Prague and the Czech Republic and would love to get back there someday.

Don Giovanni in its original theatre

A clock in the Jewish ghetto

A traditional Czech meal of honey-roasted duck, dumplings, and red cabbage.

And I think there hasn't been enough sugar in the blog post, so one more picture is necessary.  Until next time, cheerio!

Hugely rich hot chocolate and a "schokobombe" from Café Demel here in Vienna - this was just two hours ago, and I'm still in heaven!

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.

Tales of a Foodie

It has been 10 days since my last update.....too long, I must apologize.  Seeing as I have an endless quantity of pictures of delicious food, I thought that today's title was appropriate.  But first, a quick recap of what has happened since I last blogged.

Last weekend, we traveled to Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart.  After a three hour walking tour and a lecture on Mozart's history, we had some free time to explore the quaint town of Salzburg.  The next day, we got to be observers at the Salzburg Global Seminar, where experts from around the world gathered to talk about the latest research in neuroscience/music and the future of live performance.

Mozart's Birthplace

This was delicious....

At the Salzburg Global Seminar - the seminar was held in a castle where parts of The Sound of Music were filmed. 

Last week was a pretty typical week here on the FSP - class, concerts, and the like.  Last Tuesday we saw the ORF radio symphony play Jongen's Sinfonia Concertante for Organ and Orchestra and Janáček's Glagolitic Mass.  On Wednesday, our clarinet teacher here in Vienna took Shannon and I to a studio recital at the University of the Arts where we got to see students approximately our age perform.  It was amazing to see what 4 years in the studio of the principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic can do (and quite humbling, at that).  Then on Thursday we saw the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra perform Mahler 1.  The weekend was free.  I cooked dinner for the whole FSP, which was a great group event, and then Shannon and I went off to hear the Brahms clarinet quintet (voluntarily, surprisingly).  It was a great concert, and we ended up sitting in the front row, literally a foot away from the clarinetist.

On Sunday, Shannon, Shivani, and I traveled into the first district of Vienna to explore the Habsburg treasury.  Not only did we get to see all the crowns and robes of the Habsburgs, but we also saw their collections, including the crown of the Holy Roman emperor, Charlemagne's sword, the world's largest emerald, and a bowl cut from a single piece of agate that is said to be the Holy Grail.  And then we went for gelato (what else would we do?).

This week is similar to last week.  Last night we saw the St. John Passion at the Konzerthaus, and tonight we get to see Mahler 6.  Thursday is a day trip to Bratislava, and this coming weekend Shannon and I get to visit Elizabeth in Prague!  We're so excited to visit her!

In other news, the toilet in the guys' flat is finally fixed after being constantly clogged for two weeks.  Apparently there was construction debris in the pipes, and it was in no way our fault!

Okay, time for the requisite pictures:

My first, and probably not last, Sacher Torte.

Topfenstrudel (a sweet cheese is in the middle)

Spinach spaetzle with a leek cream sauce and melted cheese on top.....certainly not low fat, but quite delicious. 

Sausages and sauerkraut - the sauerkraut was sweet, quite different than I was expecting.

Visiting the largest apartment that Mozart inhabited in Vienna - approximately the same time as John and Winifred Neville lived at Woodville, for those of you who know what I'm talking about.  It was interesting comparing architecture and furniture trends.

Some sweet poppy seed filled pastry thing.

A crown!

The world's largest emerald, cut into a vessel.

Some cool gold three thing that the Habsburgs acquired in some conquest or something.....I've clearly remembered a lot.

Time Never Rests

Okay, so it has been way too long since my last blog post, and I apologize for that. Since arriving in Vienna and having our IES orientation last Saturday, we've gone nonstop with classes, concerts, day trips, tours, and music lessons, finally having some free time today.  Thus far, we've seen the following concerts:

Sunday: Strauss Elektra
Monday: Mahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"
Tuesday: Beethoven Symphony No. 2, Copland Clarinet Concerto, Shaw Clarinet Concerto, Ginastera Dances
Wednesday: Modern Chamber Music, since 1918
Thursday: Percussion in Concert

All of the concerts were extremely interesting and wonderful in their own special ways, and while some were certainly better than others, they were all great introductions to music in Vienna.

And now for some pictures (I still haven't bothered to take pictures of my flat....sorry....they'll come eventually).  We also discovered an incredible gelateria here in Vienna close to every concert venue and our classes, which hasn't really been good.  We've been twice since Monday!  I have pictures of the gelato somewhere....I'll dig those up for the next post.  Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them larger if you want to see more detail!

The Belevedere Palace in the 3rd District of Vienna

My first (and only to date) Wienerschnitzel - breaded, fried pork

The Vienna State Opera - the location of our first concert

Spices in the Naschmarkt (the open air market)

Viennese street food - a kasekrainer (colloquially termed a "pus finger") - pork sausage stuffed with cheese

The facade of the Musikverein

A blurry picture of inside the Musikverien - from Tuesday's concert

The Baroque Abbey church in Melk

A painted ceiling inside the Melk Abbey library that has only been cleaned once (just with water) since it was painted in the 18th Century.

Inside the Abbey Church

Dessert!

We hiked to the top of a mountain overlooking Dürnstein (a town in the Wachau Valley, an hour outside of Vienna).

Part of the group on top of the mountain - we climbed over ruins dating to 1142

Me on the climb down

Touring a Wachau Valley heurigen (winery)

Dinner at the Huber family heurigen

So that's about it for now.  Tomorrow we leave bright and early for a weekend in Salzburg (the birthplace of Mozart), and then come Monday we start the whole cycle of clarinet lessons, concerts, and class all over again!

What time is it?

Yesterday I arrived in Vienna.  The flight landed at approximately 8:20, and while in the process of picking up luggage and waiting for a taxi, Shannon and I saw five other people from our program - it was nice to see some familiar faces!  The taxi driver worked magic and packed three people's bags into the back of a car, and we went off to the IES Center, where we'll be having most of our classes (which, interestingly enough, is directly across the street from the Konservatorium).

We spent some time walking around the city and then had our orientation beginning at 2.  And then we moved into our apartments, which are absolutely beautiful!  Brand new insides, clean, great.  Pictures to come eventually.  Unpacked.  Bed.  Finally.

Now my major issue is that I have absolutely no idea what time it is here in Austria.  Yesterday we were 5 hours ahead of the United States.  But Austria switches to Daylight Savings Time later than the United States.  So just to add to our jet lag, we lost another hour.  I can't figure out what clocks changed and what clocks didn't change, and the fact that I fundamentally don't know what time it is here isn't helping things.  Hopefully I'll figure it out before I have to be somewhere at 9:30....

Until next time.

"Mom, we're almost done!"

Well, after spending my entire break shopping and packing, the departure date has arrived!  I leave early tomorrow for the airport and get to Vienna the next day.  After spending the past five days or so telling my mother that we're almost done packing, I'm just about ready to leave.  Here's a few photos and a video from the packing process.  Next time, it will be greetings from Austria!

Trying to pick ties was a problematic expedition....

Yes, the grand majority of this is coming with me!