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!

The Beginning

The adventure begins!  Finals ended for me on Sunday (for better or for worse, 2011 Winter Term is finally over), and the only thing that stands between me and Austria is about a week and a half.  And moving out of my room, but that's only a tiny detail.  Oh, and the unknown detail of where we're living once we arrive in Vienna.

But plane tickets are purchased, packing has begun, and in less than two weeks I will be updating from a (hopefully) beautiful flat in Wien!  More to come.