Vienna Update
Please stay tuned for photos (to be added when I have time) in album three (maybe stretched to a fourth album also) of Carmen at the Volksoper, the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava, and the Ball der Offiziere!
EDIT - Photos are added!
Photo album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016214&l=eb88e&id=59203348
Photo album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016219&l=a02d9&id=59203348
Photo album 3: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016419&l=a798e&id=59203348
Photo album 4: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016640&l=8f1d6&id=59203348
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
10:23 pm/22.23 Sunday, Jan 14, 2007
This journal entry is going to be a little bit shorter than my previous one, because a lot less happened today. This morning, Diana, Cassie, Rachel, Kristen, and I tried to go to the Stateroom of the National Library at the Hofburg, but we got a little lost on the way there and by the time we arrived we didn’t have enough time to take the tour, so we just turned around and went back to the hotel. One of these days, I swear, I will go to that library. Ever since I saw a picture of it in the guidebook, I’ve been drooling incessantly at the mere thought.
This afternoon was incredibly dull for me, because I stayed at the hotel while most of the group went to a Spa in Oberlaa for a two hour soak in thermal water. I would have gone, but I forgot my bathing suit, and I don’t like public swimming areas enough to go buy one. Also, given the sexually-charged nature of this city (the abundant lingerie shops, sex shops, and naughty advertisements), I don’t think I would even be able to find a suit that I would want to wear, let alone one that I could afford since everything in Vienna is so expensive. It turned out alright though, because I got a 10 Euro reimbursement for the cost of the Spa. Instead, I spent my afternoon reading some more of Les Misérables.
At 5, I met up with the others who skipped the Spa, and we took the U-bahn down to Reumannsgasse, hopped a tram to Oberlaa, and intercepted the main group on their way to a heurige, where we ate dinner. A heurige is a restaurant-type establishment that serves this year’s harvest (is that the word? I don’t know) of wine. To get a better sense of the culture, I actually tried a sip of wine - it wasn’t that great. Aside from the pleasant warm feeling as it went down the throat, it was downright nasty. Anyways, at least now I can say I had special wine at a heurige in Vienna, Austria.
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
8:58 pm/20.58 Tuesday, Jan 16, 2007
I apologize for not writing a journal entry yesterday, but nothing much happened of interest. Thank goodness today was different!
The morning was fairly uneventful. I ate an entire Milka bar during the break in the morning rehearsal. The situation is becoming far from uncommon - I’m almost afraid that it is going to be incredibly difficult going back to not consuming massive amounts of European chocolate every single day!
I planned on going to the National Library today… my plans almost didn’t come to reality. Our lecture with Dr. Strauss ran quite a bit late, leaving us only about twenty minutes to run to the library before it closed the entrance! Diana and Rachel decided not to go because it might possible encroach upon dinnertime, but Gretchen and I decided to go anyways. She and I hurried as quickly as we could to the U-bahn station and jumped over to Herrengasse where we rushed down the street to arrive at Josefplatz, which houses the entrance to the State Room of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
We walked inside.
After seeing this library… I think I can die happy.
It is without a doubt the most beautiful library I’ve ever seen! Dark wood bookcases, marble statues, a breathtaking painted ceiling, grand lofts, volumes upon volumes of aged books. According to the brochure I picked up, the National Library houses about 200,000 books printed between the years 1501 and 1850. Woah! They had several on display that were even older. In addition, to my utmost delight, it was not forbidden to take pictures, so I snapped happily away. It reminded me so much of the library from Beauty and the Beast. There was so much character to it. I found several wooden ladders stretching up to the top shelves (however, I do not think they rolled), as well as bookcases that were actually doors that swung upon to reveal secret passages. Unfortunately, most everything was blocked off by a simple velvet cord, but leaving several books within arms reach just to torment me. I actually asked one of the security guards if there was anything I was allowed to touch, but he just laughed and said no. I seriously considered asking him if he could hold one of the books open for me; I would not touch it, I just wanted to lean over and get a good inhale of the beautiful fragrance of old paper. I have no idea how that proposition would have gone over if I had worked up the courage to ask. He didn’t seem to speak too much English, so I doubt I would have been able to make clear my desire. Sniffing antique books is not a very normal thing, I’m afraid.
We got back with only fifteen minutes to spare before running to the Haus der Begegnung for a lesson in Viennese Waltzing. Eurika was there, to everyone’s delight, as well as a man who was apparently hired as an expert in the Viennese Waltz. I thought I would be okay, since I had a basic understanding of the traditional waltz step, but the Viennese Waltz is entirely different. It is not very complicated, but it isn’t very forgiving for those of us who are not gifted with gracefulness. The entire lesson seemed like an awkward comedy skit, with people stepping on each others’ toes and crashing in four or five pair pileups. I had a lot more fun watching people than actually dancing. The dancing made me a little bit uncomfortable for several reasons. For one, I’m not exactly the most coordinated or graceful person. Also, The Viennese Waltz is an incredibly intimate dance (the instructor kept getting frustrated because for some reason, people were uncomfortable with dancing so close to their partners that their hips were touching), and there aren’t exactly many guys in the orchestra with whom I feel quite that comfortable. Anyways, it was amusing to watch, and I got a couple good pictures!
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
10:31 pm/22.31 Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007
Good grief, this last week is zipping by so quickly! It’s Wednesday already, I can’t believe it.
This evening, the entire orchestra went as a group to the Volksoper to see a performance of Carmen. It was such an amazing experience - not just the performance itself, but an incident that we witness on the way there. Right as we were going down the escalators in the Neubaugasse U-bahn station, a huge group of political protesters marched up the stairs in the opposite direction, chanting wildly and waving giant red flags. They urged people around them to take up the chant, and many random people throughout the station joined in. I wish I knew what they were saying, or understood more about the political situation in Vienna right now. I do know that there is a little bit of unrest, because of a recent election or appointment. Anyways, it was extremely interesting to watch, especially since the parade was trailed by a gaggle of about eight Polizei. Yikes!
The opera itself was very entertaining. I swear, I’m going to have some of that music stuck in my head for days! Unfortunately, unlike the Staatsoper, this opera house did not have nifty translation screens, so I had to rely on the action, the mood of the music, and the mini-synopsis in my purchased program in order to understand what was going on. Diana, along with many others, was upset because they performed the opera in German, instead of the original French which apparently is a lot more beautiful. I wouldn’t know, since I’d never seen Carmen performed before in German, French, English, Dutch, Elvish, or Klingon, so it was amazing to me anyways. The first half was a little bit irritating, only because the people who sat behind me would not shut up! There was enough extra noise to deal with anyways, because every 5 minutes or so one could feel and hear a faint rumble of the U-bahn running underneath the theater. Although, the U-bahn was a lot less irritating that chatting, giggling whispers. I suppose there are rude people in other countries besides the US as well. Ah well. There was a row of empty seats in the front of the balcony, so after the intermission, a whole group of LCSO members edged out way up to sneak into the closer seats. In our new position, we had a fabulous view of the orchestra pit, which was most exciting for us orch dorks.
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
10:38 pm/22.38 Thursday, Jan 18, 2007
I’m going to try to be as coherent as possible. I’m extremely exhausted, for it has been a very long and complicated day. I’ve barely had a moment to breathe since 6:30 this morning!
After the regular morning rehearsal schedule, we (the strings half of the orchestra) went directly to the Upper Belvedere Palace, the former abode of Prince Eugene of Savoy, now a museum for Viennese art. Our great friend Eurika took us on a tour through the palace, giving us vast amounts of information at every single painting. Honestly, that woman is a wealth of knowledge! We saw Gustav Klimt’s famous painting, The Kiss. To be perfectly honest, when I first saw the painting, it did not occur to me that the two people pictured were kissing. Because of the weird modern-art-angle of the woman’s head, it looked like her neck was broken, and since the man’s hands were gripping her chin and jaw, I could only assume that I was witnessing a murder and that he was snapping her neck. I don’t think I’m ever going to fully understand modern art. I’m sure it’s portraying something extraordinarily profound, but I just don’t “get” it.
Anyways, the bus picked us up from the Upper Belvedere and took us on a half hour’s drive to Slovakia, where we went to a concert of the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava. From what the directors told us, I was expecting the border to be much more difficult to cross, especially because it used to be the Iron Curtain border not too long ago, but we were able to pass through almost without stopping at all. We had a little bit of time to spare before the concert started, but nobody really felt up to wandering too far, since Bratislava is not quite as safe a city as Vienna.
The concert was fantastic! The musicians in Europe are so enthusiastic about their profession. The concertmaster was out of control (I can’t believe he never dropped his violin in all of that dancing, jiving, and jerking) and near the end of the concert, the conductor was literally jumping several inches off the ground with every swing of the baton. Because I was unable to purchase a program (they didn’t accept Euros and I didn’t have any of the local currency), I’m afraid I don’t know exactly what pieces they played. There were works from Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky, I think. Halfway through the second piece, I suddenly realized that I was imagining notes before they were played. For a while, I assumed that it was just predictable music, but soon my predictions were becoming eerily accurate. I finally realized that I knew the piece extremely well, because I had played it before in the LB Symphony - Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy! That was a nice surprise. It was extremely well performed, and the audience loved it. While everyone was clapping, the rest of the people in the auditorium started clapping in unison. It was strange, and none of the Luther people seemed to know what it meant or whether they should join in. To tell the truth, I still haven’t figured out exactly what that specific protocol meant, but I remember overhearing Eurika jokingly telling Dr. Baldwin, “They clap like that because they are so accustomed to marching.”
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
1:52 am/1.52 Saturday, Jan 20, 2007
How very interesting; I almost wrote “Friday” instead of Saturday, but it has indeed become the wee hours of the morning, hasn’t it? I’m going to keep this as short and sweet as I can, because I am quickly crashing.
I wouldn’t be quite as tired as I am if it weren’t for the mix-up this afternoon. Because I am on luggage crew, I had to stick around the Haus der Begegnung after our final rehearsal there in order to load the instruments onto a van that would transport them to the Hotel Kummer for storage. There was one problem with that plan.
The van never showed up.
Eurika and Jennifer Self phoned for about 45 minutes, trying to get a hold of the company. Finally, the company sent another vehicle. Another 30 minutes later, the vehicle shows up, only it is not a van but a passenger bus! The bus was coming the wrong way down the one way street, causing a huge commotion of traffic and honking cars. A few people actually jumped out of their cars to go scream at the bus driver. We were a bit worried that there was going to be a riot. Eventually, though, we got everything sorted out and got one load of instruments onto the bus. We were going to have to make several trips, because the bus didn’t have as much storage space as the van would have. However, after the first trip, the bus suddenly drove off, leaving the poor luggage crew (myself included) standing on the side of the road with four cello crates, two timpani, and three giant hard bass cases. After failing to procure another vehicle (preferably not another bus), we hauled the instruments by hand down Ottobaurgasse and Mariahilferstrasse, traveling several city blocks accompanied by the puzzled stares of passersby. It was quite a tiring experience!
Anyways, I ended up having about thirty minutes to relax before getting ready for the Ball der Offiziere, which was absolutely amazing! There were so many extremely gorgeous expensively-garbed people, it made me feel almost under-dressed. Because it was a ball specifically to honor the officers and soldiers, there were men in uniform everywhere. The ball actually spanned several rooms and corridors over a couple levels of the Hofburg, so for a while it was a little difficult to find my way around. The Symphony had four four-seat tables reserved in a back room for people to share and rest their tired feet or order a glass of water for 4 Euros(quenching thirst is expensive in Austria!). It also served as a good meeting place, to meet up with other Symphony members when it was so easy to get lost in the huge bustling crowds.
We arrived at the ball just in time for the opening ceremonies at 10:30/22.30. They lasted about an hour, but I was only able to see much of what was going on in the last fifteen minutes. It was so crowded, and in the effort to see over the mobs I became extremely acquainted with those packaged around in me in the very tight space. I was able to catch snippets of what was happening by handing my camera to my Saturday travel buddy Tyler, who was standing behind me. He was tall, and so was able to take pictures above the crowd’s heads so that I could look at the pictures and see what was happening. A lot of the proceedings were musical, so I could hear them just fine. At one point, a marching band came out and started playing jazzy tunes and well-known movie music. The very first thing they played was the Fellowship theme from The Lord of the Rings, which completely made my day.
Even though I had a fabulous time, I didn’t do much dancing. Pretty much the only dancing going on at the ball was male and female dancing, which is normally all well and good, but I didn’t really feel like I knew any of the Symphony guys well enough to feel comfortable waltzing with them. It didn’t really matter, because I had a fabulous time people-watching. Europeans dance so elegantly! I couldn’t help but be reminded of our blundering waltz lessons last Tuesday as I watched a huge hall full of people gracefully executing the Viennese Waltz with nary a slip. Later on, the conductor of the (live!) orchestra taught those on the dance floor how to line dance in a style that reminded me quite a bit of Pride and Prejudice. I must say, they picked it up far more quickly than would a group of Americans who often have trouble with extremely simple things like the box step or the Macarena.
Well, that wasn’t quite as short as I was originally planning, but I suppose the length ended up the sweeter. Now it is off to bed with me. Good night!
EDIT - Photos are added!
Photo album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016214&l=eb88e&id=59203348
Photo album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016219&l=a02d9&id=59203348
Photo album 3: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016419&l=a798e&id=59203348
Photo album 4: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016640&l=8f1d6&id=59203348
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
10:23 pm/22.23 Sunday, Jan 14, 2007
This journal entry is going to be a little bit shorter than my previous one, because a lot less happened today. This morning, Diana, Cassie, Rachel, Kristen, and I tried to go to the Stateroom of the National Library at the Hofburg, but we got a little lost on the way there and by the time we arrived we didn’t have enough time to take the tour, so we just turned around and went back to the hotel. One of these days, I swear, I will go to that library. Ever since I saw a picture of it in the guidebook, I’ve been drooling incessantly at the mere thought.
This afternoon was incredibly dull for me, because I stayed at the hotel while most of the group went to a Spa in Oberlaa for a two hour soak in thermal water. I would have gone, but I forgot my bathing suit, and I don’t like public swimming areas enough to go buy one. Also, given the sexually-charged nature of this city (the abundant lingerie shops, sex shops, and naughty advertisements), I don’t think I would even be able to find a suit that I would want to wear, let alone one that I could afford since everything in Vienna is so expensive. It turned out alright though, because I got a 10 Euro reimbursement for the cost of the Spa. Instead, I spent my afternoon reading some more of Les Misérables.
At 5, I met up with the others who skipped the Spa, and we took the U-bahn down to Reumannsgasse, hopped a tram to Oberlaa, and intercepted the main group on their way to a heurige, where we ate dinner. A heurige is a restaurant-type establishment that serves this year’s harvest (is that the word? I don’t know) of wine. To get a better sense of the culture, I actually tried a sip of wine - it wasn’t that great. Aside from the pleasant warm feeling as it went down the throat, it was downright nasty. Anyways, at least now I can say I had special wine at a heurige in Vienna, Austria.
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
8:58 pm/20.58 Tuesday, Jan 16, 2007
I apologize for not writing a journal entry yesterday, but nothing much happened of interest. Thank goodness today was different!
The morning was fairly uneventful. I ate an entire Milka bar during the break in the morning rehearsal. The situation is becoming far from uncommon - I’m almost afraid that it is going to be incredibly difficult going back to not consuming massive amounts of European chocolate every single day!
I planned on going to the National Library today… my plans almost didn’t come to reality. Our lecture with Dr. Strauss ran quite a bit late, leaving us only about twenty minutes to run to the library before it closed the entrance! Diana and Rachel decided not to go because it might possible encroach upon dinnertime, but Gretchen and I decided to go anyways. She and I hurried as quickly as we could to the U-bahn station and jumped over to Herrengasse where we rushed down the street to arrive at Josefplatz, which houses the entrance to the State Room of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
We walked inside.
After seeing this library… I think I can die happy.
It is without a doubt the most beautiful library I’ve ever seen! Dark wood bookcases, marble statues, a breathtaking painted ceiling, grand lofts, volumes upon volumes of aged books. According to the brochure I picked up, the National Library houses about 200,000 books printed between the years 1501 and 1850. Woah! They had several on display that were even older. In addition, to my utmost delight, it was not forbidden to take pictures, so I snapped happily away. It reminded me so much of the library from Beauty and the Beast. There was so much character to it. I found several wooden ladders stretching up to the top shelves (however, I do not think they rolled), as well as bookcases that were actually doors that swung upon to reveal secret passages. Unfortunately, most everything was blocked off by a simple velvet cord, but leaving several books within arms reach just to torment me. I actually asked one of the security guards if there was anything I was allowed to touch, but he just laughed and said no. I seriously considered asking him if he could hold one of the books open for me; I would not touch it, I just wanted to lean over and get a good inhale of the beautiful fragrance of old paper. I have no idea how that proposition would have gone over if I had worked up the courage to ask. He didn’t seem to speak too much English, so I doubt I would have been able to make clear my desire. Sniffing antique books is not a very normal thing, I’m afraid.
We got back with only fifteen minutes to spare before running to the Haus der Begegnung for a lesson in Viennese Waltzing. Eurika was there, to everyone’s delight, as well as a man who was apparently hired as an expert in the Viennese Waltz. I thought I would be okay, since I had a basic understanding of the traditional waltz step, but the Viennese Waltz is entirely different. It is not very complicated, but it isn’t very forgiving for those of us who are not gifted with gracefulness. The entire lesson seemed like an awkward comedy skit, with people stepping on each others’ toes and crashing in four or five pair pileups. I had a lot more fun watching people than actually dancing. The dancing made me a little bit uncomfortable for several reasons. For one, I’m not exactly the most coordinated or graceful person. Also, The Viennese Waltz is an incredibly intimate dance (the instructor kept getting frustrated because for some reason, people were uncomfortable with dancing so close to their partners that their hips were touching), and there aren’t exactly many guys in the orchestra with whom I feel quite that comfortable. Anyways, it was amusing to watch, and I got a couple good pictures!
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
10:31 pm/22.31 Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007
Good grief, this last week is zipping by so quickly! It’s Wednesday already, I can’t believe it.
This evening, the entire orchestra went as a group to the Volksoper to see a performance of Carmen. It was such an amazing experience - not just the performance itself, but an incident that we witness on the way there. Right as we were going down the escalators in the Neubaugasse U-bahn station, a huge group of political protesters marched up the stairs in the opposite direction, chanting wildly and waving giant red flags. They urged people around them to take up the chant, and many random people throughout the station joined in. I wish I knew what they were saying, or understood more about the political situation in Vienna right now. I do know that there is a little bit of unrest, because of a recent election or appointment. Anyways, it was extremely interesting to watch, especially since the parade was trailed by a gaggle of about eight Polizei. Yikes!
The opera itself was very entertaining. I swear, I’m going to have some of that music stuck in my head for days! Unfortunately, unlike the Staatsoper, this opera house did not have nifty translation screens, so I had to rely on the action, the mood of the music, and the mini-synopsis in my purchased program in order to understand what was going on. Diana, along with many others, was upset because they performed the opera in German, instead of the original French which apparently is a lot more beautiful. I wouldn’t know, since I’d never seen Carmen performed before in German, French, English, Dutch, Elvish, or Klingon, so it was amazing to me anyways. The first half was a little bit irritating, only because the people who sat behind me would not shut up! There was enough extra noise to deal with anyways, because every 5 minutes or so one could feel and hear a faint rumble of the U-bahn running underneath the theater. Although, the U-bahn was a lot less irritating that chatting, giggling whispers. I suppose there are rude people in other countries besides the US as well. Ah well. There was a row of empty seats in the front of the balcony, so after the intermission, a whole group of LCSO members edged out way up to sneak into the closer seats. In our new position, we had a fabulous view of the orchestra pit, which was most exciting for us orch dorks.
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
10:38 pm/22.38 Thursday, Jan 18, 2007
I’m going to try to be as coherent as possible. I’m extremely exhausted, for it has been a very long and complicated day. I’ve barely had a moment to breathe since 6:30 this morning!
After the regular morning rehearsal schedule, we (the strings half of the orchestra) went directly to the Upper Belvedere Palace, the former abode of Prince Eugene of Savoy, now a museum for Viennese art. Our great friend Eurika took us on a tour through the palace, giving us vast amounts of information at every single painting. Honestly, that woman is a wealth of knowledge! We saw Gustav Klimt’s famous painting, The Kiss. To be perfectly honest, when I first saw the painting, it did not occur to me that the two people pictured were kissing. Because of the weird modern-art-angle of the woman’s head, it looked like her neck was broken, and since the man’s hands were gripping her chin and jaw, I could only assume that I was witnessing a murder and that he was snapping her neck. I don’t think I’m ever going to fully understand modern art. I’m sure it’s portraying something extraordinarily profound, but I just don’t “get” it.
Anyways, the bus picked us up from the Upper Belvedere and took us on a half hour’s drive to Slovakia, where we went to a concert of the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava. From what the directors told us, I was expecting the border to be much more difficult to cross, especially because it used to be the Iron Curtain border not too long ago, but we were able to pass through almost without stopping at all. We had a little bit of time to spare before the concert started, but nobody really felt up to wandering too far, since Bratislava is not quite as safe a city as Vienna.
The concert was fantastic! The musicians in Europe are so enthusiastic about their profession. The concertmaster was out of control (I can’t believe he never dropped his violin in all of that dancing, jiving, and jerking) and near the end of the concert, the conductor was literally jumping several inches off the ground with every swing of the baton. Because I was unable to purchase a program (they didn’t accept Euros and I didn’t have any of the local currency), I’m afraid I don’t know exactly what pieces they played. There were works from Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky, I think. Halfway through the second piece, I suddenly realized that I was imagining notes before they were played. For a while, I assumed that it was just predictable music, but soon my predictions were becoming eerily accurate. I finally realized that I knew the piece extremely well, because I had played it before in the LB Symphony - Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy! That was a nice surprise. It was extremely well performed, and the audience loved it. While everyone was clapping, the rest of the people in the auditorium started clapping in unison. It was strange, and none of the Luther people seemed to know what it meant or whether they should join in. To tell the truth, I still haven’t figured out exactly what that specific protocol meant, but I remember overhearing Eurika jokingly telling Dr. Baldwin, “They clap like that because they are so accustomed to marching.”
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
1:52 am/1.52 Saturday, Jan 20, 2007
How very interesting; I almost wrote “Friday” instead of Saturday, but it has indeed become the wee hours of the morning, hasn’t it? I’m going to keep this as short and sweet as I can, because I am quickly crashing.
I wouldn’t be quite as tired as I am if it weren’t for the mix-up this afternoon. Because I am on luggage crew, I had to stick around the Haus der Begegnung after our final rehearsal there in order to load the instruments onto a van that would transport them to the Hotel Kummer for storage. There was one problem with that plan.
The van never showed up.
Eurika and Jennifer Self phoned for about 45 minutes, trying to get a hold of the company. Finally, the company sent another vehicle. Another 30 minutes later, the vehicle shows up, only it is not a van but a passenger bus! The bus was coming the wrong way down the one way street, causing a huge commotion of traffic and honking cars. A few people actually jumped out of their cars to go scream at the bus driver. We were a bit worried that there was going to be a riot. Eventually, though, we got everything sorted out and got one load of instruments onto the bus. We were going to have to make several trips, because the bus didn’t have as much storage space as the van would have. However, after the first trip, the bus suddenly drove off, leaving the poor luggage crew (myself included) standing on the side of the road with four cello crates, two timpani, and three giant hard bass cases. After failing to procure another vehicle (preferably not another bus), we hauled the instruments by hand down Ottobaurgasse and Mariahilferstrasse, traveling several city blocks accompanied by the puzzled stares of passersby. It was quite a tiring experience!
Anyways, I ended up having about thirty minutes to relax before getting ready for the Ball der Offiziere, which was absolutely amazing! There were so many extremely gorgeous expensively-garbed people, it made me feel almost under-dressed. Because it was a ball specifically to honor the officers and soldiers, there were men in uniform everywhere. The ball actually spanned several rooms and corridors over a couple levels of the Hofburg, so for a while it was a little difficult to find my way around. The Symphony had four four-seat tables reserved in a back room for people to share and rest their tired feet or order a glass of water for 4 Euros(quenching thirst is expensive in Austria!). It also served as a good meeting place, to meet up with other Symphony members when it was so easy to get lost in the huge bustling crowds.
We arrived at the ball just in time for the opening ceremonies at 10:30/22.30. They lasted about an hour, but I was only able to see much of what was going on in the last fifteen minutes. It was so crowded, and in the effort to see over the mobs I became extremely acquainted with those packaged around in me in the very tight space. I was able to catch snippets of what was happening by handing my camera to my Saturday travel buddy Tyler, who was standing behind me. He was tall, and so was able to take pictures above the crowd’s heads so that I could look at the pictures and see what was happening. A lot of the proceedings were musical, so I could hear them just fine. At one point, a marching band came out and started playing jazzy tunes and well-known movie music. The very first thing they played was the Fellowship theme from The Lord of the Rings, which completely made my day.
Even though I had a fabulous time, I didn’t do much dancing. Pretty much the only dancing going on at the ball was male and female dancing, which is normally all well and good, but I didn’t really feel like I knew any of the Symphony guys well enough to feel comfortable waltzing with them. It didn’t really matter, because I had a fabulous time people-watching. Europeans dance so elegantly! I couldn’t help but be reminded of our blundering waltz lessons last Tuesday as I watched a huge hall full of people gracefully executing the Viennese Waltz with nary a slip. Later on, the conductor of the (live!) orchestra taught those on the dance floor how to line dance in a style that reminded me quite a bit of Pride and Prejudice. I must say, they picked it up far more quickly than would a group of Americans who often have trouble with extremely simple things like the box step or the Macarena.
Well, that wasn’t quite as short as I was originally planning, but I suppose the length ended up the sweeter. Now it is off to bed with me. Good night!