Vienna

Vienna was considerably more happy and uplifting of an experience.  I liked Vienna, or Wien, as the Viennese call it. 

 I went there to meet up with one of my best friends from high school, Melissa the bass player (NOT base).  I’d actually never seen one of her concerts, so I was pretty excited that the first concert I got to watch her in was a solo concert in Vienna. 

The first night was great—we did that reunion thing at the airport, that embarrassing running and hugging thing—and then jumped on a train, both trying to talk at the same time, just really excited that we were both in Vienna together. After we arrived into the city, we went straight to a pizza place, which I was thrilled about, seeing as I had been craving pizza for a good month or so (pizza isn’t a huge thing in Britain), and it being a Friday during Lent, the pizza was in the shape of a fish, which was also exciting.  I think the pizza was supposed to be shared—and I ate the whole thing.  Opps.

The next morning was the concert—and it was awesome! Melissa did great, actually everyone did!  It was short—about an hour—because everyone just went for a few minutes each.  But Melissa’s classes/ concert hall is in a freaking palace! Its not fair, she takes classes in this grand building, set with gold and marble, high ceilings, large sculptures and floor length mirrors—and I take classes in a cramped, creaky townhouse.  Oh well.  At least everyone speaks English, and I don’t have to use public transport.  Give and take, right?

Afterwards, we just explored Vienna.  It is a rather pretty city.  I’ve been reading a crime series set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, so I was thrilled to be walking along the Ringstausse and have Melissa say, ‘Oh, that’s the Kunsthistorisches,’ and I’d actually heard of it!  We walked over to Belvedere—a true palace, the palace of the Hapsburgs, or at least, one of them. It was—so grand.  Of course.  The gardens just went on and on.  The palace did too, we just didn’t go inside (it was costly!) an afforded some amazing views when you walked up this enormous hill.

Looking down, I realized that the city was really just piles and piles of glamorous marble, streets and streets of it.  Everything in Vienna is grand.  Excpet for their affinity with stringing wires (for the trams, for the street lights, for electricity), and their predilection for smoking, Vienna is wonderful.

Sunday was just as good.  I had to buy my bus ticket, which was confusing and not helped by my ignorance of German (I can now order tea Schwatz te mit milch bitte! or ‘black tea with milk, please!) but that’s about it.  We wandered around Stephenplatz, where we went inside the grand cathedral.  It never ceases to amaze me when I go to places like Vienna, like England, like Barcelona, and touch the cool stone of the walls that these walls were built 500, 600, 700 or even more years ago.  Before America was anything but a forested, almost untouched piece of land, lived on only be segmented tribes of Native Americans that had no idea that such a building could even exist. It never ceases to amaze me old Europe is.

We took lunch at a charming Café (I had a crepe with cheese, apples, and some kind of jam, it sounds weird, but it was so good!) and then headed over to the Danube, a short train ride away.  Everyone says that the Blue Danube thing is just a myth—and maybe its not as blue as, say, a blue crayon or the sky on a clear day, but I’d still say its pretty freaking blue.  Compared to the Mississippi, its…crazy blue. 

But the evening was the best part—we went to the opera.  I’d never been, but I had high expectations.  It just seemed like such a high-class, aristocratic thing to do—see an opera.  They’re always seeing operas in Victorian books, so I was very excited.  We got there—and the opera house is brilliant by the way—and waited in lie for what seemed like forever (I actually brought a book…) but it was all worth it.  We bought a 4 euro ticket to stand about 7 or 8 meters behind people that paid a god 100 or 200 euros to sit. 

Normally, singing in movies makes me angry—I just want them to get on with the story! (English major in me speaking) But the opera was great!  We had a quick dinner, which was good, it gave us energy to stand for 3 hours—before we settled down to watch the opera. It was crowded (we were basically standing in horse stalls) but it was all part of the experience.  They have these little screens that tell you what they are saying (it was in Italian!) but as not much really happened, and they liked to repeat themselves, I found myself just watching the characters, listening to their voices, studying the scenery.  I don’t know much about operas (or anything really) but I was amazing.  Too bad they died in the end—but hey at least they sang about it!