Thursday March 15, Vienna
The weather continues to be beautiful here – we have been so fortunate! Crisp in the mornings, but it gets up around 60 degrees every day!
A full day for us, though it won’t take long to write about it. We had an afternoon performance; in the morning I went to the Musikverein to enquire about tours and to get a concert schedule for the month – we’ll see if I can fit in a concert while I’m here. Then I went to the Naschtmarkt – food market – which was very interesting. It’s a narrow strip about 3 blocks long, with two lines of stalls and storefronts. One is all restaurants and fast-food places, the other is all market stalls. You can get pretty much everything; vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs and spices, all kinds of meats (even things like whole suckling pigs, heads and all), baked goods, ethnic foods (for example, I found the dried shrimp I need for Thai cooking, which I couldn’t get in Bloomington), and also flowers. All the spring flowers are available – the hyacinths smelled so good! Pussy-willows are popular here, and tulips in every color of the rainbow. That was a very interesting place to visit, and I’m sure I’ll go back again.
Then it was time to get ready for the work day. We all met out at Nancy’s apartment, where Michelle and I coached one of Nancy’s arias with her, and we rehearsed a few other things. Then a quick lunch of Turkish sandwiches, and we were off to Haus Wieden. Most of today’s program was different music than we put on the first two concerts, so it was good to get those things on stage. Nice audience, lousy piano. Afterwards we had fun in a wonderful candy shop just across the street from the Pilgramgasse U-bahn station – so many beautiful Easter candies as well as the regular chocolates etc. We were like kids in a candy store, as Suzi said. :-)
Back at Nancy’s apartment, we spent considerable time hashing out final (we hope!) details for next week’s concert at the American Embassy in Bratislava, and downloading the photos from Suzi’s camera. Had dinner at a nearby Austrian country-type restaurant – long wooden tables, folk music playing, etc. Good food and a chance to relax and unwind. The four of us can talk up a storm for hours on end! I think it was after 10 (11?) PM when we finally left. A very pleasant evening.
Tomorrow is the start of a 3-day weekend for us. We all had considered going away somewhere, but finally decided to stay in Vienna at least for Friday, and see more of the city sights.
Love to all,
Carlyn
Last updated 12/07. Copyright
2007 by Richard C. Morenus. Questions? Send email to richard.c@morenus.org