the last two weeks have been a bit crazy trying to get work done while going out every night to celebrate someone's last night in the city. in fact, i have to apologize for the lack of blogging mainly because all of my online-efforts have been focused on posting new facebook albums of ridiculous clubbing actions shots every day. after tonight, i think i'll be in the clear as far as massive fb updating and will be able to focus on this baby a bit more.
to give you a heads up as to what's in store:
-three new wellesley girls come tomorrow, and we're spending friday-saturday at the same alp hotel from september (very very very very much looking forward to this) melissa and i are planning bonding time, like get to know you banagrams tournaments with schnapps and litschee sekt.
-monday i fly off to london, spend the first week in london, second week in Brétagne France (this is new...requires far too much explanation for me to handle right now) where I will visit Normandie and take a train to Lyon for a Gala party/celebration, and then some time in Amsterdam and ending in Dublin for the last weekend with melissa.
get ready for it! i most certainly am not!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Viennese Balance
A lot of Viennese Architecture has a special emphasis on balance. A trip to either Schönbrunn Palace or the Belveder Palace, now a wonderful art museum, are good examples of this. Built opposite the main Schönbrunn palace is a smaller structure called the "Gloriette". It's a hike up to it, so I had never been up there. I caught it right at sunset, brought a thermos of tea with me, and was blown away by the view of the city at my feet. |
| Schönbrunn Palace, from up at the Gloriette |
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| the Gloriette |
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| my favorite pink/purple/yellow kind of sunset |
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| view of the Gloriette from back down by the palace |
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
best shots of the night
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| on the grand staircase, after having been given a rose by a stranger |
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| walking home barefoot because my shoes hurt so badly |
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Lessons for Ball-goers
How to be classy at a Viennese ball and have a fun time (for future referance):
1. bring a spare pair of shoes (preferably flats), and alternate to avoid the worst blistering of your life+
2. to be even classier (ala my Viennese friend Julia Doleschel) have the spare pair of shoes be other high heels
3. bring a flask, and thus, a bigger fancy purse in which to hide the flask because all of the drinks are wayyyy over-priced (even water)
4. bring snacks/power bars in said larger fancy purse to make the evening last longer (I pooped out at 3, was not willing to stay until 5 for the final waltz)
5. wear a dress with a full skirt for full swooshing effect when dancing, but have it hemmed to be a little above your shoes to avoid having to pick it up*
+bold typeface indicates the most important guidelines
*the hem of the little train of my dress had a inch and a half of mud and black on it from people stepping on it and it trailing on the ground through the subway, and of course, walking home part-way barefoot. I also eventually stuck the tulle train into the back of my dress to dance out the fastest rounds of the 2 AM quadrille without having to worry about it. But I felt like alice with her 6 inches of dirt on her wedding dress---I had a great night.
more deets on the ball to come! check facebook for a zillion pictures and videos of the opening ceremonial dances!
1. bring a spare pair of shoes (preferably flats), and alternate to avoid the worst blistering of your life+
2. to be even classier (ala my Viennese friend Julia Doleschel) have the spare pair of shoes be other high heels
3. bring a flask, and thus, a bigger fancy purse in which to hide the flask because all of the drinks are wayyyy over-priced (even water)
4. bring snacks/power bars in said larger fancy purse to make the evening last longer (I pooped out at 3, was not willing to stay until 5 for the final waltz)
5. wear a dress with a full skirt for full swooshing effect when dancing, but have it hemmed to be a little above your shoes to avoid having to pick it up*
+bold typeface indicates the most important guidelines
*the hem of the little train of my dress had a inch and a half of mud and black on it from people stepping on it and it trailing on the ground through the subway, and of course, walking home part-way barefoot. I also eventually stuck the tulle train into the back of my dress to dance out the fastest rounds of the 2 AM quadrille without having to worry about it. But I felt like alice with her 6 inches of dirt on her wedding dress---I had a great night.
more deets on the ball to come! check facebook for a zillion pictures and videos of the opening ceremonial dances!
Marienvespers
I wanted to post about my favorite concert from the first half of my time in Vienna. It was the Monteverdi Marienvespers, performed by Concentus Musicus conducted by Nicholas Harnarncourt with the Schoenberg Choir, a boys choir, and the singers of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle (they sang the psalms in between movements).
I bought myself a ticket to be my reward of sorts for getting through my crazy week of six concerts sick as a dog. Sunday evening, after napping to recover from a long, cold chamber singers concert that afternoon, I got dolled up again and headed over to the Musikverein. I love the Handel and Haydn Society's Messiah at the Boston Symphony every year, but nothing could quite compare to this concert.
For more background information about the text of this piece, check this out.
One of the coolest aspects of this performance was the staging. There were five soloists, and they were constantly moving for different movements. The first appearance of the female soloists was up in the balcony, stage right, singing down to the audience. For the Duo Seraphinem, they had one soloist in the balcony stage right, the other down below him, and the third that sings near the end of the piece on the ground way stage left. The effect was amazing.
The next day in my opera class I had a long conversation with all of the older people who are taking this class for fun about it, and felt very sophisticated. We all agreed that it was an outstanding performance, that Harnarncourt is a genius, and that we now felt prepared for Christmas to come.
I bought myself a ticket to be my reward of sorts for getting through my crazy week of six concerts sick as a dog. Sunday evening, after napping to recover from a long, cold chamber singers concert that afternoon, I got dolled up again and headed over to the Musikverein. I love the Handel and Haydn Society's Messiah at the Boston Symphony every year, but nothing could quite compare to this concert.
For more background information about the text of this piece, check this out.
One of the coolest aspects of this performance was the staging. There were five soloists, and they were constantly moving for different movements. The first appearance of the female soloists was up in the balcony, stage right, singing down to the audience. For the Duo Seraphinem, they had one soloist in the balcony stage right, the other down below him, and the third that sings near the end of the piece on the ground way stage left. The effect was amazing.
The next day in my opera class I had a long conversation with all of the older people who are taking this class for fun about it, and felt very sophisticated. We all agreed that it was an outstanding performance, that Harnarncourt is a genius, and that we now felt prepared for Christmas to come.
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| the boys choir (not THE vienna boys, but still amaaazing) |
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| the little blond one!! |
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| the soloists |
Saturday, January 15, 2011
candlelight
this is one of my favorite things about Catholic churches. My other is stained glass windows.
epic naschmarkt success
Lately, my love for Naschmarket, the fresh food market 2 minutes away from my dorm, has been intensifying. There is a lovely tea stand where I found apricot tea and bought quite a large bag of 100 grams for about 3 euros. The cucumbers and tomatoes at any stand far surpass those in the supermarkets. Then there are stand after stand of assortments of olives, mozzarellas and everything under the sun stuffed with goat cheese and herbs. Then finally last week, I noticed that one such stand had balls of buffalo mozzarella. If you've never had buffalo mozzarella, get your butt to Southern Italy stat and have it as an appetizer with prosciutto. It will be one of the best decisions you ever make. You can now imagine my utter joy at this discovery.
This morning I had another life changing food experience. Going out in Austria and most of Europe differs from the scene I know back home in that people don't go to clubs until midnight earliest. They then drink more there and dance until the place closes, usually around 4 or 4:30. I find that discomfort the following day generally results more from just lack of sleep versus alcohol consumption.
Today would definitely fall into that realm, as I hit the pillow at 6:45 AM and woke up at 10:30.
I needed to go to Naschmarkt to get buffalo mozzarella, and wondering around all the possibilities, I felt drawn to the falafel stand for my brunch. It was like a wrap with first a huge glob of hummus, three different kinds of lettuce, three falafel balls in a row down the middle, yogurt sauce, other random stuff, and finally a thin line of scharf sauce (hot red sauce). It was so spicy my eyes watered and I think it steam cleaned the fuzzy feeling from my head.
Unfortunately, the headacheyness returned about an hour later, but I still might make it a ritual beakfast/lunch plan after a late night (one could also say early morning?) out with crazy austrians.
ALSO. It's so unbelievably nice out today (feels like april) that the flea market at Naschmarkt was happening and it was my greatest success: awesome leatherbound, gold paged german bible, luther's translation 15 euro, pair of earrings that look like long green bunches of grapes 3 euro, a unique cup the size of double espresso for my new espresso maker 2 euro.
AND NOW I have a three hour piano composers class and then I get to be a princess, wear a beautiful gown, and attend my first Viennese ball in the Imperial Palace!
This morning I had another life changing food experience. Going out in Austria and most of Europe differs from the scene I know back home in that people don't go to clubs until midnight earliest. They then drink more there and dance until the place closes, usually around 4 or 4:30. I find that discomfort the following day generally results more from just lack of sleep versus alcohol consumption.
Today would definitely fall into that realm, as I hit the pillow at 6:45 AM and woke up at 10:30.
I needed to go to Naschmarkt to get buffalo mozzarella, and wondering around all the possibilities, I felt drawn to the falafel stand for my brunch. It was like a wrap with first a huge glob of hummus, three different kinds of lettuce, three falafel balls in a row down the middle, yogurt sauce, other random stuff, and finally a thin line of scharf sauce (hot red sauce). It was so spicy my eyes watered and I think it steam cleaned the fuzzy feeling from my head.
Unfortunately, the headacheyness returned about an hour later, but I still might make it a ritual beakfast/lunch plan after a late night (one could also say early morning?) out with crazy austrians.
ALSO. It's so unbelievably nice out today (feels like april) that the flea market at Naschmarkt was happening and it was my greatest success: awesome leatherbound, gold paged german bible, luther's translation 15 euro, pair of earrings that look like long green bunches of grapes 3 euro, a unique cup the size of double espresso for my new espresso maker 2 euro.
AND NOW I have a three hour piano composers class and then I get to be a princess, wear a beautiful gown, and attend my first Viennese ball in the Imperial Palace!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Home again
Arriving in Vienna today felt a lot like coming home, especially the part where I took a six hour Sunday afternoon nap.
So happy to have had lovely holidays with my friends and family in New England, and to be back at one of my newer homes to have anther six months of european adventures. (with a lot of new sweaters and warm clothes, may I add. Bring it on Vienna)
ode to home by my fav simon&garfunkel
So happy to have had lovely holidays with my friends and family in New England, and to be back at one of my newer homes to have anther six months of european adventures. (with a lot of new sweaters and warm clothes, may I add. Bring it on Vienna)
ode to home by my fav simon&garfunkel
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