The Sound of Music!

Posted by Nicki

Currently in Chang Mai...but here's some catch up.
Vienna! Alex and I finished up Europe with a stop in Vienna. Really wonderful city, and truly full of music of every kind. First thing we heard as we left our hostel for the afternoon was a woman practicing opera…only in vienna.

We wandered our way through the streets and parks, amazing architechture at every turn. Beautiful churches, parliament building, statues, and opera houses.

Three major highlights of our time in Vienna: Boys Choir, Hueriger (Wine Tavern), and an opera at the Statsoper.

Boys Choir: Alex and I managed to catch a performance of the world famous Vienna Boys Choir, and it was fantastic. Man can they sing. It was not anything at all like I thought it would be however. First, we got to the church at the crack of dawn, not quite as necessary as our guidebook made it out to be…but we were first in line. We ended up with standing room tickets, which was perfect for us as we were right in the front and center, and didnt pay a dime. I think this may have irked the man who was in line to pick up tickets with us, he was very proud at buying his 6 months in advance for 39 euro.

The boys sing in a little tiny chapel, nothing grand by any means, but its a packed house. You have to actually endure a mass in german, which ended up being more of a cultural experience for me as I a. dont speak german b. am not catholic. The boys also are heard but not seen. They perform from high up in the choir room which is located where an organ normally would be in a cathedral, behind the people in a little balcony. Although it was odd not to see the mouths creating the song, it was almost as if the music was drifting down from the heavens (sorry cheesy, but really it was). At the end of the mass, the choir was brought down front for one last number, and I had to laugh at how dopey the boys were. Just greasy haired, really little, goofy kids, but their voices were truly incredible.

Huierger: One of my favorites of our vienna trip. Alex and I took the metro and then a tram way out of the city center to get to one of these little wine taverns. They are little places tucked away on tree filled residential streets, many known only to the neighborhood people they serve. I felt like I was walking into someones backyard, and basically I was. Lots of trees and picnic tables spread all over the lawn and we walked through the little porch to get into the quaint dining room run by two little women who didn’t speak more then a few words of english.

The idea behind the wine taverns is that everything served there must be made at the house by the family. All the food, wine, meats, and bread are homemade. We got plates of potatoe salad (but not like the american kind, no mayo), fresh roast meat slices, and fresh bread with various spreads of cheese and garlic that put cafe latte spreads to shame. We also had lots of the house wine which was delicious and instead of being served in a wine glass is given in more of a beer mug, lots of fun. The women running the place were incredibly sweet and were thrilled to have some young tourists. They even gave us little chocolates as we left.

Last but not least: The opera. Although originally I had wanted to see Romeo and Juliet, we found the line for standing room started before 11am for a 7pm show. Umm, yeah, not so up for that. So we decided to go the next night which ended up being two small operettas. Osud and Le Ville. We got there a couple hours before the show, and got standing room, with bars to lean on, on the main floor in the center for 3.5 euro a piece, awesome deal.

It was my first time at the opera, so I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it was a fun experience. The first opera was WEIRD. An opera about a guy writing an opera. I had more fun wathcing the titles on the screen then the actual opera. The words used were pretyt ridiculous and beyond over dramatic…Worth a snicker. The second one was great. An opera by puccini of madame butterfly fame. The music was fantastic and the story much better to follow. The singers were also incredible. Although the background was of a lot of guys bodies repeating wearing tree covered tshirts and boxers and combat boots (didn’t really understand that part). But hey, you can’t understand everything in art I suppose.