Mozart, Mozart, every where...

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The city of music, art, theatre and all sorts of cultural stimulation! It's Vienna! or more correctly "Wien". i'm not quite sure why we change the names for places but i'll get to that in another blog. for now i'll just used the english variation so as not to cause confustion. I loved Vienna...the vast amount of creative work that came out ofthis city in the past cannot be ignored or forgotten. it spills into the current day. classical music and opera still flourish here and the modern music scene lives vibrantly alongside these classical icons of artistic achievment. another place i'd like to live in and really soak up all the city has to offer. i was only there for a week and without any serious effort, managed to see an opera, ballet, and classical music concert. it was all so easily accessable and inadvertantly drew me in. i looked back on every night and thought...wow i did a lot! and while classical music lives on, most of it is for the tourist trade...which is quite unfortunate. i would like to think vienna still breeds young artists who are reviving classical music (but perhaps i just missed this?). instead there were ticket sellers gathered outside the theatres dressed in 18th century garb, on the tourist-flyer attack. I did give in to go see a Mozart concert in quite an incredible theater. When i first saw the posters for this show i thought "ohh..no way am i going to that!" The musicians also dress in the traditional dress of the time and it is soley aimed at tourists....but as time went on i couldn't resist. this time was actually only one full day in the city, but the spirit of the place just got into me! and i think it was more a longing for what vienna was so long ago. i kept trying to imagine the excitment and spirit of the music scene 200ish years ago. would have been so cool! all these incredible artists, their harsh competion for recognition and the music that resulted?? well...it was classic! not to mention sweet masquerade balls. The concert was great but it was defintiely a "mozart's #1 hits" sort of concert. had a good time rocking out though and once again pretending that i was in a different time. What i just couldn't grasp was poor mozart's exploitation! not only a genius muscisian, he apparently makes increidble chocolates, stationary, clothing and food! everything was named after mozart and i couldn't get away from tourist stores with his face plastered on the side. i mean...the poor guy...sure he didn't think the place he once called home would use his name to sell crappy souvineers. mozart keychain, magnet, pencil, dish cloth anyone?? eh...maybe he'd be ok with the strange modern fame. I did enjoy going to one of his former homes (he lived in about 14 different places while in vienna...) which has been turned into a museum. so awesome. packed with information and just the fact that i walked through the same place dear wolfgang once sat and wrote his music was enough to put a permanent smile on my face.

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I hung out with some really cool people at this hostel (one of which i actually met in Cesky Krumlov!). and better yet the hostel was outfitted with instruments that the guests could happily play! i had a go at the piano and of course the guitar. i guess it's only right in vienna to make music accessable for play. anyway...we all went to a Romeo and Juliet ballet at the state opera house. we bought standing room tickets because they actually have entire sections where they just pack people in to watch the shows. cheap tickets...but it was a bit exhausting standing for 3 hours...not to mention the heat and interesting smells that started permeating this groundling area. i was getting my wish of experiencing theatre from a different time! also didn't help that i had to literally run back to the hostel to change my clothes because i was wearing shorts. this was hilarious as i raced through the subway, up and down multiple staircases...all the way to the hostel...changed, grabbed a piece of bread (mmm...dinner) and raced back to the theatre. as i arrived i desperately tried to wipe all the sweat off my face, slow my heart-rate, heavy breathing...and look normal....not an easy task. good times. even crazier...while in line for the standing room tickets i overheard a girl speaking english and heard her mention "colgate college" and i thought...no no...no way. and then i heard her talking about tuition prices and immediately joined her conversation and said i had just graduated from Hamilton. we bonded over small liberal arts educations and harsh winters. well...it turns out that she is a theatre major as well and comes to hamitlon quite often to watch our plays...and yes...that's right my friends...she saw me freshman year in The Skin of Our Teeth. what are the chances!!!?? hahaha...still don't believe it. i said "you didn't happen to see..." "oh my gosh...i was the dinosaur!!" we couldn't stop laughing. back to the ballet...right. it was incredible. and this is a reperatory theatre. if i stayed for a few weeks in vienna i could have watched about 10 different shows just at this venue. wow. after the show we decided to head to a restaurant right by our hostel called Mozart Stube because the piece of bread just wasn't quite enough. we had some nice austrian beer and traditional fried cheese and potato dish that was so much better than it could ever sound on a menu. also tried a traditional bread dumpling. food there is so heavy...i could hardly move but it was so worth it! the place was owned and run by a husband and wife who keep the homey, wooded, traditional restaurant open all night. i wanted to stay just to hang out with them and hear their stories.

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there are also tons of art exhibits...wish i could have gone to them all. i did manage to go to the Haus der Musik which was awesome...part of it looked at the phyiscal way sound works, all interactive stations and such. another part looked at the histories of classical artists that lived in vienna (which made me feel incredibly untalented and useless...haha) and the last section picked up my spirits where it encouraged everyone and anyone to make music! through crazy instruments that don't require any musical knowledge you could feel like a little kid... one example was one where you stand in the middle of this machine and wave your hands and arms around to make music. coool. also saw the austrian theatre museum...old puppets, costumes, model theatre constructions and sketches of performances. some of these dated way back...16th century? will surely return to this city of musical magic.