- - a return to form - -

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- - - – – – — — — c h a p p e l l ! — — — – – – - - -
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- - - – – – — — — a r e – y o u – o u t – t h e r e ? — — — – – – - - -
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- - - – – – — — — w a k e – u p – a n d – w r i t e – u s
– a – n e w – b l o g – e n t r y ! ! ! — — — – – – - - -
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I've been hearing it. This persistent little voice. It scolds me for letting so much time go by without writing a post.

- - - r e m e m b e r - y o u r - f r i e n d s ! - - -
– – – s h a r e – s t o r i e s – a n d – p i c t u r e s ! – – –
— — — D I S H — O U T — T H E — G O O D S ! ! ! — — —

Alright! It's time! I'm ready! Here we go!

It's been an action-packed two weeks: a trip to the woods, another composition lesson, finally getting internet installed!, Rosalind figuring out how to telecommute, making friends at the market and the taverns, the trials and tribulations of ancient heating appliances, culinary delights and disasters...

But let's start right off with another episode of...
THOSE CRAZY AMERICANS!
So every guidebook and nearly every individual we consulted about Vienna told us that the operas are great, and you can get super-cheap standing-room tickets for 1 euro. The website of Theater an der Wien substantiated this claim, so we headed for the show Wednesday night, amazed at the thought of seeing high-quality operatic spectacle for the price of a glass of Sturm. We did some things exactly right: leaving in time to arrive an hour early, buying an appealing-looking falafel dinner to go, heading straight for the ticket line. Everything else we did wrong. I had forgotten how to say "standing room", and Rosalind's here to tell you that little story:

* * * When we got to the theater we went up to a woman standing behind a booth to ask where we could get standing room tickets. Chappell asked, " Wo können wir kaufen.... ..... ... ....standing room?" She kindly replied in English, "you buy the tickets over there" and pointed us to a line of people. As Chappell waited in line, I decided that it would be helpful to know the word for standing room for when we got to the front of the line and asked to buy tickets. I went back to the helpful woman and said in my immaculate German, "Was ist die frage für "standing room?" She didn't blink, and said "Stehplätz. You want two? Zwei." "Danke." I said, and went to relay the very important word to Chappell. I didn't realize until I thought about it the next day that what I had asked was "what is the question for standing room?" * * *

When we reached the front of the line, the ticket-dispensing matron unflinchingly told us that the tickets would cost 7 euros apiece. (Now, that's still a good deal, but it also comes as a surprise when you expected it to be one-seventh the cost.) "Aber die website sagt..." - and just as I ran out of words for my sentence (yes, this happens a lot) she repeated that it would be 7 euros each. So we stopped complaining and bought the tickets. Then we went across the street to the public market area, and most of the vendors and restaurants were closed, so we found a table and chairs in an quiet spot. We had gotten as far as unwrapping the foil on the beckoning falafel sandwiches, when a waitress from one of the open restaurants walked over. With probably the coldest stare I've ever received in my life, this is what she said to us:

"Nein."

You didn't need to know a word of German to know what she was saying. There was no room for questions, asking for advice, maybe even ordering a drink from her - her word was the beginning and the end of our discussion. She continued the stare until we silently packed up and took our dinner elsewhere. The problem was, there was nowhere else to take it. We had bought food at this market, but there was nowhere in the market we could sit unless we bought more food from a restaurant. (Very sneaky.) We walked around looking for options, but eventually just stood and ate our falafels in the cold (and they were cold too, by this point). Standing through dinner, and then standing through an opera - a brilliant combination.

Back at the opera house, the ushers were friendly (and were willing to speak more than one word to us) and directed us up to the ceiling, where the best Stehplätz had by now all been taken (thanks to our long detour for a standing dinner), and all that was left was directly above stage right. If it had been a synchronized-swimming performance, we would have been thrilled with the bird's-eye view. As it was, we could see most of the action, except for when everyone stood downstage, and with the scenery in the way, we could only see their shoes.

Alright alright alright - I'm complaining about the view from cheap opera tickets, and not having a table when we purchased from a small vendor - I should really stop complaining, and recognize that you get what you pay for. Those crazy Americans, won't they ever learn?

The performance was quite good that night. The opera was "Dead Man Walking", a recent work by Jake Heggie. For us, it was more like tired people standing.

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We're definitely looking forward to more shows though - we agree that a combination of a seated dinner and a standing opera would be acceptable. And I'm beside myself with excitement for Wien Modern, a month-long festival of music by contemporary composers, coupled with dance, film, arts, and demonstrations of unbelievable mechanical instruments (such as a robotic string quartet)!

The markets here are fantastic. Rosalind has discovered a perk of being a frequent customer of the same vendor - they throw in a complimentary kiwi or fig! Here's a pic of the Naschmarkt, with some seriously exotic fruit for sale:


Here's a jackfruit so big it could swallow up a watermelon:


In another corner of town, here's a cute little pepper plant, and another with somewhat berry-like protrusions:


And as promised, here I am with the giant teacup.


There's much more I'd like to share, but it'll have to wait for another post.

— — — h o w — s o o n ? — — —

Well, now that we finally have internet access at home, I'll get back on my schedule of a long post on Friday, and one or two shorter posts during the week. So until then - tschüss!