Wachau valley

I woke up wondering what I was going to do today.  So I took a look in my guide-book to see what day-trips from Vienna I had yet to undertake.  The Wachau valley was the answer.  So I hopped on a train to Melk just before lunch, poked around there for a bit (very cute town - I'll have to check out the Abbey some day), then rented a bike and cycled my way down the Danube to Krems (about 38km).  It took me under three hours, but I was bookin' it, because it was spitting rain the whole time, and I was afraid of getting caught in a downpour.  I did manage to take some pictures of the scenery on the way, and even pinched some apricots from the orchards I was biking through.  (Don't tell).  If the weather were nicer I would have looked around the cute towns I was cycling by, including Dürnstein (where Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned in 1193), and Willendorf (where the oldest piece of European Art was found).  But I arrived in Krems just in time, as it started to pour.  I was able to deposit my bike and break out the umbrella for the rest of my sight-seeing.  My timing was great, despite the bad weather, because the day I happened to be in Krems was the day of the Apricot Festival.  The cobbled street of the old town was lined with vendors in traditional garb, selling all things apricot.  I picked up a Marillentopfenbällchen (little apricot-quark ball).  Lecker!  I was also tempted by the apricot schnapps and apricot ketchup, but decided to pass.  I was starting to get tired, so I hopped on a train and was back home in time for supper!  Geschafft!

Mozart's church...MY church!

I am pleased to announce that I will be joining the Stephansdom Vokalensemble this Autumn.  I am thrilled to have the opportunity to sing the Mozart Requiem, among other great choral works, in Mozart's own church!  I will be participating in the Sunday morning Masses, as well as the "Domkonzert" series.  Ich freue mich sehr darauf!

Here's a new perspective on Stephansdom and it's famous coloured roof tiles...from the rooftops of Vienna's Innen Stadt.

Standing Room Only

I just LOVE the "standing room" concept.  I picked up a standing room ticket for Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Theater an der Wien last week-end, and quite enjoyed it.  I paid 7 euros to stand during the first act, then I snuck down to an empty parterre seat for the second act and got the full experience for the rest of the performance.  It was a very interesting production - a modern concept (most european productions seem to be), but with some beautiful costumes nonetheless.  The Mezzo was dressed in a black pant-suit, and accessorized with red stilettos as the Muse, and red skater shoes as Nicklausse.  The soprano (Marlis Peterson) played all three of Hoffmann's lady loves - wow.  Canadian John Relyea was the bass - he was excellent, of course.  The Theater an der Wien is the only Viennese house that puts on operas during the summer.  They have also premiered a new production every month since 2006.  Impressive!  I'm disappointed that I'll miss their production of La Donna del Lago in August starring Malena Ernmann (one of my favourites!).  The good news is that she guests here a lot.  I'm so excited for the amazing (and affordable) theatre that awaits this season!

Bratislava for the day

One of the great things about Central Europe is that a completely different country, language, and culture are only an hour away by train!  I took the train from Vienna to Bratislava for the day on Saturday.  That was a fun little day-trip.  It's a very historic town that's been ill-used and somewhat trampled upon throughout the numerous battles and power struggles over the centuries, but they seem to be picking themselves up and bushing themselves off.  It's quite touristy and quaint now.  I especially enjoyed the modern art and sculptures that adorn the historic downtown area.

Salzburg adventures

Here are some pics I took during my adventures biking around the Salzburg area a couple of weeks ago.  According to my calculations, I biked 40K one day.  Needless to say, I was soooooore!  I made my way from Leopoldskron (the Von Trapp mansion) along the canal which leads south of the city out to Untersberg (a mountain outside of Salzburg) and took a cable-car up to the top.  There are some amazing vistas of the north-east tip of the alps, and the lowlands that stretch into Germany towards Munich. I came back into town via Hellbrunn, and enjoyed the grounds before taking the Hellbrunner Allee into downtown, where I explored the historic Steingasse and took the elevator up to Mönchsberg for some more stunning vistas.  It was one of those good-for-the-soul days :)  The countryside here is so beautiful!

Ich bin angekommen!

Vienna - city of music!  The past two weeks have been spent settling in, collecting various official residence documents, applying for a Residence Permit, getting an Austrian cell (now THAT was a process - so many options here!), and getting to know my new city.  I've also been taking a German course in the mornings, which has been both fun and informative.

I had a visit yesterday from my pal Simon, who was here on a choir trip (they won 1st place in their category at the SCL Youth Music Festival!!).  It was great to hang out with a fellow Canadian for an afternoon.

I spent the afternoon applying for my Residence Permit.  I was nervous that my documents wouldn't be valid, or that I would have to get them all translated into German ($$$$) or that there would be some other Beurocratic hoops to jump, but it turns out I was over-prepared.  One thing I did discover though, is that even though I've applied early for my Residence permit, it will not be valid until my first day of classes (October 1), which means that I will over-stay my 90-day tourist visa by 8 days.  So I have to leave the Schengen Zone (most of the countries in Europe) for 8 days sometime between now and October 1.  That's a bit of a pain.  But the good news is that I have a spare week between the end of my au-pair job and the start of the Registration period at MDW.  So I might pop up to the UK to visit Liz.

Liebe Grüße aus Wien