rathausplatz film festival! or, der nussknacker

last night i zipped down to the rathaus, where they have a free film festival during the summer...every night they play a different music dvd, or they have strange performances (mambo, viennese waltzes, whatever). last night was the nutcracker, which i love. i know, i know, it kind of has a bad name, but i maintain that it is that piece that first made me realize that instrumental music can be powerful (i know that these things are not easy to pinpoint, but i credit the nutcracker with my realization that i loved classical music. at this point, it doesn't matter whether or not that's the truth...it's what i remember, even that memory is false). 

anyway, i was really excited, and took my seat in front of the screen around 8.30...the show started at 9.30, but i wanted to make sure i could see. then it started to rain. and i don't mean drizzle...i mean, buckets upon buckets of sheets of rain. and the loudest thunder....i went and stood under an overhang and read my (soaking wet) newspaper for an hour, while a three-inch puddle formed around my feet. they said they were going to play the movie unless a hurricane came, so i waited it out. 

and then, as the movie started, i was just struck by this incredible feeling...here i was, crammed shoulder to shoulder with some of the nicest people i've ever had the pleasure to wait out a rainstorm with, freezing cold, listening to gorgeous music, watching ballet, in a public square, in VIENNA. 

i really can't imagine anywhere else that could happen. 

walking

guten tag, damen und herren!

today i visited the belvedere galerie, which i'll talk a lot more about tomorrow (i'm going again...i wanted to get an overview today). i'm really exhausted right now, for some reason. i'm about to go grab some dinner and then head to bed EARLY. vienna is tiring! but so amazing...the city just keeps opening up. 

so i thought i'd save the "artistic" observations for tomorrow and just kinda ramble about my personal trip here, which is what i want to talk about. and it is my blog after all, so i get to say whatever i want. ;)

my feet hurt! i swear to god, i have never felt ANYTHING like this, EVER. i mean, it won't go away! i walk everywhere...i've developed this charming little limp that i'm sure enchants everyone around me. but i traipsed around the city again today. it's amazing, all these landmarks that are kind of in the back of my mind to seek out, and i stop to get some coffee and turn around and bam! hello, secession pavilion! hello, karlskirche! hello, stefansdom! 

i went to cafe central again today because it has airconditioning (i thought it was strange that they had that literally engraved on their front door, but trust me, when i was melting after my visit to the belvedere gardens, it was absolutely the first place i thought of). i really like it there...it's a little more expensive than i would like, but now i've learned the things to avoid (like eiskaffee, which is upwards of 5 Euros and absolutely disgusting, and bottled water (which is usually at least 3 Euros)). i had a "sommerspritzer" this afternoon, which is white wine, club soda, and sliced limes....perfect after a day sweating my way through like 3 museums (the belvedere is a compound of musuems, really), and then espresso (they don't have "coffee" as we know it. "kaffee" is espresso....a "melange" is a latte, etc). cafe central is large and roomy and beautiful, but it has a feeling of a small-town coffeeshop, even then. i like it! too bad it's kinda out of my way.

then i decided to wander in the immediate area, which i hadn't explored yet. it turned out this was stephansplatz, a huge market-type area, lined with boutiques, and there were buskers, painters, rappers, dancers, mimes, and musicians drawing crowds everywhere. apparently it's a big thing in vienna in the summer to send people out in 18th century costume to sell tickets to classical concerts at major venues like the staatsoper, stephansdom, and karlskirche. when i turned down the guy who tried to sell me a ticket today, we ended up having a rather long conversation about van cliburn and tschaikovsky's 1st piano concerto...i told him i was studying schönberg and mahler and then we talked about das lied von der erde for a while...he seemed very surprised that i actually knew what i was talking about, and we ending up chatting for a while. it turns out he is a violinist in the "best of mozart" thing they were doing that night at stephansdom. he understood when i turned it down. ;)

so basically, that's why vienna's amazing. just by turning around i discover something that excites me so much. i wandered into a store today that sold ONLY classical cds. i mean, packed, floor to ceiling, with thousands of them. ahhhh......

crown prince leopold, tofu, and kolo moser

today was my first day of actively doing research...it turns out that i was smarter than i thought in planning this trip, giving myself a free day and then easing into working by starting with the leopold museum. 

the museum stands within the museumsquartier plaza, and is rather beautiful in a very simple way. it's also set up quite cleverly, with two upper and lower floors of exhibitions and a cafe sandwiched pleasantly inbetween. that means, if you're as (ahem) organized as i am, you can start at the bottom floor (marked -2 on the elevator, which i found amusing), view exactly half the museum, stop for a coffee (or two) and then go on to the second half of the museum. 

on the ground floor, there is a small exhibition space that i was excited to learn housed an instillation about herbert von karajan, a famous conductor. the photos were taken by erich lessing, all in black and white, and focus on an intense three weeks in 1957, but there are some photos from outside that time frame. as photographed by lessing, karajan's conducting comes across as both intimate and expansive, but always expressive. he seems intensely animated at all times, leaning over guest soloists from the podium, jumping into the arms of leonore while rehearsing fidelio to show florestan what he wants, leaping in and out of cars and small airplanes, always with rather incredible hair. 

a few photos stood out to me. there is a short series that shows karajan and george szell standing outside at a music festival, chatting animately. szell stands stiffly, karajan draped over the bridge railing (in every single photograph, karajan seems to lounge everywhere...even on the podium). in the first photo, the sun is shining, but by the third, szell has taken out an umbrella to shield them from a light drizzle. by the sixth photo, the ground around them is absolutely soaked and it is clear that it had been pouring rain for about ten minutes or so. i just love the idea that they were so totally absorbed in their discussion that they did not even think to head indoors, but just disregarded the rain. 

another photo that made me smile was one of karajan rehearsing beethoven's 3rd piano concerto with glenn gould. karajan was seated at the piano bench, squinting up at gould, clearing saying something like, "look, i'm sorry, but do you think it would be possible--i mean, if it's not, it's okay!--but if it is, that would be great...if it's possible for you too..." and gould is slouching above him, extremely young but with incredibly tired eyes. 

there were many more, and a kiosk that let you hear a recording of karajan's recording of bruckner 8 with the berlin philharmonic. sogood. 

after that i headed to the bottom most floor, which was housing a special collection of modern art from the islands of faroe, the tiniest, most insignificant cluster of land off the coast of norway (i think?? it's cold there). what struck me about this exhibit was how many attempts were made by artists to render their landscape. out of 80 pieces, i would hazard a guess that at least 60 of them were landscapes. and, other than a few really beautiful silver-ink photographs, none of them were exactly. they all abstracted the view to some extent, and it just put me in such a mood of melancholy. their relationship to the sea and cliffs that hem them in, and to the pilot whales that they used to hunt, is difficult to understand. most of the artists, when they portrayed humans at all, showed them in shadows, small, without faces. it was harrowing, but also beautiful.

and now, the main event: they were showing an exhibit called "wien 1900. wiener werstätte, jungenstil". while not specifically focusing on klimt (although you could tell they wanted to, the only large or significant klimt painting the museum was able to beg or borrow was his large "death and life"), the exhibit helped pinpoint klimt's importance in the larger art movement of the secession. 

i was struck, first and formost, as soon as i entered the exhibit, of the importance of the vertical line. almost all the posters, ex libris pieces, even the landscapes, were arranged along a very strong vertical line. there was also a strong grasp of the effect of empty space. it is easy to see, when one looks at the secessionist posters, why they are viewed as works of art and not simple publicity pieces (besides being designed by the likes of klimt, bohr, and moser). they are very large, taller than i am, decadently colored, lavishly patterned. they grab attention instantly. 

the exhibit moved on through klimt, moser, schiele, and then otto wagner (and some adolph loos--while he was not a member of the secessionist school, he was one of their strongest critcics). i was conscious, as i moved through the rooms, of how very not-viennese i was. this exhibit seemed to attempt to convey to viennese a sense of their development and history, and i was jealous. 

actually, on a personal note, that's something that's been bothering me. i don't know how they know that i'm not austrian, but they do. i'm not wearing a fannypack, i'm not wearing my "baltimore: greatest city in america" t-shirt (yay! i love that t-shirt), i don't look perpetually distressed (that's what oversized sunglasses are for), and yet they just know. it's little unsettling. 

to end positively, i love the food here. i was so petrified at first, but it is so much easier to find vegetarian food than it is in, say, wadsworth. and it's all so good. today i had a grilled tofu wrap with avocado, bean sprouts, and orange-chili sauce. SO GOOD! and only three euros. 

and i think i've solved the "eiskaffee" issue (yes, this is still bothering me). today i asked a hapless kellnerin (waitress/barista) if she had any "kalt kaffee." that seemed to do the trip, as i then was given a glass of espresso and water over ice. soooo close, it almost fooled me. as it was, it satisfied an urge. as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. 

off i go...i am going to the belvedere galerie tomorrow and i am so damned excited. i get to see my klimt painting in person, and walk up the most gorgeous set of stairs in the western world. 

eiskaffee??

i slept so deeply last night that when i woke up this morning, i literally had no idea where i was. i had been having this dream about selling a huge house, and when i woke up in was in vienna. i got up kinda early, and decided that today was my day to go exploring....

the weather has been very pleasant, cool and breezy, so i headed up to mariahilferstrasse, where i found my towel yesterday. it's a bit of a walk to take before one has had their traditional morning overload of coffee, but it was really, really nice. i stopped and bought the herald tribune so i could do my crossword (of course. don't roll your eyes at me, momma), then stopped at cafe for breakfast. i hadn't almost anything since i was at dulles, so i was starving. luckily, the menu had pictures, so i pointed to something, managed to get it across that the ham was not necessary, and sat outside and devoured everything in sight. even the orange juice. blech. (ps. speaking of crosswords....will, you know exactly who fuzzbutt is. don't even bother asking or pretending. hmph). 

so then i just....wandered. i strolled around, passed the MuseumsQuartier, and then stumbled my way into the Burggarten, which, if none of you knew, has this mozart monument....i came across it completely by accident, just walking in the park. yes, i took pictures of myself in front of it. yes, i felt like a complete idiot doing that. 

then i wandered past the staatsoper and discovered that they were doing a concert tonight, despite the fact that it's their summer break, so i bought a student standing-room ticket on impulse, and now i have something to do tonight! i passed karlskirche, stefansdom, some huge edifice with franz joseph's name on it, the albertina museum (it had a really huge, angry statue of zeus in front of it. i took pictures), a bookstore where i bought postcards, a store with more huge, amazingly awesome rings than you could possibly imagine (i showed some restraint), meandered past the haus der musik, and lots and lots and lots of cafes, including the Cafe Central. 

i eventually went back to the cafe central, which is really really famous because it's really really old and some really really famous dead people used to go there. and there i discovered that i really don't like viennese "eiskaffe", which, i assumed, was MY version of iced coffee...namely, black coffee, poured over ice (or, as one pleasantly inept barista in wadsworth called it, "coffee on the rocks"). greg, you would LOVE eiskaffee. i, however, couldn't help pouting at it and wanting to demand help getting all that STUFF out of my coffee. i know, i'm a philistine, but really. it's chilled coffee?? or espresso?? that's sweetened, and it's had this semi-sweet cream dolloped over it, complete with caramel crunchy things and i'm sure it's traditional and i'm sure it's got history, but it tasted like melted coffee ice cream and i'm a bit of a purist, i afraid. 

oh and by the way, i've reconciled my differences with mineral water, too. blech. but...."mineral" is easier to say than whatever the word for "plain, flat, wonderful tapwater" is. also, once i got my check, i discovered that the water was more expensive than my coffee. so i think i will remember to lug around my own water next time. :)

then i kept wandering, and it started raining, and like the stalwart discoverer that i am, i kept going and going and going....i found stamps, then realized that i actually had no idea how to get back to the hostel....then kept walking and walking and decided to take the u-bahn back, which is retardedly easy to use. 

and you know, the thing i kept thinking as i was wandering the streets of vienna is just that i feel so damned lucky to be able to be here. it's a little confusing, slightly intimidating, absolutely wonderful, and totally worth it. 

but i really do hate eiskaffee. 

the eagle has landed.....in wien!

okay, so after a very looooong day of travel, i am finally here! it feels amazing....intense, but amazing. allow me to fill you in. 

so my flight from dulles was pretty uneventful, except for the minor fact that i could. not. sleep. so i spent eight hours watching house, md on the airplane tv screen...i couldn't hear it because i broke my headphones. with my knee. don't ask...i don't know. but thankfully i didn't need the headphones because i already know every line to that season of house. i'm aware of how pathetic that sounded, yes. 

also, united airlines is under the impression that "vegetarian meal" apparently means "dry couscous and iceberg lettuce", and i'm scared of ordering food in german at this point, so i haven't eaten in a while, but that part of the story comes later. 

i had a grand adventure in the frankfurt airport, which led me to actually emigrate to germany (???) by mistake. i was all of a sudden ejected from the terminal, with a very friendly german trying to ask me why i looked so distraught. however, this led to my very first conversation in german, which went something like this:

me: "um.....can you help me??"

very friendly german guy: *blank, curious, bemused stare*

me: "i don't know the word for gate......um.....gate beh zehn?"

v.f.g.g.: "ich bin deutsch."

me: "um...ja. das weiß ich nicht.....ich suche....um...." here i point frantically to my ticket. 

v.f.g.g: "ein moment." *scurries away. brings new guy, less friendly, but better groomed*

new guy: "ja?"

me: "ah..." here i again point to my ticket "beh zehn? wo ist beh zehn? lufthansa?"

new guy gently pushes my elbow and i trot after him, hungry, having to pee, tired, and a little cranky, kinda feeling like i wanted to cry. 

fifteen minutes later, however, i managed to conquer my fear and ask the stewardess at my gate (which i FINALLY found, yay! after going through security again) where the bathroom is. and apparently i did well, because she answered me in german, right away. 

anyway, that crisis averted, i slept like a log on the hour flight from frankfurt to vienna, and found my hostel pretty easily! i mean, it was a little confusing, but i'm doing okay, i think.

the hostel is pretty much exactly what i expected. it reminds me a lot of interlochen, actually, but a lot cleaner. that makes me happy. :) so after putting my stuff in a locker, making my bed, etc, i went out for a walk, and had some espresso and sachertorte sitting on the sidewalk in VIENNA. oh. my. god. sometimes life is just too good to me. 

with the help of my mom, my aunt, fuzzbutt, and a very very sweet waitress who didn't speak much english but managed to help me so so much (and made me feel better about pantomiming my need for a bathtowel), i went on my first successful shopping trip, locating mariahilferstrasse, a department store, and bathtowels without help. i couldn't help but feel inordinately triumphant as i walked back the hostel (again, without getting lost!), a fluffy red towel stuffed in my totebag. 

so after a shower and a change of clothes, i feel like a new woman. i'm going to do a little work and then collapse into bed and hopefully wake up on time tomorrow, having defeated my jetlag (in theory, anyway). at first, i was skeptical about leaving the first day of my schedule free, but now i am so glad i did, because this is all a little overwhelming. but i'm sure with a day of me wandering around and getting my bearings, i'll feel much better! i even found a place during my adventures today that advertises vegetarian lunches, so i may even conquer my fears and eat real food tomorrow! 

ALSO....such good news, i got another email from dr. fanning, of the international gustav mahler society, and he said another scholar has volunteered to show me around the library on the 14th and the 17th, both days that i am actually in the city, and not in the middle of getting on a plane. 

so, all in all, this was an excellent day. i mean, after all, i'm in vienna. 

nerves!

hey guys! i think my nervousness has truly set in right around now...i am in a place where i feel strangely unprepared, even though i KNOW i've spent months getting everything pulled together. i know what u-bahn stops are next to EVERY destination i want to go, i know what my days will hold, i know how to get from the airport to the hostel, i even know the size of the lockers that the hostel provides. today is friday (july 4, which i totally forgot about until i heard the fireworks over federal hill....i admit, i freaked out and thought they were gunshots at first. bmore pride! i've been inside assembling schedules and things ALL DAY. i got a lot done but i feel LAME. there is also no food in the house...i just heated up the only thing in the freezer, some vegan sausage patties. hmmm). 

in case you lost the train of thought above due to my extensive parenthetical information, today is friday and i've decided to start packing sunday, so there's this weird no-man's-land tomorrow, where i don't think i really have anything specifically to DO for the trip, but feel that i should be doing SOMETHING. wow, i'm big on the caps lock today, too. 

i spoke to my aunt and her friend on the phone this afternoon, which was absolutely fabulous. i now know how to ask for the bathroom: wo sind die Toiletten, bitte? as opposed to what i was going to ask: wo ist der Badezimmer?, which, while technically correct, is unidiomatic, and means i'm actually asking for a place in which i can take a bath. not so great in a grocery store. yuck. 

i guess i'm writing all this out of sheer nervousness...i've talked to will (hi fuzzbutt! you're awesome!) about exactly when we need to leave for the airport on monday...i've made copies of my passport and driver's license to keep in the locker in the hostel, all the sort of things you do when you've never taken an international trip by yourself before. my german teacher would be proud (except she hated me...i can't blame her, really...long story). i have retained SO much more than i actually thought i did. i keep role playing with myself, but i think that all my attempts might be accompanied by a lot of frantic pointing on my part. :)

it's getting late, and i have a date with humphrey bogart to get ready for. i recently bought a dvd of dark passage, which is a noir movie i absolutely LOVE, for occasions just such as this. 

okay. i'm sure i'll feel better when i start packing and acting all official and confirming flights and things...i'll try to stop prattering on. except talking needlessly for ages is kind of my specialty. 

i need a glass of wine....

update on library...and some pretty pictures

i got an email the other morning from mr fanning, of the mahler society library. apparently a mahler scholar is coming into town to do some research library while i'm in town, and offered to take me into the library during its off hours and let me do some private research. even more exciting: he offered to speak with me (like, an interview, yay!) about his specialty, symbols in mahler's music. BUT (and this is a big but), he is planning on going to the library at 9 am on july 21st....and my plane leaves from vienna at 11:30 am on the 21st. 

i'm not really sure what i'm going to do about this...i might see if united will let me take a later flight back, or just prolong my trip for one more day...the hostel where i'm staying has rather flexible booking agreements, so i may just call the airline and see what's possible before i accept or decline. this is an incredible opportunity, and i don't want to screw it up just because of scheduling. i'll keep everyone posted. 

that said, here are the pictures that made me so excited about this project i got stage fright while handing in my application. i'm not joking. i don't get nervous performing, but grant proposals apparently give me fits. 

this is the belevedere palace, which houses the austrian gallery....this is where the klimt piece i'm studying is housed. 

this is the grand staircase of the belvedere gallery....it's gorgeous. 

this is the palais fanto, where the schönberg archives are housed.

 

this is the leopold museum, where they are having a very applicable exhibit (for me, at least)

and this is kinda cool...it's a photo from last year's music film festival at the rathausplatz....i plan on going at least three times. i mean, i've been to film festivals before, but i saw jurassic park and monty python, not la boheme and bruckner 9. although i did meet michael moore...he's hairy up close. :(

so there you go...i'm hanging on for info about the mahler library, and will also spend time in the austrian national library, which dr. fanning recommended to me as well. so a few changes, but that's to be expected. i leave in four days, so it's crunch time now!