Sunday: A day of rest and singing.

So, on our last day, I decided to forgo the prepaid breakfast at the hotel and head over to Café Landtmann before leave for our next choral engagement at 10 AM. A short time to linger in a timeless café, but I realized that I had yet to do so on this trip. I’m typing this on the Underground, which is a very efficient way to get around Vienna. So efficient, in fact, that I am certain that I won’t finish before I get there. Still, kind of cool thing to do.
Sunday was our day of rest, and we were asked to serve as the parish choir at St. Michael's Church in Vienna. An old church, the one where Mozart premiered the Requiem, with an organist who is a published composer. But no pressure. We were to sing 5 pieces, two of which we had yet to perform, and the dress rehearsal, at 9 AM was rushed, and frankly worrisome. But when the service started, the priest was so warm and welcoming that we could hardly do a bad job. The organist borrowed my music and riffed on "Oh Lord What a Morning" for the opening, after which we sang it as well. (I was fine with that one off book) "Saints Bound for Heaven" went well and "Daniel" rocked in that space. But it was the Lauritsen that soared. "O Nata Lux" seems especially appropriate in a beautiful old church. The last piece, "O Sacrum Convivium", a modern work by a Texan composer, went well and I think that the merging of the threads of American spirituality in a sacred space of centuries duration worked really well. Andy seemed happier after the concert than before.
The afternoon was free: Brian Smith and I rented biked at the Danube and biked the "Neue Danube Loop"- 30 km around a section of the river and an island that has turned half of the Danube into a swimming lake. Everyone was at the beach- we ate at a cafe overlooking the beach, road through family cookout and nude sunbathers (the Austrians are a bit more liberal about these things) and got tired riding against the wind. In the evening, a group of us went to the Arbat (I think) restaurant, to far from our hotel for the best meal that I have had in Vienna. All in all, a satisfying day.

The truckers are striking to protest fuel prices today, blocking highways. I just saw them block Rigstrasse. Should be interesting.