Transfer Day: Recreating the Creation

It is a very weird thing, to be in Vienna twice within a 10 month period. Certainly not a bad thing, but it a little weird, in a good way. Technically, of course, I am currently outside of Vienna- but I digress.
I woke up early, packed and was downstairs by 7:30, packed and ready for the bus. We packed amid confusion; one of us left her luggage in the foyer of the hotel, but in general we made a reasonable getaway. We passed through the Buda Hills east of Budapest onto the plain between Vienna and Budapest.. Felt like we were crossing Ohio, what with the corn and wheat and such. We stopped at a gas station to spend out our last Flonints (I got a candy bar) and we drove across the old iron curtain without a care. No passports, no Cold War. No stopping. The European Union is a wonderful thing. Eventually, we found ourselves entering the large sprawling urban landmass that is Vienna.
Our guide is Viennese and love music history, and music history trivia (who slept with who, which composer lived where when composing which work, all of that sort of thing). She filled us in on the 2000 year history of Roman, Holy Roman, Ottoman and Ausro-Hungarian empires that have overrun these parts, and fit the musicians into that context. Turns out that one of the early Hapsburgs was a fairly talented composer, and that the State has subsidized music for hundreds of years because of that. Also seems that composers lived in every house that we drove by. Eventually we stopping in the old part of the city, inside the Ringstrasse, the old city wall, and got out near the Opera House (and the Sacher Hotel). The President of Greece is staying at the Sacher- apparently one can tell because of the military guard placed outside. Anyway, we were glad to get out of the bus for a bit of a walk- we were to have an hour for lunch and an hour for the a little walking tour of the city.
The streets were familiar, but with a difference: we were here not to shop, but to perform. There is a banner on the side of the Stefansdom, announcing our concert on the 4th of July. Our concert is listed in the July events book. There is a brochure with our name on it in the Cathedral. The church that Julie and I visited last fall, and in which we heard a wonderful organ concert is going to be the site ouf our Sunday morning singing. And so on. Vienna is a big, mature city with an incredible musical tradition, and we are about to become part of it. Along with many other groups of foreign travelers- we saw a group of high schoolers from New Zealand, and concerts are constantly being advertised. But we are definitely going to be a part of it.
Changed money, grabbed a sandwich, looked at the various parts of the Palace. The president’s window was open, which apparently means that he is in town. Then we hopped a bus for our hotel, stopped at the City graveyard to pay our respects to the remains of Beethovan, Brahms, several Schuberts and Schoenberg. The hotel for today and tomorrow is WAY out of town- it was apparently originally a swimming pool. Big place, modern, overrun with high school groups. Apparently the International Youth Leadership Conference will be here tomorrow. 45 minute run into town by bus, so apparently we are being encouraged to limit the frequency with which we return to the hotel- it will be challenging to do a “sound check” at Stefansdom at 3:30, come back here to change into performance garb, and then go back to the city. At least the internet is good.
For dinner, we drove into the Vienna Woods, to a little Weingarten in a town nestled among Vinyard, that really reminded me of our travels through Wachau. The wine was the “Heuewein”, made from grapes harvested last summer- the “Sturm” that Julie and I drank here in September. Picnic tables, family style food, heavy on the meats and root vegetables and anaccompanied by the usual touristy things- roses, pictures and wandering musicians were available . Talked to Julie via internet last night. Was good to hear her voice.
Concerts start up again tomorrow, and build relentlessly before we leave. Weather turned cooler and stormier last night. Life is good.