"Looking Left" in literary London!

Cheerio!  (Actually no one really says that in London, but whatever)!

As I have been back in Vienna for a couple of days, I am eager to report on my incredible Easter Break in London!  Things got off to a bit of a slow/weird start as Matt and I had to wait a few hours in the Bratislava airport (we took a student airline out of Slovakia instead of Vienna) before checking in for our flight.  Although we hunted for a snack, we couldn't find anywhere to eat, so by the time we got through security, we were super hungry!  We thus had some fun at the duty free shop after security, buying pounds of candy and chocolate (pictures below).  We then had the very odd experience of flying a student airline.  We didn't have seat numbers on our tickets, so as soon as the flight screen flipped from "check-in open" to "check-in closed," everyone in the terminal leapt out of their seats bounded over to the gate, scurrying to form a haphazard line.  Matt and I, confused, pushed our way through and scanned our tickets, only to be herded into another line to get on the plane.  We were luckily able to sit together!

A happy Matt post-duty free shop!

Upon arriving in London, Matt and I met up with Rachel (a fellow Dartmouth '13 interning in London this term), and we promptly began adventuring!  We took a ride on the "tube" (the metro) and saw several London highlights such as Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Houses of Parliament.  We then walked along the Thames, as it was a warm, beautiful day (people always complain about the weather in London, but it was gorgeous basically the whole time we were there).  We got to see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, which, although a recreation, was still cool.  I also got a bit of a sense of London culture - for example, the streets are often labeled "Look Left" or "Look Right" because tourists are unaccustomed to cars being driven on the other side of the street.  Also, each time the tube stops, a voice says "Mind the Gap between the train and the platform!" and "Mind the Gap!" has become a London catchphrase (it is even on t-shirts and mugs in souvenir shops - I was going to use it as the title of my blog post, but Matt unfortunately "called it"as the title of his before I could)!

View across the Thames of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

Big Ben and the London Eye in the background

Rachel and me munching strawberries and cream along the Thames

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Classic.

Also classic.

The next day, we took a double-decker bus around London to get our bearings and sense of the city.  We then visited Platform 9 3/4 (the famous Harry Potter site) and King's Cross station.  Matt (a huge Harry Potter fan) was particularly excited.  We all certainly wished we could hop on the Hogwart's Express, but alas, our magic wasn't working that day!  We then visited the British Museum, where we saw the Rosetta Stone.  We walked around Bloomsbury (a very intellectual borough where figures such as Virginia Woolf, William Butler Yeats, Charles Dickens, John Maynard Keynes, and Charles Darwin lived).  My favorite part of the day was our trip to the Charles Dickens House on Doughty Street - the home in which he wrote "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickelby!"  We saw many of his manuscripts, his writing desks, and parts of his own book collection.

Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross!

My pal Virginia Woolf and me

Reading (haha) "Oliver Twist" in front of the Charles Dickens House

Red telephone booth - playing with cool settings on my new camera (thanks Dad!)

Matt and me - Matt is a guard; I am Paddington Bear!!

As the next day was Easter, very few attractions were open, so we had a relaxing day just hanging out.  After I went to Mass, we ventured out to find Fish and Chips for Matt and Rachel (I, not being a fish fan, ordered a hamburger).  We then went to Regent's Park (after passing 221b Baker Street - Sherlock Holmes's residence) and sat in the grass, as it was again, a lovely day.

Matt with his fish & chips

Me and Rachel in Regent's Park

Matt staring down a heron in Regent's Park

Although all of our time in London was wonderful, Monday was by far my favorite day.  We began our morning with a visit to the British Library, which quickly became one of my favorite places in the entire world!  One of the rooms contained original Chaucer, Austen, Wordsworth, Bronte, and Woolf manuscripts, as well as Jane Austen's writing desk.  I squealed and jumped excitedly (and in hindsight, a bit embarassingly) when I saw the "Jane Eyre" manuscript written in Charlotte Bronte's own hand.  The museum had opened the page to the Conclusion of "Jane Eyre," with the famous phrase "Reader - I married him."  I made Rachel and Matt go back to that room three times and, of course, took illegal photos!  We then journeyed to Westminster Abbey, where, of course, I was in awe of Poet's Corner, where literary giants such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, and Lord Alfred Tennyson are buried.  Poet's Corner also houses memorials to some of my other favorites, namely Shakespeare, George Eliot, the Brontes, Jane Austen, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Henry James, John Keats, John Milton, William Wordsworth...the list goes on and on.  Our visit to Westminster was also very timely, as the Royal Wedding will be taking place there tomorrow!  We saw the aisle down which Kate will walk and the altar at which she and Prince William will be married.  (This was a very cool time to be in London, as Royal Wedding hubbub overtook the city, and the excitement was contagious)!  Although I was hesitant to leave Westminster and the resting places of my beloved writers, we departed to attend a High Tea.  This was one of my favorite parts of the trip - it felt so classically British!  We had tea, scones with jam and clotted cream (one of my new favorite dishes!), four tea sandwiches, and three little tea cakes.  We were completely stuffed, but it was so worth it to partake in a London tradition.  (And you didn't think I could get through a whole blog post without mentioning a single pastry, did you?? :))

Me, giddy with glee, posing for an illegal picture in front of the "Jane Eyre" manuscript

Westminster Abbey

High Tea fare 

Time for High Tea!

The next day, we parted with Rachel (sad!), as she had to go to work, and Matt and I ventured out on one last morning of tourist-ing.  We first toured the Tower of London, a historic medieval castle, parts of which date from the late 11th century (from the times of the Norman kings).  We saw the Crown Jewels of the British monarchy, the site on which Anne Boleyn was executed, several of the towers, a Changing of the Guard ceremony, and the ravens that guard the Tower of London (a British legend relates that if no ravens are at the Tower of London, England will be invaded - so the wings of the ravens are clipped so they won't fly away).  Another cool part of this trip was that the CBS Early Show was filming at the Tower of London/in front of the London Bridge, so we tried to get on TV, but unfortunately, we don't think we were caught on camera.  After quickly darting to Buckingham Palace (so we could say we saw it), we caught our bus back to the airport and headed home.  Thankfully, everything ran smoothly transportation-wise, and we were back in Vienna by midnight!

White Tower at the Tower of London

Changing of the guard (we stumbled upon this and got so close to them!) 

Royal Wedding segment being filmed at the Tower of London - hi CBS!

Buckingham Palace 

Me and Matt in front of the London Bridge

I absolutely LOVED London and cannot wait to go back someday.  However, it is great to be back in Vienna, if only for a couple of days (tomorrow, I head to Prague again with my class for the weekend).  Last night, we saw Wagner's opera "Parsifal" (which lasted FIVE HOURS!!), and tonight we are seeing Leif Ove Andsnes perform several piano sonatas.

Cheers!  And thanks for reading!

Quick update!

Hi, everybody!

This will be a quick update, as I am headed off to London in a few minutes!  Matt and I are going to visit our friend Rachel, who is living and working in London this term.  I am SO excited to see her as well as to visit all of the AMAZING literary sites in London!  (I apologize in advance for all of the pictures of authors' homes, graves, manuscripts, etc. that I will for sure be posting in a few days).

This week has been filled with concerts!  On Sunday, we had the opportunity to hear the Vienna Philharmonic perform Dvorak's Biblical Songs and Josef Suk's Symphony in C Minor.  The sound of the Vienna Phil was absolutely breathtaking - outside of my beloved Cleveland Orchestra, I have never heard such a brilliant sound emanate from an ensemble.  We also saw two operas this week - Poulenc's "Dialogue des Carmelites" and Gounod's "Faust."  They were both incredible - I am definitely becoming hooked on opera!

The other highlight of this week was our first student recital.  Everyone played wonderfully, and it was great to hear my fellow FSP-mates perform!  I have linked below to a video of my performance of the Poulenc Clarinet Sonata in case anyone's interested.  I have many goals for the next recital, but one of them is to work to alleviate my "stage fright" a bit and relax into my playing!

Shannon - Poulenc

Well, off to London!  More soon!

Pastries in Praha and other Central European adventures

Hallo!  Ahoj!  ("Hello" in German and Czech!)

I am a bit behind on my blog posts - es tut mir leid ("I'm sorry" in German!)  This week has been particularly busy, as I have been in three countries in the past five days!  I just returned from an amazing week in Prague, Czech Republic with my friend Elizabeth (a Dartmouth '10 and former manager of the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra), which was amazing.  I will write about this more later in the post, but I must first update about several other experiences I encountered earlier this week!


Last Friday, I was able to get together with my friend Christine (a fellow former Cleveland Orchestra intern) for lunch - it was really good to see her talk about both Vienna and Cleveland (and of course try a new bakery in Vienna)!  Last Saturday, after Matt cooked a wonderful dinner for our entire FSP, he and I attended a performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet at the Vienna Konzerthaus.  The soloist, Daniel Ottensamer - the principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic - performed the most beautiful version of the piece I had ever heard. Matt and I were also lucky enough to sneak into front row seats about five feet from Ottensamer, so we spent the whole time drooling over his incredible technique and tone.  This piece really inspired me to develop more delicacy and grace in my playing; Ottensamer used so much air, yet his playing was not loud or forceful (sorry for all the non-clarinet nerds reading this!)

I made Matt pose for a picture as he was finishing making his delicious tiramisu!

Last Sunday, Matt, Shivani, and I ventured out on our first tourist-y excursion in Vienna.  We visited the Habsburg Treasury in the Hofburg Museum complex, where we saw many of the Habsburg crowned jewels and other treasures.  I was particularly thrilled to see the sabre of Charlemagne and the Achatschale, a bowl that was once believed to be the Holy Grail, as it contains inscriptions that are believed to refer to Jesus Christ.  This museum certainly brought back many AP Euro memories from high school (hi Katie Miller!) and enriched my understanding of the history of Vienna.  

Charlemagne's sabre in the Hofburg Treasury

Another highlight of this week was our class trip to Bratislava, Slovakia on Thursday.  We took a ferry down the Danube River from Vienna to Bratislava.  We then took a walking tour of the city.  Although the rainy, windy, frigid weather put a slight damper on the experience, I enjoyed seeing the sights of Bratislava, including St. Martin's Church, where the Habsburg rulers were coronated.  We then welcomed the opportunity to relax in a restaurant called the Slavic Pub, where I had kapustinica (cabbage soup with sausage) and bryndzové halušky, a gnocchi-like pasta with sheep cheese.  The food was tasty, but a bit too heavy for me!  After lunch, we visited the house of composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel, who was born in Bratislava, and the quirky but cool Clock Museum.  At the end of the day, we hiked up to the Bratislava Castle and stopped on the way down for pancakes filled with orange marmalade.  I hope to return to Bratislava someday and explore the city more (hopefully in nicer weather!)

The list of Habsburg rulers coronated at St. Martin's Church in Bratislava

Me and Matt by a modern art statue in Bratislava

Bratislava Castle

Some of the girls in back of Bratislava Castle overlooking the city

The most memorable part of this week was, of course, visiting Elizabeth in Prague ("Praha" in Czech)!  Matt and I boarded the bus from Vienna on Friday morning to embark on our whirlwind 36-hour visit (we returned to Vienna around 5:30 this morning).  After we excitedly met her at the bus station, Elizabeth took us to one of her favorite cake shops, where we shared lots of delicious desserts - this marked the first of our MANY food adventures this weekend!  That evening, we went to a traditional Czech restaurant tucked away in a non-touristy part of the city.  Elizabeth and I ordered a dish with several kinds of meat (a pork, a smoked ham, and sausage) and Knedlíky, a traditional Czech food that is either wheat or potato based and cut into slices.  Matt ordered svíčková na smetaně, a beef sirloin dish served with dumplings and served with sour cream and cranberries.  Everything was delicious, and it was awesome to hear Elizabeth speak Czech!  The next morning, we watched Elizabeth rehearse with her Czech folk music group.  The musicians (who played violins, violas, a bass, and a cimbál - a dulcimer-like instrument that sounds when a small hammer hits strings) accompanied a group of dancers performing a traditional Czech piece.  It was really cool to watch Elizabeth partake in this cultural experience!  After the rehearsal, we of course ate more pastries!  We went to a farmer's market and purchased three apples and several pastries.  It was a beautiful day, so we perched on a grassy spot (a bit reminiscent of the Dartmouth Green) and devoured our baked goods.  Elizabeth then took us to her favorite spot in Prague, called Vyšehrad - a site on top of a hill overlooking the Vltava ("Moldau") River. We found a grassy spot and indulged in Větrník, a.k.a the best pastry I have ever eaten!  These pastries consist of two glazed donut-like cakes with two different kinds of cream in between!  (I hope no one is too appalled by the amount of baked goods we consumed this weekend - I was very grateful to have two partners-in-dessert-crime in Elizabeth and Matt)! We then visited the grave sites of our beloved composers Dvořák and Smetana and enjoyed the beautiful views of Prague.  Craving a healthy meal, we then shared a meal at a vegetarian restaurant.  After chatting, reminiscing about Dartmouth, and eating one more baked good (three pizza-style desserts each covered with a different topping - apricot, pear, or poppyseed), we had to reluctantly travel to the bus stop and say goodbye.  I loved the city of Prague - it was a bit more relaxed than Vienna - but most of all, it was great to spend time with Elizabeth!  I miss her already!     

Elizabeth and me at the cake shop on the first day

An Easter Market in Prague

Knedlíky with cabbage and meat

Větrníky (with a chocolate/marshmallow dessert in the background)

Best dessert ever!

Sadness in front of Dvořák's grave

...Passersby were certainly staring at us.  

Smetana's grave - more sadness

The Vltava (or "Moldau" river) that inspired Smetana's famous composition!

Beautiful Praha!

Time to go! :(

Such a wonderful visit! ("Já vypadám jako odpadky!" hahaha Elizabeth)

This post has become quite long...and next week's will probably be even longer, as we have a recital this Wednesday and Easter Break at the end of the week (Matt and I are traveling to London to visit our friend Rachel!!)  I am really excited for Week Four!

Thanks for reading!

The Hills are Alive

Happy Thursday, everyone!  

I can't believe that so much has happened since the last time I posted!  I am happy to say that we are all falling into a bit more of a routine here, and I am feeling a bit more at home each day.  

I am especially glad that, since things have settled down a bit more this past week, I have been able to practice more regularly.  I had my first clarinet lesson last Friday, which went really well.  I am working on the Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet, and Matt and I are working on the Krommer Double Concerto.  Vienna is pretty much the best city in which to be a musician.  Everywhere you turn in the first district there seems to be someone with a cello strapped to his or her back or someone studying a score on the U-Bahn.  Last night, our teacher took me and Matt to a clarinet recital at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, a famous conservatory in Vienna.  I was absolutely awestruck by the talent of these students.  Their technical work was nearly flawless, and many of them captured a tone as beautiful as those I have heard in professional recordings.  At the end of the recital, the students brought their teacher, Peter Schmidl (principal clarinetist in the Vienna Philharmonic) onstage to perform a special work composed just for him.  This was particularly entertaining because the piece they performed quoted many staples of the traditional clarinet repertoire, such as the Mozart and Weber concertos and the Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  After the recital, the performers and audience members gathered in a hall for a champagne toast.  Matt and I stuck around with our teacher as he spoke in German with other attendees, and although we couldn't understand anything they were saying, we nonetheless enjoyed being somewhat of a part of a Viennese social gathering!

The other most memorable part of this past week was our overnight excursion to Salzburg this past weekend.  After a four-hour bus ride and a stop at the nicest rest area I have ever seen (pictures below), we arrived at a really nice hostel in Salzburg.  We then took a 2.5-hour walking tour through the city, including the house in which Mozart was born!  On Sunday, we attended the Salzburg Global Seminar, an annual conference in which scholars from various fields gather to discuss issues prevalent in modern society.  This year's conference focused on music, and we were lucky enough to be able to observe two of the morning sessions on Sunday.  The sessions, which took place in the house where part of "The Sound of Music" was filmed (hi Gwen!), focused on the relationship between musical performance and audience engagement as well as the relationship between music and the brain.  I was particularly fascinated by the lectures that focused on how to enhance the intensity of musical performances and the capacity for concerts to be life-changing events.  After the morning sessions, we were able to eat lunch with the conference participants, many of whom were renowned musicologists.  This seminar was perhaps my favorite part of the Salzburg excursion, as it brought to life many issues facing classical music today.  

The nicest rest stop ever.

Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg!

The girls at the Augustine Biergarten in Salzburg.

The view from the building in which the Salzburg Global Seminar took place.

Girls in front of some Alps!

"The Sound of Music" house!

Although each day in this city is memorable, two other particularly notable highlights occurred after we returned from Salzburg.  First, on Monday of this week, we took a tour of the Mozarthaus Vienna, the apartment in which Mozart wrote "The Marriage of Figaro" opera.  This museum was particularly well-designed, as each room showcased a particular one of Mozart's compositions and contained specific historical information pertaining to the context of each work.  I also found it particularly powerful to be able to stand in the rooms in which Mozart once lived and composed.  Second, yesterday, Matt and I tried the Sacher Torte from a little bakery near our classroom building.  It was absolutely delicious, and I now understand why this dessert has become one of the most renowned pastries in the city!

The Sacher torte!  Yum!

Me and Shivani at an adorable café - Café Aida - that we tried this morning.

Tonight, we are going to see the Gustav Mahler Jungendorchester perform Mahler's First Symphony, one of my favorite pieces ever.  This weekend is mostly free, so I am looking forward to exploring Vienna a little more.  I hope to visit a few of the museums in the city and of course try out some more cafés!

More soon!