Music in Vienna

I am off again on this year's trip, back to Europe.

I left Dunedin just over a week ago travelling by bus, it was very cheap,  for 6 hours to Christchurch then flying across the ditch to Sydney.
Three full days in Sydney were spent arranging currency, doing some shopping and helping my sister set up her new printer.  I did make a ferry ride to Manly. The Sydney harbour is one thing I do miss.

On Friday I began the worse part with 14 and half long boring hours in the plane to Dubai. After a night trying to sleep, there was another 5 hours on Saturday to Vienna.
Since then I have attended 3 operas plus some other musical experiences.

I am staying in an apartment, which allows more flexibility, but did require some food shopping using my schoolboy German.  Then I had to buy a transport pass and travel in the U-Bahn to pick up my opera tickets.
I found it hard to keep awake that night at the Staatsoper as I saw Werther by Massenet. However it was excellent.  When I left they were up to their 6th standing ovation.
The mezzo soprano Vesselina Kasarova was a stand-in due to illness but was obviously very good. The tenor was the well known Roberto Alagna whom I have seen in Met Opera cinema productions.

On Sunday morning I was up and off to the Hofburgkappelle to attend Mass sung by the Vienna Boys Choir.  I was surprised to find myself in the front row, luckily I was not nodding off like the night before.  I was thankful for my time at St James, King Street and in Catholic schools so I could generally follow the service which was in Latin and German.  The priest gave a brief recap of his sermon in English. The setting was Schubert Mass in C major. At the end the boys came down from where they had been singing up in the balcony at the back and sang one song from the front then photos were allowed. I recognised some of the boys from their performance in Dunedin last year.

I mainly rested and organised myself on Sunday before going to the Volksoper to see 'Der Wildschutz' or 'The Poacher'.  I had been there on 2 previous trips, once for the Barber of Seville and the other for Lehar's "Land of Smiles"  The latter production had some English translation projected up above the stage.

Unfortunately this time it was not a good choice. I should have paid attention to reviews that Der Wildschutz is a stodgy comic opera only appreciated by Germans.  While I had read up on the story, much of it was lost on me and it was nearly 3 hours long.  The music was pleasant but not outstanding.  I am afraid I had another period of  fighting sleepiness.  I was disappointed to see the Merry Widow will be on next week.

On Monday I thought I should do some sightseeing.  I have visited some of the museums on previous trips and enough money has been spent on operas.  I went to the markets and bought some items for dinner and had coffee and apple strudel.  Then there was a walk past typical Viennese buildings to a very impressive war memorial.  I have since discovered it was the Russian war memorial built when Russia controlled part of Vienna after World War 2 so it is not a popular monument for the Viennese and I will not publish my photo.

Then into the Stadt Park which was very pretty although sadly the tulips are at the end of their blooming.  I think there has been a sudden spring warming.  There are lots of statues of Viennese musicians so my musical theme was continued.

In the afternoon I went to the PetersKirche or St Peters church.  It is just a block from the Stephansdom or St Stephens cathedral which I think is overated.  It is better on the outside than in and very crowded.  I went in for less than 10 minutes.  However I was pleased to learn about the Peterskirche.  While fairly plain on the outside, the inside is remarkable, although a bit over the top in the usual baroque style.  However I had read there was an organ concert at 3pm so enjoyed 30 minutes of organ playing for a small donation.

Then it was back to rest up and prepare dinner before setting off back to the Staatsoper to see 'La Boheme"

This as usual was marvellous and, although I had walked a lot during the day,  I did not succumb to sleepiness. Such beautiful music in a wonderful setting.

 

 

Today I leave Vienna and head south by train to Slovenia.

Air New Zealand

I have to share this

Need Help in Trip Planning

While a major reason for my big move was to leave the Sydney Diocese, an equal reason was to move to a cool climate and another was to free up the funds tied up in the block of land next to my house in the Blue Mountains.

I purchased the block a few years after the house in the mid 80's. It protected the view over the valleys from my house and I  enjoyed landscaping the upper section of it. I did not enjoy maintaining the garden as I got older.  It had a cliff of about 10 metres dividing the upper 20% from the lower 80%.  I do not remember when I last went down the bottom.  My house block was similar but the upper section was more  like a third.

A problem developed when I became eligible for an age pension from the government. The Australian government takes into account all assets other than the family home and block in assessing the amount of pension. They counted the neighbouring block of land as an asset but I could not earn any interest on it nor spend any of it.

I knew it would be very hard to sell on its own and most potential purchasers (young couples) of the house were uninterested in the extra land.  I was very thankful when a middle aged couple agreed to buy both.  I have allocated the money from the land sale to future travel.

Which brings me to the point of this post. I need to at least book my flights soon.

I have long ago booked and paid for 2 nights in Oberramergau (Sept 20&21) so planning hinges around those dates. I want a month in Europe before and a month in USA/Canada afterwards


A Round the World Trip allows 5 stopovers. I intend them to be Sydney, Bangkok, Frankfurt, Chicago-Toronto, and San Francisco or Los Angeles. Bangkok and LA or SF are mainly to allow me a good sleep as I detest long flights.

My vague itinerary at the moment is to arrive (after 10 days in Sydney) in
Frankfurt on Aug 20(1n)
Train to Copenhagen (1n)
Overnight ferry to Oslo(1n)
Train to Bergen (1n)

Board Hurtigruten ship for 10 nights cruising the Fiords up to Kirkenes and back to Trondheim

Train back to Oslo (2n)

Train to Copenhagen (2n) (I visited Oslo and Copenhagen in 1974 but guess they have changed)

Train- overnight ferry-train to London about September 9.


Undecided here for 10 nights except I have a dream to attend the Last Night of the Proms (ok in the park opposite) on September 11 and must be in Munich on September 19.

I have never been to Ireland, would love to return to Lakes District and have a friend in Bradford. (Have not been to UK since 1980).  Paris always beckons but perhaps I could give it a miss and hope for future trips as I spent 2 weeks there in both 2002 and 2007.

After Oberammergau, I hope to fly from either Munich or Frankfurt to Chicago on Sept 22 (arrive 23) and stay 2 nights. (I spent 24 hours there in 1999)

Back on trains I plan to travel to New York (undecided about travelling on Lakeshore Limited or Cardinal)

I want to worship with Rev Elizabeth at Chatham on September 26 and there is also a possibility of a Brokeback meeting in New York that weekend.

I have about 9 days to see Boston (was there in 1980), perhaps visit Fran in Albany (Hi Fran) and Motheramelia in Maine and see the Fall colours.

The last Cat from Yarmouth to Portland is about Oct 9 (2010 timetable not yet posted).

I have allocated 6 nights to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island then back on train.

Overnight to Montreal (4 n)

Quebec (2n)

Ottawa (3n)

Toronto (4n with a day to Niagara and back)

Not sure why I allocated the nights that way, am certainly open to advice there.

Then possibly 2 nights in either SF or LA. have been to both and prefer SF  but would like to visit a church in the Diocese of LA.

Finally Dunedin via Auckland.
(phew)

Some comments - I hate flying but know it is a necessary evil if I want to travel from the bottom of the world.  It is why I go for so long at a time - to make the trip worthwhile.

I love train travel and am quite fond of ship travel although am wary of a long cruise and this will be the longest I have ever spent on a ship at one time but hope the Norwegian scenery will make it all worthwhile. I think I would be bored on a long ocean cruise.

Would appreciate any advice either publicly or by private email (see profile).

Great news for flying Oz to NZ

I went as a teacher with school groups on camping trips to New Zealand in 1966, 1969 and 1972. I fell in love with the country. In those days it was not necessary to have a passport to travel across the ditch (Tasman Sea).
By the time I got round to visiting again in 2001, passports were necessary.

If you read my blog, you know I hope to be living in Dunedin before the end of this year. I tell my sister it is only a 2 hour flight and it is over 2 hours by train between my home here in the Blue Mountains and her home in the Northern suburbs of Sydney. However there is the hassle of passports and customs.

Now it has been announced by the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia that there will be a common border within a year.

The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and his New Zealand counterpart, John Key, agreed at a bilateral meeting earlier this month to make the creation of a common border between the countries a priority.

The airlines say the move will cut operating costs on the Tasman - and therefore fares - by at least 30 per cent and will lead to an explosion in the number of new routes being flown.

The deal was discussed in talks between the prime ministers at Kirribilli House in Sydney earlier this month.

"It's one of those things we've decided to see if we can get an agreement within the year," Rudd says. "We've decided rather than just have it languish in never-never land, to bring it into decision-making territory."

The chief executive of Australasia's biggest low-cost carrier, Jetstar said

"It just changes the whole psyche of the trip. You know the hassle of going to an international airport and all the crap you've got to go through to get through. But this would be a domestic terminal, 30-minute close-out, rock straight through and you're on your aircraft."

Great news indeed.