Opera

2:00 p.m. We wake up. I know its late... but did you read the last blog? We earned it.

3:00 p.m. We shower and get ready to leave, our hair smelled like smoke. :( We are running very late, but we needed to do some research on the opera we were planning on seeing. It was Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten. It is a story about a mystical talisman, an empress that needs a shadow, and the magical journey in which she tries to get one. Its weird, but sounded promising!

4:30 p.m. We are running really late, we haven't eaten anything all day, but we decide to get our standing-room spots before eating. We get there around five, we get our tickets and proceed to our spots. There are bars in front of each row, and we tied scarves where we were standing to mark our spots.

5:15 p.m. We sprint to the nearest Hot Dog stand. Which is really a bratwurst stand by American standards. We chose the one filled with cheese. It is magical. At the same stand we also got some asian stir-fried noodles? Odd combination.

We went back to the front of the Stadtsoper to eat our food. We happened to sit next to a group of German medical students, in Vienna for the weekend. The one next to me started up a conversation. They have heard of "Californication" and "The Big Bang Theory." That led to us taking a group photo for them, then them insisting we take one with them, then them inviting us to some place called Loco. We will look into what that is... we decided not to join them.

6:45 p.m. We find our spots again, and the opera begins. Act One is slow, with a modern set, and very little movement on stage. The fairy-tale aspects of the story are attributed, from what I could tell, to the main character's mental instability. The worlds went back and forth from her mind to the real world, sometimes somewhere in between.

After about twenty minutes, I realized that I was extremely hot. I quietly took off my boots, they are thick fabric, and I hoped that that would cool me down a little. Five minutes later I was no cooler, and the heat was starting to keep me from focusing on the opera. Another five minutes later I am sweating, and I can barely see straight, I look around, and everyone else looks fine. I sat down.

I was so nervous that I was going to get kicked out for sitting, that I kept looking around for the usher. As soon as I felt a little better, I tried to stand up again, felt light-headed and had to sit back down for the rest of the act. Not the first time this has happened. Will look into with a doctor, its like sometimes when I get overheated, it makes me feel like I want to pass out. Maybe it was the lack of food in the morning?

At intermission, the guy in between Kim and I (he had generously offered to switch with Kim because she had a better view of the English translation in the row in front of her, I will try to post of a picture of the set up tomorrow, its a little hard to explain) helped me up, and suggested that we go outside for some fresh air. He introduces himself, his name is Bjorn, and he is a woodcutter and studied marketing in school. He now helps train people to find jobs. He lives about an hour away by U-Bahn, but he comes to see shows at the Stadtsoper sometimes three times a week. "Why?" we ask. "Because it is better than TV." Good answer!

Act Two, like act one. They do some very complicated set-work. Like projections of a movie clip, and having the entire stage look like a birds eye view of the room in which the Empress is sleeping. This means having the singer "laying" in bed, but really standing about twenty feet above the ground in a bed that looks soft but must really be supporting her whole self. Does that make any sense? During intermission we just sit down in our spots.

Act Three, much more action onstage, the singers really show their strength in huge sections that require range and stamina.

The applause lasted longer than I have ever experienced. Probably six or seven curtain calls, and the passion in the audience was unceasing. So much support. It was beautiful.

10:15 p.m. Our friend Jeoren was also at the opera, but didn't make it in time to sit with us. He met up with us and Bjorn, whom we invited to go eat Sachertorte, and the famous Hotel Sacher, right across the street from the operahaus. It was not the best desert I have ever eaten, but not bad. Coffee and desert in a beautiful, so beautiful, cafe, I could not ask for more. Bjorn had a little trouble with english, so there were a few awkward silences, but in saying goodbyes, he asked if we were coming back the next night, and indeed we had planned on it, so perhaps we will see him again.

11:15 p.m. Kim and I set out on our own, happy for the time just the two of us. We discover a pretty Italian restaurant, where everyone calls you "bellisima" of course. We ordered the white House wine (hauswein) und a pizza with thin salami slices on it. It was delicious, and we stayed long after we finished eating just to talk and sip our wine, until they kicked us out for closing. Everything closes relatively early in Vienna, especially shopping: most stores close around 6:30.

12:00 a.m. We had to stop and ask for help back to the U-Bahn, but we eventually found it, and were headed back home! We caught the trolley back to the dorm right as we get off the train, we felt very lucky.

12:30 a.m. We suddenly realize that we are in surroundings we don't remember, so we exit the trolley. We are in an U-Bahn station. We had missed our stop. We retraced the trolley tracks for a bit, very scared. It is terrifying here at night. Its like the apocalypse happened. Everything is dark and uninhabited, and the few people who are walking around are scary just because we are in a new country and terrified.

We stopped at a Ramada, and got directions from the front desk. We were indeed almost home, and were headed in the right direction, but we were so freaked out we wanted to be sure.

1:00 a.m. We arrive home safely and sprint up the stairs, excited to see our little dorm room. (Weird.)

Skyping with family and Matt and Kim's mom! and to bed.

<3

E