Time to catch everyone up on two recent events!
Last Tuesday, I went to La Scala for the first time. La Scala is a world-renowned opera house that has been around since the late 1700's. We went to hear the La Scala Symphony Orchestra play Robert Schumann's Symphony n. 4 and Johannes Brahms' Symphony n. 1. Of course, I know nothing about symphonies or classical music and kept wishing there were visuals to go along with the music. Since there were not, I was forced to notice the following things about some of the musicians...
- There was a handsome bass player, who looked to be the inspiration for Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.
- One of the French horn players appeared to wear one of those glasses, nose and mustache get-ups. Except I don't think he was wearing any of it as a joke. This guy was also dumping spit out of his instrument constantly!
- Brahms clearly didn't write enough notes for the trombone players in his piece...they looked incredibly bored!
Here are some images from the night.
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| what we were there to hear- |
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| Kate and I in our "box" |
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| There are seats on the floor and then boxes all around |
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| the chandelier and ceiling |
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| more boxes; the really fancy one had only one person in it |
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| the orchestra and guest conductor |
In complete contrast to the regal and prim feel of La Scala was my weekend trip to Oktoberfest. My friend,. Elizabeth, from the Boston job fair lives in Munich and was gracious enough to put me up on her couch for the weekend. Saturday morning we got up super early and arrived at the festival grounds by 7:30 AM. We waited in line outside the Ox tent until about 8:30 when they started letting everyone in. Everyone seemed to behave well while waiting in line, though as soon as they allowed anyone in the line became a can of sardines in which we were all packed too tightly! But, once in the tent, we snagged a table for our group of 15 and sat down. It seems that if you want a table, this is the only way to go about things. Pretzels are being sold as you sit, and the first beers arrived by 9 AM. As you see in the pictures, everything was giant- the pretzels and the beer. This tent served ox, and while I was hesitant to try it, I just went with it and it was just like eating roast beef. It was served with the most delicious German potato salad, and, of course, washed down with a liter of German beer.
After awhile a band started playing and people started standing on the benches and singing along. It was a lot of fun, especially when the tunes were American songs that I had heard before! Listening to a room full of Europeans singing Sweet Home Alabama is something else!
Here are some of the best pics of the day!
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| 9 AM= beer thirty! |
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| the OX tent- the had ox on the spit |
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| ox and German potato salad |
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| Elizabeth and me |
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| cookies for sale! |
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| me- sporting a dirndl! |
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