Monday, December 28, 2009
We had another late start to the day (11am) but we weren’t really on a time schedule so it wasn’t a big deal. However yet again, the Asians were up at 7:30am and out the door before we woke up. This time our first stop was an outdoor food market. It was really cool. The place had all kinds of good smelling food like different kinds of stuffed olives, multiple types of homemade humus, exotic fruits like strawberries (haha), dried fruits and nuts, sweets, gingerbread cookies, kebobs, falafel, different kinds of pastries like baklava, fresh bread, chinese food, and much much more. We walked up and down the market a few times, having a hard time deciding what to try. Today was round two of the leather jacket. I discovered in Berlin that it is actually really warm, warmer than my fleece, and would allow me to wear fewer layers so I decided to give it ago. Plus I knew we were going to the Nut Cracker tonight so I wanted to look “nicer” and i thought it would go over better than a fleece jacket.
Well, I discovered in Vienna that you get treated differently when you wear a leather jacket. I think people assume certain things about a person in a leather jacket and therefore treat them differently. To be honest, I kind of bought the jacket for that reason. I like how clothes can give off a different perception and since I’ll never be a fashion diva or a trend setter, a leather jacket is as close to a different perception as i can give off. Back to Vienna,well in the open air market we met some friendly venders that offered us free falafel in exchange for our names. We obliged. The three of us decided to give pseudo names instead: I was Lara, from Tomb Raider, Julia was Heidi, and Megan was Leisel. For some reason my pseudo name was the only one that stuck and they kept calling after me as i walked by. Within a five minute period of eating our free falafel my name had spread and random venders would call it out to offer me free samples. I contribute the celebrity status to the jacket.
The rest of the day we spent wondering around Wein. We didn’t really have a plan in mind, just that we wanted to be back to the Opera House by 5pm. We ended up walking past the Austrian Parliament, Museum Quarter, old Christmas Markets that had closed down, and some outdoor parks. We would have gone into a museum except each one had a entry fee of 8 Euros and we were going to go see a museum that Megan really wanted to visit the next day, so we decided to save our 8 Euro for that museum. We pretty much covered all of the heart of Vienna that day. the last place we walked to before heading back towards the Opera House was this really cool place called Hunderwasser Village. This place had the coolest architecture and designs. It wasn’t just for show, actual people lived in these apartments. The painter that designed the place didn’t like straight lines and that’s why the buildings look like waves rather than blocks. Inside was this fairy tale like shopping center with a really cool bar in the center of the establishment. It was a breathe of fresh air compared to the other buildings that surrounded it.
After a short drink break we found ourselves in front of the gelato place again and just couldn’t help ourselves. The second time around wasn’t as good, the new guy didn’t give us as many swirls and chunks of nutella. We made our way to the Opera House at 5pm on the dot. We were closer to the front than the night before so we knew for sure that we would get the best seats since we were now experts and knew exactly where to go. We couldn’t find Alana in line but we did meet this guy from New Orleans. he never told us his name but he was a few years older than us. He told us that he had been traveling around the world for two years now. He told us stories about Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, Slovakia, and other interesting and less touristy spots. He did warn us not to go to Moldova. He said the McDonalds outside the theatre was nicer than any building in all of Moldova. You’ve been warned. He said he would just wake up one day and decide it was time to leave. He said some of his jobs were teaching English in a school, working as a bar maid, helping people on their farm, and other various, random jobs like that. He told us this one story about how he met this guy one day who HAD to leave Australia that night and needed to give his van to someone, so the random guy handed him the keys and said “enjoy”. The NOLA boy spent the next two months just cruising around Australia, living out of the van. Can you imagine living like that? I can’t, but it sounds exotic doesn’t it?
Well we took him under our wings and showed him what to do in order to get the best seats. He was completely unaware that tonight was the Nut Cracker. He had never seen it (WhAT????) but heard that you could get standing room seats in the Opera House for very cheap and decided to give it a whirl. He told us that he was down to his last 100 Euro so he was thinking this might be the last stop on his journey because his mother had finally contacted him and offered to pay for his ticket home just as long as he would come back. If you ask me, the Nut Cracker is a good way to go out. We ended up standing in just about the same spots except this time we could see the whole stage. No sugar plum fairy would be missed by my eyes. The ballet was only 2 hours long with a 15 minute intermission so i was more optimistic that my legs would make it this time.
Here are a few differences I noticed between this Nut Cracker and the Nut Cracker I am accustomed to:
the “mice” people looked more like ninjas. They didn’t even really move like mice.
instead of the adults, the kids played the roles of the mice and soldiers. It made the affect slightly different. They even had a trampoline.
the 3 special dolls that the magical grandfather brings weren’t dolls, just people dressed up in different costumes who danced with the adults at the party. I was disappointed because I like the dolls.
the kids played video games with a screen at one point(??!!)---this must be the modern version of the nut cracker
the adults at the party played with scarfs at one point
there was no lady with a giant skirt that little children poured out of
These weren’t HUGE differences that ruined the experience by any means, just things i noticed. After the ballet finished we were all really happy we got to see it. It made us all think about our families back home and the traditions of Christmas. It was a definite highlight of the entire trip thus far.
While waking through the underground metro this guy just came right to me with his arms open for a hug. I couldn’t escape it but i didn’t hug back. I tried to maneuver myself out of his grasp as i grabbed my bag to make sure he didn’t try to open it. All i remember was Megan’s face of horror as the guy hugged me. She motioned for me to grab my bag just to be safe. I knew i didn’t have anything in my pockets so i wasn’t to worried. He finally let go and i just took off with J-M. It was so strange. Again, I blame the jacket.
He were all in the mood for some pizza so we some a slice close to our hostel. Afterwards J-M really wanted to try baklava before we left Vienna so we hit up the same Med restaurant again. This time there were more people but we had the same waiter. We got two orders of the mixed desert plate. We tried baklava, this donut ball, a cornmeal ball, and churros surrounded by dollops of whipped cream. All the deserts had a rich taste of honey to them. They were all very good. When we asked for the check the waiter brought us a complimentary round of sweet liquor shots to cleanse our pallets. How thoughtful. You know what’s coming, I contributed the generosity to the jacket for the last time that day.
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