Day 22, Venice

Our last day in Venice. I'm actually writing this during our last morning in Venice. In a little while we'll get on the boat that takes us to the train that takes us to Milan where we'll stay overnight and then get on the plane first thing on Wednesday morning. So obviously, none of this is the fun part, but as long as we get out of Venice without either of us falling into that icky water, I think we can pretty much call this trip a success.
Yesterday, Gramma came up with the wonderful idea to take a boat out to the island of Murano where all the glass blowing studios are. She got Judith and I all excited about it, and then decided she would stay behind for fear that she was catching our tour director's cold. So Judith and I went as a pair to Murano, and we have never ever seen so much glass in our lives! It was rather impressive---each piece was impressive, and then the huge quantity of shops just full of glass. We were taken over there by a complimentary service, promptly greeted by our own personal sales representative at the dock. We got to watch the men blowing glass for a few minutes, and then we were ushered up to the showroom, where we were half-expected to buy something for hundreds, if not thousands of euros. I thought Judith might tempt herself into buying something, but she played it cool, and we got out of there emptyhanded. That really was only the beginning, because for the rest of the afternoon we were in a daze just going into dozens of little shops all up and down the canal. You'd think you would just see the same stuff over and over, but each shop had SOMEthing that was completely unique and would draw us in to look.

After we got back, Gramma and I headed out together for just a little more shopping and looking around, and then we met up with Judith, Joel, and Eileen (the remaining pieces of our tour group) and went out for our last dinner together.

It's been a really nice group, a nice tour, a very rich and enjoyable time with Gramma. I'm amazed at how much music we heard, how much opera we saw, food we ate, beautiful buildings we walked into and out of.

This will be the final post for this blog. Thanks to all of you who've been reading along and dropping comments. It's been fun sharing this with everyone!

Day 20 and 21, Venice

Yesterday was such a full day that I didn't even take the time to post to this blog-- so this is kind of a catch-up post, with the wrap-up from yesterday and today. In fact, most of yesterday was spent in transit. First, four hours on the bus from Milan to Venice, and then we took a water taxi directly to the door of our hotel in Venice. What a wacky place with canals instead of roads! It's not really rockin' the handicapped accessibility, though, so Gramma's taking it easy and keeping the sightseeing to a minimum. She says she's seen it all before anyway. Our hotel is right near St. Mark's square, so we have 1.3 million pigeons as neighbors here.
Last night we went to La Fenice-- by far the most beautiful opera house we've been in yet-- and saw Massenet's "Thais". I wasn't all that gripped by the opera, and neither was Gramma. We were stunned by all the nudity (lots of naked dancing girls in this opera-- I guess that's what they like in France). The music was nice, but no truly amazing or memorable moments. I suppose there's not much else to say about it... (I suppose I don't have much of a future as an opera critic.)

This morning I joined the walking tour of St. Mark's square and the Doge's palace. We walked through the Bridge of Sighs. Sighed, of course, and even gasped a little when I looked out the window and saw how many people were on the next bridge down taking pictures of the bridge I was walking through. Venice is beautiful, and a place that really keeps you on your toes with all the bridges and canals. It's wild to think that all the shop owners and museum keepers have to think amphibiously. The combination of a high tide, a full moon, and some strong winds can turn a gift shop into a kiddie pool. And this is just the way of life here! And when St. Mark's square isn't flooded with water, it's a sea of pigeons. Great fun for the kids, but I'll be alright if my vacation doesn't include smothering my body in pigeon poo... You see these folks out there with pigeons on every limb, and even pigeons standing on their heads (standing on the person's head, not the pigeons standing on its own head). I made sure to walk through without a single crumb in my pocket!

Pretty soon we'll head out for our "farewell dinner" with the opera tour group. We've seen and heard a lot together! These are all such wonderful folks, and it'll be fun to see if we ever run into them again.

Day 19, Milan

We are nearing the end of this opera tour. We'll leave Milan tomorrow morning and head to Venice to see our very last opera, Massenet's "Thaïs". Today we hopped on a bus (ok, not that many people in our group are prone to "hopping") and drove out to Casa di Riposa, the retirement home for musicians that Verdi left as part of his legacy. It's also where he and his second wife are buried together in a beautiful mosaic'd crypt. Nowadays, because the social security has gotten so much better, elderly musicians are able to support themselves. So with the spare rooms at this place, they offer boarding for international students of opera-- and then they get tutored by the former singers who also live there. What a cool concept! We met one of the elderly residents there. This woman had come down to the lobby just before we left, and talked to Gramma in Italian. Gramma asked if she was a singer, and the old lady replied, "Si, ma non canto piu." ("Yes, but I don't sing anymore.") It was a simple, short conversation, but Gramma's been recalling it all day, wishing we had taken a picture of this woman. Gramma wishes we had gone in to meet some more of the people, and that would have been really nice. Alas, the tourguide ushered us back onto the bus and we went to see a few more sights around the town.
At the La Scala museum, among all the huge portraits of important singers and composers, they had a small display of old instruments, including an 18th century salterio, aka dulcimer! I started to ask some questions about it, and told the guide that I was really interested in somehow getting a photo of it. They flipped through the "La Scala" book that was on sale there, but it mainly showed the rooms, rather than the objects. So the security guard must've detected my sincere interest in this one particular instrument, and granted me special permission to take some photos of it.
We took it easy this afternoon... What with the weather being all dreary and rainy, Gramma and I enjoyed some downtime in the hotel until it was time for dinner. The whole group went out for dinner. We ate risotto Milanese and ossobucco-- Here's what I found on wikipedia about this: "Ossobuco alla milanese is a dish from Milan, capital of Lombardy, of braised veal shanks. It is usually sprinkled with gremolata, a mix of parsley, garlic and lemon peel, and served with risotto alla milanese, a saffron risotto." One of the guys on this tour, Joel, has a very nice GPS unit that has all kinds of translators in it. He was interested in the Italian word "stinco," meaning "shin," and he happened to find this interesting idiom: "Non e uno stinco di santo." Directly translated, that's "He's not one shin of a saint"-- or more loosely, "he's no saint." I will be so impressed with myself if/when I ever get to use this phrase in a conversation.

Happy Birthday John!!

We've been in Europe long enough to miss TWO birthdays (at least!)... So happy birthday, John. Let me know if you want me to bring you back anything from Italy, like a ham or something.

Day 18, Milan, La Scala

At this point, Gramma might be thinking to herself, "well at least the food is good." She had to sit through a La Traviata she hated last night, and tonight we were served a ballet that was so super modern and outside-the-box that a couple of times I turned and saw Gramma with her hand over her eyes.
In the last post I talked about how all the ladies were getting all ramped up for the big evening in La Scala. Everyone really did look and feel great. All we knew was that we were going to see a ballet, and that the music would be Mozart. Yes, there was ballet, and yes there was Mozart, but it was all mixed up with other "sound creations" and the choreography was so modern that I could almost hear all the traditionalists in the crowd muttering to themselves, "ugh, kids these days."
I, for one, loved it. It was so sensual and moving-- the dances kept breaking into and out of traditional conventions. It was a complete fantasy, and yet very human. It was a little crazy and unpredictable, and yet honest, but playful... And all choreographed over Mozart-- it really brought out aspects of the music I'd never considered before. I loved it. I can't really say any more about it before bedtime, but if you're interested, I found this little write-up about the show: http://www.culturekiosque.com/dance/reviews/le_parc_2005.html

And a video of my favorite part. Amazing.

After the ballet, we took the long way home and walked through the Galleria (wow!) and then saw the Duomo all lit up (wow again!)... We'll go have a proper look around tomorrow during the walking tour.

Day 18 and the Traviata Report

I was promised that "La Traviata" would impress me more than any other opera on this trip. There was so much anticipation for this one opera, and in fact, I heard some of the ladies in our group talking about wearing extra nice outfits because it's "La Traviata." Well, Gramma hated it. She said the stage director deserved to be shot. I have to admit, I found the opera pretty entertaining (it even included some burlesque, Philip!) but even more entertaining were the hot discussions and debates among the members of our group during the intermissions. Some loved it, some hated it. And hashing it all out is the fun part! At the second intermission, a New Yorker sitting in front of me turned around and said, "Is the opera over?" And I had to say, "No, of course not. Nobody has died yet."
I'm still learning a lot on this trip. Today we visited Verdi's birthplace, and then his beautiful villa where he lived for 50 years in his adult life. I'm gradually connecting the dots between this man, the music, the cultural contexts--Italian culture, and opera culture. Verdi was born in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars, and died in 1901, only 10 years before Gramma was born! I just thought it would be fun to use "Verdi," "Napoleon," and "Gramma" all in one sentence.
We ate lunch at the hotel/restaurant that Carlo Bergonzi owns (I'm opera name-dropping now. I'm so hip.) and in fact, he lives there too. Soon after we sat down at our big table for ten, he came into the dining room to eat his lunch. Gramma and a few others in our group were so excited to meet him. Gramma reminded him of his performances with Dorothy, and he remembered well. He was very kind to all of us, especially considering we were holding him back from eating the incredible food at this place. I think that'll be one of this trip's highlights for Gramma.
We just arrived in Milan this afternoon, and we're going to La Scala to see, unfortunately, a ballet. I say "unfortunately" to reflect the attitudes of the real serious opera fans on this trip (G'ma included). They're all thrilled to go to the famous opera house, but just a little let down that it's only a ballet we'll get to see there. Still, Gramma's planning on wearing her fanciest jacket, just for La Scala. I'm learning that the best-loved operas will "up" the dress code, as will the most prestigious (or legendary?) opera houses.

Day 17, Parma

We're just part way through the day, but I'm afraid my internet access will run out before we get back from the opera tonight, so the Traviata report will have to wait until a future post.

Today was our first day of bad weather. Rain all day. Gramma got up early, hoping that we'd join the tour of the Toscanini museum and other sights around Parma, but decided against it with the inhospitable weather. So we just met up with the group at the restaurant for lunch. Lunch: that three-hour feast that stands in for all three meals of a regular day. Oh my my my, it was incredible again. The most notable part was the fresh mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce surrounding a mound of pureed pumpkin... Holy cats! (As Judy, another opera fan on our tour, would say.)

After lunch, Gramma and the others took taxis back to the hotel, and Judy and I were able to get away for a while to do some shopping. She took me into this little perfume shop--the kind of place I would never think to go into--and it was really fun! It was just the two of us and the nice woman who ran the place. She and Judy were talking about all the different perfumes, where they come from, what kinds of occasions they're good for, comparing this to that. It was a real experience for me! We were sniffing all these little strips of paper with perfumes spritzed on them, and then "cleansing our palettes" by sticking our noses in a jar of coffee beans she kept under the counter. When Judy finally made her decision to buy a bottle of perfume (a local specialty) and a stick of deodorant, the lady wrapped them all up in these fancy packages with ribbons and bows and everything. And then she gave us free samples of some of the stuff we liked. It was actually pretty neat to go in there and consider all these different smells from all these different places, all bottled up and sold at extraordinary prices. Like I said, a completely new experience for me, but something I'll probably remember for a long time! My favorite aspect of this trip are the cultural encounters. But they all have less to do with American/Italian cultural differences, and more to do with lower/upper class cultural differences. When these people start talking about their fancy designer purses and shoes, and all the five star hotels they've stayed in, I really start to feel like a peasant! But a truly fortunate peasant. I don't have many expensive material things (say, a couch), and probably never will (ok, maybe someday a couch), but I have all I need to be happy-- including occasional opportunities to cross the boundaries of my own world into another. Gramma has been a great catalyst for that kind of thing, in many ways!

Day 16, Parma

Just from looking out our hotel room window, you wouldn't think much of Parma. But we traveled the half-mile or so into the center of town today, and we were very impressed! Mostly impressed by food and shopping, however, but that's perfectly alright for us girls. Also, it's impressive how much this town is into Verdi at the moment. This is where he was from, and right now they're having their Verdi festival. I think the Verdi Festival promotions team must be working lots of overtime, because they have the posters everywhere. Every public bus in town looks like Verdi's own tour bus. So yes, if you really like Verdi and his operas, this would be a good place for you to be.

This is also a good place to be if you really like food. (I'm looking at you, Tom.) Our lunch today was the best meal we've had so far on this tour. The restaurant was called Gran Caffe Orientale, and the seating was in this glass atrium thing out in the middle of the Garibaldi plaza. First the breadsticks and the wine. Then came these huge platters of prosciutto (Gramma's favorite) and other plates of parmesan cheese, just the way I like it, in chunks. Then came the pasta dish, which was kind of a giant ravioli in a light oil and cheese dressing-- And this is where they get you, because they bring way too much of this stuff, and it's the best pasta I've ever tasted in my life, so there's no way to eat just enough... I always eat too much, not knowing what's coming after. I basically just eat that pasta course like it's the last food I'll ever have, and then sure enough, out comes the main course, which in this case was even more glorious than the pasta. The meat was veal, and it was served in a brown gravy with whole peppercorns, all on top of this crunchy piece of toasted biscuit. And then, almost as an insult to the capacity of the average human digestive system, the dessert. I took a photo of it, because I wasn't sure I'd wake up out of my food coma and remember what had taken place. In fact, Gramma and I headed straight back to the hotel after lunch and took a nap! So we didn't really see that much of Parma yet, but we still have another day here. We'll be going to the Toscanini museum tomorrow, on the anniversary of his death. I think Gramma's really looking forward to that.

Tonight's opera was "Oberto, Conte di Dan Bonifacio," and we saw it at the Verdi Theatre in Busseto, only a few kilometers away from where Verdi grew up. It was a tiny little theatre, seating less than 400 people (rather uncomfortably--we were sitting in our box seats like pretzels). This theatre was built in honor of Verdi during his lifetime, but he disapproved of it, because it was too small to be of much service to the opera. And I guess it raises the question of how such a small venue can put on such extravagent performances and still make money. So anyway, it was pretty special to be out in this special little theatre seeing Verdi's very first opera, one he wrote when he was 26. When I heard that fact, my ears really perked up, because I suddenly noticed that Verdi and I have something in common--That is, that he was once 26 too. It's like, I'm a total foreigner in the opera culture, and everything we've seen so far has been in this unintelligible language, and even the music itself is difficult to grasp-- but I can relate to the concept of a 26-year-old, so that's something! And that was just the start of how this evening's opera really seemed to reach out to me. With the theatre being so small, and with us up in the boxes, (granted, we were having to contort our bodies in many strange ways because the seats were like bus stop benches covered in red velvet, all pointing in the wrong directions) I was able to see everything. Everything. The orchestra, the singers, the extra singers, the extra extra singers they planted out in the audience for some of the scenes. So the sights and the sounds of it all were very close. No opera glasses needed! And no heads in my way this time. The members of the cast were mostly quite young, including the lead soprano who didn't look a day over 26. And our guide on this tour, who is so knowledgeable about opera, told us that the music of "Oberto" is much simpler than Verdi's later, more complex works. But that simplicity resonated with me much more than anything else I've heard so far. Plus, the sets and the costumes and the staging were awesome tonight, so it was really easy to get into it. But this idea that Verdi was 26 when he wrote this, and that the beautiful woman singing on stage was probably around my age too, well, it just made me feel really good about my place in life. So nice to see the evidence of kids my age working hard and achieving great music. I guess you could say it was inspiring in a way-- but most importantly, I saw how someone my age could possibly "own" opera: Verdi, the young people in the cast, little ol' me in the box way up there. This isn't a well-known opera, and will never be considered one of Verdi's top 10, but something about it was perfectly down-to-earth for me, and that's exactly what I'd hoped might happen on this trip. I'm learning so so much about opera, particularly opera culture... As I explained to Eileen, a retired professional opera singer who's on this tour with us, helping me appreciate opera is like coaching a Mormon in wine tasting. I'm really starting from scratch here! Everyone's buzzing about tomorrow evening-- We'll go back to the big opera house in Parma and see "La Traviata."

Day 15, Genoa/Parma

Today has been a very full day! Gramma sat out the walking tour of Genoa, which was a good idea given the hills and the uneven sidewalks. Our tourguide pointed out that Genoa is not as obvious as some of the other touristed cities in Italy, and you really have to search and explore to find the really impressive things there. This is relative, however-- I found the whole place pretty impressive. It was completely different from Torino, and has the kind of street layout that could get you very lost very quickly! I was having trouble with the photography, because I just didn't know where to start. There were so many truly magnificent (see? I'm using my opera vocabulary) buildings that surrounded me in that city. It's like every inch of space in every dimension is decorated by some amazing artist. To take a picture of just one thing is to make a huge understatement of the experience, so I mostly kept my camera at my side and just took it all in with my own senses. I did get this one very adorable lion, though. It makes me: a) want a lion like that on or near my house (stone of course) and b) wonder if Bill ("Pickles") is telling the truth about his dad having a pet lion.
After our walking tour, the whole group left the hotel in Genoa and we drove to a wonderful restaurant by the sea, where they served us all kinds of seafood. We had anchovies as an antipasta, warm squid and shrimp salad after that, then the pasta course, and then some kind of white fish that was totally delicious. Actually, all of it was totally delicious, and a welcome change from all the veal and pork we've been eating. Gramma and I sat at opposite ends of the table, so her lunch conversation was completely different from mine! I got to talk a bit with Paul and Eleanor Sheedy, who hail from the Boston area. Really really nice folks, and it's their first time in Europe, so I'm sure this whole experience is extremely special to them. It's nice to share all this wonderful food, scenery, music, and culture with people as kind and gentle as these.

After our big fishy lunch, we drove for more than two hours to the city of Parma, where we had just a very quick rest and then it was time to get ready for the opera. Tonight we saw "Luisa Miller", which didn't impress me nearly as much as last night's opera, but it was still interesting to watch. Our group got together over a bottle of red wine after the show and had a discussion about what we'd just seen. The unanimous decision was that the sets were awful, the tenor was fabulous, and the soprano has seen better days. Even I could tell a huge difference between tonight's soprano and last night's. Last night's lady made my spine tingle, and she made it look SO easy and elegant. Tonight's leading lady was quite the opposite... But still, you have to be impressed by the power of these voices, quality aside. We all enjoyed the acoustics in this opera house too. It's shaped like a horseshoe, and like Dad's favorite whispering walls in Philadelphia, sound just travels right along the curved surface, so that the singer on stage almost sounds like he's standing behind you. Gramma really enjoyed it, and she says that's because she knew a lot of the music from this opera. We're seeing some of Verdi's lesser-known operas on this tour, as well as one of his best-known, "La Traviata," which will come in a few days. Gramma has guaranteed that I'll like that one. Tomorrow night we'll see "Oberto," which was the first opera Verdi ever wrote.

Day 14, Genoa

Wow, it's hard to believe we're on day 14 already! I should have taken some photos on the way from Torino to Genoa, but was chatting with the other people in our tour group instead. It got very very beautiful, lots of tunnels and mountains all around, and suddenly at one point we were looking out over the Mediterranean. Then drove down and down into the center of town. Our hotel is spitting distance from the opera house, and the sidewalks on this street are all done in tile mosaic. Other than that, I have hardly an impression of Genoa so far, but tomorrow there'll be time to see the place some more.

Tonight's opera was "I Vespri Siciliani" by Verdi. You'd think a four-hour opera would be impossible to sit through, but in fact it was really captivating. The only frustrating part is just not knowing Italian. They're singing in Italian, and then they project the words, but those are in Italian too. So I guess it's all a valuable learning opportunity, but basically I just sit there not knowing what the heck is going on in the plot. But tonight I wasn't bored at all, because the music was really great, and I find it all the more entertaining when I have a view of the conductor. That's the thing about opera, and I think I might've written about this before-- there's so much going on, that if one thing doesn't impress you, something else will. But in this particular performance, there was a lot to write home about. The singing was phenomenal (I thought so, and that's also according to the experts in my group), the orchestra was totally rockin', the sets were really cool, the lighting was creative... You know, if I'm going to hang out with all these serious opera-goers, I'm going to have to adopt some more opera-esque adjectives like "magnificent" and "extraordinary" and "outstanding". For now I'm content to just listen to everyone else's comments as we walk out of the theatre, as I think to myself, "Man, that was pretty cool. The orchestra totally rocked."

Day 13, Torino

I have now officially made up my mind to come back to Torino. This place is great! We went with the tour group on a walking tour of some of the nearby churches and monuments this morning. Our group is very small, so it's not at all like the guided tours I recently decided I don't really like. This was quite relaxed and very easy-going, except that the weather was a little colder than any of us expected. At one point we made the tour guide take us into a cafe so we could warm up with some coffee! We saw the special case where the holy shroud is, and then saw some reproductions of it hanging on the wall. We walked through lots of big plazas, and saw some pretty great baroque architecture. Actually, we saw all kinds of architecture, but I'm still trying to organize it all in my head.
At the end of the walking tour, we all sat down for lunch at a very nice restaurant. I had to decline on the veal tartare, and had a salad for starters instead. After lunch, Gramma was completely worn out (this was far more walking than we've done on any day during this trip!) so we came back to the hotel for a quick nap, and then our cousins Laura, Hermano, and Mariella came to pick us up and take us to the "capucini", a church on the top of a hill overlooking the city. We went crazy taking pictures, and simply enjoyed each other's company for just a little while before having to really say goodbye. Tomorrow morning we'll leave for Genoa, so that's it for our time in Torino.

Tonight's opera is Falstaff. I've heard it's three hours long, so I decided to write this blog entry before rather than after, just in case I have no energy left after! It's been a full day for both of us.

Here's a photo of Gramma in front of the very non-traditional opera house in Torino.

Day 12, Torino

The adventures of Christie and Vicki have just kicked into high gear. Tonight was the official start of the organized opera tour Gramma signed us up for. This is my first time ever on an organized tour like this, and so far so good! We just got back to our hotel room after a nice dinner with the whole group (minus the two who stayed away due to feeling quite ill after all their travels). As expected, Gramma is the oldest and I'm the youngest in the group, but the people come from all over. There are 10 of us including the director: a couple from near Boston, a couple from Greenville, South Carolina, a woman from chicago, the couple from California who weren't feeling well tonight, and then us. It was fun talking with all these different people, and I'm sure it'll be fun to get to know them more over the next week or so. You're not going to believe this, but I actually ate tongue again. But this time it was cooked. And I had no idea what it was. (I have my friend Doursean's beautiful face stuck in my mind everytime I eat meat, especially the odd, sensitive parts like tongue. Doursean, I need a meatless retreat after all of this!)

Earlier today I had the chance to get out and walk around the city on my own. I headed straight for the river (shopping all the way) and walked down to the water's edge. A fisherman named Matteo immediately struck up some conversation with me, in Italian of course. So I did my best. He took some photos of me (with my camera) and then I took one of the both of us. He showed me the one fish he had caught, and told me that the light would be better later on if I wanted to come back for more photos... Or at least I think that's what he was saying. In far fewer words, I told him I was part of this very important opera tour and that it would be impossible for me to come back later. So off I went, back to wander around the town some more, do a little more shopping, and get some delicious Italian gelato.

Tomorrow we'll have some sort of walking tour around here, and then we're going to see "Falstaff" in the evening. Should be fun! Good thing I like hanging out with old folks!

A look back at Casorzo

This is a little video I made last week while we were driving through Casorzo. Or rather, I should say, on a wild ride in Francesca's Punto. They drive as fast as they talk!

Day 11, Torino

I am writing this blog entry from the desk inside our hotel suite-- in the fanciest hotel I've ever been in. I mean fancy. Or at least it's fancy-looking and the prices are fancy too. Gramma and I are here one day early for the start of the Metropolitan Opera Guild's official tour, so we checked into the same hotel the tour will be staying at tomorrow night. Things will kick off with dinner tomorrow.
But speaking of dinner, Gramma and I just visited the restaurant downstairs for a very fancy experience. I can probably count on one finger the number of restaurants I've been to that offer foie gras and stuffed leg of rabbit on the menu. We sat down at the table, our place setting had a silver platter on it, and on top of the silver platter a lace doily, and on top of that lace doily was soon placed a very small square dish with one giant prawn looking up at me, legs, tentacles and all. This is not the first time I've had something staring at me from my plate, but I was hoping the last time would be the last time. Ah well, so much for that. Then the waiter came back with a plate of assorted bread rolls and four different varieties of olive oils that we could choose from, each from a different region of Italy. When our main dishes came, they were presented with silver domes on top of them, which made me feel more like I was in the fancy restaurant scene of a play rather than in a real restaurant. Wait wait, there's more. So after we ate and they took our plates away, one of the waiters (there were about half a dozen of them all fixin' and fidgeting and refilling stuff and carrying trays around) came to our table with a little silver hand-held thing that looked like a very short butter dish or something. I suppose it had little rollers in it, and it sucked up all the crumbs and ironed out our table cloth at the same time. (Anyone reading this who's been to a restaurant like this must think I'm so ignorant of these customs! But hey, first time for everything.)

I don't have any photos from today, so instead, I'll treat you all to the menu from the restaurant downstairs so you get an idea of what we're talking about here. I'll let you all guess what I might have ordered.

APPETISERS

Sautéed prawn tails with vanilla and soy sauce, marinated rye bread with fresh tomato
Pan fried tuna with chives sauce, Cous cous with vegetable and sparkling wine sauce
Red onions pie served with “Burrata” and rice biscuits
Gratinated mushrooms and peach saucepan served with quail poached eggs
Spices duck breast served with foie gras escalope , grapes and chicory salad
“Culatello” Ham served with celery pie

SOUP, RISOTTO AND PASTA

Creamed risotto with eggplants and pistachio
Drum wheat pasta “farfalle” with boar ragôut, red wine sauce and lemon peel
Home made thin tagliatelle with mushrooms, crunchy spinach in butter and sage sauce
Home made cornets with pilgrim scallops, fresh tomato sauce and fried zucchini peel
Home made spelt noodles with sweet pepper sauce and diced goose foie gras
Vegetables fresh soup with rice

FISH

Large slice of baked amberjack with sautéed mushrooms
Sword fish in curry sauce served with soy spaghetti and sautéed vegetable
Gratinated red mullet with stewed vegetable in tomato sauce
Grilled or steamed fish (as available)

MEATS

Stuffed leg of rabbit with black truffle, served with polenta and mushrooms pie
Baked belly veal served with mixed sautéed vegetable
Grilled sirloin of beef served with french fried potatoes
Mushrooms triptych (baked, sautéed and fried)
Fillet chateaubriand with grilled vegetable and béarnaise sauce (for 2 persons)
Raw fillet veal seasoned to your liking with oil, lemon, capers, anchovies, onions, garlic, parsley, chilli and egg yolk
Grilled vegetables with buffalo’s mozzarella cheese

Day 10, Prague

We are really starting to get the hang of this traveling in European cities thing. We woke up this morning, had our breakfast at the hotel. At 11am we were picked up by the shuttle that would take us to our boat tour. We enjoyed this beautiful weather while drinking a glass of wine and some beer (Gramma had the beer) and floating down the Vltava River. We found this boat tour much more enjoyable than the one we did in Vienna. But Prague is just beautiful from all kinds of angles. I took lots of pictures of buildings I hardly knew a thing about. It really is impossible not to say, "Wow, look at that building" when you're here.
Tonight's show was Dvorak's opera, "Rusalka," at the National Theatre. We had seats in the fourth row, and although Gramma thought the opera was too long and the seats too close, I really enjoyed it! The characters didn't really draw me in like the ones from the other performances we've seen, but the costumes were way cool and the music was nice. I guess there's so many elements that go into an opera that if you're dissatisfied with one thing, there's always something else that can make up for it. Gramma was disappointed that they only sang the special aria once--"Hymn to the Moon." Last night I REALLY impressed Gramma when she was struggling to remember the tune to that aria, and I simply googled it, found a video of Renee Fleming singing it. Gramma's hip in lots of ways, but not hip to the internet age. She thought I was some kind of magician. Anyway, you know how this You Tube stuff works-- after you finish with one video, you're immediately directed to a thousand other related videos. So after we watched Renee Fleming sing the famous aria, then we watched a Russian singer sing the famous aria, and then we got to Frederica Von Stade singing it... and if the people staying in the room next to ours could hear through the walls, they must've thought we were going crazy with that tune over here. Anyway, it was nice to be so familiar with the melody so that tonight when it happened in the context of the opera, it sounded totally comforting.
And Gramma's right, it was a bit long. Three acts, two intermissions. It's like a baseball game with 18 innings, so you have the 7th inning stretch, and then a 14th inning stretch. And somewhere around that 14th inning you're thinking "okay already, get on with it." But like I said, I thought it was all pretty good-- or at least pretty to look at and listen to.
Tomorrow we'll spend most of the day traveling back to Italy. We'll fly into Milan, and then we have to make our way to Turin, which will involve a bus, a train, and a taxi. There's no telling if I'll have internet access at the next hotel. Our travels are about to get super fancy, because Friday is the start of the Metropolitan Opera Guild tour. We'll be staying in the best hotels, eating at the best restaurants, seeing Verdi's finest....
Ok, so during one of the intermissions tonight at the opera, I asked the woman next to me (she was from San Francisco) what else she had seen in Prague. She says, "Oh just this one so far." And I see that she's referring to the opera performance, so I say, "No, what have you seen, like in general?" And she's all, "Well we saw an interesting Hungarian opera in Budapest and then there was Othello..." And finally I just had to say, "Lady, I don't think we're speaking in the same dialect here. You're talking in opera language, and I just wanted to know if there were any sights around Prague you'd recommend!"

Day 9, Prague

Today was our first full day in Prague, and right away we found that there's far more to see than we'll ever have time to see. We took a taxi to the old town section of the city and hopped on one of those horse and carriage rides. The weather was beautiful and sunny today (just like every day of this trip so far), so it was really a pleasure to be out and about, surrounded by so many beautifully decorated buildings. It was nice to sit outside at a cafe and drink some wine, getting out of the river of tourists for a while...
This evening we went to the state opera house and saw the ballet, "Lady of the Camellias," which is the same story and music as "La Traviata"-- one of Gramma's favorites. The ballet was a little strange at first, but I really thought it was all worth it for the last scene. This beautiful woman is in her bare feet, dancing with two men: her lover, and death. It's great. Another sad ending, I'm afraid. Gramma and I found out the hard way that just because you feel all special having a box at the opera house all to yourself, there's no way to guarantee you'll have a comfortable seat. We could see and hear just fine, but our behinds were sore! Tomorrow we're going to see "Rusalka" at the National Theatre, which at least from the outside looks like a much grander building than the opera house. I guess in Prague they just have ballets and operas in any building they choose. Operas in the theatre, ballets in the opera house... I certainly don't mind! Just one thing that did strike me as strange here-- Our taxi driver who brought us back from the ballet tonight had a little television on his dashboard, and he was totally watching tv while he drove! It was like the cooking channel or something. Gramma and I agree that's just going too far.

Day 8, Prague

There's not too much to report for today. Gramma and I had a pretty leisurely morning at Francesca's house in Casorzo. Francesca took us to the municipal building there, where hangs the plaque dedicated to "Joseph Datomo," aka Guiseppe, who was Gramma's father. The town of Casorzo honored him in 1968 for all of the work he did with Italian immigrants from that area after he emigrated to New York. Gramma said this plaque used to be outside in the town square, but they've moved it inside to protect it from weather and whatnot, and now it hangs quite prominently by the front door to the municipal building. Gramma keeps saying how amazingly easy travel has become, and how her parents would have loved to come back to Casorzo for the kind of visit we just had there. I was pretty sad to leave this morning, but I'm still feeling determined to learn some Italian and head back there asap.

We spent the greater part of the day just getting from there to here, and now we're in Prague. A completely new experience awaits both of us... Like Vienna was totally new. We're not sure why we're here or what we'll see/do, but we're pretty sure it'll be beautiful, because "beautiful" is the first word out of everyone's mouth when you mention Prague. We're staying in a pretty nice hotel--(what a relief for me, since I picked it out of hundreds on the internet, and thank goodness it's up to Gramma's standards!!) We made the mistake of going to an Italian restaurant for dinner tonight, and found ourselves quite disappointed with the quality of the food. But that's to be expected after the feasting we did this weekend. We've been spoiled! So I think we'll have to stick to Czech cuisine or something else until we get back to Italy. We'll be here until Thursday, and we already have opera tickets in hand for Wednesday night, and plans to see the ballet tomorrow.
Yes, it's a very good life!

Day 7, Italy

Today, the WHOLE family came out to a restaurant somewhere out in the countryside, outside of Casorzo (busy metropolis, that!) and that gave us the chance to finally put some food in our tummies--Yeah right! More accurately, this mid-day meal allowed us to continue our feasting streak... 72 consecutive hours in Italy with uninterrupted eating. Altogether we were a party of 18, and all the "kids" sat at one end of the very long table. That would be the third generation cousins: me, Laura, Marco, Matteo, Eduardo, and Claudia. I think it'll be a miracle, but a very cool one indeed, if we all end up staying in touch so we can have reunions when we're in our nineties! I'm also really excited because these cousins of mine have had recent contact with our cousins in Australia, so I'm hoping to meet up with them someday too.

I think I've eaten a lot of raw meat on this trip. Here's something I thought I'd never put into my mouth: very thinly sliced cow tongue. My very kind cousin, Laura, was able to tell me what it was before I took a bite, but after it was already on my plate. So I decided I'd give it a try, just to be fair to the tongue. But while I was chewing that first bite, I noticed the tiny little tastebuds all along the sliced edge of the meat... And so I handed off the rest to Marco. But anyway, can't say I didn't try.

After this very long meal at the very long table, Francesca, Ines, Gramma, and I took a little trip to Marina's house to see her and her ailing parents, Maria and Luigi. So now I have really met all of the relatives there are to meet here... the living ones, the ones who are struggling to be alive, and even the ones who rest at the cemetery now.

Then, of course, it was time for dinner. So we came back to Francesca's house, and Ines and Maria Rita and Ornella and Carlo were all there. This is where I learned that in Italy, there's no such thing as "just soup". We were promised that after eating SO much all weekend, we would have "just soup" for dinner tonight. Ok, so first, the plate of cold sliced meats, prosciutto, salami, etc. And THEN came the soup, as promised. With breadsticks, directly on the table, of course. And then just when I thought we were in the clear, except for maybe some chocolates or something, Francesca comes back into the dining room with a small roast on a plate-- but like a whole roast! And green beans. And then after all that, she brought out some cooked sugary pears for dessert. And some kind of a peach torte that Ines made. By the time I'd gotten through all of this, I could barely even remember the soup-- and this meal was supposed to be "just soup"!! But hey, at least the only tastebuds involved with this meal were my own.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Prague, so we get to experience a whole new language, culture, climate, landscape, everything. I'm starting to notice what an ambitious plan Gramma and I had created for this trip. Three completely different countries, about eight different operas, visits to ALL of our relatives in Italy. She's doing fine, except for all the eating, but nothing she won't recover from in a day or two. The restaurants in Prague won't be getting much of our business!

Day 6, Italy

"We'll eat again."

Man oh man oh man... You people would not BELIEVE how much food we're eating over here. It's all so good, and it's all so much! We went to Maria Rita's and Mauro's house today, a huge house on a hill, two towns away from Casorzo. First, some kind of cheesy spread on red cabbage leaves. Then some kind of roasted pepper thing. Then some minestrone soup. Then the roast beef and potatoes. And throughout all this, we were drinking all kinds of local wines. Red wine, white wine, sweet dessert wine (geez I didn't even mention the dessert--crazy chocolate pudding stuff with amaretto)-- Then out came the fancy liquors. About five different kinds of grappa, including one with real 23 karat gold flakes in it that you just drink... Like, oh, ok, I'm drinking gold, la-di-da...
And that was just lunch.
Gramma and I came back to Francesca's house and took a nice long afternoon nap, only to be awakened by Laura, another cousin of mine, who was here to take us to her house for dinner. I won't get into it with the food... This time it was all very casual, just Laura and her parents at their house in Casorzo, which is basically their weekend home, since they live in Torino most of the time. So there was lots of commotion as they bumbled around the small kitchen looking for things like a ladle and shot glasses. Laura speaks English really well, but her parents don't speak it at all, so she was working double duty, doing a lot of translating... but the good thing was that I was able to really share a lot with her about who we are and what we do and what kind of things we're into. I'm hoping to meet up with Laura again when we get to Torino on the opera tour. I'm also hoping to come back to Italy on my own someday after having properly learned some Italian! I must sign up for a class somewhere... (And of course, I said the same thing about Flemish when I was in Belgium, German when I was in Germany and Austria, Swedish when I was in Sweden... Ok, I have a pretty good life.)
So I think at this point I've met most of the cousins. I'll post photos of everyone with names to match on the Flickr page. Tomorrow we're going to a restaurant at 1pm with a group of 20 of us! It'll be the grand finale of the weekend, with the most people, the most food, and the most drink. I have a feeling all of this so far has just been a warm-up.
A few things I've noticed in Italy:
1. You simply don't know how to pace yourself when eating, because it's impossible to know how many more courses are coming.
2. There's something about placing bread directly on the table, or rather, on the tablecloth. Gramma has been a little bothered by this, feeling like they should be slicing bread over plates. But instead, they just slice it directly over the table, or place a handful of breadsticks directly on the table next to each person's plate. I'm not sure what this is all about, why they don't care if the table ends up full of breadcrumbs, but anyway, it's pretty cool.
3. One nice thing about hanging out with my Italian family is that they make me feel very tall! No offense, Mom, but I can see how you fit in (literally) with this side of the family! Hugging these old ladies is just like hugging you! So it makes it feel all the more like real family.

I'm seriously not happy about having to leave here. I've heard Prague is very beautiful, but it's going to have to be really really something to be able to top this experience in Casorzo. One thing to look forward to for sure, though, is the upcoming opera tour. Not that I'm starving for opera, but I love the way it makes Gramma come to life. She's really been running at full speed here with the family, speaking Italian all day, and trying to keep up with all the food and drink. And even though these people do everything to make us feel welcome and at home here, Gramma still feels more at home in an opera house. So anyway, lots more good stuff to come. But I'm SO coming back to Casorzo someday....

Day 5, Italy

It wasn't easy to pry Gramma out of Vienna today. Somehow, I guess we managed to have a pretty good time, because she was going around saying how she loved Vienna and wanted to spend more time there, and if she could re-plan the whole trip, she'd plan for more time in Vienna. And she was souvenir shopping right up until the minute the taxi came to take us to the airport. Souvenir shopping, by the way, is right there on my list along with sightseeing bus tours and guided group tours of museums. I can really do without it. But Gramma was, let's say, totally into it. So.
Everything went very smoothly at the Vienna airport. Gramma was actually worried that we got there "too early"-- but I say there's no such thing as "too early" when you're dealing with airports. We were able to check in right away, without waiting in line, they boarded us on the plane before anyone else, a short flight to Bergamo, and voila, we were in Italy.
We were greeted at the airport by Mauro and Marco. Marco brought us to Francesca's house in Casorzo, just in time for us to see the sun set over this AMAZING valley behind the house. Holy smokes it's beautiful here! Can't wait to see more of it all tomorrow. By the way, for those of you just tuning in, these people in Italy are all my grandmother's first and second cousins, children and grandchildren (and great grandchildren) of her mother's siblings.
It became apparent very quickly that I was the odd man out, what with my complete lack of Italian language skills. Gramma and Ines were chatting up a storm. Carlo was also here, Maria Rita made a short appearance, as did Ornella... (I'll have to check the spellings on all of these names tomorrow.) Anyway, conversation was a'flyin', and I was just listening as hard as I could, picking up words here and there-- mostly vocabulary that's similar to French (I've heard this was possible to do, but have never really had a chance to try until now.)... I think Gramma owes me a big explanation for why she's never bothered to teach me Italian. She really speaks it well! Or at least well enough to keep the conversation rolling.
Still, I'm not without my own bag of tricks. I whipped out the laptop and showed some photos and videos. I found myself really wishing I knew the Italian words that could explain why I was wearing red rubber boots with my wedding dress and standing on a pile of hay. Gramma wasn't all that forthcoming with the Italian translation of the exciting wedding story, but I think that's probably not one of her most cherished memories, so fair enough. After a while I noticed Ines, Carlo, and Gramma all talking about ancient family history, so I brought out the microphone and asked if it would be alright to record. Gramma kind of laughed uneasily until she realized I was serious about this, and somehow I was granted the "ok" from the group. They talked on and on in Italian AND the local dialect (so yeah, this should be fun to translate someday) all about Gramma's mother, and the time "Yetta" (short for Giulietta) came back to Italy with Gramma's younger sister. I may have to get more of the details from Gramma later. Pretty soon a big tin box of old family photos came out, and there were some real gems in there! I got to see some awesome photos of my great-great grandmother, Angelina Soffiantino (that's my mom's mom's mom's mom). And there were lots of childhood photos of the septa- and octogenarians sitting around the table with me (Ines, Carlo, and Francesca). One of the group photos showed my grandfather's brother, and I'm still not sure what his connection to the group was, but maybe I'll learn more tomorrow.
Without a doubt, I'll be speaking some Italian by tomorrow. It's actually really easy to pick up the words from Gramma, because she does speak rather slowly, and mixes up some of her Italian words with English when she's trying to get her point across.
Oh wait, but I haven't even mentioned the food yet. Ok, so tonight was really no big deal. They brought us home from the airport, a few people dropped in to say hello, but the big family get-together stuff really isn't happening until tomorrow. So tonight's dinner was like casual, nothing special. And yet somewhere around the third course, I lost track of how much I had eaten. First there was the three different kinds of prusciutto with about seven different kinds of bread and crackers all over the table. Then there was the tortellini soup (yum!) and then the pork with spinach and carrots, then the beef, then all that got cleared away and out came the cheese plate, and once we'd had enough cheese, Francesca brought out the baked apples for dessert (one of my dad's favorite desserts, if I'm not mistaken)... Oh, and then the chocolate and the coffee and the tea. And all throughout dinner I was sipping on the local wine. This is definitely going to be a weekend to go down in my own personal culinary history. I just feel a little guilty, though, because these aren't just MY relatives-- I really feel like the rest of my immediate family ought to be here. These folks are really fun to be around, even if you have no clue what they're talking about!

Italy!

This is just a quick note to say we made it to Italy-- I am without internet access, except for this quick visit at Maria Rita's house. Everything is great, and I'm keeping the diary still. I'll post everything with photos probably when we get to Prague on Monday.
This place is amazing. I'll never be hungry again.

Happy Birthday Tracie!!!

Happy Birthday to my sister Tracie!!!!
Love, Christie (and Gramma)

Day 4, Vienna

Well today we ventured out to do much more than we've done in the previous days. Our number one goal was to take a boat tour down the Danube (which in the city is only a canal, and not the actual grand river, but hey, it's water, it's blueish.)... So after a bit of walking around the shopping district around our hotel, and then a rest, we hopped in a taxi at the opera house and asked him to take us to the boat launching spot. But somehow we ended up with a surplus of time--an hour to kill before we had to show up for the boat tour--and I noticed that we were only a few blocks away from Kunst Haus Wien, the famous art museum that was "redecorated" by one of my favorite hippy artists, Hundertwasser. It was just crazy to me that I was here in Vienna and only a few hundred meters away from this place I've been wanting to see, and there I'd be with an hour to spare, but not going to see it?? Ok, so I took a chance and asked the taxi driver to take us to Kunst Haus Wien instead of the boat launch. Of course, this is no place for Gramma to be, since Hundertwasser created basically what Dr. Seuss would've done if he were an architect-- No even floors, no straight walls... It's a nightmare for the unsure of foot. And anyone who's even slightly prone to dizziness, forget it. So I knew we wouldn't have time to tour the whole museum, and I couldn't leave Gramma waiting in the lobby while I ran to see the upstairs rooms (if she'd decided to try to find the ladies room, she'd've ended up flat on her face). So we just poked around the downstairs together, the gift shop, and such.. Meanwhile, the taxi driver had taken off, and when we came back out of the museum, there were no taxis to be found. Sorely underestimating the distance back to the boat launch, I figured we'd walk a bit to the next intersection and hopefully find a taxi there (no taxi) and then we tried the next intersection (still no taxi) and then Gramma was starting to lose patience with me (big time) but by this point we were more than halfway to the boat place. So ok, I took Gramma on a long walk that she didn't deserve! And I ended up having to apologize up and down and up again... Lucky for me, we made it to the boat on time for the tour, and we were able to sit down at a comfortable table and order some campari. And to make it up to her, I gave Gramma a shoulder rub while we floated down the canal (complete with a lock! So cool!)... Ok, so that's the story of how Gramma almost fired me from my tourguide gig today.
But wait! There's more.
We scored some 7euro tickets to the ballet at the opera house tonight, which put us waaaaaay up in the nosebleeds, but it sounded fantastic and at least what was going on stage left looked pretty nice! The ballet was Romeo and Juliet, all done traditional style. We were looking down on the whole thing, especially the orchestra, and I noticed these four mandolin players who had to sit through just about the whole show, all three acts, only to play twice. And I'm thinking, "man, why can't I get gigs like that??" Well we were lookin' fine and feelin' fine, just like the rest of the place... Not too much to do up there in the mile-high gallery except gaze across the horseshoe-shaped theater at all the other people, also lookin' good. I'm finding there's a lot more to this operahouse entertainment than just the show.
But wait, there's more.
So after the ballet (sad ending, by the way) Gramma says she wants to get a bite to eat. And she wants to go back to the cafe where we saw the cimbalom player two nights ago. So we go there, he's there playing again, I naturally grab a table sort of near the back, mainly away from the drafty windows and door. When the cimbalom player started playing "Autumn Leaves", Gramma insisted that we sit at the table closest to the cimbalom. Whoa! That's cool by me, so we moved all our stuff over to that table and ended up staying and listening and talking with the musician until the restaurant closed. Now it's after midnight, and Gramma and I have just packed our bags to get ready to leave for Italy tomorrow. She's bummed because she doesn't want to leave Vienna, but we're about to get to the part I've really been looking forward to! Nothing more exhilarating than meeting strangers who share your DNA.

Day 3, Vienna

Well finally! An opera! Tonight, Gramma and I went to a smaller opera house (smaller than the state opera house, that is) and saw the opera version of "Dead Man Walking". Okay, not the most cheerful story, but I really liked it. Every scene was totally intense, and the plot was really streamlined-- like I didn't get all confused with lots of little subplots and side stories and such. Frederica Von Stade played the mother of the death row convict, and she was somewhat our host on this leg of the trip. She made the recommendation for this hotel we're staying in, she gave us the tickets to see the show, and afterwards we got to go backstage and chat with her a bit. (Just a bit, because she's on her way to Carnegie Hall tomorrow!) It makes Gramma so proud to know these talented people, and they're all really excited to have her around too!
Afterwards, Gramma and I slipped into the Italian restaurant across the street from where we're staying, just in the last few minutes before they closed the kitchen. I'm not used to eating dinner at quarter-to-midnight, but hey, this is Europe, you know, we drink water with bubbles in it (but no ice).
The most surprising thing that happened today was when I called our cousins in Italy to firm up the plans for Friday. Instead of reaching Laura, the bright young girl who's nearly fluent in English, I got her father, who's not so much with the fluency. Lacking a better alternative, I quickly handed the phone to Gramma-- and then the craziest sounds started coming out of her mouth. That lady can really hold her own in a conversation in Italian!! I've never heard such language out of her, except when she's flinging opera titles around at fancy cocktail parties in L.A. I was seriously impressed!! It should be an interesting weekend ahead. But first, we have one more day in Vienna. I'm hoping to see some Hundertwasser stuff, and Gramma's angling for a boat trip down the blue Danube. If she has the energy, there's no reason we can't do it all! However, in addition to finding out that Gramma spells her name with no "e" at the end (see how much I have to learn?) I also found out that she's a total night owl. Once she gets going, there's no stopping her! A plate of prosciutto and melon makes Vicki a happy camper.

Day 2, Vienna

Today was another beautiful day in Vienna. After our breakfast at the hotel, Gramma and I hopped on one of those city sightseeing buses--the kind Butch used to give live tours on in Philadelphia, although in this case his job has been made obsolete; each seat comes with headphones and multiple channels from which to choose the appropriate language of the voice speaking directly into your ear. Anyway, this seemed like a smart thing to do, just to get an overview of the city. Personally, I think I might be developing a general dislike of sightseeing buses. I can add that to my general dislike of guided tours. But I must say, I like the way Gramma takes it all in without paying the tiniest bit of attention to the tour guide (or the recorded voice, as the case may be). She's just off in her own world, letting her eyes wander in every direction, drinking it all in at her own pace.
The tour started and stopped at the opera house, so afterwards we went inside and joined the guided tour of the opera house. I found it interesting that only 30% of such a grand old-looking place is original. The rest had to be rebuilt between 1945 and 1955. The old and new are very distinct once you're inside, but from the outside, it really just looks like a majestic European opera house. One interesting thing we saw inside was a bust of Gustav Mahler, purported to be an original Rodin piece. But I know how folklore can nestle its way into tourguide texts, so who knows...
After all that looking, we headed back to the hotel. We met my hackbrett friend, Christoph, for dinner (that's European dinner, starts sometime after 8) at a restaurant nearby where we ate traditional Viennese cuisine and listened to gypsies play schmaltzy restaurant music on piano and violin. The violinist came over to our table and played "Blue Danube" for Gramma. That made her cry a little, so we tipped him with a few euro. Then Christoph struck up some conversation with him in German, and found out that he too plays the cimbalom. So suddenly I could see my world and Gramma's world sliding closer together, like tectonic plates or something. This handsome man in a suit and tie playing the most emotive classical hits on the violin and making the old ladies cry could potentially be found in some Hungarian gypsy band, going nuts on a cimbalom, just like my people do. You know, my people. Whatever that means. This violinist sat with us for a while and drew diagrams of dulcimers and compared tuning schemes with Christoph. I actually have amazing comprehension of the German language, as long as the conversation is about dulcimers. He clued us in on another nearby cafe where we'd be able to go hear a live cimbalom player, and that's where mine and Gramma's worlds really did collide. This guy was playing tunes from Tosca and the Merry Widow and so forth on the giant "whack-a-mole" (as Adam would call it) and Gramma thought it was so beautiful! The cimbalom is just a bigger, deeper cousin of my instrument--so it was very satisfying to see Gramma enjoying this music so much, coming from an instrument I care very much about!

Day 1, Vienna / a look back at Oberammergau

I arrived in Vienna with Christoph last night around midnight, had a very short sleep and a fast breakfast, and then before I even knew where I was, I found myself on a train heading to the airport to meet Gramma. The trip to the airport was uneventful in that I managed to get on all the right trains and end up at the right airport at the right time, but there was one pretty strange thing-- there was a live Gypsy band playing ON the train. Not at the station, but actually standing up in the train, playing accordions and fiddles and everything. I'm pretty sure this actually happened, although it sure does resemble the kind of dreams I often have.
Gramma and I took a taxi to the hotel in the middle of the city (I can tell it's the middle because the streets are so narrow that cars don't fit). It'll probably be sometime tomorrow when she comes alive again. She's here, she's fine, she's looking good, but she's definitely getting kicked in the butt by jet lag. I can totally understand that, and actually, I'm thankful that today's a resting day because I still haven't caught my breath since the Cimbalom World Congress.
I've just come from five amazing days in Oberammergau, Germany, communing with some of the world's best dulcimer/hackbrett/cimbalom/etc. players. There was absolutely no time to be blogging from there, but if I'd had the chance, I could've written all about the massive variety of music I was hearing, the reunion of friends from the 2003 congress in Appenzell, meeting many new friends, and sharing an absolutely unforgettable experience with my fellow Americans.
Here's just a sample of the music that went on there.




And here's where we were, Oberammergau.





I'll post more photos on my Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/butchandchristie