Vienna continues to be awesome. Yes.
Today, being Sunday, is pretty quiet. Pretty much all the stores are closed. Cafes are open with limited hours. We made an attempt to be Viennese and sit in a Kaffeehaus for hours. We went to a cute place down the street with free wireless, ordered coffee to accompany our German homework. Then 30 minutes later, we were told the cafe was closing. So we had to leave. Sad. But on friday, my German class went to a very old cafe right around the corner from the IES center. I forget the nme, but Mozart and Beethoven hung out there, and its very traditional, and claims to be "the oldest coffeehouse in Vienna," along with a few others. We used our German skills to order food and drinks ( paid for by our program ) and we also had to complete a quiz about the menu, and the history of the cafe. Part of the quiz included asking the waiter ( der Kellner) his name and where he is from. Imagine 10 college kids asking a tuxedo-clad old man " Wie heissen Sie?" "Woher kommen Sie?" Anyhow, er heisst Heinz und er kommt aus Wien. So there you go.
This coming Thursday, I am going to a Ball, along with many other people in my program. IES swung a ticket discount to a Ball at the Hofburg Palace. 20 Euros. So Yesterday my roommate and several other friends went on a epic hunt for cheap (ish) ball gowns. We were mostly successful. Since its ball season, there is no shortage of stores selling ball gowns, but you have to hunt for ones that aren't super expensive. We went ot Mariahilfestrasse, a huge shopping street in our district, and found several stores that had reasonable dresses. It is actually cheaper to buy a dress that rent one. So I tried on a white dress in the first shop we went to, and it was perfect. I seriously may get married in that dress. I shopped around before I bought it, but found nothing that was cheaper, nothing that fit better. So at the end of the day, I ran back to the store and bought it. It was the last one, and had just been marked down. I feel like Cinderella going to the ball in the perfect dress.
Last night we went to the opera again to see "Marriage of Figaro." We lined up 2 hours ahead of time and camped out. We ended up getting great standing room spots, but it was packed. We could barely get back to our spots through the sea of people. No big names singing this time, but it was still good. I also realized they do their curtain calls very weirdly here. In Figaro, but not at Manon, they took a mini-curtain call after every act. I couldn't figure out why. And then at the end, they all come out twice and bow, then they come out one after the other and bow.
I have decided that dinner can easily be replaced by a peice of torte followed by an opera. After we mark our spot with our scarves, we run across the street to a cafe called Aida and get drinks and dessert to keep us going through the opera. That is my Vienna diet secret. You don't need dinner, just dessert. In other news, all the walking around, up and down stairs has increased my appetite immensly, yet all my pants are too big now. No wonder there are so many skinny people here.
Photos of apartment, opera, IES center, and delicious food to come soon!