Today we decided to get some culture on which involved modern art, Mozart, his balls, and the Von Trapps. Perhaps I should explain. Today dawned crystal clear and sunshiny, though it was still pretty chilly. Before Jen and Al headed out to Prague, we decided to check out the view from the terrace of the Museum of Modern Art. We had heard that the view is pretty amazing. So we found the elevator cut into the hill, and rode up to the Museum to check it out. You get a panorama of the city and the nice thing is that the picture includes the fortress as well. We could have opted to walk back down actually through the wooded trail, but time was a ticking and Al and Jen hoofed it to the train station.
The rest of us dove into Mozart with both feet today. We toured his residence, where his family lived as he was making a name for himself and growing up. Many of his manuscripts as well as his father's are there. His sister Nannerl was also a talented pianist in her own right, and you have the opportunity to see and hear more about her in this museum. They also enjoyed a game like darts that included cleverly painted boards with targets, built to specifications. He ordered one with a man turned around and dropping his pants while another man kisses his arse. Rather cheeky, no? We also visited his birthplace which is a more modest dwelling, located in Old Town. There were fewer displays here and it was about as hot as the surface of the sun, so we escaped before we passed out.
We took an afternoon detour into pop culture with the Original Sound of Music tour. Because it's offseason, there were just 5 of us total on the tour. So we were in a small van and had the ability to alter the trip based on our interests. We visited several sites throughout the city and surrounds that were used as backdrops for the movie. The most interesting was how they filmed the backyard scenes. The house used as the exterior shots is different from the terrace used for the scene when the kids turn over the boat in the backyard pond. They are actually a few miles apart. Next time you watch the movie notice how they cut from one view to the other. You never see the terrace with the outside of the house at the same time. We drove through the Lake Country again, using a narrow mountain drive which was just gorgeous. This time we stopped in the village of Mondsee which included some of the picnic scenes from the movie as well as the church where they married. It was dusk as we arrived and the town was lit up for the Christmas markets. It was very charming, and right on the lake, so very beautiful with twinkle lights everywhere. We returned to the city with the whole van (well maybe not Mark) singing I am 16, and My Favorite Things.
This evening we treated ourselves to some real culture and went to St Peter's Stiftskiller for dinner and a Mozart concert. The room was decorated beautifully and the restaurant is the oldest continuously running restaurant in Europe having been mentioned in 872. And no I didn't forget a 1 before that number! There are numerous rooms that you can eat in, but the concert is in the fanciest. The musicians and singers were fantastic, and the menu was taken from vintage recipes that have been updated for modern tastes. They weren't updated quite enough for me, but it didn't matter as the music and setting were magical.
Tonight we packed and are flying to Dusseldorf tomorrow where we meet up with cousins once removed or something like that. And I didn't forget to pack my balls. These are famous chocolate covered balls with marzipan in the middle. While most people opt for the red because it's ubiquitous, the original (and best!) are the blue ones. So obviously the 8th grade boy that lives in my head not only wanted Mozart balls, but he wanted blue balls.
Linda
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