www.kunstkultur.com/index.php…
this sounds wonderful.
Can you tell me, please:
Do you think it would be possible to pay at the door or do I need to get a ticket in advance?
Will it be Very Cold in the cathedral?
thankyou!
Alice (starting to get excited now)
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You refer to the Advent Concert on December 2-
You can buy tickets that evening before the concert- see referral to Abendkasse in message.
It will be cold! Recent temperatures in Vienna below freezing- probably continues.
As the concert is later in the evening it will even feel colder.
Dress warmly, not for style, especially warm shoes.
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Woo hoo, you must be getting so excited now!
Yes, this should be lovely - I went to one of theirs last year where they played Vivaldi, Barber and Bach among others and it was beautiful. I like chamber music and I%26#39;m quite fussy about it (I can never seem to find any decent performances in London, gnash gnash) and I was impressed by this concert. And it was really quiet and eerie in the church which added to the atmosphere ... a very memorable evening. Wish I could go again - they%26#39;re doing one when I%26#39;m there but I%26#39;m all booked up for evenings. I was cross to miss it!
There is a wee booth in the square outside the main entrance of Stephansdom where you can buy tickets for events in the cathedral including this one - it looks like a portacabin and it%26#39;s open all day. Since I like to get things in advance because I am a belt-and-suspenders kind of gal!
But by gorree, it will be cold. Think of it as sitting down outdoors and do not remove any items of clothing. I wore long woollen coat, boots, gloves, scarf and hat. The night I went it was -13 deg C and snowing ... but it was definitely worth it! Having said that, Stephansdom is quite tropical compared with the Augustinerkirche!
I am just making plans for my trip, ugh it%26#39;s so exciting, isn%26#39;t it? I%26#39;ve also been hysterically studying the schedule for the Easter festival (www.osterklang.at) and the Salzburg festival (ooh, *lashings* of Mozart this year; Kremer %26amp; his frisky Russians are playing violin concerto 1-5 yum yum yum!) I%26#39;m even going to Parsifal at Easter; I figure it%26#39;s time I cut my teeth on some Wagner!
Rol, smoke pouring from her credit card...
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Me too, I%26#39;ll get the ticket in Advance, as well as my opera ticket for Ariadne. I think I will tell them at the desk that I don%26#39;t want the Traviata one, the 10 euro behind a pillar one. I don%26#39;t expect any money back but better that someone who really wants it should have it.
Can you think of a UK high street store where I could buy thermal socks? I%26#39;m generally quite warm blooded, so average socks were fine in February for walking around but for sitting outside inside in the cathedral, I think my feet would freeze!! Maybe I should dig out the long combs too! Elegant not!
The good news is the dog has stopped coughing, so I can kennel her, so I can set off on Wednesday. Last Wednesday it was All Off!!!!! (No, I%26#39;m not soppy enough to not go on holiday because my dog is coughing but kennels won%26#39;t accept coughing dogs!
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Thermal socks is it? Hmm - what about a camping store? I sometimes buy a few odds and ends in Millets; they%26#39;re not bad. I was raised Old Fashioned and only Real Wool Will Do, none of those new-fangled thermal wotsits (M%26amp;S used to do a nice line in pure wool merino socks but I think they%26#39;ve discontinued them).
The fascinating part of that concert was that the performers were dressed so lightly but seemed not to feel the cold at all. Either there was someone standing in the wings with a blowtorch or they were wearing their combis ...!
That%26#39;s a shame about Traviata. And annoying too that there%26#39;s nothing good on the VO that night is there, or you could give that a go.
I hope your canine pal continues cough-free! I suppose they have to be careful with infection in such a place - but then, not every cough means infection, does it (do dogs get hairballs?)
Rol, obviously a cat person
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Nah, dogs don%26#39;t get hairballs. For some reason, this one is prone to coughs and kennel cough is so virulent that kennels just won%26#39;t take the chance. It%26#39;s just a hacking cough but in puppies or old dogs it can be dangerous. I%26#39;m not even 100% convinced she%26#39;s had it - since the anti-biotic injection last week (1 consultation, 1 injection, 10 tablets, a fortnight%26#39;s dog food for the oldest dog, £70 please, boy, I wish I earned what vets do!) she%26#39;s done no more than clear her throat twice but I couldn%26#39;t take the risk, so close to Wien.
Just about got my days planned:
Evening 1 Christkindlmarkt
Evening 2 Ariadne
Evening 3 Stephansdom
during the days I want to:
#1***** Collect/buy the respective tickets!! First task or I%26#39;ll forget
Then I want to go out to Gasometer to look at the malls;
take a ring-tram journey. Last time, from the window I spotted a memorial where the gestapo hq had been; this time I want to try and get some pics - I%26#39;m reflecting/researching at the minute on how peoples cope with, respond to and move on from their pasts (including the UK, we have plenty to move on from)
see some of the cribs
go to the market at Karlskirche
got a walking tour planned in the Oper/Stephansdom/Graben area
get another bit of jewellery from Frey Wille
Just got meals to think about. I%26#39;m planning to have a large, late lunch and then not much in the evening, rather than trying to fit in 2 meals out every day. I like eating - but I like sight-seeing in Vienna more!
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Ah, learn something new every day. I didn%26#39;t realize that about dogs; I%26#39;ve always had cats where coughing means only one thing (and usually on the most expensive rug they can find). But I hear you on the vets bills - I still pay mine for my NZ-based cat and they%26#39;re approx 1/3 the cost it would be here... I can%26#39;t afford a pet in the UK :(
Your plan sounds stupendous ... oooh, how thrilling. I always think I want to go to the markets at night but it%26#39;s always too cold and I prefer to tuck up in some warm, velvety Haus der Musik (not Steffl then!)
I think I know the monument you mean; it%26#39;s near St Ruprechts, I believe, the first stop north of Schwedenplatz.
I don%26#39;t know about moving on - seems to me that people are even more resistant to it these days than they ever were. I don%26#39;t know if it%26#39;s because the past provides a sense of identity that would otherwise be lacking in an age when everything else is in flux -? We don%26#39;t seem to exist as a society any more (understanding our own relations to others etc) but are atomized into families as the quintessential human unit with fierce, inward-looking tribal paranoia ... and if we can%26#39;t connect with our fellow citizens, how do we connect with the Enemy?
Well that was full-on blither with little or no bearing on travelling in Austria ... but I%26#39;m interested in your thoughts, particularly about understanding the relation of Britain to Europe ... if you felt like exchanging some more blather, you%26#39;re welcome to email me at roley at tesco dot net.
But returning to the engrossing subject of Vienna ...
For meals, I do that too. I can%26#39;t be eating a big meal and then sitting for hours at a concert; my old-lady digestion is not up to it. So I eat a main meal at lunchtime, kaffee und kuchen late in the afternoon, and then usually swing by a Cafe after a concert for ditto ...
I would thoroughly recommend Cafe Frauenhuber in Himmelpfortgasse a few steps down from the Kartnerstrasse for one of your Hearty Lunches (I am crossing my fingers for the roast goose!) And I like Hopferl, on the Naglergasse just up from Meinls, for a good stodgy pigout at reasonable prices. I%26#39;m wondering when, if ever, Goettweiger Stiftkeller will reopen; no sign in October.
I like the market on the Freyung, btw (thinking of Hopferl) - it%26#39;s quite a crafty one with some good foodstalls too. But the best lebkuchen etc I%26#39;ve bought was in the market at the Rathausplatz, at a stall hard up against the Rathaus proper, not out by the Ring.
If you can manage to work it in, I would recommend the cakes in Cafe Diglas on the Wollzeile v. close to Stephansdom - Saturday afternoons they get all their cakes in (you can tell how often I go that I know their delivery schedule!) and the Dobostorte in there is enough to bring strong men to their knees ... (it%26#39;s just round the corner from India, the silk warehouse on the Strobelgasse, so you can combine two indulgences at one go!) Their Franziskaner is sehr zu empfehlen on a cold, cold day!
Rol
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On food, these cafes you mention: I%26#39;m still a bit dining-shy - do you just walk in and sit down? And does one ever share a table with people already there or they with you? Crucial thing, table etiquette!
On the past - I wrote a chunk but it sounded like a hobby horse, so I deleted it!
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I do not wish to interrupt this conversation - and I am not an expert on fur balls - But--
I noticed a possible trip to %26quot;Gasometer %26quot;to see the Malls.
If you have not been there- it is not really a great place.
Being %26quot; out of the way%26quot; the shops have trouble attracting business. My last visit saw many empty shops.
You can do better at Donauzentrum- directly across the street from the end station of U-1
( direction Kagran)
This is about a 15 minute trip from Stephensdom. You will see sights such as the UN buildings and the old Danube area.
Still not as intersting as %26quot;Mariahilf%26quot; or Graben etc.
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Yeah, I%26#39;m dining-shy too so I go back to these places which I%26#39;ve found to be single-female friendly. And yup - the cafes are all, march in and plonk down - but not in the Stammtisch by the window for the regulars (and fair enough too!) Hopferl is the same - it%26#39;s kind of a pub-lunchy type place with business people and a fair sprinkling of solo customers too. Most everywhere you go in Wien, it seems, there will be other people eating on their own; I%26#39;m increasingly comfortable with it which is nice.
The Diglas on the Wollzeile does nice grub - the Tageskarte can be viewed at www.diglas.at Good value fixed-price menus. There%26#39;s a non-smoking section just to the right of the door where you enter and I usually try to sit there, where you have a very good view of the cakes!
xr
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Thanks for the tip about the Donauzentrum, Vertical, I might give that a go! I usually do my shopping on the Meidlinger Haupstrasse - there%26#39;s a really good Delka shoeshop there for my big feet and a few other stores I like. But a mall is good for the winter months!
Rol, doing her best for the balance of trade
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