Do-Re-Mi-Far

Opera. Travel. Cheese. Shoes

[gillyo]

Day 3: Munich- Salzburg

Weißwurst, Birkenstock’s and Drizzle

Had to really force myself to get out of bed after my late night and long day of travel the day before… I went downstairs and found the breakfast room and ordered a cappuccino to accompany with my European style breakfast… I just love the way the Europeans put out the breakfast buffet - there’s always something I don’t recognize and have to try! This time it was what looked like a patty pan squash filled with herb cheese and garnished with black olive and parsley and that’s exactly what it was 😀 two caps later I was able to re-pack my bag and head out to do some exploring before my 2pm train...

Just a block down the street from my hotel was Marienplatz - where the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) is located. No sooner did I get there, it started to pour so I wasn’t able to complete my walking tour that I’d had in mind... since I hadn’t packed an umbrella I had to keep under cover and to some shopping 😬

(I took these pics as I walked to the opera the night before)

This is the rainy view 😬

Ludwig Beck is the main department store I guess, 5 floors of miscellaneous wares, including a top floor that is entirely music... cds(🤫) DVD’s, Blu-ray, Vinyl etc., all genres, like Tower Records in the day.... The fun thing was to see some rare euro recordings of Wagner... and vinyl of Jonas Kaufmann, Munich based opera divo...

Spotted a Birkenstock store as I dodged raindrops and had to duck in and see what they had... it would be rude not to patronize an absolute German classic.

Getting hungry.... I wanted to try the weißwurst (white sausage) as I kept seeing the signs in front of enticing deli looking shops... so I found the one with the longest line… (That usually means the food is good :-) You are served two sausages, one fresh pretzel and some grainy, slightly sweet, mustard and you eat at a waist high shelf about 6 inches deep elbow to elbow with other patrons… To my right was a teenager using earbuds, to my left was an 80-year-old man who I think told me he eats there every day! He might’ve said something completely different but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said :-)

I finished lunch and headed over to the Assam Church, known for its fabulously gaudy baroque decor... turns out that the ceiling is flat it’s just painted to look like a dome, the gold is not at all real and the marble is painted wood… I guess that’s the solution for Baroque when you’re broke. Get it?

Ok I’m punchy. Time to catch another train! So long Munich, hello Salzburg…!

[gillyo]

Day 2: Munich arrival at 5pm

Bayerische Staatsoper

I screeched into town at 5pm knowing I had only 2 hours until my opera starts and having had only 2.5 hours sleep in the last 27 hours 😖 On the plus side, it was dry and sunny and my room was cool and comfy... a quick sh-wer, throw on a dress and grab an espresso - no time for an elegant dinner before the performance...

The Munich State Opera House (Bayerische Staatsoper) is also called the Nationaltheater and I think also the Residenztheater and I had seen pictures of it but was not prepared for its charm and in-person beauty! The outside looks like your average (hardly) theater.... large columns and front steps filled with tourists lounging in the sun and patrons in elegant gowns and formal wear waiting to enter. But once you enter, that’s when it starts to twinkle! First thing I saw were two sets of marble steps one on each side of the entrance, both leading up to the second floor and both fashionably sporting fabulous crystal chandeliers that lured us up the stairs... The second floor had a labyrinth of salon style rooms leading to another larger salon with another chandelier - this one made out of blown glass that was really quite exquisite. I was to be seated in the 3rd level balcony. As I stepped into the main theater I honestly gasped at the view. Rose-pink horseshoe shaped balconies decorated with golden candlelight bulbs in candelabras. Giant marble columns topped with angels flanked the proscenium.... Gorgeousness!!!

The performance

First off, I was so absolutely, pleasantly, surprised and thrilled to see Pretty Yende was singing the soprano role! I can’t believe that I had neglected to check who the cast before I got to the theater. So, that was a complete bonus as I had just seen her performance in Le Fille du Regiment at the Met... she’s quite the lively sop! Second, the cast and staging was so fun and interesting, sorta post apocalyptic chic... and third, the tenor was freakin adorable and über talented. Especially as he sang Una Furtiva Lagrima about 15’ in the air after he shimmied up a lamppost and held on with one hand.... and his seduction scene was quite.... seductive 😳 All in all, I didn’t fall asleep as I feared, and was in the edge of my seat throughout the whole show.

Ended the night with a short stroll to my hotel. Grateful I researched that! Found this engraving (below) of the theatre as I walked to my room

[gillyo]

Day 1: Travel day

✈️Planes, Trains “und” Air-Conditioning...

So as I said, I’m trying something different for this trip. I’ll be blogging here on tumblr (using the hashtag #MozWag) I decided to forgo my usual travelogue on FB/IG and just put everything here. As I've said before, on other trips, I do this as a digital catalogue of memories for myself so I can recall what piece of art or music or history I experienced where... plus the food... oh, yeah! (I've actually scoured through old posts to find pictures of delicious plates from fascinating places so I can try to recreate a memorable meal when hopping on a plane isn't an option 😍) it might get a bit wordy and/or indulgent but I’m giving you fair warning for my ramblings 😁

(Having a Cali style brekkie at a 5 hour layover in Heathrow - needed something real after 11 hours of airplane food)

🥰This will be my first SOLO overseas trip (excluding trips to my English homeland to visit family) and I have enjoyed the planning🗺 just as much as I anticipate I'll enjoy the trip itself. Thank you to my sweet ❤️FRED❤️ for the best birthday gift ever. He knows that I yearn to learn and love to travel!

He’s also a really cute driver 🥰

A small collection of my dad’s classical collection of LP’s

I'll be spending 9 days moving through southern Germany, into Austria then back into Germany and ending in London. How did I pick this itinerary? I've had a 35 year love affair with classical music. It began with being exposed to BBC Classical Radio 3 in my youth. I remember poring over The Radio Times - a weekly publication listing all programs and individual pieces of music so I was able to plan and build a collection of pirated cassette tapes of numerous pieces, and then also discovering my late father’s collection of classical LP's of many composers (most of whom I now adore) and to which my sister and I would dance imagining were were the principals of Swan Lake 🤣My first real memory of classical music is very clear. I remember hearing Rossini's Stabat Mater one day on the radio and it moving me in such deep place. I didn’t know what I was listening to at the time but I recorded it and memorized it, loving the harmonies and orchestration... it wasn’t until many years later, living in the US, that I heard it and was able to find out what it was🥰. I know for a fact that music is in my blood and my soul from my father who was a musician, composer/arranger, and conductor. On my last trip to the UK I spent a little time with the aforementioned LP collection and realized our taste was very similar ❤️ but I digress.... back to why I wanted to go to Bavaria...

As you can guess, I admire many composers but I especially adore Mozart and Wagner (#MozWag) . Mozart for his sheer genius of composing 626+/- works in his short life, he died when he was 35... started composing at around 5 years old so that’s about 20 compositions a year. And it was good stuff, too! Wagner, I love for the absolute intensity, commanding, emotional, a master of drama. But, not for the new listener, IMO. I worked my way up to him😉 Both composers either lived, worked, died, and were born or buried in the regions I will visit. And yes, Mozart died and was buried in Vienna but I already did that trip 3 years ago.

Ok... that’s the background on the trip - so you can guess my focus will be around music and performance but I’ll definitely have time for seeing some art, churches, architecture and food. And shoe shopping. My posts from now on will be more fun 😁

My first day was SFO-LHR 10.5 hour flight, followed by a 5 hour layover which allowed time for lunch at Gordon Ramsey’s Plane Food and shopping for English makeup - a new Charlotte Tilbury lipstick and a Max Factor mascara 🤣 then a 2 hour flight to Munich and a 1 hour train to my hotel. A long day of travel - about 27 hours I think? And I was so grateful for a cool, clean room to check in to at 5pm. Oh, did I mention that I had a ticket for the opera? I’ll do a separate post on just that. It deserves it.

[gillyo]

T-minus 10 hours!!

So, I’ll be using this tumblr blog format for my trip - I’m hoping it will make posting on the go easier than using my old blogger site... Stay tuned, I’ll be posting as often as I can during the days I’m traveling. For my friends who aren’t familiar with tumblr, or blogging in general, the link I sent you brought you here and this post will move down as I blog more.... so the newest posts will always be at the top... hope that makes sense :-)

I’ll be heading to shower and bed soon - leaving for SFO early morning. I’m all packed using my new #biaggi rolling case and I am loving how much I was able to fit into the small section and still have basically another half a suitcase to unzip and hold what I may pick up on my travels! Here’s a link if you wanna see more details... https://biaggi.com/products/lift-off-expandable-underseater-to-carry-on

I’m super excited! Later I’ll post what this trip is all about but for now, here’s the prelude of one of the operas I’ll be seeing that started this whole trip idea ❤️