Here's a summary of days 7~8!
Day 7 (1/25):
In the morning, we went to the violin shop of an LDS violin maker, Henriette Lersch. She showed us the various steps of making a violin/cello, and then answered our random questions.
The violin-making process is very complex and I don't remember very much, but for those of you that are interested, Zach has a more in-depth report on this violin shop trip.
This is Henriette explaining how a violin works, not Emma and I trying to slice Christina in half!
Her beautiful workshop.
Notice anything different about this cello?
Count the strings!!!
Christina got to play on the amazing 5-string cello!
Julia also got to play on one of Henriette's violins, and also an old, old, gut string violin that she showed us. She showed us the difference in craftsmanship between older violins and more modern ones, which was pretty interesting. Yes, now we're all experts ;)
Vielen danke Henriette, for an amazing experience!
Later in the day, 8 of us went to the Staatsoper for our first opera, the Barber of Seville by Rossini!
If you want stehplatz (standing room) tickets, going to the opera is an all-evening ordeal. In general, people usually start lining up for a 19:30 opera around 17:00 or 17:30. You line up to get a ticket, buy your ticket, and then line up again in front of your section until the building is "cleared" as safe, by the local officials, fire fighters, etc. Once you get in to your section, you mark your spot by tying a scarf, and wait around for the next 45 minutes or so until the opera begins.
Waiting in line for tickets. Everyone is reading, or doing homework.
The crowd behind us.
Waiting to get into the balkon.
Telling ghost stories. ………actually, Aly reading the story of the Barber of Seville to us, since no one knew it :P
The opera house!!!
This is what waiting around for too long does to you.
Waiting in our stehplatz area. Notice the scarves on the railing!
Our first opera experience was great! Rossini isn't my favorite composer, but I still enjoyed the music a lot, and the story was entertaining (although we all got lost right before the intermission……something weird was going on).
Standing for a whole opera isn't easy, but considering that we got to see a world class opera for a mere 3 euro, I think it was worth it.
Julia found out that you can go get autographs of the singers after the opera, so of course, we hung around in the blistering cold for 30 minutes or so to see the amazing singers.
We even got a picture with the soprano!
Apparently she's from NY, and she told us both to come to the Met to listen to her when we're back in America again.
I guess we could go if we could find $3 standing room tickets! :P
Day 8 (1/26):
Nothing too exciting--we went shopping and practiced.
Actually, grocery shopping is really exciting here ("Hey, does this meat look cooked to you? I can't read what it says" --Julia), but I don't have any pictures yet, so I'll save that for another day.
When we got back from shopping, though, there was nobody at home, so we took pictures of the "Castle"!
Now, just so that you don't get confused, the "Castle" isn't big at all. It's just an ordinary flat. However, it houses pictures/furniture/dishes, etc. from formerly aristocratic families, and sometimes even from the Hapsburgs, which is why we call it the Castle.
Basically, everything has a history, and if they put a name and description on everything in the house, it could be a museum. I don't know why they haven't thought of it yet! :)
This is what we see when we leave our room.
Cool portraits of probably famous people.
The view up from the tiny courtyard.
That's an imperial family tree right above Julia.
The children's room.
In the mean time………Auf wiedersehen!
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