A Post! A Post!

So, really, this has been a perfect trip. I know. This is cliche to say, but, I never thought - in my fundamentally nit-picky way, that I would.

And here I sit, not knowing where to start.

Here's some Marissa chat:

Me:
I really loved Budapest
I think you would too, but you will have your own experience with Budapest one day, right?
It is grand and crumbly and grand
and crumbly
at the same time
it is a grand layout
but, they haven't cleaned up the World War II bullet holes
and I loved this
We stayed in a bright little hostel on the second floor of this little courtyard apartment building with old old wrought iron handrails and old cracked red paint
and tiles in the courtyard floor
Marissa:
oo, it sounds wonderful
Me:
and there were machine gun holes all across the wall of the courtyard
the house across the street was an abandoned wreck
and that whole neighborhood
with lovely little weathered people living and watering plants and walking dogs etc.
and the food was good
in a sincere way
and there still were mustaches
and really tall handsome dark men and little dark grey haired women
and punks
it had much more of an alternative groove - like a much-cooler-than-me dark earthy subculture than Vienna
When I am in Vienna, I feel like "I can do Vienna" in my cocky way:)
But, Budapest was raw
and it has some Islamic patterns and Russian this and that and the Hapsburgian stateliness

And from my chat with Mom (talking through Rebekah's account):

I am going to take my cute little Hungarian maid/cook to the opera for my birthday
She is excited.
Rebekah:
What are you going to see?
Me: Actually, we'll probably see Guys and Dolls in German at the Volksoper
I hear it is really good and I think she'll love it
Rebekah: That makes me laugh!
Me: There are some other blockbuster concerts this week
Rebekah: Have you seen other things these past few weeks?
Me: Yes!
It has been wonderful, Mom.
You would love living here in so many ways:
the Church is so wonderful here,
the Austrians do the gospel really well when they do it
People stay after Church talking and hugging for over an hour
The Musikverein is a beautiful temple of a concert house
and the Spirit has been strong there every time I've gone
And standing tickets are only 5 dollars
I can see you going often
You can usually sit down for the second half
Rebekah:
You are really imagining us there aren't you
Me:
I saw Thomas Quasthoff sing with the Berlin Baroque Ensemble
you need to Youtube him
Bach
I almost cried during one of the instrumental pieces actually
and I almost cried when Seiji Ozawa conducted Tchaikowsky's Eugene Onegin at the Staatsoper a few weeks ago
I did.

No, Budapest really was grand. There is a beautiful street modeled after the Champs Elysees, Andrassy Ut. The city swarms right up to both edges of the Danube, one side very hilly - Buda, and the other flat and totally visible to the very hilly side - Pest. Buda has beautiful views and several castles and cathedrals. The cityscape is quite lovely with the gothic snowflake Parliament building with its red dome "cap," churches, and each individual building is an old elegant (sometimes crumbly) friend.

Vienna is a music box. It is mostly white, and various shades of cream, with little shocks of ornamentation: jugendstil - Vienna's own art nouveau variety, indications of Klimt around, bright neon green new spring grass, funny raw modern art, and silly grafiti - have you seen the picture of the "paris versus vienna" graffiti statement? Silly graffiti. Other eastern European cities have a much more earthy, poorer, variety with really bright wizzing graffiti.

And yesterday was a beautiful day. Really our first. I went to the giant flea market at the Naschmarkt for the first time - just a short jog down the hill behind our house - and it truly was epic. All the antiques you'd hope to see in a center of hundreds of years of European old people: clocks and maps and music and instruments and lamps and coats and watches and harmonicas and chairs and clothes and dishes. The Naschmarkt is a must go to destination for food and at all: aisles and aisles of produce, dried foods, and pastries, and fish, as well as lovely outdoor restaurants and cafes. I snuck up the breezy Naschmarkt to the Seczession museum where I finally saw Klimt's Beethoven frieze as well as some interesting and lame modern exhibits and installations beholden to the mission of the Sezession as a venue for the neglected and avant-garde. Look up the frieze and its abouts. It was inspiring to me.

And now I must leave Dr. Vincent's and the bright comfort of his internet. I can't get the internet at the apartment where I am staying, which has been a lovely insulation to my being truly in Vienna. Did I tell you that I am staying with descendants of Hapsburg royalty?

In short, I like it here. Two more weeks, a trip to Salzburg and Italy - we're not very sad about this - and then I am home in New York. Two days later I fly to Utah for Spring Term. Phew!

Rebekah:
Jane said a funny thing today in Church. She referred to Joseph Smith's birthday being soon, then she laughted and said, oh no-I got him mixed up with Joseph Olson, another important Joseph!
Me:
That's really cute
and flattering
:)
I wish Rachel [and everyone] could be here to listen to all the music
it's not a very big city either
It has helped my music abilities so much to regularly listen to accomplished musicians
it is really inspiring
no wonder Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, so many others lived here

Inspiring.

I think that I talk too much. I get very excited and tell everyone who will listen the stories that I have quickly prepared and determined exciting. Exciting. Exciting. Exciting. And then it is hard to blog about them after they have been so worked, so expended. It is an indulgence that I take - all this excitement, as it is an indulgence for those who listen to me. Thank you.
It works better in spurts and in speed. A hit. A whiff. An attack! I was here and then there, I hit a low, I looked up, sparks, and an epiphany!
And now I have processed epiphanies: hard discs of biased me-ness.
It sounds better to tell you that I am in a cafe: Phil. Not Phil's. Phil. Non-smoking. Lots of retro lamps, all for sale. Lots of new and second hand books, all for sale. And a charming internet password: clapyourhands. And nice waiters. I got an herbal tea, but waited too long. The water got cold. And the tea didn't dissolve. I know, older siblings, I could send it back to be reheated. Or I could drink luke warm distantly flavored tea while feverishly using my rare internet time.
I've been a little sick. It has been lovely. I've let myself live the zen day I really needed. A quick dart out for a loaf of really dark brown crusty bread daring me not to be able to cut it. A long sh-bath. (The water never really gets hot enough for a bath in our antique tub with its own little heating tank hanging above to the right. I need to hold the shower head relatively close to my coffined body to get any sensation of warmth, and that, only one body region at a time. It's kind of really okay with me. I do bath exercises as well, still, Dan.) Homework.
The music in Phil is great. The other night, there was a DJ here playing only lounge music from 1960s America.