It has been a highly unusual Autumn as far as teaching goes. Two weeks off in September to go to NM, and another week off in December to visit Vienna. It's been lovely! After tomorrow I will have earned another 19 days off before resuming duties in January. I am hoping to really dig in deep to my piano pieces, and should have them ready to perform by early January. As to when they will actually be performed, that is hard to predict just now. January is already a very busy month for us, but I hope to play before my eye surgery. I should know when that is by mid-January.
Work has begun on the written journal. I went to town Sunday to get some prints developed, but the machine was down and out of service. By Monday evening I was in business. The Bruegel exhibit continues to resonate strongly with me, and it has barely sunk in that I got to view 31 paintings, including 17 I had never before seen. There were a total of 15 works from Vienna, three of which we had never seen, as well as 16 loans, of which I had previously seen two in London. That means I have now seen 35 (?) paintings by Bruegel, which is most his work. It doesn't get much better than that. And the exhibit only cost 5 Euros extra, above the regular admission, so it was a real bargain, too.
As a bonus, we saw Vienna in December, and it even had snow upon our arrival. However, the rest of the week was mild, and we enjoyed each of our days to the fullest. We both truly love the city. The interesting bits are very close together, and we really know our way around now, including short cuts and direct routes. It is very easy to escape the maddening crowds of tourists, and we often found ourselves alone on wonderful and narrow back streets. We never made it to any of the famous cafes this time, though the cafe at the art museum has probably the finest setting in the world. I made it to two craft beer places; we made it to a craft coffee shop 3x (two different ones), and we ate out 4x at three different vegan restaurants. We rode two streetcar routes end to end, and made a triumphant return to Kahlenberg, at the top of the Vienna Woods. The trip was a huge success. The web version, with photos, should be underway by this weekend. Right now, we are preparing for Winter solstice, on Friday.
We flew Lufthansa from Toronto to Frankfurt to Vienna, and back on the same route, in the same type of jumbo jet. All flights were packed.
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