Longfield Gospel Singers at the Stephansdom

Dear friends and readers,

For many Austrian - or rather Viennese - people the Stephansdom (or St. Stephens Cathedral or rather "Steffl" as we gently call our huge dome) is the centre. Of everything. Of Vienna or in a way of the world, sometimes even of our identity as Austrians/Viennese and of everything else. We measure every distance from downtown which - for us - is St. Stephens, we are born and bread like this, it is in our genes, we cannot help it. Full stop. And for all the others it is definately the centre of downtown Vienna and a maior tourist sight right in the heart of the city.

Besides the dome is the most important church in Austrian catholizism (okay, the Salzburger Dome is important too, bear with me mind!), and everyone who does not bother lots with St. Stephens or catholizism still knows, "okay, it is THE church and somehow very important."

So imagine how excited and honoured we, the Longfield Gospel Singers, felt when Georg (our chorus leader, conductor, organizer, nanny and many other things) told us that we had been invited by Dompfarrer Toni Faber (the head and master of the Stephansdom) to perform there at the "Lange Nacht der Kirchen" (= "Long night of the churches"). This is a maior event over here, all the churches in Austria are open to the public all night, concerts, discussions, activities are offered in all churches everywhere in the country - and you can imagine what a huge thing it is to perform in the most important one! THE STEFFL!!! Wow!!!!

Hours before the concert we met inside the dome where we had access to the very centre of the dome, the area around/near the altar, for sound checking and rehearsing.

The acoustics of the Stefansdom is a bit difficult for musicians, remember it was built in 1300 something when people a) did not bother with acoustics much and b) it is not a place basically built for what we take as public performances nowadays. It was built to be impressive, to demonstrate the power of the church and people should be overwhelmed when stepping out of their little huts right into the overwhelming power of God. Well, it still is impressive and all that, but it also is a bit delicate when it comes to acoustics. I don´t have a clue about sound systems and the like and was happy that other peope who obviously knew what they were doing did the job.

Before the concert started a slackliner literally walked the line high up in the air. At that time St. Stephens Square was already filled with people, and it was hard to get to the Pfarrkanzlei in time to change into our turquoise robes. Panic! Stage fever! We were ready to go and just wanted the concert to start!

We gathered in the sacristy of St. Stephens, and at that time now the dome was full of light, and it was beautiful!

Dompfarrer Toni Faber himself, who had personally welcomed us in the sacristy before, introduced us to the the audience! Thank you so much, we felt absolutely honoured!

And then the music, the intro to "Love shine a light", started, we one by one came on stage, and wow!!! wow!!! wow!!!! what an incredible moment it was! All of the huge dome was jammed with people, and they all were cheering and applauding! It was so enourmously moving, breathtaking, brilliant that for a moment I was not sure if I would be able to sing. (And I was told by others later that they had the same problem.)

But of course we began just as we were intended to, and then we did our thing and rocked the place! That is what we were there for and that is what we did. And hey, after all we are all performers, and how can you not perform when thousands and thousands of people are there for you? The audience was so lovely, singing along, clapping, waving..... From where I stood on stage I could see that the doors of the dome were wide open and that people were standing until out on the square to listen to us and to celebrate with us! HOW VERY VERY WONDERFUL!!! "I feel your love" was one of the songs we sang, and indeed we did feel the love.....

Here you can see the huge audience, it was absolutely overwhelming!

Thanks a lot to Herby Buschbeck for this great photo! I did not have any photo from the dome and the many, many friends who came to see us, and he was so kind to help me out.

When we left the stage to the sounds of "Amen"we all knew that we had been part of something very, very special that will stay with us forever.

I am very happy and extremely grateful that I had the honor to participate in this glorious event, it was extremely moving and among the best things I ever was happy to experience.  I know this feeling will stay with me and inside my heart for the rest of my life and will be cherished as something very, very special.

Thank you, Steffl! Thank you, phantastic audience! Thank you, Georg, and all my dear Longfield Singers! It was "amazing".....

Pfingsten 2013

Pfingsten 2013 in our little holiday crest was very relaxing, lovely weather, birds singing, bees humming... In the mornings we did our little "retirement walks" as we call them - which means, that we picture us when we one day will hopefully have retired to do these morning walks into town for freshly baked rolls for breakfast and maybe a small Melange on the go every day.

The bakery is about 10 minutes walk from our little crest, and the views we get in the mornings are lovely.

This time we also went to Schladming, where you find the "Planai", the famous ski slope where in Winter time the skiing races are some of the most well known in the downhill skiing circus. It is a huge complex there, I had no idea that it was so big, but it needs to be like this, because it hosts thousands and thousands of people when races are on. Even though in late Spring like now it was almost like a ghost town, eerily empty, sheep are grasing on the Planai, and you seem to hear the whispers of so many people in the wind...

On the way back we met these cows walking somewhere like little ducklings in an endless row. They were looking so chilled and happy that I am sure they went home to their comfy barn filled with  hay that already smelled like Summer, looking forward to some great dinner.

And of course lots of nice views on our way back from Schladming.

Of course Pfingsten was a great time for the kiddos too! Every day we took them for long walks, where they could swim and dash about and simply be happy kiddos. Please have a look at the next photo - I might be in the middle of it, but this is not why I posted it. Have a look at the two mad doggies swirming all about me like mad fireflies, Indy with his loony-happy face, and Dessa hopping like a crazy bunny! I was laughing out loud when I saw the photo for the first time!

Hiding in the grass. "Maybe mom gives a Leckerli when I come out again?" It is all about food for an
English Cocker.

But there also can be said a lot about people and food! This time we checked out a new Landgasthof, and we were taken very much by surprise by the size of the portions. And it was perfect quality too! We definately will come again.

We also dropped in at the "Sturm auf den Kulm", which is near our holiday home. The Kulm is the biggest natural Ski jump in the world, and like the Planai it is THE place in Winter when jumping competitions are on. Once a year in late Spring people try to RUN up (instead of JUMP DOWN in Winter) - I wonder why, there is not enough money in the world to make me join them.

After all this excitement I rather prefer to chill at the balcony in the evening with some light snack, watching the sun set and reflecting on how wonderful everything was, is and hopefully will be. Toodeloo for this time! Have a good one!

 

Lainzer Tiergarten und Hermesvilla

The Lainzer Tiergarten ist a former hunting ground of the Austrian Emperors, in the old days close to Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg Monarchy, nowadays right within the City limits. It has been turned into a recreation area for the Viennese and together with the Prater and all the huge parks it is now the reason for Vienna being one of the "greenest" cities worldwide.

I am a very rare guest there, I live within the Vienna Woods where it is as green as it can get, and since you are not allowed to bring dogs onto the grounds of the Lainzer Tiergarten I usually do not bother. But past week, on a beautiful warm Spring day, we set out to the Hermesvilla, because we wanted to see the two exhibitions there.

If you enter the park from the "Lainzer Tor" and walk up to the Hermesvilla you get the more "civilized" part of the area, but even there it is miles and miles of grass land, woods and free-roaming deer and other wildlife. If you enter from say the "Gütenbachtor" you will definately find that the "Lainzer Tiergarten" is not very civilized at all - the nature there is not tamed and you can get lost in the dark woods. Beware of wild boar - no kidding!  And remember: All this within city limits!

Emperor Franz Josef had the Hermesvilla erected for his wife, Elizabeth of Austria (or "Sisi"), hoping that it would keep her in Vienna more - the Empress did not like Schönbrunn Castle very much and travelled a lot. I guess you can discuss if it worked or not, but the little castle is there now and often Hosts exhibitions. The outside of the Hermesvilla is under construction right now, so therefore no photos in this blog.

This time we saw "Sattlers Kosmorama" - almost photolike paintings from Hubert Sattler in the 19th century, made for a growing audience interested in foreign countries and how it looked there. These travel paintings came in addition to travel literature of the 19th century - the subject of my thesis. So you can imagine that I was fascinated.

Upstairs you find an exhibition on "Elizabeth´s Hermesvilla", the way it was furnished, the development of the little castle and lots of precious pieces of art that had been given to the Empress as a present or was part of the original furniture.

Look at this gorgeous conch for example! How delicately the surface is scratched away into little wonders of artwork....

And this is the Lady of the house herself, with her favorite dog. No breach of copyright - this is a private blog, and I state that we simply had to take this picture inside the exhibition where picture taking without flash is allowed.

I fully understand Sisi´s love for animals, nature and travelling, even that she preferred the company of her dogs and horses to the company of most people. But I still think that she was not a very nice person. She lost interest in most things very quickly, wasted heaps of money, was obviously very sulky and she did not care in the least about her husband or her country. But suprisingly so she has become one of the country´s maior tourist magnets more than a century after her death....

Another impression of the Lainzer Tiergarten. A wonderful place - but no dogs allowed, no bikes, no skates, no camping, no open fires.......... Just breathe very shallow and get the hell out if you want to make noise. In a way I can understand why it has to be like this, but because of all this it will never be MY perfect place.

This is why we went home afterwards and had some fun with the kiddos - right outside my home, where fun is allowed. But even if it sounds strange now: I DO recommend the Lainzer Tiergarten. And if you are there check out the exhibitions at the Hermesvilla!

Schloss Fuschl

Last week while enjoying a short break from the hustle and bustle of real life we visited the beautiful area of the Fuschlsee.

We had not actually arranged for it but somehow the road took us up to Schloss Fuschl, a former hunting lodge in the 15th century, now a 5* resort and one of the places of pilgrimage for fans of the Austrian Past.

If you park your car outside the entrance and approach the small castle on foot this is the first impression you get coming out of the small wood on top of the hill. The whole area is very quiet, you just hear the singing of the birds, and it instantly makes you want to stay.  Which is what we did!

We had had a late and ample breakfast so we were not actually hungry, but since we liked the area so much we decided to stay for a while and go for a drink.

In Schloss Fuschl what you get is what you see! Remember it is a 5* place, so don´t come here thinking that anything will be coming cheap. But the service is excellent, the place is gorgeous and the food is absolutely delicious. So if you want to pamper yourself for a while or have something special to celebrate - this is the place.

Okay, so much for "going for a drink". We could not resist and went for a little snack. Stefan had the Wiener Schnitzel and I settled for the Roastbeef Sandwich. Yum, yum....

This is the view that we got from the terrace while snacking. Life is hard, but somebody´s gotta do it....

Aafter some feast this is where you can settle down, enjoy the lake and the marvellous view and dream about the old times when all this belonged to just one family. I wonder how it must have been like.

Outside in the park you find quiet galleries and little shops where you can satisfy all your souvenir needs. And for all you "Sisi"-addicts out there, in exactly this small building there even is a "Sisi"-museum inside (which is probably stormed by Japanese fans regularly), where they play the films with Romy Schneider 24 hrs a day. I did not walk in, but they even seem to have some "Sisi"-relics on display in case you are interested. I was not - so bear with me please.

We really had the perfect visit here and I am sure that we will find an excuse to return and let the staff spoil us big time! What a wonderful place to be!