Jason Shim

On the recommendation of Karolina, I made seeing the opera a priority on my list of things to do in Vienna. I began lining up for La Traviata about 5 hours before the performance began and there were already about 20 people in line, mostly older gentlemen. Tickets were sold out and the only way I was going to be able to get a seat was in the standing room section. Apparently, there were far more people than usual because Anna Netrebko was performing. I’m afraid I’m not too well-versed in opera stars, but I’m told she’s a big deal.

While waiting in line, you could tell who the locals were – they had little folding chairs, while tourists like me sat on the ground as the wind blew an assortment of Viennese dust into our faces.

The woman next to me in line kindly explained the procedure for the standing room: some people start waiting in line in the mornings for the really popular performances. 3 hours before the performance starts, the exterior doors open and the line moves forward and inside a bit. 80 minutes before the show begins, the standing room ticket office opens. After purchasing your ticket for 3 (balcony and gallery) or 4 (floor level) euros, everyone makes a mad dash for the doors leading into the seating area. You are instructed by the attendents to line up two by two and they’re pretty strict about it. And they’re really good at ensuring that everyone keeps their proper place in line. Skipping ahead will get you booted. From there, you are led to the standing room area, and there is another frenzied commotion as people squeeze and shove into their desired spots. On the floor level, I managed to get the third row, which offered an amazing view. I was actually closer to the stage than some of the 200 euro seats. When you have secured your spot, you are given instructions to mark your place with an article of clothing or something and then you have about an hour to wander around before the performance. Many thanks to Juanita for the travel scarf! Otherwise I would have ended up using a sock or something.

For Wagner’s Die Walkure on Wednesday, the only tickets available are the 200 euro tickets. As much as I enjoy the opera, I can’t justify 200 euros. Since I still have some writing to catch up on, I’m going to kill two birds with one stone and sit for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon outside the opera house. However, I was warned by someone in line that Die Walkure is about five hours. It’ll be quite an experience.

More on the performance of La Traviata in a later post.

After a long day walking around Bratislava, I met a couple of fellow travelers at the hostel. They had just arrived from Vienna and they asked me, what is there to do in Bratislava? Well, there’s the castle, which is under construction, the national theatre, a handful of museums and galleries, and many cafes.

During the day, Bratislava is a quiet city with a reserved friendliness. It has been a good place to collect myself after the busy streets of Prague. I spent the morning in quiet reflection walking around Bratislava and spent a while just looking out over the city and thinking. The afternoon found me sitting by the Danube river nursing a lukewarm latte and planning out the rest of my travels.

As the sun began to set, I began wandering again. If I feel a breeze towards a certain direction, I’ll take it as a gentle nudge to explore an alley or to go into a shop. Or maybe I’ll hear some faint music that I like and will head in that direction. Today’s wandering led me to a traditional Slovakian restaurant where I enjoyed chicken with cheese and peaches.

Tomorrow will take me to Vienna, where I will be attempting to learn the ropes of the standing room line in hopes of seeing a performance of La Traviata. Hopefully the lessons learned from this experience will serve me in good stead later in the week as I will be attempting to get tickets to see Wagner’s Die Walkure.

There was a light rain after an evening of Jewish music in the Spanish Synagogue. It smelled like spring.

When I saw all the pigeons in the central sqaure in Krakow, I immediately wished I had a big bag of birdseed. However, I thought about all the signs I see back in North America about not feeding the birds, but when I looked around, it seemed like everyone was feeding the birds so… why not?

I headed to the supermarket and bought a giant bag of grains for two bucks. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was since it was all in Polish, but I just knew it wasn’t oatmeal. I was concerned that if the birds ate oatmeal, it would expand in their stomach and there would be exploding pigeons.

I walked over to the square and tentatively threw out a handful of grain.

And they came. The birds came in from everywhere. Swooping in from all over the place, I was suddenly surrounded by pigeons. Awesome.

Nat and I had agreed to meet in the square earlier and she only had to look for the giant swarm of pigeons to know where I was.

Soon we had locals young and old joining us. We poured grains into tiny cupped hands and enjoyed ourselves in the sunshine.

Dzi?kuj? Krakow, for being so enjoyable.

Of all the things I expected to be doing in Estonia, riding a Segway was not one of them. I don’t have the capability to rotate videos right now, so you’ll have to turn your head (or monitor). It was pretty cool, it felt a bit shaky at first, but it feels pretty natural just leaning in the direction you want to go in.

As time goes on and as internet connections allow, I will be adding little snippits from throughout my travels so things may not be necessarily posted in chronological order.