Jason Shim

The warning was ominous: Climb the bell tower at your own risk! And just below: 10 kroons. For a couple of bucks, you can’t go wrong, right?

As I made my way up the narrow passage, I walked slowly as I had seen several people slip on the slippery stone steps in Split. And then the passageway opened up and the stairs were no longer stone, but of thin rusty metal that wound up the interior perimeter of the tower.

I’m not typically afraid of heights, but as I made my way up the 60 metre tower, the combination of the strong winds blowing through the tower columns and the cracks in the stone where the stairs were bolted filled me with a nervous excitement. As I proceeded upwards, I mentally planned my escape plan if the stairs suddenly collapsed.

But the escape plan would have to wait for another day. I emerged at the top of the tower and looked out over Split and the Adriatic Sea. 6 months ago, 3 months ago, 1 week ago, I did not expect to be here. I sat there for a long time just watching the city, the sea, and the sun’s slow descent.

After a busy week in Vienna, Austria, I headed to Zagreb, Croatia. It was a good place to just relax for a bit. I found a nice local restaurant and just slowly sipped coffee while finishing Margaret’s Lawrence’s This Side Jordan. I had trouble reading it when I first arrived in Ghana, but I found it much more compelling after leaving the country because I could make better sense of the geography and the issues.

After a couple days in Zagreb, Michelle and I took the overnight train to Split, Croatia and were greeted with a beautiful sunrise. Split is an incredible convergence of water, sand, forest, and ancient ruins. It has a great vibe to it and though I’ve been here less than 24 hours, I already know it will be a highlight.

Dear Vienna,

It was your beauty that made me fall in like with you and the music that made me fall in love. I was only going to spend a few days with you, but after cycling through your streets and seeing a couple of operas, I decided to extend my stay.

In the handful of days we had together, I listened to your music for many hours and enjoyed your greenery. During the long waits for for standing room tickets at the opera house, I got to know some Viennese. Everyone I met was kind and hospitable – indeed, one of my favourite memories will be having lunch with one of your students in front of the opera house.

From you, I discovered that ordering coffee is an art and learned that I like “melanges” because they’re not too strong and have just the right amount of foam. I enjoyed tafelspitz and I wish I had a chance to visit one of your traditional heurigers because I never seemed to get there at the right times.

I know that I only got to know a small part of you, but those small parts were beautiful. I would very much like to return and I hope that our time apart will be brief.

Love,
Jason

I woke up at 6 am to catch the train out of Vienna, Austria to Zagreb, Croatia. I fell asleep quickly and in my dreams, I was still in Vienna.

I’ve managed to find a pretty quick internet connection so here are a few short videos from the travels:

It feels strange when I write postcards back home… you are present in the pause of my pen. In a part of the world where churches seem to be everywhere, you are never far from my thoughts. I like to think that my quiet whispers to you can be heard somehow as I light each candle. I miss you.

Happy Mother’s Day.

I spent a full day cycling throughout Vienna and my favourite part was crossing the bridges over the Danube. There was a great breeze and the view was spectacular. I don’t fall in love with cities easily, but Vienna has won my heart.

And then, when you walk up the hill for a closer look, the scale and beauty of the structure is simply breathtaking. If you look closely at the fourth arch from the right, there’s a shameless public display of affection. I can’t blame them though, it’s a pretty romantic place.

When walking through the doors to the exterior, this is the sight that greets you. It looks almost unreal at first…

HELLO?

HELLOOOOO!

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

JASON! WHAT’S YOURS?

IVAN. WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

CANADA!

OHHHH, THAT IS FAR! I AM FROM BULGARIA!

NICE TO MEET YOU!

OKAY GOODBYE!

And moments later, I met the man who was on the other end of the talking pillar. We wandered for a bit the labyrinth and climbed tall poles and sat on benches and jumped on springy things.

I wandered around for 40 minutes before finding the path through the hedge maze. It just got downright hilarious when you pass by other people several times in your search for the exit.

It was an interesting time of reflection for me as well, because it’s a great metaphor for life. Everyone’s generally headed in the right direction, it’s just about the approach and the attitude, because no matter what, you’ll eventually reach the end. After completing the maze, while finding my way out, I resisted the urge to tell others the way – a Portuguese couple I met in Bratislava had told me about the maze, but stopped short of telling me how to get through it. I’m glad they let me figure it out for myself.

My ticket to Schonnbrunn said I also had access to the hourly Strudel Show. The chef was absolutely charming and the strudel was delicious.

“Every day one should at least listen to a little song, read a good poem, look at a fine painting, and, if possible, say a few reasonable words.”
- Goethe

I met fellow travellers Michelle, Karen and Jessie at the hostel and they braved the line for Die Walkure with me as well as the uberlong performance.

After getting our tickets, Karen and I ran down the hallway of the opera house, loudly announcing, “YEAHHHHH we got tickets! RUNNNNNN!!!” before getting shushed. I burst out laughing at Karen’s response, “But we’re just so excited to see the opera!”

They went on to Salzburg the next day to check out a Sound of Music Tour. Regrettably, I have not seen the movie… yet.

The backpacking world can be a small one and paths often intersect – I hope to meet up with them again next week in Budapest, Hungary.

One of the great things about opera houses in Europe is that the rooms where they serve refreshments during the intermission often look like the ones in the picture above. Yeah. Pretty amazing.

Imagine me standing on the balcony in a blue hooded sweatshirt with a glass of red wine. I am surrounded by people dressed in suits, tuxedos and ballgowns.

Note to self, next time I’m in Vienna, bring a tie.

I’ve decided to spend a few extra days in Vienna after seeing Wagner’s Die Walkure. I’ve seen 4 operas in 5 days and found myself captivated by the stories and the performances. I am so grateful that a few years ago, one of my professors challenged our class to a Wagner opera marathon – it provided a great background for seeing the live performances.

What’s the appeal? Well, there are songs that I have grown up with and have listened to many, many times. Songs that are deeply rooted into popular culture and hearing them performed live is an amazing experience. Let’s see if I can convey this with a couple of YouTube videos.

The Drinking Song from Verdi’s La Traviata:

Or the Ride of the Valkyries from Wagner’s Die Walkure – or more commonly known as the helicopter from Apocalypse Now:

I must confess, I got a little teary during the Ride of the Valkyries – it’s a powerful piece of music and hearing it performed live was a dream come true.

And finally, the horn call in Siegfried (starts at 00:40):

Going to the opera in Vienna has become an experience that I won’t soon forget. I’ve met some great people during the waits for the tickets and though 5 hours seems like a long time for a performance, the time just flies by.

I’ve fallen in love… with the opera.

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.