Vienna (part duex)

Us inside the concert hall.  This place was really pretty.  It had painted murals on the celling, marble statues of famous composers, golden statues of angels, etc.  It was unbelievable and the orchestra sound fantastic!   They played David's favorite symphony so the night was quite perfect.
These are the honorary graves of Beethoven and Mozart.  Right beside these two were several other honorary graves to Brahms, Shubert, and Strauss.  (These are famous composers of the classical and romantic period) 
After visiting the cemetary, a group of us decided to explore the city and try and find the Scholss Schonbrunn (which is a palace) and this is what we found.  We walked around and it had a lot of gardens that reminded us to the palace in Schwetzingen.  We walked around the palace and little did we know of what was to come next....
THIS!  All of us gasped in amazement!  It was breathtaking to say the least.  The grounds were huge.  They had a zoo in one side, a full maze & labrynth made of tall shrubs, several gazebos and cafe/restaurants.  It would probably take a full day to look at everything here.  We only had an hour but simply walking around the gardens was good enough for us.   We were more than glad that we decided to try and find this place. 
This is actually an "outtake" of the hand full of picture we tried to take.  Believe it or not, this is the best one.  Haha!  It was really windy so that made it difficult.  We like this one though.

Vienna (part 1)

We think this was a church but it was the first building we saw as we emerged from the subway. It was quite the sight as you can tell!  
This is the Musikverein Grosser Saal (Concert Hall to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra).   We saw a concert here and it was amazing!
This is the Opera House and it is a few blocks away from the Concert Hall.  The group got to take a guided tour of the inside and we found out that half of the building was bombed during WWII so half of it is still from the original construction and the other half is from the remodel after the war.  The Opera company performs different opera every night so this means they have over 50 operas ready to go at all times.  They have one of the biggest crews in the world and they constantly working to change the stage daily.  Also, this is where the world famous "Vienna Opera Ball" takes place.  
This is the St. Steven's Church.  This enormous church is obviously from the Gothic period and located in the heart of Vienna.  This picture does no justice to what it actually looks like.  The church is stinkin huge and breathtaking!  Wow!
This was an original hand written score of Mozart's opera, "Don Giovanni".  This was among many other artifacts in the Mozart Museum located in his apartment where he wrote many of his famous works.

Salzburg

This is the Salzburg Fortress (Hohensalzburg). We walked all the way up this hill and we could see the entire city of Mozart's city of Salzburg.  
This is the view from the top of the fortress.  Even though you can't see it, these mountains were covered in snow.  It was amazing!
This is the Sanctuary to the St. Peters Church in Salzburg.  This shows the alter to the church.  This picture doesn't do any justice to how huge and gorgeous this church was.  
Here is the outside of the Mozarthaus.  This is his parents house in which he was born and raised in.  They had a wonderful museum inside.  
Us in front of the Mozart statue in a square in the middle of the old town.  

Second Trip!

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for our second group trip. This time we are going to be visiting Vienna and Salzburg. Both are major musical capitols! While we are there we are going to go to several museums and even see the Vienna Symphony play Dvorak's Symphony 8 (Which happens to be David's favorite).

It will be a lot of fun and we are really excited. So you guys can start to look forward to a post with lots of pictures again!
We wont be back until Sunday night (Our night your morning time).

Have a great week - we love you all :)

A good day in German Class

So far in our German class we have been learning the basics. How to say hello, how are you, lthe ABC's, count to ten, etc. Leaving us with not much to use on a daily basis. But today in class we learned pretty much all that you need to know. . . That would be how to order food ha ha. And in the back of our minds as we were asking we specifically were thinking of how to order McDonald's French Fries and 2 cokes ha ha!

The answer is
Ich nehme zwei mal Pommes und zwei cola, bitta!

Now that we can successfully order food with our translated "I will take. . ." we feel pretty prepared to hit the German world! Well that is a huge exaggeration. But I think we are going to try a few actual sit down restaurants and try out our new phrases. We even wrote them down on small index cards to go in our wallets! It is pretty exciting. We are thinking of even going to a cafe today, order in German and play some Backgammon!!

Heidelberg weekend fair

Today was a crazy day right here in Heidelberg.  Every year they have this huge street fair.  It is really similar to the one a few weeks ago in Ladenburg but even bigger.  Right outside of our door on all of the back streets is a huge flea market/garage sale.  Then along the main street are food booths, concerts, and street venders.  There is even a Renaissance fair section where everyone was in period costumes and playing period instruments.  It was ... interesting and fun.

There were a lot of people in this small section of town so we got in a few "mobs" once again.  As we were trying to walk down the main street we realized that we were stopped and everyone started to push their way through.  Eventually we got out but I think it took about 20 minutes to walk 1 block.  

There are several stages placed throughout the town.  There is even one placed right by our house so we can hear the music perfectly all throughout the day!  It is very loud.   It is neat though to see so much stuff going on in the town.

We have to say though the best part about today was our great finds.  We got a backgammon board and Rummikub!  Both for under 4 Euro!  So we have already started playing both of them and it helps to make us feel more at home.  We are really excited about having those games now.  David also found some vinyl records for 10 cents each so he bought a Euro worth.  He was very excited about them.  

Next week our group leaves for Vienna and Salzburg.  That will be a lot of fun.  Other then that all is well!

We hope everyone at home has a great weekend as well.

Pictures of Heidelberg

This is us in Ladenburg - I liked the picture and just wanted to share it with the world!
This is the Castle in Heidelberg at night
Another one of the Castle but from across the river.

This is the same spot where we took the picture of the Castle at night.

We have been trying to get out at least every day and take a little walk around the town just to get some fresh air and to look around. All of the night pictures and the last one of us are all from a little walk we took. Last night we actually walked up the hill to the castle. The gardens there are always open and free to the public, so it was great to walk up the 350 stairs to the top, and then just look out to the city. We will have to take a few shots from up on the castle over looking the city for you guys to see.

But I probably should get to practicing, just thought I would post up a few pictures for you guys to see! Hope you enjoy them!!

Our trip to Schwetzingen

This is the Castle in Schwetzingen. It really was the summer residence to the prince elector who actually lived in the Castle here in Heidelberg. The building itself was rather small (and it pretty much has all be redone) but the gardens behind it are huge.
This is a shot from the start of the Gardens behind the Castle. You really cannot see the end of the garden, this part was huge! Through out the yard there are several buildings and rooms used "bringing the social life outside" as our tour guide said.
Another shot, none of these really sum up how huge and beautiful this place was to see. Btu I hope they give a pretty good idea.
Us, obviously!
And Jessica, This was the best shot showing this back part of it so here it is!!

The trip here was fun, the castle gardens were probably the best part the sight is pretty amazing. along side of the garden are two side wings of the castle. One one of the wings there is a theater there the Rokokotheater, and that is where we saw the dress rehearsal of Cosi Fan Tutti. Which turned out to be pretty weird. . . Here in Europe it is such a long tradition of going to the opera that now a days the people are more interested to see modern stage productions of the opera. They do not want to see Cosi in period costumes, like we would back at home. So this performance was really up to date and not really to taste of any of us in the group. That was quite the disapointment, but at least it was a beautiful day in Schwetzingen and we were still able to get out and walk around.

We do not really have any thing huge planned for this week or weekend just classes and practicing. But we have started to plan our trip to Paris and Italy. David has been doing research on what is more cost effective to fly or get a eurorail pass. So many options and it is hard to figure out what is the best deal, and how to figure everything out. It is kind of scary but at least we have a lot of time to get it worked out. So if you have any suggestions please feel free to share!!

Other then that everything is going well!! We hope everyone is well :)
Miss and love you all!

Lessons and tomorrow's day trip

Today both of us had our lessons with our private teachers. And it is always interesting having to get used to a new teacher and a new teaching method but we are both lucky to have good teachers, so that makes the transition easier.

My teacher (Jessica's teacher) does not really speak that much English, so the lessons are always very interesting. I usually have to help him translate a few words until he can get to his analogy that he was going to use. But we have gotten pretty good at understanding what he wants me to do. That, and I usually always have the same consistent problems so that makes it pretty easy (Stephanie should know what I am talking about ;) ha ha kidding). But it does make things interesting. But I am still surprised at how efficient the lessons still are. I have my Senior Recital at the end of this current school year, so I have a lot of music to work through. Since we have so much time to practice. So far I have really been able to dedicate the right amount of time to prepare my music before my lesson. Which I think is why my lessons are able to be so effeiciant. So I am hoping to keep working hard to come out of this semster already knowing my music and ready to keep working. Or at least I will try my best! But so far everything is better then I would have expected!

I (David) had my first clarinet lesson today. It was amazing! I did come out of it feeling rather defeated though. He is an amazing clarinetist and is a great teacher. He stops me all the time because he is so specific. It looks like it's going to be really demanding but that is exactly what I wanted. He's also super animated and moves around a lot so it's really funny. Anyways, a couple days ago I also had my first composition lesson and it looks like that is going to be really great. My teacher is a phenomenal pianist and composer. Were going to be studying many different styles and working on some of my arrangements and compositions. I'm really excited about that work that I have ahead. It's going to be GREAT!!!

Other then that tomorrow we have another day trip, we are going to Schwetzingen. The town is about 40 min. away and we are going to be able to walk around the town and see the Gardens there which are a Replica of the Versailles. In addition to that we are going to be feed an authentic Schnitzel lunch (and for Jessica a wonderful Salad!) so I suppose that will be interesting to say the least. . .Then we are going to be able to listen to a dress rehersal of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. It is an opera that is about "the fickleness of women" but it is really great because last school year both of us were able to play this opera through APU. So that will be awsome to hear it performed professionally. And that is the day pretty much - just a day to stroll and explore around a new town. But we will write more about it after with pictures too!!

Hope everyone is doing well back at home!
We send our love!

Burr!

So it is already cold out here. The weather is now around the 60F!! So we are quickly bringing out all of our winter clothing, and trying to get adjusted. They say that for the most part the weather out here is a lot like the weather in Seattle - so a lot of rain!! But we are getting used to it, and not letting the little rain hold us back from exploring, which is good.

By now we are in our second week of normal classes and both of us are pretty well adjusted to the routine of only have about one class a day in the morning. We have German on Monday and Wednesday mornings 9-11, then David has music history those days as well from 1:30-3:00. Then we have German History on Tuesdays 5-6:30pm and Thursdays 10-11:30. And that is it!! The rest of our time is filled with practicing our instruments and getting out in the town and walking around. What I (Jessica) like most about not having a lot of classroom time is that it gives me so much time in the day to practice and still get out and do things. I never feel like I have to compromise or give something up to dedicate at least 3 hours out of the day to practicing. This routine is something we defiantly could get used to!

Every morning we try to go running and then through out the day we walk or ride our bikes every where else! By now we have pretty much been all around the old part of Heidelberg and know it pretty well. We enjoy having all day to just play around the town!

We sure are blessed to have this opportunity! We are both really dedicating ourselves to our music and already we both are experiencing growth and it is really exciting for the both of us!

We miss all of you guys back at home, just about every day either one of us is talking about our family members. So know that our thoughts are always with you guys back at home :)
We send our love!!

-David and Jess

More weekend pictures - The concert!

This is us sitting outside of the Opera House in Leipzig where the concert was supposed to take place, before it started to rain.
This is a picture from where we were standing showing how close we were to the door just waiting, and trying to push our way through this mob!  All of these people were surprisingly pushy and forceful!  
This is the mob from behind us.  It is a little blurry but you can see that there were a lot of people anxious to get inside!
The view from our seat!!  Sitting right in front of us were the Clarinet and Horn players.  So it was perfect for us!
Us inside the concert! It was a lot of fun!!

It was a great weekend, hope you enjoyed all of the pictures!!

Love

David and Jessica

More Pictures from the Weekend Trip!

We could not fit all of our pictures from this past weekend on our last message.  So here are a few more.
The Thomaskirche in Leipzig
Inside the Church
Out side of the Church in a court yard
A cool looking building in Leipzig!

Inside the Mendelssohn house.  This was his office.

Our Weekend Trip!

Us on the train
Bach House
Wartburg Castle
Martin Luther's Room where he translated the New Testament
The Concert hall in the Wartburg Castle

This past weekend we went on our first field trip as a group!  The trip was so amazing!! We went to Eisenach, Weimar and Leipzig.  These are al places that are huge in german/music history.  In Eisenach we visited the Bach house which is the house that Bach was born in and grew up in.  They had a small concert with "period" instruments (instruments from the 18th century) and a tour of his house.  It was really amazing to be in there.  Then we went up to the Wartburg Castle which is from the 11th century.  This is the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into the German language while hiding from the Catholic church and government.  Kinda a big moment in church history. Haha (to say the least).  It was really awesome to see the actual room where he did this.

After that we stayed in a hostel and left to Weimar that next day.  Weimar is a huge city in German and world history.  Every significant part of Germany history has passed through this town.  Weimar is often considered the heart of Germany or the "real" capital.  There we took a tour of the Franz Listz House.  He is a German pianist/composer who was the best and most talented pianist the whorld has ever seen.  His room is exactly the way he left it when he died there.  It has his original two piano's he played and taught on as well as his desk where he wrote many of his works.  It was breath taking.  With in the town there were so many old houses, a castle and churches.  One little cool thing is that we saw a famous balcony that Hitler woud stand on and wave while the soldiers marched in the square during the parades.  It was really interesting.  We also saw the German National Theatre where composers like Mendelssohn, Wagner, and Shumman all conducted their Symphonies and other works.

The next day we were in Leipzig which was the best part of the trip.  There we went to the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas' Lutheran Church) which is where Bach was the cantor (in house musician and conductor) for over 30 years until his death.  He is even buried with in the Church in front of the alter.  We got to see a boys choir concert in there as well.  We also went to a church service in there the next day.  That was interesting to experience, the service was all in German.

However, the highlight of the trip was that night.  We found out that there was going to be a free concert by the Gewandhaus Orchestra in from of the opera house in Leipzig.  Right before it started, it started to rain and they moved the concert inside of the Gewandhaus which is one of the best sounding concert halls in the world.  Once they announced that the concert was going to be moved inside there was a mob of about 2000 people trying to shove there way inside.  It was like a rock concert!  It was very intense and people were going nuts, but for us it was a lot of fun!!  And we ended up on getting in and getting front row seats behind the Orchestra.  From where we were sitting we could see their music and it almost felt like we were playing with them.  It was so much fun!

That next morning we went to the church service and took a 5 hour train ride home back to Heidelberg!

Just a few pictuters. . .

Here are a few pictures of the town of Heidelberg. We are living in the old part of town, and that is what most of the pictures are of. The old part of town is filled with stores, and all of the houses are mostly on top of the stores. However on the other side of the river (you can see the river in a few of the shots) is the newer part of town. This part of town feels more residential then the older part of Heidelberg.
I have to say it has been great to walk every where we go. Lots of walking! But it has been great!!



We miss you all!!
Love,
David and Jessica