Thrift is the New Terrorism: A Cheapskate’s Guide to Airport Security

Not so long ago on a continent far far away….

The train schedule in Zurich was different from the train schedule in Geneva, so I missed my train and tried to stay in the train station overnight instead of finding a hostel last minute. Four ass-hole harassers later and with the promise of no sleep at all in my near future, my plan got thwarted when they closed the train station in the wee morning hours, so I was stuck with 1) renting an ungodly priced room for half the night assuming I could find one on a holiday weekend, 2) getting on a train (any train) asap or 3) staying on the street. Too expensive, maybe, out of the question, respectively–so, I opted for the latter, and the train ended up making one measly connection in a country that wasn’t on my Eurail pass, so I had to pay out the nose for the penalty fair. 

THEN! When I finally made it to Duesseldorf for the my plane to England, security wouldn’t let me through, because I accidentally left a very dull, kitchen knife in my purse from my packed lunch. I’m sure it didn’t help that it fell through the ripped lining of my purse either… or the fact that the hole was very small, and I had to rip the lining of my purse further to get it out. Something about carrying a concealed weapon?!?!? And sewing it into the lining of a purse!??!! Dunno. ::looks innocent:: So much for saving money by making my food.

Photo Tease

There are finally photos thanks to the lovely Miss L.

Check ‘em out at right.

Wheee!!!!!

June 20-25: So busy I didn’t have time to come up with a title

The trip to Salzburg, London and the two days in Muenchen since have been an unparalleled whirlwind of activity.

While in Salzburg I …

Walked through the Old City, shamelessly danced and sang at all the Sound of Music sites, visited Mozart’s birthplace and house, soaked up sun in the Maribell Gardens, marvelled at the Churches of St. Blasius, St. Sebastian, St. Erhard, the Schlosskapelle and St. Peter’s Abbey, climbed the heights of FestungHohensalzberg, bought postcards, ate lunch at Berchtesgaden, and walked around Koenigsee for pristine views of an Alpine lake.

While in London I visited,

Kew Gardens, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the Globe Theater, the Tate Modern, Leicester Square, Big Ben & Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret’s Church, the Jubilee Gardens, the London Eye, Dali Universe, Charing Cross, the Victoria Embankment Gardens, Trafalgar Square, the London Stock Exchange, Regents Park, the Royal Academy of Music, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Barbican, London Bridge, Cleopatra’s Needle, and three traditional English pubs.

Senior Moments, brought to you by Clara Schumann’s lover

The first, very rough itinerary page is posted! Woohoo! ::victory dance::

Now down to business.

In my last post I decided to compare performances of specific pieces. Umm, what was I thinking?!?!? No artistic director in their right mind duplicates another ensemble’s repertoire. Fortunately for me, there are a select few instances where Brahms Symphony No. 2 will be played by different ensembles, but my enthusiasm wanes drastically for Brahms… even though I’ll be attending. Ach.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Brahms. There’s no doubt that he was a master. Take two seconds to look at the way he plays with form and counterpoint in the string quartets and piano trios. The guy was a genius, and it’s no surprise that he paved the way for the likes of Schoenberg and Berg (swoon!). Still, I don’t enjoy listening to his music. All those sappy, sequenced 7-6 suspensions in the piano sonatas slay me. every. time. Blegh. Enough already! But I diverge…

In order to fix my lapse in common sense regarding repertoire, I’m left with no choice but to widen the parameters! Darn. Instead of comparing performances of specific pieces, I’ll be comparing composers and their respective musical styles/periods. Christine Schaefer (mein Lieblings Saengerin) will be singing sacred baroque music by Vivaldi and Pergolesi at Rheingau which will contrast nicely with the Bach performed at the Leipzig Bach Festival earlier in the summer. Performances of Mahler (Alma AND Gustav) songs will also contrast well with Victor Ullman’s songs salvaged from Teresienstadt and Wagner’s Die Meistersinger. To boot, BBC Proms Folk Nights provide a selection of composers that integrated “folk” into their music in vastly different ways, such as Vaughn Williams, Bartok, Grainger and Berio.

But, who ever thought Vaughn Williams and Berio would be on the same program???? Talk about culture shock. BBC Proms might just have topped La Scala’s awkward performance of La Boheme. Of course, it is prom, and we all know how awkward that can get…