-went to dinner with Austrian #3 (from the Danube Incident) in Krems. He took me to two really good Heurigen that I never would have found on my own but may be able to navigate back to one of these days. Not only were the food and wine particularly good, but we also ate some light and delicious toasted coconut marshmallow squares (unfortunately I can't recall the name of them) at Stagård, the second Heuriger we went to which apparently has the best wine in Krems.
-I finally had my first 'standing room' experience at the Staatsoper. Looking for something to do on a Saturday night, I went to La Sylphide, the ballet that I had been to with Lauren, on the 5th. As I had already seen it, I decided it would be worthwhile to try this standing room business that everyone lauded. Admittedly, my expectations weren't too high, but the evening started out well and just continued to improve. I arrived at the box office a little over an hour and a half before the performance started and was slightly dismayed to see how long the line was; I had tried to purchase a ticket earlier in the day and was told I could only get them 80 minutes before the performance (I'm not sure if that's only how it works the day of, or if that's always the case). I had checked online and saw that there were only 60-some tickets left, and there were easily more than 60 people in front of me. However, the line started moving relatively quickly and no one was getting turned away, so I waited. When I got to the window I saw that the price was only €4 instead of €8 (as was advertised online), which I certainly couldn't complain with. We were then ushered into a lobby under the grand staircase and arranged in lines by twos, and one-by-one each line was allowed into the theater. I was really surprised at how close we were to the stage, and I had a good spot on the end of one of the rails.
I was aware of the tradition of saving your place with a scarf and came prepared, so after a short speech from a woman from the theater about how standing room works (which made me think it's more of a tourist thing than I had thought, though it seemed about 50/50 to me), I tied my scarf and wandered the Staatsoper with a couple in their young twenties that I had gotten into conversation with while in line. The ballet was, of course, very well done, and it was amazing how drastically different some of the special effects were with a change of vantage point. The standing room area was considerably less crowded after the intermission; I got the impression from overhearing a conversation that people didn't realize there were two acts. Oh well, more room for me to lounge. Also, the actual standing wasn't nearly as bad as I feared since there were padded velvet-covered bars to lean against.
-I've officially started riding again! I really like my new coach. Although she's not much for casual conversation (or perhaps we don't know each other well enough yet), she's thorough in her coaching and has me riding a good horse, Phoenix, who is quiet - I tend to like 'hotter' horses - but very well trained and responsive. I'm definitely sweating at the end of every lesson. They're also one-on-one, which I love! I got to jump last week, too. Not very high, granted, but hopefully that will build relatively quickly.
-I went with Lauren to Freiburg, Germany and Strasbourg, France for a three-day weekend.
-I had my first Christmas Market experience! Joe and I went on Friday evening and it was, well, magical, really. The lights, the smells, the crisp evening air... quite something!
We didn't spend too long there because it was getting crowded and neither of us were in the mood to buy anything, but I can't wait to go back! We went to the one at the Rathaus, but the little wooden stalls are up all over the city - in just about every open space you come across. Apparently this is the most kitschy of the markets and although I liked it, I'm going to do some research on where the best of the best are.
-Also on Friday, we went to a really neat restaurant that I had caught a glimpse of earlier in the week. Actually, the food wasn't very noteworthy, but the atmosphere was awesome! Of course, I'm partial to cellars with vaulted brick ceilings anyway, but when you add a tree in the mix, man, does it get any better? That's exactly what Wiener Stadtbräu has. To get there you have to go through Chattanooga Café and Grill, a wholly uninspired place along der Graben, one of the most well-known streets in Vienna's first district. About ten feet into the grill there's a door into a basement on the left wall. Go downstairs, and behold:
Well, I was taken anyway. Maybe the chef was just having an off night, so I'd like to go back and give the food a second chance.
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