Ljubljana/Bled

Ljubljana turned out to be a great stop to recharge my batteries (sort of, but I'll get to that a little bit later). 

Most people know little of Slovenia.  It's the eastern- and northernmost country of the former Yugoslavia.  It was also the first to declare and achieve independence (following a brief 10-day war when the other Yugoslavs didn't particularly like that idea).  Slovenia has been a member of the EU for years now, and even uses the Euro as the currency (something that even Poland, and the Czech Republic can't even claim).  I've read that some people ascribe the invention of democracy to the 7th century Slovenia. 

Howver, Slovenia is tiny, with only 2 million inhabitants, and Ljubljana, it's biggest city and capital only has about 275,000 residents, many of them students.  Ljubljana has also been a provincial capital for Napoleon, and the Habsburgs, and as such, is the home to some wonderful architecture and squares, as well as a castle. 

Because of this, it's a small and lovely city to stroll around in (except when it's raining), with actually quite a quirky little nightlife to go along with it.

While travelling alone for this portion of my trip (until I get to London for KlezFest), I've been fortunate to meet up with some really interesting people, especially in Ljubljana, which seems to attract a more hardy and inquisitive visitor than somewhere like Venice (which is an expected stop on the European tour). 

Heading to Bled (see more below), I met up with a couple of Australian law students and spent the day with them, and then killing time in the hostel before my train to Venice on my last night in Ljubljana, I found Maria and her cousin Max from England, and Matt, a Malaysian living in Hawaii with whom to hit the town.

Bled was absolutely everything that people say it is.  One of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  It's a small-ish lake (remember, I compare lakes to Lake Ontario), apparently about 6k in circumference, with a small island in the middle which houses a medieval church.  There's also a castle in Bled overlooking said lake.  Bled is also a great place to start hiking in the Julian Alps (the ones that Slovenia shares).  ALSO, Bled is the home of a particular cream cake that is out of this world.  So, to sum up -  Reasons to go to Bled: Pretty lake.  Cool island with church in the middle.  Castle.  Mountains.  CAKE.

But unfortunately, as you can see from the pictures, there's no sun, and around 3pm, the skies opened up and didn't stop for the rest of the day.

The next day, my last in Slovenia, was grueling.  Having to check out of the hostel (although I could leave my stuff there) at 10am, and having until 2:30am until my train to Venice, there was a LOT of time to kill, and it was raining in the morning.

On Being on the Road

As I write this (though not as I post it), I'm on the train south to Ljubljana, Slovenia.  People have asked me several times why I'm going there (or even if it exists at all).  Firstly, it cuts the trip to Italy down a little bit.  But Ljubljana has been on my radar for a few years now.  At one time, I was considering going there for the 2006 World Saxophone Congress.  I was looking into grant programs that would allow me to commission a new piece by a Canadian composer for the Congress and be able to travel.  Alas, that project never materialized, but I had heard and seen photos of some of Ljubljana's beauty and charm.  I'm also planning a day trip to the Julian alps and Lake Bled, which is supposed to be one of the truly beautiful places in Europe.  Some British travellers that I met at the hostel in Vienna were also interested in going there.  So that's why.

For me, this is the beginning of my last leg of being a tourist, and last leg of solo travel.  I've been lucky enough to have friends to meet up with in most of the places I've been along the way. It's been 8 days since I left Weimar, and I've really only had one day that I haven't ended up getting together with someone that I met elsewhere.  However, it looks like from here on in (to London), I'll have to be a little more outgoing and friendly (I know, difficult, especially in the mornings) to keep from being like Tom, the Kiwi I met at the top of Hafelekar in Innsbruck.  He has been travelling in his "gap year" and spent about 5 days camping in the woods in Germany.  He said that he got a little down, not speaking any German, and not having conversation with anyone for several days while there.  However, most hostels in Europe seem to be brimming wtih people in the same boat that I'm in, so I don't see much difficulty in making new friends while on the road.

On a separate topic, I'll comment here on how the weather can affect the quality of a trip.  To put it mildly, Rain Sucks.  Especially persistent fairly solid rain that doesn't allow you to do much of anything except hole up in a cafe, restaurant, hotel, hostel, etc.  And it seriously puts a damper on days that you want to take advantage of some the amazing outdoor activities that present themselves in Europe, like hiking, and even urban sight-seeing.  Also, in smaller places like Ljubljana and Zell am See, the opportunities for museuming just don't seem as rich or rewarding as they do in Munich, Vienna or Florence. 

I consider myself to be reasonably well prepared for the rain.  Learning from last summer, I knew that there would be at least some rain.  And anyone who travels to England at any time is well advised to prepare for rain.  So, even with: a water-resistant jacket, baseball cap to cover my head, umbrella, little plastic baggies to make sure my valuables don't soak within my bags, I'm still getting soaked to the bone.  And it don't feel good when your socks are squishing in your shoes, and you know you won't be back somewhere warm and dry where you can remove said socks for hours yet.  Blech.  Which is why I'm writing this.  After looking at weather forecasts, I think by my 2nd day in Venice, things should be clear and dry.

So what have I done?  Well, mostly this.  Blogging, uploading photos to Facebook, even transferring some of my audio recordings to computer.  And sleep.  I've used the rainy days to catch up on sleep.

Vienna

As I leave Vienna, I contemplate what an amazing city it is.  Cosmopolitan (at least for a European capital), majestic, and overflowing with culture, Vienna is a place that can truly inspire awe.  What really strikes you is the Imperial grandeur of the place.  The Hofburg, the museums, the Schlossburg, the Staatsoper, the Rathaus and Parlament are all huge places.  It makes you remember that until World War I, this was the seat of one of the world's most powerful empires.

Schoenbrunn Palace

Natural History Museum (or Art History Museum . . they look the same)

The Hofburg

When it comes to culture, Vienna is always mentioned as one of the world's leading cities, and for good reason.  Even in summer, with the major orchestras and Opera on break, there's still lots going on in the city, but I'll get to that shortly.

First, I'll talk about the Viennese klezmer scene (I hope that sounds as strange to you as it does to me).  It seems that the klezmer scene contains a "Godfather," if you will, in the benign grandfatherly figure of Leon Pollack.  Pollack, who grew up in Poland after WWII, before moving to Israel and then Austria, is a full-time musician who, since the late 1970s had included more and more Jewish music into his repertoire.  Eventually, in the late 1980s, he met Josh Horowitz, klezmer accordionist and tsimblinst extraordinaire, and it was Horowitz (who was living in Graz at the time) who introduced Pollack to the music of the American klezmer revival.

While their partnership ended a couple of years later, Pollack has become the leader of Vienna's longest running and most serious klezmer band, establishing Ensemble Klesmer Wien in the early 1990s.  Since, that band has become something of a learning band for musicians who want to learn some of the Jewish style and music.  In fact, at the Klezmer Brunch at the restaurant called The Bunkerei, both members of Klezmer Reloaded (a duo performing an interesting sort of klezmer hybrid) are current members of Pollack's band, and call him the "Klezmer Icon of Vienna." 

Klezmer Reloaded

Klezmer Reloaded's set was fascinating in itself.  These musicians blend klezmer with other forms of music, but they also play a great deal of music that can't be considered klezmer by any stretch of the imagination.  They are heavily influenced by classical music (and their sound betrays this) as well as the music of Piazzola, and other, European forms of the Tango. 

One of the truly great things that the city of Vienna does is hold a "film festival" of music films in the summer, outdoors at the Rathaus, with a giant screen, seating, and food and drink kiosks.  I went to see Dee Dee Bridgewater's tribute to Billy Holiday, which was followed by a disappointing concert film of Sonny Rollins live in Vienna.  It was disappointing because, in contrast with Bridgewater's magnetic stage presence and the high production quality of of her film, the Rollins film seemed amateurishly shot and edited, and while Rollins himself hasn't lost much from his technique or sound quality, his ability to play coherent solos seems to have been missing from that particular performance.

Rathaus (City Hall)

The weather did finally clear on my 3rd day in Vienna.  And a highlight was just wandering around the city under blue skies (with not-particularly threatening clouds) (see non-cloudy photos above, and one below).

Vienna Staatsoper (Opera House)

I also went to the "Haus der Musik" - a kind of museum of music.  The first floor is a tribute to the Vienna Philharmonic.  The second floor explores how we hear sound with some electro-acoustic compositions highlighting this, the third is a museum of musican figures from Vienna.  This is where the bulk of the interest was.  A very good (free) audio guide helped you put some of the artifacts and musical development of these composers into context.  Among the items on display were the door of Beethoven's last Vienna apartment, a facsimile of the scratched out title page to his Eroica symphony, and displays of Haydn's commendation letters from France and England.  Also with sections of their own were Schubert, Mahler, Johann Strauss, and getting a little corner were the members of the 2nd Viennese School - Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.  The top floor of the museum was sort of a sonic playground that didn't really do much for me, and of course the museum shop.  All in all, a great little museum, and, since I went during their half-price hours (5-9pm on Tuesdays), a great value. 

Next stop: Slovenia.

Innsbruck/Zell am See pt. 2

Innsbruck/Zell am See pt. 2

After my ascent of Hafelekar with Peter, the weather went downhill just as fast as we did (we took the cable car and train).  The rain started at the peak and continued the rest of that day, and on into the next.

Needless to say, my shoes had seen better days.  I went back to my hostel and was very glad that I had brought a pair of sandals with me.  While not providing any warmth, at least I had an alternative to my hiking shoes for the couple of days it took for them to dry out.

That night, I met up with Patricia to see an Austrailian folk band touring around Europe called Wishing Well.  I was exhausted, having been up since 7am to go hiking, and this band did not do a particularly good job in keeping me awake.

As my composition teacher, Norman Sherman, once told me . . . it's ok not to like something, but you have to know why.  Well, here's why.

Wishing Well, which consists of a singer/acoustic guitar player, drummer, cellist and two violinists, is basically a singer/song-writer who got 3 good looking women to wear bustiers and skirts while playing extremely boring and sappy lines on their instruments for songs that are pretty slow to begin with.  Oh, and the drummer plays behind the beat, sucking whatever other energy these songs might have had.

I actually feel a little bit sorry for the string players.  I mean, most people who play a string instrument at a high level (and these players didn't display any tuning issues common to weak players) can actually play difficult material.  Having to tour for months, only playing these slow, long lines must get tiresome for these three ladies. 

The actual arrangements of the songs involved one of the string instruments playing a pretty little melody line, and then revert to playing long slow notes.  It was fundamentally like "(Insert popular band name here) with strings" . . . except these guys aren't a popular band.

Enough of my musical snobbism.  The next morning I travelled to Zell am See, which, if it hadn't been raining the entire time I was there, would have been delightful.  I was hoping to do more hiking, and Zell has more than enough to do.  However, my shoes hadn't dried yet (although there was a hair dryer in my Penzion), so I wasn't about to go traipsing around the mountains to have wet, soggy shoes for as long as it took them to dry in Vienna.

I was very pleased with the place I stayed at in Zell -- Haus Haffner. 

This is a little B&B (although in Germany and Austria, they're called Penzions) run by a carpenter and his family.  It was very comfortable, with a nice soft, warm bed, a sink in the room, and even a TV.  For my first TV watching in over a month, I chose to flip between American films dubbed into German. 

Observations about Zell am See:  It seems like a resort town.  There's not much to do if the weather is shitty.  I found a movie theatre, but just about everything else was geared towards the outdoors - skiing in the winter, and hiking and climbing in the summer.  However, I'll have to come back another time in the hopes of finding better weather!  For now, these will have to w(h)et your appetite...

Innsbruck/Zell am See pt. 1

So my experiences in Austria so far have been mixed.

I'm still getting used to the Austrian accent (but now I understand why Arnold Schwartzenegger speaks English the way he does), but my German is getting me further and further.  On the train yesterday from Innsbruck to Zell am See, I had a conversation with a young trombone player almost entirely in German.  At this point, I'm less and less fearful of my ability to read and translate (with the help of a dictionary) some intriguing books about Klezmer and the Klezmer revival that I've stumbled upon here.  One appears to be particularly useful a book about blending of Klezmer and Jazz.  I will also most likely have some interviews to translate portions of into English, and again, having spent 3 weeks in German speaking countries has really helped the language skills.

My first day in Innsbruck was very nice... I managed to get to the hostel (Jugendherberge Innsbruck), which is all the way out on the outskirts of town (a 10-15 minute bus ride), and dropped off my stuff, and then returned to town to do some sightseeing.  Good thing I did.  That blue sky you see in my pictures on Facebook (and the select photo below) hasn't been seen since.

I discovered that Innsbruck is a very small town.  With a population of around 125,000, and not much real estate to go around (crammed in a valley between mountains), it's also fairly expensive.  Gone are my days of $5 full meals.  Parts of Innsbruck are also pretty swanky, with high class shops lining the main shopping drag of Maria-Theresastrasse.

Even my personal tour guide, Patricia, was a little ho-hum about the town.  We eschewed the "New Orleans Jazz Festival" (which, walking by, didn't sound exactly New Orleans-y) for a quiet bar to get a drink in. 

But I didn't come to Innsbruck for the museums or the shopping.  I came for the Alps.  Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to hit the mountains, the weather looked like this:

I joined Peter, a Czech IT specialist who was in town on business, on the way up the mountain and eventually we got off the road on our ascent to Seegrube (about 1900m above sea level - and 1100m above where we got off the train).  This route led us to a rough trail up the mountain through a corridor in between clutches of forest.  We wound our way up and up, not really being able to see much.  After over an hour (and some heaving breathing), we realized we were getting close to something.  The clouds cleared slightly to reveal .... a hut!  We went that-a-way and the clouds cleared a bit more -- it was the cable car!  We could see Seegrube!  We scrambled up the last bit, and eventually realized that we went the last 500m of our ascent almost directly up the mountain, rather than on the roads.  Then we took the cable car to Hafelekar, and went the remaining 10 minutes or so to the peak on foot.  Here's me at the summit... about 2330m.

With this crowning achievement, dear reader, I shall leave you for now.  But stay tuned, I'll blog the remainder of my stay in Innsbruck and Zell am See shortly.

Munich

I’ve heard and read people call Munich one of the most “liveable” cities in Germany.  And I agree.  It not only has a type of fairy tale charm in the old sections of the city, but the Bavarian pace and modern infrastructure make it a pleasure to navigate and explore. 

Munich’s public transport system of U-bahns (subways), S-bahns (commuter rails), trams, and buses put Toronto’s TTC to shame, and it’s not only fast and efficient, but cheap.  I purchased day tickets from the ticket machines.   For just over 5 Euros, I could hop on and off as often as I liked, all day long. 

Munich, like Amsterdam, is a cyclist’s heaven.  Every road has dedicated bike lanes, and pedestrians need to be aware of their surroundings to make sure that there aren’t cyclists bearing down on them.  All in all, however, if you pay attention, you won’t get gored by a bike. 

I have a saying these days when travelling.  “Turn around.”  In some of these great cities, if you don’t turn around and look behind you (i.e., staying so focused on where you’re going), you could miss a great piece of architecture, or something interesting happening.  There were several times in Munich that I was afforded a better view or sight, just by seeing the city from a different angle. 






So this was all good . . . but I did have a very disappointing experience with the Youth Hostel I was staying at.  Haus International seemed a bit more tame than the place I stayed for a night when I was there last year, since it was not even close to Hostel Row, right by the Hauptbahnhof (main train station).  Well, it seems like this place is a hotbed for organized tours of teenagers (and slightly older), and it also has a disco in the basement pumping out the beats all night long.  Oh, and it had tiled walls that reflected and amplified every sound so that a door slamming was like a shotgun and a drunk teenager was shouting every few minutes....

On another note, I’ve discovered that travelling solo offers many opportunities to meet other people if one is just a little more outgoing than they were at home.  However, it’s also easy to stay within one’s self and feel lonely on the road.  I consider myself lucky that my first few weeks here in Europe have afforded me the opportunities to meet people at workshops and festivals (in Weimar and Krakow) that I can actually meet up with later on down the road.  Additionally, my previous European and klezmer travels have also made me friends in far flung places.

Munich is more than a collection of individual sites for me.  It is the home of Andrea Pancur, a wonderful Yiddish singer that I met at KlezKamp this winter.  Her musical group, Federmentsh (which performs Yiddish songs from the 1950s to the present), was performing last night (July 21) at a café.  Andrea performed as a duo, with accordionist Franka Lampe, who I had also met at Yiddish Summer Weimar.  In other words, this trip to Munich offered me a chance to hang out with Franka and Andrea some more, interview Franka for my research, and see the reduced version of Federmentsh in action. 

Federmentsh brought up some interesting points.  Most of the arrangements of songs are Franka’s, with traditional klezmer tunes weaving in and out of the Yiddish song sections.  It’s an interesting juxtaposition of the instrumental dance genre with the rather new Yiddish songs.  Both Franka’s accordion talents, and Andrea’s vocal virtuosity were definitely on display last night.

So what else did I do in Munich?  I …

-  visited the Kaufingerstrasse and Marienplatz, seeing the pedestrian heart of old Munich. 

- Drank beer with Franka and Andrea

- Visited the Pinakothek die Moderne – the modern art museum, with an excellent exhibition of Neo Rauch (a German painter).

- Had lunch in the beer garden in the Viktualienmarkt – the farmer’s market of Munich.  Farmer’s market is a bit of an understatement.  It’s a farmer’s market in a town that loves their beer and Wurst.  I sat down and had my lunch with 4 strangers from Trier – 3 women who were there together and one man who was waiting, drinking and eating while his daughters were shopping.

- Interviewed Franka and went to see the concert.

I’m sure I could spend much more time in Munich, but it’ll have to wait for another trip.  I’ve recently arrived in Innsbruck, where I shall do some hiking, and meet up with Patricia, a new friend I met in Krakow at the festival there (through Krystof, a PhD student at the Jagjellonian University … pardon my spelling). 

One thing that my adventures in klezmer over the last 10 years is that klezmer is one big community.  From Sherry Mayrent in Hawaii, all the way to Chitoshi, a Japanese clarinetist who was in my ensemble in Weimar, there are new friends all around the world!

Travel Tips

I've been on the road now for 3 1/2 which puts me about halfway through my adventures in Klezmer.  For those travellers among you who may do a similar trip which involves a fair amount of backpacking, I have some tips below.

#1: Take care of your feet.  Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach.  Napoleon was douche bag.  Any backpacker knows that time spent walking is not only time spent moving from point A to point B, but it is one of the best ways to see the sights.  If you can't walk, options get smaller and smaller.  Now for a little bit of promotion. 

On my European trip last summer, I took a pair of Sketchers that felt more comfortable than any of the hiking shoes I tried on.  In Amsterdam, a combination of a bad blister and banging the bottom of my foot on a step at the hostel I was at made things pretty difficult and painful for a few days. 

This time, I wasn't making the same mistake.  I bought a pair of Salomon light hiking shoes and I couldn't be happier.  I have not had 1 blister, or any kind of foot or leg pain.  I have even been running distances of  5+ km  4-5 times a week in these shoes without any pain beyond the usual aches.  TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET!

#2: NEVER miss an opportunity to use a clean, quiet bathroom.  Museums and galleries are particularly good for this.

#3: NEVER miss an opportunity to charge electronic appliances.

#4: NEVER miss an opportunity to get WIFI.

#5: I'm too old to stay in 10-bed hostel rooms anymore.  That's not a tip.  Just a realization I've come to.  After almost no sleep in Krakow the last night (with a few real good snorers), I don't think I can take it anymore.  I need a solid 6-7 hours of sleep a night, and have no patience for that kind of nonsense anymore.

#6: PACK LIGHTLY!

Those are my tips for now.  If I have more, I'll add them in a separate post.

For more on my Munich experience (including a Yiddish music concert), and a different kind of hostel hell, check back soon.  I'll probably post it from Innsbruck if I find a decent internet connection there.