Last week I was having coffee with a group of friends after class and the topic of traveling came up. Someone jokingly suggested that we should just fly to Prague for the weekend. We all jumped at the idea and started planning to leave two days later. Friday came and six of us took the train to Copenhagen and then flew to Prague! It still amazes me that we were able to randomly decide to go to Prague for three days.
When we arrived, we took a bus and the subway to get to the hostel that most of the group was staying at. After they got settled we went walking around the area to find somewhere to eat. We decided (mainly due to extreme hunger) to go to a little Italian style place a few blocks from the hostel. It was really great, the food was good and they had cheap beer (well, all beer- or "pivo"- is really cheap in Prague). We took the picture above right before our food came.
After dinner, we decided to go to a jazz bar that we had seen on the walk to the hostel. It had a great atmosphere and the bartender was really friendly. He told us about how he has lived all over the world and that he speaks six languages fluently, and can get by in four more. We moved downstairs after a while to the stage area to see some live jazz. There were two bands playing that night, one was a funk band named Eggnoise. They were really great, the leader of the band played flute and soprano and alto sax. He had an old school soprano sax that looked like a baby sax. They had a really fun sound! The next band was a larger band called the Wunderbarband, which had more of a ska feel.
When we left the jazz club, we went back to the hostel so I could find the directions to my friend Nick's apartment. All I had was a cheap tourist map that didn't have anything near his apartment... so after a certain point I was basically flying blind trying to find his place at 11:45pm. This was even more true when I got to a point in the directions I had written down from Google. The directions told me to go through a tunnel that was only for cars. So I had to sidetrack and try and find my way around- and cut back to find one of the streets that I had written down since I didn't have a map of the area. After walking around trying to find my way back on track, I called Nick to get some directions, and found out that I was only about three blocks away. I was so close! We caught up for a bit and then went to a little bar near his apartment. It was a cozy bar that is right across from the visual arts school, so there were a lot of student artwork all over the walls.
A few things I noticed about Prague in general:
1. There is no such thing as a "No Smoking Section" in Prague. The restaurants, the bars.... everywhere.
2. Dogs are allowed into most bars. There was a dog in the jazz club, it followed one of the guys around for most of the night. In the bar near Nick's place, a dog came in and ran over and jumped up into chair near me like he owned the place.
3. This first night in Prague, as well as the others to follow, were very inexpensive. Dinner, 3 beers, a glass of top shelf scotch, and entry fee for the jazz club cost only $20!
I got up early yesterday morning, packed up my bass and caught a train to Gothenburg. It took three hours to get there and once I got there, it took me a little bit to find the concert hall cause someone at the train station sent me in the wrong direction at first. But I eventually found it and met up with Charlie for lunch. We went to a sushi place near the concert hall, it was the first time I've had sushi since I've been here in Sweden. It was pretty good, very fresh. After lunch, I had a lesson with Charlie which was great! It was really nice to see Charlie again, we figured out that it has been 4 years since we last saw each other.
I went to get a cup of coffee and a muffin while Charlie got ready for the concert. My seat for the concert was in the front row, and I had a perfect profile view of Dudamel. The concert was breathtaking. They played Mahler 9, and it was amazing! It was amazing how Dudamel was able to get so much emotion out of the orchestra. The piece itself is great, but the passion Dudamel brought to the music was so exciting. Being that close to him was also great because I could see the expressions on his face. During the last part of the last movement, an old man got up and slowly walked out of the hall. Some of the orchestra members said that it was fitting- like Mahler leaving.... After the last note of the piece, Dudamel held the silence for almost two whole minutes before lowering his arms- it was extremely powerful. It was as if the entire audience was holding their breath. Looking up at Dudamel, I could see how intensely he feels the music. It was beautiful. Once he lowered his arms, the audience exploded into applause! They gave a standing ovation, and Dudamel came out to bow 5 times. One of the things that I admire about him is that he bows from within the orchestra, not in front of them.
Charlie after an amazing concert! After the concert I went backstage with Charlie to the musician bar (yes, the musicians have their own bar backstage...). We chatted with some of the other musicians for a while, there are a lot of musicians from all over the world in the orchestra. It was really fun to talk to some young international musicians. After a little while, Dudamel came to the bar to hang out with some of the musicians. It was cool to see him interact with the musicians, he is so comfortable and interested in other people. I was standing around talking with a group of bass players when he came over to say goodbye to people. He said bye to the bass players and then shook my hand and I told him how much I loved the concert.
We went out with some of the other musicians from the orchestra, and I got to practice my Swedish (as limited as it is) as well as some Spanish with a bass player from Spain.
Charlie took this for me right before I walked back to the train station this morning. This is how I travel with my bass here, it is fairly easy and I get some great looks!
