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MAY 19, 2004 - VIENNA

By Christina Marinos, senior alto

Free day = no wake-up call and I think we are all pretty excited about that. I looked outside at 9 a.m. to see the most beautiful weather we'd seen yet. After a bit of breakfast, Tim, Justin, and I decided to walk to the Albertina Museum to see the Rembrandt exhibit. There we encountered everything from pop art to Roman sculpture. Even more amazing was the place itself, the state rooms of the Hapsburg Empire, adorned with all different shades of brightly-patterned silk wall coverings, with 15 feet high doors, and mirrors covering half of the walls, making us feel about 3 feet tall. Michelangelo, Raphael, and many other famous works covered the walls in elegant displays. Needless to say, I felt extremely underdressed in my khaki pants.

The Rembrandt exhibit was breathtaking. We were taken aback by the billions of microscopic lines that brought figures to life. I'm pretty sure Rembrandt had a 35 mm camera with him and just didn't tell anyone!

With a newfound love of Rembrandt's work and a pounding headache from studying drawings for three hours, we decided to lunch it. At the Mozart Café, I had the best tortellini I've ever tasted. Save the construction site and smoke around us, we were in heaven, surrounded by gigantic and majestic buildings, sculptures, and history. We decided to finish and get ice cream near Stephen's Cathedral in the Plaza. Our beautiful day turned into huge freezing raindrops stinging me through my linen shirt (so much for summer-weather here is about as unpredictable as Iowa). But soon the sun re-emerged.

Running into Drake Choir members finishing their shopping sprees, we headed home to get ready for the evening concert in a cute town called Mistelbach. Although they sent out 900 concert announcements, we had a pretty small audience due to "beautiful weather." They told us that, after weeks of rain, the beautiful day meant that people were spending the evening outside, many mowing their lawns!

To prepare for the concert, Ray Brown, our tour manager, led us in tai-chi-like breathing exercises and then put on a very personal and heartfelt performance. Afterward, the audience raved about us in a reception they held for us. They shared their local wines with us and the interaction between the Drake Choir and audience was an amazing experience. I spoke with two people in Greek, realizing we could actually communicate. The local Kapellmeister discussed with us our German piece to perfect our pronunciation. The experience, and the connection we felt with the people of Mistlebach were unbelievable.

Topping off the night, Tim and I wandered around our hotel to make last phone calls and internet stops before we left Vienna. Climbing stairs to the main Ringstrasse, we could see the skyline of Vienna while we wandered to check out the hot red leather pants in the window of a store we'd passed several times. Our free day in Vienna was nothing less than perfect. That's also how we think Tim would look in those hot red Viennese leather pants!

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