Just another Sunday in Vienna...
When I booked flights to see the Kirov Mariinsky Theatre Ballet performing on Sunday 21st June in the Vienna Volksoper, it seemed perfectly routine. However I didn't realise at the time that was also the date set for the cup final of the European nations football (soccer) tournament, also in Vienna. The tournament had spanned several weeks, and football-mania had overtaken the city, with a large portion of the centre cordoned off as a "fan zone" where football fans could safely congregate to watch games broadcast live on huge TV screens and to cordially foster international relationships.
Big screen in the fan Zone
German fans arrive by bicycle at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna....
...while Spanish fans posture in their sombreros
Fans without tickets flock to the Fan Zone in front of Vienna's Rathaus (City Hall) to watch the game on the big screen
A multitude of European nationalities but sadly England not represented, having been knocked out in the preliminary roundsBefore the match kicked off it was time to calm down with a coffee and to locate Vienna's Volksoper for the more gentle pursuit of watching the ballet.
Coffee break Viennese style, with cherry strudelI had already seen the Mariinsky Theatre Kirov Ballet company performing in St. Petersburg and was eagerly anticipating their production of Swan Lake (Schwanensee).
Vienna's magnificent Voksoper...
...stages the Mariinsky Theatre Kirov ballet Company
Inside the Volksoper
The principals Viktoria Tereschkina (Odette/Odile) and Andrian Fadejew (Prince Siegfried) with the corps de ballet and orchestra conductor Boris Grusin take their well-deserved curtain call after a wonderful performance
After the performance it it was back down to earth from the magical illusion of a moonlit Transylvanian lake-side to the reality of noisy triumphant Spanish fans flooding the streets and the public transport services!Oh yes, just another Sunday in Vienna...
posted by Maalie at 1:31 pm
11 Comments:
Just another Sunday indeed! Prefer the ballet to the footy. Glad Spain won. Jemima had a lovely time on Sunday evening celebrating with all her Spanish friends.
That strudel looked yummy. Was that an Irish Coffee behind!
so many different things happening.
i enjoyed your photos of it all.
love the tutus!
cherry strudel.......
Uh, nice to get a taste in imagination of the culture there. Lots of fun and high culure, indeed.
Good pics as always, and I like the coffee break! Actually it all looks interesting.
Rather bland over here, though plenty of lightening and tons of rain. And more fire crackers as well as fire works- to come.
Yes Ted, I am intrigued by the coffee break photo too. It is so refreshing that Maalie is now taking an interest in food and is taking the time to photograph it before he shoves it in his mouth!
yes- its amazing what.......
Gosh you are a well traveled man! I went to Butlins in Skegness once now beat that!
Have a sooper dooper weekend!
Yes, the strudel looked lovely - it is the 4th of July and we are headed off to a "rib-fest" before the fireworks - but I don't think ribs would photograph up as lovely as the strudel - although that may simply be the hands of the photographer.
Carnivore!!
I am intrigued that most of the comments here focus on the coffee break (rather than the football or the ballet) - the coffee was intended merely as a "spacer" to separate the two themes!
The coffee was a Caffé Latte, the striated, or stratified version.
Ah maalie, you sure know how to live life, my friend! Easy on the cherry strudel though, there looked enough on that plate to feed a Spanish football team..
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