Tales of a weekend past

*Nick in Vienna*


Jane is in Vienna, visiting from Paris for two weeks because of the all saints day holiday. On Friday we went to the main entrance of the National Library to get her a library card so she could look at some pieces in the Music Reading Room. We arrived at the entrance to discover a vast array of tanks, army medical trucks, cannons, and other sorts of deadly equipment. It was not a hostile takeover, but rather part of what we believe was called sicherheitfest, or "safety festival." It was really quite striking to see all these war machines with the backdrop of a huge baroque palace. It has often been our experience to happen upon very odd parades, festivals, and the like in Europe. Maybe it's because we are walking around so much more (we have seen some odd parades in Columbus as well, such as one about "Racist Joe," a rapper who was certainly not racist), but it is probably more that Europe just has more of these things. Enjoy some pictures of us standing on tanks!



On Saturday evening we joined some new friends from the english church for dinner and drinks. First we went to an awesome Pakistani restaurant near Vienna University. The food was buffet style and the price was whatever you felt like paying (except for drinks). Seriously, you give them money for the drinks and then add on whatever you think is fair for the food you ate. The crazy thing is the food was very good. It seemed like a real hippy hangout and there were lots of stickers about protests in the bathroom.

We left there to go to a wine bar in the center of the city. On the way we talked to a student from the University who had actually just been to a protest. I don't know much about it, but basically they are protesting to be able to go to college for free for as long as they like. I'm pretty sure they can do that now, but the administration is trying to limit free college to four years. I'm not sure what I think about this particular protest, but it is getting a lot of attention here. We then found the wine bar and had a lovely time enjoying surprisingly cheap wine.

Finally, today Jane and I went to a huge climbing party at our bouldering gym. It was sponsored by La Sportiva, which is a company that makes climbing shoes. It was a really cool event with a bouldering contest, free food and shirts, free entrance, and trial shoes. We stayed there for about three hours climbing, talking to people, getting shirts, watching people who are better at climbing than I could ever hope to be, and generally wearing ourselves out climbing. We didn't stay for it, but later in the evening we could have gone to a "climax party," to wrap up the evening. It is often amusing to see how people use English phrases for things that are supposed to be cool. A shoe store near us has a "best seller" section, which actually appears to be shoes that are on clearance instead of shoes that sell the most. The website Jane uses to login for her bank says that their service is "so music," which we think means that it is great, but who knows.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

*Jane, Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, 7:15am*

One thing it seems the French are not so good at is airport security. From what I could tell, the fault is mainly on the passengers, who don’t seem to understand what they need to put into the bins, which articles of clothing need to be removed, etc. This is despite all of the signs and a worker who wanders through the crowd and periodically repeats the directions on the signs. And of course we've been doing things like removing our shoes at airport security in the West for around 10 years now... But several people in front of me hadn’t taken off their shoes. The man who was directing us through the metal detector had to tell them sometimes more than once, and then they would slowly unlace their shoes and throw them on to the conveyor belt. Then the man would command them to place their shoes in a bin, and I think some of these people even argued about that. The worker seemed frustrated, but luckily I arrived at the airport with enough time that the situation seemed humorous.

This is my first time flying out of Terminal 3, and it seems newer, simpler, and smaller than at least Terminal 2. I believe there are actually only 10 gates, so once the security check is finally accomplished, walking to the assigned gate is very quick.

In light of this, I would recommend leaving plenty of time when flying out of CGD, because I went through security early in the morning, and still it took over 30 minutes to get through. And right after I got in line, the line quickly got much longer.

I’m flying on Air Berlin today, one of those cheap, no frills airlines. So far it’s been very good. There was essentially no line at the check-in desk, and the check-in process went smoothly. (I watched a BBC documentary recently on Ryan Air, one of the pioneering cheapy airlines, and it sounds so horrible and difficult that I was worried Air Berlin might treat their customers similarly.) I’ll report back later about how the flight went for anyone who might find this useful.

Getting to Vienna by plane from Paris takes 5 steps. The first is to ride the métro to the nearest RER train stop. The métro operates just within Paris, while the RER takes you into the suburbs. Then one rides the RER to the terminal 1/3 stop, or the terminal 2 stop. The airport in Vienna is also in the suburbs, so once one lands, it is necessary to take either the Post Bus or the airport train into the city, and then finally one gets on the underground (in my case at the West Train Station) and takes that home. Oh, and actually in my case there will probably be a 6th step: riding a bus from the U-Bahn stop to Nick’s apartment.

I’ll be at Nick’s for two weeks. We both have a grant application due in 3 weeks, so I’ll have plenty to do even though I will be away from my archives. We’re competing against each other for this one!

A day in the life

*Nick in Vienna*

Inspired by Jane's post, I thought I write a bit about my life as a researcher in Vienna, for those of you that are curious. I guess I'll follow suit and mainly just talk about what I did today, as most days are pretty much the same.


In the morning I headed to the Austrian National Library, and more specifically the music collection (musiksammlung). The bulk of the National Library, like many state building in Vienna, is in an old palace, in this case the Hofburg. It is a sprawling complex, and daunting to a new researcher. Because it is in a palace, and because it is Vienna, there are tourists everywhere. The powers that be obviously feel that the researchers know their way around, so all the signs and maps are geared for the tourists. It took me a very long time in a freezing rain to figure out where I was supposed to go on my first visit last week, during which time I passed multiple tour groups. I did eventually find where to get a library card, and thankfully the music room is a couple blocks away in a much less impressive building, and therefore far away from the tourists. The picture above of the main library is from the net - I didn't take it (picture a lot of rain and snow to envision my experience).

Today I spent a few hours transcribing a manuscript from, I think, 1595. I found out that I can't actually take pictures at this library for now, so I'll post a picture of a manuscript I took in DC at the Library of congress if you are curious about the notation. Basically, I just sit there and write down everything on the paper, transcribing it into modern notation. Most of the pieces I'm looking at have never been published, and likely never looked at for around 380 years. I'm hoping to include many of them in my dissertation.


I then headed to the University library to look at a recently published collection of poetry from my time period. The University has over 70,000 students, making even Ohio State seem small. It is, of course, mostly in old palaces. I was at that library for a couple hours reading poetry, where I found a very nice poem written in 1602 about one of my main composers, Philippe de Monte. I also found out he tried to help get an alchemist accused of murder out of jail. Yeah, that is pretty freaking big for my dissertation.

Afterwords I headed home on the U-bahn and took Mason to the Hundzone (dog park). This is a daily occurrence, and one of the best parts is that I often get to talk to people in German for a long time. People at the dog park are very friendly and will talk to me nice and slow, with lots of repetition. In general people are very friendly in Vienna, it just seems like dog people are the nicest of the bunch.

Finally, home for white sausage and potatoes, a bit of german tv (today was malcolm in the middle dubbed), some work and talking to Jane. Tomorrow will be more of the same, except for a trip to the climbing gym added in instead of the University library.

Just An Average Day in Paris

*Jane in Paris*

I'm sorry, everyone that I haven't posted in awhile. Last Wednesday my life kicked into gear here in Paris because my Fulbright orientation started then. Let me say a little bit about that first. The Franco-American Fulbright Commission has an office in the 16th district of Paris (=really nice), near the Trocadero metro and the Eiffel Tower. It's fun to go there, because the atmosphere is so different from that of Republique. The orientation was Wed-Fri, and although there were many boring moments that usually consisted of some speech being made or some information being given that satisfied the whole "diplomat" aspect of the grant, it was mostly very enjoyable. The other Fulbrighters were all very nice, and it turns out the majority of them live in my district (the 11th), but none live as close to Republique as I do. Most of the students are humanities people, but there are a few scientists as well. Half are just out of undergrad, and half are doctoral candidates like me. I've already seen several of them again since the orientation, so I anticipate getting to know some of them quite well. It was strange to be in these orientation sessions with all of these brilliant people - I have to admit I was trying to be a little more precise with what I said that I usually am. These moments made me feel very privileged.

On Friday Nick left for Vienna, and my friend Betsy Jobes dropped in for a brief visit. Most of you don't know Betsy, but she is the oldest friend I have that I still keep in touch with - we met in the 8th grade. We did a lot of shopping (not a lot of buying), walking around fun parts of the city, and eating at nice restaurants. Every time I see Betsy she also catches me up on the latest news out of St. Joseph, because she still has family there, whereas I don't. Oh, high school, you were strange...

I decided that on Monday my life in Paris would really start, that is, I would start my research. Nine months seems like a lot of time, but the thing about archival research is that there will always be something else out there on your topic.

What I'd like to do for the rest of this post is to recount the past two days of my life, to give my readers a sense of what a normal day is like for me here.

Tuesday
8:30-10:30 am Attend a seminar on dramaturgy in opera at the Sorbonne lead by Mme. Raphaelle Legrand, who is my gracious contact at the university. I could understand her very well! My French ears seem to have turned on Friday morning, when I went on a multiple-hour tour of the Bibiliotheque Nationale Mitterand site, all in French. After the seminar I arrange a later meeting with Mme. Legrand
10:30 am Ride back to the Pl. de la Republique to buy some items at the pharmacy. This takes awhile because I am looking for the cheap stuff, but it takes me awhile to figure out that in a Parisian pharmacy, there is no cheap stuff.
11:30-1:00 Lunch time - Coke Lite, Camembert cheese, salami, baguette that is beginning to go stale, an apple, some chocolate.
1:30-3:45 Visit stores that sell musical scores in what seems to be the/a music shop district of Paris. I pass, with wide eyes, entire shops devoted to string basses. I buy a copy of Pelleas et Melisande by Debussy - for me this is a real milestone because I love this opera, and it is incredibly important in my research. I also buy a book of piano music because I can't help myself.
4:15-5:45 Doctor's appointment back in the 11th district. I have to get all of my prescriptions written by a doctor licensed in France. Despite my love of French, I choose an English-speaking doctor who is from Sweden or Denmark. Lately I have noticed how confused I become when I set out to do something unfamiliar and someone misdirects me. Case in point: I locate a placard with the doctor office's info on it, and am in the middle of typing in the door code when someone tells me "the door is already open." So now I am only focused on the doors that are already open. But this building is rather odd, because it is a standard apartment/office building with a business school wrapped around it. I can only get to the business school through these open doors, but no one has any idea where the doctor's office is. I call the doctor twice, and finally realize that the door is made out of glass, disguised as a window, and is indeed not "already open." I finally make it up to the office, 25 min. late, but the doctor lets me in anyway
-interlude on French health care-
Basic health care here is a lot simpler. In this case, the doctor does everything in his office except making appointments. I sit down across from him at a desk and he types my information into his computer. No forms to fill out in the waiting room! If he needed to examine me, that is in a different part of the same room. When the visit is finished, I pay him and he has a little cash box at his desk - 30 Euros, and this is the full price with no insurance coverage.
I walk back to the metro, but the business students have taken up the entire sidewalk and they're all smoking and not moving out of the way. But at least I found the doctor's office.
Then I eat dinner - couscous with mushrooms, carrot, and sausage, milk, some cheese.
7:00-10:00 I take the metro to the far South Side of Paris, just past the peripherique (highway that encircles Paris). I am looking for a climbing/workout gym called Antrebloc. Inside I pay the fee for a one-time entry, change into my shoes in the locker room, and then I find myself in the midst of about 100 other climbers, who are all awesome. I do what I can, and things improve when I realize that there is free chalk. I'm not sure if I want to join this place: pluses are the free chalk, the flexible hours, the flexible membership options, the fact that there is bouldering and top rope climbing; cons are that the holds are very dirty which makes it hard to hold on to them, and the immense crowd of people. Because it's been awhile since I have done any climbing, the skin on my hands starts to really burn, and I leave. At the metro station on the way back a man asks me for my impressions on a magazine cover he is working on.

Wednesday
I get up later, at 10:00, because yesterday really wore me out. In the morning I go the the grocery store, Shopi, where I can buy any food and drink I need, including wine. Then I go to an internet cafe where I print out a document that I have to present at the Bibliotheque Nationale (BN)
1:30-5:00 I leave for the BN Richelieu site, where the music department is located. I take the metro to Bourse, where there are a lot of very old buildings. I find the library and apply for my researcher's card, which is surprisingly easy. I get it right away. The thing about the French, I find, is that if you follow their directions exactly, and then go one step further, the actual completion of the process is a breeze. It's all about collecting the required documents. Before I know it I am at the music department, in another building nearby, but I am completely unprepared for research. I thought the most I would be able to accomplish today would be applying for the card. But of course I have to go in. I spend awhile ogling the card catalogue, and then I ask to see my first source, a pamphlet on the greatness of French music by a lesser-known composer named Jean Hure. I request the item, return to my assigned desk, and then it is brought to my shortly. I have been waiting for two years to read this thing, and on the one hand seeing it materialize before me after such anticipation is wonderful, but on the other, the actual process of reading the document, turning its pages, taking notes, is a mundane researcher's task. I then spend awhile playing through the piano music that I bought yesterday in one of the piano studios.
5:00 I leave, return to Republique, and spend awhile in the store Camaieux, which kind of reminds me of the Gap, except that the clothes are a combination of trendy and cheap, as opposed to just cheap (sorry Gap, we've been on the outs for years).
7:00 Return to my apartment, where I do things like eat dinner, take a shower, talk to Nick on Skype, watch Project Runway.

So now you know what it's like to be me in Paris. For your pleasure, I submit the following photographs:

The newest and main BN site - it consists of a vast wooden deck, with parts of the site underground surrounding a forestish garden, with 14 story buildings above ground at the corners. These views are from one of the towers.

The Site Mitterand follows- much older and less awesome, but it contains many awesome musical documents

Then here is me in front of the Paris Opera, Garnier site, taken during my day with Betsy.

Lastly, here is a huge demonstration that took place at Republique on Saturday. A sensible place for a protest, because the statue after which the area is named is literally supposed to represent the French Republic. About 20,000 demonstrators marching peacefully in resistance to unfair restrictions placed against French people of non European decent. Demonstrations are so common in France, that I thought the demonstrators must get bored, but these protesters were pretty enthusiastic (in a peaceful way). Really cool thing to see.

Traveling with a dog through Europe

*Nick in Vienna*

As you all know, Mason is lucky enough to be joining Jane and I during our time in Europe. I thought it might be interesting and helpful to anyone considering traveling with their pet to Europe to write just a bit about our experiences. Plus, I’ve been on this train from Paris to Vienna for 12 hours and I’ve still got a few to go, so this will be something to occupy a few minutes. Also, Mason is currently asleep on my leg, causing me to reflect.

Thus far the most complicated part about bringing Mason took place back in the States. We had to get a vet certificate to fly with him (well, we had to get it twice since the robbery delayed our trip three week). The certificate has to be from within ten days of the flight, or at least that is what United Airlines requires. Also, we had to get a certificate from the state that proves he is what he claim he is. This was a bit confusing for us, as the paperwork we saw said a form from an “official vet,” and we thought we could just use our vet. That is not the case. I think each county only has one office that can give this form – I think we got it in Reynoldsberg. For some reason they needed the date Mason was microchipped, which we didn’t have because Franklin County Animal Shelter chipped him before he had even met Mason. This took most of a very stressful day to take care of.

The flight itself wasn’t too bad. We set it up so that we had a six hour lay over in DC, during which time we picked up Mason and found a little grassy area with trees where we could run around. The cops came and asked us what we were doing, but when we said we were just waiting for a flight that said that was fine. Mason had been sleeping in his plane crate for a month before the flight and that seemed to help. He really didn’t like it in Columbus, but he seems to have bonded with it and now naps in there pretty often. He also seemed okay after the long flight. We found him right away in oversize baggage.

Traveling around Europe has actually been very easy with Mason. In Vienna he can ride on the buses, trams, and metros with a child’s ticket if he has a muzzle. We’ve actually only done this once, to the train station, and I will do it again tonight when I arrive, but it meant we didn’t have to get a taxi, which was great.

As far as the long-ride trains, it has overall been very smooth. Most people smile at Mason (except for one lady who was afraid of him), and some pet him and say cutesy things I can’t understand. Actually, in many ways it has made train travel better because no one ever wants to sit next to us. On the train today from Paris to Zurich the conductor even came up to me and told me to go to a different car that had more room. It was a great little cab with just a couple people and I ended up talking for three hours with two very nice guys who spoke English very well – one from Switzerland and one from India. During my current ride, from Zurich to Vienna, Mason has been curled up in the chair next to me the whole time, and everyone just moves on when looking for a seat. Obviously, if the train was full I would put him on the ground, but it’s a fairly empty train and Mason napping on me is better than a stranger.

So, if you are considering traveling with your pet in Europe, I would encourage you to do so if you can afford it. I will be honest and say that it is expensive (there is a fee to get him to Europe and then each train ride is 50% of a human ticket), but since we are here for a long time it has been worth it. Plus, he is a part of our family, so how could we leave him behind?

Nuit Blanche

*Nick in Paris*

On Saturday night into Sunday morning Jane and I experienced Paris's Nuit Blanche (White Night), during which most of the museums and churches were open all night, all with modern art exhibits scattered throughout. It was really an amazing experience. There were hundreds of thousands of people strolling through the churches, crowding the streets, and staying up until dawn. (we didn't quite make it that late)

We started the night by meeting a friend, Andreas, we met on the train to Paris in front of a 16th century church, St. Eustache. Andreas is from Munich and is spending six months in Paris studying logic and computer science. He lived for a year in Pittsburgh and is English is excellent. The exhibit in this church (which we don't have a picture of) was a huge projected video of an airport terminal's international arrivals gate, run super slow. I think it was supposed to depict that we will all die and perhaps we will all arrive a little dazed and confused at an airport. Andreas thought perhaps the artist was trying to say that death will in fact be rather boring and mundane. I didn't think much of the exhibit, but it did have music playing by Tomas Luis de Victoria, who is one of my favorite 16th-century composers.

After leaving St. Eustache we walked over to Notre Dame (the outside of which is shown above). Notre Dame is probably one of the 5 most important buildings in the history of music, if not the most important. This is where polyphony began 1,000 years ago, which spurred on many other advancements in music. Polyphony is more than one voices performing separate lines at the same time, as opposed to performing the same part, or having one dominant melody with accompaniment. Think Bach, or maybe the end of "God only Knows" by the Beach Boys. Anyway, I was really quite excited to see the church and I was not disappointed. After waiting through an extremely frustrating line - meaning that in the end we found out that people had just been going in front of the line the whole time...something which greatly upset our American sensibilities - we made it in and saw an incredible exhibit. In many of the side chapels there were glowing, neon stalagmites. They made beautiful reflects off the already beautiful walls and paintings. These pictures don't quite do it justice.

After Notre Dame we mostly just walked around and enjoyed well-after-midnight Paris. It was really quite remarkable. Jane and I were both really glad that the churches take part in this event. There was all sorts of information about the churches, and at St. Eustache I'm pretty sure I shook hands with a priest that was greeting everyone at the door. Really, if you ever have a chance to be in Paris in early October, you really need to do it, and you really need to experience Nuit Blanche.

American in Paris (had to do it)

*Jane in Paris*

When we arrived at my apartment, finally, on Thursday afternoon I was not very happy. It was so much smaller than the apartment in Vienna and seemed to lack completely a sense of beauty. I felt that there was nothing I could point to and say, "oh, but this is very nice." I also thought there would be a couch, and I'm really a couch and not a chair person. When I realized that I must have been mixed up because I had looked at so many other places my mood did not improve. Oh, and a strong smell also floated out from the bathroom.


But then slowly things started to get better, as the little things that I hadn't noticed upon my first glance made their appearance: there was enough room for all of our clothes, the TV worked, the water tasted alright, the kitchen seemed to have everything I needed, Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Azkaban was on the bookshelf. The view is also quite nice.
So many things have been stuffed into the room, although they have been artfully arranged so that it doesn't feel cramped, that it took us the rest of the day to find most of them. There are just a lot of nice little things that the landlord had left behind for me.

As the pictures make clear, the apartment really is in a part of Paris that feels like "the city." The two large windows face the Boulevard Voltaire, and perhaps it was under his influence that someone had written "No gods nor masters" beside my door! The street below is surprisingly loud, especially at night. Some sort of force compels large bands of drunk young people to take their time as they walk by the window. Where do they all come from? Luckily Nick and I are equipped with sleep masks and a pink noise track on the mp3 player that does an excellent job of covering up the singing, yelling, and sounds of traffic.

I have met several people at the Fulbright Commission already, because I had to take a form into the office. When I told the director, M. Roujou de Boubee, where I lived he immediately responded that the area around the Place de la Republique was "very lively." It certainly is buzzing with activity every night until at least 1 am, except on Sundays. Mason hates the liveliness of the area, and when it is crowded on the sidewalks he would rather just stay home. He is going to go back to Vienna, which compared to Paris seems luxuriously relaxed and green.

Now a little bit about Parisians. Some of you know that I had been quite anxious to come here, given my lack of experience speaking French with French people and some bad experiences that I had here in 2003. I am happy to report that every Parisian I have communicated with has been exceedingly nice - happy to repeat a sentence to me 4 times, to write out words, to wait patiently while I figure out how to respond. I do not get the sense that Parisians are in a hurry, even though they live in an environment that to me feels very similar to bustling New York.

In my research, I have come across stereotypes about the French. One is that they, along with their Latin kin in Italy, are hot-blooded and that their emotions rise quickly. Indeed, I have witnessed 2 heated arguments since arriving on Thursday. The funniest one occurred on Saturday night in the middle of a crowded crosswalk, which I think Nick will talk more about.

So the short story is, things are going very well here and my spirits are much better than I thought they would be. The is certainly an exciting place to live, and the Parisians are a real pleasure to be around.

Royal with Cheese

*Nick in Paris*

Jane and I are sitting at a McDonald's in Paris because they have free wifi and French keyboards at the internet cafe are terribly confusing. The 'A' and the 'Q' are flipped, for example. So, we are feeding the beast and feeding ourselves McFlurrys as I write this.

The trip to Paris was, as could be expected, much more stressful that we thought it would be. The first part was actually quite nice. We got on a night train from Vienna at 10:40 with Mason. For the first hour we actually had a car to ourselves which was great. After that a lady got on who was very afraid of Mason so he had to wear his muzzle for five hours which made him quite upset. The main problem was that we arrived at Stuttgart 40 minutes late, so we missed our connection to Paris. Seriously, how does a train arrive that late? Did the driver make a wrong turn?

In Stuttgart we found out that all the trains for the day to Paris were booked solid and had no room. Luckily, someone told us we could talk to the conductors of the trains and maybe someone would find room for us. Jane worked some magic and after a couple hours we did in fact make it on a train. Jane had a seat and I stood by the bathroom with Mason - which was not very fun, but at least we were on a train. After a couple hours some people got off so I was able to sit next to Jane with Mason for the last few hours and finally sleep a little bit.

Oh well, we finally made it and only one suitcase broke along the way (sorry Jesse...).

I thought it might be fun to keep a running tally of various things along the way, so here goes:

Intercity train rides:
Jane - 2
Nick - 2
Mason - 2

Missed connections - 1

Suitcases broken - 2
Suitcases fixed - 1 (sorry again Jesse, I'll see what I can do - it was the big green duffel. One of the wheels ripped through a good chunk of plastic and now won't move).

Escalator's ridden by Mason - 1, which will be the last...he did not do well.

In other news, things have gotten much better now that we are mostly settled in Paris. Jane's apartment is in a very fun area and we saw the Eiffel Tower today (new to me). We'll write more about that later, but this McDonald's is about to close.