Life in Graz, Austria

I've been in Graz for a week!  It's a lovely city.  Before this, I've only stayed for one week in Europe, in Paris.  It's good to experience the German-speaking lands :)  This whole week I've found myself thinking, "People seem to be doing something right, here."  The overall appearance is happiness and healthiness.  You see a lot of people out and about, enjoying their city.  It's not that surprising - if every building is beautiful, almost every other storefront is a cafe beckoning you to stay awhile, and there are beautiful parks, markets, and a riverwalk, why wouldn't you be out?  Austrians seem to value time with their friends, which I love seeing.  Places for children have areas that cater to adults, too (ie, cafes in parks).  The setup of the city and its venues really support the mingling of people and families!  

We had the other day off from rehearsals and I spent it doing things I enjoy no matter what city I'm visiting: walking and jogging around, drinking coffee, people watching from a bench, laying down with a book for a couple hours.  The cup above was from a cafe on the top floor of a shopping center that had a beautiful view of the city, and the coolest furniture!  I looked up the maker, Georg Maehring, if you'd like to see his work.  Not a bad life here at AIMS...more stories to come!

xomo

Introducing...

May Kathryn Duffy!  born on Sunday the 23rd, in Cairo, Egypt, shortly before the supermoon rose into the sky.  Both she and Trish are happy and healthy.  In fact, I took this picture during our video call just 3 days after the birth, and I couldn't believe how alert May already looked!  And also Trish looked amazing, but that doesn't really surprise me :)  She said she feels "over the moon and super in love all the time!" and that birth is an indescribable, awe-inspiring experience.

Here is some video taken during May's first days, which Justin put together, if you'd like to see.  She is so beautiful!  Can't wait to meet her in person.

Much love to the new parents,
xomo

ps:  By the way, she is not normally that brilliant shade of pink; that's just something weird from the computer lighting/photo taking.

Carolyn is Married :)

Carolyn is married!  Hooray!  She and Brandon tied the knot this past weekend.  The whole celebration was wonderful, and happiness radiated out of them so strongly that guests were able to soak it up like rays of sun.  Very joyous :)  Don't they look amazing in this photo?  I'm excited to see more pictures eventually.  The many hours they put into planning everything, from the basics to creative, small details, helped their guests feel an extremely warm welcome, and were worthwhile.  But, what I loved most about the day was that their commitment to each other took center stage, and all those plans served to highlight it.  It was incredible to see how fully they grasped the vows they were making to each other...there was a very tangible feeling in the air.  It made me think, "Now that's what it means to get married!"  They are off now continuing their celebration in Belize on a two week honeymoon!  Cheers to them!

ps:  This picture was shot by a friend of Carolyn's sister named Bridget Schams, who has a lovely eye for photography :)

Summer in Austria

On July 8th Will and I are leaving to spend the rest of the summer in Graz, Austria, playing for the AIMS festival!  I'm pretty excited; everyone I know who has been to Austria talks on and on about how beautiful it is.  My dad lived there for a year abroad, and then he and my mom met there at a festival in Baden for Schubert lieder and collaborative piano.  I was looking through their photo album from that summer; it's so amazing.  The top photo is my mom exploring the Durnstein ruins (like mother like daughter), and the second is backstage before a concert.  On the back of the photo it says "Can they tell we're holding hands?"  I love it!!  I think they're really good looking :)

Shanghai Skyline at Night

From a visit to The Bund.  We were admiring the skyline when all of a sudden a giant, lit up pirate ship sailed by.  Ha!

Downtown Shanghai

One day in Shanghai we visited the current tallest skyscraper, the building pictured above which has a top that kind of looks like a bottle opener (hehe).  That strip at the very top, across the hole, is a glass walkway.  The first photo is a picture of the inside.  Isn't it cool?  And the floor also has panes of glass in it to walk across - eeps!  I thought I might be kind of nervous walking around it because I'm a little uncomfortable with heights, and I did feel a little flutter in my stomach when I first stepped super close to the windows, but overall the view was so cool that I got distracted looking at everything and forgot my butterflies.  After we left, I skipped visiting a temple with the group to walk around downtown, I guess what would be considered the business district, for a bit.  It actually reminded me of Chicago in some ways; the architecture is really cool and it has a garden area in the middle of all the skyscrapers (nothing compared to Millenium Park, though).  I strolled along an elevated walkway past all the buildings, and stopped in the park to take it all in and enjoy the weather, which was beautiful that day.  Pretty awesome afternoon! 

PS:  To get to the observation deck of the skyscraper, we had to take a couple elevator and escalator rides. The main elevator had these futuristic lights and music playing; it kind of reminded everyone of Charlie and Chocolate Factory :)  Here is a quick video of part of the ride:

Riding a Rickshaw

On the last day in China, we took a little tour around on a rickshaw!  It was through a cool part of town with lots of bars and shops.  They paired us up and whisked us off, and we were dropped off in a neighborhood that had streets so narrow you could only walk in them, where families welcomed us into their homes and served us an amazing home cooked meal.  Probably the best meal of the trip!  This video goes on for a bit because I was trying to catch a moment when the rickshaw drivers/rider would purposely hit each other - it was basically bumper cars, rickshaw edition.  They were cute; laughing a lot and yelling at each other.  The streets were so crowded!  I can't believe we didn't seem more accidents...

Beautiful Mama!

Trish is due sooooon!  We are all so excited!  She looks amazing :)

China!

I returned home from the China tour with my university orchestra not too long ago, and have since recovered from jet lag, packed up my apartment in Lexington for the summer, and gradually worked my way home to Wisconsin after making stops in Indiana, Chicago, finally arriving in La Crosse, and then took a quick trip to Madison for the past couple of days to fill in for a cello section in need of subs for a concert.  Whew!  China was a really cool trip!  It's fascinating to see a place that operates so differently from our own country.  There were definitely some highlights in the tour, including visiting the Great Wall and exploring Shanghai.  I've started looking through the photos that everyone on the trip is sharing, and these are some of my favorites so far.  That's me in the nook of the Great Wall!  Wow that was such a beautiful scene.  The top is from a visit to a famous garden, and the bottom the Shanghai skyline on a hazy (slightly polluted?) morning.  I am excited to share more photos and stories!

Take care everyone!
xomo

Dusting off my Passport!

Other big things are happening, too!  It's been 2 years since I was last out of the country (I cannot believe it's been that long!  Seems like just yesterday.), and now my severe wanderlust is being satisfied this summer - I'm leaving for China in a week!  My university's orchestra is going on tour, and we're headed to Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin.  We just received our itinerary, and besides performances, it includes visits to gardens, museums, temples, a boat ride, an acrobatic show, riding on the bullet train, and seeing the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square...the list goes on.  It sounds like it will be a very packed trip.  I'm pretty excited because I don't think I would have thought to put China at the top of my list of travel destinations anytime soon, and I don't know if I'd feel comfortable just heading over on my own for a visit, so this will be a great way to get a first taste.  I was talking to my dad, and he said that's how he felt about going behind the Iron Curtain when it was still the Iron Curtain; he went on tour with his school choir, and that was the best way to do it.  And then he said that there was one slightly sketchy part of the trip where he and his friend went off to Budapest for the day on their own and exchanged currency on the black market, "but everything worked out well."  Whaaattt??  Crazy.  You learn something new every day.  Anyway I can't wait!  Also, more travel news coming up soon...

~xomo

ps:  photo from the window of my friend's flat in Paris, where he graciously took me in for a week when I visited a couple years ago :)