I’m not asking, I’m driving.

Hat tip to Mike Burns

New Orleans bicycle ride to help Red Cross:
Looking to repeat the success of the MS 150, the Greater Houston Area Red Cross will launch a Houston-to-New Orleans bicycle trek in October. Riders on the six-day, 538-mile Tour du Rouge will see bayous, maybe alligators and other wildlife ? and some of the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Went to church at the Augustinerkirche, which has a very good choir and orchestra (Shubert and Bruckner both conducted masses here). They did the Haydn Kleine Orgelsolomesse and three Bach pieces (which I found a bit odd in this bastion of the Counter-Reformation). Afterwards we walked up the street to the Albertina, where we saw the newly-acquired Batliner Collection, including works from Cezanne, Monet, Munch, Picasso, Rothko, Liechtienstien, and more.

My internal clock is off-kilter, so came back, had a nap, then dined on some wonderful things at the Restaurant Imperial in the hotel.

Went to church at the Augustinerkirche, which has a very good choir and orchestra (Shubert and Bruckner both conducted masses here). They did the Haydn Kleine Orgelsolomesse and three Bach pieces (which I found a bit odd in this bastion of the Counter-Reformation). Afterwards we walked up the street to the Albertina, where we saw the newly-acquired Batliner Collection, including works from Cezanne, Monet, Munch, Picasso, Rothko, Liechtienstien, and more.

My internal clock is off-kilter, so came back, had a nap, then dined on some wonderful things at the Restaurant Imperial in the hotel.

I have remarked how people are always stopping me to ask directions when I’m travelling. It happened twice tonight, but once with a twist.

After dinner, we walked over to the Fraziskaner to see what music was going to be performed at the service Sunday morning. A couple of Spanish ladies stopped us and asked us for directions to Blümenstockgasse, and we were able to oblige them. About five minutes later, on Seilergasse, a man stopped, asked us in very broken English if we spoke Italian, then asked how to get to Mariahilferstraße. While I was trying to show him, another man came up and flashed a badge, saying (in good English) that he was security wanted to see our papers, The other man showed him something, and I showed him my passport. He then said that there was a lot of illegal moneychanging going on in the vicinity, and wanted to see our money. The other man complied, but I – having noticed he had a tattoo on his hand, which seemed odd for “security” – said I had left my wallet in the hotel, and my dad added that we only had a credit card. He asked again, but we persisted, and he just warned us not to change money and shooed the other man off. We went on our way, but turned back to see the “security” man following after the other man.

I think if we had shown the man our currency, it would have been the last we had seen of it.

All pics are available at my Picasa webpage.

Flight from Houston to London was outstanding. Transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow was in record time, and I hoped we might get on standby for the earlier flight to Vienna…but no such luck. In fact, our flight got delayed, so we didn’t get into Vienna until after nightfall…granted, that’s around 4:30, but still…. Saturday had magnificent breakfast at the Imperial, then wandered around the inner city for a while. Slight snafu in that hotel procured tickets for us for the New Year’s Eve concert and the opera on New Year’s Day, but we had already gotten ours from a ticket agent.

Dinner was at Restaurant zum Kuckuck (cuckoo), which has really great dishes from all around the former Monarchy.

Was going to get a couple of SIM cards for the week from T-Mobile (cheaper than A1 and much cheaper than one, but when I got to the store in the Kohlmarkt they had already closed.

On the advice of Eb’s brother Reza, we had dinner after the show at Sushi Seki, 1143 1st Ave. We started with the Crunch Shrimp and Asparagus appetizer, which as excellent: shrimp and asparagus coated in little fried balls of ginger-flavored coating the size of sesame seeds. We then had a spicy tuna roll and a seared tuna roll (good, but not great), some yellowtail sushi, and some toro (fatty tuna) sushi, which neither of us had tried before, but will definitely have again (though, at the price, not often, unfortunately): the texture was so light, it seemed to melt on the tongue.

Even though we got there at 11:30, it was packed (luckily, I had called the day before to make sue we could get in). They kept turning people away the whole time we were there, and they still had folks streaming in when we left. Understandable.

Taken with the iPhone.

Radio City Music Hall is celebrating its 75th Anniversary.

Big signs at Times Square.

Is this a notice to caution the rats? Or are there a bunch of rats whose job it is to go around issuing cautions?

At the Richard Rogers Theatre waiting for Cyrano de Bergerac to start. Our seats were on the front row on the aisle. It was as if they blocked the show for us there…fantastic.

Times Square ticker after the show.

Taken while running the gauntlet.

surprised Anne with a trip to New York this morning. Glad the strike is over…we’re waiting for the curtain of Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner right now.

And I certainly don’t act it. Leaving in an hour or so to drive to Arkansas to sing Pooh-Bah in a concert Mikado at the Hot Springs Music Festival, then playing Mayor Shinn and music directing The Music Man at Country Playhouse. Should be a fun summer.