...And then may I go to the ball?

Last weekend, I felt a bit like Cinderella.  My "fairy godmother" took me to a ball in Vienna.  We took an overnight train from Rome, leaving last Thursday.  After 13 hours and a bit in a compartment with six full berths, we arrived in cold of Vienna.  We took a taxi from the train station to an apartment that a friend of my "fairy godmother" was lending us for the weekend.  After getting our luggage inside, and studying a map for a few minutes, and having a nice cup of tea(!), we went out, taking a streetcar downtown to see a big art museum. We spent four hours looking around at many beautiful paintings, and only covered one floor of the museum, missing other also important exhibits, but willing to sacrifice the one on Egyptian heritage for the picture galleries featuring Durer and Raphael (among many others).  Soon after we got back that evening, it was time to go out for a delectable fish dinner at a nearby restaurant with more friends of my f.g.'s friend.  We had appetizers of octopus salad, grilled octopus, calamari, salmon, cheese, capers, and I can't remember what else was on that tray.  Then came the flounder and another kind of fish that they had brought out to show us before taking to the kitchen to cook.  The man who brought it back to us first showed us the fish lying on their bed of salad, and then carved it up and served us individually.  And they brought us more calamari and octopus to go with it, as well as dishes full of vegetables and rice.  After that, we went to the home of the couple that had joined us, and some got up and danced and drank. At midnight, we went back to rest.  Saturday, we played dress up before going to ball in the evening.

  The ball was not quite what we expected, but, since I've never been, it's not like I knew what to expect.  We were seated at tables for 12 for a three-course dinner.  There were five of us in our party, a group of three ladies from Russia, and 2 couples living in England at our table.  The M.C. announced something about the guests, welcoming those from Russia (and we cheered at our table) and from France.  He tried to welcome those from Italy, but apparently the only ones from Italy there were four of us English speakers--including a couple that was in our crowded compartment on the way up the day before.  So, when no Italians cheered, the MC said he must have been mistaken and that he was the only Italian there after all.  The ball "opened" with a performance by a large group from a prestigious local dance school, a duet from Das Fledermaus, and a ballet to "Blue Danube." Then everyone got up to dance.  The floor was small and overcrowded.  Upstairs was another room with disco music, and a waltz lesson.  Soon it was so warm inside, that we wanted to cool off in the well-below-freezing outdoors.  At midnight, there was another opera performance--a solo from Figaro by the MC, and a duet from Don Pasquale, and then the "midnight quadrille," which was sort of like a square dance/line dance, where one person called and taught the moves, and then the couples on the floor followed, changed places, changed partners, and generally had a very good time.  Nowadays, Cinderella seems to have a slightly later curfew, but when the clock struck one, it was time to leave before the magic undid itself. 

The next morning, we ventured into town on our own to find the cathedral, and providentially made it just in time for the orchestral Mass.  The orchestra and choir did a fantastic job in that beautiful but cold church.  And then I left to return to Rome, while my fairy godmother stayed for an opera (Cinderella, quite fittingly).

Now, it's back to school.  The second semester started Monday, and last weekend is already as if a dream.