burrito invasion

Hey all! We made it to Munich on Sunday and since then we've been enjoying our first real taste of summer this year. It's been sunny all day today with highs in the low 80s, and I took advantage of it by strolling through the English Garden. Unfortunately, Brenda couldn't join me because she isn't feeling well. She went to the doctor today and got some antibiotics, so hopefully she'll be doing better in no time. It'd be great if she were totally healthy for her performance of Die Schweigsame Frau this Sunday. Feel free to send some healing vibes her way.

 Brenda snapped this picture yesterday of the Bayerische Staatsoper (English: Bavarian State Opera).

In between her rehearsals yesterday, Brenda and I ventured out to a mission-style burrito restaurant. This is the third burrito place we've tried in Munich (we visited the other two earlier this season), and it was excellent. We also tried a burrito place in Berlin last Friday (we don't normally eat this many burritos, no matter how much we'd like to), and it was also great. This is a form of American fast food that I'm very happy to see popping up around Germany.

 That's a look of joyful burrito anticipation.

Last Wednesday I took and passed my second tax exam. I have one more to go before I can apply to become an enrolled agent, but I'm going to wait until the fall to take it. The final test, which has the lowest pass rate of the three exams, covers tax preparation for businesses.

I snapped this picture during my walk through the English Garden today.

Our stay in Munich is relatively short this time around. In less than two weeks we'll be back in Frankfurt and Brenda will have already performed yet another opera, Don Giovanni, at Oper Frankfurt. I hope you are all getting to enjoy some beautiful summer weather, and until next time, have a great week!

taking the time to be tourists

Greetings from rainy Berlin! Barring any unforeseen jump-ins, this will be our last blog entry from Germany's capital this year. We've really enjoyed being here and look forward to coming back in the not-too-distant future. Especially because there's still so much we haven't seen yet. The list of things to see has gotten shorter since last week, however. Our dear friend and fellow Frankfurter, Marlar, came into town this weekend and showed us around. As the host, I felt like we should have been the tour guides, but Marlar is a semi-professional traveller who knows way more about Berlin than we ever will. We had a great time with her as she showed us several of Berlin's highlights.

 Brenda and Marlar in front of Brandenburg Gate. Those ominous storm clouds started pouring rain on us just a couple minutes after I took this picture.

 The rain gave us a good excuse to duck into the Ritter Sport store where we watched chocolate bars being made and relaxed for a while in the cafe.

 Afterwards we made our way to Berlin's Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel), which is home to five museums that were built between 1830 and 1930.

On Saturday, Marlar had plans with an architect friend to see several buildings built predominantly during the Weimar Republic. I got to tag along, and since I know absolutely nothing about architecture, it was fun to learn a little something. There are six housing sites scattered around town that comprise the Berlin Modern Housing Estates (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and we saw three of them: Großsiedlung Siemensstadt, Weiße Stadt, and Siedlung Schillerpark.

In other news, Brenda has been busy performing. She had her fourth performance last night and will have two more before we leave on Sunday. Brenda also gave an artist talk, in German, at a local music store last week. She answered various questions about her career and the interviewer played excerpts from several of her recordings. Brenda did a great job and was very much her charming self.

A poster advertising Brenda's talk outside the music store.

Even though our time in Berlin is coming to a close, we won't be heading back to Frankfurt just yet. Instead, we're going to Munich on Sunday so Brenda can reprise a role she performed there at the beginning of the season. Our summer vacation is quickly approaching, and we can't wait.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

Leipzig

Hey all! I'm happy to report that Brenda's first performance of Ariadne auf Naxos on Sunday was a hit. Obviously I'm biased, but I really loved everything about it. The cast is great, the staging is interesting, and the whole thing is over in about two and a half hours. It doesn't get much better than that. A couple of video clips, which were recorded during a rehearsal, have popped up on youtube. If you're interested, you can find one here and the other here.

Last Friday Brenda had the day off so we decided to take a trip to Leipzig. We had never been there before, and since we were in the neighborhood (Leipzig is about seventy five minutes away from Berlin by train), we thought it would be a good destination. Plus, a good friend of mine from college lives there, and he was kind enough to show us a few of the sights. We quickly discovered that Leipzig is a really beautiful city.

We were rushed getting out the door on Friday morning, which meant we had to pick up our breakfast at the train station. It can be dangerous to go to a German bakery on an empty stomach...

Giant cheese covered pretzel? Yes, please.

 The Old City Hall in Leipzig.

 Bach spent a major part of his career working in Leipzig at the St. Thomas Church (pictured in the background).

 Coincidentally, we went to Leipzig on the first day of the annual Bach festival. It was a beautiful day to sit outside and enjoy some baroque music.

Since we were in a new town we decided to try one of the local beers. We ended up trying Gose, which was unlike any beer I've ever had before. I wasn't immediately convinced, but maybe it's an acquired taste.

Brenda has her second performance tomorrow, and she will have finished her fourth performance by next blog day. We're looking forward to seeing some friends who are coming into town this week and to exploring more of Berlin. I hope you all have a nice week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

lady in red

It's almost showtime! As I write this, Brenda is finishing up her second to last rehearsal of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Staatsoper Berlin. In case you're interested, there are a few photos of the production on the Staatsoper's website. I haven't seen a rehearsal yet, but I'm looking forward to the final run-through later this week. The premiere is on Sunday.

 Because its permanent home is under renovation, the Staatsoper Berlin is currently residing in the Schiller Theater (pictured).

Brenda in costume.

Since arriving in Berlin several weeks ago, Brenda's rehearsal schedule has kept us tied down to our (very lovely) neighborhood. But now that the performances are getting under way, we plan on doing a little more exploring. First on our list is Leipzig. I've also heard great things about Potsdam, and we really need to see a lot more of Berlin. Wherever we end up, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Germany.

Do you remember me mentioning a few months ago that one of Brenda's recordings was nominated for a Grammy? Well, the recording didn't win, but the other day Brenda received a certificate and medal for being nominated. How cool is that?

I bet the Grammy winners can't wear their bulky statues around their necks. Well, at least not comfortably.

I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

the palace down the road

Hey all! Remember how Brenda kindly wrote the blog entry last week so I could study for a tax exam? Well, I'm happy to report that my studying paid off because I passed! I still have to pass two more exams before I can apply to become an enrolled agent (i.e. official tax nerd), but it's nice to have the first one out of the way.

Even though I am spending a significant amount of time learning about U.S. tax law, I do not ultimately want to become a full-time tax preparer. What compelled me to go through this process was my copious free time and my desire to no longer be in the dark about our U.S. tax obligations. Also, studying for and taking these exams is quite inexpensive, especially in comparison to taking the bar exam, which can easily cost thousands of dollars. While I don't want to prepare tax returns full-time, I haven't ruled out the possibility of doing a little tax work on the side - especially to help out some of Brenda's opera singer colleagues who often have very complicated tax situations.

Enough about that. Let's move on to something more fun, like a palace! After her rehearsal on Saturday, Brenda and I took a stroll over to Charlottenburg Palace. We didn't actually go inside, but we enjoyed seeing the building from the outside and walking around the grounds. At least until it started to rain.

As usual, Brenda has been busy rehearsing this past week. With her first performance less than two week away, she and her castmates are transitioning from the rehearsal room to the stage. Brenda seems to have enjoyed this rehearsal process, but I know she's excited for the performances to get underway.

So that's what we've been up to. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

secret agent tax man

Hello all! Brenda reporting today, as I'm being a wonderfully supportive wife. Chad has his first of three tests to become an enrolled agent tomorrow, so he's doing some cramming. I like to think of him as training to become some sort of spy agent, but it actually has to do with taxes and as I've been helping him study, I've realized it's most certainly not as exciting as being a spy agent. But he's learning lots of interesting rules about estate taxes and adjusted basis and other words that don't have a lot of meaning to me! In any case, it's pretty cool that he can take an American test here in Berlin, and I bet he'll do great! No pressure sweetie. :-)

We've been leading a pretty simple life this past week. Other than Chad studying and me rehearsing, we have gotten back on the wagon and are jogging regularly, which means we get a lot of park time, and that's always lovely. Of course we grumble jealously when we jog past the cafe in the park and see people relaxing with their beer and pretzels, but the satisfaction of being active helps us get over it.

Monday was a holiday in Germany (Pfingsten, otherwise known as Pentecost) and we decided to take advantage of the long holiday and go back to Frankfurt for a couple nights. Other than wanting to sleep in our own bed and check our mail, we thought it would be nice to support some good friends who had their premiere performance of the opera Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss. Chad and I both agreed that it was one of the best things we have seen at Oper Frankfurt. After the first performance of a premiere, there's always a party, and Chad and I really enjoyed getting to see many good friends in the company. Since we've been away from Frankfurt so much this season, we really cherish getting to see our friends when we can!

Me with two of the wonderful performers at Oper Frankfurt. They're both from Ireland and we are all good friends even if we don't get to see enough of each other. The woman in the middle and I have even played sisters onstage together! 

Chad and I will probably stick around Berlin until I'm finished with performances at the end of June, but we may take a day trip here and there if we find the time! Other than that, we're going to keep enjoying this lively and interesting city! I know Chad will be much more relaxed once his test is behind him. Have a great week!

back in Berlin

Greetings from Berlin! It's a beautiful day here in Germany's capital, and Brenda and I took advantage of it by going for a jog through a nearby park. We jogged right by a beer garden that we visited a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't help but think that eating a pretzel and drinking a beer would be more fun than jogging. Although, I know that exercise is important. Perhaps alternating jogging days and beer/pretzel days would be a good compromise. It would be like a German paleo diet (German cavemen foraged for pretzels and beer, right?). I'll let you know how that fitness plan works out.

Brenda's jump-in last week in Düsseldorf was great. Somehow she crammed all of the staging into her head in a matter of hours, and the show went off without a hitch. After the show we went out to dinner with a friend and then back to our hotel for a few hours of sleep. Brenda had rehearsal in Berlin the next morning so we had to catch an early train out of town.

The opera house in Düsseldorf is called Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

Brenda jumped in for the role of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos.

Here she is in costume.

While Brenda rehearsed, I wandered around town and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I took this picture along the Königsallee.

On Saturday I got a message from a friend of mine from college who happened to be in Berlin. He's an opera singer (and fellow Iowan) and has been living in Europe for the past thirteen years. It was great catching up with him. Later that day Brenda and I went to the Berliner Staatsoper, the company she's currently rehearsing with, to see a performance of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). It's a classic production that we both really enjoyed.

We have plans to go to Frankfurt this weekend for a couple of nights to see some friends, see an opera and to check our mail. The train drivers' union that went on strike a couple of weeks ago has decided to go on strike again, which could complicate our travel plans, but we're hoping for the best.

So that's what we've been up to. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!