Day Eleven

The Hills are Alive
Also wherein foreshadowing comes into play
In the morning from Seefeld we went to Innsbruck. We went to the park where the 1964 and '76 Winter Olympics were held, and saw the ski jump, which was covered with grass, it being summer and all. I'd never been to an Olympic site before, so it was cool. The torch and the rings were there, too, and that was neat.


We then visited the Wiltern Basilica. The basilica is an extremely rococo church. I'm sure it has a lot of historical significance, but I can't recall any of it. It dates from at least the 19th century and probably earlier. One interesting thing I do remember is that the outside of the basilica is painted yellow, which is not a color that many of us were used to seeing on large churches. In my mind, things like cathedrals are made of stone. But lots of buildings in Austria are white or yellow, or both.

In Innsbruck there's a famous thing called the Golden Roof. It's a little hard to explain. There's a regular white building with a plain wall, and then fixed to it is a balcony with a gold roof. When I heard "Golden Roof" I thought of a whole big roof. The balcony was used by the Emperor Maximilian I to view events in the square below.
Innsbruck also has the Swarovski Haus, where you can buy anything crystal, from simple stud earrings to intricate sculptures. Swarovski Haus seems like part store, part museum, but that's probably only to people like me who who can't afford all the big things. I bought some gifts there, but nothing too big. It was a very shiny, glittery place to be in, but also a bit crowded, and that was scary in a store full of breakable things.

the Back of the Blue Bus kids in Innsbruck...miss you guys!

We drove back to Seefeld and changed for our concert that afternoon. When we got to the bandshell where we were to play, they gave us all cunning alpine hats. I still have mine in a place of honor in my room. We got set up and ready to play, but the weather turned to sprinkling and then raining. Since water is bad for some of the wussy instruments like clarinets, the directors decided to cancel the concert after two songs. Besides, nobody was going to come listen to us in the rain anyway. We packed up our horns and stands, and one of my friends, A, and I stayed with a few other people to help get the trailer packed while everyone else went back to the hotels. Once everything was safely packed up, A and I headed back to the hotel. The hotel that was only 7 minutes from town. Where we were allowed to walk around by ourselves because the worst that could happen would be getting lost.

Well, we meant to head back to the hotel. We went the wrong way out of the park, and ended up walking to someone's house. We turned around and walked back, and even asked one of the directors we saw how to get to our hotel, but missed the turn again. Even though it was raining and we were lost and A wasn't wearing comfortable shoes, our spirits were not low, and we sang songs while we walked. Who else has gotten lost in Austria in the rain? A and me, that's who, and it was just so like us. And I am not making this up: When we finally got on the road that went straight up the hill to the hotel, a rainbow appeared in the sky over the hotel. A turned to me and said, "All we had to do was follow the rainbow." It was ridiculous and great. The experience was summed up in our homage to American Pie: "This one time, on the band trip, we got lost in Austria, and it was raining, and it was so not funny." Not terribly clever, and probably not terribly interesting to anyone but us...you just had to be there, in the rain, in Austria.

My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more

Tomorrow: Venice for the day