allyson and bryan

We have, apparently, arrived in the country of music. In the course of our single, delightful day in Salzburg, Bryan and I:

1. Ate lunch in a beer tent while the oompah band played on.
2. Attended a classical piano concert of Strauss, Haydn, and Mozart.
3. Dined outside at dusk while famous jazz guitarist John Abercrombie played a few feet away for free.
4. Watched this guy throw together a little Fur Elise on the wine glass. (VIDEO)
5. Stopped to enjoy "Crimson and Clover" pumping out of speakers at the local Sunday carnvial.

Since arriving in Austria's mammoth capital city of Vienna, we've also had the pleasure of hearing the Vienna Boys' Choir perform at Sunday mass, and we've dropped in for the finale of "Robert Deveraux" at the city's world-class opera house. (They have the greatest invention here, whereby people like us can buy same-day standing-room tickets for the opera for just 2 euro. Some locals stand for the entire thing, of course, but as recommended to us by one helpfully dorky travel writer, we took the opportunity to catch just a glimpse of the city at its finest. Pretty cool.)

And then, tonight, we see Pearl Jam live at Vienna Stadium.

Besides getting our fill of all different sorts of music, Bryan and I have also managed to cram in a good bit of Austrian sightseeing. We've been learning a lot about the country's history and its once-mighty Hapsburg family, which ruled almost all of eastern Europe back in the day. In Salzburg we couldn't afford the $40 Sound of Music tour, but we did fork over 8 euro to take a short walk around the old city center. We've visited lots of churches and cathedrals, climbed 334 stairs to see Vienna from up high, toured the Jewish memorial and ran across interesting art exhibits like the UN Buddy Bears. If you need a bang trim, I recommend "Young Style" on Maria-Hilferstrasse, where you can get it for free. I'm guessing that the chic young stylist took pity on my recently out-of-hand curls.

Oh and also I got my picture with George Clooney.

Per my grandmother's instructions, we stopped by the historic cafe behind the opera house last night to sample "sacher torte mit schlag." Super-yummy. There also seems to be an international food festival everywhere you turn -- on our first night we ate cajun food outside the circus. Last night we had sushi. Beer and PDA can both be found in the streets in abundance, which is weird but oddly comforting. Freedom of expression and inebriation, I guess. Today we'll have a coffee at one of Vienna's oldest cafes, because you're supposed to, before visiting the huge Schonbrunn Castle a few kilometers outside the city. At 7:30 p.m. we go see Eddie Vedder.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Croatia by plane after taking a shuttle bus to, um, Bratislava. Wherever that is! You'll be able to spot me in the crowd -- I'll be the one wearing the "Pearl Jam -- Vienna" t-shirt.

stars, they're just like allyson @ 6:32 AM