first day off

Today was our first day off here in Austria. I slept in which was quite nice and then we got ready and headed off to meet lise in Hauptplatz, one of the downtown squares. We got cappuccinos and nutella crepes and started walking around to various stores we'd had our eyes on. We ended up only having time to get the big stores out of the way and we'll definately return to check out the smaller boutiques. It was fun to browse around although always a little funny to shop with people who have different style than you. They tell you to buy the things you don't really like and say they suit you and then say the things you do like are unflattering... makes the decision making process a little more challenging - and we all know how good i am at making decisions to begin with...
After some shopping (which was a little exhausting - the stores were packed, I guess because nothing's open on Sunday and stores are only open until 5 so Saturday is people's only chance to shop) we went home and had dinner with Annette, the lady of the house we're staying in. She's a really nice lady and keeps trying to teach us german even though deep down she knows we're hopeless... She made us wienerschnitzel. It was pretty good, actually.
And then we all went to see the Graz ballet's show. It was a 'modern ballet' and it was the most bizarre piece of work I have ever seen. It was called bad animals and the choreography was, well... convaluded maybe... it included a lot of good old modern dance clichés like the dancer in the fabric tube, text for no good reason, video projection for no reason, a watery and impossible to follow story line, smooching for no good reason, obnoxious and incredibly loud music, lots of undulating bodies and zebra striped pants... it was super weird. But I must say, the dancers were great. They were all ballet dancers so they weren't entirely in tune with the ways of the modern but they were still quite impressive (although some of them were horrible actors).
After the show we went out for drinks and when we arrived at the restaurant our table wasn't quite ready yet so they asked us to wait in the cellar. It was a big stone wine cellar and we ended up hanging out there all night. We sat on wine crates and ate oysters. It was pretty fun. The cellar was a little cold but I was okay with it because no one was allowed to smoke down there and we were with a couple of chain smokers and I've already been nearly suffocated a couple of times this week.
And now I'm home and ready for bed. Rehearsal again tomorrow and then another day off.

one other thing I've learned in Graz:
it's very difficult to call or take a taxi when your address is zveinundviersig peterstalstraße.