Significant Improvements

Two nights ago found us sitting outside of a nice little Indian restaurant located about 6 blocks from our hotel with a horde of friends, sipping Dunkels (or Pils, or Weiss, as our specific needs dictated) and enjoying some really wonderful food. I, of course, ate Butter Chicken, and it was creamy and savory, everything it was supposed to be. Wanda had Palak Paneer, which was about as good as we've ever had it anywhere. Throw in several varied appetizers and some extremely good company, and it made for a great evening. On the way back we stopped in at what is sure to become our Home Pub for the trip, Ambrosius (located directly across the street from the hotel) for a few more biers and a little bit more nosh, just because.

At some point we will have to document the woman strutting around the corner outside Ambrosius. While jaywalking might be a serious offense in Berlin, apparently prostitution is not. At some point during the evening the entire length of EinenStrasse becomes populated with, at a rate of one about every few hundred feet or so, well... "women of unsavory character". They are wearing the most spectacularly slutty outfits, and they walk around in the middle of their chosen intersection waiting for passers-by possessing specific characteristics, the two most primary being that they are horny, and that they have money. For what I'm certain is a reasonable fee, these women will hop in their cars (parked at their chosen intersection) and follow you to a destination of your choosing for er... well, let's not elucidate. "Our Ho", as we have come to call her, wears a titanium blonde wig, leggings-with-built-in-thong, and regularly changes tops, if the one she's wearing doesn't seem to be doing the trick for her.

So I've spent more time documenting the ho than the rest of the trip. We continue.

Yesterday morning I woke up like a shot at 5:30. There was no possible way I was going back to sleep, so I put on my workout clothes and went for a run. The unusualness of this event is mitigated somewhat by the fact that I was probably still jetlagged - I do not think it will become a habit (gods, I hope not!). By the time I got back, Wanda was stirring, so I got clean and we made our way downstairs to breakfast. For some reason we thought that the bus to rehearsal was leaving at 8:45, but after a schedule check we discovered it was leaving at 8:30. This caused a frantic readjustment of priorities, as Wanda threw a shower on (and off again just as quickly), and we bolted downstairs, just making the bus.

The morning rehearsal was a scratchy affair. We were not, as an ensemble, in particularly good voice (I'm sure this had nothing whatsoever to do with vast quantities of spirits imbibed the evening prior by the Chorus Corpus), and being tired and of low energy is death on this piece (any piece, really, but the Berlioz Requiem in particular requires an enormous and sustained outpouring of energy). We managed to stumble through, knowing that the afternoon's dress would be the proof of the pudding, and fled the premises for lunch.

It was at this point that I hit the wall. The lack of sleep combined with the early morning workout combined with the energy expended just to stay alive during the rehearsal pretty much did me in. I mostly slept-walked through lunch (at a Bier Garden in PostDamer Platz), staggered around a bit with Wanda afterwards and then caught a quick cat-nap in the Philharmonie before our afternoon dress rehearsal.

The rehearsal went well enough that I hold out hope for us uncorking a big performance tonight. We still have a few rough spots to conquer, but we had a major improvement over the mess we made in the morning, and we improve as much again tonight we'll be in fine shape. We closed the evening with dinner at some other BierGarden next to AlexanderPlatz. I ate something called a "fried pig's knuckle", but if that hunk of meat was the knuckle from a german pig, then it had the biggest hands of any pig I ever saw. It reminded me of the huge turkey legs you can at a Ren Fair. This was the George Foreman of pigs. We invited, and were joined by, the tenor soloist for our performances, a delightful young man named Joe. He fit right in with our cast of characters, and everyone had a great time. I turned in at 11, to ensure a good night's sleep for today's activities, which I will relate tomorrow.

You can see pics of everything here:

http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=675111792

We'll just keep adding to this set of pictures as we go, so check back for udpates!

I'm starting to get really nervous and excited now, just 20 minutes before we get on the bus to head to the Philharmonie. Will we stink it up or will we dominate? Will we meet our own silly-high standard set in 2003, or will they say "Not as good as they were before"?

We'll know soon.