The Swiss Family Klarer

The last couple of days have been packed with family reunions. I think we've seen everyone related to the Klarer and Mazenauer Families. We also ate at the revolving restaurant at the top of the Hoher Kasten and had raclette with Dad's cousin Walter Hug and his family in Lichtenstein.

Switzerland!

Switzerland is absolutely stunning. Truly awesome! We've been to the Mazenauer farm, the Rotti. We took the gondola up to the top of the Santis mountains. We've seen so many Swiss relatives it's hard to keep them straight and eaten and drunk the best Swiss food & drink the you can get: fondue, rosti, schnitzel, spatzli, kalberwurst, Appenzeller Bier, schnapps, Rivella, and Appenzeller bitters.

Graduated! (sorta...)

Well, I'm officially done with my last semester of college. It feels good. Now I'm off to Berlin and then on to Switzerland for Christmas! YEAH!!!!!

Dublin, Baby! Yeah!

Went to Ireland last weekend with Rochelle and it was awesome! The Guinness storehouse is the best brewery tour ever! And now that I have had a pint straight from vat I can die happy. It's unexplainable. On Saturday we went to the Cliffs of Moher (aka the CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!!) We totally lucked out on the weather because it was beautiful and the cliffs were beyond awesome!

The Habit of Art

Today was the first day of tech rehearsals for Treasure Island. Man, this show has got it all: gun fighting, sword fighting, pirates, trap doors, rigging, mast with working sails and flag, rum, ropes, pulleys, cannons, and treasure!

Also today we saw The Habit of Art with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings, and Frances de le Tour at the National Theatre. It was fantastic! It gave a surprisingly accurate account of a pre-tech week rehearsal and even had a Milwaukee reference in there.

Cake or Death?

HELLO WEMBLEY!!!!!!! Saw Eddie Izzard tonight at the arena! It was awesome! He is amazing!

PANTO!

Saw two of the same English pantos this week. Aladdin and Aladdin. The Hackney one was much more traditional in style, but the Wimbledon one had Brian Blessed as the evil Abanazar. So, yeah... panto...

SO BUSY!!!

11-27-09

OK, so to catch everyone up on my Danventures (I know it's been unacceptably too long since I posted and you can all hit me when I get back).

I have seen so many plays, including, Miss Julie & Bedroom Farce (which I worked on at the Rose), The Mousetrap, We Will Rock You, The Woman In Black, All's Well That Ends Well, Mother Courage and Her Children, Stories By Heart with John Lithgow, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, Love's Labors Lost at the Globe, Monty Python's Not The Messiah, MacBeth, the Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Inherit the Wind (Where after I met Kevin Spacey in the bar.), Nation, and Twelfth Night.

I have been to Edinburgh, Scotland and Loch Ness/the highlands, Berlin, Stratford and Shakespeare's birthplace, Wales and Tinturn Abbey, and various hotspots around London.

Most recently (tonight) I helped drink a bottle of champagne with Finty Williams and her mom Judi Dench. Awesome!!!

Building a henge are we?

10-11-09

Took a day trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury. Stonehenge was very cool and it was kinda foggy which made it more eerie.

Shaw and Warner

10-08-09

Saw a talk back session at the National about Mother Courage with Deborah Warner (director) and Fiona Shaw.

AH-EE-AH-EE-AAH! WA-WA-WAAAH!

10-07-09

Saw the Spaghetti Western Orchestra play everything from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly to A Fist Full of Dollars. Very fun interactive concert.

10-06-09

Saw Mother Courage and Her Children at the National Theater. Mother Courage was played by the amazing Fiona Shaw and Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley, was her son, Swiss Cheese. Great production!

Hampton Court

10-04-09

Today I made a spontaneous decision and Rochelle and I went to Hampton Court Palace, famed residence of King Henry VIII. The palace was full of activity with lots of presentations and workshops led by costumed actors portraying different members of the King's Court during his sixth marriage. That night we took part in a promenade play about the last days of Queen Anne. We all had to be in cloaks and followed a different member of the cast. The best part was that the stage consisted of half of the actual palace where these events would have taken place. Pretty awesome experience.

ZOO!

10-03-09

Went to the London Zoo today. Saw where they filmed Harry Potter in the reptile house and a bronze statue dedicated to the real Winnie the Pooh.

Cosprop

10-02-09

Took a road trip with Carrie today to Cosprop, this enormous costume house, and picked up the costumes for Miss Julie.

Buckingham and the Globe

9-30-09

Today Rochelle and I went to the Queens state rooms at Buckingham Palace. Then met up with some other kids that night and Love's Labors Lost at the Globe Theater. This was one of the most enjoyable theater experiences I've ever had. We got there early and stood in the groundings section right at the front of the stage. The actors were brilliantly directed and absolutely hilarious.

Rose/National

9-28-09

It was my first day interning at the Rose Theater in Kingston. Pretty cool, but I didn't really know what to do as they were in the middle of tech week. Not the best time to come into the process.

After work I met up with the theater class a the National Theater and we saw All's Well That Ends Well with Oliver Ford Davies as the King of France. Very good production.

The Mousetrap

9-28-09

After running around way to close to showtime searching for tickets in the west end we ended up seeing Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, the longest running show ever.

Market Day

9-27-09

Went to Petticoat Lane, Old Spitafield, and Brick Lane. Did some shopping and met a guy that works in costumes for the Royal Opera. Then took a sunset walk through Regents Park.

9-26-09

Yeah! I made it to London!

Brussels day 2

9-25-09

Today we went to the Chocolate Museum and the Costume Museum of Brussels. Then had a great farewell tour dinner.

Brussels

9-24-09

Today we went to the comic strip museum, the musical instrument museum, and the European Commission. I also saw Manniken Pis which wasn't all that interesting.

On to Belgium

9-23-09

Got on the bus for Brussels and stopped in Waterloo. There we saw the famous lion statue and the panorama depicting the battle between Napoleon and Wellington. At 3:00pm we arrived at the magical Hotel Mozart complete with a labyrinth of halls and stairs plastered with paintings and Obama posters.

Luxembourg

9-22-09

We went to the Court of Justice today in Luxembourg. Then we visited Bourscheid Castle and headed back to Trier. For my last dinner in Germany I had Weiner Schnitzel with fresh peas and fried potatoes with bacon.

Back at it.

Sorry for the delay friends. Really busy in jolly old London town. It's way past time for some updates I think. Don't you?

LONDON!!!

I'm mostly settled in London now. I also have steady internet now for the next three months and will get some past posts done asap.

Trier

9-21-09

Today I did all the stuff that the rest of the group did while we were on the Mosel cruise. Saw the Porta Nigra (huge Roman city gate), an enormous Roman style church where apparently a tunic worn by Jesus is preserved. Then toured the ruins of a Roman Bathe. After visiting Constantine's Basilika and the gardens outside the attached palace, I ventured to the Roman amphitheatre where gladiator events were held. Did some sink laundry. Went to some live jazz and drink some local white wine to top off the evening.

9-20-09 Ben's Birthday!

Today I and several others from the group decided to forgo planned events, with the consent of our leader Mark Koepke, and went for a day cruise on the Mosel River. We saw beautiful landscapes with high ridges and steep hills cover in grape vines. Roughly four hours in we stopped and had lunch at the town of Bernkastle. Got some ice cream that looked like spaghetti. Then after the four hour boat ride back we met up with a bunch of the group and goty some cheap schnitzel at a pub.

Back to the HOMELAND!!!!

9-18-09

Left our tourguide Anja and the Chateau de Pourtales for Germany's oldest city, Trier. After dropping of our stuff at the youth hotel, walked through the old town square where a festival was going on for s sister city in Japan. Ate a kasewurst and had a Kraft Brau (the Bier of Trier). Then had an amazing meal at Walderdorffs. After dinner got a beer and enjoyed the festivities in the town square.

Farewell France!

9-17-09

It's our last day in France. We loaded the bus and went to the Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle in the thick fog. As we toured the castle the mist lifted revealing the surrounding mountains as it rolled over the landscape. Then we drove through Alsace wine country and several "Beauty-and-the-Beast-esk" towns. We stopped in the quaint town of Obernai and had a quiche lorraine. After that we went to Natzweiler Concentration Camp. Very heavy.

9-17-09

Diversity Day at the Chateau de Pourtales! We had two lectures today. One was an animated irish man and the other was a very nice french man. Then I went to the Museum of Modern Art with Mark, Meg and Jake. Saw a Picasso a lot of Dora and a neat exhibit about colors. Had a Doner Kabab and a gargantuan coke for diner. That night went to a karaoke bar that was very sketchy. It didn't have a door handle, just a buzzer, and they had expensive drinks and very few american songs.

9-16-09

Court of Human Rights today. Enjoyed a delightful lunch at Jimmy's Pub in the Strasbourg town center (grog, chicken/pesto/mozzerella crepe, thick coffee, and a sugar crepe). Took a guided tour of the Strasbourg Historical Museum. Got to try on several knight helmets. Back at the Chateau gate house restaurant ate Bibeleskase (AWESOME!!!) Finished out the day with some Family Guy.

I'm still alive, I swear!

I'm in Germany again which is awesome. That means however that I will not have the world wide web for a feww days to post all of my Danvetures. :( Stay tuned and I will post previous activities!

European Government Day!

9-15-09

Visited the Council of Europe. Had Roesti for lunch. Then we got to observe a session of European Parliment. The newly elected President of Portugal, Barossa, gave a very passionate speech. Bought some food on the way home and watched Family Guy and drank wine.

Strasbourg... *sigh*

9-14-09

Today we had a whole day in Strasbourg. We went to the Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, this gargantuan cathedral. We climbed the 330 consecutive spiral steps to the lookout platform on top. Then we visited the Museum of Fine Art in the Palace de Rohan. Got the stink eye from some frenchies selling us crepes. Found our way to the historic wine cellar beneath the hospitol where they have wine preserved in its original barrel from 1472! Received more stink eye. Walked twenty minutes to the botanical gardens which were closed as of 3:30pm (LAME!) Took a boat tour of the city on the River Ill. (The children setting on the audio tour headphones kept me awake. Cap'n Jack his parrot, Coco, are quite entertaining and educational.) Then took a carousel ride in Gutenberg Square before getting the major french stink eye at the brasserie where we didn't get served our tartes flambées for an hour! ...*sigh*

Spaden-Spaden!

9-13-09

Today we went to Baden-Baden (city so nice they named it

twice, haha). They are home of the famous Caracalla Spa and Roman style bathe. It was amazing!

I especially liked the aroma therapy steam bath.

We then proceeded through the Schwartzwald (Black Forest)

on our way to our chateau lodging in the lovely

Strasbourg. We stopped at a beautiful little lake that had a special black cuckoo clock (see picture). Then we stopped at the ruins of an all saints church/monastery that sat above the Black Forest Waterfalls.

Now we're staying for about a week in the Château de Pourtalès. Yeah Laundry and free Wi-Fi!!!

9-12-09

Today we took a walking tour of Heidelberg (where Hamlet studied). Then some of us went across the old Heidelberg bridge, up the Schlangenweg to the Philosopher's walk where I forced everybody to take individual pictures with me. The one to the right is me and our European Union tourguide, Anja. Then I had my first Das Boot. That night we all went to O' Reilly's Irish Pub for Karaoke. I tore it up with Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual and F**k Her Gently by Tenacious D. The British dude running it gave me a shot and a heaping mouthful (that's what she said) of Jackie D. Watch for pics of this night coming soon. (that's what she said)

9-11-09

For my 23rd Birthday we went to the European Central Bank and then had a veal lunch at a traditional German restaurant. After, we went to the German Stock Exchange. Then we went to the the house Goethe was born and wrote many of his works including "Faust". That night we went bowling and everybody bought me lots of beer food and a couple of shots. It was a great Birthday.

9-10-09

I made it to Germany! There was only one nasty five minute patch of “moderate to severe” turbulence where I had to talk down the guy next to me because the plane dropped five feet (or it could have been fifteen, it was a fast drop). I was fine and actually got a fair amount of sleep. After we got our luggage, we boarded a bus that took us to Heidelberg. The first thing I saw when we left the airport was a McDonalds and the Frankfurt landscape looks extremely similar to the Midwest. So, nothing spectacular to report yet. Next we have dinner and visit Heidelberg Castle.

Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay in posts. I didn't have internet in Germany at all. Anyway, I'm in france now and have free Wi-Fi. Since I haven't posted I'm going to post the back up ones with a date on them.

Lots of Packing and organizing today. Looking forward to a stylish new hair cut and a big juicy American steak for dinner before I leave the country on Wednesday.

Headed to the Brewer Game! I'm getting all my Wisconsin sports fix out in one weekend before I take flight overseas. GO BREWERS!!!!!

Badgers are 1-0! It's only the first game, but it's the only one I'll get to this season. Wah-wah... At least I have my best friend Ben to live vicariously through. Like Ben's dad says, "GO BUCKY!!!"

I finished costume work in Door County and Guys and Does had a great opening. This morning I'm headed over to visit my gramma and then do some organizing and packing. After that it's off to the Badger game with Ben. GO BUCKY!

A Long Days Sewing Into Night

I'm just about to leave for Ephraim Town Hall where I will be costuming all day. It will be a long day and I expect that I'll be pooped, but better to be pooped than dead.

That's Striking!

AFT strike is going well. We're doneat the park and now it's off to the farm and then sewing for Guys and Does at Ephraim Town Hall.

And so it begins...

BLOG! Well, here it goes. This is the beginning of my adventures.

Tonight we closed American Folklore Theater's 2009 summer season. We had our first and only rain out. The audience for Cheeseheads: The Musical, however dedicated, was cold, wet, quiet. Unfortunately the audience was quiet and a car alarm went off for almost a third of the show. We then proceeded to Ye Olde English Inn for a end-of-the-season cast party. I had my last cheesy artichoke dip for a long time. I will certainly miss Door County and the friends I have made until I return in a couple of years.

Tomorrow is strike and I will be working diligently on costumes for AFT's fall world premier Guys and Does.

TTFN