Europe 2013

In the year of 2013, I had the opportunity to take part in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Competition 2013 in Vienna. On the way to Vienna and back to Singapore, the group stopped by at Prague, Salzburg and Munich. Many thanks to the kindness and fellowship of the orchestra members. They have made the trip to Europe especially positive and memorable.

Here are the links to the posts I have written on the trip:

3 Jul 2013: Setting off for Europe
4 Jul 2013: Our first afternoon and night at Prague
5 Jul 2013: Waking up to a good morning
5 Jul 2013: Prague's Old Town Square and more
5 Jul 2013: The Prague Castle
5 Jul 2013: The Prague Loreto and the rest of the evening
6 Jul 2013: From Prague to Vienna
7 - 9 Jul 2013: Vienna 2013
10 Jul 2013: From Vienna to Salzburg
Salzburg's exploration
10 Jul 2013: Mozart's birthplace and more of the evening
At the Mercure Salzburg Hotel
11 Jul 2013: Hohensalzburg Fortress
11 Jul 2013: An evening at Munich
12 Jul 2013: Exploring Munich

12 Jul 2013: Exploring Munich

12 Jul 2013: It was free-and-easy time in the morning and early afternoon. With the guidance of a few friends, I was able to tag along to visit the city area of Munich yet again. We visited Bauer-Hieber which essentially is a place to find various sheet music. I wondered why we could find musically inspired rubber ducks there too?

Another destination was the Neue Pinakothek Museum in Munich. The museum has a post-modern architectural style. For a distance, the museum blended very well into the surrounding picturesque landscape.

Neue Pinakothek Museum. Photo courtesy of Terence Low.

In this museum, visitors would have the privilege to view Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888) and Claude Monet's Water Lilies (1915). Van Gogh's Plain near Auvers (1890) is also a part of the museum's collection. These were the paintings that I had used to study in art-history class when I was a teenager. Somehow, I felt comforted to see the original works face-to-face. The flowers in Van Gogh's Sunflowers looked alive!

Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888).

I was attracted to a sculpture, The Fallen (1915/16), by Wilhelm Lehmbruck. It seemed to connect with me at some level. It was also an interesting piece of art compared to a museum that was dominated by paintings.

The group of us had lunch nearby the museum. Our meeting place was at the train station at Marienplatz. On my way to the train station, I met a local who had generously showed the way about Marienplatz and the nearby areas. That was an unexpected surprise.

Then time seemed to pass so fast and soon we would on the train that took us from Marienplatz to Haar, where the hotel was located. We were on the roads again to get to Munich airport. We were on our way back to Singapore. In the meantime, a number of the orchestra members chose to extend the trip.

Bye Europe.
A memorable journey.