From Salzburg to Gmunden...

It been a long time since I’ve written  a post- namely because A) we’ve been working so damn hard and B) because we’ve been having much fun 

Salzburg was a beautiful town and we spent about a week there at the beginning of the month. Sitting at the base of two tree covered mountains the ‘Old Town’ consists of a web of cobbled streets together with large churches and museums.

Looking over the town is the fort- which for the faint hearted is accessible via a lift and for those with a bit more energy a twenty minute walk. From the fort you overlook both Salzburg old and new. In both cases the city shows off it’s personality with elegant architecture spanning out to picturesque farm houses further a field. 

Going out is a bit less of a success. Salzburg is a popular town for tourists of a slightly older generation and bars and clubs are quite thin on the ground. Despite this the incredibly friendly locals were more then happy to show us around and we all ended up having a really awesome week. 

We stayed at the Pension Jederman which is a modern hotel situated just ten minutes from the centre of town. 

The shows went perfectly well and we got a lot of good feedback from the people who run Vienna’s English Theatre; who popped down for the day.

After a night stopover in Donnersbach, the small village in the middle of the mountains, we head ed to Gmunden. 

Gmunden comes in to it’s own in the summer when thousands of tourists flock to the town to take advantage of the large lake. The town was pretty much closed down as we were out of season but there was a fair share of bars to keep us entertained. 

Gmunden was the first place that we really started to get recognised;

Random Girl in Club: Are you ‘Czech’?

Me: Now, I’m English…

Random Girl in Club: No! Czach, Jzack……. Jack!!

Me: O yes…. I play Jack…. Hello….

This is how the night seemed to go.

One of the best things about being recognised is the amount of free stuff you get. We all individually, and together, got drinks sent over and money refused at bar…. A boy could get used to this- he really could. Several Vodka Red Bulls later we felt a bit sleepy and returned to the Hotel Magerl.

The sky was pitch black and we could see the brightest stars that I have ever seen- we even saw a shooting star! I would have made a wish but I fell into a bush because I was looking up into the sky and not looking where I was going. 

After Gmunden came Zell am See. Zell am See has changed my attitude towards skiing holidays. Previously I have never been convinced that I’d like to spend my hard earned money on flying over to a cold place to play in frozen water for a week- Zell am See has changed that.

Although it is not actually snowing yet Zell still has a buzz about it. The town is surrounded by a series of harsh mountains and  gently sloping hills. You can see how spending a holiday on the slopes then snuggling up to a warm fire in a cool bar could be heaven…. And it is definitely something that I am going to be trying in the not too distant future. 

A night  was spent in Wiener Neustadt- I can’t remember much about that apart from the fact that I went for a twenty minute walk in the cold to find two bottles of coke; only to return to my room to discover that there was coke in my minibar AND it was cheaper then what I’d bought it for in the shop. O well, you live and learn. 

The shows have been going through there usual cycle of Good, Better, Amazing, Disappointing. It is starting to get really difficult keeping the energy up- especially when we are doing 12 shows a week, which we have been doing.  

Fortunately constantly changing space and having a different audience every time does help and we have had some really good times, as have the audiences. 

Our main problem is that moving from town to town every other day is exhausting as we can never relax after a show properly. It also means that we have to go through a procedure every evening of searching for a restaurant that we would like to eat in. On a holiday restaurant hopping can be fun but I have come to realise that when it is part of you life it gets very boring indeed.  

November has gone incredibly fast and we are fast approaching December. I think that the main focus for us all is to keep up the energy so that we have consistency in our performances. We are pretty much nailing it on most shows but I know that when something unexpected happens I just don’t have then energy to deal with it.

The irony is, I think, that too many early nights and relaxed towns are adding to the docility. Living a world of Breakfast, Show, Lunch, Show, Dinner, Bed, Breakfast, Show….. does tend to make you go a bit crazy and definitely very bored! 

Let’s just hope we go to some fun towns soon……