A Trip for Music

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About 20 years ago we took our 3 pre-teen boys to Dorothy Chandler, The Music Center, to hear Vivaldi’s “The 4 Seasons”. We went to the lecture before the concert where the conductor played music which had actually been recorded at a historic music hall. I don’t remember which hall the music was recorded at any more but I do remember that my middle son and I looked at each other and said that we needed to go to Europe to hear the music.

I’ve been to Prague a couple of times during the winter traveling with some of our German friends, staying in a B&B outside of the old city and doing fun stuff but there was so much music to hear. After our last trip I told my husband, Dale that I really wanted to visit Prague during the spring, to sit and drink coffee at the outdoor cafes, walk the river and attend classical music concerts.

Last year I was listening to a money guru who said that for those who have frequent flier miles it was a good time to plan a European trip. There was the way to Prague as each Dale and I have plenty of miles. The day that the flights were available I picked up our tickets.

I got in touch with our friends in Belgium and in Germany and sent them a message that we’d be coming, then got on line and started researching music in Prague. As I researched Mozart the path pointed to Salzburg and Vienna. Gosh the trip expanded quickly.

Until now I’ve been too busy to plan this trip except for some searches for concerts. Finally, I sat down determined to book our rooms and some of the concerts. I was afraid that we would not get seats or rooms if more time passed. Good thing I started when I did.

I first started with some concerts that we knew we wanted to see, mainly Don Giovanni at the Estates Theater. It was at this theater that Mozart opened Don Giovanni and I’d only been outside the theater. The programs were not posted until just this past week and Don Giovanni was not on it but we decided that we’d see Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” instead. We also picked up tickets for Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” to be played at the Prague State Opera. Box seats for both concerts!!!

I found that concerts are played in the Prague Castle but those tickets will not go on sale until two months prior to our visit so we must wait a little longer.

Finding a hotel was not so easy; I used a guide book and found all of the hotels within the area we wanted to stay. Then got on the internet and found lots of hotels within the location, read all of the reviews and made a list of all hotels with the ranking and price.

I found a hotel just around the corner from the old plaza, within our price range, we can crawl to our hotel if we need to! It is within walking distance of everything we want to do and the hotel is one that was built in the 14th century so there is a bit of history.

So Prague is taken care of.

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