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Subscribe to the Travel Notes Blog Travel Notes: Travel Notes Blog: January 2006

Mozart 2006

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

The Official Travel Notes Blog

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg (Austria) on 27th January, 1756.

As 2006 marks 250 years since the composer's birth, plenty of cultural events are planned for the year ahead.

Mozart 2006:
Austria‘s official website marking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s 250th birthday. Includes a Mozart Birthday video.

Salzburg

The city of Mozart's birth should be first on your list of places to visit during Mozart 2006.

The Mozart family lived on the third floor of the Hagenauer House in Tragasse, now known as Getreidegasse.

The house where Joannes Chrisostomus Wolfgang Gottlieb was born, is number 9; although you won't miss the big yellow building with a huge Austrian flag flying beside it. Mozart's Geburtshaus is also written in large white letters on the facade.

Mozart 2006 Salzburg:
The regional authorities in Salzburg passed a special budget amounting to €7 million for Mozart Year 2006. The existing outline programme conveys a very varied and contrasting approach to Mozart, with an emphasis on contemporary creative activity and the involvement of young people.

Throughout the year there will be an exhibition in the new Salzburg Museum on the Mozartplatz, entitled Viva! Mozart.

Mozart Week:
The International Mozarteum Foundation opens Mozart Year on Wolfgang Amadeus' 250th birthday on 27th January, 2006 (at 8pm); with a grand festive concert that will also be one of the unique musical highlights of the 51st Mozart Week.

Best of Mozart:
The Mozarteum Orchestra and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists will perform 29 special concerts in Salzburg, between February and November, featuring Mozart's most captivating music in the Mozart Year 2006.

This summer's Salzburg Festival will also include 22 operas by Mozart, between July 24th and August 31st. There's also 10 drama productions and 67 concerts to choose from during the festival.

Mozart Museums:
Follow the path of Salzburg’s most famous son. Visit the museums of the International Mozarteum Foundation to find out how Mozart grew up and lived and tour the important historical sites, where Mozart’s genius compositions originated.

A House For Mozart:
The reopening of the Kleines Festspielhaus - now the House for Mozart - is scheduled for July 26rd, 2006, and will be marked by a performance of 'Le Nozze di Figaro' under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Vienna

The Wiener Mozartjahr 2006 Infocenter, on Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz, is the first port of call if you're looking for up-to-date information about Mozart in Vienna. Here you can obtain programme information as well as tickets for the events of Wiener Mozartjahr 2006.

Wiener Mozartjahr 2006:
From 27th to 29th January the whole of Vienna will be celebrating the birth of Austria's famous son.

Mozarthaus Vienna:
Mozart lived on the representative first floor, known as the bel étage, of the house at Domgasse 5, from September 1784 to April 1787. This was the largest and most expensive apartment he occupied during his years in Vienna and the one in which the family stayed the longest.

Mozart and the Cinema:
Filmarchiv Austria presents various cinematic approaches to the character and works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the myth surrounding him.

Prague, Czech Republic

In December 1786 the Italian impresario Pasquale Bondini presented Le nozze di Figaro at the Nostitz (The Estates) Theatre. Unlike in Vienna, where the opera had not received much attention and soon disappeared from repertoire, in Prague its success was immense.

In January 1787 Mozart went to Prague for the first time to conduct Le nozze di Figaro himself.

Mozart Prague 2006:
In 2006 Prague and its visitors will have an opportunity to get to know all Mozart's works connected with Prague and to gain insight into the richness of his music.

United Kingdom

Classical Opera:
Founded in 1997 by conductor Ian Page,the Classical Opera Company is devoted to presenting the works of Mozart and his contemporaries.

The Royal Opera House, London:
To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Royal Opera mounts a new production of his setting of the second of Beaumarchais' domestic but politically charged 'Figaro' comedies, as adapted by librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. (Jan 31 - Jul 6).

The London Philharmonic Orchestra plays Mozart at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (12, 15, 17 and 18 Feb).

Mostly Mozart:
London's largest festival celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart takes place at the Barbican, from 6th June to 5th July.

Mozart at the Library:
To mark the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, the British Library presents a series of events, including foyer concerts, talks, a special exhibition and a preview of a major new documentary film, 'In Search of Mozart' .

Further Reading

A guide to the musical works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Compleat Mozart:
A guide to the musical works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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The Hajj

Sunday, January 08, 2006

The Official Travel Notes Blog

The prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca, in 570, but had to move to Medina when his teachings angered local residents.

When he was 60, the prophet Muhammad returned to Mecca with his followers, and conquered the city.

His founding of Islam changed the course of history, and eventually turned Mecca into an important place of pilgrimage for Muslims.

The Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) is the fifth of the 'Five Pillars of Islam' - the five most important acts of a Muslim (Sunni Islam) under Sharia law.

Special visas are issued to foreigners by the Government of Saudi Arabia, for the purpose of pilgrimage; although entrance to the city itself is forbidden to non-Muslims, as the entire city is considered a holy site in Islam.

Every sane and able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so is obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, during the last month of the Islamic Calendar (Dhu al-Hijjah, or Month of Hajj).

Islamic Months
1. Muharram; 2. Safar; 3. Rabi' al-awwal; 4. Rabi' al-thani; 5. Jumada al-awwal; 6. Jumada al-thani; 7. Rajab; 8. Sha'aban; 9. Ramadan; 10. Shawwal; 11. Dhu al-Qi'dah; 12. Dhu al-Hijjah.

The Hajj

Pilgrimage rites occur during a five-day period, between the 8th and 12th days of the twelfth lunar month.

The event is also marked by the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, which falls on the 10th day of the lunar month.

Some 2 million pilgrims visit the Holy sites during the Hajj and some of the Holy places can be very crowded, particularly at the stoning of the Satans at Mina (BBC stoning story from 2003) and the circumambulation of the Kaaba.

Going to Mecca For Hajj:
Many pilgrims fly to Jeddah, and then travel to Mecca by bus. Some 25,000 British Muslims make the annual pilgrimage.

The Hajj 2006

BBC Diary of The Hajj:
As millions of people stream into Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj, Rabiya Parekh has joined the pilgrims and is writing a diary for the BBC News website.

CNN's Hala Gorani in Mecca:
Wearing a surgical mask, Hala Gorani reports from Mecca as the Hajj gets underway this Sunday, January 8th.

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In Czech Republic

Monday, January 02, 2006

The Official Travel Notes Blog

We're still on the road in Czech Republic, where there has been plenty of snow over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Having seen in the New Year in Hradec Kralove we're now heading from Liberec to Karlovy Vary.

Unfortunately, while I'm answering important e-mails and keeping an eye on the travel forum from time to time, submissions to Travel Notes will not be added to the directory until Saturday, January 7th at the earliest.

Our inbox backlog currently stands at 650.

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Travel Notes 2006

Sunday, January 01, 2006

The Official Travel Notes Blog

Happy New Year

New Year's Day 2005 in Kosice, Slovakia

The picture above was taken on New Year's Day, 2005 in Kosice - Slovakia.

Those of you on the Travel Notes Mailing List will already have received most of this in the e-mail I sent before Christmas but as I'm on the road over the Holiday period, I pre-wrote this to launch on New Year's Day.

What's New For Travel Notes in the Year Ahead?

Firstly, just as I thought we had everything how we wanted it, with the new Travel Notes design, and I started to work on reducing the submitted links in our in-box, I started receiving some feedback that, in select cases, the text on the Travel Notes website was too small.

Of course, we can't design adequately for every browser, screen resolution and operating system combination but I admit, on the larger screen resolution sizes, our font does tend to shrink too much.

Some people also surf with their browser settings changed to alter the font size.

While we won't ever be able to please everybody, I would like things to look better for most visitors looking for travel information and special travel deals on Travel Notes. So I've decided to make a few more subtle changes to correct the balance.

Every page on Travel Notes is still HTML and hard coded (unlike this blog here), with minimum reference to PHP and stylesheets, so it means I'm going to have to update every page again.

Some pages are still looking very tired, holding onto their much older design versions (we'll use the word design lightly here) so I'm going to be very busy in the early part of 2006 trying to paint every page with a uniformed look. And, of course, I still need to get some travelling in occasionally; so please bear with
me.

We've also got some new sections we're planning to add to Travel Notes in the New Year.

We're keeping this under wraps for the moment but one thing we will do is have a special Travel Blogs directory.

This hasn't been launched yet but already my Travel Blogs bookmarks is getting fairly large, so it's time to get them all online and share some of the travel adventures with our visitors.

While we're away..... If you'd like to see some of the places we visited in 2005, the Travel Notes 2006 Wall Calendar is in the shops. Hang it on your wall!

For our regular blog readers (yes it's actually taking off), what would you like to see more of on the Travel Notes Blog in 2006?

I won't be around to moderate comments for a while, so maybe you'd prefer to use the Travel Notes Feedback form.

As always, your feedback is appreciated.

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