Fish and Haydn

Yesterday's weather called for an evening on the terrace! Ragnhild and I went to an italian restaurant right near the Skola Dopravni, the dorms where we live. It's just up the hill and has a decent view of the city (not a beautiful city from above, though the actual buildings here in the centre of town are quite ornate). The menu was huge and I couldn't decide on what to order. Everything looked good but just didn't fit my mood. When the waiter finally came around, I asked him for some advice. He mentioned that they had sea wolf with rosemarry potatoes baked in the oven. I asked him more about the sea wolf, as I'd never heard of that before, and replied, "Would you like to see it?". I wasn't sure if he was going to bring out a filet or the actual dish or perhaps even the whole fish. Not two moments later was he back with the sea wolf, the entire fish, on a plate. Caught me a little off guard, but no big deal. I've seen fish before. I told him I would try it, something a little new. Ragnhild changed her mind from a risotto dish to salmon, another fish he brought out. About 40 minutes later, our waiter returned with our meals. I could only laugh that the same two fish came out, looking just as they previously had, but covered in breadcrumbs. I was not expecting a whole fish for dinner! Thankfully the waiter was kind enough to cut it open for me, take out the backbone, and remove the head. Dinner was certainly an adventure. Ragnhild and I talked about our hometowns a lot and discovered that we live in two totally different places. She comes from a town of maybe 3,000 along a fiord on the western side of Norway and I come from a sauna surrounded by palm trees and beaches. We both learned to not take for granted where we live!
I had a wonderful lesson today, almost 2 hours again, on the Haydn D major concerto. It's so good to finally be studying again and to be criticized and challenged in helpful ways. I have so many things to work on, and only 22 hours before my next lesson! Mr. Eldan has so many wonderful musical ideas as well as methods of working out technical passages. I'm growing ever more excited to be here at the festival.
Okay, off to find some lunch and then take the tram back up to the dorm to practice. Tonight I'll be back here in the city for a concert of gypsy music and classical composers' take on it (Brahms and Sarasate). Should be good stuff. :)