The glamorous life on tour

We pulled out of our Vienna hotel at 9 a.m. and arrived in Stuttgart at 2 p.m. Funny, the very pleasant charter flight only took 55 minutes. But moving an orchestra is like moving an army. It's hurry up and wait...

Stuttgart is a lovely city, and they played last night in the Liederhalle, a 1956-era hall in the shape of a piano. The last time I was here in '04, the audience was conservative and well-heeled, and they parked their Mercedes and BMWs outside with their drivers. I did not attend last night because I had another story to write on deadline for the paper, and today we are on another plane!

The musician's opinion of the acoustics was mixed. Bob Sullivan, principal trumpet, said the stage was good but there was no "feedback" -- meaning they don't know how they sounded. Most folks thought the audience was the least enthusiastic of the tour so far -- very reserved, even though two encores were played.

Auf wiedersehen! We're off to Amsterdam...