Gondolas Galore!
We breakfasted with our newfound friends from Tulsa and California in our friendly little hotel that reminds us of Melrose Place. We can’t get over how friendly everyone here is! The guests are all smiles and keen to know what’s on everyone’s agenda for the day. It’s refreshing! We all had a couple of drinks and a swim this afternoon in the hotel pool together too!
Aspen seems to be the arts and cultural hub of the Colorado Rockies, with galleries and theatres and sculptures everywhere. This beautiful little town, filled with tall, leafy Aspen trees, is also host to a world-renowned music festival (creatively named The Aspen Music Festival), which just so happens to be on right now! Every afternoon from 4pm, there is classical music being performed down at the “tent”. When we were told about the tent, we envisaged a big top, temporarily erected for the festival. We were told they open the “flaps” so that you don’t have to buy a ticket for inside. Instead, you can sit on the lawn outside and hear every note played with crystal clarity, absolutely free of charge. Once we’d laid eyes on it though we were amazed to see it was an expansive, modern looking theatre, with open bench seating that was most definitely a permanent structure on the Aspen skyline. It is designed to look like a tent with a white canvas point on the roof but inside it was state-of-the-art. It was beautiful. We were told to take a picnic; sit on a blanket; take in the sultry sounds of the orchestra. What a great way to spend a warm afternoon!
We do have to admit, the very first performance of the day did leave us wondering whether we would indeed, put our bottoms on the lawn and settle in for the full programme. There were no less than eight cellos, all being played by blokes, standing around in a circle around a younger man with a big rectangular box (it looked a bit like a suitcase) that he periodically slammed with a mallet. The pianist was playing the most repetitive “noise”, sounding as if he was having some sort of fit and falling flat on his piano with all his body weight, in an out of tune mess. Initially Sam thought he was playing wrong notes and was embarrassed for him but we soon discovered it was intentional! It was rhythmic, we’ll give it that. First the slam of the mallet, then the one quick bow action of the cellos and then the cacophony of sound from the piano. In between instuments it was dead quiet. The crowd was completely silent and you could hear a pin drop. Sam and I were looking at each other with high eyebrows, a look of confusion on our faces, miming: “this is SHOCKING!” to one another in agreement. You can imagine how surprised we were when the whole crowd stood at the conclusion of the performance and clapped for what seemed like way too long. They actually got a standing ovation! The crowd loved it! Maybe we are just cultural ignoramuses.
Thankfully the music sweetened and the rest of the afternoon, in the warm sun, sipping wine and soaking up the atmosphere on the manicured green lawn was brilliant!
We are feeling like gondola groupies, having ridden every gondola that’s going in this part of Colorado, so of course we felt it necessary to buckle up for a ride on the Silver Queen gondola in Aspen – the queen of the gondolas! She rises 3000 feet, over 2 miles, in fifteen minutes! Whoah! It was almost vertical in bits and the view was sensational! It’s the first gondola in the world to have a solar-powered music system onboard and with a little jack in each cabin, you can connect your own iPod and enjoy your own music in surround sound as you glide in style up and down the mountain! It was very cool.
We had a quick tour of the mountain top and took some photos of the view. Luckily the view was so impressive because the coffee at the restaurant sure wasn’t worth coming up for (it was dreadful!) You could see such a long way and there were mountains in every direction – some snow-covered on their peaks, others rocky and bald and still others covered in pines.
Today we were also stoked to catch up with Layla, daughter of our good friend Maz, and her 2 sisters Brianna and Katrina who are here on holidays from Australia too. Layla fell for a local boy more than a decade ago and has been residing in beautiful Aspen with him ever since. They now have 2 beautiful little boys (complete with cute little American accents) and it was great to spend a couple of hours chatting, reminiscing and soaking up the sun’s rays around her gorgeous pool. We were grateful for her many holiday tips (all put to use!) and for her generous hospitality. It was great to catch up!
Aspen, while still obviously a playground for the rich and famous, with its many designer shops and upmarket restaurants, feels quite different to Vail. There seem to be more suburban areas, with gorgeous houses and gardens. It’s almost a cross between Vail and Savannah. Lots of the streets around the town are completely blocked off to cars and are just for cycles. There are so many bikes around and it’s really leafy. We love it!
Tonight we had dinner in a great little Italian restaurant in ‘restaurant row’ in Aspen village. The table next to us was made up of a group of friends from different parts of the States that meet up in Aspen every year for 5 weeks over the summer. They were so funny! Not that we were intentionally eavesdropping but they were pretty loud and we were trying so hard not to giggle too loud about their conversations. The ladies, probably in their 70s, all looked like Barbra Streisand, dripping in jewellery, and the guys looked like Mel Brooks, dressed to the nines. They were hilarious, chatting about face lifts and furs and the behaviour of their wayward children! They caught our eye and then began including us in their hilarity! They were taking pictures of us and congratulating Sam on his scholarship, wishing him luck and cluing him in on what to expect at College. They told us Kansas wasn’t much to look at but that the people made up for it and said they were “good, wholesome, down home” people in Kansas! We had such a fun night and laughed all the way home!
