The wife and I had a great weekend! It isn't that often that we get to spend the whole weekend together just doing what we want to do.
Saturday we got a chance to hang out with two of our favorite people; Peter and Lauren Sparr. Peter is my cousin of some sort. We think he is my 2nd cousin once removed. His paternal grandmother was sister to my maternal grandmother. If anybody know how exactly that works out let me know. Anyway, we all headed out to the Winzer Stube in Husdon, WI. This is supposed to be one of the best German restaurants in the country. I have been hearing about it for years so I was pretty pumped. We were not let down. This place had a bit of kitschy atmosphere but the service was great and the food was dang good. I had the wiener-schnitzel. It is lightly breaded veal cutlet, pan fried, garnished with capers and anchovies, served with spätzle, Bavarian white cabbage and red cabbage. The Mrs. had the schnitzel burger and was a bit let down. Her food was good but it just wasn't a very good fit. There was a huge portion of schnitzel on a bun, and a side salad.
The next day we spend the morning bumming around. We went to our favorite place on earth, Mickey's Diner. Then we hit church at the cathedral and visited my Brother Joe's family and her Grandmother, in White Bear Lake. We made our way home stopping for coffee and ice cream along the way. I fell asleep on the couch watching the USA vs. Canada, while my better half studied for one of her many accounting classes.
Once I was fully rested we headed out to the HistoricJamesJ.HillHouse on Summit Ave in Saint Paul. We became members of the MN historical Society several months ago and we try to use our membership whenever we can. Before our concert we got a guided tour of the mansion. We were shown all kinds of really awesome detail in the house. The two things that really stick out were the gas lights and the hand carvings in the woodwork.

This concert was a celebration of Polish piano genius, Frederic Chopin; he would have been 200 today. I am not a huge classical music guy but if I have to sit and listen to music Piano music would be my choice. I have always been envious of musical composers. To be able project thoughts ideas and feelings through music is an astounding feat.
One of the musicians featured was a contemporary of Chopin's named Franz Liszt. Liszt was my favorite musician of the ones being featured. His music was really expressive with rhythm and volume. The music program we received described him as “The Hungarian Giant” and “The Keyboard Destroyer”. I guess Liszt was a real character and kind of a rock star in his day.
The last man featured was French pianist Claude Debussy. Debussy was probably my least favorite of the three. I didn't really find his music as expressive as the others. It’s not that I didn't find it enjoyable but, it just wasn't up my alley.
One of the musicians featured was a contemporary of Chopin's named Franz Liszt. Liszt was my favorite musician of the ones being featured. His music was really expressive with rhythm and volume. The music program we received described him as “The Hungarian Giant” and “The Keyboard Destroyer”. I guess Liszt was a real character and kind of a rock star in his day.
The last man featured was French pianist Claude Debussy. Debussy was probably my least favorite of the three. I didn't really find his music as expressive as the others. It’s not that I didn't find it enjoyable but, it just wasn't up my alley.
My phone didn't catch the audio very well so this isn't actually him playing but the song Liebesträume by Liszt was in the program
The whole concert was really nice.



