VIENNA, AUSTRIA OR LARAMIE, WYOMING TAKE YOUR PICK!

My New Year's night was filled with superb entertainment both on PBS and The Smithsonian Channel. First it was Aerial America then the New Year's Day concert from Australia. Did you see either one?

First, WYOMING  was splendid. My four months in living in Laramie from September to December in 1999 was most revealing. I traveled extensively around this "Cowboy State" taking in all of the vistas and historic sights. Wyoming has 300 days of sunshine a year and few people. It is the smallest state in the Union.

Yellow Stone National Park was closed for the season however I did get to see Devil's Tower. Jackson Hole, Casper, Sheridan, Cody, Cheyenne and the Grand Teton mountains.

Wyoming is just north of Colorado. Cheyenne is Mecca!  Each summer Frontier Days is a week of rodeos, entertainment and everything else that is Cowboy! I even saw Reba, The Beach Boys and Chris LeDoux perform during the week in July.

I was mobilized by buying a yellow Cheyenne truck in Cheyenne. I even bought two cars from Rinker's Junk Yard and made a buck. Further, I took a course in meteorology while there. Wyoming weather is not for sissies. Winters can be brutal. Having driven cross country from the Brookfields I witnessed some of the USA in the Fall. All in all, my adventure was positive. On the way back I even visited Father Biondi at St. Louis University.

If you are looking for a treat why not travel to Wyoming and see How the West was won! Museums host an incredible array of firearms.

VIENNA

Once again, the grandiloquence (extravagantly colorful) showed the Old World architecture  both inside the hall and out. My theater provides for me images as big as life. Omalu everything connotes the wealth of just about everything. Painted images on the lofty ceilings are just one example of the splendor as witnessed around the world.

Strauss waltzes and polkas kept my attention as the evening progressed. Earlier in the day I heard this concert live on PBS radio. The imagery, as seen on television, adds a dimension not easy to describe. The floral displays add additional beauty. The vast crowd represented the wealthy from around the world.  I truly felt as if I were seated in the audience.

There's a certain beauty in music.. no matter where.. or why. This one concert featuring the Radetzky  March with the audience clapping always ends this annual performance no matter what your musical tastes are!

ROBERT LOUIS POTVIN
Box 11
West Brookfield, MA

 

Grand Tetons