Sherlocking in Vienna

If there is anyone out there who reads my blog, you must be a very patient person. It has been nearly three months since my last post. I have not always been this lax. When Brad Keefauver and I were churning out SherlockPeoria as a weekly blog, I never missed a deadline. For 520 straight weeks, my article would be edited and complete and on time. It was send immediately to Brad and the new post  would be up on the web. I am quite proud of tat run in Sherlockian publishing.

It seems now days that I have more excuses than some pimplied youth explaining why their essay was not turned in on time - The Hound of the Baskervilles ate it; I was ironing and it burned up in a Silver Blaze; it was ran over by a Solitary Cyclist. Well, you get the picture. I won't use any of those excuses. Let's just say I am as busy as a one-armed Beekeeper.

My final deadline for the first book I am editing for the Baker Street Irregulars International Series, moved up by a year. I thought I had until 2016 and it turned out to be due before 2015. I am preparing my paper for the 2015 Japanese Sherlock Holmes Conference, where I will be one of the main speakers. I have completed a Power Point presentation for the Afghanistan Perceives' 40th Anniversary in September and I have written an article for Canadian Holmes. So you can see I have not been to much of a slacker, except when it comes to my own blog. It seems I have blogged down.

Finger Sherlock enjoying some sachertorte and Viennese coffee.

So now I am in Vienna, Austria for my job. Instead of going to the Freud or Mozart Museums, here I sit, blogging to my faithful followers, all 3 of you, my wife, my son, and my two daughters. They told me there would be no math involved with blogging. So I carried along my second favorite traveling companion, Finger Sherlock and we had quite a few adventures.

St. Stephen Cathedral

One of the more fascinating places I visited was St. Stephen's Cathedral, which the Viennese lovingly call "Steffl" and it is one of the city's main landmarks. This is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in the world. There has been a church on the site since 1147. The building seen today was created in stages beginning in 1303. The south tower reaches a height of 450 feet. A companion north tower was never completed. Instead, a Renaissance-style dome was built in 1579 where the Pummerin, a 44,380 lb  bell made from the metal of cannons captured during the second Turkish siege of 1683 now sits.

Street vendors are a great place for a walking lunch as I can attest to several times over, but no trip would be complete with sampling a fine cup of Viennese coffee and eating a sachertorte. This is  a flourless chocolate cake served with whipped cream. There are too many museums to see in a lifetime but the Freud Museum is worth an analytically visit. There are also museums for Beethoven and Mozart.

I will leave you with these few tid-bits of to think about and who knows, I might post again in a few months.

Happy Blogging!!

Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure

Somehow I believe the title of this play is misleading. Let's see a show of hands of all of you that think this will be the Last Adventure of the Great Detective? Just as I thought, not a single hand.

The Wyly Theatre is staging Steven Dietz's adaptation of the 1899 William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle play. This production is directed by Kevin Moriarty, need I go on? Okay, I will.

The Wyly Theatre is located in the heart of Dallas' Arts District and is an architectural marvel. The stage juts out into the seating area and is surround on three sides by the guests. This performance is broken into two acts separated by a 15-minute intermission.  The actors were superb and the sets were fantastic. The scene at Reichenbach left know doubts as to where it was for anyone that has been to the falls. The setting rooms and gas chamber were equally well crafted. The ingenious switch from locomotive to railway carriage was subtle but profound.

This brings us to the play itself. It never seemed to taken its own life. Maybe it was Moriarty's direction but something seemed just slightly lacking. All said, however, I would suggest anyone that have not seen it, head downtown Dallas and attend.  The play runs through May 25 but somehow I feel it won't be Sherlock Holmes' Final Adventure.