Q and A
Eskimo Festival in Fairbanks
Q.
We are planning a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, this summer. Are there any festivals featuring Eskimo culture, including music and dance? -- Judi Benade, Madison, Wis.
A. If you are in Fairbanks between July 15 and 18, you can attend the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. The centerpiece is traditional athletics of Eskimos and other Indians. Among them is the one-foot high kick, in which participants leap and kick a ball that is raised to increasing heights; the ear pull, a test of pain endurance in which facing opponents, with a strip of sinew attached to an ear of each, pull until one of them gives up; the greased pole walk; the four-man carry, in which one person must carry four others who may not touch the ground; the blanket toss, in which teams holding a blanket compete to toss a person the highest, and the knuckle hop, to see who can hop the farthest while stretched out on their toes and knuckles.
There are also Inuit and Indian dance contests, a competition for Queen of the Olympics and awards for the best traditional outfits worn by children. Native arts and crafts are sold at the event.
Preliminaries are held each day from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. and the finals from 4 until past midnight, perhaps until 2 or 3 A.M. (and when spectators walk outside, it will still be light). All the activities take place in the Big Dipper Ice Arena, 19th and Lathrop Streets. Admission is $10 a day; $7 for those 12 and younger or 65 and older. Information: World Eskimo Indian Olympics, Post Office Box 2433, Fairbanks, Alaska 99707, (907) 452-6646. Those in Fairbanks may pick up brochures at 211 Cushman Street.
A one-hour demonstration of the athletic events is offered at 8 P.M. daily between May 18 and Sept. 20 at Alaskaland Theater, in Alaskaland Park on Airport Way in Fairbanks. Admission is $5. Vienna State Opera Tickets
Q.
We plan to be in Vienna Oct. 9 and 10 and would like to go to the Vienna State Opera. How can I find out what is playing there and how to get tickets ahead of time? -- Mary Swayzee, St. Louis
A. At the Vienna State Opera on Oct. 9, "Der Rosenkavalier" will be presented, conducted by Leopold Hager, with Gwyneth Jones, Graziella Araya and Ildiko Raimondi singing. On Oct. 10 "Tosca" will be conducted by Michael Halasc, with Maria Abajan, Peter Dvorsky and Renato Bruson singing.
Performances at the State Opera sell out quite early, and the Austrian National Tourist Office suggests obtaining tickets as far ahead as possible. To get them directly from the ticket office, you should first send a request, without payment, to the Federal Theater Ticket Offices: Osterreichischer Bundestheaterverband/ Bestellburo, 3 Hanuschgasse, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, at least three weeks before the desired performance. You may also fax your request to (1) 51444 2969. From the United States, telephone numbers should be preceded by (011 43). Within 10 days of receipt, the ticket office will mail a reply. (The best seats are $150, and medium price seats are $40 to $80. The least expensive are about $10.) If you are notified that tickets are reserved for you, you must make payment more than 14 days before the performance, by bank transfer to the account of Osterreichische Bundestheater, account number 1-1131-7 at the Austrian National Bank, 3 Otto Wagner-Platz, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
Tickets can be picked up in Vienna at the Federal Theater office at 3 Hanuschgasse beginning seven days before the performance until the day before. On performance day, they can be picked up at the opera house.
Tickets can be ordered by telephone, (1) 5131513, using a credit card to pay, but only beginning six days before a performance. Tickets are then picked up at the State Opera box office the day of the performance.
To make buying a ticket easier, the tourist office suggests using a ticket or travel agency in Vienna that can supply State Opera tickets, which will cost 22 percent more than at the box office, plus expenses like calls or mailing. Here are such agencies:
Austrobus, Opernpassage, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, telephone (1) 564312; fax (1) 5872016.
ATT-Travel, 6 Josefsplatz, A-1220 Vienna, Austria, (1) 5124466; fax (1) 5123355.
Cityrama, 1 Borgsegasse, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, (1) 5341330; fax 4341222.
Ticket Office Flamm, 3 Karntner Ring, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, (1) 5124225; fax 5139962.
Ticket Office Hoberg, 3 Schottenring, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, (1) 3197840; fax (1) 3108071.
Ticket Office Holenia, 3 Albertinaplatz, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, (1) 5134467; fax (1) 5123355.
Intropa, 38 Karntnerstrasse, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, (1) 51514225; fax (1) 5124226.
Ticket Office OeVB, Opernpassage A-1010 Vienna, Austria, (1) 5862346; fax (1) 5877142. Battlefield at Agincourt
Q.
Can a traveler find the battlefield at Agincourt where Henry V of England fought the French? What can you see there now? -- Frederick H. Edwards, Amherst, Mass.
A. On Oct. 25, 1415, in the Hundred Years War, Henry V of England and his archers defeated a much larger French Army at Agincourt. Today the battlefield can be visited at the French village called Azincourt. The village of 250 inhabitants is 36 miles from Arras, about 110 miles north of Paris. There, at a small museum visitors can view a video (in English and French) describing the battle, see copies of arms and armor and are given a map with which they can then stroll out onto the nearby battlefield. The area today is overgrown fields with a cleared lawn in which an information table helps visitors visualize the scene in 1415. Several dummies are placed in the fields to indicate the positions of the troops. The museum, telephone 21.04.41.12, is open daily from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. May through September and 2 to 6 P.M. the rest of the year; admission is $1.85. World Cup Soccer
Q.
Who is selling tickets for the World Cup soccer matches in 1994, especially the games to be held at the Meadowlands in New Jersey? -- Anthony E. Fienber, Newark
A. The World Cup tournament will take place June 17 to July 17, 1994, and matches will take place in Foxboro Stadium near Boston; Soldier Field in Chicago; the Cotton Bowl in Dallas; the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit; the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.; Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.; Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif., and Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. The schedule will not be set until sometime this summer. To get the schedule and ticketing information when they are available, write to World Cup USA 1994, Post Office Box 1994, Los Angeles, Calif. 90051-1994.