Vienna, Day 4

Wednesday was a light day, probably because we are wearing down. We went to the Technology Museum, a combination science/technology museum and hands-on interactive kids' museum. It was amusing to see technology from my scientific lifetime enshrined in a museum. I was sad that the scanning electron microscope was out of order. Of course, I wonder if it ever was really accessible to museum patrons. The mass spectrometer was also entertaining, as it had its huge rack of electronics, with vacuum pump controllers etc. that Keenan and I both recognized. More intriguing were the cases of historical equipment from around 1900, things like old batteries and telescopes.

The most fun interactive displays were the simple physics experiments, but they were of little interest to the bus loads of children visiting that day. Too much knowledge needed to make them interesting, I fear.

A display on cast iron jewelry was intriguing. I didn't realize that cast iron was ever used for jewelry, but it was evidently popular in the late 1800s, as the initial impact of mass production on the jewelry world. This is the "casting tree," with all the pieces attached to their sprues that enable the metal to flow during the centrifugal casting process.

There was of course a display on flight, and Joren enjoyed the engines as always.

After the museum, we went back down to Stephensplatz, the huge shopping district around St. Stephen's Cathedral to find Österreichische Werkstätten, a local artist's coop featuring glass, pottery, fiber and jewlery. There I collected a black and white boat-shaped dish, with simple decorations that look very Art Deco to me. Again, it's packed up nicely to travel, so you'll have to wait to see it until we get home.

This ornate, gilded Russian Orthodox church is the view from our hotel room (over the railroad tracks). When we walked through the neighborhood near sunset the other evening, we took these photos.

Vienna, Day 3

On Monday, we split up at the train station. The boys headed one direction to the Museum of Military History (and then the Museum of Torture!) and I went another to the Belvedere Palace to see the Klimt paintings.

I showed the view from the gardens the night we arrived in Vienna, but here is how the front looks over the reflecting pond.

And here's the imposing front gate. The Belvedere Palace was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy. Evidently the Prince was short and not too handsome, but extremely intellectual. He was denied a military appointment by Louis XVI in his native France, but applied with the Habsburg Monarchy and rose to the top position of War Minister very quickly. The Upper Belevedere was the showplace for entertaining, while the Lower Belveder was where he actually lived during summers.

The Upper Belvedere currently houses the largest collection of Klimt paintings anywhere, including The Kiss, his most well known (see the link for larger photos). It is definitely better to see in real life, where the dimensionality of the paint and shifting colors depending on the angle of view are a vital part of the painting. One of the details I most enjoyed about some of the paintings were the frames, which Klimt designed himself and had built by his brother who was a goldsmith. They have echoing motifs and lettering. Somehow in photographs, I've found this to be totally ignorable.

The painting called Judith is a good example of the detailed frame. I also found that I had always focused on the woman and ignored the head in the lower right. The painting illustrates the Bible story of Judith, a Jewish woman who seduces the enemy commander and decapitates him. I also enjoyed his landscapes, views of a yellow palace through trees, which reminded me of the yellow of the Schoenbrunn Palace.

The Belvedere had other interesting paintings in their collection, including Monets and a Van Gogh, but the Klimts were by far the most popular. I had a quick lunch of asparagus pasta in the Palace Cafe (it's asparagus season here and I've eaten it everywhere we've gone), and decided to continue my Klimt odyssey at another museum, the Leopold, in the town center.

Another famous Klimt painting, Death and Life, hangs in the Leopold Museum, along with photos of the original painting as it was exhibited in the early 1900s, before he reworked it, adding more detail to both Life and Death and changing the background color completely.

I wasn't familiar with the faculty paintings scandal. Klimt was commissioned to make a series of paintings for the ceiling of the Great Hall at the University of Vienna. They were attacked as pornography and never installed in the building. Klimt bought them back, and during WWII they were removed to a palace in southern Austria for safekeeping, but were destroyed by a fire the day before the war ended. Only black and white photographs of them exist. The museum had full size prints of them mounted for the first time, and they are quite imposing and powerful. Above is Medicine, scandalous for its inclusion of a pregnant woman and an old woman next to a skeleton (death).

A huge collection of Egon Schiele paintings was also on exhibit (I saw more at the Belvedere), and I was quite taken with his landscapes. Most interesting were photographs from which he excerpted the building bones and his sketches displayed alongside.

Also at the Leopold was an Art Nouveau jewelry exhibit, with incredible pieces like this jeweled and enameled belt clasp and pieces by Lalique and Faberge.

When I finally met back up with the guys, we walked to a local Mediteranean restaurant through the neighborhood filled with embassies to eat antipasto, pasta and fish. Dessert was best. Joren and I ate the "chocolate parfait" which amounted to frozen chocolate mousse inside a chocolate cone, upside down on thin wafers of pineapple with passion fruit seeds. Keenan had strawberry tiramisu, all to himself as he has a cold we don't want to catch.

Vienna, Day 2

On Sunday, we boarded a busy train out to Schloss Schoenbrunn, the Imperial Summer Palace. The Palace encompasses 1400 rooms. When we debarked the train, Joren asked how far to the palace, which was just ahead. A better question was how far down to the entrance, which was a bit of a hike. This is the photo from inside the gardens, looking back at the palace proper.

Inside we bypassed the long ticket lines, having our Sisi tickets from the Hofburg. Once we gathered the prevalent audio guides, we headed into the royal apartments. Again, no photos were allowed, so I bought some postcards to substitute. First is the Round Chinese Room, with lacquered Chinese panels inset around the room, and heavy gold ornamentation forming shelves for blue and white Chinese porcelain.

Next, the Millions Room, with Indian mosaics cut apart and reassembled into new scenes and placed around the room with walnut paneling and the everpresent gilding.

Finally, the Great Gallery, only half of which we saw, as it is being restored. We were able to peak through to an area they were working on to see the worn gilt and non-glossy white enamel. They are also updating the electrical service, which was original, as in Edison installed it.

I'd say that Schoenbrunn does compete with Versailles for the most impressive palace we've seen.

The gardens are enormous, as this photo from the same place as before, but looking the opposite direction shows. In the far distance up the hill, you can see the Gloriette. Here's the fountain in the near distance.

I made it up that hill, one section at a time, keeping to the shade as much as possible, with an ice cream to cool me off (it has seemed very hot to me, although Keenan and Joren think it's pleasant here). Here's the view from the fountain back toward the palace. In the far distance, to the right, you can see the the city center.

And here's the view from the balcony at the Gloriette. Yes, I have pictures with me there to prove I made it up and back, but it's better to see the view than me.

The underside off the Gloriette roof is pretty amazing.

We ate a late lunch at a cafe on the periphery of the gardens. I had a Chef salad with ham and egg. Mixed salads here are quite different than at home. This one had greens, egg and ham, but also a cole slaw, pickled green bean salad, cucumber salad (in yogurt or sour cream), white asparagus salad in a creamy dressing, potato salad and tomatoes. The boys both ate two long sausages wrapped in bacon (!) with fries. It's a wonder they could move afterward.

Since we had a bit of afternoon remaining, we took the train downtown to Stephansplatz to see St. Stephen's Cathedral. The pictures inside are too dark to see much, and the outside photos are really too near to get a good view. Scaffolding also hides part of the facade, as the stained stone is being cleaned. Joren wanted to take the catacombs tour which was just leaving, so he and his father went down. I declined, not because the visual of bones bother me, but because I find the smell of catacombs to be annoying. No photos of the stacked bones were allowed, but just the stories were enough for me. Evidently the smell became so distressing that it deterred churchgoers from mass, so convicts had to be forced to clean and stack the bones neatly. Ick!

We skipped dinner and went to the nightly snacks at our hotel lounge (a perk for Mariott rewards members). This has been a salvation to us, as they have water available, both bottled mineral water and tap water with ice. Water is something not commonly served in Czech and Austrian restaurants, so we've bought a lot of bottled water for meals. It's never enough, since it is warm. We also have free breakfast at the lounge, which beats the 24 Euro room service breakfast. It's very nice, with eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes, cold meats and cheeses, breads and fruit, cereal and yogurt. Joren is in love with the coffee machine, and has started begging us to reconsider plumbing one in during our upcoming kitchen remodel.

Vienna, Day 1

On Saturday, we ventured into the old center of Vienna to visit the Hapsburgs, the old rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. The Hofburg was their winter palace. This part of the complex is actually the library.

The palace complex is right in the middle of town; we popped up out of the underground literally beside it, although it took some wandering for us to find that out. We purchased the Sisi tickets that allow viewing of the three exhibits within the Hofburg as well as two other offsite exhibits. After collecting our audio guides, we headed into the Silberkrammer, the Imperial Silver Collection, which actually encompasses all manner of silver, gold, glass and porcelain, mostly for the Emperor's table.

This extensive set of dishes was for the hunting lodge table, rustic you know. I could have spent ages in there looking at the details, but the place just went on and on.

There was a severe shortage of gold. Actually everything that looked like solid gold really wasn't, as that got melted down to fund wars. Gilded bronze and porcelain, however, were in great supply.

Each place setting was pretty extensive, since a typical meal consisted of 9-14 courses, with up to thirty different dishes total. Of course, each wine had its own glass, and each diner had their own wine and water flasks.

When you dine with the emperor, there must be a set of matched gold candelabra and sweetmeat dishes. Since the number of guests could be high, the table might be long, requiring quite a number.

The collection just went on and on, each set more gorgeous than the last. This set, a gift from Queen Victoria, was so fragile it can't be used -- it's for admiring only.

Next, we went to the Sisi Exhibition. Sisi was the nickname of Empress Elizabeth, wife to Emperor Frantz-Josef. No photos were allowed there, so I bought some post cards to photograph. The Empress was quite the beauty, with ankle length hair, washed in eggs and cognac (it took all day), and dressed to the tune of three hours per day.

This painting shows her lavish hair styles, including diamond star hair pins.

The Kaiseraparments, the Imperial Apartments, were quite amazing, especially Sisi's private rooms which included exercise equipment such as a high bar and rings in the doorway. She was dedicated to maintaining her figure. Unfortunately, she was also quite a melancholic figure and was assassinated while traveling. She became a beloved figure in her death, although not quite the perfect Empress in life.

Finally, we also visited the Royal Treasury, to see the crown jewels and other treasures. Again, it's just mind-knumbing to see the enormity of the collections and know this is just a small part of what is distributed around many sites.

We gave our poor feet a rest and had dinner at the hotel. After being hot all day (no air conditioning in packed rooms), it was lovely to sit outside in the cool breeze.

Prague to Vienna

Before moving on to Austria, here's the photos of Czech money we've been using. Called koruna in Czech, but crowns in English, the current exchange is about 16 crowns per dollar. These are the paper denominations; I don't have photos of the coins yet, although Joren has a full set stashed away to bring home. We spent all the bills.

Also, I wanted to show my feet on hobblestones around the Prague prime meridian (15 degrees east of the Greenwich Prime Meridian). Every inch of old European streets is covered with cobblestones, a very hobbling experience for those with bum legs. Actually, the leg is doing well. I've certainly been walking many miles every day.

Friday marked the end of our Prague trip and the beginning of our Vienna adventure. We risked our toes on the fast escalators with luggage and whipped over to the nearby train station to catch a EuroCity train to Wien with only a few stops. Unfortunately, our hotel in Wien is near the south train station, which is completely closed for reconstruction, so we had to go to another train station and then find a taxi to take us back south to the Imperial Riding School. Well, the public rooms of the hotel were formerly the Imperial Riding School, at least.

After skipping lunch on the five hour train ride, we were famished. The hotel directed us to a nearby brewery/pub with traditional Austrian food, Salm Brau. Joren opted to try the Viennese version of snitzel (made with veal instead of pork) and served with parsley potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Keenan ate the stelze, a haunch of ham with bread dumpling, beer cabbage, mustartd and horseradish.

I opted for the seasonal special, asparagus topped with ham and cheese, served with parsley potatoes.

We ate dessert, too, chocolate cake for Joren and a shared apricot/cheese strudel for Keenan and me, before we waddled over to the Belvedere Palace, directly behind the restaurant. We climbed the long slope of the garden, checked out the location of the old menagerie, peeked in on the wedding taking place in the palace, and then walked the long way round back to our hotel. Another day, earlier when they’re open, we’ll go back to view the Klimt paintings there, including The Kiss.