Wednesday, June 4, 2008
On to Milano
I won't get there until about 9pm (21:00 for all us Europeans). But I have a one hour "layover" in Innsbruck. Just enough time to stick my head out of the train station to gaze at the Alps. But not enough time to see the city. I am not sure my next hotel(s) will have Internet access so this may the last post for a while.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Kunsthistorisches in the PM
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is known for its many paintings by the Renaissance masters. Also of interest to me were the historical artistic collections. These included ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine collections. (Alas, another museum was displaying a King Tut exhibit but I did not have time to visit it.) I always marvel at the abilities of these masters (of all these ages), but I am much more of a museum hound than anyone else in my family.
No photos from inside, but outside there was a cross-advertisement for the King Tut exhibit and some sort of soccer thingy they keep going on and on about. The 10 meter high statue is wearing the Austrian colors.
No photos from inside, but outside there was a cross-advertisement for the King Tut exhibit and some sort of soccer thingy they keep going on and on about. The 10 meter high statue is wearing the Austrian colors.
Schönbrunn in the AM
Schloss Schönbrunn is fabulous.
Obviously modeled on Versailles, it sometimes surpasses and sometimes falls short. The rooms are simply sumptuous. I do not know when I have seen so much gold leaf. The tour is quite extensive and this time, the self-guided tour focuses on Empress Maria Theresa because it was given to her and she used it extensively.
However, those who know me will not be surprised that I enjoyed the gardens best of all. These are just a few of the images I saw and fewer still that I captured. A rose covered archway 50 meters long.
The formal gardens.
There is a temporary band shell set up for a concert tonight. This obstructs the giant fountain of Neptune.
At the top of the hill behind the gardens is Gloriette, and the name is not an exageration.
Obviously modeled on Versailles, it sometimes surpasses and sometimes falls short. The rooms are simply sumptuous. I do not know when I have seen so much gold leaf. The tour is quite extensive and this time, the self-guided tour focuses on Empress Maria Theresa because it was given to her and she used it extensively.
However, those who know me will not be surprised that I enjoyed the gardens best of all. These are just a few of the images I saw and fewer still that I captured. A rose covered archway 50 meters long.
The formal gardens.
There is a temporary band shell set up for a concert tonight. This obstructs the giant fountain of Neptune.
At the top of the hill behind the gardens is Gloriette, and the name is not an exageration.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Wien day two
So I did day one of the tourist thing. I did all the things my family hates about me on vacations.
In the morning, I went to the Imperial Palace. A nice thing they did to personalize the tour was to take you through the life of Empress Elizabeth (or "Sisi"). Then I walked the Ringstrasse, a loop around the old city that oozes the Viennese lifestyle. I took particular care to see the University of Vienna, where THE Austrian School of Economics started. I stopped for lunch at a cafe - I had only had a pastry for breakfast and was hungry. I ate well but decided to have a beer with it. A mistake. All I wanted afterward was a nap. Instead, I just dawdled over lunch for a while to recover.
Then, onto the Belvedere, a magnificent schloss and now an art museum. I came back downtown for my afternoon coffee and am resting before going out in the evening. I hope to stick my toe in the Danube. It won't be blue for long.
- I walked a lot.
- No, I mean a lot - including museum corridors, possibly 10 miles or more.
- I went to stuffy old art and history museums.
- I constantly changed my mind on what to do next.
- I got turn around (at least once), but insisted on figuring it out myself rather than asking anyone.
- I missed a metro stop and had to backtrack.
In the morning, I went to the Imperial Palace. A nice thing they did to personalize the tour was to take you through the life of Empress Elizabeth (or "Sisi"). Then I walked the Ringstrasse, a loop around the old city that oozes the Viennese lifestyle. I took particular care to see the University of Vienna, where THE Austrian School of Economics started. I stopped for lunch at a cafe - I had only had a pastry for breakfast and was hungry. I ate well but decided to have a beer with it. A mistake. All I wanted afterward was a nap. Instead, I just dawdled over lunch for a while to recover.
Then, onto the Belvedere, a magnificent schloss and now an art museum. I came back downtown for my afternoon coffee and am resting before going out in the evening. I hope to stick my toe in the Danube. It won't be blue for long.
Wunderbar Wien!
My new favorite city is gorgeous. When I first saw Paris, I did not know that a city, the whole city, could be so aesthetically pleasing. I grew up acculturated with the typical American disdain for the French (Their tanks have three gears in reverse. The French salute is the Nazi salute but with two arms, yuck, yuck, yuck). But then I saw Paris and I understood why it was just not worth having any battles there. Paris is more beautiful than than my impressions of London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, and definitely Washington, DC. Now that I have seen Vienna, I place it on a par with Paris. However, the Viennese appear to be much more comfortable with their city and their history than are the Parisians.
What makes the comparison fair is that there is a distinct Viennese style of architecture just as there is a distinct Parisian style (my father, the architect, could actually name them for me). The photos here make my point. In both cases, each successive building reflects that style, reinterprets it, builds on it, adds a new twist but does not fundamentally alter the concept. So on any street corner, you can look around and see variations on a theme. You walk down a block or two and the variations have changed but the theme is still there. Now this is difficult to maintain into the 21st century, I admit, but even there, the modern styles are designed not to clash with the old.
This reflecting the old is taken quite literally in the famous Hass-Haus
directly opposite St. Stephen cathedral.
What makes the comparison fair is that there is a distinct Viennese style of architecture just as there is a distinct Parisian style (my father, the architect, could actually name them for me). The photos here make my point. In both cases, each successive building reflects that style, reinterprets it, builds on it, adds a new twist but does not fundamentally alter the concept. So on any street corner, you can look around and see variations on a theme. You walk down a block or two and the variations have changed but the theme is still there. Now this is difficult to maintain into the 21st century, I admit, but even there, the modern styles are designed not to clash with the old.
This reflecting the old is taken quite literally in the famous Hass-Haus
directly opposite St. Stephen cathedral.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Getting to Wien
I got here pretty uneventfully after a seven hour train ride. It was very comfortable though. I found my hotel, Hotel Stadhalle, (conveniently located three blocks from the train station). It is a nice little hotel with a beautiful courtyard (see below) and wireless Internet access (hence this post).
I got settled around 6pm and decided to head downtown to look around and eat dinner (by 3-day metro ticket museum reduction package) and when I got there it started raining. OK, I will duck under the ubiquitous huge umbrellas that cafe's put out and have dinner. Well, rain tuned to thunder, and a then a downpour, and then hail! Interesting at first but, as in increased, each patron gradually moved inside as the awnings strained under the pressure. Waiting it out my be an excuse for me to have a beer perhaps.
The upside is that, in the hustle, I got to talking with a nice young couple who have immigrated to Austria from the Philippines. Very fun discussion - they where proud of the current California governor (an Austrian you see) and asked me who I supported in the election. I steered away from politics, especially when they asked how Bush ever got elected. Finally the rain stopped an I returned to the hotel. Big day planned for tomorrow.
I got settled around 6pm and decided to head downtown to look around and eat dinner (by 3-day metro ticket museum reduction package) and when I got there it started raining. OK, I will duck under the ubiquitous huge umbrellas that cafe's put out and have dinner. Well, rain tuned to thunder, and a then a downpour, and then hail! Interesting at first but, as in increased, each patron gradually moved inside as the awnings strained under the pressure. Waiting it out my be an excuse for me to have a beer perhaps.
The upside is that, in the hustle, I got to talking with a nice young couple who have immigrated to Austria from the Philippines. Very fun discussion - they where proud of the current California governor (an Austrian you see) and asked me who I supported in the election. I steered away from politics, especially when they asked how Bush ever got elected. Finally the rain stopped an I returned to the hotel. Big day planned for tomorrow.
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