Danube

Thursday we finally were able to leave Vienna. We drove up the Danube, the Great River that flows from the Black Forest, just miles from France, through a dozen or more nations, and then empties into the Black Sea. Just to see a little more of it.

Stopping briefly at the Melk monastery

Looking down river from Melk; castles everywhere

Looking at one of the great river cruise ships

Not the only way to see the Danube

Return To Kunsthistorischemuseum

The KHM has long been our favorite museum, and probably still is, given our unusual art history interests. I posted on it in August of 2010, and promise not to duplicate any of the pix posted then. But to appreciate the full glory of the KHM, you must look at the 2010 pix.

The KHM has a number of Durers--we'll be seeing more of
him--this being a 1511 altar piece

The point of which is to call attention to Durer's little self-
portrait/promo in the lower right; some say Durer was the
first "real" artist, that is, doing art for art's sake (who was
Art? I have always wondered); and certainly the first real 
artist/business person/entrepreneur (everyone else was 
sucking up to dukes/popes/cardinals/kings for patronage
and commissions)

Holbein, Jr.'s Jane Seymour

In the very large Breughel room, copying the Peasant
Wedding--and skipping some of the biggest and best
Breughels anywhere--see the 2010 entry

Team Rubens; I love this painting--attributed to Peter Paul,
but noted that his students Wildens did the landscape,
Snyders did the animals, and Van Dyke extended in all four
directions

After lunch we climbed the new platform to
see the gorgeous Klimts that adorn the upper
walls in the great rotunda; a history of art,
sort of

One of the greatest of the Vermeers, his
Art of Painting

Jan van Eyck's portrait of a gold smith friend;
very old, van Eyck the first to extensively
use oil

Lorenzo Lotto's Goldmith in Three Views--tell me this is not
a 19th century work; no, 1530; part of the argument going
on then about which was the superior art, painting or
sculpture

Specimen from the Arcimboldo Room

Caravaggio's David and Goliath (Caravaggio himself
playing the part of Goliath)

And plenty of Velasquez and more; after
the paintings, we did the Egyptian and Greek
and Roman rooms, and more; another
wonderful day at the KHM!

Vienna: Hundertwasserhaus

We got the young family to the airport after Schoenbrunn, where they embarked on their return to the US and the Bay area. Their travels were not without incident and mishap, but that's their story, and within a couple days they and their luggage were all back home. Vicki and I spent the rest of the day reorganizing, cleaning, and so on, and already missing Penelope; although the RV now seemed so much larger....

Next day we had planned on spending at the Kunsthistorischemuseum, but owing to some errands to do in town, we got a late start, and decided to do some other things. As I have often observed, we only make plans so we can change them. But most always, as this today, the changes are for the better.

Our travels that day took us first to an ice cream parlor on Schwedenplatz (yum),
then to a candy store on Stephenplatz, and one more time, into the great church

And then to a post office, and then a long but interesting walk
back to the Albertina and lunch at the Hotel Sacher; Sacherwurst
and apfelstrudel, and no torte

We thought we would see the Albertina after lunch

But we spent so much time and money at its excellent giftstore, we decided to
forego the museum; this turned out to be a good thing, since most of the Durers
we wanted to see were away, on loan to the German National Museum Durer
exhibit in Nuremburg; which we saw in July

So, to kill time before the showing of The Third Man we
took the #1 tram, which covers much of the Ringstrasse
before ending at the Prater; and, on the near east side,
looked up and saw the Hundertwasserhaus; we spent the
next couple hours there and at another nearby Hundertwasser
structure

The Hundertwasserhaus is an apartment building built by and in accordance with the
aesthetic/architectural principles of Friedensreich Hundertwasser; whose main
principle seems to be that "the straight line is godless and immoral"; sort of indebted
to Gaudi, a century earlier, but interesting nonetheless; there are scores of
Hundertwasser buildings in Europe and elsewhere

So we spent some time looking at all this and educating ourselves a bit

Ditto

And then walked over a few blocks away to see a similar
Hundertwasser structure

And some of its interior

And then trammed back to the Opera area to see The Third Man, a 1949 classic
set in Vienna I have always wanted to see in Vienna; I enjoyed it greatly; all in
all, it was a pretty good serendipitous sort of day

Schoenbrunn

Our last outing together was a Monday afternoon visit to Schoenbrunn, the Hapsburg's summer palace in Vienna. Alas, another "no fotos" experience, but there were a few exterior pix...

Approaching the main palace building

Looking back into the gardens area

Closer up

Side gardens

Garden view of palace; Versailles' only real rival, they say;
but Schoenbrunn was just the summer get-away palace...

Vienna Heurigen and Biergarten

We got together for several meals...

Fischer Brau was just around the block from
the apartment

And we particularly enjoyed the ribs and mixed grill there;
and bier

And at a favored heurigen (wine garden) in Neustift am
Walde (the same one Vicki and I visited in 2010)

Assuring Penelope this is going to be OK

Part of interior of heurigen

Looking up toward the vineyards

The grapes do not have to travel far

Wine in capsule form

Looking back across the heurigen

Jeremy, Rebecca, and Penelope

Vienna Naschmarkt and Secession

After Rebecca and Jeremy toured for a couple days, and we rested a couple days, we met Rebecca at the Naschmarkt and its Saturday flea market, renowned across Europe. The regular market has been there since the 15th century--it has grown to offer just about anything edible--nasching--while the flohmarkt occurs just on Saturdays.

A lot of urban flea markets are out in the, um, less interesting areas of town;
not so Vienna, where it is smack in town and well within the beautiful area

Typical building in view; Vienna has lots of Art Nouveau, but not as consistently
or densely as old Prague

More flea market, more interesting buildings

Ditto

Ditto again

And again; the four or five aisles go on for nearly a kilometer, I guess; we were
profoundly impressed; but we didn't buy anything; were we more stationary and
domestic, and not nomads, I suppose we might have...there was plenty of
interesting stuff

Now we are in the regular market, which features ingredients from just about any
cuisine; well, maybe not Eskimo; my one purchase, from an authentically
Turkish-looking person, in a Turkish-looking store, was a can of the wonderful
Kurukahaveci Mehmet Effendi coffee, which I stood in line to purchase at the
Spice Market in Istanbul; ah, Turk Kahvesi...

At the end of the market,we noticed we were just across the strasse from the
Secession, one of Vienna's and art history's great places; so, of course, we we
went in and toured (it was hot outside, and the museum looked cool within)

Mostly for the close-up Klimt (vastly over-rated, IMHO;
but then I am still bitter that they didn't fly the Confederate
(traitor) flag nor do the Rebel Yell)((that's a joke, son;
actually I despise all the trappings of the American South))

After which Rebecca and Penelope went back to the apartment for some
family time, and Vicki and I toured the Gemaldegalerie of the Academy of
Fine Arts; they have a strictly enforced "no fotos" policy, so I have little to
show for it except this picture of Schiller, staring across the park...

At Goethe