Traveling is hard work. It is even harder with a grandchild whom one adores and attends to every waking (her waking) moment. So when we got to Vienna, the last and longest stop on Rebecca and Jeremy's tour, Vicki and I and Penelope took a day or so off, to rest, take short walks, explore, nap, and generally charm everyone in the campground (Penelope).
Rebecca and Jeremy had rented another apartment, a one bedroom unit, on the near north side, while the grandparents and grandchild were staying at our favorite Camping Wien West. As it conveniently turned out, we were only a one-transfer bus ride from the apartment. Public transportation in Vienna is so good nothing is more than a transfer or so away, whether on bus, tram, or subway.
...recounts the retirement travels of Mark and Vicki Sherouse since 2008...in Asia and the Pacific, New Zealand, Europe, South America, and Africa, as well as the US and Canada. Our website, with much practical information, is: https://sites.google.com/site/theroadgoeseveron/.Contact us at mark.sherouse@gmail.com or vsherouse@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, August 30, 2010
Still More Vienna, 3
We had a good stay at Camping Wien; very helpful staff; out near the Wienerwald (aka Weenie World) |
The gist here, I think, is that it will cost you 36 euros if you don't pick up your doggie's droppings |
Don't mind the gap: on selected Vienna subway cars, a little ramp extends for baby carriages, wheeled luggage, etc. |
Futbol fans; the Vienna Rapid plays in a stadium near our subway station; costumery and paraphrenalia are similar to American football fans |
In the station by the opera is the Vienna Opera Toilets, where, for 60 cents, you can answer Nature's call to the strains of the Danube Waltz |
Interior view |
I spent too much of my youth and young adulthood reading and puzzling over the writings of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein |
I'm (still) taking suggestions for a caption... |
Still More Vienna, 2
Vienna is where cafe society was born, and Hawelka's was perhaps the most famous |
I had a coffee, melange, and a strudel, and lamented that the day of the smoke-filled cafe, writers and artists, is now gone; they're all down at the Starbucks, I was told, for the wifi |
In 1989, we had the Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher |
This time, we thought we'd try the other "authentic" source, Demel; Vienna is the capital of the pastry world, they say, and Demel is the capital of pastry in Vienna, they say; therefore... |
One of Demel's showrooms |
We had the little Sacher Torte that afternoon |
Our subway passed by the Schloss Schoenbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburgs; we had gone there in 89 and so skipped it this time; too much Austrian official yellow paint can be hard on the eyes |
Still More Vienna
More sights from Vienna
Street scene in old town |
Vienna's Rathaus, made up for the International Film Festival |
It faces the Hofburg Theatre, with a park and huge food court in between the two |
Food court |
The Rathaus restaurant, where, in 1989, I had my first cream of garlic soup; no longer on the menu... |
Vienna plague monument |
Midnight ride of Franz Josef I, Rathaus in background |
The Hofburg, Austria's answer to Versailles (well, technically, I guess that would be the Schoenbrunn, a few miles out in the woodburbs); we went to the Hofburg in 89, so skipped it this time |
Mozart gets a nice statue, near the opera, but he has to share this town with Haydn, Beethoven, Gluck, Mahler, Schoenberg, all the Strauss's, et al. |
Vienna's Karlskirche
Kunsthistorischemuseum
That's German for art history museum. The KHM is one of our favorite museums. It was one of the first purpose-built public museums, it's beautiful (the Hapsburgs spared no expense in building it), they collected art for 700 years, and the collection is much to our liking with all its Cranachs and Breughels and Arcimboldos and others.
Kunsthistorischemuseum, part of the MuseumsQuartier |
Marie Theresa presiding over it all |
Looking up into the dome, as everyone does upon entering the building |
Somebody killing a centaur |
Cranach's "Judith"; compare Klimt's (earlier post) |
Lots of painters around |
View from our lunch table, looking down from the dome area, 2nd floor |
Another large Breughel |
Breughel's "Hunters in Snow," said to be the first European painting to depict snow |
And, Breughel's "Conversion of Paul" (fairly well buried in the larger canvass) |
Vicki really likes Arcimboldos; I think they're scary |
Half the KHM is its classical collection, which nearly rivals the British Museum; what's especially cool about the KHM is that each room is designed and decorated in accordance with its artifacts |
Aristotle |
Display of Roman busts |
Collection of Etruscan helmets |
Second-largest ancient cameo yet found |
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Heuriger
One of the things one does in Vienna is journey out to the surrounding hills and vineyards to visit a heuriger, a wine garden right on the vineyards, to drink the new wine. The fashion began when the emperor exempted new wine from taxation. Such is the power to shape behavior and society through taxation. We took trams, subways, and buses out to Neustift am Walde.
Where a three-day street fair had been going on (we'd had to detour around it on the way in to Vienna) |
And found a table at this heuriger: Fuhrgassle-Huber |
The wine does not have to travel far |
View from our table, which we shared over the course of the evening with Austrians, Poles, others |
Dinner; we split some of the pig and half of one of the chickens, and some potato salad, and, of course, a few mugs of the fresh white wine |
Vicki, contented with the foregoing and now apple strudel mit cream (note empty wine mug) |
Things really got lively when the old Austrian band showed up |
The street party continued as we left |
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