20 March
We met Baron Karl Chizzola last night, a friend of Johanna's parents. He and his wife Sybille have been kind enough to invite us to stay in half of their apartment in a quiet, pretty part of Vienna. The flat is full of classical art, family portraits and little mementos. It's a wonderful place to stay while exploring the city, and Karl has been so helpful explaining how to get around, gifting us with public transport passes, and preparing breakfast. He even took us to the tram station himself! After he left us, we managed to get to the Ring Road, which encircles the oldest part of Vienna with the most attractions.
Vienna is slick and modern, even with the classical music influence. Most major composers lived and created music here and they remain the city's biggest tourist draw-- they, and the numerous artists whose work fills Vienna's many, many museums.
(The Austrian Parliament Buildings, above)
We visited the Kunsthistoriches Museum today, a huge, gorgeous building filled to the brim with priceless paintings by artists like Rembrandt, Titian, Vermeer, and others. They also had a stunning exhibition of medieval Chinese art, a Roman and Greek antiquities section, and a quirky collection by Arcimbaldo, who invented surrealism way back in the 16th century by painting human figures out of objects and animals. In the midst of all the formal portraits of the time, he was an innovator, completely supported by his open-minded patron, Maximilian II.
(Me, at the Hofsburg Palace)
After having some coffee, we saw a performance by the Vienna Imperial Orchestra in Beethovenplatz-- 2 hours of classical highlights by Mozart, R. & J. Strauss, and Beethoven. It was a good way for us opera novices to be introduced to classical performance: we're hoping to see the Philharmonic play tomorrow. The performance itself was partly classical and partly spectacle, though. With a campy MC and a gag where the percussionist shot corks (for free champagne, if caught) into the audience, we were skeptical at first, but the beautiful music convinced us our decision to buy tickets from a costumed guy on the street wasn't a bad one ;).
Bratislava
21 March
We had decided a few days ago to visit Bratislava, in the Slovak Republic, just to say we had. Today we did just that, leaving Vienna around 10:30 am and arriving there an hour later. The train station was sketchy (as they usually are) but as we made our way to the historic medieval city centre, the run-down buildings gave way to chic coffeeshops and stores. You can see the city making a real effort for tourism, as they should--the concrete and iron remnants of Bratislava's Communist past go hand and hand with the city's wonderfully colourful Eastern European history. We saw Bratislava Castle, a well-maintained 14th century fortress, their cathedral, and the aforementioned city centre. We also saw the inside of Tesco's for a while, while we gaped at the obscenely cheap prices for food and everything else they sell. We exchanged about 5 euros each for the day and still had some left over after food, Internet, and souvenirs.
Many parts of Bratislava are pretty grim, but the influence of being part of the EU is spreading, as new economic wealth springs up. Within the rather ill-kept buildings are companies like Siemens or Ernst & Young, showing the country's promise as a healthy member of the EU.
Vienna
After spending part of the day in Bratislava, we returned to Vienna and strolled around the inner Ring's shopping district. We saw St. Stephen's Church and the goofy breakdancers busking in front before heading north near the university and the Freud Museum to have dinner at Centimeter, a Let's Go favourite. Good beer, good food, good conversation: that's what seems to identify European culture and to a huge extent, Austria itself :).
22 March
"Right. So--flowers and strudel?"
At the end of our last day in Vienna, our list of things to do has been reduced to the very essence of the city. All we need is a little Mozart and it's the perfect experience!
We set off on foot today north of the Inner Ring, intent on seeing the Wien Wheel (every big city in Europe seems to have one) and buying food for our respective train rides tomorrow. Although the day was tame, it was nice to get a feel for a city that you usually can't get in just two days. Our four days here have been a nice way to relax (we are on vacation after all, as Johanna and Francesca reminded me after my first 8 am wake-up call in Budapest) and take in the atmosphere of a place.
We hadn't really figured Easter into our plans but not that many places have been closed. The opera was closed on Friday though, sadly, so we couldn't get cheap tickets, but we visited the Haus der Musik today and got a taste of the Vienna Philharmonic. The museum is a mix of the science of sound and the lives of the great composers. One room just played the 2008 New Year's Day Philharmonic concert on DVD in surround sound, and we sat and watched it for ages.
Tomorrow I split off from Johanna and Francesca, who are heading to Munich, and meeting Jean in Zurich. Jean's been travelling with her sister through England and Italy so she's coming from Florence and we're going to explore Bern and Interlaken together for a few days.
I have a marathon 9 hour ride to Zurich tomorrow, which does not look promising. Spending Easter Sunday alone isn't a great prospect, but being in Austria and Switzerland really, really does :). And hopefully Jean and I can spend the Sunday of Sundays (as Jean puts it) eating Swiss chocolate on the Alps while still thinking of our family gathering at home.
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