Vienna: Art and Churches

While in Vienna, we visited the Vienna Succession, formed in 1897 by a group of artists who wanted to take art in another direction. I'd have to say they succeeded. The Succession building itself is beautiful. (It's the building with the gold filigree ball on top.) The inside, which we weren't allowed to photograph, had a definite Art Nouveau influence.

The art ranged from funky, to weird, to disturbing. It varied from this sculpture, found outside by the front door (which I thought was appealing and whimsical), to a room with art that consistent of strange photographs and videos of people do various things, such as silently walking in front of a window. That exhibit still gives me the willies if I think about it too long.

There were works of art like this one, which is more or less how I think of modern art.

A significant work in this building is the Beethoven Frieze, by Gustav Klimt. Wikipedia says the frieze "illustrates human desire for happiness in a suffering and tempestuous world in which she has to contend not only with external evil fores but also her own internal weaknesses".

Ok, yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Poster of a figure from the frieze

 Since a frieze, by definition, tends to run around the top of the room, there was a bright greeny-yellow platform to climb to view the frieze at eye level. The frieze was rather unusual and contained enough female nudity to make me blush, so I'm going to spare the rest of you from viewing it close-up.

 My feeling about the art in this building? It's a bit like the music my kids liked over the years--some I didn't get, some I didn't like, and some I found appealing and still listen to. This Succession building, and the art inside, was a wonderful and dramatic contrast to the more traditional art museums we saw later and I'm glad we checked it out. It opened my eyes to a side of the art world I didn't know about.

Next we visited a couple of churches which were markedly different from each other. First up is St. Charles's Church. Construction began in 1716. The style is Baroque. It has a beautiful dome and

two heavily decorated columns, one on each side of the entrance. I loved the outside of this church-it was a nice change from the fabulous Gothic exteriors we saw so much of.

 Like many other churches in Europe, there is ongoing restoration along with the necessary scaffolding. This cathedral had the deep pink marble with gold leafing accents we saw again and again, a striking combination.

Some of the marble was masterfully faux painted, although you had to look closely to find it.

note the great quilt pattern on the floor

 This particular church had wonderful natural light

as well as extensive and lovely painting on the ceiling.

Again, like other churches we viewed, there was a painting of a descending dove in the upper most dome of the ceiling.

The second church we visited was St. Stephen's Cathedral. This is an ancient and important European church. The original Gothic-style building was completed in 1160. This is the cathedral in which Mozart was married in 1782.

The tye-die effect inside was really interesting in the beginning.

I thought the coloring inside the cathedral came from these stained glass windows, but soon realized the windows were actually covered with colored plastic and that there were dozens of strategically placed colored lights, giving the interior the multi-colored look. After a while I wished I could turn the lights off and see what the inside REALLY looked like-I found the staged effect irritating.

The cathedral was saved from destruction during WW II when a captain disregarded orders to "leave it in just debris and ashes".  However, the roof was later heavily damaged and collapsed when invading Russian troops set fire to nearby shops, which then was carried by the wind to the cathedral.

This cathedral is particularly known for its beautiful tiled roofs. Originally we imagined that dark, stained limestone of European churches was caused by pollution, but later learned it is the result of minerals, particularly iron, in the sandstone, and that cleaning it often results in less than desired outcomes. These beautiful churches never got old for me--I looked forward to each one that we visited.

Vienna is important in our travels because it is the place Stan became a lifetime lover of Wienersnitzel.

I don't mean to be critical, but Stan ordered this dish again and again.

Personally, I can't imagine what would lead a person to be so completely obsessed with one food.....

It's a Great Day For...

It's the perfect day for picking strawberries from my garden

and turning them into jam. AND I've got enough ripening berries to do it all again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.

It's a great day for a quick shower

and a sitz bath.

It's a perfect day for a car wash,

and for filling the pool,

and for relaxing in the pool.

It's a lovely day for enjoying the backyard

 and smelling the roses.

Vienna Adventures: May 22

After several nonstop, no-time-for-jet-lag days in Prague, it was time to move on to Vienna. Judy pre-found and booked a night train from Prague to Vienna, and we caught a taxi to take us from our hotel to the train station late one evening. 

We got to the train station and it was deserted. Not a soul to be seen. We were not quite sure which gate our train would pick us up from, and there were zero, zilch, NO signs in English telling us what to do and no train workers or other travelers to ask. We began to head in the direction we thought we needed to go, aware that time was passing and our scheduled departure was near. I had two suitcases: a smallish bag and a second suitcase the size of a large hippopotamus. I had the largest suitcase of all ten of us (How embarrassing. I got a good deal on the floor model from Costco. Note to self: don't buy things bigger than a car to pull behind you when you travel.) It was SERIOUS work getting that hippo sucker up and down the stairs. As time passed, we moved faster and faster trying to find an informational board, a person to ask, ANYTHING to figure out where to go. We climbed a large flight of stairs to the platforms (me dragging that hippo of a bag) and Stan and Bob quickly took off in the growing darkness to find someone who could direct us. Finally, with no time left to spare, we learned we were supposed to be on the opposite side of the tracks. Now what? There was no time left to go down the stairs, across the station and up the stairs to the other side-our train would be there in seconds. We did the only other thing we could do--we jumped down a couple of feet onto the tracks, ran across them, and climbed up the other side. As me and hippo were struggling to cross, I was sure I could feel the wind of the approaching train rushing at me, coming to flatten me in the dark. We managed to pull ourselves up onto the platform just as the train arrived.

Kids, if you EVER do something that dangerous and stupid, I'll hunt you down!

These aren't the tracks we crossed, but it's about half the width of our track and gives you a bit of an idea of what they were like.

We collapsed onto our beds, sure the adventure was over for the night.  Nope. 

 I'm sure Judy and Bob are so blurry because I was still shaking from adrenaline.

You've got to suspect there's more to come when you find you've been left free alcohol to get you through the experience.

We found the beds were small, hard, and very claustrophobic, and the rooms disappeared when the beds were folded down. There was a bottom bunk and a top bunk, and the room was the size of a small closet. A door separated us from the Cannons. As an added bonus, the bathroom was down the hall, and we had the privledge of sharing it with several other passengers. To top things off, after we were sleeping soundly, the conductor came by, woke us and told us we had neglected to get the appropriate stamp in the station from the non-existent official, and we now owed him 50 euros if we wished to continue.

Yep. We paid the bribe.

We pretty much decided train-sleeping is for the under 25 crowd. Which explains why we did it again a few days later.....

Our plans for the day included a visit to Schonbrunn Palace, former summer home to Austrian royalty. The palace began life as a mansion in 1548.

 It was purchase in 1569 by Emperor Maximilian II for use as a royal hunting ground. The palace was added in 1638 to 1642.

The palace has a pitiful 1440 rooms and has not been used as a residence since the 1918 downfall of the monarch.

The beloved and tragic Sisi (Empress Elisabeth of Austria) resided here in the mid 1800s.

Nowadays you can find Sisi on chocolates, which is ironic as she was obsessed by her appearance and weight and probably never allowed herself the calories.

Mozart spent a lot of time in Vienna, and played for the reigning monarch when he was just 6.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the palace. Likely because they didn't want me to go home and recreate the look in my own space.  I scanned a few pictures from a brochure I picked up.

The floors were beautiful inlaid wood. Some of the floors were just incredible.

The style of the palace is "Baroque Rococo" 

The palace has an extensive garden we wandered through. Now Judy and Bob and even Stan may tell you a ridiculous, exaggerated version of the events that followed, but this is the real story: It was raining the day we visited the palace, and I had left my umbrella behind. Fortunately, the palace elves leave umbrellas in the bathroom for all visiting royalty to take, so I was covered (so to speak). Those palace elves are so thoughtful! My umbrella even had my name on it. 

Okay, it actually said "Eddie Bauer" but without my reading glasses on, it could have passed for "Chris Jones".

The garden has 32 statues

and a large maze, as well as these neatly trimmed trees.

I like the way this dude so casually holds that severed head.

 Beautiful, intricate fountain, opposite the palace.

This statue, in the central foyer, is called Hercules Slaying the Nemean Lion. It was created between 1714 and 1724. It is actually a hot-air stove, with the hot air flowing from the gaping mouth of the lion, serving a practical as well as a decorative function. Clever!

Next: The Art and Churches of Vienna

A Great Day for Heatstroke

We are expecting record temperatures today of 100 degrees, so obviously I took the girls and headed outdoors. Megan thought that was such a great idea, and she volunteered to come along. We headed to the brand new pool in the Heights. It's got several toys, slides, sprays, and other fun features.

The sunscreen was hardly dry before Hailey dove right in.

Makayla is a bit more cautious. She showed Megan around,

then helped her Auntie go down the steep, scary slide and

chatted about the meaning of life. 

Makayla is really loving Megan today, even after what happened later......

Hailey and Makayla had fun together in the lazy river.

Hailey especially likes the big slide. She had a tendency to disappear, but I could always eventually find her climbing the stairs to the slide top, or coming down.

Makayla, who is about 6 inches shorter than the "you must be this tall to use the slide" mark, went happily down several times on her own after that first time Megan tossed her down to show her how not scary it is. Makayla instructed me or Megan to "catch her at the bottom" and that worked well until

that last time she managed to get ahead of the person in front of her and surprise Megan.  See that pitiful little splash at the end of the slide? That's Makayla, arriving unexpectedly and going under. See that person in the pink suit, frantically running to catch her and missing by a mile? That's Aunt "Oops" Megan.

Note how only one of these three people thinks this unanticipated dunk was funny.

After three solid hours of sun, swim, and surprise snorkeling, we brought two very tired girls home. I'm fairly certain these two will sleep like logs tonight. You're welcome, Amy.