Last Day - Art Museum

Today Karen and I went to one of the major art museums which was an incredible place.   We both agreed that it makes the Metropolitan Museum of Art look folksy!  They have an extensive collection of all kinds of art - sculpture, jewelry, knick knacks, religious art, secular art, fabrics etc., all from the collections of their various emporers.  Some of the objects were truly incredible - gold works, ivory carvings, precious stones...really incredible things.  Then we stopped for Viennese hot chocolate and strudel in the cafe in the rotunda which was a gorgeous place to sit and gaze at the amazing building that is the museum and then we flew through their extensive collection of paintings from the medieval and baroque periods.  Truly it was mind boggling the collection they had.  We felt like our brains were overloaded.  The art museum building itself is extravagant and gorgeous, never mind the art that is in it.  We were surprised when we got downtown that all the shops were closed.  Seems like the feast of the Epiphany is a national holiday here.  We were glad the museum was open as we had the tickets bought from our last excursion on Saturday!  And I'm really glad it was open because it was a truly wonderful collection and fascinating to visit.  If I lived here I'd be there frequently and one could spend weeks really going through everything they have there.

We returned home for packing and getting ready for departure tomorrow.   I'm going home and Karen, Roz and Deldar are off to Prague.  Pics today are some shots of the museum interior.  

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Today I went back up to the top of the hill to the Hohensalzburg fortress where I heard the concert on Sunday night.  The tour through the fortress is very good and takes you right up to one of the towers with a spectacular view out over the mountains and the city.  The weather had cleared a bit today so the mountains were more visible than any of the other days I've been here.  I spent a couple of hours in the fortress, which has a pretty good museum.  Then I walked through the Old City and over the pedestrian bridge (going through a market where I found my favorite sweet - the Trdelnik, which became lunch!) and then walked over to the Mirabell Schloss, a big palace complex where scenes from The Sound of Music were filmed.  Unfortunately, in the winter a lot of the grounds are roped off so you can't see as much of it as you can in season.  I then wandered up Linze Grasse Street, the main shopping drag on that side of the river and stopped in a cafe for a Gluwein.  (A daily necessity here!). Then I returned to the hotel to collect my luggage and hoofed it to the train station.  I'm on my way back to Vienna now.  Will rejoin Karen and family in the flat tonight.  I loved Salzburg.  Only wish the hills had been more in view for more of the time.  I would definitely return there again.  Pics today are shots out over the hills and city from the fortress and the dome of the cathedral which is very pretty in daylight.

Mozart in Saltzburg

Today I visited both the Mozart museums - one in the apartment his family lived in when he was born, and the other in the much larger home they moved to on this side of the river when he was a teenager. These museums have a wonderful collection of his and his family's instruments - pianos, violins, harpsichords, organs as well as a lot of family correspondence and artifacts.  It was pretty amazing to be reading letters between Mozart and his parents and sister and wife in his own handwriting.  The letters are very well preserved and are quite readable.  They also have a lot of original musical manuscripts in his own hand, which are also amazing to behold.  One thing that struck me as I learned of his life is the high rate of infant mortality in Europe in the 18th century.  Both his parents and then he and his wife lost 5 children either at birth or before the first birthday, having only 2 of 7 children survive to adulthood.  After I had toured those two museums, I wandered through the Old City where all the shops are and there were still a couple of Christmas markets open.  I had a midday Gluwein, which warmed me up at the point when it was pouring rain and the cold was getting to me because of the wet and damp of the rain. Snow would have been warmer I think!  After my Gluwein fix I went to St. Peter's church, which the guidebook claims is where Christianity began in Europe.  It's a magnificent church with beautiful paintings adorning the walls and ceiling.  The organ case is a sight to behold.  After I left there I went to the Residenz, a huge series of connected buildings that used to house the Archbishop Princes who ruled Salzburg.  They are now museums and I enjoyed a tour through one of the art museums in there.  When I left there the rain had stopped so I walked further out to the edge of the Old CIty beyond the castle.  I had to chuckle when I came upon "The British Shop" with Union Jacks hanging outside and all manner of things British for sale inside, including PG Tips!  After that long walk, it was starting to get dark, so I headed back to my hotel for a rest after 6 hours of walking around. I enjoyed a linzer tart and tea and a rest, and then changed and went back to the Old City to St. Peter's Stitkskeller, which claims to be the oldest restaurant in Europe.  They say Charlemagne ate there!  They do a nightly dinner/concert show where a three course meal is accompanied by the greatest hits of Mozart's operas.  We enjoyed The Marriage of FIgaro and then our soup course, then Don GIovanni and our main course, and then The Magic Flute followed by dessert.  I was seated at a table with a family from Milan, Italy and a single traveler from South Korea.  We all enjoyed talking and exchanging travel stories.  The music was excellent and it was a lot of fun as they were all dressed in period costumes and the setting, in what was once a large ballroom or dining hall, was beautiful and candlelit.  That ended at 10 so it was a full day.  Pics include a sighting of the mountains which appeared this morning out of the haze, shots of St. Peter's church, a shot over the river at dusk and shots from the dinner event this evening.

Salzburg Day 1

Took the train from Vienna to Salzburg today.  It was an easy journey, but disappointed that I could not see the Alps due to the cloudy skies and snow falling in the countryside and in Salzburg.  The visibility here is terrible today.  Where there should be mountains there is just a white haze!  Salzburg is a very picturesque city, however, despite the grey, winter conditions.  When I got to Salzburg I got a bus and then walked to my hotel and checked in.  They were serving tea/coffee and cake in the lounge so I had a little snack before venturing out.  By then it was past 3:00 so I didn't have much time for sightseeing. I walked into the Old City, which is not far from my hotel and wandered around the winding, cobblestone streets.  I went to the Salzburg Museum, which tells the history of the city.  It's an interesting little museum and I had about the right amount of time to see it.  When I left there it was 5:00 and had gotten dark.  I walked around the Old City some more, and wandered into the Cathedral.  There was a Mass going on up at the front, with a very few folks actually worshipping.  The mass was being said in Italian!  It's a beautiful cathedral still all adorned for Christmas.  Then I wandered around the Old City some more and finally found a cute little place to have dinner.  I very much enjoyed my veal goulash with dumplings and a large (they said it was the medium size!) beer.  After my dinner I went to the castle up on the hill, which you access either by climbing the 700 meters to the top, which I did not want to do in the dark with the icy, slippery conditions of today, or by taking the funicular tram up the steep incline to the castle.  I opted for the funicular.  As I was waiting for it to depart a woman and then a man with musical instruments got on the car I was in and I figured they were two of the musicians I was going to hear in concert soon!  I was right!  They were two of the string quartet that I heard in the concert at the castle.  They did three Mozart pieces, one of which was the Clarinet Quintet in A which is very famous and parts of which I once could play on the clarinet, and they also did a piece by Dvorak and Strauss waltzes.  They gave us one encore.    It is a lovely setting, the concert being performed in what was once a banquet hall in the castle.  The concert ended at 9 and I walked back to the hotel.  Salzburg is very pretty all lit up and with snow on the trees and buildings.   Pics are some shots of Salzburg, the concert venue, me and dinner!

Hapsburg Treasury

Today Karen and I went to the Hapsburg treasury which has the most amazing collection of religious and secular art and artifacts from centuries of the Austro Hungarian Empire.  We bought a combo-ticket, planning to hit the art museum after the treasury, but we wound up being in the treasury for nearly 4 hours.  The collection is stunning.  Ceremonial garments from crowning of emporers from the last of the Holy Roman Emporers through the Austro-Hungarian dynasties, ecclesiastical art and artifacts from all over the world, jewels and silver and crowns and scepters from the many centuries of Austro-Hungarian empire days, tapestries...you name it, the stuff was amazing.  The coronation attire and crowns are dazzling and most of the art is mind-boggling as it was all hand done and all of it is exquisite.  After all the hours we were in there, we didn't have time for the other museum, so we'll do that one on Wednesday when I'm back from Salzburg.  After all that walking we were tired and ready for some Gluwein, so we headed to a cafe on the palace grounds and enjoyed hot Gluwein and a delicious apple strudel with vanilla custard.    Pics are some of the more interesting artifacts in the treasury and  a shot of our gluwein and strudel reward at the end of our visit.

New Year's Concert

Today was a quiet day as everything in Vienna except cafes and restaurants and concerts are closed on New Year's Day.  We slept in and took it easy during the morning.  In the mid-afternoon Karen and I went for a long walk through the Schonbrunn palace grounds and the woods surrounding it and came out way over on the other side of it in a little neighborhood.  It was milder today than yesterday so walking outside was fine.  There was a very light dusting of snow, but not much.   Lots of folks were out walking and the New Year's market was still going on the palace grounds, with a Jazz quartet playing when we walked by.  The highlight of the day was our concert at the Hall of Industry, where we heard the Royal Vienna Orchestra.  Before the concert we went back to the Schwartzenberger Cafe and enjoyed traditional Viennese fare.  I had the wienerschnitzel and Roz and Deldar had goulash and Karen had grilled fish.  We enjoyed sacher torte and apple strudel for dessert which was delicious.  Then we went to the concert which was terrific.  The first half was Mozart's greatest hits and the second half Strauss and Vienna waltzes.  The program was excellent as it included arias and operatic pieces, ballet dance and orchestral pieces.   The orchestra had a great sense of humor and were really playing to the audience.  They started the second half off wearing reindeer antlers and playing Sleigh Ride which was great fun.  At the end they did two encores with the audience clapping along and cheering wildly.   It really was a great concert and the musicians were fantastic.  The soprano soloist was amazing.   The audience gave her a standing ovation.  It was a fast pass through the greatest hits of Viennese music, very lively and engaging.  Pics today are of the concert hall in the Hall of Industry building.  Very ornate decor as you can see.   It was a very alive, resonant room for music.  So all in all our New Year's in Vienna has proved to be a wonderful Viennese experience!  

New Year's Eve

The Viennese really know how to do New Year's Eve!  Starting at 2:00 in the center of the city there is a New Year's trail with different stages that have performances all over the city.  We went down to Stephansplatz by about 3:00 and the waltz lessons were in full swing.  We spent at least an hour dancing the waltz with a few hundred others and it was great fun. Also worked up quite a sweat despite the chill in the air.  When we were too tired to dance anymore, we had some Gluwein and then walked all over the city, stopping at all the different stages.  At the Opera House they were projecting the opera out on screens to those of us outside.  At St. Stephen's cathedral they had the New Year's Eve service simulcast on the jumbotrons.  And all around the city there were street musicians playing all different kinds of music.  By the end of our 5 hours of walking around we had heard classical, jazz, rock from the 50s to the 90s, various kinds of folk music, Austrian accordions, flute and folk music of the Andes , Irish melodies...you name it.  The pink pig motif is big here on New Year's - many were wearing pig ears, pig hats, all the drinks are served in the pink pig mugs, and we even saw one guy dressed up fully in a pink pig costume.  We were impressed at how civilized and orderly it all was -  folks were having fun, but no one was rowdy, the streets were not full of trash or litter, it was just a really good time.  Now mind you, we left about 8:00 because we were frozen and tired so maybe it gets more rowdy near midnight.  We can hear fireworks going off in the distance from the apartment, but we are back staying warm and waiting for midnight.  We did not have the stamina to stay out in the cold that long!  Lots of fun though and a great, festive way to welcome in the New Year!q