It’s getting too hard to blog these days. I have no patience for it. But I also think I might regret it if I don’t at least try. Here’s a summary of the last week by day.
Monday
Class as usual, cold as usual. After class, Becca and Aly and I attempted to find the Hundertwasser Haus and the Kunsthaus Wien, because they had eluded us thus far, and the Hundertwasser Haus is kind of hard to miss. We got a little bit lost, but after about an hour and a half, we found it. Hundertwasser is an artist/architect/graphic designer from Vienna who is truly unique. The Hundertwasser Haus is an apartment complex but the floors are uneven and there are trees growing up through the floor and out the windows and there are no straight lines and it’s just wild. The Kunsthaus Wien is a museum that houses a bunch of Hundertwasser’s art, which is incredible. I love it.
Hundertwasser Haus
After the museum, we went home to finish some homework and to heart attack the fridge as a Valentine’s Day surprise for Norbert and Liesl.
Tuesday (Valentinstag <3)
I LOVE Valentine’s Day. Our day started with a Valentine from God, given to us in the U-Bahn station on our way to school. Unfortunately, it was in German, but our German teacher helped us translate it in class and it was actually very beautiful. Our art history class was at the Belvedere, which I love love love. We strolled along through the museum while our professor told us everything about everything. You may be interested to learn that Gustav Klimt (for reference, Google: The Kiss) occasionally painted his subjects completely nude before “dressing them” with paint. They know this because he suffered a stroke and the piece that was on his easel at the time had a nude figure with half painted on clothes (you can see the unfinished painting on display at the Belvedere). This made art historians curious about his other paintings, so they X-Rayed them and found that in the paintings where a model posed for him (rather than someone sitting for a portrait) he often painted them nude first. Sweet.
After class, Becca and I treated ourselves to kebaps for a Valentine’s Day lunch, which is always a good choice. We were planning on going ice skating at the Rathaus (town hall) that evening with our group, but when we got home, Liesl invited us to a Hengl to hear live music and eat dinner. When Norbert or Liesl invites you to do something, you do it, because it’s bound to be amazing. The Hengl was no exception. A Hengl is a restaurant on a vineyard or with its own vineyard where they have to serve their own wine and they have lots of amazing traditional Austrian food and live music. We went and enjoyed the music and met some of Norbert and Liesl’s friends and relatives and toasted everyone with our big glasses full of apple juice. Norbert gave us each a Valentine’s Day rose, and it was the best ever.
Wednesday
We had a free day so we went ice skating at the Rathaus. Lucky for us, Liesl let us borrow some skates, and Norbert was heading downtown, so he dropped us off at the rink they have set up in front of the city hall and we ice skated all day. It was sunny and warm (we took off our coats!) and they had funny American music playing and it was perfect. After four or five hours, we decided to take a break and find the Jewish Museum. We failed at that, but we did find a bakery that serves Esterhazy Cake, so we weren’t too sad. We got to Institute an hour early, but it was right by the Rathaus and our skating pass was still good, so we got back on the ice for an hour or so before going over to the Institute for dinner and a lesson.
Thursday
Some art from the Jewish Museum
After class (where we talked about John Keats’ poem Ode to a Nightingale and I had flashbacks to all the research I did about nightingales for a class last semester, which I loved) we decided we really should find the Jewish Museum. We consulted a map (and Norbert, for good measure) and managed to find it. We were only able to see half, but our tickets were good for two days. On our way home, we cruised past the Staatsoper because the Opera Ball was that night. They had a red carpet our and the TV cameras were setting up and it was really beautiful. We hurried home to watch the coverage on TV.
When we got home, Norbert and Liesl had their friends over to play Bridge and watch the Opera Ball, and they let us join them. It was really a lovely evening, and someday, if I’m ever rich, I’ll come back to Vienna and go to a ball.
Friday
Art history was at the Leopold Museum, which has more modern art. All the art is from the private collection of the Leopold family, who were apparently super wealthy. They have an amazing collection of Egon Schiele paintings and some pretty unique Klimt stuff, among other things. I loved it (although be careful if you are Googling Schiele…his subjects span a broad range of decency).
I also learned about an artist named Richard Gerstl, who I really like, but he died very young, so there’s not a lot by him. After class we went to the second half of the Jewish Museum, where they had an exhibit all about the Jews who founded Hollywood. It was pretty interesting and not what I expected from the Jewish Museum, but enjoyed very much.
That night, we went to the Musikverein to hear Hilary Hahn play with an orchestra. She is incredible and beautiful and talented and I may or may not have cried during her first encore. I need to admit that I wouldn't know who Hilary Hahn is except that my friend Laura mentioned her on Facebook a few weeks ago, so I recognized the name when some girls told me they were going to hear her and that's why I bought a ticket. So thank you Laura! Also, everyone should go see her when she plays in the USA later this year.
Saturday
Beautiful Bratislava. I'm a sucker for those red roofs.
We got up early to catch a train to Bratislava. It’s only about an hour long ride because Bratislava is right on the border of Slovakia (in the warmer months you can take a boat down the Danube). We met up with some girls from our group who had spent the night there, and we visited the castle on the hill, the old city center, and a really cool castle called Devin. It is in ruins because Napoleon bombed it during his heyday. But it is still really picturesque because it’s up on a hill with the river running right next to it and a little village surrounding it.
Devin Castle from the bottom of the hill. It was a perfect day.
We also managed to find two graveyards (my favorite), a chocolate shop, a playground and a traditional Slovak pub to eat at. That night we went to the Bratislava Institute and played Minute to Win It games with all the YSA from the area (plus a few friends from Vienna that drove down). It was lots of fun, even though I am awful at those kinds of games.
We realized around 8:15 PM that we needed to get to the train station to catch the 8:45 train back to Vienna, or we would have to wait until 10:45. The sweet district leader in the area and his companion volunteered to walk us there, but walking wouldn’t get us there fast enough, so we ended up jogging (with the occasional sprint) to the station. It was hilarious and painful to run through the little town with all our winter clothes and bags, desperate to catch our train. We made it with 30 seconds to spare, no joke. We were gasping and panting and stripping off layers as the train rolled away from the station. We like to keep things interesting around here.
I love all this. I love your beautiful photos and hearing all about what you are doing and how you love it. LOVE YOU!!!
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