Monday
I picked up Lauren at the airport after work that night and we caught up over wiener schnitzel and tea. The attempt to get to bed at a reasonable hour may not have been successful, but it was worth the lost sleep as we hadn't seen each other since graduation.
Tuesday
I (gasp) skipped class on Tuesday so Lauren wouldn't be left to her own devices on her first day back in Austria. After dropping off der Junge at school we headed over to the Military Museum.
Not long after arriving I got a call from Joe saying that he was also going to play hooky that morning and wanted to join us. So Lauren and I lingered through the first wing of the museum which was focused around the Thirty Years' War and attempted sieges by the Turks while we waited for Joe. The three of us then continued to amble through for another two or three hours before Joe decided it was time to be studious and I took Lauren to get lunch at Café Sperl. Also, fun fact, I was watching a preview for a movie about Freud called A Dangerous Method with Viggo Mortensen which is slated to come out in November in the US and one of the scenes is in the very same café! Check it out! And then pretend that I'm one of the patrons in the background...
We then strolled down to the Secession Building which I had passed numerous times but never actually stopped to explore further; I just knew it was a museum that had more works by Gustav Klimt.
There were fewer exhibitions inside than I had expected, and only one work by Klimt, though a very interesting one: The Beethoven Frieze. The rest of the museum was very contemporary with one room full of mirrors
and another room where I couldn't tell if they were preparing to set up an exhibition or if that was the exhibition itself. However I did learn that the Secession was built to house the artwork of the members of the Vienna Secession which was formed in 1897 by a group of artists who had left the Association of Austrian Artists to follow their own belief about what artwork should be.
That night Lauren and I ventured down to the Heurigen in Bisamberg that I've been wanting to check out as it always looks to be packed. We enjoyed a few glasses of some good Rot Sturm, a partially fermented wine that is usually only available for a few months in the fall. Apparently the Rot, or red, version is less common. We also indulged in a scrumptious pastry called Mutter's Cremeschnitte (which is ironically usually associated with Bled, Slovenia, the tiny town I visited in the summer of 2010) before walking back for the night.
Wednesday
October 26th just happens to be Austrian National Day, the day following the day that the last troops from the Allied Forces left the Austrian territory after WWII, thus marking its first day as an independent and sovereign country (although the Austrian State Treaty was actually signed on 15 May, 1955). This is a national holiday and there are always military displays all over Vienna. Lauren, Anna Butler (the girl who has my summer job), and I went to Heldenplatz to see the festivities.
Besides the military parade, there was an interesting mix of a carnival (rock climbing, pony rides, lots of unhealthy food) and an exhibition of military equipment. Also a fencing demonstration, but I'm not completely sure what category that falls under.
The three of us then walked to Café Central for lunch and each tried a different soup and delectable pastry. Continuing on with the Klimt theme, I tried a Klimt Surprise. I'm not completely sure what the 'surprise' was, but the pastry was really good!
Lauren and I then split ways with Anna and walked to Karlskirche. I had been in briefly during the summer and heard that the scaffolding for the repairs and repainting they were doing on the interior of the dome was open to visitors but would be taken down sometime this year. Luckily it was still in place so Lauren and I took an elevator up to the dome, then walked up some stairs to the inside of the lantern. It was really neat to be that close to the frescoes!!
It was interesting to see how much more distorted they are up close on the curved surface than they appear from below. I really liked how they depicted the wings on all of the angels. I was also very surprised to note that the marble in Karlskirche is all real up to the level of the dome, where there is no marble, but the 'marble' in the lantern is only painted to look like marble! Also, there was a bunch of money, coins and bills, thrown onto all of the window sills of the lantern which seemed like a strange place for people to be making contributions to the church.
Heading back into the city center, we decided to stop inside Stephansdom and happened to arrive just before the start of a candlelit mass (which I ascertained was for Austrian National Day). We didn't get seats in the nave as we weren't really dressed the part and weren't certain how long we would stay, but even standing in the back was a neat experience. I've never seen Stephansdom lit up like that, even on sunny days! I would really like to go back for another special service there and stay for the whole time.
Ironically Joe was also at Stephansdom at the time and called me shortly after we left. He joined us for dinner at an Italian restaurant, Regina Margherita, off of Wellnerstraße (sound familiar? I went there with Ashley this summer). We attempted to go to a movie after that, but to no avail. Thus we dropped Joe off at home and Lauren and I went to Café Aumann for a coffee where we ran into Joe's sister and friends. When I informed Joe of this he ran the five minutes down and sat with Lauren and I for an hour or so. Why oh why his sister's presence but not actually her company was enough to convince Joe to come I think will just have to remain one of life's mysteries, but I'm glad he joined.
Thursday
I figured that skipping both of my German classes in a week would not be for the best, so I dropped Lauren off at the Wien Museum on Thursday morning while I attended to my studently duties. Afterwards I convinced Lauren to try an Ethiopian restaurant I had been wanting to check out along the 40 tram line. Luckily I didn't really have to twist her arm because she loves Ethiopian food, which also turned out to be a good thing because she knew the proper way to eat it. I was surprised at how good the food was (and how much he gave us)! It took a little longer than we were anticipating so we decided to walk around Stadtpark before heading back to Bisamberg. Although it's not my favorite park in Vienna, it was really pretty with the fall foliage and pleasant to stroll about when it wasn't so crowded.
That evening we returned to the Bisamberg Heurigen, though this time they were fresh out of sturm so we settled for spritzers. Now, mind you, spritzers are really common here and perfectly acceptable to drink. In fact, that's usually how one takes their wine when they go to a Heurigen. Alas, again, I had work the next morning so we didn't stay out terribly late.
Friday
Lauren and I spent the morning in the Stephansplatz Aida to plan out our other European excursions and wait for museums to open. We stopped for a quick bite at my favorite bratwurst stand in front of the Albertina, then headed to the National Library (technically State Hall) in the Hofburg.
Majestic? You betcha! There are also currently some interesting exhibitions there including the various attire of all of the regions once under the Hapsburg reign and watercolors of the landscapes that can be found in Austria. Worth every cent of the 4,50 Euro to get in.
That night Lauren and I had our 'splurge' dinner at DO & CO which was most excellent! We then moved down the the Onyx Bar right below and spent some time there before going on to the Sky Bar at the top of another nearby building on someone's recommendation. Don't worry Mom and Dad, neither of us tried any drinks that were Absinthe-based, but Lauren discovered a particularly good Espresso Martini at the Onyx Bar.
Saturday
I had to work in the morning, but we went in to Vienna for lunch as soon as I was done. I took Lauren to the Naschmarkt even though she had been there before because you can really never have enough of the Naschmarkt. We went to my favorite restaurant, Kim Kocht (literally Kim Cooks), which is a sort of Asian-fusion type place. Always crowded, always delicious.
After dessert at one of the market stalls we went in search of the Museum of Art Fakes. Although small (the entire museum was contained in the cellar of a building), it had some really fascinating stories about professional art 'fakers' and how in some cases even they became famous enough that their fakes were faked.
I think my favorite biography was that of Tom Keating who went into the art restoration business after WWII. However, he felt that the gallery system was corrupt, so he attempted to destabilize it by putting his own fakes of famous works into galleries but planting 'bombs' in them such as putting a layer of glycerine under the paint so that when the paintings were cleaned the glycerine would dissolve and ruin the painting. It's a neat little museum and despite its meager size you could easily spend an hour or two there. It's just across from the Hundertwasserhaus, also architecturally interesting.
It was getting slightly late and slightly dark by the time we re-emerged from the cellar, so we headed back to the first district to get in a little art shopping before stores closed. We managed a quick change, then headed to the Staatsoper to see Taglioni's La Sylphide. The ballet was beautiful and both of the male leads (Roman Lazik as James and Kamil Pavelka as Gurn) were quite something to watch dance.
I felt that a post-ballet Salzburger Nockerl was in order, so Lauren and I went to Burgerhof, still the only place in Vienna that I know of which serves the delicious souffle-like mountains. I think that it is safe to say that Lauren was pleased. I certainly was.
Sunday
Lauren and I thought it would be nice to go biking down the Danube on Sunday. Things did not quite go according to plan. We'll leave it at that for now...
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