Tuesday, 5/31

Did you ever see the movie "The Woman In Gold"? It came out a few years ago, with Helen Mirren, and it told a really good story about an elderly woman from L.A., who had been a concentration camp survivor. She discovered that a painting that had been her family's, but had been stolen by the Nazis in WWII, was in the Belvedere Museum, in Vienna. The movie tells of her struggle, and ultimate success, prying the painting out of the hands of the Austrian Government! True story.

Anyway, we liked the movie, and thought it would be fun to visit the Belvedere. The museum is state-owned, and housed in the castle built by Prince Eugene of Savoy, in 1719. The prince was a gifted general, who had led the army to victory a bunch of times against the Ottoman Turks. And I hear that when you win a bunch of battles like that it doesn't just make life sweet for the country - it also makes you rich. He got so rich, when he decided to build himself a palace, he said what the hey, may as well build two. That way he had one to live in, and one to entertain in.

He had no family, so when he died, everything went to the state. And the emperor figured it was as good a time as any to open a national art museum. So the Belvedere is in the upper palace. It has the finest collection of Gustave Klimt in the world. The Austrians love Klimt the way everyone else loves Van Gogh. The painting in the movie was a Gustave Klimt, titled "Portrait of Adele Bauer-Block." After it was finally returned, in the early 2000's, it was sold for more than 130 million! Look, Klimt is really cool, and I tried to take some pictures, but the place is filled with guards that won't allow it!

Here's a view of the lower palace from the upper palace.

Here's the ceiling to the grand room in the upper palace

Here's a detail.

After a nice lunch, we decided to do something a little unusual, for tourists with a limited time - we went to the movies. It happens that one of the finest and most beloved examples of Film Noir was written, set, and filmed in Vienna, in 1948. The writer was Graham Greene, and the leading actor was Joseph Cotten. It shows at this theater.

It turns out, the film was set, and shot, in our neighborhood. Everywhere we go, we see the film locations. 

We had a big rainstorm this afternoon. While Rebecca took a nap, I walked across the street to the auction house, the Dorotheum.  Don't worry, I didn't buy anything, but I got to see a live auction.  I loved watching it. 

Tonight, we took a nice walk, followed by a tram ride all around the inner city. Here are a couple of pictires. I got a kick out of this. The Hofburg Palace is a both ten miles long, and rivals Verseilles fo excess. But they have one air conditioner in the bottom right window!

Here are some pretty roses in the Hofburg palace garden.

Think they smell good?

Here's the Opera House by night.

And here's the Jewish Museum with Bob Dylan and Matisyahoo peeking out the windows.

Monday, 5/30 - Vienna

Wow, what a fine day! After breakfast, Rebecca and I walked down the street to the Jewish Museum. We got there at 9:30, and found out it opens at 10, so we walked back up the street to the Dorotheum, the oldest auction house in Europe. There we got to look at piles of art, jewelry, and even an old car, that were all waiting to be auctioned. I hope we get a chance to watch one! Oh, the car was a 1953 Black Mercedes convertible, in perfect condition.

Back to the museum.

The Jewish Museum is actually housed in two locations.  In this one, the upstairs was filled with items of Jewish significance that somehow survived the period leading up the WWII when Jewish property was confiscated, and Jews were erased from Austria and Germany. It was nice to see the items, preserved and protected, and yet it was sad to think of the loss of the people who owned them. The reality hits home because my great-grandmother was from Vienna. The youngest in a large family, all but one of her older siblings and their families perished in German death camps.

Downstairs, the mood was decidedly more festive. The exhibits depicted the dominance of Jewish composers, conductors, and performers in the entertainment industry.  Judging by Academy Awards, Grammys, and record sales, Jewish domination is well over 70%. Bob Dylan, Barbara Streisand, Gene Simons, Amy Weinhouse, Randy Newman, Leonard Bernstein, and on and on. Lots of video, lots of memorabilia, lots of fun.

Then we walked a few blocks to the other location. It is in the center of the historic Judenplatz, or Jewish Quarter. Three things made a big impression on me. The first is what you see when you enter the square: the monument to the deported. Ironically, Vienna's treatment of the Jews was so harsh, in the time leading up to the war, it actually served to save a number of people. Things were so intolerable, up to 110,000 left while it was still possible. Still, 65,000 were sent to their deaths in German camps.

Here's the monument.

The second is this book. 

On display in the museum, it is the original and authentic diary of the Vienna Fire Department from November 10 and 11, 1938. It documents the destruction of 91 synagogues and over 7,000 Jewish-owned businesses, by violent acts committed on November 9, 1938 - Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. Let a holocaustl denier explain that!

And finally, there is the archeological site, discovered in 1995, of the oldest Synagogue in Austria. Dating back to 1204, it functioned and flourished for over two hundred years! In 1421, it was destroyed, and the Jews kicked out of Vienna.

Here's what they think it looked like.

r

This afternoon, we toured the Opera House. Opened in 1869, it was badly damaged in WWII. It took ten years to rebuild it. But it re-opened in 1955. 52% of its operating budget is covered by the state. The perform a different opera every evening. The schedule for a month is bigger than the entire season of other opera companies.

Here's Mahler.

Fancy room.

The Emperor's private room.

Fancy ceiling.

Our guide takes questions.

A selfie in the opera.

Then we went to the museum of music. There were a lot of historic exhibits, as well as informative interactive experiences. On of the fun ones affords the opportunity to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic.

After dinner, we went to the Musikverein. It's a great hall, and I'm talking about acoustics!  All the great conductors agreed with that assessment. Brahms, Mahler, Bruno Walter, Bernstein, everyone. We saw Concentus Musicus perform Beethoven's Ninth. It was done on period instruments, and was the best interpretation I've ever heard. 

I sneaked a photo during the ovation.

We took a long walk after the concert. We had a great day!

Sunday, 5/29 - travel day

We all got up early today. Rebecca made a beautiful breakfast for us, pretty well using up all our food. Last night, I paid for the dinner party in cash, leaving me with the equivalent of about $4.00 in Czech money. So we were pretty efficient in both of those areas.

Blossom and Lauren got in a cab to the airport at 9:00 A.M. And Rebecca and I walked out at 9:30. I took a few pictures of the apartment before I left. 

The train station was packed!

Rebecca sat down to study maps while I scouted the station.

Fast food croissants!

Then, all of a sudden, we were on our way. Here I am, enjoying a coffee in the dining car.

Up in the sky, a plane was pulling a glider.

When we got to Vienna, we took a cab to our apartment, made a shopping list (mostly for breakfast items), and set out to find the market. We found it closed, so instead we found coffee and dessert. I had apfelstrudl, and Rebecca had chocolate and vanilla torte. 

Mmmm, yum. Here's the place.

Here's a dog who likes the place, too.

After that, we had the energy needed to locate, and walk to, a grocery that was open on Sunday. We got our groceries, and managed to walk past the Opera House, and return through the Hofburg Palace Complex. Concerned that Rebecca might have a blister starting, we decided to eat near our apartment. I looked out the front window, and this is what I saw.

That's where we ate, and it was really good! While we were eating, Rebecca decided that the shoes she changed into were friendlier to her feet, and so we took just a little walk after dinner. It's a beautiful neighborhood, but I'll report on it in the days to come - after we, tour, explore, and study.

But for those of you with even a rudimentary knowledge of Yiddish, I suspect you'll be amused by this, as I was.

And, even more amazingly:

For the non-Yiddish speakers, let me explain. In Yiddish, schmuck literally means the male genitalia. But it is used as a strong pejorative to mean obnoxious jerk or idiot. And alter means old. So I was genuinely perplexed. I mean it doesn't make sense to have a fancy gallery and a fancy jewelry store, in a really expensive part of town, called "the Old Prick." Does it?!

Well, as it turns out, yes it does. You see, Yiddish and German are not the same. It turns out that in German, a schmuck is an adornment - especially, but not only, in jewelry. Christmas tree ornaments are called schmucks, for example. Who knew?!

Saturday, 5/28

Rebecca and I were up and out pretty early. We walked to the old square, and then through the old square, enjoying the difference between last night's merriment and this morning's focus. Last night there were tables, waiters, and musicians. This morning there were brooms, dumpsters, and deliveries.  We walked south near the river, looking for breakfast with a view.  It took a while, but as soon as we gave up the part about the view, we had success. 

After breakfast, we went down by the river.  If you've ever been to Victoria, and hung out on the lower causeway, you have the idea. Except it goes along the river for a good long while. Anyway, this morning, there was a huge kids festival! Any company that made products for kids had a booth, and was demonstrating and selling.  Anyone who had an activity for kids, similarly was demonstrating, and offering kids an opportunity to try. And any locals with kids brought them down. It was packed. 

We saw gymnastics and martial arts, of course.  But we also watched bicycle soccer.  The kids balance on special brakeless, direct drive bikes, and the "kick" the ball with a wheel. If they have to put a foot down, the other team gets control of the ball. It's a cross between soccer and trial biking.

Another fun activity was street dancing. Here's a picture.  But, when we get home, ask me to show you the video. These kids were really amazing, and it doesn't come across in a still photo.

Then we climbed way up high above the river, to a park, cemetery, church, and fortress, all in one. We started at the church, but it was closed for a wedding.

No problem - Rebecca just watched from the door.

Then we toured the cemetery, where a number of national heroes were interred. Here's Smetana,

And Dvorak.

Then we sat for a bit, in a charming and comfortable park.

Next we visited the oldest building in Prague, a lookout tower built in the eleventh century!

Then we walked along the walls of the fortress, and admired the commanding view of the river, 

and beyond.

We walked back along the water, stopping at a farmers market. Rebecca took some nice pictures of me, but they're on her phone. Just imagine me at a farmers market where everyone's speaking Czech, and you'll have it!

Then we walked some more, until we came to a nice restaurant that sat right next to a lock for smallish boats. The lock for the big boats was across the river. This was the view to my right.

And to my left. See the lock in the lower left?

We saw Blos, Lauren, Sam, and his roommate Sean, paddle boating!

Then we walked back toward our apartment. 

All week, we've been using the Tyn Church (pronounced "teen") as our landmark to get ourselves home. It's a huge old church, built in the fourteenth century. It started out Catholic, but in the fifteenth century, Hussites took over. They were a group that rebelled against Rome, and they did so well before Martin Luther. The difference is that the Hussites were not rebelling against doctrine: rather, they rebelled against corruption.  

Anyway, two centuries later, after a bloody battle, and some gross public mass-executions, it was re-taken by the Catholics, and changed back into a Catholic Church. When that happened, the Catholics took the golden chalice, a symbol of the Hussites, and melted it down to make a halo for the Virgin Mary.

Here's a view from the old square. Note the golden halo.

Here's the view of it from our apartment.

And here's the same view at night. 

So, Rebecca pointed out that we'd been using it to get our bearings, but hadn't seen the inside. So we popped in.

And...

Then we went out to see Sam's place. He lives in this Soviet-era building.

Then we took Blossom, Lauren, Sam, and Sean, out to a nice restaurant. 

It was nice to see Sam happy and settled - at least for the time being - in the beautiful city of Prague. And it was great to see, experience, and learn so much ourselves! Tomorrow, Blossom and Lauren leave for Texas, and we take a train to Vienna.