Europe, 2016: 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!