Day #22: Vienna

I kicked off the morning by engaging in the most Vienese of traditions, I had a cup of coffee and read a newspaper in a coffee shop. Granted, it was a cappacino and an English language paper, but the effect was the same. Tradition has it that when the Ottoman Turks were driven back and retreated, they did so in haste, leaving their encampments and supplies behind them. The Austrian troops went to investigate and found sacks of this strange black bean. Voila, a tradition was born.

After I finished my cup of coffee, I went off to another Austrian tradition, the Lippizanner stallions. The performances are sold out long in advance, but in between performances, they have practice sessions that the public can watch. While all they did was trot around for the most part and only once or twice did we see an actual trick, but it was still cool watching them work out. And the facility has chandeliers, so it was not half bad itself.

On an interesting note, we were strictly warned several times not to take pictures or film any of the practice. Which we all observed . . . as long as there was an attendant in the immediate vicinity. I mean, come on, I am watching the famous stallions and you eect me to not take a picture to show people back home?

After the stallions, I lost myself for several hours in the Art museum. The Vienna Art Museum has two main floors. The first floor is full of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art. It is an amazing collection and made me wish I had been a Classics major in college. The second floor, not to be outdone, had an impressive collection of both Northern and Southern European renaissance era art. While I tend to like more Italian artists, I do love me some Rembrandt and Vermeer, both of which were represented.

My two favorite paintings were both quite different from each other. The first is a picture by Raphael entitled "Madonna of the Meadow." It is quite beautiful in its symetry and depicition of Mary.

The other painting was by a Dutch artist. It was portraying a village in winter. What I found most fascinating about it was that the artist had depicted a snowstorm by covering his painting in small white dots. I thought it made for the most enchanting effect.

Finally, I ended my sight-seeing by hiking up the 343 steps to the top of St. Stephen's cathedral. It was quite of a disappointment as the top was a small room with only a few windows, but the view was still pretty terrific.

After I huffed down the stairs, I got my bags from the hostel and made my way to take the night train to Zurich for my trip through Switzerland.