Cloudy Vienna

No other city was as exalted in my mind as legendary Vienna after high school European History. First it was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, then the Austrian Empire, and finally the Austro-Hungarian empire. So many chocolate cakes were baked and consumed in class, the oddly shaped servings representing the various kingdoms centered around Vienna. Thus I feel I should apologize to Mrs. Ebeling as I did not appreciate this storied capital as much as I should have.

But I only had two days, it was raining most of the time, and I was still on antibiotics and feeling enervated. The city (and entire continent, really) was celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. There was not much variety in the performance repertoire and everything was expensive and sold out. Since it was often wet out, we did our sightseeing via tram. The palaces and monuments were indeed grand and impressive. We caught a glimpse into how Hapsburg apartments were decorated at the Albertina Museum, but it was the Belvedere that truly swept us off our feet. Along with great general presentation and placards that actually contained interesting and meaningful descriptions of the paintings, there was an exhibit on Vienna Art Nouveau that included dazzling works by Gustav Klimt.

This 1.8m x 1.8m masterpiece in vivid colors with the striking angular poses and timeless ecstatic embrace was absolutely mesmerizing up close.

We had our most interesting meal in Vienna at a Balkan restaurant. Victor was in charge of reading the menu, exercising his interpretation skills in Slavic languages (good) and German (poor). We ordered Balkan salad (chopped tomatoes and shredded lettuce topped with different kinds of cheese and yogurt and eggplant sauces), breaded chicken, pork sausages, and burek (cheese pie). Over at the next table, a stout man was eating what looked like a plate-sized hamburger. Our portions were huge as well and we left feeling very sated.

I will be sure to plan for better health and weather for my next visit to Vienna. We departed on the last day of June, Victor heading to bridge camp in Slovakia and I, after much grumbling, handing over €86 to take the night train to Zurich.