A crisp, crisp, blue day was my entrance into the world of Vienna this morning. Temperatures are in the upper thirties and that is a bit of a change, but walking on the “sunny side of the street” helps to ease the sting. The first order of the day is to find Stephans Platz, home to the great tiled roof Cathedral.
Unfortunately, I’m in the mood of “this is just one of too many Cathedrals”, so enjoy the roof and head to my real prize, Mozart’s Flat where he did much of his Vienna writing. For instance he wrote "The Magic Flute" in this residence.
The theme of “no photography inside” continues, but what I can say is that for anyone interested in Mozart, this is a morning well worth the effort. The audio guide is excellent and the historic relics and shared historical context really help to bring things to life.
On the map of Vienna, there is a giant ferris wheel depicted in the Volksprater. Just how big was this thing? Well I’m sure it would have been impressive, if I hadn’t seen the London Eye. Taking pictures from the train platform was all that was needed for this tourist sighting. Granted, the passenger compartments were the size of street trolleys and in the day when it was built this must have been a marvel, but these are technologically jaded times.
So, skip the ferris wheel and head to the Museum of Modern Design. This should be awesome! Sorry, again, not photo’s allowed inside, but you should be happy for that.
The museum ended up be a history lesson in the design of the obtuse. (At least for me.) My life really could have been complete without wandering through the exhibit on “The History of Upholstery”. But, the technological development of silver wear, i.e. knife, fork, spoon, was actually pretty cool if you just looked at the elements of design and ignored the fact that airline cutlery and “the spork” were included. I really think that my college roommate Steve Hanlon was needed to make this museum come alive for me. As an artist and furniture designer I’m sure Steve and his excitement over certain design elements could have shifted my historical relevance/impact skepticism into appreciation, especially in a fifty meter hall dedicated to the evolution of the chair in the 19th and 20th century. (Actually, that exhibit was pretty cool.)
To complete the Mozart tour of Austria, I headed to St. Marx cemetery.
Wolfgang’s final resting place is easy to find, once you have entered the grounds. Simply, walk down the main path, until the top of the rise in terrain and look left.
Fortunately, it was relatively late in the afternoon, so I had the opportunity to experience the scene alone.
It would have been fitting to listen to Cecilia Bartoli trill through a few of his arias, but it was then that I noticed their absence from my ipod playlist… must rectify this back at the hostel.
So I spent the remaining hour and a half of the early evening walking the Vienna sidewalks and streets back home. I knew I was close by the neon signs of the previous block. It is strangely coincidental how many hostels have neighboring blocks looking for clientele.
Dinner was this "take away" salad and I thought it was a little ironic, given the political tension of the past couple of years, that the "American Dressing" turned out to be what we call "French Dressing" in the States.
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