Two things about this - firstly, I actually understood every word that she said (and not just because she was holding a camera), so those 5 years of high-school German classes were not a total waste of time; and secondly, it has happened a few times where people start talking to me in German, whereas all through Spain, Italy, and southern Central Europe, everyone automatically spoke in English. To add a third point, her English was probably better than some of the people I was speaking to in England, whose mother tongue actually is English!
So, perhaps I look like a local.
Today was to be another day of culture - although in Vienna, that's not including music or Opera, or (probably to the disappointment of some) the Spanish horses (Lipizzaners, which if you remember "originate"from Lipica in Slovenia, which I visited); rather, I've decided to visit another couple of art museums that I've heard are pretty good.
The first museum was the Belvedere, palace and one-time summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy (the successful Commander-in-Chief in the wars against the Ottoman Empire). Set in a baroque park landscape a short tram or U-bahn ride from the city centre in the third District, the palace complex consists of two Baroque palaces (the Upper and Lower Belvedere), the Orangery, and the Palace Stables; construction was from the late 17th to early 18th centuries.
Today, the museum is host to the largest collection of works by Gustav Klimt (I counted 10 on display), including the legendary painting "The Kiss", as well as major works by Schiele and Kokoschka in the Upper Belvedere, while the Lower Belvedere opens rooms from the palace's history, contains the medieval collection (religious paintings), and hosts temporary exhibitions.
Back to no photographing the artworks, so we'll all just have to settle for some shots of the magnificent buildings and gardens:
The building itself is lovely, and they have nicely integrated a modern entrance area, which does nothing to detract from the architecture - if anything, I think that it shows that old and modern can co-exist, when done tastefully.
It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs and architectural drawings. Fortunately, not everything is on display at once.
The permanent exhibition is entitled "Monet to Picasso" and has some great pieces; on the top floor is the development of the Albertina, with many of the masters collected by Albert and his wife (the sister of Marie Antoinette); the ground floor houses temporary exhibitions, which is currently showing works by the American Eric Fischl.
Photography is allowed on the first floor only, so I was able to take a few shots of works that interested me:
I decided to climb the 342 steps of the southern tower, which I missed on my first visit here.
At the top of the tower, where they have a souvenir shop, two of the windows were open, allowing me to take a couple of panoramic views over central Vienna:
This reinforced concrete block, which could easily be representative of a gas chamber, is made to resemble books on a library shelf, representing the Jewish culture of books, the library as a refuge, and a living sign of the survival of the Jewish mind. Around the base are the names of 41 sites where Austrian Jews were murdered during WWII.
After the changeover from town gas to natural gas between 1969 and 1978, they were decommissioned, with only the brick exterior front walls preserved. However, the structures have found new life with residential and commercial use.
And they're pretty attractive too - top marks Vienna!