October 16-17- Vienna

October 16 – 17 - Vienna

Last night we heard a splendid concert of the Vienna Symphony (NOT the Philharmonic).  It was at the Musikverein, built by none other than Franz Joseph…. Of course.   I had ordered the tickets on line so we simply picked them up, and once the hall was open we went to our very lovely seats on the ground floor.  A most elaborate hall, as are all buildings in Vienna.  It was a packed house with people sitting on stage behind the orchestra players, and standing in the back of the hall.  Not a seat to be had.  Few tourists, mostly solid Viennese dressed quite nicely.

The concert consisted of two pieces by Tsychovsky: the Violin Concerto with a young woman named Arabella Steinbacher as soloist. She got a zillion standing ovations and played a small encore before our intermission.  Afterwards was the 4th Symphony filled with bombast and lots of brass.  Amazingly there was a taxi right there waiting for us and we got home lickety split for a short drink in the bar before retiring.

Today, Saturday with a promise of blue skies and crisp fresh air, we went on a quest to find Gay a phone cable and plug for her phone. She had left hers on the ship, and while we called them immediately yesterday, they never found it. So we walked to the Kartner strasse pedestrian shopping area where at a T-Mobile shop they fitted her out.  Then since she was not feeling up to par, we hopped in a cab and returned to the hotel.  I marked out my route and took off for MAK:  The Viennese Museum of Applied Arts located about 2 kilometer from the hotel.  It was a lovely walk past the park of the KurSalon, to the museum building – again built by Franz Joseph.  What a juxtaposition: an ornate, gilded building with elaborate frescoes and lots of gold, and in its galleries displays of modern furniture, porcelain ad objects of the 20th century.  On the main floor, coming off of the lobby which had floor to ceiling spaciousness were various rooms or galleries: One room focused on Jugenstiel; another on Biedemeyer, another on Klimt.

  Downstairs was my favorite part of the museum – MAK Design & Labor.  It showed new design concepts for familiar objects: see-thru toaster; modern plastic containers; a toilet designed to be totally recyclable with even the water re-used, while the waste is conserved for fertilizing fields.  It requires no hook-up and was funded by the Gates Foundation. They showed all manner of objects associated with eating and the kitchen – a stove made from an old oil drum; a stove made from a shopping cart; a desalinization object made from recycled plastic; etc. etc. I spent at least 90 minutes in this one area alone and didn’t begin to skim the surface.  The top level of the building was a photographic exhibit, and one of Christof Niemann an illustrator who works internationally and has an absolutely amazing imagination.  I will have to learn more about him.  The last exhibit was of modern photographers – most a little too dramatic for my liking, but I thought Jock would have enjoyed it lots more than I. This museum will deserve a return visit should I come back to Vienna.

I fell into a cab because I was late, came back, relaxed for a bit and then we were off to dinner at a local FABULOUS restaurant recommended by the front desk staff.- Restaurant Entler. Definitely a local restaurant, elegant with amazing food and service.  All other guests were Austrian – including three with their dogs: a poodle, a shepherd, a retriever and a spaniel.  Every dog gets a water dish from the restaurant and sits quietly under the tables.  There is theoretically one dog for every three people in the city.  We both started with a pumpkin soup, then gay had lamb and I had fried porcini mushrooms w/ yogurt sauce.  Her dinner won the prize.  We will go back again – it was a winner and a price performer.

Tomorrow Lipizzaner  Horses and a museum or two.