Vienna

After Český Krumlov it was off to Wien (Vienna), Austria. Yes! Another country to add to my map! I’d explain my first encounters with Vienna like a Google map zoom. We started at a distance and worked our way in. Our first stop was the highest hill in the city. It had great views of the entire city.


From the lookout point I made my way down the hill through the Kahlenberg vineyards. It seemed again that I was trekking through people’s backyards… I hesitated as I passed a house with the sign ‘don’t worry about the dog, beware of owner’… followed by pictured of guns and evil dogs. Oh well… I made it! Once at city level we passed several older art students painting different parts of the city and vineyards. I always love taking pictures of people making pictures… art on art. Overall I was not impressed with Vienna. It reminded me a lot of SF… Just a lot of newer type high-rise buildings, graffiti and people (but German speaking, which I loved) I am seriously considering picking up a tape that will teach me how to become fluent).


When we had finally zoomed into Vienna we ended up in our hostel. Zooming in even further we found soggy pizza in our windowsill. The oddest/creepiest thing about the city was the mannequins. (in the words of Dane Cook... "have you ever seen a mannequin that you want to f*ck?"... a laugh at this). Our hotel was located right on the main strip of shops and the window displays were freaky... so realistic down to kids playing and a child sticking his tongue out at another. I took my favorite picture of the trip in Vienna but you will have to check it out on my other blog. mannequins make great models but like real ones they don't eat. Bummer.





The one cool thing about Vienna was the kebabs!.. YUM!!... oh yeah.. and the millions and millions of museums and galleries that were there. The night I stayed in Vienna it was Museum Nacht (night). I got a free ticket(usually 13Euros) that allowed me to get into any museum from 6pm to 1am. The group of people I was with spent a large amount of museum time searching for dinner… a döner dinner of course. I later coined the term ‘what would you do for a döner?'.... creative, I know, but it will be on a t-shirt one day. Another phrase that I forgot to mention last post was “when in Krumlov.” Several of us have been using this term since we arrived in Prague… the ‘when in Rome’ thing just didn’t fit right.

So back to museum night…. I ended up at the Albertina viewing the works of the famous Van Gough, Picasso and Monet, and at a Butterfly House that had about six butterflies and 14,564,822 cockroaches! I also so a golden Mozart wooing women. I’ve discovered that I look at a lot of art as I would a photograph. I have no idea if this is how you are supposed to look at art but I do it anyway. I have also become very frustrated with the concept of art. I mean who gets to decide what good art is, or who end up on display? I know a lot of people are not famous for their work until after they are dead but why them over someone else. You can’t judge tastes so how can you judge art. Some contemporary art can be, for example, a canvas painted blue. It is art… why? A 4 year old could finger paint something more creative than that!... I know I’m ranting but I’m just trying to figure it all out right now. I’ve been going to photography exhibits in Prague and been absolutely confused about the difference between good and bad, art and not art.







Back to Vienna. Van Gogh was amazing because it was a life’s worth of work in a few rooms. Although people were packed in the gallery like spam in a can, it was crazy to get up close and think that although he painted it up close (where it looks like a bunch of little lines) once you step back it was a beautifully constructed image. Neat! I want to paint!

The morning of the second day we explored the gardens (I forget which ones). Here the boys in our group molested a statue...boob grabbing and motor boating was involved. Rude yet amusing.


Also in Vienna I was able to visit the Sigmund Freud Museum. The coolest part about this museum was that it was in his old house. I peed in Sigmund Freud’s house! (In the WC-water closet -of course). How wicked. The most interesting thing I observed was the location of him desk. He sat by the window but had a hanging mirror on the latch of his window….very interesting to me. I felt surrounded by the intelligence of many great minds as I toured the museum. Everything he studied and taught us is fairly recent. After Freud it was döner time and back on the bus to our next destination… Budapest… but before that…. a quick stop at the Hundertwasser-Krawina Haus…. a place with unique modern architecture where lines don’t exist but the toilet of modern art does.