Wien, Vienne, Vienna.

So, after a great couple of days in Prague we hopped on our train to Vienna. After only about a five hour trip, we arrived in darkness and found our hostel quickly. Both starving, James and I went down to the basement-level bar and ordered a meal and several solid Austrian beers. An early night.

Me in front of the Loos Haus

Exiting Hafsburg Palace grounds..

Stephanplatz; roughly the centre of town

The next morning James, discoverer of all things free, found us a free tour to walk on. Particularly interesting given the guides specific architectural insight in many of the cities buildings we visited a number of icons, starting with the Secession Building and moving onto the Loos Haus (any archi kids following should know this) and then taking quite a large tour through the extensive Hafsburg palace grounds. We finished up at the iconically beautiful Stephanplatz in front of St. Stephan's Cathedral.

St. Stephans Cathedral

Quite cold and with a litlte emptiness in the stomach, ames and I banded together with some others we had met on the tour; a Scotsmen, an American, a Brit and a number of Australians to find some warmth and good food. We wandered into a cafe and sat and talked over coffee and apple strudle for an hour or so, before we headed next door to an authentic Austrian pub where we filled up on many litres of beer and lots of schnitzel!

Belvedere Museum at dusk

The Kiss, Gustav Klimt

Feeling particularly jolly, and with the day certainly not over just yet we went off in search of the Belvedere Museum; a Baroque Palace that houses an extensive gallery of art from numerous periods, ranging from medieval right through to contemporary. It also contains the largest collection of Gustav Klimt, including his most famous piece; The Kiss.

Signs of what was to come? Nah...

After touring through the gallery we went back to our hostel and snuck in a quick nap, worn out from a thorough discovery of the city. A little later that evening we met Yen who had flown over from Australia a few days before and was meeting us to continue the journey until at least Switzerland. We ventured down to the basement bar once more and stayed much longer this time, thanks perhaps in part to the '1 euro shot' happy-hour special. Add to that some great tunes and we were ripping it up on the d-floor until 3am. A solid day all in all.

A slightly later wake-up this morning, once again in part to the '1 euro shot' special... 

 

In front of the Secession Building

Skipping breakfast (probably a mistake admitted later on) we re-visited the Secession Building, this time taking a look inside properly at the exhibits on display. The usual strange modern-art greeted us, however there was also an interesting explanation of the construction of the building with a fantastic model and info on the Seccession art movement.

Random side note; this is how buskers do it in Vienna:

Passing again through Stephanplatz we marvelled at the fantastic interior before attending a tour of the Vienna Opera Building; another marvel of the city. A fantastic insight into the workings of the opera and the staging of all events.

James and I with the Vienna Opera House

Overlooking the grand entrance hall

Inside the beautiful theatre

That night we caught up again with the group of Australian girls we had met on the tour and went in search of another Austrian restaurant. Unfortunately we appeared out of luck as they all seemed closed; the Christmas holiday period still impacting opening hours. We eventually settled at an Italian eattery and then once full went back to the hostel for some drinks.

Our entrance to the hostel bar was just plain bizarre. Walking in, we were greeted by some kind of strange remix of the Pirate of the Carribean theme song. Not something I will forget. Following that it seemed like they were pandering to the large group of South-Americans in the room with a lot of Latino music we were unfamiliar with. Either way we drank up and got ready to head out to a club. James had been reccomended a place at the hostel so we went in this direction, despite it being a little out of the way. Right from the start, we began to resent and regret it – this was not a night we would forget either.

Taking us almost an hour to reach, we made it to the club, but not before walking through the apparent arse-end of Vienna, through a crowd of 'dealers' (yes, James of all people was offered..) and then past probably the most random thing ever – an old man; at least 60, if not 70, chilling at the bottom of a flight of stairs, at 2am, with a boom-box strapped to his chest, pumping out dubstep. For those playing at home; he reminded me of the guy from the Art vs Science/Magic Fountain music-video (definately watch if you don't know http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbhJ9c-pFoI).

Anyway, the club was terrible – which was not a good result given our trek across town; we were still keen to go out but were sobering up fast. Working off another reccomendation, hesitantly, we went in the direction of another club, eventually reaching this around 2am. A good selection of tunes, decent drink prices and initially good atmosphere reigned true – however a stupidly packed venue, overflowing with guys did not work well as we spent the night somehow protecting our female accomplices from numerous unwanted advances from the Austrian crowd.

Those guys needed to calm down. Still, a strangely enjoyable night was had. Understandably the next morning we slept in late.

Vienna Architecture exhibit

 

Glenn Murcutt Special Exhibition

Today we decided to explore the MuseumQuartier – a full block of the city dedicated to a number of museums centred around art and architecture. We chose to visit two buildings; first the Archizentrum which had to exhibits; the first showcasing the development of architecture relative to the city from the mid 1800s. The second, surprisingly, featured an exhibition of Glen Murcutt; for those who do not – probably Australia's most successful if not well-known architect at least of this century.

Izima Kaoru, Landscapes with a Corpse
for Alexander Mcqueen

Following this we visited the Kunsthalle which had two photography exhibits. The first was entitled 'No Fashion!" which was effectively an anti-fashion theme that different artists explored. This lead to some interestingresults; with an always surprising amount of nudity. The second was almost a documentation of fashion photography which was very interesting, showcasing samples of work from the early beginnings, through to contemporary styles.

James and I at Schonbrunn Palace

Exhausted from a walking around non-stop for most days, we took the chance of an early night.

On our last full day in Vienna I took the opportunity to see the last thing in the checkbox, Schonbrunn Palace. A bitterly cold morning meant we had wrapped-up strongly and dodge numerous puddles, still we would be inside for a while! On a tour of the palace interiors we walked through a number of of the royal rooms and took in the grandeur and the oppulence of it all before walking for a short while through the gardens.

James 'in character' at the Museum

James showing the scale of the exhibits

James was quite keen on seeing an exhibit on the Austrian military (basically hoping to see some guns and tanks), so we which ventured off to the Vienna Military Museum which turned out to be quite an impressive building, holding just as an impressive and extensive collection of historic exhibitions – and free!

Yummy apple strudel!

Our last evening in Vienna was spent in an authentic micro-brewery, downing more schnitzel and even more beer; nothing wrong with that! Brilliant stuff.

Oh and of course, apple strudel! Cheers :)