Saturday April 2: Heading Home

On our last full day in Europe we toured the hillside park near the hotel and then (after another great breakfast) headed to the train station (and now we noticed the Art Nouveau stonework). Since we spent all told about 20 or so hours on these clean, comfortable, and fast (we saw one 125 mph reading on the train speedometer) European Inter-City trains, here is one last photo from one, of Ian and Ida in a dining car. This last trip was in two stages: one down the Elbe (see amazing cliffs and more amazing bridge across them) to Dresden, and then a second train from Dresden to the Frankfurt Airport station. We stayed that night in a Sheraton at the airport (I'll spare you photos, but we did appreciate the big tub to soak in), and thus would be refreshed for our flight out on Sunday (praise again to Air Canada and its odd but comfortable "pod" seats).

So that was that. One week, three capitals of history and culture, each fascinating in its own way. Many hours with our great friend Alex (including a visit with her guy, Gunter) (inside joke: notice, Alex, we got that name right!), many miles of shoe leather worn off, numerous museums and churches, lots of coffee, bread, and jam, pleasantly surprising warm and clear weather (we were never rained on), and even the Prague Defenestration! A wonderful time, in three wonderful places.

Now, next time... Venice!

Friday April 1: Prague

This was a sad day as we said farewell to our friend and host, Alex, who took us to the train station in the morning. But we had to be off to our third European Musical capital! You can see us leaving our Vienna apartment, a photo that gives a good overview of it. We had a 2-hour train ride through Austria and the Czech Republic (including the famous region of Bohemia): you can see also that Ian was very excited by the pastoral scenery! Upon arrival our hotel sent a car to pick us up and we were taken to the Sax Design Hotel in the "Little Town" section of Prague, tucked under the castle hill. I don't usually mention our hotels in these kinds of reports, but this one was... well, we are still speechless. A small boutique place done up entirely in the designs of the 60s and 70s. Ida is reclining on a vintage sofa under a genuine Warhol... and that is indeed the wall of one of our rooms, with Ian's bed in front! In our other room was this egg... no, actually a chair! Very cute! (See also Ida in the hanging spherical chair in the lobby: Natalie in particular we know is a fan of these!) The view from a small rooftop terrace of the house of old Prague was spectacular, too. We climbed the steep cobblestones to the old palace and the Church of Saint Vitus: our most impressive cathedral yet. There's an exterior photo and an interior one, and then a demonstration of the rainbow colors of the stained glass windows falling on one of the interior columns. We can only imagine what impact this had on the worshipful of the 1400s, long before any kind of electronic media: it must have seemed miraculous. Glenn was especially taken with the Art Nouveau windows of Alphonse Mucha, of course installed centuries later (see photo of one window's detail). We descended from the castle complex down to the Vltava River, crossed an ancient bridge, and went into Old Town Prague. Buildings of fine grandeur were matched only by statues of famous natives, including of course: Dvorak! Most moving was the Old Synagogue, built around 1270: the oldest synagogue in Europe, survivor of many centuries,wars, upheavals, and pogroms. This is the synagogue where the Golem of legend was hidden. An amazing building to see, especially for we Americans, who tend to think anything built before 1900 is "old." We wandered through the Old Town square, saw a monument to Jan Hus, viewed an amazing tower clock that showed not only the Apostles announcing the hour but also figures of Vanity, Greed, Lust, and Death himself (the Middle Ages were such jolly times!). We came across the Estates Theater, where Mozart's Don Giovanni was premiered in 1787 -- with Mozart conducting! The statue outside (no, it is not Emperor Palpatine nor a Nazgul!) is of the Commendatore from the opera. We walked back to our hotel as dusk fell, showing off the castle hill: Ian was thrilled to learn this was THE castle and palace complex where the infamous Prague Defenestration of 1618 took place... and you can see by the steep walls why being thrown out of a window here would be no fun at all! For dinner we went into the first open restaurant we found, U Mecenase, worth a mention due to its great age: as its website says (http://www.umecenase.cz/en/restaurant-main.php)"Its origin dates back to the sixteenth century.. You may find here the place where Jan Mydlar, the famous Prague executioner used to sit in 1620s." We did not see Jan there when we stopped by. We decided to go for local specialties and Ian opted for "pig's knee," (see photo) which was quite a hunk of pork! We staggered home and slept well (the Little Town is quiet beyond words at night), to be ready for our departure Saturday morning. Whew!

Thursday March 31: Vienna (still)

Off again, weather sunny and wonderful again (sorry Cleveland!), this time to MAK, where we had breakfast on Monday but whose museum was closed then. Now we could see the museum, too. This is sort of a museum of arts & crafts, design and decoration, rather than of the fine arts. Miles of exotic carpets from 14th-century Persia and beyond, Biedermeier decorative objects, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Klimt and Wagner and Mucha and more. See the incredibly modern tableware setting from about 1910 (termed "barbaric" at the time). From MAK we met our driver (smile) and went to the Pasqualati Beethoven house (named after the owner), one of a few dozen places the great composer lived in in Vienna over the years. See his actual piano! Here he wrote Egmont and the Opuse 59 #3 Finale, of which we saw the actual manuscript. Then off we went to the further suburb of Grinzing, with its steep old streets and old-style taverns known as heuriger: at one of which we dined. Superb! Kaiserschmarn for dessert: do you Natalie & Whitney remember this? A walk around the neighborhood took us to another Beethoven house (in which was preserved a lock of the great man's hair), where he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament in 1802. But the crowning event of the day, no, the entire week, was a visit to: HOFER (the Austrian branch of Aldi's)! Snapped up some goodies and then staggered home (courtesy of our driver again), to pack, do email, clean the apartment, and generally get ready for the next day, and... PRAGUE!

Wednesday March 30: Vienna (again)

Sorry to be so far behind in updates, but that should be a sign of how busy our long days are! So here it is Saturday night and I am just doing Wednesday! We started (after sleeping a bit late) with the metro over to the Art / History Museum, which is a work of art in itself (nice little staircase, eh?). Beyond impressive, loaded with Caravaggio's, Ver Meer's, you name it... and the world's largest collection of Bruegel, one of Ida's (and our) favorite artists. We saw the (in)famous Tower of Babel and more, including several of the Seasons series. Then we had a nice walk over to the Secession building (original home of one of Vienna's more dynamic art movements, from early in the 20th century), culminating in sitting a spell on what Ian called "the coolest place in Vienna," the front steps (Ian's proclamation was based on observation of a hipster wearing Maison Martin Margiela sneakers!) Across the street was an outdoor market/cafe/food store complex called Naschmarkt, where Alex met us for a great outdoor lunch. Then our excellent Vienna Tour Guide drove us all the way out to the 14th District (a hilly green suburb) where we found the amazing (truly amazing) church that Secessionist designer Otto Wagner built, the Kirche am Steinhof. Done in spectacular Jugendstil/Art Nouveau style, Glenn pronounced this the most beautiful modern church he had ever seen: see one exterior and one interior shot. (Music in services must be... interesting... we counted a full 7-second reverb!) On the way back downtown we stopped at Schonnbrun Palace, which is embedded in an enormous park (emu's abounded in the woods), and had coffee on a terrace outside this "little" outbuilding, the Glorietta: sunny skies and 65 degrees at least. Alex dropped us off at the apartment where we changed into dressier clothes in order to go to the Staatsoper production of Elektra, which can only be described as jaw-dropping and stunning. Ninety minutes of constantly intense and propulsive music, with fine singing from a group of characters ravaged by the passions of murder and vengeance. Wow. No photo would do this full justice, so accept at least as a token of our respect one of the cast's curtain calls. To recover, we went across the street to the famous Sacher Hotel for a late-night snack and of course Sacher torte, enjoyed by our sharply-dressed Ian. The decor was... shall we say, opulent (see photo of the lobby)? And then home to bed, again thanks to our wonderful host, concierge, and driver, Alex!