Across the Ring

Just over the road from the gardens, the Parliament stands on a small rise.  Let’s go and take a closer look, shall we?  Sadly, it’s closed today and our little penchant for touring parliament buildings isn’t satisfied, but never mind.  There’s plenty more to see.

The first panorama I capture from the top of the steps features the longest tram in the city, because as I turn the camera the tram travels along at the same speed and in the same direction!  I’ll have another go…

Just “next door” is the Rathaus, the City Hall with a rather well chosen Christmas Tree still in place.  They’re clearing up from the Christmas Market which was in this yard until a couple of days ago, so we can’t go closer.  We’d had the idea of getting here at about the right time for a tour inside, but haven’t managed it very well, so sorry, that’s off too (unless you fancy hanging around a while?)

Across the road is the Hofburg Theatre, the “premier theatre of the German speaking world” according to our guidebook.  Hmm.  I think there are likely to be one or two rivals to that claim but hey, it’s a grand building, isn’t it?

We’ve been walking clockwise around the Ringstrasse, but now it’s time to turn around and head back the other way.  We’re ready for a bit of a sit down and a drink, but there’s nowhere around here.  Let’s head for the Museums Quarter.

The statue of Maria Theresia  stands in the centre of a well kept garden in between the Naturhistorisches Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  These two traditional collections lead the way to the more contemporary Museum Quartier,  where we think we might find some coffee.

Though there are great collections of modern art in here, dance studios and film and video archives, sad to say that our priority is to be found in the cafe!  Perhaps we’ll come back to the Leopold collection when we’re less weary?

The birthday boy has spotted a poster for another exhibition he fancies, too and invigorated by the hot lemon, ginger and honey drink, I’m happy to go with the flow.  Bunte Gotter – Coloured Idols – has toured a few galleries and maybe you’ve seen it?  Right now it’s at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and so it’s there where we’ll head now.

OK if I leave you here in the Egyptian rooms whilst I go and put my stuff in a locker?  In true northern European style, it’s warm in here and our outdoor clothes and belongings are better secured in the cloakroom so we can enjoy our visit unencumbered.  Photos are allowed without flash, but sadly, not in the special exhibition.  Sorry about that.

Though the exhibits are stunning and tell a fascinating story, I’m sure you’re doing just as I am…looking up and marvelling at the building itself, which is as much of a star as the contents.

This looks rather interesting, too.  To celebrate the Klimt anniversary, a bridge has been built in the museum to allow a close view of his wall paintings high above the staircase.  Tomorrow, the bridge will be removed – how lucky are we to have caught it?!

I’m not a fan of his work generally but I love to see the sketches of any artist and these in particular hit the spot with me.

Look at the precise measurements and the detail there within the sketch.  Oh, to be able to draw and imagine like that!  Having seen the sketches I want to see the end result, so come on, let’s climb the steep stairs and look for the lady with the orb.

But no photos allowed!  (and unlike some others, I’ll obey the instructions in the hope of finding a postcard or something)

So, for now, you’ll have to imagine the rich palette of colours, the gold and the beautiful faces of the figures which imaginatively fill the unusually shaped panels high above the arches.

Or you could catch a glimpse in someone’s Flickr album.

Take a while, enjoy them and meet me in the next post.  OK?

Come on, let’s go!

No good lying in bed when there’s a great big city out there ready to be discovered!  We’ll have some breakfast and then get out there and see what’s what.  The morning has dawned fine and looks pretty settled, so we’ll leave the umbrellas back here and take the risk, shall we?

First stop is a bookshop where my hero and his junior spotted an atlas of Austria-Hungary last night and fancied a closer look.  Whilst they peruse the pages and decide there are too many words and not enough maps, I spot a “moon diary”.  Though the moon calendar remains popular over here in Germany and Austria, the concept of working to a natural cycle according to the phases of the moon has never really caught on in England, has it?  But perhaps you know about this and do your planting, mow your lawn and cut your hair at the right time of the month?  Or do you need a diary like this to advise you?  I find the whole idea fascinating, though have no personal experience to share, sadly.

The characters in the children’s shop a few doors down appear to have had a bit of a night, don’t they?  The assortment of miniature brandies and the like on the table suggest that some of them are the worse for wear.

Oh my, one has his head in a bucket!

Oh, and shock horror…have some of those toys been smoking, too?

Fortunately, there’s a stern notice up there on the wall which you can understand, can’t you?  I mean, being the Urstrumpftante* that you are…

Let’s redeem ourselves and take a few minutes inside the Stephansdom, shall we?  It’s beautiful in here, still decorated after Christmas with small altars here and there.

I really like these little pools of light, shining on the red and white altarpieces and the whole place has a sense of elegance and timelessness, don’t you think?

Although there are lots of tourists here with us, we seem to be able to avoid the large crowds and anyway, they aren’t interested in the same kinds of things as you and I, thank goodness.  This is a curious little wall adornment, isn’t it?  Of course, I was curious about his identity so have done a bit of googling and here he is.  The internet is a wonderful resource, isn’t it?

Oh, and I’m so glad you spotted that small crib scene, too!

It’s time we were heading off.  So far, the crowds haven’t built up and the Graben is looking pretty relaxed.  It’s cold, though, isn’t it?  I’m really pleased I bought those ear warmers and suggest you tie your scarf tightly like everyone else, because the wind certainly whistles about these parts!

 

Here’s a spot where you could leave your old Christmas tree for recycling, if, of course, you’ve taken off all the lametta!  We didn’t bother with that this year but somehow, a couple of strands still found their way on to our tree.  I think they hitched a lift on a bauble…

Another toy shop window and there is a model train display with the Sisi carriage.  Now, I’ll warn you, we are not Sisi fans here, so you’re going to have to do a little sweet talking to bring us round.  Maybe you remember her from when we were at Bad Ischl ? 

Far more interesting is that lovely shop front we spotted last night, when it was dark.  Not sure we have any business with “Zur Schwabisches Jungfrau” but we can admire their style, can’t we?

Now, we’re getting near to the Hofburg here and you could do me a favour by distracting these pesky young men from bothering us, please?  They’d like to catch our interest and sell us tickets for the Spanish Riding School, the ballet, the opera, the concerts…anything!  Of course, we wouldn’t dream of buying such things on the street and I’m sure you woudn’t either.  Let’s confuse them and not give too much away…see how long it takes them to work out our nationality?

Aha…fooled them nicely!  (Monsieur….Madame……)

до свидания!

Let’s spend a while simply taking in the splendid facades of the Hofburg, shall we?  No need to go inside the museums (been there, done that) but we’ll wait a while if you’d like to go round?  Actually, it would be a while, because the queues are pretty long!

Look, up there.  Isn’t it magnificent?  To think the Hapsburgs went to all this trouble to build on such a grand scale when things weren’t exactly going so well for them.  Lessons to be learned?

But though we’re enjoying ourselves, I’m not sure about the others?

I’m just going through the archway which leads to the Ringstrasse but someone has spotted something of interest in the souvenir shop.  Good grief…how on earth can anything in that window appeal?

Well, I suppose that our eyes pick out things of interest, don’t they?  Both historians in the family rather fancy adding this map to their collection.  Shall we indulge them this time?  Well, they didn’t buy the atlas this morning…

Walking through the rose garden, where Martha Stewart’s advice has been taken and the hessian wrapping has been done (perhaps not quite as perfectly as hers) I admire the grand buildings on the other side of the Ring: the Parliament and the City Hall for starters.  Shall we go and take a closer look?

Well, yes, we will…but in the next post, because this one’s getting a little long!!

* Urstrumpftante = a Viennese word describing a woman of a certain age, a battleaxe, perhaps or similar, none of whom read this blog, I’m sure.

Good Morning, Vienna!

The view from my bed this morning looks pretty nice I think.

Here we are

Not one of those times when we leave Heathrow at lunchtime and arrive the other side of the ocean in time for tea, but one where we went the other way and “lost” an hour, wasted another one waiting for the luggage to arrive on the carousel (not just ours, but the whole plane load) which meant that a two hour flight took the whole day.

The reflection on the baggage hall wall is a clue to the grand European capital in which we’ve decided to spend the weekend.

The view from our window is magnificent and those of you who’ve been to Vienna will recognise the Stefansdom immediately.  Our hotel describes itself as an “arthotel” , very modern and rather comfortable.

So, even though we caught the 11am flight this morning, by the time we’d got to the hotel and sorted ourselves out, it was getting dark.  The streets were rather busy and still lavishly decorated which made walking through them a delight.

The Graben is a pedestrian thoroughfare in the grandest European style and we very much enjoyed taking in the atmosphere.  The small, individual shop fronts, some of which remain from the 19th century, are in stark contrast to so many of our city streets with their bland, international corporate buildings.

On this cold early evening, the shop windows glittered and beckoned us in.

However, bearing in mind that we had a reservation for dinner and we have a couple more days to spend lingering in these places, we stepped out and reacquainted ourselves with the layout of the city centre, getting our bearings around the Hofburg and thinking about where we’d like to go tomorrow.  It’s fifteen years since we were here, we think, so our memories are a little patchy.

Though the weather forecast had predicted mild temperatures, it was such a chill wind that blew my Hero’s cap right off and led me into a fine Viennese hat shop to look for some practical headgear to keep my ears warm!  Since I’m unlikely to bump into anyone I know here, I was happy to prioritise comfort before style (!) but the “neck ear warmers” I chose are practical and if not quite elegant, are respectable and very effective!

Fortunately it wasn’t far to the restaurant Zum Weissen Rauchfangkehrer (White Chimney Sweep – read the story here) and there was to be found the most delicious supper – the best way of warming us through again!

And even though we are not in Salzburg, the Nockerl  proved too good to miss. No Kaiserschmarrn on the menu here, so we’ll have to look a little further for that old favourite.

Not a bad quest for the next couple of days, wouldn’t you say?  I suspect we might see a few other interesting things along the way, too

Blue skies, green fields

Though the sky was pink as the sun rose over the brewery this morning.

Time to leave Kempten and head southwest towards Bodensee.  Not much traffic around, we expected a fairly easy run as far as the border, but from then we’d need to pay attention, because our German hire car has neither a Swiss nor an Austrian Motorway Pass.

We really enjoyed the scenery of the Deutsches Alpenstrasse and the miles passed quickly.  In no time at all it seemed, we were nearing the turn for Lindau.

We’d turned off the Navi in favour of a map on my knee – I don’t keep updating our time of arrival every minute or so, and mispronounce placenames so badly that they are unrecognisable.  So, arriving suddenly at the junction near the airfield sign on the map and seeing a motorway sign up there, we made a quick (but mistaken) decision to carry on the same road. 

Ooops.  Not only had we gone wrong, but there wasn’t another turn until we reached Kressbronn, which you can see is a good deal further on.  And guess where the only traffic jam of the trip was to be found? 

You’re right.

But hey, we’re patient.  We can manage.  Except our hire car engine stops as soon as my hero takes his foot off the pedal…and then starts again.  And stops.  and starts. And we hope we have a good battery.  Because this starting and stopping gets on our nerves in a traffic jam!

At last, we were on our way again, back along the lake shore, or at least, a little above it.  There are cloud banks over the water and the whole scene is rather lovely and very peaceful.

We drive through mile upon mile of apple orchards before reaching Lindau and the suburbs of Bregenz.  Suddenly, we found ourselves driving over the border into Vorarlberg, Austria.

These days, crossing Schengen borders is a bit of a non-event, because there’s no need to show passports or anything.  It was interesting to see how this small piece of Austria has transformed itself into a bit of a shoppers paradise, with cheaper petrol and other goods than the neighbouring villages in Germany and Switzerland.

We had no need of fuel and didn’t feel like shopping so carried on along the road.  But my hero is very good spotting things which might interest me and guess what suddenly appeared on the right hand side?

Only a true hero can recognise a Wolford sign at a couple of hundred metres and it takes one with a particular skill to notice that there’s a factory shop there as well.  Guess where we went next?

Well, he did insist!  Usually, Wolford tights are a luxury and when I find them reduced in a sale or in somewhere like Bicester Village, then I’m very happy.  Here, the “ordinary” designs were on sale for 18 Euros, compared with the normal price of around £25 at home.  I wasn’t really tempted by those with chains attached, or perhaps with Swarovski crystals embedded in the “seam” – even though that particular design looked stunning on one of the assistants.   But thinking that such things might be a little much in a Cotswold village, I thought better of it!

Driving away, we passed by a Hanro store too and I realised that this area is renowned for fine textiles.  The not-so-far-away areas around the Swiss cities of St Gallen and Winterthur have a long tradition of embroidered fabrics and lace and I suppose it’s no coincidence that Bernina sewing machines are made just along the lake in Steckborn.

 

Well, a hero’s patience is not without its limits, and so we drove on, to the Swiss border, where there was a jam. 

We thought we’d better get out passports out, just in case.

No need – we drove straight through without any fuss or question.  Apart from the sign which welcomed us to Switzerland with a friendly “Gruezi!”, the only change of note was a sign on our Navi:

That’s all right then.

Within minutes, we were there, behind a tractor, a car and a bicycle, pootling alongside the railway lines with a distant view of the Alps.  Were we happy?

We climbed higher into the countryside, heading for Appenzell, where we planned to buy some cheese and apples and have a picnic lunch.

But we failed in our timing, arriving shortly after the whole town had shut up shop and gone for lunch. 

Oh well, an enforced snooze in the car was called for, the quarter hours counted by the church bell.  The minute we heard “one thirty”, we closed the windows again, gathered our things and returned to the well stocked cheese shop to make a hard decision.  Buying cheese in Appenzell isn’t quite like ordering a pound of Cheddar!

Not only did we succeed in choosing the most delicious Säntis Bergkäse, a conversation with the shopkeeper resulted in her removing the rind and cutting the slices into perfect picnic sizes for us.  Since we can no longer travel with our Swiss Army Knives in our bags, such impromptu picnics can prove challenging.  So, there we are, two brötli, a couple of apples and eine viertel of cheese, cut in half.  Eaten in the fresh air, with the river just beneath us, it tasted divine.

And not a Weissbier in sight!  (well, someone has to drive….)

Having eaten, snoozed a little and enjoyed a little walk around one of our favourite Swiss towns, we were ready to be gone.  Just a shortish drive over the pass then, and down towards Lake Zürich and the small town of Rapperswil, where we’re staying.

It’s lovely to be back here again, by the lake.  The weather is perfect and we’ve already bought our tickets for tomorrow, when we’ll leave the car behind and travel by train into Zürich, have a potter around and maybe a spot of lunch, before coming back here by steamer in the afternoon.

Bliss!