ramblings~
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Backpacking 06: Vienna
30th May - 1st June
Vienna is really a city of music and the arts. Home to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Johann Strauss, its musical heritage has been preserved right to the present day with the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Vienna Boys' Choir and the Vienna Conservatorium. She certainly sets a worthy benchmark for Singapore to aspire towards. Music is everywhere, from the performers on the streets to the cafes playing classical music to the many great theatres which play music and ballet every night.
Spent the remainder of the 1st day (first half was in Bratislava) walking around the Ringstrabe: a wide avenue, constructed in the late 19th century by the very hardworking Emperor Franz Josef I, which encircles the old city of Vienna. It was built to replace the city walls built during the 13th century and the buildings along the avenue would showcase for imperial Habsburg grandeur and the glory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On a practical level, in the wake of the revolutions which brought him to power, this widening of the streets would also make the erection of revolutionary barricades impossible. Sigmund Freud was also known to take daily recreational walks around the Ring… wonder if that gave him any inspiration hmmm.
1) Unfortunately for us, we weren’t used to the weather. It was cold and worse, windy.
2) Us in a garden with the Burgstheater in the background
3) The beautiful Rathaus (Town hall)
4) Vienna’s parliament house
The next day, we visited the Belvedere (meaning “Nice viewpoint” in Italian), a stunning baroque palace complex built by Prince Eugene of Savoy, a brilliant military general. Today is houses the Austrian Gallery, which we gladly spent 5hrs browsing! We were still rather interested with the Impressionist works by Monet etc, as well as the Cubist works. Medieval paintings and sculptures were mainly religious and still ok. But by the time we got to the abstract art section… the “random” splashes of paint and sketches clearly deserved appreciation of an esoteric nature beyond our levels.
Of mention though are the works by the best known artist on display, Gustav Klimt. THE work on display in the museum definitely had to be his “The Kiss”. The following is a rough adaption of the description on the audioguide we shared:
“The setting is a flowery green platform that is probably a cliff top in the midst of a golden void. A man and woman embrace, in a moment of mutual self-abandon. They are swathed in metallic, shining bursts of drapery like a halo, an aura that bathes and blesses them, as if they are enclosed in the moment of their union and it sprays them with molten gold. Below them rain of golden ivy. Her robe is studded with whirls and spirals while he is emblazoned with upright black rectangles. This world of contrast all melt at the point of their harmony, their kiss…”
5) Belvedere
6) Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”
7) St.Stephansdom interior
8) Picture of the Wiener Philharmoniker with choir. Yes, we went to watch them perform Beethoven’s Symphony no.9 (ends with Final Chorus on Schiller's "Ode to Joy")!!! We got the cheapest (6euro, and there were like abt 200+ of us squeezing on that small standing platform. Imagine how much money each concert makes when u factor in the seats) and rather uncomfortable and cramped standing places on the platform at the back of the theatre where we squeezed for entire 1hr 40mins of the concert, albeit the music was great and uplifting =) Made up for us missing the Annual Music concert held at Schloss Schönbrunn 2 days later.
Speaking of which, we visited Schloss Schönbrunn (where the royalty stayed, not belvedere) the next day on the eve of the concert and had a great time admiring the rooms and lavish gardens…
9) A group of schoolkids having their excursion. Just imagine, their school excursions are to palaces… not saying its better but feels different huh.
10) The girls outside Schloss Schönbrunn doing some ballet steps.
11) View of palace from the Gloriette at the top of the hill behind the palace. St.stephansdom is visible on the top right of the picture.
12) Colourful ducks we saw on the way down.
Spent the rest of our last day touring outskirts of Vienna…
13) More cute schoolkids sitting on a bench sipping capri-sonne. Think the centre 2 kids make a good couple =P
14) One of the scarier rides at Prater, this theme park which I must say, has very few tourists and a lot of locals.
15) Flowers taken at a park near UNO city. UNO stands for United Nations Organisation.
  
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ryaniq lived on 1:55 AM
- 03S78 forever -
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