So Long Vienna

My time in Vienna has come and gone. I spent my last day cleaning up the apartment, doing laundry and doing one final sightseeing thing. My parents had told me about hike/walk they did while they visited and I was busy with other things. Basically, I took the tram to the northwest edge of the city to Grinzing and then walked up a large hill through some vineyards to a clearing that gave a panoramic view of the entire city. It was a fitting way to end my time in Vienna giving me some perspective on the city, not to mention it was a perfect day outside.

I have one last day in Paris and then back to Minnesota. Oh, and I happen to have a place to stay in Paris this time around.

Gustav Klimt, Belvedere Palace

Belvedere Palace, a photo by nathan.langholz on Flickr.

So I know this blog has turned into a lot of art talk, but whatever that's what I'm seeing a lot of. I was reading about Andy Warhol after I visited the Kunsthalle Wien the other day when I came across an Economist article from 2009 about how only a handful of artists have sold a single painting for over $100 million dollars, with Andy Warhol being a new inclusion. Surprisingly, to me at least, included in this list was Gustav Klimt who, to be honest, I had never heard of until I came to Vienna. Wikipedia cites that one of his paintings sold for $135 MILLION dollars in 2006. That's ridiculous. One of the main museums here in Vienna, the Belvedere Palace, houses the largest gallery of his paintings as he is from here, so I decided to go to see what all the fuss is about.

Gustav Klimt seemed to use a variety of drawing, collage, and painting techniques resulting in some interesting art. Most of his subjects included the woman form. The centerpiece of the collection was called The Kiss was a 6 foot by 6 foot piece that is of a man and woman embracing in a kiss. There are all sorts of different golds and definitely catches your eye when you enter the room.

In terms of sites to visit in Vienna the Belvedere may be the most "all purpose" place to visit. It is another fascinating example of a beautiful royal palace, there is a large garden area, a view of the St. Stehpen's Cathedral and the city center, along with a diverse art museum (including a couple Monets and Van Goghs) capped by the Klimt collection. Its closer to the city center than the Schonbrunn Palace and not quite the time commitment, although not quite impressive size wise. The art is probably more representative of historical Austrian art than the Albertina and the palace is a little more impressive. I would definitely suggest the Belvedere if making a short visit to Vienna.

Castle District Prague

St. Charles Bridge and St. Vitus Cathedral, a photo by nathan.langholz on Flickr.

The Prague Castle did not disappoint as far as old world beauty and great views of the entire city. It is considered the biggest ancient castle by the Guinness Book of World Records although it doesn't look like the medieval castle that one would imagine. There are a number of large halls, buildings, courtyards, and the large St. Vitus Cathedral. This is all surrounded by the castle district which is a number of smaller noble houses, former artisan shops, and other small cathedrals all of which is on a hill overlooking all of Prague. Throughout the centuries the castle has been home to different Kings, powerful members of the Nazi regime, the Communist government, and the current Presidential offices.

There was a royal changing of the guard outside the castle gates, which happens every hour on the hour. The guards are supposed to be stoic like the guards at Buckingham Palace, but seem to have a little more leeway in this regard. As I watched, one of the guards must have had an inside joke with another one of the guards because he could barely keep it together from laughing.

Throughout the day I heard lots of talk about the former communist government and how the older generation is still either heavily involved with communist groups or very wary of it in the current government. In contrast to Bratislava I thought the city itself seemed far more removed from its communist past. There weren't the large grotesque apartment buildings in plain view and with the huge, huge tourist population it has definitely taken advantage of its preserved historical center in a large way.

I got a haircut before I left to Prague as you can see in the picture below. Trying to explain how to cut my hair to someone who only spoke German was a struggle, fortunately its pretty difficult to mess up cutting my hair.

Prague

I'm sitting here enjoying breakfast in Prague in the nicest hostel I've every stayed in. It's a far cry from my hostel experience in Paris and I'm loving it.

The train ride here was just over 4 hours and was an experience in itself. I was in a six person compartment with two other women one of whom probably didn't stop talking for more then 20 minutes in that 4 hour span in a mix of Czech, German, English and Arabic. She was covered in tattoos and was very pregnant. The other woman was from Bulgaria and spoke to me the entire trip in German convinced I understood every word she said even though I told her I only spoke English. The pregnant woman ate every half hour and was willing to share her huge bag of gummy bears with me. She was also kind enough to help the "poor" American guy find his hostel which was very nice.

As far as Prague goes, every single person I have talked to has raved about their experience in Prague, so maybe the expectations were a little high. I've enjoyed it so far, but outside of the first two hours I have been here it has rained and rained and rained some more. This had made it hard to want to be out around the city. I did join up with a free walking tour yesterday through the Old Town, Jewish Quarter, and finally the New Town. Today I'm hoping to get to see the famed Prague castle without getting rained on.

On another note this is one of the places in the world where beer is literally cheaper than water and just about every other drink. The claim is the Czech Republic consumes more beer than other country in the world per capita. On the menu where I had dinner last night a 0.2 liter coke cost roughly $4.15 while a 0.5 liter of beer was $2.10. With the nearly 10 different Czech beers on tap at every different place I have tried quite a few new beers.

St. John of Nepomuk Sunset, a photo by nathan.langholz on Flickr.