Vienna in a day…and a night

museumsVienna is a small gem of a city.   Beautiful architecture, not crowded, great cafes, interesting stores and fantastic museums.  In one day we were able to see the top things in our list.  It was a rainy morning so we started at the museums.

treeshoneysuckleI believe this is a honeysuckle tree.  The smell was incredible.

klimdtWe began at the Leopold Museum.  The collection of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele is astounding.  Schiele only lived to 28 years old dying from the flu epidemic that had taken over the city.  His wife had died three days before and was six months pregnant.  He had met Klimt at the Vienna art school.  Klimt became Schiele’s mentor.  This piece above is from Klimt.  The perfection of this painting is so precise that it almost looks like a photograph.

josefhoffmanTheir other pal was Josef Hoffman, a furniture designer who had made pieces for their homes.  These pieces were made in 1902.  Quite modern and ahead of his time.

stairThe museum itself is beautiful.  Large rooms, grand stair case out of marble.

egonselfThe exhibit tells the story of Egon and his wife Wally.  They were partners as well as lovers. I I I could not help that as I walked through  the museum and take in all of the art that one rarely sees without thinking about who owned this art originally.  Were these pieces taken by the Nazi’s?  Ends up some were.  These two pieces Schiele painted were of him and his wife, a double portrait.  They are incredible.

egonwifeThen I noticed something that was written about the pieces.  These pieces were originally owned by Lea Bondi Joray, a Jewish art dealer in Vienna who fled to London in 1939 and died in 1969.  These paintings were stolen by the Nazis in the 1930’s.  These paintings were sent to the MOMA in 1997 as a loan for an Egon Schiele exhibit.  It was then that the family alleged that these were stolen property.  It was eventually resolved in a US court in 2010 and the Leopold Museum paid a substantial claim to the Bondi Joray estate.  In return, they agreed to release the paintings to the Leopold Museum.

housesHere is another piece by Schiele called Crescent of Houses.   The Leopold definitely goes under the list of museums to always return to.

lichensteinThe next stop was the Modern Art Museum of Vienna.  This installation is called Ludwig Goes Pop.  It essentially shows all the artists that transformed modern art in the 60’s.   This piece is by Roy Lichenstein.  I love his work.  When I was in London, my junior year in college, I went to the Tate museum to see an exhibit of his work.  I was mesmerized.  I remember thinking this art I love. I believe I went back twice.  It was the beginnings of my love of modern art.

warholClassic Warhols that at this point are just iconic.  Flowers 1970.

jimdineI love this Jim Dine piece.  It was made in 1968.  When we were in Paris last year we saw a new piece by Jim Dine that I continue to think about.  The price was roughly $1m.  To see this piece and the one we saw last year gives a lot of context for me to see his evolution as an artist.

marisolA french artist, Marisol that I am not that familiar with but I thought this was a very cool sculpture.

tomwesslemnTom Wesselmann, Landscape, No. 2 1964.  There were also Rauschenbergs, Hockneys and George Segal.  Very cool modern building as well.  A glass elevator in the middle and the rooms circulate around the elevator.  The rooms are white and airy and the elevator area is dark grey.

warholsayingI captured this piece in the museum shop.  Warhol could not have been more right on about the future.

nclothingstoreOur next stop was a walk over to the Naschmarkt.  We stopped in two stores en route.  This store, Nachbarin carries all up and coming designers in Europe.  I had not seen one of those designers in the US ever.  Impressive.

vintagestoreNext door was an incredible vintage store called Lichterloh.  Good news is that they ship to the US.

marketWe got to the Naschmarkt.  Stalls of food and at the ends there is clothing.  What is impressive is how clean and organized everything is.  There is also a Turkish influence.

pickledSee all the pickled and stuffed vegetables.

pastasBeautiful pastas neatly lined up.

cheeseshopA cheese shop.

fruitFruit stand.

nowifiHad to take a photo of this stand.

fishWe sat down for lunch in one of the many restaurants that are throughout the market.  Nautilus was packed with mostly businessmen who probably have their lunches there daily.  The plates look delicious so we grabbed a table.  Might be on of the best things we have had yet on this trip.  Grilled fish for two, the Nautilus plate.

streetTime to walk off lunch.  We headed into the area that definitely feels hip.  At least one main street in each area has been transformed into walking only, no cars.  I like that.

parkThis store, Park, a concept store with collections of clothes, books, shoes and accessories.  A bunch of designers that I had never seen before either.

skateboardWe then walked over to the Stil-Laden, a skateboard shop.  Think Undefeated, a NY institution at this point.

juicebarThis Rauch juice bar intrigued us with the metal bins of vegetables that appear to come straight from the farm.  Also, established in 1919.  Could they have been that ahead of the times?  No.  It ends up that they began as a cider mill in 1919 and have slowly evolved into this.  Actually quite cool.

yellowfogWe jumped in a cab and went downtown.  This yellow light is part of a permanent exhibit called Yellow Fog by Olafur Eliasson.  The fog comes out at dusk and creates a haze on the building.  We were there in the late afternoon so didn’t get to witness the whole thing but I am glad we got to get the gist.

derinfrontIt was time for the famous chocolate torte.  Demel is a pastry shop loaded with pastries and chocolates.  It was right down the street from where we were.  We decided to go there for the Sacher Torte.  The place was packed so I got it to go.

derin in the backWe did peek at the actual bakery in the back before leaving.

buildingWe walked down the street and took a seat in front of this beautiful building.

chocolatetorte1The torte was not that great.  It was dry and just not good.  Totally disappointed.

dessertround2I figured if we were in Vienna then let’s just go full out and try another one.  We walked back to the Sacher Hotel where we were staying.  We sat down in the cafe and ordered our second Sacher Torte of the day.  While I was at it I figured an apple streudel was in order too.  The chocolate torte here was spot on and the dollop of whipped cream on the side is an added bonus.  The apple streudel was incredible.  Thinly slices pieces of apple that melt in your mouth rolled inside a flaky crust with hints of butter and cinnamon.  A worthy second round of dessert.

operaWe went to our room for a quick rest before heading out for the evening.  We are in Vienna so the opera was on the agenda.  An absolutely beautiful opera house.  We saw Rigoletto.  A classic Verdi piece. I grew up listening and playing classical music so I appreciate it.  The actual stories of opera are just down right silly but I gather that was entertainment in the 1800’s.

outsidesitWhat was super cool is that outside of the opera house there are free seats.

screenPeople can sit and watch the opera on a big screen outside in a square.  I am a big fan of that.  Art should be accessible to everyone.  There should also be a percentage of tickets available either free or at a lower cost for those who can’t afford the fancy seats.

ceilingI admit we only did one act of the opera before leaving for dinner.  It was just all we needed.  Dinner was at Skopik & Lohn.  A new restaurant in Vienna.  Great vibe.  They played music from Sam Cooke and Nina Simone.  The physical space was really well done.  The ceiling was painted in black loops.  Wood fixtures separated the space.  The menu was the right size.

avacadoFred had the mozzarella and avocado salad.

salmonI had the salmon with thinly sliced apples and fennel.

rabbitFor dinner, Fred had a deconstructed rabbit ravioli.

schnitzelI had to have the schnitzel.  The entire day was all about Vienna so why stop now.  It was the perfect end to a whirlwind of a day in Vienna.  Next stop Slovenia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments (Archived):

  1. William Mougayar

    You did pack that day. Good thing Vienna is small like a mini-Paris 😉

    1. Gotham Gal

      exactly.

    2. scottythebody

      Agreed. I’m impressed.

  2. pointsnfigures

    If you are interested, my friend Robert Edsel wrote two books about the Nazi’s and their methods of “art collecting”. Monuments Men of Europe and Saving Italy. They are excellent and document a lot of things that a lot of people really don’t want known, especially the French collaboration to get the art out of the hands of the Jews and into the hands of the Nazi’s. More people in France collaborated than resisted. The book on Italy is just as compelling. I really need to go back to Florence now and rewalk it through Robert’s eyes.

    1. Gotham Gal

      I will definitely check them out.thanks!

  3. scottythebody

    Very cool! Looks like you hit a lot of my favorite spots, including both of your dinner choices. Nautilus was definitely the best option for fish at the Naschmarkt; good eye. I should have warned you about Demel. That place trades entirely on reputation and is really not good at all. Sacher is the only place for Sachertorte, IMO 🙂 WIN!

    1. Gotham Gal

      The good news is we went for the second dessert!

      1. scottythebody

        Yes!!! That’s was a great call and excellent thinking on your feet 🙂