Cultural Vienna

Today is museum day. Monica is off to the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Art. My interest takes me across the street to the Natural History Museum. Monica never tires of ogling great art. She is pleased with the exhibits and especially likes the displays of Caravaggio. Other works include paintings by Rembrandt and Raphael, and Antonio Canova’s sculpture Theseus Clubbing the Centaur. The art museum also reflects the cultural influence of the Hapsburg Empire. At its peak, the Empire included Austria, Germany, Italy, Holland and Spain.

These two museums face each other and enfold an immaculately manicured garden with fountains, walkways and strategically-placed sculptures. At the NHM there is an interesting display on Darwin’s Evolution theory. Darwin was clearly out on a limb when he publicly stated that man was a descendant from ape. In past centuries, people who supported evolution theories were considered heretics by the church and often burned at the stake. The display isn’t restricted to man’s evolution. There are displays of many animals and how they evolved and adapted to climate and habitat. One particularly interesting exhibit is of a Canadian fur trapper.

From the museums we walk along the ring of the Old City. Looking for authentic Austrian cuisine, we find a small restaurant behind the Opera House. I order pork schnitzel (pork pounded flat, coated in bread crumbs and pan-fried) and frites. Monica has goulash (chunks of beef and potato in a special gravy). It is served with a dumpling the size of a pool ball, but not quite as dense. We try a slice of it, but deem it inedible.

Tonight we have tickets for a performance by the Vienna Hofburg Orchestra at the Imperial Palace, featuring the music of Strauss and Mozart. The concert was excellent and the palace equally spectacular with marble floors, columns and elaborate chandeliers. The Imperial Palace, an enormous complex of grandiose halls and rooms, was the home of Austrian rulers until 1918. All the culture has made us tired and we walk back to our centrally-located apartment.