Random Vienna Moments II

Here is a second blog post of pics which don't fit into any larger narrative, but that you might enjoy.

 Leonard Bernstein's tux. Given to the Museum of the Vienna Philharmonic after a performance of Beethoven's 9th in the late 70's.

"On this place stood the house in which MOZART died, on the 5th of December, 1991."

 The birthhouse of Alban Berg. I am trying to find his grave, too.

 A movie playing in an arsty cinema. It's called "Mahler on the Couch". It is a dramatization of the 4 hour session Mahler had with Sigmund Freud, which took place shortly before Mahler died. The couch is a metaphor, in this case he and Freud walked up and down the beach one cold day in Leiden, Holland. Ironically enough, "leiden": in German means  "suffering"... Freud commented later that he was astonished at Mahler's capacity for understanding human psychology...

Gustav Klimt's "Life and Death".

 A painting by Egon Schiele

 Another Schiele. It reminded me of Farmington, Maine.

I am so happy I found this one... At the Piaristenkirche. It reads: "Anton Bruckner, on November 21st, 1861, took the Practical Composition Test on the organ of this church [the test involved improvising fugues and counterpoint on themes given to him at the test]. Johann Herbeck, later the Head Court Composer, summed up the event with these remarkable words: 'He should have tested us!'"

 Detail from a building by Otto Wagner.

 Another view.

 The city library. It is built above a U-Bahn line. We get books for the kids here.

 An evening view of the back of the Opera House

The "Beethovengang". Beethoven walked along the small brook beside this path when he lived in Heiligenstadt, a suburb of Vienna. He sketched themes from the Pastoral Symphony on this path. Movement 2 is called "Scenes by a Brook"....

The signs along the path.

 The Judenplatz. "Jewish Square", was the center of the old jewish ghetto. They were periodically burned down during pogroms. It is a very beautiful, quiet corner of Vienna. The Holocaust Memorial can be seen in the background.

 The Holocaust Memorial. The base of the memorial has all the names of the camps inscribed around it.

 The memorial is a rectangular building, which looks like a library, in which all the books are stacked with the bindings facing inwards, a metaphor for all the knowledge lost through the deaths of so many. It could also be seen as a comment on the anti-intellectualism of the Nazis, spurning literature, philosophy, etc.

 A good, old Vienna tram.

The front of the Opera, in the daytime.

 In looking for Berg's grave, I found Klimt. He took a page from Mahler; a simple gravestone...

 If you know Klimt's landscapes, you will remember he loved Birch trees. They figure prominently in his works.

 I love the seeing Brahms Memorial progress through the season.... I hope it snows before we leave...

 "On this place stood the house in which JOHANNES BRAHMS lived, from January 1st, 1872 until his death on April 3rd, 1897."

 The spot where the Magic Flute was first performed. It reads: " 'I am the merry birdcatcher, from Mozart's Zauberflöte, Freihaus Theater, September 30, 1791." Mozart dies less than 3 months later.

 One of the last statues to the Kaiser, Franz-Josef, and the most human. Done after his death in 1916, at the age of 86, after 67 years as Kaiser. Austria was at war, and the monarchy was crumbling. Neither would survive the war intact. Austria would lose the war, it's empire. The monarchy was dissolved, replaced by a teetering Republic, too weak to survive being swallowed up by Nazi Germany 20 years later. IN the statue, the Kaiser is dressed in a simple uniform, as was his wont, carrying a Field Marshals baton, looking humble and pensive.

 Mark Twain slept here.

A last Brahms pic...

Thanks for stopping by.

Ben's Favorite joke....

My fault entirely for neglecting to post this....

We were touring the huge summer palace of Schönbrunn with my sister, her friends, Marisa and the boys. Huge echoey room after room after room (and we toured only one floor and one wing....). At  one point Ben turns to me and says, "can you imagine what it would have been like coming home from school, or from outside playing...?"

 'Mom, I'm home! .... Mom?.... Mom... I"m home..... hello? MOM....... I'm HOOOOME!!!! Anybody here?"

Kind of funny.

Cafe Diglas

The Polkys are in town. Ben and Lucas were so happy to see their cousins Max and Fletcher. On their first day in Vienna we went on a stroll and ended up at Cafe Diglas, a classic Vienna Coffee House.

1. Max and Ben, with their hot chocolates.

 2. Phil and Fletcher.

 3. Marisa, perusing the dessert menu....

 4. Ben showing Max just exactly what Goulasch is...

 5. A sign of contentment.

 6. Lucas and his new favorite food, Palatschinken. Viennese crepes with fruit filling (or anything you want) and powdered sugar.

7. A happy Maxie.

 8. Me and Marisa behind the Stephansdom.

 9. Ben and Marisa, with Maxie trailing behind.

 10. Ula, Max and Ben enjoying their drinks.

11.  Lucas and his new model. I have a lot of glue on my fingers right now...

More later, Jack

For Ms. Schmick's Class!

Hey everyone, this is Lucas! My mom and dad put these pictures up for you all to see more of what we have been doing in Austria. I hope you find them interesting. 

VERY IMPORTANT: CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER!!

This is the plane we took from Boston to Switzerland. We flew overnight over the Atlantic Ocean and landed the next morning in Switzerland.

 This is my brother Ben and me, after the first flight, waiting for the second one to Vienna. We were SO TIRED!

 This is us after a nap, feeling much better!

 This is the view from the apartment where Mozart lived. He was a great composer. He wrote a very famous opera here, called The Marriage of Figaro.

 Ben and me at the Mozart House. I am listening to some of his music on the guide they give you for when you walk around the museum. It was cool. We saw parts of his opera, The Magic Flute. Some of it is very funny!

 This is where we live. We live on the 5th floor.

 We went to a Hunters Festival in the mountians. I got to shoot a little crossbow. I hit the bullseye!

 Me and the  crossbow guy.

This is the fortress castle in Salzburg. It's like a big, walled city up there.

 We went into an ice cave inside a mountain called Dachstein. There is a glacier on top of the ice cave. A glacier is a river of ice!

This is the view from the opening to the cave.

 This is a very old town called Halstatt. It is the home to one of the oldest civilizations in Europe. They found people frozen in the ice from almost 10,00 years ago.

 Hallstatt. At the bottom of the picture you can see a swan! He lives on the lake.

 Halstatt.

Halstatt. A house from the year 1569. It has a pear tree growing into it.

Vienna was the home of great composers. This plaque says that this was the house that Ludwig Van Beethoven died in, in 1827.

 Ben and I up in the castle in Salzburg.

 More of the castle.

 Me playing on cannonballs. They aren't loaded!

 Mom, Ben and I on top of mountain called Feuerkogel. Ben got head butted by a cow he tried to pet on the way down the mountain. It was really funny!

 The whole family.

 Me in front of the Natural History museum.

 The Mozart Memorial. I'm pretending to play the piano that is part of the statue!

 The Beethoven Memorial. He looks mad in every statue!

 Inside the Natural History Museum. DINOSAUERS!

 At a concert.

 On the street where Mozart lived, from 1781-1785. It still looks the same.

 The back of the Stephansdom. Stephansdon means Stephan's Cathedral.

 A view of the St. Michael's Church

 A french fry machine! We didn't try them.

 The Abbey (that's where monks lived) in Melk. Melk is about an hour from Vienna on the train.

 The inside courtyard of the Melk Abbey.

 The library. It was huge like Hogwarts! I don't know how they got to the books on the top shelf!

 See what I mean?

 The main church of the Abbey.

 A view of the roof of the church. It is built in the Baroque style. Very fancy with lots of ornamentation.

 The Abbey as seen from the Danube river.

 This are what some apartment buildings look like in Vienna. This was built in the 1890's.

Another view of the building.

 Us, waiting to see the Lippizaner horses of the Spanish Riding school. They were beautiful.

 This is another apartment house in Vienna. It was built by a famous artist named Friedrich Hundertwasser. It looks like a fairy tale.

Another view.

 The inside of the Stephansdom. It is really, really big. The catacombs, where all the bones are stacked in rooms, are underneath.

 A gargoyle. Don't stand under it when it rains. The rainwater comes down through its mouth!

My dad, my Aunt Dana, my brother and I at Schonbrünn, the summer palace of the Austrian Kaisers. 

 Cool statues.

 Golden turtles.

 A view of the whole palace and the grounds,

 Me at one of the many fountains and sculptures.

 This is the Glorietta, and is way up a hill from the palace.

 This is the palace, looking down from the Glorietta.

 Another view.

 That is the Imperial Box, where the Kaiser sat when he came to watch the horses.

 One of the Lippizaner horses. They were so pretty.

Another picture of the horse.

 My favorite place in Vienna. Der Mann! A great place to eat...

 Topfenbällchen! That means "little custard doughnuts", in German. I love them!

 Me in front of one of the many Art Museums. These buildings are really big!!

 The Butterfly House. You can walk inside with the butterflies. If you stand still, sometimes they land on you.

 A viennese police car.

A model of the Stephansdom.

The tower. I climbed up it! 372 steps. Whew!! A that's not the whole way up to the top!

The side of the Stephansdom.

Me in front of the Mozart house. Thanks for looking at my pictures. Bye!