First we headed to the train station to book seats for the night train to Rome. We wanted to make sure we got the type of seats we wanted. A couchette in a 6 bed cabin was the same price as a hostel bed. But saves a long day of traveling. When that was done we looked at the map and were happy to find the Belvedere Palace 5 minutes walk away. In its hayday it was the palace of the prince of the Hasburg family. Now it has museums and gardens.
On entrance there was a girl handing out flyers for a nearby recreational society museum. With the flyer there was a small packet of gummy bears. Best advert ever I think. We ate tasty treats as we approached the compound. First thing I noticed was the beautiful palace building with all the splendor of Viennese royalty. Then the gardens.
They were designed with patterns to be seen from the air and covered in more statues. The patterns had up to four different colours of grass, stone and wood.
Many statues were a version of the sphinx, bare breasted. With is fine and lovely, except that every other person there was taking photos of themselves groping the statues. I felt that was incredibly tacky. There were also cherubs and a large fountain. Its hard to believe the guy lived here. When would he even use the gardens.
Down by the lower Belvedere museum there were more fountains. They continued the Austrian tradition of violent statues. The fountain was the mouth of a young boy forcefully being held down by two other boys.
We went inside the upper Belvedere museum to see the art. There was more Egon Scheile. I´m really getting into his work. One of the large ballrooms had exercise balls covered in red velvet. I think to lie back and see the frescoes above. They were quite bizarre.
Then we hit the Klimt works. His pieces are so beautiful. There were quite a few smaller pieces leading into the larger room. The larger room had what I´d been waiting to see. The Kiss. Where the others hung in frames, The Kiss was encased in a special glass box with purple light or glass. There was a dedicated guard as well. But for good reason. The golds shimmered, the silvers gleamed. The flowers below the lovers feet were bright and almost luminescent. It was an honour to see it in the flesh.
We rushed through the remaining small Monets and left the gallery. It was cold and windy outside the palace walls, but we were hungry. We sat shivering on a bench in the grand garden to eat our cheese sammiches. It was good cheese. Then we left to find coffee and cake to warm us up. This is the first day of our adventures that I have been cold, actually cold. I should have brought my jacket out, but it was just so unexpected.
Nearer to the city the chill wasn´t so bad. We looked around the Lonely Planet book for a good place to chill. They mentioned the café Central, which was home to Freud and other Vienna cultural figures.
The café was a baroque masterpiece. The walls and ceiling were reminiscent of St nicks in Prague with the intersecting lines. Very swish.
I didn't mind spending a decent amount on food here. I had paid 5 euros for breakfast-lunch-dinner-breakfast and lunch. I was now hoping to splash out a bit. Think Josh might have been a bit thrown by it. My tea and cake cost 9 euros. Well worth it though. The first cake was a home made apple strudel. Then a steamed chocolate cake. It was like a small chocolate soufflé with whipped cream and surrounded by a plate of one of the thickest chocolate sauces I have ever seen.
We ate up cheerfully and hoped the rain that again started wouldn't last too long. Luckily it didn´t. We headed back to the hostel. We stopped by the market and got food to take advantage of the oven in the kitchen. We havent had many ovens and wanted to make the most of it. We made a pack of crumbed fish fingers and those nice freezer section mixed vegies. A giant plate of both had me feeling quite content. The rest of the night was quiet.
No comments:
Post a Comment