"Sorry, no. Only 'Vienna, Austria.'"
That was the basic conversation that transpired between myself and all the owners of the touristy shops around Stephansplatz this evening. The only t-shirt that did feature Deutsch had the city and country's name stitched unobtrusively over the left breast on dark blue, as if it was trying to be humble. Geez, aren't there any German-speaking tourists that come to Wien??
In any case, that was only the insignificant end to a day that featured a Dr. O tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, or Art History Musuem it would be in English, I guess. It's a fabulous museum, and not to mention free for students in this program!
The only unfortunate thing about the Kunsthistorisches Museum is that the interior architecture is so grand in its neo-Renaissance style that so much space gets taken up by it. Consequently, only one third of the museum's total collection can be displayed! At least the art that I did get to see was spectacular. I really enjoy paintings from the Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic eras.
One of the paintings there that caught my attention a lot was Peter Bruegel's "Carnival Versus Lent," an allegorical depiction of the two holidays literally jousting with each other. Bruegel's paintings seem to have a lot of people painted in them, and you don't seem to notice everything that they're doing until you look close and peer beyond the obvious subjects. I ended up learning from Dr. O that the amount of people in the painting is something that an Italian Renaissance painter would never do. And come to think of it, I can't say I've ever seen any Italian Renaissance painting with more than a handful of people in it. Raphael's "Madonna of the Meadow" would be a good example, as it has just the baby Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Virgin Mary in it. Though now I am reminded that this painting by an Italian artist has a landscape in it - something that is more commonly found north of the Alps in the Renaissance!
Some other paintings that I found notable were all the works by Peter Paul Reubens. One thing I did not know until today - he did not do most of his paintings by himself. Instead he would work out a small representation of the painting he wanted, then the Flemish painters in his workshop would make the real painting for him. And no one in his day thought that this was strange at all.
I also learned that many of the Dutch Baroque painters - as exhibited in the museum - frequently painted pictures for Calvinist merchants, and these pictures were meant to be hung in private homes. I may have missed it, but I have to wonder if these Dutch Baroque painters were Calvinists themselves - or if that sect is incompatible with the word "Baroque."
When we were done after this excellent tour of an excellent museum, everyone seemed ready to go back to the apartments, but I wanted to explore Vienna a little more while there was still time in the afternoon. So I got on the nearest tram line on the Ringstrasse and decided to see where it would take me.
It ended up taking me towards the monument of the Russian soldier that I first saw on the bus tour with Dr. O. I got off the tram and decided to investigate it a little.
It's clearly meant to be a heroic tribute to the Soviet army that swept the Nazis out of the city. However I do know that many Viennese disliked the Soviet occupying forces; I believe this statue is sometimes called "The Rapist of Vienna" for obvious reasons. It's worth noting that all of the words on the monument, whether they're above the columns or on the pedestal , are in Russian. I have to wonder how many Viennese knew Russian at the time this monument was built. If there were very few, then I can't imagine that this meant much to them.I got back on the tram and went southwards a little, along the edge of the Belvedere Palace. I got off at what looked like a busy intersection and simply decided to walk down a particular street. I was going eastwards through a slightly less busy neighborhood, waiting to see if something interesting would pop out at me. And sure enough, something did:
It was a Russian Orthodox church. Having just visited a Russian military memorial, I wondered if it was possible that this church was erected here because of the Russian occupation presence. I didn't find out when the church was constructed, but it doesn't seem too old to me. Across the street from this church, by the way, was the Iranian embassy to Austria. Walking further along down this street I found other embassies, including the one from the United Kingdom.I got back on the same tram line that had taken me to this region, except I proceeded back up north again. I got off at a stop where everyone else aboard got off. Most went into the tram that was parked right ahead, but I decided to walk around just a bit more. I didn't know where I was going but there was still some daylight and I wanted to make the most of it. I ended up finding something I've been meaning to go to: the Haus der Musik! And just beyond it was an alley that led to a large pedestrian street. I hadn't seen this street before, but there were a lot of people walking on it so I proceeded down one direction. Suddenly with a mixture of surprise and disappointment I realized I wasn't lost anymore; the south tower of Stephansdom was visible in the sky right in front of me!
Funny how I was attracted back to the city center like a magnet. This is where I hung around in the touristy shops for a bit before deciding to call it a successfull day.
The German word of the day is "Autobahn," meaning "highway," (as immortalized in the words "Wir fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn").
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