Vienna for Two More Days (Part 1)

July 10: This would be Edie's last day in Vienna, so we had to make it special. We did that by starting the day at the Belvedere Schlossgarten. It was already hot and promising more of the same, but we would be inside where it was cool. All we had to do was get there...

...and past the guardians at the entrance:

They actually seemed quite friendly.

Once again, we were in an astonishingly beautiful building, which was constructed in 1717 (completed in 1723) as the summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy. We visited only the Upper Belvedere, which was certainly enough to keep us occupied for the entire morning.

This museum is organised chronologically, with the ground floor devoted to Middle Ages and Renaissance art. Stunning!

First, as usual, I had to get some images of the amazing ceiling frescoes:

The trompe l'oeil effects were so meticulously realistic.

I usually get pretty tired of religious art, but the pieces displayed here were really spectacular.

Both the artworks and their presentations were breathtaking--to the point that I apparently didn't have the strength to take photos, so this is the only one from the Middle Ages/Renaissance rooms.

On the first floor (one floor up from the ground level) were Baroque, Neoclassicism, and Vienna 1900 (specifically, Klimt's "The Kiss").

The second floor continued the chronology of the collection with Emerging Modernism and Avant-Gardes 1920s-1950s. The collection finished back on the ground floor with Avant-Gardes 1960s-1970s.

Sadly and stupidly, I was clearly not operating on all cylinders that day, because I took photos of paintings that really struck me, but I neglected to also record the artist and other information (although I did manage to find some of the titles and artists online). I also did not take photos of the most famous art, because I knew my photographic skills fell far short of adequate representation. So bear with me and just enjoy the artwork seen below and accept my apologies for these shortcomings. I sometimes feel that I am an embarrassment to the profession I once worked in...

But first, another astonishing trompe l'oeil ceiling, this one on the first floor in the Marble Hall:

And then, the various artworks that caught my eye and/or my heart:

Feasting cats...

A stunning still life, Homage to Jacquin, Johann Knapp, 1822:

Portrait of a Lady in Black, Gustav Klimt, c. 1894

Character Heads, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Country House at the Attersee, Gustav Klimt

Eduard Kosmack, Egon Schiele, 1910

Two Heads, artist?

There was more, much more, but I stopped taking pics except for a view from the first or second floor, looking at the gardens between Upper and Lower Belvedere:

It had been a morning of extraordinary art. As we left, we decided to have lunch in the neighborhood, and found a great little Greek place nearby. Afterward, we returned to the hotel and watched Edie pack for her departure early the next morning.

We had an early dinner at Griechenbeisl, Vienna's oldest restaurant, established in 1447:

Cindy and Edie had the traditional Viennese Tafelspitz and I ordered the beef goulash. It was a very satisfying meal for all of us.

Griechenbeisl has hosted so many celebrities (Mark Twain, Beethoven, Mozart, Luciano Pavarotti and Johnny Cash, to name just a few) over the centuries--and you can see proof of this by visiting the small dining room where they have all signed the walls and ceiling:

Too bad I'm not so good at deciphering signatures... And, by the way, they didn't ask us to sign anything except the bill.

After dinner, we walked through the neighborhood (Schwedenplatz), looking at interesting buildings...

...and finishing up dinner with a visit to one of the largest ice cream parlors I've ever seen; it took up half of a block and it was chock full of happy customers.

Back at the hotel, we were in time to see a heavenly sunset:

Edie left very early the next morning. It felt a bit odd to suddenly just be the two of us again. It was great fun to spend so much time with Edie.

And so our final day in Vienna began. That's the next installment. Wait for it--it will be worth it!