The Ham Nomads

23 Jul 2015. <AT> Vienna —

The trains are clean, quiet, fast — and on time!

Today, into Vienna. We came out of the U-Bahn at Stephansplatz, right in the heart of Vienna. Right where we came out of the U-Bahn, there was the familiar Stock-im-Eisen that we found last time, and across the square, Haas House and Stephansdom.

We walked down Kärtner Straße towards the Albertina Museum. There is a tourist information office right there, so we were able to pick up a good map to help us get around.

The Albertina looked a little strange — someone had wrapped an orange ribbon around it. This had to do with a drawing exhibition that had taken over the entire basement area — but more of that later.

We went to the Albertina primarily because of an exhibition, "Monet bis Picasso", which is actually from the Battlung Collection in the Albertina. Incredible. We were able to photograph in there, so here is a selection of what we saw ...

Monet. View of Vétheuil. 1881

Degas. Two dancers. ca.1905

Klimt. Nymphs (Silver Fish) ca.1899

Renoir. Portrait of a young girl (Elizabeth Maître. 1879

Augusto Giacometti. Peace. 1915

Wilhelm Thöny. New York - East River. 1936

Wassily Kandinsky. Inner alliance. 1929

Marc Chagall. The great circus. 1970

René Magritte. The Enchanted Domain. 1953

Paul Delvaux. Landscape with Lanterns. 1958

Amadeo Modigliani. Young Woman in a Shirt. 1918

Pablo Picasso. Woman in a Green Hat. 1947

Pablo Picasso. The Pheasant. 1938

Pablo Picasso. The Pheasant. 1938  (detail)

Another exhibition in there was "Bacon, Warhol, Richter aus der Albertina". Must confess that Bacon and Richter didn't really impress, but Warhol and some of the other painters were fun!

Andy Warhol. Electric Chair. 1971

Andy Warhol. Mao Tse-Tung. 1972

Then we went into some of the Royal Apartments in the Albertina — it was a royal palace before becoming one of the world's premier galleries. On display in there were some Rubens drawings, one of which particularly touched us.

Rubens. Nikolaus Rubens wearing a cap. 1625-27

Then we went down to the basement, to the exhibition "Drawing Now 2015". For this exhibition, the basement was given a coat of white paint, and then artists were let loose on the building itself to create what they want. You reprimand children for drawing on walls, but here this is exactly what happened — and the results are incredible. One of the drawings is of a building with an orange line drawn upon it — "Drawing an Orange Line" — hence the orange ribbon on the outside of the building.

After we enjoyed the drawing exhibition, we visited an exhibition of the works of the photographer Lee Miller (who collaborated at times with with, Man Ray). This was fascinating, as you saw her begin as a fashion photographer, later becoming the first female war photographer working for Time-Life. She and Man Ray were most influential as photographers in the thirties and forties.

Farewell to the Albertina, after a fascinating few hours.

Waiting!

We then walked (pausing on the way for a bite to eat!) up to Stephansdom, where we communed with one of the most monumental Gothic cathedrals in the world.

The architect secreted himself
beneath the organ

After Stephansdom, we visited the Mozarthaus, the house in which Mozart lived and worked while at his zenith, from 1784 to 1787. We found out that, contrary to earlier beliefs, he did not die a pauper, but instead had a huge gambling habit, which left him owing huge amounts. Gambler or not, his music is exquisite! Although we couldn't take photos, its own website has a few.

A busy day over, we made our way back to the van!

Suzie replenishing the drinking water bottle

Back down into the U-Bahn

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 24,406 miles ( 39,278 km )