Day 90 - Holy Rollers

Today we left Vienna for India. We had originally intended Istanbul to be a ramping up from the extreme European-ness of the rest of our summer itinerary, but with the eight days spent in Vienna, that plan sort of backfired. (Not that we didn't have a terrific time)

H escorted us to the commuter train for the airport. We went off with only the smallest of hitches. As stated before, our water filters consistantly attract attention by the screeners. This time, they looked at them so intently and called over so many people that I was worried we wouldn't be able to take them with us. Eventually the screeners did let us through, and we were off to Istanbul. Again.

We made it into Istanbul without a hitch, and followed signs to the international transfer area. Akbar airport is very nice, and we spent our long layover puttering around the duty-free shops and calling home. Oddly enough, even with the plethora of shops, we could not find one single deck of playing cards. We might be in for some looo-ooong trainrides. Besides shopping and calling, we had some choice people-watching. The airport was FULL of holy men. Most were wearing all white wrap garments (sort of like heavy cotton man saris), plus an African holy man in his embroidered outfit, all escorted by vieled women. Ramadan is starting, but these men weren't fasting - unless brownies don't count as breaking fast. Does anyone know of any really important holy event happening around Istanbul or somewhere that Turkish Air might be flying?

When the time came to board the flight to Delhi, our visas were checked, our tickets stamped, and into the plane we went. It was like a trans-atlantic flight in seat layout, and unfortunately we were stuck in the middle row. Also in our row was a gregarious young Indian man who is part of the couch-surfing network. We may get in touch with him once we are in India if we decide to go to his neighborhood.

We landed in Delhi at 3:30 in the morning. Our book had warned that the arrivals hall would be utter madness at this our because most international flights arrive in the wee small hours, but the baggage claim area was nearly empty. We settled into chairs with our packs, and decided to wait for daylight to venture out into the big, bad world. For that, next post!

Day 89 - Really Traum v Trauma

Though that other exhibit we saw was indeed both dreamy and traumatic, it was not, in fact, the actual Traum v Trauma exhibit. That one, the real one, we visted today. But it wasn´t our first stop.

We stopped first at the Spanish Riding school. Every morning from 10-noon, the Lippenzanner Stallions have their morning workout. The Lippenzanners are internationally known for both their colour - 99% of them are light grey - and their level of training. I am a little horse-obsessed, and Cz patiently sat through an hour of watching their schooling. They were doing some pretty impressive dressage (sort of like equine ballet) moves, but my favourite bits were when they behaved like "real" horses. A few of the stallions were acting up, with ears pinned back and tails swishing, one even considered throwing a little buck or two, and another tried to bolt. It was nice to see that even these highly trained, animals still have a proper independent or rebelious streak (as all good horses should). In between exercises, the stallions walked on a long rein looking curiously and calmly around the arena, receiving frequent pats by their trainors. At the end of each session, the horses lined up, the riders dismounted, and grooms came to collect them. But not before each rider produced at least one, usually several, sugar cubes from a secret pocket of his tailcoat and rewarded his horse with sweets and a pat on the neck.

Then we went to the Traum v Trauma exhibit. It was in the Kunsthalle Wien in the Museums Quartier. The museum has continuosly rotating exhibits from contemporary artists. This exhibition featured rooms filled with images of dreams and nightmares. The closest category for the exhibit from art history, I suppose, would be surreal, but it doesn´t quite fit. The first rooms are entered under a tangled web of red yarn stretched over branching shapes, and tangled around all sorts of objects. Moving through the space felt like a cross between travelling through an Alice in Wonderland spiderweb or the synopses of a brain. We will be stealing the idea.

The rooms after held an assortment of skewed sculptures and strange prints. It almost felt more like a really great (and somewhat perverse) sideshow than an art gallery. In this side of the exhibition hall, my favourite piece was titled "Black Narcisus". A spotlight on a seeming abstract sculpture of painted black dildos and fingers produced a detailed silouette of 2 men´s heads on the wall behind.

Across the courtyard, another series of rooms showed a second work by Tim Noble and Sue Webster (of the dildo sculpture), this time a double self-portrait made by shining light on sculptures made from scrap metal. That they look like their peeing is intentional. It is part social commentary on waste, and part a reference to Renaissance curiosities. In addition to their shadow-sculptures, a large-format work built of nearly 300 baby carraiges and video intallation also occupied the space. The video installation was by South African artist William Ketridge, whose work we had seen in Berlin, and whom I like very much.

The rain stopped while we were in the museum, so we decided to have lunch in the little plaza just outside. Apparently many visitors have this idea, and consequently the sparrows are quite brazen. One even tried to snatch my sandwich from my hand when I wasn´t tossing the seeds from the roll fast enough. Several perched on Cz´s lap, and hopped up into both our hands to be fed.

We were so entertained by the sparrows that we missed the tour of St Michael´s crypt. Instead, we took in an overview of the city on Tram 1, which does a loop around the city center and offers views of many of the important buildings.

After our tramride we went to the furniture museum. The many palaces of the Hapsburg were not furnished yearound. As a result, a specific office developed to arrange the logistics of transporting and maintaining the vast array of furniture needed to support a royal household. When the furniture wasn´t in use, or when fashions changed, it was held in large storerooms. Those storerooms have been recreated here. Only in Vienna does essentially prop storage get to be a museum! In addition to the storerooms, there were rooms set up to represent typical arangements, rooms dedicated to single objects (like spittoons!) and an exhibit of 20th century Viennese furniture.

By the time we finished there, most museums were closing. We considered heading to a cofeeshop, but thought it best to catch up on the blog. We hope you appreciate today´s lack of kuchen. That, and since tomorrow will involve international travel (Vienna to Istanbul to Delhi at 2:30 Thursday morning) and getting our bearings straightened out, we may not be blogging for a few days...then again, India is supposed to be internet saavy.

Anyway, off to a Chinese dinner with D and H and then pack up our bags once again! We will miss the nice little apartment...we felt sooo European.

Day 88 - VISAS!

It was one of our last stops of the day, but I know a lot of you have been worried so here it is at the top of the post. We got our visas for India. According to the dates printed on them, they were already ready on Friday. The talley - One day spent trying to change flights, some hours spent in the Embassy, a bit of stress. The lessons learned - Jess version: It´s relatively easy to pick up a visa on the road. The Cz version: Know all countries´ visa requirements WAY in advance to avoid panic. I suppose a combination of the two will serve us well along the way.

As for the rest of the day, we spent the morning at Schloss Shönbrun. We played real tourist, and took a headset tour of the palace interior. It was interesting to hear the history of the rooms and he people behind them, though I could not begin to tell you who belongs to which generation. Empress Elizabeth, the wife of Franz Joseph, is the most popular figure, but my personal favourites were the portaits of Maria Antoinette, later Mrs Louis XVI, as a child. It was interesting to see the childhood portraits juxtaposed against the history of royal marraiges. From cradle to grave, these children were political pawns. One of Marie Antoinette´s sisters, Maria Christine, was said to be the favourite of her parents because she was the only daughter allowed to marry for love, but I wonder if it wasn´t that she was the favourite, but simply that she had less political capital than her sisters and brothers.

Outside the palace building, formal gardens spread in every direction. We went into the privy garden and admired the flowers from the viewing terrace. The garden also featured some luscious looking lemon trees. We (or at least I) was seriously tempted to snag some fruit, but the guards probably would have frowned on that.

Equally fun, and far more legal were the boxwood labrynth and maze games. The labrynth was sufficiently tall and thick to be confusing, but not too challenging. The maze games were set up in a second labrynth with much lower bushes, and therefore much easier paths. A central fountain operated by means of a rocking board - balance for a split second, and a jet of water shoots up. A cluster of mirrors created a kaleidescope view of the garden, and a series of tiles set in the ground played the "dance glockenspiel". A precourser to "Dance Dance Revolution" perhaps?

After the mazes and games, we wound our way back up to the Gloriette for a cup of coffee. Our pass to the palace and gardens came with a coupon book, including free chocolate with our espressos.

We had wanted to also visite the zoo, but it was already after 2PM, so we opted instead to head out to Karlskirche. Karlskirche is a large Baroque church. Here too we went touristy and got the information handsets. They turned out to be very informative. Among other things, we learned that the church was build specifically because Vienna was in the throes of a second round of the plague in the middle of the 18th century. St Charles Borromeo had been a significant figure during the first round. It was hoped that by building a church to his honour, he would intercede on Vienna´s behalf for this round.

It´s strange how such a cheerfuly round-shaped and brightly coloured church should have such a dark story. Sort of like how even tragic operas from that time all seem somehow bouncy and written in a major key.

The church is currently undergoing restoration works. Rather than apologise for the scaffolding, the management has put in an elevator system, and opened some of the scaffolding for tourist viewing. It wobbles, as scaffolding is wont to do, and it is very, very high up. There are even steps up into the lantern for views out over the city and down, down into the depths of the church. The result is a mix of terror of falling and dying, and of pleasure at being able to look at the frescos close up. As we were looking, my ears perked up at another tourist saying "St Jacob" and "scallop shell". Lo and behold, up in the dom of the Karlskirche is our old friend, a Perigrino of St James.

Karlskirche is in the vicinity of the Nachstmarkt, a consistant reccomendation from our assorted friends and family. We meandered past the retaurants and through the assorted stalls, stopping to buy a back of wasabi-covered peanuts for an afternoon nosh. Interestingly enough many of the stalls were selling Indian spices, and the colours and smells made us excited about our next leg.

From Nachstmarkt, we walked to the Secession House, a landmark of Jugensteil architecture, and a museum of the Vienna Secession. Unfortunately, it was closed because today was Monday, but even the outside was pretty neat.

By then it was 5PM, and we had a date at the Indian Embassy. You can see how that went at the top of the post. Short version: We are cleared for landing in the Subcontinent.

With that off our minds, we celebrated by...

blogging.

Day 87 - Home Away From Home

This morning we had a late-ish start, lingering over breakfast and visiting with P, a friend of our friend who had also come to town for the fair. After breakfast, Cz opted to stay at our friend´s apartment and read up on some of the prevelant philosopies in India. P really got into the medieval spirit in full costume, and we were off the fair with with bells on our toes (OK, her ankles, but close enough).

At the fair, a friend of hers called on her very medieval cell phone, and soon we were joined by another well-costumed lady, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten. There is something to be said for traveling in the company of exuberant, costumed ladies. Namely, that all the stall owners will offer you tasty samples of everything from walnut-stuffed dates to honey wine. I had a wonderful time first puttering around with them, and later both puttering and watching shows on my own - highland games, a fakir, a trial, ponies... All under the first BLUE skies we´ve seen in Austria!

At 2:00 I returned to our friend´s apartment to collect Cz and return to Vienna. We thought our train was going to stop at the Hüteldorf station. Consequently some friends of the family were going to meet us there to take us back to their flat. Our train did not stop there. Fortunately they did not wait too long, and went home to wait for our call.

Our train, in fact, stopped at Spittelau - luckily just a short underground ride to Hutteldorf - Not so luckily, sans working payphones. We got to Hütteldorf as fast as we could, phoned from there, and soon were recieved by D and H, friends of my cousin. Both are very lovely people, and we are very happy to have met them! All the more so because they are providing us with a place to stay for the rest of our time in Vienna. Not only a place to stay, but our very own little apartment! Some neighbors keep a guest studio, and since they are out of town and not using it at the moment, it is our very own home away from home!

Apartment aside, we are very much enjoying our visit. We have been royally treated with coffee and home-made kuchen, a stroll through the neighborhood and the parks around Schloss Shönbrun, and home-made dinner too!

The grounds of Shönbrun comprise all manner of outbuildings and formal gardens. Today´s walk took us past strictly trimmed alleys, the palm house, and up to the Gloriette. The Gloriette is a baroque folly built on the hill above the schloss. Today it houses a little cafe and provides gorgeous views over the palace and city.

After dinner, we retreated to our little apartment to rest up for the next couple of days. We only have two days left in Vienna, and with all the advice between our friends, our list is probably four days worth of sightseeing!

Day 85 - Rainy Day Activities

In Vienna we have continued the theme of Europe getting the lion´s share of rain. In Istanbul it was consistantly in the 30´s with sunshine. When we arrived in Vienna last Tuesday, it was 15 and raining. As of today (Friday) it has yet to break 16 and continues to rain. Hence the preponderance of indoor activities and "layered look".

Today we sought shelter from the weather in the Schloss Belvedere, The Staatsoper, and a wee coffeeshop.

Schloss Belvedere is one of the many palaces that dot Vienna. Today it contains an art gallery, most notable for Klimt´s "The Kiss". In addition to The Kiss, it contains Viennese masterworks of the Middle Ages, 18th and 19th century, and well as a number more works by Klimt, Schiele, and their contemporaries. And that´s just Upper Belvedere. The museum is spread over the palace grounds comprising Lower Belvedere, The Orangerie, and Carriage House. Because of the rain, and because most of what we wanted to see was in Upper Belvedere, we did not venture out to the other buildings.

Since we have been to the Opera nearly every night, we thought it only fitting to take a tour of the house. Very little of the building remained after WWII. Of the surviving rooms, perhaps the most miraculpous is the Kaiser´s intermission room. The adjoining box, main house and staircase were all destroyed by fire. The intermission room somehow escaped, and is still furnished with the original gold wall coverings and some furniture. It currently functions as a press room for the Divas and Divos, the room where the season and designs are presented, and for important meetings. Another intermission room, the one for audience members also survived the war. It is quite lavish, decorated with busts, frescoes, and all th gilding expected of a great Opera house. Naturally one of the most prominant busts is that of Vienna´s own prodgidal (and a bit prodigal) son Mozart. Frescos of scenes from three of his operas occupy the niche behind his head. The one on the right is Don Giovanni which we designed for a class project, and which therefore causes a combined chuckle and cringe.

In the main house, we watched part of the changeover (when one show is taken down and another is put up). The Staatsoper is rep house, with over 50 shows in its 10 month season. As a The same shows are never played on back-to-back nights, Meaning that a one week visitor can see a different opera nearly every night of their stay! Good for the audience, hell on the company. The opera employs over 300 technicians to make it all possible! The schedule goes something like this: Evening performance. Changeover. Technical rehearsal (in the wee small hours of the morning!). Possible second changeover. Evening performance. Repeat for 10 months. I do not think I will ever complain about a tech schedule again!

All museumed out, and with a train to catch, we decided to while away the afternoon in a classic Viennese coffeshop. One had been recomended to us by a friend, but we simply popped into the nearest doorway after the metro stop. It was a tiny, cozy place, populated entirely by Vienese matrons and pensioners having their coffee and kuchen over the day´s papers.

After a brief stop back at the hostel to collect our bags, we were off again to Franz Josef´s Bahnhoff to catch a commuter train out to Eggenburg. A friend we had met on the Camino had extended an invitation to visit his village when we came to Vienna. We had not thought we would have the time, but with our extended stay, it suddenly became possible. Every year his village hosts one of the largest and best medieval festivals in Austria, and just happens to be this weekend. So, we are working our way back in time 19th centrury opera house, 18th century palace, now off to an 11th century fair!

The train ride paralelled several rivers, including the Danube for a while. Everwhere the water was roiled up with the colour and opacity of milky coffee. In places, the rivers had flooded all the up the base of the railway embankment. All the houses in the area seemed prepared though, either built on stilts or with sealable lower floors.

Our friend met us at the train platform and walked us to his flat. After dinner, it was slide time. These were not your ordinary "yawn" vacation slides. Our friend is a world-traveller and had pioneered a school program in Brazil. The first round of slides were of India, our next destination. Seeing pictures definitely helps us to know what to expect, though I expect to still have some measure of culture shock. Some of the most beautiful pictures were from the northwestern corner of the country, unfortunately now torn by civil war, and therefore inaccessible. After India came Brazil, with photos of grinding poverty contasted against lush landscapes. It was great getting insight into a place where we will soon find ourselves, and inspiring to hear how one idea by one person (the school project in Brazil) actually came to fruition and continues to grow.

Day 84 - Traum V Trauma

In German, the word Traum means "dream". Trauma, is well, trauma. It's a clever little play on words to advertise an ongoing series of exhibit at MOMUK, Vienna's huge and excellent modern art gallery. The gallery looks like a metal-plated aircraft hanger. Inside, it is divided into nine levels, eight of which are open to the public, and all of which have parts that are open to see up or down into the other levels. The top floor featured "classical modernist" works - largely work from the first half of the twentieth century that inspired the works of the second half of the century. Two floors were devoted to a retrospective of Sigmar Polke's work. Some was quirky and intresting, some looked interesting, but I found the "deep" intellectual interpretations posted near several pieces rather annoying. Sometimes knowing the thoughts or history behind a piece make it more interesting (Rothko, Warhol), sometimes though, as in this case, they just feel like a justification or an excuse for the work.

Another floor featured two currently working artists. On one side, panels of blue projection were meant to invoke the works of Yves Klein and other colour-field artists. Across the hall, an artist set up a computer painting program with motion sensors in the gallery. As viewers moved in the space, the motion sensors translate the movements into abstract paints on the projected "canvas". Just as Pollack's abstract expressionist peieces are more about the movement and energy that went into creating them, so too is this work about movement and the relationship of viewer versus artist, or creator versus observer. That and it was just plain fun to pace across the room and see what happened on the screen...

The Traum V Trauma part of the exhibit was two floors of art from the 60's. The first area was set up like an "Art Supermarket" Including voices of the artists intoning "Buy Art, buy art, BUYART, buy art..." The concept, and the recording, were from "Art Supermarkets" that actually functioned int he 60's. I remember hearing on NPR about a woman whose parents bought an Andy Warhol autographed can of Campbel's soup at such a market. It was fun to see what she was talking about. Downstairs from the supermarket were more art, photos, and videos from happenings. Some were very lovely - traum - such as the mirror with water running over it and a light bouncing the water shapes up on the wall. Some were not so lovely - trauma - such as photos of sex play with animal guts and a video of a man peeing in a glass and then drinking it.

We finished at the gallery at about 4, and decided to head home for an early dinner. Carmen was going to be playing at 7, and the standing room tickets were to go on sale at 5:40. It is a well-known show, so we wanted to be there as soon as the window opened to ensure a place at the rail. Cooking and eating took a bit longer than expected. When we arrived that the theatre at 6:00, the line was already out the door and looping through the box off ice area. We were a little worried, but managed to get places almost identical to the ones we had last night. Carmen is one of my favourite scores but least favourite opera stories. As expected, I loved the music and didn't particularly care for any of the characters.

Perhaps the most moving moment of the evening came before the performace even started. The (I'm guessing) Artistic Director came out and said a few words in honour of Pavarotti. Then the orchestra played a Mozart Requiem. At the end the entire house stood up for a moment of silence. As you know, a theatre is never entirely silent. In the hush of the audience, one could hear the balconies creaking, the sounds of violin bows being rested on stands, and an occasional muffled cough or program rustle. These noises seemed so small against the vast empty air of the opera house. I can think of no better send off for Luciano than this feeling of an opera house full of air, empty of voice. I was not a particularly big fan of his voice, but one has to respect all that he did for the popularity and visibility of opera.

Day 83 - Cheap Thrills

We spent a good bit of the morning on line at the Indian Embassy. Once through the line though, the paperwork was relatively simple (two short forms, 86 Euro each, and 2 passport photos). In theory we will have visas at 5PM Monday.

Vienna is a beautiful city. By the time we left the embassy, it was nearly noon, but we spent a little while wandering in the city center oggling buildings. Yesterday we passed by St. Stephens on the outside. Today we went in and looked around the interior. We happened upon an english-speaking tour, and tagged along for as much of as we felt we could without getting caught. The tourguide was very good, and we learned all sorts of interesting symbolism and history about the cathedral. For example, the most famous bell in St. Stephens is made from the bronze of Turkish cannons. During the Ottoman Empire, when Austria defeated cities in Turkey, they would melt down the cannons to make church bells. So a little piece of Istanbul has followed us here!

After visiting St Stephens, we made our way over to Museums Quartier. Museums Quartier is a few city blocks occupied, as ther name implies, entirely by museums. Today we visited the Leopold Museum. It was four floors of early 20th century and late 19th century art, most famously several works by Koloman Moser, Gustav Klimt and Egon Scheile (alot on the Viennese Secession and Wiener Werkstatte). We spent so much energy there that we didn't feel up to visiting another museum. Instead, we walked across the street to the opera house to enquire after a tour (already booked up and way too crowded, another day perhaps) and tickets.

It turns out the Staatsoper has standing room tickets for 2 Euro. They go on sale 80 minutes before the performances, and there are usually plenty available. We are huge theatre and opera buffs and could not believe our good fortune. Granted, the places are way up in the back of the balcony, and it is not allowed to move down into empty seats, but the sightlines aren't all that bad, and the sound quality at that hieght is among the best in the house. There are shows every evening. Tonight we went to Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. Tomorrow is Carmen. Friday and Saturday we will be in Eggenburg, but on Sunday we are going to see Die Zauberflaute. For two Euro a ticket, we can afford opera every night even on our starving artist budget!

If you look really closely on the drop, you can spot the Incredible Hulk by the top right corner...not associated with the design of the show, but hopefully if we take the tour we will get more info on the very unorthodox drop for such a prestigious opera house.

In a way it is good that we are stranded here until Wednesday. There is no way we could have seen and done enough in the two days we had originally planned. We will be so steeped in European culture by the end of this week, I think we will be more ready to face the unknowns of India and beyond!

Day 82 - Unlisted Holiday

Last night we debated wheter or not to go to bed at all. Reason: Today we had to be up at three in order catch the shuttle to airport for our 7:45 flight to Vienna. We have learned to pack our water filters where they are accessible. Apparently they look like very suspicious large batteries in the x-ray machine. Thank goodness we kept the all instructions and original pamphlets with them, as even visual inspection by the officials and our explanations are often not enough. At nearly every security checkpoint they are taken out and examined, and the accompanying papers read from cover to cover.

All went smoothly until we were on the plane. Whereupon we sat in the plane, at the gate for almost 45 minutes. Then we rolled a little way onto the tarmac. And waited some more. A kid a few rows up from us cried so hysterically that he made himself vomit. This was not an auspicious beginning. It was urgent that we arrive in Vienna on time because the Indian Embassy only take visa applications from 9:30-11:30 AM. We were scheduled to arrive there at 8:55. Allowing an hour for customs and travel from the airport, we had planned to be at the emabassy by 9:55.

At 8:45 I looked at my watch and told Cz that if we left this instant we might still have a chance. Five minutes later we were airborne. The flight was uneventful, and we arrived in Vienna at 9:55. There was a man checking passports as we deplaned. Anyone with a red passport (Turkish) had it opened and checked. We ony had to flash our blue passport to be waved through to the terminal. Unfair I know, but under the circumstances I was grateful. We breezed through the real passport control desks and customs without a hitch. At the terminal entrance, someone was handing out city maps. There were huge, well-marked signs for the express train to the city center. We ran to the train, hopped on, and found the address of the Indian Embassy. We were there with 15 minutes to spare!

It was CLOSED.

For a holiday. For a holiday that the man I had asked on the phone if it would be open didn't know about. We made it with much rushing and with time to spare and it was closed. After the requisite snarling, we headed off to find our hostel.

After a little searching, which happened to take us past St Stephens Dom, we found our way home. It was a very cute place in a converted apartment, convienient to everything. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on the blog, contacting friends around the city, and mailing a gift and postcards back to the states. By the time that ws finished, we stopped at the grocery and picked up some groceries.

Little did we know the kitchen only had a microwave. We persevered, and managed to produce a perfectly repectable dinner of pasta and salad. Just in case you were wondering. Here is how to cook spagetti in a microwave.

With the Microwave on high
1. Bring the desired amount of water to a boil.
2. Add the pasta
3. Cook. It will take a total of about 15 minutes after you add the pasta. Stir every 5 minutes or so for even cooking and to prevent baking your pasta to the sides of said bowl.
4. Drain. Add sauce as desired.

We are masters of improvisation here. Tomorrow we have another go at the embassy. Wish us luck!