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the WUK building
old industrial workshop, now arts centreEarnest readers may well recall that the whole purpose of a (revisit) to Vienna (I was here in a cold and wet October 2010) was to catch a concert by my guitar hero Richard Thompson last night, 30 June, at the WUK in Vienna (which as I am sure you can guess is the “Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus”). No wuckers indeed. This required leaving Zagreb at 7.25am on the only direct train to Vienna. Interesting that it comes up from Split, but there is an hour layover in Zagreb before it leaves again – given the performance of Balkan railways in general, hardly surprising I would suggest! Anyway it was timetabled into Vienna at 13.59 and was maybe a minute early. From there to my hotel the Furst Metternich, which is just off Maria Hilfer strasse, which is like the High St of Vienna for local shoppers (where I also stayed last year). Got the Ubahn to WUK for a 7.30pm start and was well early for an event that was part of the Jazz fest here – a punter called out to RT that he was the only good thing on. Allowed into a smallish room/bar and I thought – is
this it (had been told it was standing only) – but spoke to a Viennese couple who said this was only the antechamber to the real “hall” which we were let into after a few minutes. He came on, solo acoustic, at about 7.40pm and played with two encores til about 9.30pm - my dodgy left knee which started playing up before I left home was well knackered after 1h40mins standing. To say he is an insanely good guitar player is an understatement (I knew that) but this show will go down in history for me as just One of those Gigs! - the selection of material was superb and he even played “Genesis Hall” from way back in 1968- Fairport Convention days which was unexpected for me. And this musical triumph was only 25 Euros (say $35) which was so well worth the torture to get here (and he only comes to Oz about every 4-5 years).
After that sought out my fave Vienna bistro Red Elephant on Gumpendorfer strasse not that far from my hotel and crestfallen to find it closed for dinner (so went there for lunch today instead!). Went instead to Ramein a fairly good
basically Thai/Viet along the road. At lunch the next day the very nice man at Red Elephant, who remembered me from last year, as I did him, said it was not worth opening for dinner at this time of year (they start dinners again in Sept.) as everyone wants to sit outside in the summer and most of their (only 40 or seats) are inside with only some 10 or so outside for smokers. You need an outside terrace at this time of year to make it worthwhile. So I went there for lunch today, which was really breakfast, as they charge you a ridiculous 13E. or so at the hotel. Had a lentil soup and a small goat cheese soufflé cut into 3 pieces on top of a vege/tomato combo (the vege option on their 2 entrees, 2 mains thing). The 2 courses only cost 7.80E so it’s a bargain as well!
After that wandered down to the Albertina my fave gallery (my only) in Vienna. Went to brill Picasso/Michelangelo exhibition there last year. This time got the full deal as the Habsburg staterooms were also open (not last time) – but this was after I saw the
“Monet to Picasso” exhibit from the Battliner collection. Those 2 names, Monet and Picasso, are a bit of a catchphrase to get you in. The bulk of the collection on show was in fact from names unknown to me at all. The Battliners started collecting in the 1950’s then gave it all to the Albertina. The rooms used were the same 2nd floor rooms as for the Picasso last year, which was a masterful themed survey of his work. The work in this show was very well grouped so all one style/period together, so partic. first 30 years of the 20th century were very well demonstrated. But I would have to say that many of the “unknown” works were by artists who were simply following the artistic trends of the time set by the “masters” that are well-known now. The sort that from across the room you pick the style as being painter X, then find out it is unknown Y, that sort of thing. The difficulty of picking the “next big thing” at the time in art of course. There were some Rauschenberg type modern works (you know, big canvases with only 2 colours – or even worse, “shades”
of black – eek). They had 2 paintings by Giacometti (much more well known as a sculptor of stick insect people) and some interesting works by Paul Klee on paper. I spent about 1 ½ hours there so it wasn’t that bad – a very good visual summary of the first half century of 20C in art (largely by people who had not become as famous as their inspiring artists). After that walked thru (quickly) the works on paper by Max Weiler (prolific Austrian) on floor below, then down into the basement for the Albertina contemporary stuff – modern artists but unknown to me. As this was where the Micehalngelo was last year, it was interesting to see what modern artists can do in coloured pencil – photorealism almost already!
Came out of Albertina, it had become cold and slightly showery and wet so went back to hotel to change. Then back down to Stephansdom area where all the fancy shops and restaurants are (nothing really around Maria Hilfer). Found Oswald and Kalb in a side street and had a nice cream of courgette soup, followed with a schnitzel type thing in gravy with fried onion rings and baked
Cafe Sacher
where the S-torte was invented? (hardhats??) potatoes. A glass of riesling and then a red called Big John (after mad John Daley the golfer? – forgot to ask!). Saved room for a street gelato rather than spending triple on a restaurant dessert. So that was a relatively satisfying day in Vienna.
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