Eine Kleine Nachmusik

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Wednesday, 24th August, 2011
Vienna, Austria

The day was HOT again. For the second day, the temperatures were soaring in the mid thirties Celsius. Today we would not walk, or catch a tram. We’d do all the longer distances by taxi.
The first trip took us to the Belvedere Palace, which houses an art collection. Our main goal: to see some works there by Gustav Klimt, the artist who painted ‘the kiss’.
The taxi dropped us off at the rear of the gardens of the museum, and we faced a 1000 meter walk to the building through a pleasure garden, full of statues, fountains sphinxes, and a riot of flowers. I noted that each sphinx had a unique woman’s face, gazing serenely at all the visitors, but asking no riddles, except to me they asked: who were the models who posed for these faces?
Klimt’s work was spectacular, as we sat in front of ‘the kiss’ in silent adoration, this time both of us swallowing the tears that threatened to erupt. I wasn’t game to look at Leena, as I would have lost it. The layers and layers of gold paint, the lyrical lines, the gold spattered background, the decorative motifs on the clothing, the patterned floral ground, all just beautiful. There was a whole room devoted to works by Klimt, another few for the early German expressionists such as Egon Sheile. Beautiful. Sad too, as many of these men perished in the First World War. Who knows what they may have done if their lives were not cut so short?
The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing the Mozart house, and having a sacher torte in a café before heading home.
In the evening we had seats for a Mozart Concert in the Opera house. The theatre with its old fashioned boxes, the attendants in period costume set the scene for a concert of light, popular Mozart pieces, designed for the tourist market, not serious opera buffs. The orchestra and opera singers also in full period costume of the mid 1700’s. I felt as “cult-ched” as a yokel from the outback, sampling the delights of the big city. The whole performance was so much fun. For one piece, the conductor trained the whole audience to clap in time, and at varying volumes, after which he incorporated the clapping into the piece being played, conducting both orchestra and audience to a fun, interactive performance.
After the opera, we went to dinner, and the next morning we bid a farewell to this most stunning of cities, crossed the Danube, and headed for Munich.

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