MONDAY, APRIL 28
– THERE'S MORE TO VIENNA THAN SISI
A day without Sisi is like a day full of sunshine, which we had
lots
of today. But it got off to a bad start. I know I checked—I MUST
have checked—but in any case, The Museum of Fine Art, the city's world class art museum,
the one with three Caravaggios, at least one Velazquez, and who knows
what other treasures, the one I was really, really looking forward to
visiting, was . . . CLOSED. Here's a picture of it.
So,
with all my best laid plans gone awry, we opted to go to the Leopold
Museum, which was right next door. I'm not all that into 20th
Century art and knew nothing about modern Austrian
art, but as it turned
out, we learned a lot. Above all, we were introduced to Egon Schiele,
a protege of Gustav Klimt, whom we planned to see in the afternoon.
After, we stopped at a stand for a hot dog, which in Austria
means
one of a variety of sausages which can be eaten in a roll or plain.
We opted for the roll, and with ketchup and mustard, it was
wonderful.
Happily,
the afternoon worked out as planned. Last evening, we had met my
nephew, Joe, Jr., who lives in Oslo with his family. He's in town for
a conference and made time to see us then and to meet us again this
afternoon at the Upper Belvedere Museum, an 18th
Century palace built by the Prince of Savoy as a summer get-away. In addition to its extensive gardens, it has a diverse collection of art on exhibit including a room full of Gustav Klimt paintings. His best know work, The Kiss, is there, but all three of us found it disappointing. I much prefer his portrait of Mrs. Bloch-Bauer, which recently sold for a reported $135 million.
