Day Three in Vienna

Tuesday 3.8.10


Day three: Tuesday. Lecture on Babenbergs. Kathy’s going to hate me for this, but the Babenbergs were medieval rulers of Austria (dukes) and kind of ruled until they died out and the Habsburgs took over, but apart from that they’re not of much interest to non-history or –military/political strategy enthusiasts. In any case we had a lecture and then got two hours off for lunch. My friends and I went to the famous Café Demel for coffee and Ana Demel Torte. 

Our spread at Café Demel.

The interior of the sumptuous café.

Then we had a tour with the aforementioned Dr. O. The high points (at which we actually got out of the bus) were the Belvedere, the Hundertwasserhaus, and Kohlenberg. Some brief notes on each. Belvedere is the palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, aforementioned hero of the Turkish wars, fabulously wealthy, “FAB-u-lousssss”ly gay, and a short, homosexual hunchback despite being a military hero. The exterior and gardens are gorgeous, and I’m told we’ll see it in greater detail later on in the month, so I’ll save description until then, but know that it’s archtypical Baroque.

The Belvedere.

Hundertwasserhaus was built as a giant middle finger to contemporary geometrical architecture by the painter-turned-architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who detested the unnatural rectangular prism style buildings of . . . I can’t say “the time,” but rather, 99.999% of buildings built before Hundertwasser.  Hundertwasser had but the loosest of grasps upon economical efficiency and people’s concern with thin, artistically fascinating but functionally absurd exteriors. (Please don’t tell Dr. O this, as I don’t want her undying hatred of me on my conscience.) Hundertwasser is famous for decorating the Vienna Incinerator as well as one of the housing blocks. Both are striking as irregular, supposedly more naturally shaped structures covered with random bits of color and material. The Hundertwasser house is a government-owned house, it seems, and the rent to live in the famous structure is pretty cheap, as in the Karl-Marx-Hof. However, Dr. O said that it takes quite a bit of palm-greasing to get a room.

Hundertwasserhaus.

A clever bit of English wordplay in the Hundertwasserhaus gift shop.

Kohlenberg: On a mountain over-looking the city, great view. There is a church there dedicated to great Viennese Poles. Around there are the famous Vienna Heurigen, family owned wine taverns with new local wine, grown in the vineyard that year. A favorite Viennese excursion is to stroll around in the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods) and hike down to the Heurigen, take your ease with a glass or wine, and catch the U-Bahn back home. Hopefully I will accomplish this on a free day sometime soon. The place is also famous for Klosterneuburg, a great old still-functioning monastery founded by the Babenberg saint and duke, Leopold III. More on that later, as we are to go to Klosterneuburg for a tour on Friday. It seems Professorin Stuart has worked her charm and the monks are going to give us a particularly spectacular tour.

A badass church. I believe it's named after St. Francis of Assissi.

That night there was some more bonding between me and “my fellow Americans.” We went to the local grocery store and got supplies for a potluck. I made a rice and vegetable dish which was delicious, if I do say so myself. There was salad, pasta, bread, some stuff I forget, and various wines. After dinner we played King’s Cup.