Shloss Schonbrunn & the Modern Art Museum, a day of contrasts.

Monday August 4th

The weather forecast said rain in the afternoon so we have put off Bratislava for the time being. We got up early and headed out to the Shloss. On the way we stopped for a coffee and met a transplanted Aussie. She told us about Heurigen - a wine tasting adventure that we have added to the plan. She was very informative and plays tour guide to all her Aussie family every time they come. She confirmed that the Hotel Sacher is a must do but that it really does not have the best torte in town.

Being transit experts now we hoped on the U-Bahn and were at the palace gates in no time.  Our credit card and the machine did not see eye to eye so we got in line. Luckily it moved quickly and we only had to wait 29 minutes for our entrance time. The Austrians are like the Swiss with their precision timing!

Shloss Schonbrunn

Arched Rose garden

Gloriette - today a cafe

You cannot take pictures inside but it was pure opulence once again. I liked some aspects of how the Habsburgs lived but am glad I am here and looking back at them. Over a thousand people worked there and less than twenty Habsbergs lived there! Pretty good ratio of peeps. When you have 1,441 room in your summer palace then I am thinking money was not an object.

We did the audio guide tour and then strolled around the gardens for a little while before heading back to the city centre. We grabbed a snack for lunch and walked over to the Museum Quarter - so many museums so little time! We decided on the Leopold Museum.

Maria Theresa ruled from 1740-1780. She sits guard over the Museum Quarter, perhaps because she is the one that instituted full time school for all.  She had 16 children, the most famous being Marie Antoinette. Only one daughter was allowed to marry for love. All other arranged marriages were for political advantage. Ah, love.

A cool mix of modern and old architecture

The Leopold is home to modern Austrian artists ...modern being late 1800's onward. We both enjoyed most of it but some of the work was just a little too modern for us. Like four bathtubs put together with red paint running down the side of one.....I don't get it but I am sure someone does. The Leopold has a large collection of Gustav Klimt's work, we saw The Kiss yesterday at the Belvedere and Death and Life today.

Death and Life

This painting won an International Art Exhibition in 1911 but Klimt was not happy with it and in 1915 he changed the background from gold to grey and added things to it!  Pretty dark but interesting all the same.

As I said before we have a plan of all the things we want to see and do here, but no schedule. We are not good with schedules unless it involves a take off and landing.

One of the things on our plan is the Hoher Market clock. It is literally 40 metres from the front door of our hotel. We have seen it, we have a picture of it but we have to make it there at noon to see the show.  I am hoping that tomorrow will be the day!  Just in case we don't here is a picture of it. All twelve numbers are represented by a famous Austrian and have accompanying music .

Hopefully I will get a better picture!