Thursday 2 July 2009

that would be vienna

naturally when we arrived it was in dreadful rain, the city soaked, us starving and then indian food of a type i haven't seen since the eighties but hot at least and the place just across the road. german, tho, that was another matter. what did the menu mean? for the first time i came across ondians who didn't speak english as their second language, which was odd but in the end highly amusing.

but the cakes you ask? well i have to admit that after ljubljana my body's capacity to absorb any more confectionary was seriously impaired and a big rest was definitely in order. a couple of sacher tortes and that was about it. one reasonable and the other just okay. oh yes and ice cream with which the viennese seem to be iinable to get enough cream, whipped or otherwise. i attempted it manfully but really i was more taken with the waitresses,w ho were wearing some sort of old school pink and white striped uniform from the fifties (nardini style for those who are aware of such things)

but vienna. we went to see schiele, lots of schiele, who dazzled me but for t, she says, changed the way she would look at art forever. and you can't say better than that. we saw many other things kandinsky, klimt but it was schiele that made vienna for us. and cy twombly who didn't. vienna was all kinds of wonderful. the area we stayed in was some sort of second hand store valhalla with all manner of bolt shop, boutique woodwork, piano repair, nail salon and evrything in between and more mixed in. it was great.

maybe more about klimt and schiele later but for now we're back in budapest. finally the baclava is found! and then to bed.

more later....

1 comment:

Rachel Fox said...

I was in Vienna (aupairing) aged 17 and then again at 18 and saw the paintings you've just seen. I know what you mean about the impact. I've forgotten a lot of my teenage experiences but I can remember walking around those galleries.
x