Heading North

11/3/13

On the 25th of October we traveled by bus and train from the Italian Lake country through the Alps and the Brenner Pass to Zurich.  It was a long journey but the reward was spending the weekend with my nephew Nikolas and his wife Amy in their bright Zurich apartment with wall to wall floor to ceiling windows and lots of charm.  It was wonderful to hug and be with familiar faces we love, and they made the stay quite fun with some planned trips and some unplanned event as well.  Nik spent time getting my computer in shape while Amy rested from opening boxes from their recent move to the apartment.  They are expecting a baby in early December, so things are slowing down some.

 
Nik and Amy work at Google and we got a tour of the office.  A truly incredible environment.  Open spaces, theme cafes, a place that encourages cooperation and team work.  Creativity oozed from it all but, also a sense that people are at the center of the enterprise.

We visited a Brazilian grocery store with Nik to buy a special cut of meat for a dinner he planned for us and also visited a Spice and Wine shop that was having a wine tasting.  A yummy place that sold things like Chili Honey!  An unexpected tasting thrilling afternoon.

Zurich was quite different from the places we have visited thus far.  Extremely expensive - a cup of coffee in one spot cost us 7 Euros (about $9).  The old city area is neat as a pin and charming, but not lacking a sense of humor as you can see from the balcony below.







A city that is easy to get around, either by walking or through public transportation, yet, we ran into a lovely path across from Nik and Amy's apartment complete with cows grazing.  The Swiss are an outdoor loving bunch and they really know how organize paths and outdoor fun.





We spent the rest of the week in lovely Vienna.  A very large city with so much to see that it took us a while to get organized.  Vienna is all about amazing buildings - rather pompous also, by their own account.

We spent much of our time wondering the streets and also, of course, at a couple of museums getting our fill of Klimpt and the wonderful collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, a truly beautiful building with extravagant marble columns and gilded cherubs looking down at us.

This photo will give you an idea of the scale of the place inside.  The official art work is hanging in beautifully appointed large rooms.  And they do have an amazing collection of European art at this museum.
This is only one of many, however, and I managed to limit our Museum visits to 2 in the 4 days we spent in Vienna. Interestingly, there was an exhibit of Lucian Freud's work and we decided to visit Freud's home in Vienna.  The apartment is full of photographs and while only the waiting room is presented as it was, one gets the story of the family and the work through a variety of videos, photographs and an audio cassette that comes with the price of admission.  By the way, we are enjoying our senior discounts everywhere we go ad here senior discounts begin at age 60!

We found a classical music concert we could afford at a small church and listened to a string quartet perform Mozart, Vivaldi, Haydn, Puccini in an intimate setting that was inspiring.  And then, on the way back to our pension, we were on the sidelines of something called Nacht Tanz-Demo - consisting of a large group of young people mostly dressed in dark clothing walking behind a truck with lots of lights, loud music and red smoke.  Heavy police presence was a bit disconcerting.

I've tried unsuccessfully to find out what this group is about.  They have a web site:  nachttanzdemo.info and if anyone figures them out, I'd love to hear from you.






We spent our last day in Vienna walking around the Vienna Woods.  We decided the park is really a bit like Valley Forge in its expanse, but with no military undertones.  We took a subway and a bus to get there as the woods are outside of the city of Vienna.  Did some walking on one of the many paths, all mostly paved, which lead walkers and bikers through hamlets and vineyards and wine tasting places called Heurigers.

  As you can see the grapes are not the dark ones from the south of France.  The wines are mostly white and sold young.

We stopped at the town of Grinzing on the way back from the Woods.  We saw it from the bus and it looked interesting.  It is mainly dedicated to selling the wines from the vineyards surrounding it. Although it is

technically part of Vienna, it has the feel of a small Austrian town. While walking around we decided to try a Heuriger.  While most of these wine taverns only serve the proprietors' wines from the latest harvest and cold local dishes, we managed to find one that served warm dishes as well and had a lovely dinner of wursts, sauerkraut, rosti potatoes and apple strudel.

I liked Vienna.  I think Jim is missing the warm south and the Italian coffee.  I found Vienna to have, along with its richness, a bit of appreciation for earthy things and a place for folks who are doing things differently . Witness the house below, designed by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  An amazing project that includes many apartments and offices.  It has undulating floors and trees growing from inside with limbs going out of windows! I encourage you to look it up on line. It is an interesting story, both his personal story and the work on this project.

This along with one of the most beautiful Cathedrals we have seen, St Stephen's, in this picture illuminated for the evening. 

A pretty magical place.


Next stop Budapest!