the best schnitzel in Vienna

We were warned to arrive early - by 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon, the queue stretched across the cobbled street... so we made another plan. On Sunday we arrived earlier and only had to queue through the double doors to the footpath. We had chosen to visit the original Figlmueller restaurant, just behind St Stephen's - for an amazing gastro experience. This has been the original dining room for over 100 years. The waiters wore their tuxedos with pride and exuded calm control. The specialty was clear - a thin pork schnitzel, which at an average 34cm diameter exceeded most dinner plates. We opted for the very traditional Wiener Schnitzel von der Kalbsrücken - a total treat, neatly presented in two segments. We complemented this with a bottle of local Grüner Veltliner, which was cleanly crisp. wow - an excellent last meal in Vienna!

up close with new frescoes in Karlskirche

Karlskirche is a stunning church just outside the Inner Ring in Vienna. From the outside, it is a mixture between a small St Paul's, and a mosque. The whole building is shiny white and the Roman entry pediment separates two amazingly scuptured minarets.

Inside, it is a Baroque explosion and the subtle surprise is a slim glass lift at the rear of the church which carries visitors up to a platform at the base of the dome - presumably it also gives access to the team of painters who are spending 4 years reconstructing the original frescoes, originally painted by Johann Michael Rottmayr over 225 years ago. It is a real treat to be able to ascend beyond the large organ and spectacular altar.

It feels quite precarious to walk out on platforms in the scaffolding, to see a spiral staircase taking you up through the middle of the dome. We were able to see glimpses of a beautiful blue sky just on sunset through the arched windows.

Then we gingerly walked up the steep scaffolding steps with a full 360' experience of larger than life full colour religious experiences. Proportions were elongated and emphasised and the cherubs at the absolute top were soooo chuby, even for well rounded cherubs! We were rewarded at the very top of more views of Vienna at sunset, as we peered through the arches of the pinnacle turret - it was truly magical.

Christmas markets in Vienna

An amazing city at an amazing time of year - it was a well planned visit to colleagues and a celebration of my birthday. It is difficult to judge the impact on a french family of living in Vienna - but they certainly have a wonderful spacious inner city apartment with a roof terrace. We slept in their daughter's bedroom, in a small turret... I would have loved to have been born to the Austrian aristocracy over 100 years ago - this city has an amazing past and is sufficiently wealthy to protect it for future generations.

So it was no surprise to be totally impressed by the christmas markets - with their contrasts between the neo-gothic architecture and trees full of red hearts and snowmen... Visually it was breathtaking and there were all the other components of great christmas markets - the spicy smell of gluwein, smoky maroni burners, lots of sweets and lebkuchen stalls, some creative stalls with wonderful candles and lots of hats and scarves... and everywhere people meeting, chatting, drinking, eating, having fun, enjoying the season, all invigorated in the cold night air...I loved every minute and enjoyed the several markets we visited. Not sure whether I preferred the Jeager Tee over the Ingwer Punsch!

More Surrealism at the Albertina - the Kaplan Collection

How lucky can one person be - to see 3 brilliant exhibitions in one museum, all connected by the common theme of surrealism - which for me is an extension of my art history and experience. Definitions abound but for me it is about representing emotions and the subconscious in a way that offers alternative perceptions of reality. I know that I don't always understand the whole picture, but accept that I usually enjoy the challenge in either an aesthetic or an intellectual way. I have always found Dali a bit tortured but his early work is quite simple.

I totally love the simplicity of Miro and there was a selection of the variety of ways he used two lithographs together to create an amazing sequence of work. So it was with an amazing sense of sensory overflow that I realised I was hungry and that it would be nice to appreciate the last of the afternoon light...

the Batliner Collection at the Albertina in Vienna

It is described as ranging from Monet to Picasso and tracing the path of art from Impressionism to Modernism. This private collection of over 500 pieces of art was donated to the Albertina in 2007 and now, over 100 pieces are on display. It was impressive, because at the entrance to the museum, the concrete steps were transformed to look like Monet's water lilies.
It was an interesting mistake that we saw this exhibition backwards - from abstract back towards the figurative art of the Impressionists. We began with cubism and surrealism - there was a whole room of art by Paul Delveaux - an impressively disconnected Belgian painter. In fact, it was an interesting extension of the Magritte exhibition that we had just seen. But I really enjoyed several important groups of artists - my favourite der Blau Reiter group were well represented with examples from Franz Marc (some beautiful orange and golden cows), Wasily Kandinsky, Gabrielle Muenter and their colleagues. I loved seeing old friends of Kirchner, Klee, Kokoschka and it was quite calming to come back to the classic impressionist painters of Bonnard, Cezanne and Monet... a wonderful journey collected by an amazing couple - I appreciate their legacy.

Botero - his paintings in Vienna

I first encountered Botero's sculptures when in Madrid in the early 1990's - they are not easily forgotten - exaggeratedly fat, in strange proportions and conveying simple still life combinations - I remember children climbing over these giant people and horses and people taking photos (myself included) from different angles. At the time, I did not know much about Fernando Botero, a Colombian artist, with an international reputation, now living in Paris.

So I was keen to see an exhibition of over 70 paintings in the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna. I was confronted by expressionless fat, contorted people; massive heads and faces, gaint legs with perfectly circular defined patellas and pathetic stumpy arms. I was so surprised to see that he was of a fairly normal physique!
It was almost like a personal diary - growing up in Colombia, training as a matador, enjoying good food and the outdoor lifestyle... a few cracks emerged when we saw the widow and her young children - and then we were confronted by a whole room of his Abu-Ghraib-Cycle from 2004/5 - where he expressed his horror in a deeply universal manner - this man has a message and he can be heard. Is this the modern day Guernica?

Again, I am moved by the message behind the art...

Magritt: a voyage of discovery at the Albertina in Vienna

I had not seen a lot of his art and my pre-conceptions were of a quirky Belgian. I was able to appreciate his colour and design but I don't think I always got his message. So it was with a genuine enthusiasm that we visited the Albertina again, in Vienna.
250 paintings later I have a deep respect for this man and his experiments with psychology and philosophy. He is able to draw ideas, sometimes directly and sometimes through contrasts.

His classic painting "this is not a pipe" in French and English were a subtle reminder that what he painted looked like a pipe but it was not a real pipe that could be smoked - so he was not lying!
He challenges our assumptions, tries to capture our shadow self and uses clouds as universal symbols- again I know they capture a point in time, but can any painter really draw a real sky before it changes?

I loved his surreal images; portraits without faces, night and day combinations, large bird cut outs of clouds above oceans..
I am inspired to learn and understand more about this man and the surrealist movement...