December 31, 2023. Vienna!! 2024—Bring it On!

Happy New Year—

This is being written in the wee hours of January 1, 2024

After breakfast we were planning to head to see the Wortuba Church which is a bit of a trek from downtown (about one hour by metro), but after a recent email from a friend who suggested we visit the newly-reopened Vienna Museum (opened just three weeks ago), we decided to head there and then go to the church. The architect for the church chose the site of former Nazi barracks and planned for the church to be a bold religious statement. He died before the building was completed. It’s a real Brutalist building constructed of massive concrete blocks without any symmetry. But alas, after going to the museum and recognizing the time it would take to get to and from the church and then to get ready for dinner and festivities tonight, we opted to head back to the hotel after the museum for a few hours and then get ready to party!

The museum was well worth the visit, but needed way more time than we could spare. Given that it is New Years Eve Day, the museum had an early closing time, and we were practically the last people to leave. Over three distinct floors there is one continuous permanent exhibit that depicts and tries to explain the history of Vienna: “Vienna. My History.” The exhibit focuses on the place and the people—the politics, religion, social structures, the environment. Topics include work, housing, traffic, immigration, and ecology — then and now. The exhibit(s) is arranged chronologically and winds around the building. There are lots of different formats and tactile objects as well as many interactive efforts to bring viewers into the exhibit to comment, engage, and voice opinions.

We headed to the second floor where the exhibit focused on the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibit went out of its way to bring credible information about Austria’s role in WWII and the plight of Jews in Vienna. Everything in the museum is presented in both text as well as graphics and photography, and wherever possible presents questions for viewers to ponder. Physically, I was struck by the number of hands-on aspects the museum has developed and hope that enough consideration has been given to viewer handling of the items. For example… there is a wall of photo portraits of pre-eminent Austrians in various disciplines (music, literature, science, etc.). Each portrait is really a door (about 20” x 20”), which when opened tells the story of that person’s life and accomplishments in easy-to-understand text. I hope the hinges can handle all the wear and tear. And in another section, there is a big discussion of social housing, including two walls of images of real people (photos mounted on ¼” boards). Viewers are encouraged to pick up these photo boards (which are leaning on a series of shelves. On the back of each photo board is text from interviews with the person in the photo. All of these people are living in social housing.

And the exhibit attempts to gather basic information from viewers—putting dots on a giant street map of Vienna to depict where the visitors reside, asking some key questions and providing large-format
“cards” for viewers to write responses and then post them on a wall. The responses are put into a pre-arranged grid so that the responses appear to be respected and readable for other viewers. I’m hoping they are collecting these responses and will do something with the information.

There was considerable “space” given to the Red Vienna period when socialists controlled the city, and how current issues such as immigration, housing, etc. are being addressed.

We then walked back to the hotel and prepared for our dinner, which was about a 15-minute taxi ride from the hotel. Our amazing luck with winter weather in Geneva and Vienna seems to be running out. Today was colder and grey; no sun to be found anywhere, so it felt even colder than it really was. I think that will be the case for the remaining days here.

We had 7 pm reservations at Steirereck in Stadtpark… and tickets for a concert that began at 10pm. It was supposed to be a 5-minute walk through the park to get to the concert hall. We figured we had plenty of time… But we arrived late to the concert since dinner was more than amazing and clearly 2.75 hours was not enough time for the dinner. We dined for more than three hours (and still had to miss one of the many dessert courses! Or we’d totally miss the concert). Anyway, the restaurant was beyond expectations. Thre were more than 32 choices of bread. The menu (for the foodies, there will be a follow up with descriptions—stay tuned) included 7 courses (all delicate and plated beautifully… and not heavy) in addition to four different amuse bouches.. and of course, lots of bubbly and good wine. And at the end they presented me with a lovely tartlet with a candle, and thankfully did not sing or make a spectacle!! The restaurant is in a beautiful modern building of natural materials of wood glass and concrete—and a terrazzo floor. Oh.. one more thing. At each table was a deck of cards and some dice and directions on how to play some game.. sort of like Monopoly. I guess when you are going to stay for so many hours, they must think you might need a distraction from the meal?? And as the photos show, the suggested attire for dinner (and also for the concert) was “black tie.” We didn’t quite make the cut, but e tried.

Following this totally amazing meal we headed to the concert at Kursalon in the park. It was a small hall (400 seats) with a 13-piece orchestra and a Strauss and Mozart repertoire, including some singers for certain choral parts. They were good and the audience loved it.. a bit schmaltzy for me, but lots of fun. Naturally, they ended with the Danube. Then we headed out to catch the fireworks at midnight. They were all over town. Inside, the concert hall was set up for dancing after the concert, but we begged out. Apparently, all over the city people dance the Danube at midnight.

Tomorrow, New Years Day, we head to brunch at the new Jean Nouvelle-designed hotel and then we’ll stroll Vienna a bit more. Then it’s Brno for the day and we are off. More tomorrow.

Oh— important to note.
Mike had been complaining when he packed for this trip —about his bag being too heavy because he had to bring along a nice pair of black shoes (as compared to everyday hiking boots) for New Years Eve, for which he decided to bring along a bow tie! Anyway, as we were getting ready for dinner, Mike starts to laugh… He had packed two black shoes; problem was he packed two black right shoes …. No left shoe. To me the two black shoes were very different (beyond which foot it was designed for), but he felt they looked alike, and it was a “natural” mistake. So, Mike’s bow-tied white shirt and black suit were complemented by construction-like BROWN boots. Imagine me doing something like that! Never!

All the best for 2024. I suppose that California has several hours to go before celebrating.

Fern