Optics and Exposure

The 4 of us at Heuriger

Our last day in Vienna was a nice one.  Lauren and I started the morning with a marathon museum session, Lauren and I hit the three museums we wanted to visit from the start: the Schatzkammer (State Treasury) at the Hofburg Palace, the Kunsthistoriche Museum (the Museum of Fine Art), and the Haus der Muzik (Music House), an interactive museum of musical history and interactive exhibits.  After a restful afternoon recovering from the museums, Lauren and I went to a Heuriger (something like a traditional Austrian vineyard-restaurant) with Andy and Uta.  All in all, a wonderful end to our Austrian vacation.

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Copy of the Order of Benedict

On Thursday, Andy and Uta had the day off for a public holiday in Austria, so they took us on an expedition to Stift Melk, a Benedictine monastery in the town of Melk, a one-hour train ride west of Vienna. The monastery was founded in 1089, and rebuilt in 1702 under a “Stift” which recently translates to “bequeath.” Emperors would donate the money to build a stift when they felt guilty about something they’ve done. Continue reading

Make sure to stop and smell the roses.

This morning we took the train out to Schloss Schonbrunn (Schonbrunn Palace), where the Emperor spent his summers. It was originally built as a hunting grounds before becoming a complete summer palace. We spent pretty much the entire morning and early afternoon touring the inner halls and rooms, and walking the gardens. We were quite impressed with the well trimmed trees lining all of the paths. These trees were three stories tall, but the edges facing the paths were trimmed to a perfect vertical. We were lucky enough to see the ancient trimming rig still in use (a wooden structure that follows a string along the ground, and uses a plum bob to guide the workers). Continue reading

This statue, at the Hofburg Palace, is an engineering feat. The horse is supported on only two points of contact (instead of the three typically required)

The train ride from Prague to Vienna was an easy, although 5-hour long, trek. We arrived in the late afternoon and were greeted at the train station by my uncle Andrew. He took us, via U-bahn (subway) back to his apartment. Upon arrival at the apartment we noticed a booming baritone coming from one of the rooms. His wife, Uta, was in the midst of a lesson with one of her students. This provided a pleasant background to our conversation, and a fitting entrance to Vienna. Our first evening was quiet. We ate a candlelit dinner, caught up with Andy and Uta, and planned out the rest of our week. They took us on a quick orientation walk, so that we could find our way around when we left the apartment, and then we went to bed.
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