LANGE NACHT DER MUSEEN 2010

The Baptist church where Euel attended before marrying Mom gave a cross in his honor to hang on their "Memory Wall."

After a long dry spell from posting on my blog I'm going to try to get back on track.  I was in the States six weeks visiting family, friends, and helping my Mom with my terminally ill step-dad (Euel.)  He passed away on 9/1 and I was able to get back to Vienna a week later.

 This is the little country church in Pickton, TX where Euel attended

 
Two days after I got home Greg left for ten days in Russia.  I was thankful for friends from Texas who came to visit us during that time.  Now the company is gone, Greg's back, and I've had a few days to rest up some.

 My friend, Lucia (friends since 5th gr.) and her husband, Alan, check out the bags at the naschmart.

On Saturday night we attended the Long Night of Museums in Vienna.  105 museums were open from 6 pm-1am.  We pooped out at 11:00 and walked in rain (which we were not equipped for) to a bus stop to return to our apartment.

I think one of the most interesting museums we visited was the Vienna Tram Museum.  This museum houses 100 original vehicles: tram carriages, city railway carriages, and buses from 1868 to 1978.  We actually got to ride on a bus from the year 1936 from the ubahn to the museum.  As we squeaked and rattled down the street there were many who stopped in their tracks just to observe this phenomenon.

I've not seen so many smiling faces my entire time in Vienna.  The cars were decked with beautiful wood and chrome on the insides.  As I climbed the stairs to the top of the double decker bus my head touched the ceiling.  Talk about claustrophobic!  The Vienna Tram Museum is the world's largest tram museum, which exclusively exhibits the history of public transport within a single city, the city of Vienna.

 The following paintings were from the "Young Artist Museum:"

(Feel free to interpret them, if you dare!)

Our next stop was the Belvedere Museum (about a 20 minute walk from our apt.)  The Belvedere's palaces are considered to be among Europe's most outstanding Baroque buildings and house the most significant collection of Austrian art dating from the middle ages to the present day.  At the heart of the displays of art around 1900 are the world's largest Gustav Klimt collection.  We were greeted at the front door by people dressed as vampires who were advertising the upcoming musical, "Tanz der Vampire" (dance of the vampire.)  There were photo opts available with two of the vampires in front of  a well known painting of Klimt's, "The Kiss."  It was quite humorous to watch as one after another teenage girl took their turn  between the two vampires to be photographed.

So many of these artists led such depressing lives.  Klimt had one affair after another and it is believed that he fathered over 14 children.  It is evident that there was little commitment to anything in his life.  How sad!

One of Klimt's paintings, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" sold for $135 million to a museum in NY where it has been displayed since 2006.
 
No photography permitted at the Belvedere.    

The line for the "Frida Kahlo" art exhibit at a bank was out the door and down the block.  Greg had taken a friend there and concluded I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it too much anyway.  She was a very confused and strange woman-I don't think I missed much.