June 12 | 12:12 pm | Vienna
Showing posts with label vienna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vienna. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Alice Again
One of the fun things about blogging is that after you've done it a while, you'll start to notice patterns in your writing that you never would have expected. When I started blogging, I never expected that I would have so much to say about Alice Cooper. To wit, while walking around the shopping mall inside of Vienna's Gasometer a few weeks ago, I noticed that it had its own walk of fame. Since Falco and Ahnold are the only Austrian celebrities I can think of off the top of my head, I wasn't surprised that I had never heard of anyone in the walk of fame. Nor was I surprised to see that one person in the walk of fame that I did recognize was Alice Cooper. Normally, I might have a little pity for an aging rocker who decided it was worth his time to let a second-rate Austrian shopping mall immortalize him in their walk of fame, but I feel like Alice Cooper's enshrinement was more of a labor of love and whimsy than desperation.
We were driving home after our flight back from Vienna when I discovered that the local classic rock radio station is now airing Nights with Alice Cooper (only on Saturday nights, sadly). One of the deep cuts that Alice treated us to was one of his own, a song I had never heard before called "I Love America". It's essentially a less profane, cold war version of "America - Fuck Yeah!". It's not all that funny or clever, but it's distinctly Cooper.
We were driving home after our flight back from Vienna when I discovered that the local classic rock radio station is now airing Nights with Alice Cooper (only on Saturday nights, sadly). One of the deep cuts that Alice treated us to was one of his own, a song I had never heard before called "I Love America". It's essentially a less profane, cold war version of "America - Fuck Yeah!". It's not all that funny or clever, but it's distinctly Cooper.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Das dritte European Impressions
I can't look at the tiles on the roof of Stephansdom without thinking of the Jamaican Flag. Apparently, it's a rather recent addition to the church.
Vienna was full of European soccer fans while we were visited since it is one of the host cities for the 2008 Euro Cup tournament.
Of all the countries whose fans traveled to Vienna for the tournament, Poland had the largest and most vocal contingent.
I've never felt more connection to my Polish heritage than I did while riding the U Bahn with a horde of Polish soccer fans in full regalia on their way back from the stadium.
For a city that was packed with European soccer fans, there was surprisingly little rioting going on while we were there. Many of Vienna's more delicate landmarks, including the Burggarten, were closed to prevent them from getting trashed.
This was the first time I've ever visited multiple countries on an overseas trip and it was interesting to see the contrasts between Paris and Vienna that I probably wouldn't have noticed had I visited them on separate trips.
I didn't see a single street musician my entire time in Vienna. I was disappointed, but I chalked it up to the Euro 2008 tournament.
The grounds at the Belvedere Palace were not in very good condition and even if they were in good shape, they wouldn't have been anywhere near as impressive as the grounds at the Schönbrunn Palace.
The art museum in the Oberes Belvedere had a decent collection of German Expressionist paintings, but it was not as rich of a collection as I would have hoped for a city that was so important to that movement.
I'm better at passing as a European than I imagined. The flight attendants on our intra-European flights generally addressed me in German before English. Vendors on the streets of Vienna guessed that I was Polish, Russian, and German before American (as long as I hadn't said anything to them yet).
Vienna was full of European soccer fans while we were visited since it is one of the host cities for the 2008 Euro Cup tournament.
Of all the countries whose fans traveled to Vienna for the tournament, Poland had the largest and most vocal contingent.
I've never felt more connection to my Polish heritage than I did while riding the U Bahn with a horde of Polish soccer fans in full regalia on their way back from the stadium.
For a city that was packed with European soccer fans, there was surprisingly little rioting going on while we were there. Many of Vienna's more delicate landmarks, including the Burggarten, were closed to prevent them from getting trashed.
This was the first time I've ever visited multiple countries on an overseas trip and it was interesting to see the contrasts between Paris and Vienna that I probably wouldn't have noticed had I visited them on separate trips.
I didn't see a single street musician my entire time in Vienna. I was disappointed, but I chalked it up to the Euro 2008 tournament.
The grounds at the Belvedere Palace were not in very good condition and even if they were in good shape, they wouldn't have been anywhere near as impressive as the grounds at the Schönbrunn Palace.
The art museum in the Oberes Belvedere had a decent collection of German Expressionist paintings, but it was not as rich of a collection as I would have hoped for a city that was so important to that movement.
I'm better at passing as a European than I imagined. The flight attendants on our intra-European flights generally addressed me in German before English. Vendors on the streets of Vienna guessed that I was Polish, Russian, and German before American (as long as I hadn't said anything to them yet).
Saturday, June 21, 2008
European Impressions, Part Deux
The Musée d'Orsay has more famous and familiar paintings per square foot than any other museum I've ever visited. It's an astounding collection for any museum, let alone a museum that opened in 1986!
Regardless of what your Paris guidebooks may tell you, if you want to visit the street markets of Paris, you better go first thing in the morning and preferably on a weekend.
I've now seen three Statues of Liberty (NYC, Tokyo, Paris)
Hot dogs are much more readily available in Paris than I ever would have imagined.
One of the few American meals that I miss while traveling is a nice greasy breakfast. Fortunately, we were able to get one in Paris.
When visiting places with a lot of history, it's interesting to see what events and people they choose to focus on at their historic attractions. Most of the historic attractions in Paris focused on the revolution, of course. In Vienna, they seemed to focus on Maria Theresa and Franz Josef I, their most famous and last* monarchs, respectively. Marie Antoinette comes up quite a bit in both cities, since she was the daughter of Maria Theresa and wife of Louis XVI.
* Technically, Franz Josef I wasn't the last Habsburg monarch, but he reigned for 68 years and the monarchy was dissolved two years after his death
I've developed a fondness for Roman Ruins, no matter how unimpressive they are.
French coffee is stronger (and better) than Viennese coffee (Don't take my word for it, however, as I only had coffee one time in each city).
Regardless of what your Paris guidebooks may tell you, if you want to visit the street markets of Paris, you better go first thing in the morning and preferably on a weekend.
I've now seen three Statues of Liberty (NYC, Tokyo, Paris)
Hot dogs are much more readily available in Paris than I ever would have imagined.
One of the few American meals that I miss while traveling is a nice greasy breakfast. Fortunately, we were able to get one in Paris.
When visiting places with a lot of history, it's interesting to see what events and people they choose to focus on at their historic attractions. Most of the historic attractions in Paris focused on the revolution, of course. In Vienna, they seemed to focus on Maria Theresa and Franz Josef I, their most famous and last* monarchs, respectively. Marie Antoinette comes up quite a bit in both cities, since she was the daughter of Maria Theresa and wife of Louis XVI.
* Technically, Franz Josef I wasn't the last Habsburg monarch, but he reigned for 68 years and the monarchy was dissolved two years after his death
I've developed a fondness for Roman Ruins, no matter how unimpressive they are.
French coffee is stronger (and better) than Viennese coffee (Don't take my word for it, however, as I only had coffee one time in each city).
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