After yesterday's super long day and still trying to recover some lost zzz's from the long journey to get here, we were all happy to rest our heads and snore like lumber-jacks. Unfortunately, some inconsiderate moron decided to ring our doorbell at 2:30 in the morning. Of course, Pox didn't hear a thing, but Cindy and Mary thought it was a storm warning or the coming of the third world war. After being startled half-to-death, we all woke up ready to take on the day with itinerary in hand.
We made our way to McCafe again. You would too if you could taste the deliciousness. This time, we were far more prepared for the 24degree weather. After eating our breakfast we made our way to the Belvedere museum, which holds some of the most famous works by Gustav Klimt: The Kiss, Judith, etc. Although we seemed to be prepared to walk a short distance from the metro station, we were informed by a local that a tram could also take us there. We took his advice and rode tram "D", however, we jumped the gun and exited far too early and had to walk the rest of the way, in the slippery snow. As we made our way throught the beautiful wall which surrounds the museum, we were greeted by a winter wonderland (even though it's officially spring). This was a perfect photo-op. The Belvedere's surrounding gardens looked even more picturesque covered in crisp, white powdery snow.
Inside, the Belvedere staff were extremely alert and vigilant , which means, we were not able to take any photos, good ones that is. Cindy tried her darnedest to capture the gold-leafed embrace that is The Kiss, but was only able to manage a blurry blob of an image. Although the museum consists of three levels, it was a manageable size and we walked through it comfortably in about 2 hours, it's no Louvre.
After browsing through the gift shop and retrieving our outerwear from the cloak room, we made our way out to the tram stop. First, however, we stopped to play with the snow and took a few more silly photos. We sat in comfort all the to the famous Mozart Cafe. Here, we waited for an open table and browsed the pastry selection in the display in front of us. We all tried something new and different. Mary ordered the Goulash soup and chicken schnitzel, Cindy had goulash and dumplings and Pox had heck fish on a bed of vegetables. Everything tasted like JESUS!!! We made sure to leave room for dessert. We tried a hazelnut torte, apple streudel and a 3 cake sampler including a Mozart torte, a berry torte and the famous Sacher torte. Yes, we were the envy of the cafe. After 98 euros worth of food damage, we decided to walk it off.
We made our way to the Capuchin Church, only a few minutes walking, where some of the most famous Austrian emperors and empresses are interred, including Franz and Joseph and "Sissi". After exploring the Capuchin Church, we hopped on the metro and headed to the Berg Theatre, which houses two Klimt murals along its grand staircase. Along the way, we encountered a lovely cathedral where we contemplated in silence and relished in its late gothic style and art.
Fighting off the cold and snow, we finally arrived at the
Berg, where we were disappointed to discover that we had missed the last tour
of the day. Our only option was to pay
for performance tickets to get a glimpse of Klimt’s masterpieces. Seeing as it was our last night in Vienna, we
left the theater in pursuit of something that would brighten our mood- retail
therapy. We did some light shopping and closed the stores down, not really,
stores in Vienna close very, very early. The snow started picking up and the
night was still young, We walked around and got lost in our neighborhood
looking for anything that was open late.
We stumbled onto a small Italian restaurant called “Genaro’s” where we
munched on pizza and washed it down with some Moretti beer. With full bellies,
we returned to our apartment and prepared for our next adventure- our day trip
to Salzburg.
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