Oh Vienna

This morning’s highlight was getting our laundry done, we’ve been getting by with washing a few items in our hotel bathroom and hoping they will dry overnight. So last night Google found a laundrette in Bratislava then this morning (Tim) our GPS got us there. I missed one turning and the re-route took us up a very steep, narrow and winding partially cobbled back road that seemed to run through the back gardens of houses. I was very glad not to come across a car coming the other way. The laundrette, once we got there was great, we had a coffee in a cafe opposite while the wash was underway and are pleased to have our cases filled with clean clothes.

A nice drive of about seventy km took us through nice small Austrian towns until we got near to Vienna, but the last fifteen km through an industrial area then into the city became a bit nerve wracking. This time I managed to follow Tim’s instructions and we made our hotel by about one pm.

We chose a hotel near an underground station and, after buying a three day ticket, were in the centre of the town in no time. Having sworn off cathedrals, palaces, castles for a day or so we visited the Albertina gallery which has an amazing collection, although it mostly holds special exhibitions and many of the works are not on show. We saw an exhibition called “Monet to Picasso” which had some good works from the impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Sisley), a lovely little Rodin sculpture, works by Pissaro, Cezanne, Chagall, paintings and sculptures by Giacometti , and particularly Picasso. Generally I find that, among those artists the more recent they get the less I can relate to them, but in the next room was an exhibition entitled “Bacon Wahol Richter” which (with the exception of Francis Bacon) I find much more approachable. Wahol’s  large multi coloured paintings of Mao Tse Tung is great and I  really enjoyed the works by Roy Lichtenstein.

Lunch/dinner followed at about 4.15pm, I had bratwurst, sauerkraut and sautéed potatoes, before a wander along the main shopping street. By about 6 pm we were pretty tired and high tailed it back to the hotel for a rest and to research our programme for the next couple of days.