Hong Kong, August 6 – 14, 2014.

Anne and I were asked by a non-profit to accompany its head of development on a short visit.  This non-profit plans to set up an office in Hong Kong, and wants to continue to engage local organizations.

Separately, Anne has a business trip to Brazil towards the end of the month, and I planned to visit also so she and I can do a bit of touring together.  The Monday (7/28) after we came back from Austria, we went to the Brazilian Consulate in New York to apply, and was told the visas would be ready on August 14, even though their website says about 5 business days.  So I withdrew my application, and Anne canceled her plans for Hong Kong.  This left quite a bad taste in my mind.  Diplomacy and tact seem to be the most basic requirements for someone working in an embassy or a consulate, but not so here.  I am saying this knowing full well a Brazilian wanting a visa to enter the US probably doesn’t get the best of treatment either.

Since this was a relatively short-notice trip, and it’s the summer, the plane tickets were on the expensive side.  I had canceled a trip for earlier this year, and found out to my delight I could reuse all its value on the new ticket.  For some reason the $200 “change fee” was waived.  (We just rebooked another plane ticket and sure enough a $200 fee was charged.)  The upside was that the fare was V class, and thus I got upgraded to business/first by cashing in a couple of the Global Premier Upgrades I got for being a 1K member this year.

Wednesday 8/6.  The non-profit recently hired someone for its China office.  She used to live in New York, and we offered to take some of her belonging (mostly winter clothing) to Hong Kong for her (she also happens to be in Hong Kong around the same time.)  When we went to her house in Queens, we were handed a 65 lb piece of luggage, which I took home and split into two that are more manageable.  Checking them in was quick, so Anne only had to double park with my carryon in the car for a few minutes.

The former Continental 777s have much better business class seats than the United 777s.  I flew on a Continental plane, but still managed only a short nap here and there.  While I am not anxious about flying, the two recently lost Malaysian 777s did make me think a bit.  Thankfully the flight was uneventful.

After I landed, I went looking for One2Free to get a SIM card for data services during my stay.  The shop closed, and 7-11 didn’t sell them.  I had been away from Hong Kong for more than half a year, so I thought I needed a new China Mobile Hong Kong number.  The CMHK clerk told me my number could still be saved, which turns out to be very convenient.  A leisurely meal at Maxim’s was followed by a taxi to Tai Po.  Perry and Sepry were there to help with my heavy luggage, so everything was smooth.

I will be staying at the Tai Po House for 4 nights.

Friday 8/8.  I woke up at 3:30 am, after about 3 hours of sleep, and couldn’t get back to sleep.  With a rather long day ahead of me, I was a little bummed out.  I am glad to report that I did okay.

First it was a visit to Tim’s office so he could draw some blood for tests.  I have a physical scheduled for the end of September, and wanted to get a preview of my situation.  (Turned out okay.)  Next it was an 11 o’clock appointment at CGST where I met with Doreen, Rev. Carver and Dr. Stephen.  I spent a bit over an hour there.  This was followed by lunch with Alfred at Queen’s Café.  We had not seen each other for quite a while.  I then crossed the harbor again to meet up with Larry and Elaine at the Hong Kong Club; this place has the strictest dress code I know of, this time my transgression was not tucking in my polo shirt.  Then I went to Kwun Tong for a visit with Angela of Media Evangelism, where she talked to me about a movie that would be screened in about 5000 cinemas in China next month.

Saturday 8/9.  I slept okay last night (whew.)  Morning was spent trying to find lanterns for the grandchildren; mid-Autumn festival is next month, and Anne thought it would be fun.  It was after 2 pm that I got back to the TP House, by that time Tim, Alyson, and Whitney had already gotten there and had gone out again for a walk.  After they came back, we had dinner at the house.  The two main dishes, smoked duck and abalones, were very good.

Sunday 8/10.  Despite the rather grim weather forecast, we have had good weather so far.  Good if you ignore the occasional light shower, the oppressive heat and high humidity.  In any case, I got to the Aberdeen Boat Club around 10:30 am, had breakfast there, and went on Tim’s boat for a ride to Lamma Island.  Tim has long work days during the week, and wants to make up with physical activities on the weekends.  For today it was a hike to Ling Kok Hill, at 280 meters not a particularly high mountain.  Since we started at sea level, it still meant a climb of about 1000 steps.  I gave up after about 500 (decision helped by light-headedness,) the other three completed the trip.

Start of climb up Ling Kok Hill.  To reach the top would require scaling about 1000 steps, I gave up after 500 or so.

Both my shirt and my shorts were soaking wet.  It was a good thing I brought along two bottles of water.  I could have used more.

After showering on the boat, we had lunch with Anne’s side of the family.  Kenneth, Anna, and Eric; Gordon, Joe-y, and their 4-month old daughter; Gordon’s other two sons Alex and Lucas were also with us.  I ended up talking to Alex for most of the 3+ hour long lunch.  This must qualify as one of the longest meals I have had – I suspect the record 5-hour marathon at Tetsuya’s won’t be broken.

After a half-marathon lunch that lasted over three hours.

After dropping Whitney off, Alyson, Tim, and I hanged out at Tim’s apartment for a short while.  Dinner was at Hei Sheung Fung in Times Square.  Instead of simply dropping me off at Tai Po, Tim and Alyson went and did more exercise at the gym.

Monday 8/11.  The day started with a 9 am breakfast meeting with Vivien who runs a drug rehab center in the Quangzhou area.  She started doing this as a short-term missions project, and has been with the same project for 20 years now.  I then crossed the harbor to Hong Kong Club again to have lunch with Larry, this time remembering to tuck in my polo shirt.

Around this time Nancy called me up to let me know she had arrived at Lo Wu.  We had offered her the Tai Po House during her stay in Hong Kong to get her Chinese work permit.  So I went back to Tai Po, met up with her at the MTR station, and helped her settle in.  After chatting for a while, it was dinner time, and we went back to Chiu Chow Garden, the place I had breakfast with Vivien to start the day.

It was then my turn to pack up.  Because of the crazy meeting schedule last time I was with Chris, I decided staying in town for a few nights would allow me to get a bit more sleep.

Hotel: YMCA Salisbury, 3 nights.

Tuesday 8/12.  Chris came by for breakfast, followed by a meeting with Bo, lunch with Wu, a social entrepreneur, followed by another meeting at the Watermark Community Church with Tobin.  Tobin knows Franklin and Teresa; Franklin was a classmate at Cornell.  The lunch was at an Indian Restaurant in Chung King Mansion, and this was the first time I went inside the building even though it was around when I was very young.  Chung King was in the news recently as there was a suspected case (since tested negative) of Ebola there.

Edwin Lun, a fellow advisory member, booked a table at the Star House Peking Garden.  Nancy came to join us.  I ordered the dishes, including a Peking duck which somehow had a lot more meat to it than the usual Peking duck.  Edwin had to leave early, but he paid for the meal before he left.  (Had I known that I would have ordered shark’s fin soup and abalones; just kidding.)

Weather decided to stop cooperating, and it was pouring as we left the restaurant.  I was the only one with an umbrella.  So I got Chris and Nancy each an umbrella, and we went our separate ways.

Wednesday 8/13.  Chris had a private meeting with the president of Gordon College in the morning, so I had some time to myself.  We met up at The Vine Church with Tony R, an engineer who also is a pastor.  We had lunch (Italian) where he talked about the various ministries he is involved in, many of which have to do with social justice issues (asylum seekers, human trafficking.)  He is Scottish, and has lived in Hong Kong for 26 years.

After lunch, Chris and I went to Crossroads in Gold Coast by taking the MTR to Tuen Mun followed by a taxi ride.  The trip was quite long, and the taxi driver spoke the best English of all Hong Kong taxi drivers I had encountered.  It was raining a bit, so we had to carry around an umbrella as our host took us around the facility.  Crossroads has several ministries, one of which is to simulate various human conditions such as poverty and refugee.  I could sense how powerful these simulations were.  Another major thrust is to collect donated goods and pack them for shipment to various places in need.  People there are volunteers supported by donations.  They also provide some job skills training for refugees.

I left after meeting up with DJ, who heads up the operation.  Chris stayed behind to talk about possible collaboration with them.  I hopped on a local bus for the Tsuen Wan MTR station.  This local bus started in Yuen Long, and seemed to make a stop every couple of hundred yards, traveling on the old Castle Peak Road.  From start to finish there are over 70 stops (if I counted correctly.)  I didn’t have to suffer through that many, but was quite uncomfortable towards the end (I had to sit sideways, which didn’t help.)  I was joking to Anne afterwards whether this kind of stupidity constitutes suffering for the Lord.  A search of the web yields the following facts about KMB route 51: 74 stops, 30.8 km length, and 98 minutes journey time.

I had dinner at Café de Coral and McDonalds (chicken in both places, and yes, two meals.)

Thursday 8/14.  Travel day.  I woke up at around 7 am, had breakfast (a full buffet is included with my stay,) and then took a taxi to the Kowloon Airport Express Station.  I was through security in less than 45 minutes.  I met up with Chris at his departure gate, said goodbye, and boarded my own flight.

This entire blog was typed inside UA116, my only notes are some of my expense records.  I wonder how good my memory is.

Passport control was straightforward, but there was a long line waiting to clear customs.  Most of the people were students who just came off a Jet Airways flight: reminded me of my arrival in the US 40 some years ago.  I stopped by Travelex to buy some Brazilian Reals for Anne’s upcoming trip; she picked me up afterwards.

Germany and Austria, July 9 – July 26, 2014. Part II.

This is the second part of the trip report, covering the time we spent in Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, and Vienna.

Friday 7/18.

Drive to Salzburg was more than two hours, aggravated by the many traffic jams we encountered.  The route would take us through Innsbruck.  It was about 6:30 pm when we checked in.  Walked to old town and had dinner.  Turned out to be most expensive so far at 90 euros, even with Joe and Jess sharing a dish between them.  Town still familiar from our visit 10/2012.

Iconic Photo of Salzburg.  River Salzach divides town.

We first saw locks on fences in Salzburg, now they are quite common.  I don’t remember that many locks on the fence last time.

Our dinner was at Hagenauerstuben, in the square right next to Mozart’s Birthhouse.

A beautiful evening.

Hotel (3 nights): Crowne Plaza - Pitter, Salzburg.

Saturday 7/19.

Joe and Jess went on a Sound of Music bike tour, and we have Emmie-sitting duties.  While we were walking in town, I couldn’t resist and bought myself an egg bacon McMuffin from McDonald’s.  We then went to the toy museum (Spielzeugmuseum) where Emmie had a blast from 10 to close to 12.  She promptly fell asleep after saying bye-bye to the various exhibits in the museum.  Anne and I had sandwiches purchased from the store Corso.

Mirabell Gardens.  Who needs the Sound of Music tour?

 Plaque outside a hotel showing that the building dates from 1350.  There are lots "oldest" claims in this town.

 Cooking up a storm at the Toy Museum.

Noah’s Ark at the Toy Museum, of more interest to me than to Emmie.

We strolled inside one of the many churches in town (forget which one this is.)  Many offer Sunday concerts, price of admission?  Attendance at the Sunday service.  This is counter-reformation area, and remains to this day quite Catholic.

A Sound of Music Bike Tour conducted in English.  Anne was trying to listen in.

As part of the Salzburg Art Project, Stephan Balkenhol created in this rock face a statue of a woman (Frau im Fels.)  The wall must be centuries old, the statue created in 2007.  So not everything is "old" in Salzburg.

We went out for walk again after re-uniting with Joe and Jess.  Our primary goal was to get tickets for a concert (Mozart Matinee) for tomorrow, which we did by going to the Salzburg Festival box office.  We joined up with Joe and Jess at around 4 pm, they went to Mozart’s birthhouse for a tour, and Anne & I took Emmie around.  Afterwards we had cake and ice cream at Tomaselli, a café Mozart and later his wife Constanz supposedly frequented quite often.  Some travel guides rave about the place, we found the service to be so-so, and the cakes ordinary.  It wasn’t crowded, and a good place to rest of feet for a wbile before having dinner at Tsigiana next to the hotel.  The place serves simple food, it was pizza for me.

 Handles for door bells a the Mozart Birth House.

This man standing on a sphere is the other half of the two created by Balkenhol.

This restaurant serves many cuisines.  And the menu is in English.  Some may lament Salzburg as being too commercial a city.  I appreciate how they make life easy for the tourist.  We didn't eat here, though.

The shops in this particular passageway for some reason are very popular with tourists taking pictures.  I don’t understand why, but decided to shoot one myself.

Sunday 7/20.

Joe got a late checkout for the rooms, so we had some more time we could spend in Salzburg.  Joe and Jess decided to take a long walk around town, with Emmie in tow, visiting various sights in the area, including a walk up to Hohensalzburg Castle.

Anne and I had breakfast at the Heart of Joy café, then attended a Salzburg Festival Mozart Matinee.  We had toyed with the idea of going to a touristy Mozart event last night, but decided to hold out for a “genuine” festival experience.  I am glad we went.  The hall was nice and bright, and the performance was quite good also.

It was interesting that photo-taking is allowed inside the concert hall, and we did our share.  We would like to think we did it in a considerate manner: only before and after the actual performance.  Not so with some who decided they could take shots during the performance, which should not be acceptable in any society.  People dress up for concerts here, many men had jackets with them; many just hanged on to them as it was quite warm inside the hall (outside it got to 90F today.)  Very few people jaywalk here, but they did as they left after the concert.

The outside of Mozarteum.  From what I gather, this is a music conservatory.

Curtain call during the performance.  Many cameras were out taking pictures.

We had lunch at Indigo, and bought takeout for Joe and family because they were running late.  Check out was close to 2 pm, and the drive to Berchtesgaden was relatively short, even though we had trouble getting out of town.

The Intercontinental Hotel Resort at Berchtesgaden is not actually in town, and our rooms face the courtyard.  The more expensive ones would have a good view of the valley and the mountains.  For some reason I felt quite tired and slept for a couple of hours.  Since our car was valet-parked (we thought it was the only kind here,) we decided to eat at the hotel’s 360 Restaurant.  Things are more than twice as expensive as what we have been used to, although I must say the food tasted good, at least relative to other German food we have had so far on this trip.

The Intercontinental Resort has a great view of the mountains and valleys around the area.  Behind us in this photo is the actual town of Berchtesgaden.

 The resort is surrounded by mountains.  If the skies are clear one can see the Eagle’s Nest.

Joe Jr and we have rooms across each other from this courtyard.  It would be rude to shout across (although we did that sometimes,) we could certainly gesture to each other.

Hotel (3 nights): Intercontinental Resort, Berchtesgaden.

Monday 7/21.

The weather was not going to be cooperating today.  We did want to hold out hope for some clearing on a subsequent day, and thus decided not to head up to the Eagle’s Nest today.

I am not sure what Dokumentation Obersalzberg really is, but for me it is an exhibit of Nazi Germany and their horrific actions.  We at first thought we would get through the exhibit in 45 minutes, it ended up taking over 2 hours.  The exhibit consists mostly of descriptive paragraphs and photographs, which to be fair were not sensational at all.  Yet it was extremely disturbing to see how horrible man’s inhumanity to man can be.  With the passage of time people tend to think this kind of history won’t repeat itself.  Yet I am sure it is happening in many parts of the world, just at a smaller scale.  Even with the two hours I didn’t get to go through the exhibit in detail, but I did learn how the Nazi Party got itself in power and how it controlled the people.  Some of the conditions (such as establishing a personal cult, controlling the news media, and destroying opposition through whatever means necessary) are repeated; let’s hope there are enough checks (and cynicism) today to ensure nothing to this scale happens again.

Dokumenation Center.  Their exhibits give a clear accounting on the rise of the Nazi Party and the atrocities it committed against humanity.  Educational, but very disturbing as the dark side of human nature was exposed.

After lunch at Berggasthof Obersalzberg we decided to go back to the hotel to rest.  It rained rather heavily in the afternoon. At about 5 pm we headed down to town, first stop Tingelmann for groceries and snacks.  Dinner as at a rather large restaurant (Goldener Baer).  We were glad we were back to paying “normal” prices for food.

 Golden Bear Restaurant.

We walked around the town a bit, stopping to listen to a few young people performing Bavarian music dressed in traditional gear.  The town actually is quite pleasant to walk around it; too bad the drizzle kept it quite quiet.

Emmie really enjoyed street Bavarian music.  Unfortunately the heavy rain that day kept the crowd small.

The hotel has an indoor-outdoor pool.  Here mother and daughter relaxing after a swim.

7/22 Tuesday.

We woke up to an overcast sky, so no Eagle’s Nest today.

A misty morning, Kehlsteinhaus is out.

For its popularity (probably due in large part to Sound of Music,) the Edelweiss is a very modest flowering plant.

Cable cars are a way of life in this mountainous area.  Here is the one operated by the town of Berchtesgaden.

After a leisurely breakfast in town, we went to Konigsee for a cruise.  No gas motor boats are allowed in the lake, the tour utilizes a fleet of electric boats.  They are environmentally friendly, but cruises along at snail’s pace (if snails could swim.)  A few minutes into the trip we came to a narrow part of the gorge.  The Captain stopped the boat, and picked up a horn to demonstrate the echo effect.  Simple physics, fun nonetheless, and Emmie (again) enjoyed it very much.  What was unexpected was he then uttered some words in German with the effect that people took out money to tip him.  I have been on many of these “cruises” before, and certainly expected some level of tipping.  However, usually it is the Captain saying “I am paid well, but the first mate depends on tipping.”  Another demonstration of the matter-of-fact way Germans seem to deal with life.

Emmie really took to the ducks that were in the area.  She kept pointing at the birds and said “ya ya qua qua.”

A slow cruise in an electric boat in beautiful Koneigsee.

The destination of the cruise is St. Bartholomae, whose “skyline” is dominated by a church.  The church is surprisingly small inside.

We had lunch at the Fischerei St. Bartholomae restaurant.  The smoked fish was surprisingly good.

No place in particular, we just thought this was a very interesting cloud formation.

Dinner in town at Gasthof Neuhaus, pretty good ribs and pork knuckle.  Emmie had a rib in one hand, and a chicken wing in another.

7/23 Wednesday.

Joe and family decided to take a morning swim at the hotel pool, so we didn’t check out until 11 am.

This was the last day we would be in Berchtesgaden, so we decided to visit Eagle’s Nest despite the foggy weather.  To go there one has to take a bus.  They run like clockwork, with several leaving every 25 minutes, passing along the climb some coming back down stationed in passing areas.  After we got off the 15 or so minute bus ride, we walked through a tunnel to an elevator that would take us up another 400 or so feet to the chalet.  Germans are so efficient at herding their tourists along; and I can’t help but think of the time when Germans were herding people for other reasons.

Eagle’s Nest was a present to Hitler by the Nazi Party for his 50^th birthday.  It was completed in 13 months, including the access road that led up to it.  Hitler visited it only a few times.  It was going to be destroyed by the Allies after the war, but pleading by the Berchtesgaden mayor saved it.

In any case, it was foggy and other than a glimpse here and there of the valley below we didn’t see much.  I was joking to Anne perhaps that’s the reason only went up there a few times.  We had lunch at the restaurant up there, and the service was efficient, the food was okay.  For some reason I wasn’t particularly disappointed at this visit, although I can imagine what it would be like if the skies were clear.

View going up to Eagle’s Nest.  It isn’t that promising.

 After getting off the bus, we had to walk through this tunnel, then get into an elevator to get to the chalet.

Restaurant at Eagle’s Nest.  They were doing great business, and the food was actually quite decent.

This is what we saw most of the time.  The sun did come up every now and then and we could see down the valley, but not much.

We started driving to Vienna at around 2:15 pm.  Emmie was uncomfortable and fussed quite a bit during the rather long trip; otherwise it was okay.  After checking in the hotel and dropping off luggage, Joe and I drove to Sixt to return the car.  We walked back to the hotel.

Austrian countryside between Berchtesgaden and Vienna.  Or is it German?

Emmie checking out her hotel room.

Executive Lounge at the hotel.  So much china, yet so few things to eat.

The concierge at the Executive Lounge told us there was a food fair at the Rathaus Park.  We went there and bought dinner.  The food was good; it would have been better if we had be able to find a proper place to sit down and enjoy it.  As it was, we ate the food sitting on a park bench.  We had a lot of food: fried bait fish, schnitzel, kebab, chips, wurst, and Indian chicken.  In addition, we had Portugese tart and strawberry waffle as dessert.

Our hotel is located right on the ring, and this is the view from our room.

At the food fair.  We couldn’t find a table, so had to make do with a park bench.

Hotel for 3 nights: Hilton Vienna Plaza.

7/24 Thursday.

We had a free breakfast at the Hilton coffee shop because of Joe’s Hilton Honors membership, and we stuck around until about 9:45 am before we headed out to the Kunsthistoriches Museum to meet up with Joe Jr and family.  Turned out with a toddler one could never estimate how long it takes to get from A to B, so it was at around 10:30 am before they showed up.

I am not a great fan of the masters, so didn’t have high expectations for the museum.  The guide they provided listed 20 or so highlights which Anne and I dutifully tried to locate.  We had fun locating the pieces, and actually didn’t meet up with Joe until 12:30 pm or so.  Anne and I took Emmie to the museum restaurant to have coffee and to get Emmie something to eat, while Jess took Joe on a whirlwind tour (turns out Joe had been babysitting much of the time.)  Afterwards Joe and family left, and Anne and I spent some more time in the museum, with I looking at the Egyptian and Mesopotamian collections.

Entrance of Museum of Historical Art.  Where do we start?

This is an impressive marble staircase.

Klimt is big in Austria, these paintings were his work.  It took us a while to locate them.

So I’ll remember what I saw, here is a partial list of the artists: Albrecht Durer, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Johannes Vermeer, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Gustav Klimt, Rafael, Arcimboldo, Caravaggio, and others.  Of particular interest are the works by Arcimboldo, which to me to be well ahead of his time, and some of the studies done by Velazquez in preparation for his seminal work Las Meninas.  The Egyptian collection has its share of mummies, but also has some other interesting relics.

Raphael’s Madonna in the Meadow.

This painting by Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo bears a great deal of similarity to Las Meninas by Velazquez.  Mazo was Velazquez’s son-in-law.  This depicts the family of the painter.

Winter by Arcimboldo.  I am not sure I like this painting, but I was surprised that it was painted in 1563.

This hippo in the Egyptian exhibition is one of the “must sees” in the museum.  We were too hurried to find out its real significance.

It was about 2:40 pm that we left the museum.  We went to Staatoper to get on the tour, which lasted 40 or so minutes.  Last time we were in Vienna we didn’t buy tickets to a performance because they cost over 200 euros each.  Turns out those are the most expensive tickets; one can get standing room tickets for 3 to 4 euros, but lines form a few hours before curtain for the more popular shows.  While the tour was in some sense standard – we were shown a couple of rooms, the auditorium, and the staging areas – there were some interesting facts the guide told us (I am sure I got them all correct in the following.)  The opera house was mostly destroyed after WWII, and reconstruction took about 10 years, some original features were restored, and some (then) modern elements were added.  The opera season is ten months long, and there are performances every day except Good Friday and Christmas.  Over the course of a season about 65 different operas and 10 ballets are staged.  The more popular operas get staged 8 times, less popular ones 4.  Altogether about 1000 people are employed full time, including 150 in the orchestra and 120 in the choruses.   He also said the orchestra is the Vienna Philharmonic; a look at the internet says the Vienna Philharmonic recruits for the Staatoper Orchestra.  The auditorium seats 1700, with further standing room for 600 – relatively modest compared with the Met, and is usually 98% sold out.  There is a hall where prior managers (he probably meant music directors) are displayed, including that of Mahler and Maazel, who passed away last week.  Since the lunch time rehearsal is usually for a different opera, there is quite a bit of logistical challenge to change out the sets.  The guide also said a lead singer gets paid 12,000 euros per performance, and that is lower than other houses pay because Staatoper is such a prestigious organization.  45% of the budget is from ticket sales, the rest is from state subsidies (I am sure they have donors as well.)  If I remember correctly, he also said the budget is about 90 million euros a years (works out to about 300,000 euros a day, sounds low to me.)  Not a bad way to spend an hour, and if we are to visit Vienna again, we should definitely plan ahead and buy some cheaper tickets.

Vienna State Opera.  But can she act?

Most of the building was destroyed during the war.  Some parts of the opera house were restored to its original design, and some were replaced with a modern motif.

The ornate interior of the Vienna State Opera.  They are a lot serious about their opera houses in Europe.

Lorin Maazel’s bust in hall displaying all the “managers” of the Opera.  Maazel’s tenure was a bit tumultuous (he quit after finishing two of the four years in his contract), but evidently his relationship with the house remained good.  Maazel passed away earlier this month.

The backstage area.  Three sets can be changed in and out quickly during a performance.

The opera house surprisingly sits only 1700, with standing room for only 500.

After a quick, late lunch at Ocean 1, Anne and I still had enough energy to visit the Secession Building.  Perhaps this is the Austrian equivalent of the Expressionist movement, Secession is the term coined by the artists that didn’t want to be bound by mainstream Austrian art at the turn of the 20^th Century.  Our interest in the building was stoked by its use in Der Fledermaus, and the fact that there is a Beethoven Friese by Klimt in it.  Turns out that was about the only thing in it that we enjoyed.  The Friese is described as Klimt’s take on Richard Wagner’s interpretation of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; a description that is a bit complicated for us.  It was still interesting to trace the story along the walls, with the help of a very descriptive guide.  The other display was titled “A Singular Form,” and frankly I find it most uninspiring.

Secession Building.  We saw a Met production of Der Fledermaus that used this in the set.

Part of “A Singular Form.”  I guess I would never have thought of arranging a bunch of spoons and then calling it great inspiration.  Pencils arranged in squares, maybe?

This is better.  It definitely speaks “prison” to me.

This is someone’s replica of part of the Klimt Beethoven Friese.  No photographs were allowed of the actual friese.  I saw a security guard make an offender erase that image from his camera.  We are not in Italy.

An “abbreviated” version of the friese I found on the web.  The story, as explained by the guide, is quite straightforward.

It was about 5:15 pm that we got back to the Hilton and met up with Joe and family.  We decided to meet up again at 6:45 pm or so at the Plachuttas Gasthaus Zur Oper for dinner.  The food was good by German/Austrian standard, we had traditional boiled beef, baked perch, roast beef, and Wiener schnitzel.  Anne and I walked back to the hotel afterwards, and Joe and Jess took Emmie to the Music Museum, which evidently they all enjoyed – Emmie came by to say goodbye at 10 pm.

7/25 Friday.

After breakfast, Joe and Jess left Emmie with us while they went on a bike ride to visit Belvedere.  We took her to the Kindermuseum which is located in Museum Quartiers.  Even though Anne bought tickets for all of us, I decided not to join them as nearly all the adults were mothers.  The displays are a little “old” for Emmie, but she enjoyed them quite a bit: Anne just complained there was a lot of climbing up and down, which was a bit tiring.

Well, should we wake her up for the museum visit, or should we let her continue with her nap.

Are these tentacles of jellyfish?

At the helm of the ship.

Joe and Jess got their lunch at Café Landtmann.  We dropped Emmie off with them and had a snack at McDonalds.  Considering the number of Burger Kings and McDonalds I have walked by, it is quite amazing that this is the first time I ate at one of them.

Dinner was at Leupolds, another place recommended by the hotel Concierge.  Again these meals are quite inexpensive, we ate for 70 euros.  The food was okay, but not as good as Gasthof zur Oper, her other recommendation.

We were surprised how quiet this place was.  It came recommended by the hotel concierge.

7/26 Saturday.

Our original flights home were Vienna to Chicago to Newark, with a rather long layover at O’Hare that would get us to Newark at about 9:30 pm.  Last night Joe found a non-stop flight Vienna – Newark that was available.  The taxi ride to the airport was about 25 minutes, the only congestion was at the airport, and it wasn’t bad.  Neither Anne nor I got much sleep, and I managed to watch two movies: Noah and Captain America.  We were home by about 3 pm.