Both before and during our trip, people who have been to Vienna and Budapest raved about the former and were less enthusiastic about the latter. My expectations were based upon those reports, and so I was surprised by how I felt. 

The Vienna portrayed in “Amadeus” and other such movies no longer exists, if it ever did. Allied bombing in WWII accounted for some of the “renovation,” and years straddling the fence between Eastern Communisim and Western Democracy discouraged capital investment. As we sailed into town, this history, the 21-degree temperatures, snow, and sleet, made the city look as drab as Stalin’s tunic. 

There are gorgeous exceptions in the city center.

The opera house is as grand a building as you would hope to see. It was bombed by mistake during WWII, destroying half the building. The remaining original 19th century architecture is as ornate as a Viennese pastry, while the post-war restortoration is “United Nations” style and quietly elegant. The two styles don’t so much work together as live-and-let-live.

The symphony hall is non-descript on the outside and breathtakingly ornate inside.

Picture sitting inside a golden jewelry box with the jewels on the ceiling and walls.

Then there is the Alberina Museum which is situated within one of the Happsburgs’ palaces. (Brief history here: the Happsburgs were the 19th and early 20th century version of the Kardashians–but with immense power. The Austro-Hungarian Empire encompassed half of Europe.) I guess by definition a palace is a place where royalty live. All of the palaces in Vienna are neither moated nor turreted. They look more like Fifth Avenue mansions. This was another surprise for me.

The museum has a nice collection of Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, and Cubism, and is small enough so you can appreciate it in a couple of hours. 

Why would a city steeped in 18th-to-mid-19th century music, architecture, and culture sport such a museum? Because they also want to embrace and incorporate the modern to show their culture isn’t just an historic artifact. They have schools and expos dedicated to innovation and high tech. Even some of their most famous buildings like the Opera House sport very modern murals on outside blank walls. I like the concept, but I am not sure the execution works. The new stuff almost seems like graffiti against the old.

Speaking of graffiti, the Danube Canal, which runs through the city, and is really is the Danube River (the waterway called the “river” is actually a canal–don’t ask,  it it has to do with flood control), is littered with it. The liberal Viennese government thought that if they gave the kids a place to express themselves, the rest of the city would be spared. Didn’t work, as anyone who has ever walked a dog could have told them–every tree, rock, and wall is a potential target of opportunity.