Brucato's Go Museum Hopping!: Another fabulous museum!

Friday, 8 March, 2013

Guten Abend!

Fried rice

Fried noodles

I really do need to start with dinner last night, as it was rather a fun experience. We had selected a restaurant down the street from the B&B, but we were rather late, as it took a bit to get the blog posted yesterday. At any rate, the place was full, so we had to go elsewhere. Also, a note now on smoking in restaurants in Vienna. This seems to be rather like it was in Prague – that each restaurant can decide for themselves. It appears that if you want to have both a smoking and a non-smoking section, there needs to be a real divide between them – like a door, for instance. Prague seems to be able to do this right. However, when we walked into the first restaurant last night, we had to walk through all the smoke just to get to the non-smoking section...YEK! Then, this morning, at the café we went for breakfast, they had the non-smoking section in front, but the door to the smoking section was propped OPEN – and, in order to get to the bathroom, you had to walk through the smoking section first! Again, YEK! So…back to dinner last night.

Chicken teriyaki

Shredded pork with leek

Outside Ostwind

The next restaurant we came to was actually ALL non-smoking, and it was called ÖSTWIND, and was Chinese. Robert doesn’t really like most Chinese restaurants, but the options were disappearing fast, and when we found they could seat us, in we went! It was a rather good thing, too, as within 15 or 20 minutes, the entire restaurant was absolutely PACKED, and mostly with Asians! The menu was more than interesting – truly, I’d never seen some of the options before and, quite frankly, they scared me! They had offal, lots of tripe, and can someone please tell me how one can get boneless chicken feet? I don’t even want to know…However, Robert opted for the chicken teriyaki with fried noodles, and I had their shredded pork with leek and fried rice. We started talking to the two Austrian ladies at the next table – who had both been served something very interesting looking – only to find out that they were spring rolls – and each one was a large as a BRICK! (Of course those were the “large” rolls…) At any rate, the food was fine, and we enjoyed the experience. Back to the flat after that and early to bed for me! Robert is starting to make dark threats about his throat, and it all being my fault…oh well!

Breakfast

Up this morning around 7, to a very cloudy kind of day. It was so nice and mild yesterday – but that apparently is fairly short lived! Nice and chilly now! We went out to a café for breakfast – R with coffee and croissant, and me with hot chocolate – and a piece of chocolate cake! What a GREAT breakfast! Then we headed toward the Natural Science Museum, where we planned to start today. However, as we were a bit early, Robert suggested that we find the Europcar rental place where we need to go tomorrow morning to pick up our car. (We had decided not to drive for most of the trip, because it made no sense to drive between cities and then have to pay for parking and leave the car; trains being the easier option. However, getting between Vienna and Bolzano, Italy is not all that easy to do by train, so we pick up the car tomorrow, and then return it to Innsbruck on our way to Munich.) We have to take two trams – the 49 to the 2, but it’s not a problem, as no steps (we’ll have the luggage) and we’ll be dropped off just a short way from the office. So! Now that we’ve got that figured out, back to the museum for their 9 a.m. opening. Second people there!

Outside the Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

Truly an incredible museum! We wanted to see primarily the exhibition on Neolithic finds, which includes the Venus of Willendorf (estimated to date from 24,000 to 22,000 BC!), quite a “mother goddess” figure. But we had no idea how complete their human history exhibition was! Somebody on that staff has quite a sense of humor. At one point, you sit down on a stool, and an outline of a face comes up on the screen. You put your face inside it, and when you’ve got it, you press “Done” and it takes your picture. Then, you can make a few adjustments and finally, you get to pick the person you’d like to have been! There were about six choices, including Neanderthal, Denisovians, and homo floresiensis – and then you watch while your photo morphs into the cave person! It was wild, as well as hysterical! Hopefully you can make out Robert in his “new” persona! (And I have NEVER liked beards…)

Venus of Willendorf

Neolithic idol

Bowl from the Neolithic

Large jar from the Neolithic

There was an incredible collection of fossils of all kinds – from dinosaurs (where a T-Rex was animated and looked like he was coming after you…) to plants and animals. We went carefully through each and every case, and at one point, I turned around, and it looked like there was a big sea creature crawling out of the case – not only did I scream, I’m hoping the remark I uttered didn’t translate into German!

This was followed by the museum’s collection of meteor fragments and meteorites – apparently the largest collection in the world. Everything was done with exceptional skill and clarity, and while there was much only in German, the English commentaries were superb. They had some computer animation done on the result of meteors crashing into the earth – very well done and very scary!

And finally (last but certainly not least!) was their rock and mineral collection…sigh…some incredibly beautiful gem stones and crystals.

Robert, morphed into a Neanderthal (can you see the difference?)

Animated T. Rex

By this time, it was well past 2 p.m. and definitely time for lunch. We ate at the museum café, and it was quite lovely. Robert had a shrimp and avocado salad, and I had their chicken and egg soup with noodles. Both very good! Our waiter was really good, and we talked about the collection with him. Turns out that only about 1% of their entire collection is on display at the museum – that beneath the building there are four levels of basements literally crammed to the gills with “stuff.” That would certainly be something to see!

Natural History Museum

This one gave Margaret quite a jolt!

Having covered the museum really well, Robert decided that it was time for a formal visit to the Danube, Vienna’s river. So, another tram or so, and a new underground, and voila, there we were! We actually came up next to a stunning church – Heiliger Franz von Assisi (that is, St Francis of Assisi) which, upon entry, was absolutely FREEZING. As Robert says, these buildings are going to have to warm up gradually after a very cold winter! Walked to the Danube (called the Donau here and not at all “blue” today) and it looked cold and wet! Back, then to the flat for a short break in the sightseeing schedule!

Now getting ready for dinner! More later!

Rhodochrosite

More rhodochrosite

Emerald

Hello! Just back from Saba, our dinner place. Let me first say, that the very idea of putting a door between a smoking and non-smoking area, and then expecting the smoke to stay on one side, really doesn’t work! Our reserved table was, of course, right next to the door! We had to ask them for another table, which, fortunately, they had (we were early!) or we would have probably wound up at the Chinese restaurant from last night! To be honest, the atmosphere was pretty chaotic – too many people in too confined a space, but the food was really excellent! We each ordered a bowl of soup, with chicken and shrimp and all sorts of other good things. This was followed by an order of shrimp and chicken summer rolls, beef satay and, the very best of all, spring rolls with fresh lettuce and mint leaves – yum! Then headed back to the flat to see 1) if there was any heat! (there wasn’t then, but there is now!) and 2) do my last load of laundry (which is cranking away now…only problem is, I threw my hairbrush in the washer as well…bump, grind…)

So! Will close now! Tomorrow we head to Bolzano to see Utzi – and Italian food!! Yipee!!

Much love,

xxxxx