Hi, as you may have noticed, I have fallen behind on my blog posts. We have had several busy days and I just haven’t had the energy to work on a post late in the evening. We are actually in Budapest right now, and it is raining for a day or two so I am going to try to get at least a little bit caught up.
Day 69, Saturday, November 2, 2019
Bob found another walking tour online so we are off to check out Vienna this morning. First stop is the Naschmarkt, a local outdoor market that has been operating on this same site since the 1500’s! There are colourful stand with fruits and vegetables, olives and antipasto appetizers…
as well as all sorts of candies, dried fruits and some rather exotic looking products in the fish market section.
Near the Naschmarkt we find this interesting tribute to the Orson Wells movie, The Third Man. It is possible to tour the sewers, right under our feet, where part of the movie was filmed, but we pass on that today.
I take a photo of some wedding dresses in a shop window and a short time later we see a bride and groom. The bride seemed annoyed and her pretty dress was getting all dirty as it dragged along the street. I wanted to tell her attendants to pick up the back of her dress! Not my idea of a nice way to spend part of your wedding day, hiking along the streets towards a place for your photo shoot.
There is a statue of Mozart, right beside a Hop On Hop Off bus station. We sit and have our picnic lunch and watch tourists jump off the bus, snap a photo from quite a distance, and then jump back on the bus to get to the next destination. This sure isn’t the way we do it! We sight-see very slowly and leisurely, stopping often to look at the sights, people watch and just enjoy where we are and what we are seeing. We are very slow tourists!
This equestrian statue of Emperor Joseph II, erected in 1795 is the oldest equestrian statue in Vienna.
It stands in front of the Neue Burg (New Castle) Wing of the Hofburg Palace. Notice that part of the palace is still in need of cleaning. 
We make our way to the Albertina Museum, which we will visit another day. There is a Durer Exhibit I am looking forward to seeing. This is a street view from a corner of the Albertina.
The Gates of Violence remembers victims of all wars and violence. The statues are a montage of wartime images: clubs and WWI gas masks, a dying woman birthing a future soldier, victims of cruel medical experimentation, and chained slave laborers. It is on the site of an apartment block that was destroyed in an air raid during the Second World War. Hundreds of people had sheltered in the apartment basement and their bodies were never recovered from the rubble of the destroyed building.
Of course there are several churches on our walk, and we visit all of them!
This broad pedestrian Kärntner Strasse is packed with people and lined with shops and places to eat. This road dates to 97AD when it was a Roman road that went from Vienna to the border of Italy and Slovenia, and eventually all the way to St. Petersberg, Russia!
I thought that the Zen-Doodle like designs on the clothing in this shop were interesting. 
The modern Haas House offers interesting reflections of St. Stephen’s church.
The St. Stephen’s Cathedral is huge, and ornately decorated, outside… 
and inside.
Just behind the cathedral we see a group of people taking part in a drinking game. The guy in the blue jeans drank his big can of beer twice as quickly as the guy dressed in brown!
The Stock im Eisen is part of a tree that has hundreds of iron nails pounded into it and dates from 1440. No one is sure why the nails were pounded in but it is thought that is was for good luck. It is located on the corner of a building and is protected behind plexiglass.
The Holy Trinity Column, located on a street in the inner city of Vienna, was erected after the Great Plague epidemic in 1679. It is one of the most well-known sculptural pieces of art in the city.
St. Peter’s Church has an oval dome and its open layout makes it feel bigger than it actually is.
I thought it interesting the way the paintings on the dome extended over the sculptural trim around the round windows.
The end of each pew is beautifully carved with different finials of three children’s heads. We sat for quite a while listening to the choir practicing. 
Back outside, there are interesting details everywhere I look, like these sculptures holding up balconies.
I loved this building. It looks like a castle. I wouldn’t mind living here! 
Back out on the Kärntner Strasse, there are lots of famous brand name shops, like Jimmy Choo…
where the customers are served champagne as they shop! Sigh…an experience I am sure I will never have!
There are Roman ruins… 
and beautiful statues on the corners of buildings. 
This is the building that houses the Austrian National Library, the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, as well as the Spanish Riding School with the world famous Lipizzaner stallions. We will visit both of these on another day, 
It gets dark earlier now, at about 5;30. The buildings look pretty all lit up. This is the other side of the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg Palace. We saw the backside earlier in the day.
Time to head home. This subway station has colourful murals. Our apartment is very well located on the U6 subway line, so it takes less than a half hour to get home. Somehow even our ‘easy’ days end up being quite long. We left before noon and it will be after 7:00 by the time we get home.
As we get closer to Bratislava the fog lifts, but it is still a very grey day.
This is the border crossing into Slovakia. Because of the European Union there are no border checks or stops, but I do miss getting a stamp in our passports though.
We return the car, and catch a FlixBus back to Vienna. Just as the bus pulls up I realize I have lost a pair of sunglasses somewhere in the airport, but there is no time to go back and look for them. These buildings under construction near the Bratislava bus terminal have scaffolding all the way up to the top! I can’t imagine having to work on scaffolding that high off the ground.
There is lots of construction in Bratislava, which has a population of 425,000. 
We get settled into our apartment and then head out to a life drawing session at 6:30. When we find the Kaffeebar it is in, we find out that the session was cancelled because it is Halloween. Oh well, we got to figure out the way there and I will try again next Thursday. Halloween in Austria is a time when adults get dressed up and party but the children do not go door to door for treats like they do at home.
I liked this one of the young man with the bandaged nose.
Our drive to Vienna was long and uneventful. We stayed on the freeway and it still took us about 5 1/2 hours. We had to wait about an hour for our Airbnb host to meet us, but we found a parking space just outside the apartment and our car was warm, so it wasn’t too bad. It took forever to figure out how to pay for street parking but we finally sorted it out. We take our rental car back tomorrow so we just need parking for one night.
The next room is the Antiquarium which was built in 1568 as an exhibition room for Duke Albrecht V’s collection of antiquities. The room is 66 metres long and the ceiling is decorated with paintings of 102 views of towns, markets and palaces in Bavaria. It is truly a remarkable room.
The faux painted ceiling in this room is an optical illusion. In this photo you can see that the ceiling is not very high.
But when I stand right under the chandelier in the centre of the ceiling this is what I see… a high domed ceiling!
We see many furnished rooms, including this throne room, and lavish bedrooms.
One of the Electoral rooms was decorated with lots of paintings…
including these two of the summer residence of Nymphenburg painted in 1761, which we just visited last Thursday!
The Court Church of All Saints was destroyed during the Second World War and was only opened again to the public in 2003. It was left undecorated and it is now used for concerts and other functions.
This small room, or Cabinet, was decorated with 18th century pastel portraits which I am particularly interested in.
Here is a model of the palace. It really is huge and sprawling so it wasn’t the easiest to navigate, 
The Trier rooms were built as guest apartments.
Here is a close up of one of the tapestries. They are amazingly well preserved.
All the rooms in the palace are connected by a series of doorways lined up in a row. I think this must have made it difficult to have any privacy as people would have to walk through the rooms to get from one to another. 
This is one of the Ornate Rooms that were used for diplomatic meetings and court ceremonies.
The Green Rooms are an art gallery. Here is our reflection in one of the tall mirrors.
The chandeliers are reflected in the mirror on the end wall of the room. We were surprised when a door was opened in this end wall and a tour group disappeared into what seems to be a secret room.
The walls in the Cabinet of Mirrors have many blue and white vases sitting on little shelves.
The Cabinet of Miniatures has red lacquered walls inset with many miniature paintings from floor to ceiling..
I think this was called the Queen’s staircase. In any case, it is very grand.
Yet another Throne Room, this is the Queen’s Throne Room…
and some more rooms in the Queen and King’s apartments.
The floors in these apartments are inlaid wood, each room has a different ornate pattern. It must have taken a very long time to build these floors. The seams between the pieces of inlaid wood are perfect.
There are rooms full of table settings that were used in the palace. The table with the gilded plates on the top right is set for fifty guests!
The small chapel was the private place of worship of Duke 
We thought we were finished, but realized we missed a whole wing of rooms but we couldn’t figure out how to get to the. A very helpful guard escorted us back into the palace and directed us to the rooms. 
We also saw these paintings which were painted on enamel panels. They are copies of famous paintings, and we have seen the originals of many of these on this trip. It was a surprise to see the copy of the Mona Lisa.
This Hall of Ancestors was being cleaned and restored.
This woman was using a tiny paintbrush to touch up the gold gilded frames. It is painstaking slow work.
Here is the museum, and it is drizzling when we emerge.
On the way to the metro we walked past some of those high end shops we saw yesterday. The stores are still open so the widow displays are complete. Notice the prices on these two watches, 160,480 euros and 239,450 euros!! 
It is only one euro admission to the Bavarian National Museum on Sundays. The first rooms we enter have incredibly beautiful wooden sculptures, many of which still have their original painted colouring. The sculpture of Christ is from 1200, the Apostles are from 1505, and the woman with children is from1300. All the pieces are in amazing condition…it is hard to believe that they can be this old.
These were two of my favourite pieces. The Mary on the left is from1300 and is larger than life size, while the second Virgin Mary is from 1500. Notice how her finger marks her place in the book she was reading when she is surprised by the angel. She is much smaller, probably about 30 ” tall. They were both exquisite.
This dancing fellow from 1490, is exceptionally animated for such an early carving. The detail of the hands and drapery in the group of figures was so beautifully done. I have a heck of a time drawing drapery, and I can’t imagine how anyone can carve it so well.
We don’t know what this skeleton astride the lion is about but it was interesting. Unfortunately most of the signage is only in German, 
There is a room full of armour…
and another room with models of many towns. This is Munich in 1580 and we are able to recognize some of the buildings that are still present in modern day Munich!
There are enormous detailed tapestries on the wall. We are amazed at the excellent condition of these tapestries.
This small panel from the mid 1500’s is only about 6″ tall and is made with intricately inlaid wood. It is incredibly detailed.
The child’s outfit is from 1547 and the dress from 1630. I wonder how these have survived all these years. Their tiny hand sewn stitches are visible and there is some wear and tear but they are really very well preserved.
The next room is filled with amazing cabinets. I love boxes and cabinets with lots of drawers, and I have never seen anything like these. The coin cabinet of Maximillian I was made for his collection of gold coins. Each of the rows is a shallow drawer with fitted spaces for the coins. It is made of ivory, lapis lazuli, silver and enamel, so of course it must have its own storage case! The case on the right hinges open in the middle so the cabinet can be inserted for safe keeping.
This cabinet was built for the Electress Maria Ana. The ivory cabinet is gorgeous with lapis lazuli panels, but then I walk around to the other side and it is even more beautiful, with silver and enamelling. This cabinet has 176 drawers and secret compartments for storing precious objects! Wow!
These huge globes were interesting..
and then we walked into the next room with these monumental wooden figures!
Don’t you love the faces on these sandals?
Downstairs there are several rooms that appear to be taverns. We aren’t sure, because all the signage here is German. I think the domed object in the corner is a stove to heat the room.
Back upstairs, there is gallery of about 1,000 ivory objects and I wonder how many elephants died so these could be created? This ivory carving was one of fifty or so. The background sky is so thin that the light shines through it.
The Rape of Proserpina on the left is carved in ivory, and the porcelain centrepiece on the right depicts Neptune being drawn by seahorse and tritons. They were both completed in the mid 1700’s.
I thought this tapestry was particularly colourful and beautiful. Notice the details in the close up of the pelican.
Some of the musical instruments on display are rather strange. Bob is wondering how to play the double layer of 19 strings on this one… 
and check out the crazy wind instruments.
There is a wonderful display of clothing from the mid 18th century. Even the pet monkey had stylish togs.
But take a look at the undergarments women wore! 
I love doors and this museum has many. The front door opens automatically when we approach. Seems weird for such an ancient door.
We walk along the river on our way to Maximillianstrasse, where all the fancy expensive shops are located.
On the way, a firetruck pulls up and the firemen check behind bushes and in garbage cans, then drive away. We wonder what they are looking for.
We window shop where the wealthy people shop! The two outfits on the left are only 42,400.00 euros! The red outfit is only 26,300 euros! At today’s exchange rate that is over $100,
The stores are closed so they only leave the ‘cheaper’ watches in the windows. Notice the empty stands for the more expensive ones.
We pass more very loud, very energetic Chilean protesters on our way home.
I love giraffes, and there were five of them at this zoo.
I spent a bit of time sketching one of them while he was busy eating his lunch. The Meerkats live next door to the giraffes. This fellow was very busy checking out all the people who were checking him out.
There are lots of birds here. This is the first time I have seen a hornbill perched in a tree. They usually walk along the ground. This Abyssinian Ground Hornbill is a huge bird, about one metre in length and weighing about four kilograms.
The Northern Bald Ibis is a very strange looking bird. They are in a huge aviary with lots of other birds that we walk through.
These beautiful Rose Pelicans were busy preening and enjoying the sunshine.
We check out a building with lots of different little colourful birds and I didn’t even notice that there was no glass between us and the birds until Bob pointed it out!
This is the bat cave, and yes it is full of flying bats, and we walk right into the cave with them! When I first entered the cave a bat brushed by my hand and startled me. I hadn’t realized that they were flying all about. It was almost impossible to take a photo, they move so very quickly and it was quite dark. The bats are just shadowy blurs in this photo, where they come to feed on fruit hanging fro the ceiling.
We move from the tiny bats to this massive Indian Rhino. This is the first time we have seen an Indian Rhino and they are quite different from the African Rhino. I loved the way his skin forms armour-like plates. I absolutely had to try to draw this fellow. He moved about a bit but was quite a good model!
The Munich Zoo has a lot of different primates. This chimpanzee was busy using a stick as a tool to get food out of a box. He was very possessive of his stick and kept it close at all times.
but this laid back guy just wanted to take it easy.
I always think that the gorillas are watching us as much as we are watching them. They seem so intelligent and always rather sad.
This Sumatran Orangutan mother and her twins were hilarious. The youngsters would not leave her alone no matter what she did. They were hanging on to her and pestering her even when she tried to hide in a corner. As she walked away, one of her youngsters grabbed hold of her hand and slid along the floor behind her. It just made me laugh.
We waited to see the lions being fed, expecting it to be quite exciting… but it consisted of the two males being separated and then thrown a couple dead plucked chickens. The lions took their food to a private spot so we couldn’t see them chowing down.
We checked back a while later and I said that they would probably be sleeping after their meal. Here they are, looking very happy and content, and yes, they were sleeping.
The elephants were quite far away so I zoomed in for a photo.
There were several kinds of penguins. The Humboldt Penguins live on the coast of Peru and Chile and don’t mind being warm. The Emperor, and the Rock Hopper Penguins, however, like it cold and they had their own refrigerated area.
The Ring Tailed Lemur from Madagascar holds his long tail straight up in the air when it travels on the ground so that everyone in the group can stay together. That must be quite the sight! 
We watched this tortoise take forever to climb this tiny little incline. It was really hard work for her and I so wished I could have just reached in and given her a little bit of help.
There was great excitement at the Hamadryas Baboon enclosure. Lots of screaming and shrieking noises. It appeared that several of the big males were attacking one of the other baboons.
When these four big males come running everyone else clears out, getting away from them as quickly as they can.
We see lots of interesting animals, including a Maned Wolf, a Darwin’s Rhea, a Capybara and a Red River Hog. 
The Nyalas are beautiful with their striking white stripes and the male is much darker with long yellow-tipped horns.
I always love the zebras. They were mostly farther away but this beauty came close enough for a photo.
Not sure that we have ever seen a Reeve’s Muntjac or a Kiang before.
Now these are called European Elk, but they sure look like moose to me. Google tells me this is what a moose is called in Europe. Interesting little fact.
This polar bear had a huge enclosure with a big water area as well as a big grassy, treed area, but it chose to sit in this corner. Something in the area next to him caught his eye and his reflection was caught in the glassed part of his cage.
We are almost finished our visit when we see a crowd of people and go check what they are looking at. A Linnaeus Two Toed Sloth was making his way across a rope just above everyone’s heads. It was quite exciting to see him up so close, and yes, they do move incredibly deliberately and very slowly!
Now, this was something to see! This tall slide is in one of the zoo’s many playgrounds.
Did you notice all the kids inside the structure? They are climbing up to the top so that they can slide down. The inside of the tower is like a giant jungle gym, only really high!
There are no safety features of any kind, just lots of little kids climbing way up high on these logs inside the tower. This is something that we would never see at home due to safety concerns and liability issues. The kids were all having a great time though!
The zoo closes at 6:00 and we are one of the last to leave. It was an absolutely lovely day.
and my metro sketches.
We thought that the rooms weren’t staged as well as our IKEA at home. The rooms seemed cluttered and not as appealing as the IKEA displays we are used to.
This central four-storey building was the beginning of the palace and was built in 1644. Over the years numerous additions were built until it reached its present configuration in 1776.
The Nymphenburg Palace was originally a summer residence for the Bavarian rulers. This is the Great Hall. Musicians would entertain guests from the gallery.
One of the many rooms with original furnishings.
Many of the rooms are not that big and seem to serve as connecting passages to other larger rooms.
The south apartment bedroom of the Electress, who was the consort of the king.
Our reflection in the bedroom mirror.
Every palace has to have a Chinese inspired room.
The audience room of Queen Caroline…
and her bedroom have their original furnishings. This room is where King Ludwig II was born in 1845. The bed is hidden by a cover on a high frame which was spread over the bed during the daytime.
The official Hall of Beauties is under restoration but the paintings are on display in a corridor. From 1826 to 1850 King Ludwig I had a series of 36 portraits painted of what he considered to be the most beautiful women. Beauty was considered to be an outward sign of moral perfection!
We finish our tour of the palace rooms, and go explore the grounds. Unfortunately we realize that the park pavilions closed for the season a week ago. I do manage a peek inside the Magdalene Hermitage, which was a pavilion used for contemplation.
Much of the grounds are in the style of an English park, with paths…
and little bridges over water features.
This creek was so covered with fallen leaves that the water was barely visible.
This shows just how long the canal water feature is…looking towards and away from the palace on a bridge that crosses the canal. At one time gondolas sailedd these waters. Neat reflections too.
Walking back towards the palace along a tree lined path.
I liked the reflection of the palace in the water.
Looking out towards the garden from the Palace steps.
It is almost closing time, but we manage a quick peek inside the Carriage museum, which is one of the most important museums of court carriages, travel and equestrian culture in the world. The Coronation coach of Emperor Karl VII is here…
We can only begin to imagine how much these coaches cost!
Besides dozens of coaches there are numerous sleighs on display.
Parades and competitive games with these carousel sleighs were a popular winter amusement at court. Women would sit in front of a male driver and try to hit rings or paper maché figures with a lance or sword. Notice the rear view of the sleigh in the mirror.
Just a few of the many coaches on display in one of the halls.
One last selfie before we leave.
and one last look back towards the front of the Palace…
with a photo stop at the swans.
I have life drawing tonight, so we head toward the metro and after checking out my route, Bob heads for home and I head towards my drawing session. I have a bit of time so I sit at the Sheraton Hotel having a cup of tea and doing a bit of sketching.
These were a bit better.
Sketches from the Sheraton Hotel.
My first drawing at the Meetup session. Still having some issues with proportions and the head placement in relation to the body.
I started again after our break and did this portrait which was better. Bettina, our model, really liked it and said that it looked like her. 
The Deutsches Museum is the world’s largest museum of science and technology, with 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. It is an enormous museum. This is the Marine Navigation Hall. We remember this exhibit room from our first visit to this museum almost 40 years ago although I am sure some of the exhibits have changed. The hull on this sailing ship has been cut away so that it is possible to see the construction and the inside of the ship.
There is also a basement level to the Marine Navigation Hall where there is a reconstruction of life between decks aboard an emigrant sailing ship in the 1870’s. It could take up to four months to cross the Atlantic! Emigrants had to provide all their own food, cooking utensils and bedding for the voyage. Lack of care and terrible hygiene conditions led to the death of 1 of every ten emigrants in 1853. It must have been a nightmarish voyage. Just think, we crossed the Atlantic in only a few hours!
The Challenger left England in 1872 on a 3 1/2 year voyage that marked the beginning of modern oceanography. There were laboratories, like the one depicted in this diorama, for studying flora and fauna. It was the first time cameras were used on a research expedition. The Challenger covered almost 69,000 nautical miles, the equivalent of travelling three times around the globe, and collected 10,000 pant and animal specimens. 4,717 previously unknown life forms were discovered and documented. 
Bob really liked this submarine exhibit with the cut out sides so we could see inside. I couldn’t imagine being underwater, inside this confined space…and I don’t suffer from claustrophobia!
This view from the second floor of the Marine Navigation Hall is from the same spot we stood in during our visit here years ago. Our guide at the time was this lovely old German woman who spoke five languages and conducted the tour in all five languages. We still remember her well, she was a treasure.
The Electric Power display has devices I have seen in the movies.
It would be easy to miss the entrance to the Mining display in the basement level, but once inside we were amazed at all the exhibits. The Rack was a hydraulic wheel used to both lift and lower loads.
Three types of mines were represented: ore, coal and salt mining.
Working conditions in the mines were very difficult. Being a miner must have been a dangerous, hard life.
Back above ground we walk through many more exhibit halls. Some of the exhibits are so technical that they would only be of interest to people in that particular field. We pass through these quite quickly. There was an interesting display of weights and measures…
and astronomical devices…
and all sorts of clocks and watches, dating back to antiquity. I thought this 24 hour clock face was interesting.
The Musical Instruments Hall had some interesting pieces. The Phonoliszt-Violina, a player piano with violins was used in silent movie theatres from 1904 to1926, and the other piece is the very first Juke Box, displayed at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, complete with classical music selections.
An interesting toy exhibit has building block and construction toys that date back to the 1907, including early Lego and Meccano sets.
The museum has a reproduction of the Altamira caves in Northern Spain. This reminded us of a similar exhibit we visited in Spain. Visitors are no longer allowed inside the actual Altamira Cave in order to preserve the cave paintings. The changes in humidity and temperature caused by visitors to the cave were causing damage to the paintings.
I always enjoy pottery exhibits.
This diorama demonstrates early pottery production with an interesting wood fired kiln that is itself made of clay.
When the tiny bricks come out of the kiln they are stacked and available for purchase. I bought one as a little souvenir, only 1euro.
I knew how early sheets of glass were made, and this life size display illustrated that process. It is hard to imagine blowing a piece of glass this large! We see many panes of glass in old buildings in Europe that were made just this way. This 
On our way out of the museum I met Alvin. It was a bit bizarre talking to a machine, that looks and acts like a little person. I think he only understood German though, as we had problems communicating.
The museum is on an island on the Isar River. There are two views from the bridge back to the mainland. One to the west…
and one to the East. You can see how big the museum is.
Walking back to the metro we pass through the food market again and I take photo of these beautiful garlics and peppers.
We stop at this cheese store and sample some of the delicious cheese for sale. 
The metro station is beside the Glockenspiel tower and there is a group of Kurdish protestors. We have seen several protest groups and there is always a large police presence at these events.
Next door is the BMW Museum. A couple cars caught Bob’s attention. The doors on this red sports car slide down to open…
and the1933 BMW has a unique paint job.
A full size clay prototype is used for new designs.
The BMW Museum is next door to the Munich Olympic Park that was built for the 1972 Olympics.
Bob was going to go up the tower for a city view, but…
trudymason.com 