Wien & Graz, Österreich
After a night of packing and organizing things for while I’ll be gone, I managed to forgo sleep completely and catch my 9.00 flight to Wien Thursday morning. Also on the flight, completely coincidentally, was a friend and colleague Dana. We were going to stay with her friend Johannes in Vienna before heading to Graz on Saturday.
Johannes and his girlfriend Anna met us at the airport and drove us back to his place. After some food and getting settled, he took us out for a walking tour of the city. He lives in the centre, so it’s quite convenient. We saw lots of various old, Baroque buildings and noticed how clean the city is. We went through the MuseumQuartier, saw the Parliament building, and the Volkstheater. One remarkable sight is the Stephensdom. Its spire is the tallest thing in the city, and nothing is allowed to be built taller than it. What was very intriguing, however, is the tiled colored roof, which seems quite out of place to the otherwise Gothic architecture, and then coupled with a very modern, curved glass office building across the street. Inside the Dom has high, vaulted ceilings, and a stone pulpit in the centre. I appreciated the fact that it wasn’t, for the most part, overly bling-bling, as many cathedrals are. We headed home for some dinner and a rest, and to get out of the cold, but first stopped at a typical Viennese koffiehaus and had some melange and apfelstrudel. After dinner we met one of Johannes’ friends, Tomas, at a bar in the MuseumQuartier, where I had Schwechater, an Austrian beer.
We had a nice breakfast in the morning and then went to the Haus der Musik, a type of hands-on museum, having both collection items, such as letters, clothing, batons, etc, from important (Viennese) musicians, but also being an informational and science museum. It gave history of the Viennese Philharmonic, Viennese composers, and also exhibits showing how sound and hearing works, with things to try and test your own hearing, to understand sound timbre and morphing, etc. And there’s also an interactive game, where you can “conduct” a video of the Wiener Philharmoniker and they respond to your conducting, and other games playing with sound. We chilled for the evening at home with Johannes’ other roommate Jessica, listening to music and entertaining ourselves.
On Saturday we made our way to the Süd Bahnhof and got tickets to Graz (€31,40) and on the 12.56 train. It was a nice 2,5 hour trip through the mountains and getting to see the Austrian countryside. Some beautiful little villages and valleys along the way, and a fair amount of snow. We arrived in Graz about 15.45 and made our way to the Jugendgästhaus where we were staying, got checked in and dropped off our things before heading over to the check-in for the IMPULS festival we were taking part in (and hence the reason for this whole trip.) I found some other friends I knew from before and we caught up with each other while waiting for the initial discussion and then concert to begin, follwed by a reception where I got to know some of the other participants of the festibal with whom I’d be spending the next 2 weeks.
After a few days of heavy rehearsing and not much sight-seeing, I managed to have a couple hours off on Wednesday just before dark and decide to take a walk through the center of town and hike up Schlossberg, a hill in the middle of town with a nice view of the city around. The hike up the stairs and pathway isn’t very difficult, and as I walked, the slow movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony came on shuffle on my iPod. It seemed rather appropriate at the time for some reason. It was nice to see the city from above in the dark, with the lights illuminating the city below, but I think I’d like another go during the day as well. As I left and headed back, I passed Murinsel, a restaurant/bar on a floating island in the river, lit up in blue in the night.
After playing a few pieces in the marathon 5 hour concert the night before, with another concert the night before that, I finally had much more free time on Tuesday. Still feeling a bit lazy from the party afterward, I felt it was necessary to have some quiet time. I walked to Schloss Eggenberg, about 2km west of Graz. On the way I passed one of the many stands I’ve seen in Graz selling fresh roasted chestnuts, so I grabbed a cone, followed by a much needed coffee further down the road. It’s a €1 entry to the park grounds at Eggenberg, and today was practically empty. Only a couple other people meandering the grounds, strolling near the trees or the gazebo. And, of course, the many peacocks milling around. The yellow and brown schloss at the end of the long entrance pathway seemed a good match for the autumn-like weather of the day… despite being the end of February. Inside the schloss are a couple museums, but they were closed today. Maybe because it was Karnaval? Which, incidentally, has been the reason I’ve also been able to indulge in krapfen while in Austria at this time of year. Basically a Berlinerbol, Paczki, jelly donut… whatever language you’d like to call it in, but they’re delicious, and everyone keeps bringing them to me while here… Anyway, I’m not sure if Karnaval is the reason for the lack of visitors, but there was absolutely nobody inside, so I got to tour the place myself, with its arched hallways and courtyards. There’s a rather large hill behind the property, so upon leaving I ventured through the woods and hiked up. Once in a while someone would come by with their dog, but I was otherwise alone, with the chance to read, think, and enjoy the view of Graz spread out to the east.
Wednesday was the last full day in Graz, and I still wanted to check out the inside of the extraordinarily funky Kunsthaus. Student admission is only €3. They had a good photography exhibit, focusing on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and that area. The other big exhibit was on gorillas, and video documentaries the artist took while she had spent several years in Cameroon studying them. It was alright, but didn’t thrill me. Maybe if I had taken a tour I’d be more informed as to what it was all about, but for me it was just Animal Planet projected in the huge space of the Kunsthaus… which might have been worth seeing in itself, basked in a cool green light. Another exhibit had just finished and they were building a new one, so there wasn’t much else to see. Since I was across the street from Schlossberg and it was still rather early in the day, I decided to climb it again in daylight. I think it was worth it, as the view is great, with the read-brown rooftops sprawling out below.
After the parties following the closing concert of the festival, the next morning was not a happy one. Alas, I still had to pack and check out and take a train back to Wien. There were a few others also going, so we all took the 11.30 train back. I took a quiet cabin and slept the whole way, feeling better, yet still not great, by the time we got back. I was travelling with Dana again, and we were staying at Johannes’ place again. We managed to find our way there ourselves and rested and ate a bit before we all headed to the famous Porgy and Bess jazz club, where Rudi Mahal was playing. Vincent, another clarinetist that was in Graz and live in Wien, came as well with Ljupčo, yet another clarinetist that was staying with Vincent until his flight back to Macedonia. It’s quite a nice space, glowing in red inside. Rudi Mahal isn’t particularly famous, so the club was fairly empty, but a nice concert of improvisation nonetheless. €15 entry and expensive drinks notwithstanding…
Dana was leaving back to Amsterdam around 18.00, so we took Friday morning to explore Wien some more. The mission was to take a walk and get some coffee, so we headed out in the direction of Schloss Belvedere, finding the Musik Verein, home of the Wiener Phil, en route. Schloss Belvedere is a huge, white, very ornately decorated palace, and at €8,50 for student tickets we didn’t make it past the amazing lobby. But the schloss is on the south side of Wien, and the expansive front gardens look out to the center of the city, with Stephansdom rising high from the city, backdropped with the mountains. From here it’s quite clear that the cathedral is, in fact, the hightest point in Wien. We worked our way back to the house for some lunch before Dana left, at which point I decided to check out the Museum Modern Kunst (MUMOK)… yet again finding myself in the museums featuring the strange, avant-garde, and out shit. I got there at 15.00, and they closed at 18.00, and I think I managed to see the whole museum in the 3 hours. Lots of cool exhibits, particularly featuring Nam June Paik’s Music for All Senses, an exploration of music and entertainment, and Maria Lassnig’s 80-some years of art-making with paintins and short videos, as well as a couple floors devoted to the use of the body and environment as art. Lots of 70’s performance art stuff here. After, I headed back to pack up my things, as I had to leave the house around 4.00 in the morning to get to the airport for my 6.45 flight back to Amsterdam. That evening I was going to see some friends that were also in Graz play a concert… so sleeping probably wasn’t going to happen… again… There ended up being quite a few people that were in Graz at the concert, most of which lived in Wien and the few others that were just there awaiting their flight back too. Jessie said I should bring my horn as there was probably going to be some improv at the end of the night. So with Jessie on cello, Steve on trombone, dotcom[plus] on electronics, and myself with the bass clarinet, we had some fun. It was a cool venue, Salon Goldschlag on the Goldschlagstraße. They’re a new spot, trying to be a bit of a cultural studio area. Free entrance and you pay as much as you’d like for the beer… and after I played they wouldn’t accept my money any more. Real cool people. Jessie, Steve, and I hung out there for a while with Uwe and Marian and the others milling about until we finally decided to call it a night at 2.30. Luckily Jessie and Steve were staying just a few blocks from where I was, so we all cabbed it, and I managed to get an hour of sleep before Johannes very generously woke up to drive me to the station where I could get a bus to the airport.
Tags: Africa, Austria, Europe, Travel
nerokerr1
Leave a Reply