As mentioned in the previous blog (It’s science Jim..) – we travelled to the Danubian Quadrant of the EU Federation for the EJ-day celebrations. Or, as we bears call it, Vienna.
Timely, given the current UK Brexit mess, that this short break (4-day) brought together so many positive aspects of euro-ness in one place: Trés gut, Bueno, Braw.
Honestly, it was like Europe condensed.
– Breakfast Café (Paris, France)
– Beach (Greece..maybe)
– Weiss Bier – (Germany) + Luxor Bar (Austrian hospitality)
– Hundertwasserhaus > Gaudi – Barca/(Spain)
– Italienische Nationalkirche (go on,…., take a wild guess)
– May Day Parade – Russia (OK, OK, I know they’re not an EU state, but neither might we be shortly)
So, we got to experience almost an entire continent within a 2 mile radius, and avoided a continental size carbon paw-print. E-cool
Also cool, for a cold-war-spy-film loving bear. Vienna gave us the opportunity to visit the 3rd Man Museum .. more on this later.
When we arrived, the skies were leaden and the streets moist – atmospheric, but with more than a hint of dreich. We were too early to check into our accommodation, so, being bears of infinite appetite and curiosity we checked out the neighbourhood for the nearest hostelry.
Ta da.. ‘The Luxor’.. the nice Austrian lady (Suzannah) behind the bar played 80’s music, and we introduced her to the Proclaimers (500 miles) She & Mrs.P both liked Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ so that got played more than once… “Two large beers please,…(glug) .. and another two large beers….” . We decided to make this our ‘local’ for the duration of our stay.. and, guess wot?, we never actually made it back there ever again.
Our base for the next few days was the Reiss City Hotel – central, clean, comfortable…mmm, need another word beginning with ‘c’.. convenient, that’ll do. Functional, with no frills an no’ far fae Freud’s flat.(OK, that’s enough alliteration).
The chubby rain eased off, so we took our chance to find food. Again, we got lucky. Sometimes you’ve just got to trust your gut (that’s a lot of trust says Mrs.P). So it was that we found ourselves venturing into ‘D’Landesknecht’ – a ‘traditional’ (without being touristy) bar/restaurant – perfect. Edelweiss (Weizenbier), goulaschsuppe? & grilled chicken, Mrs.P had a heathy mackerel starter, followed by weinerschnitzel. Ah well, the diet can have a wee holiday too.
Wednesday: This was to be the best day weather-wise, and we had a plan. Turned out to be a mixed-bag of stuff.
May Day parade. We came across this by accident, more red balloons than Nena could sing about. Communists, local political groups, brass bands, anti-capitalist, anti-nuclear/pro renewable, anti-this, pro-that. There was one very vocal bloke (we were informed he was Turkish) outside the café we’d stopped at – we never found out what he was protesting against but he was very into his ranty anti-ness. Greens, Eco-awarists, vegetarians-against-wienerschnitzel (possibly), gay pride in lederhosen (whale-skin tights are soooh last century,dear), to be fair the speeches and banners were all in German so we weren’t getting the full protest package.
Tour of the Opera House: It’s no secret that Mrs.P’s loves the theatre, and dressing up. It’s still one of her ambitions to attend the New Years Day Concert at the Musikverein in a posh frock, rather than watch it on the telly. Having trod the boards in and worked backstage (see blog ‘Over and Done With’) we just had to go an’ have a wee nose around. We paid our 18€, and were sorted into 3 lines depending on language. German – a neat orderly line. Italian – a more disorderly, but very stylish group. English – everyone else, a disparate herd of Americans, Chinese, and us. Our tour guide was good – knowledgeable, engaging and informative. She took us behind the scenes, front of house, the original, the restored, the history, influential figures – Mahler, von Karajan.
Culture and exercise – Check .
This is a wonderful privately funded collection of original artefacts and memorabilia from the film.
Usually only open at the weekends, we went along on one of the few non-weekend dates – us and about ten others
Gerhard Strassgschwandtner, a genuinely dedicated collector and 3rd Man aficionado, and his wife Karin, are the team that run the show. Despite her reservations, she should really be grateful that his interest lies in something accessible/not to space consuming/ and something others want to share in. It could’ve been so much worse. It could’ve been a very niche collection of… mmm, for example – Alpine Moss (dull), or 15th century socks from Carinthia (very specific – therefore rare/unobtainable, & also dull).
Filmed under difficult circumstances (reliant on Russian co-operation) over a 6 week period in late 1948, in the actual post-war ruins of Vienna – followed by 3 months back in studios in England. The film gives a unique (and stylishly noir) snap-shot of life and opportunistic survival in the confusion of the divided city, and the museum gives an insight into the personalities (writer, director, producer, actors) involved in the making of the film.
- Writer – Graham Greene a real-life spy for MI6,
- Director – Carol Reed,
- Producers – David O Selznick (US) & Alexander Korda (UK),
- Actors – Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard and the zitherist, Anton Karas.
The museum shows a short sequence of the original film (looped) on a contemporary cinema projector, next to some of the cameras on which the film was shot…and the actual zither playing on the soundtrack.
I feel inspired to pay homage to this masterpiece and have drawed my own film poster.
Oi, wot’s the ‘arry Lime dear?
Mmm, must be getting near dinner-time.
The city should acknowledge and appreciate the number of visitors drawn to the city, on the back of this film.
I’d recommend this as a ‘must see’ to all visitors to Vienna, interested in
- the film itself
- the opaque post-war history/politics of Vienna
– to enable Gerhard & Karin to maintain the collection and secure its future…
….then again,..erm,.. part of me wouldn’t want to spoil the intimacy of the tour if the number of visitors increased. Even with only a dozen bods, we were there for about 2 hours. There just wasn’t enough time to really appreciate the collection.
It would be a completely different experience with a coach party of 20 Chinese (ticking off another attraction on their list), a dozen bored French teenagers on a school exchange trip (eyes & thumbs glued to their mobile phones) and Ethel & Hank from Vienna, Missouri clogging up the space. With more visitors, more guides would be required and they just couldn’t have the same direct experience and passion for the film that Gerhard exuded. Nah, it just wouldn’t be the same.
Spread over several rooms (including a neighbour’s cellar), we emerge via a spiral staircase into the foyer of the museum – where we bought a book. We’d have bought more but would never have got them into our luggage.
Ooh, ooh… I found a bear!! Orson Welles an’ a bear.. GRRR-eat!
Strandbar Hermann: deckchairs/sunshine / beer.
Like we found in Warsaw last year, Vienna has it’s very own beach bar, Strandbar Herrmann , in the middle of town – down by the not-really-very-blue Danube.
The deckchair motto ‘Lebe das Leben’ translates (I believe) as ‘Live Life’. Sounds like a plan.
Heading for the Prater Park we passed lots of amazing graffiti along the banks(y) the Danube – no shortage of kunst (art) in this neighbourhood.
We even accidentally found the Kunst Haus. Looking like a gaudy refugee from Barcelona, (and closed), the Hundertwasser Museum will be on our list of places to see next time we come to Vienna.
Prater Park: We eventually got here and by-passed the free May Day concert (in German & loud). Not because it was loud and in German, but mainly cos’ Mrs.P’s little legs needed a rest.
In another spy-filmy vein, we visited the Prater Café, directly under the famous Reisenrad (Ferris Wheel). This is where James Bond (Timothy Dalton) meets his MI6 contact, Saunders, to collect some information in ‘The Living Daylights’. Saunders get terminated (squished) by the Café’s sliding door .
We can now bore family & friends by saying ‘we were there’ and pointing at the TV when the ‘Smiert Spionam’ balloon appears.
I have to confess, hold my paws up and admit that I avoided the scary, 120 year old, rickety rotating sheds swaying 200ft (60.96m) up in the evening breeze.
– “oh look”, says I (helpfully) “the ticket office says cash only..”, just as we were about to join the queue and pay with plastic. “Oh dear.. what a shame”, I said, inwardly relieved that I’d avoided having the living daylights scared out of me.
We took the U2 Metro back to Schottentor – 3 minutes, €4.80 and comfortably back to the hotel.
Thursday: EJ-day
Pre-concert, this was to be a quiet day – just wandering and taking in the sights – lots of imperial eagles and lions an stuff. We started the day with an al-fresco breakfast at our local café (La Mercerie) under blue skies. Looks like it’s gonna be a nice day.
We stopped into some churches we found along the way.
First, the Votifkirche visible at the top of our street, from our hotel. A handful of visitors were scattered about in the calmness. The gothic church has some interesting features – the ceiling, the stained glass windows and includes some memorials recognising the contradictions in Austrian society and the post-war obscuring of less palatable history (as hinted at by Gerhard @ 3rd Man Museum) commemorating both sides of the conflict.
Then, the ‘Italienische Nationalkirche – the (Italian Church), is an older building – on this site since 1276 (over 740yrs!) and has a completely different feel – darker, heavier, closer – more religious. Inside we found this, a mosaic copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ – impressively unexpected.
Oh this is funny, you’ll like this – after Orson Welles yesterday, today we’ve got lots of ‘orson carriages.. ‘orse an’… . horse and .. geddit ?
The main event, and the reason for our being in Austria – Elton John on his final tour – ‘The Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ (300 gigs over 3 years). So after a cross-city metro journey and a large beer we, and some 16,000 others headed into the Wiener Stadthalle.
We got in fairly early, and headed – for the T-shirt stand,..Kerching!, that’ll be €35. Danke .
Next up, 2 bratdogs an’ 2 beers, GRRR-eat!
The show kicked off with the intro to ‘Pinball Wizard’ from The Who’s ‘Tommy’ …oh yeah!, then straight into ‘Benny & the Jets’, then… the batteries on the camera ran out. Grrrr! Might’ve been an overload of reflected sparkle from his jacket.
By the time I’d swapped batteries he wis on to yet another tune and I’d missed some stuff in between.
Mmm,.. Ah guess that’s why they call it the blues.
Oops, apologies for the few missing bits. ‘Sorry’ seems to be the hardest word.
I then thought I’d better try to get a few more pics, an’ maybe not use up the cameras memory card too early with video. Mrs.P was armed with a camera phone too (a technical advance on our last concert in Warsaw last year) and between us I think we’ve got some OK images.
I won’t spoil the show (by uploading more videos) for anyone who’s still to catch the tour – it goes on until December 2020. If however, you can’t wait, here’s what you might hear – here is the Set list for the show we saw in Viena
During ‘Candle in the Wind’ I had memory/battery issues again, so I stopped filming and took photos of the Marilyn Monroe montage instead.
In-between the songs, Elton talked about stuff. He talked about very personal issues – like the time when he acknowledged he had problems, and gave up drink & drugs. I think that’s maybe when he got into the veggie salad stuff. Not many folks know that ol’ Reg (Elton) likes a side salad . . . . Oh yes…, he’s a ‘rocket’ man.*
*Rocketman – with spooky coincidental timing – this Elton John bio-pic has just been released to good reviews, but I think the Stewie Griffin / William Shatner version of the song will be hard to beat.
Bacon’s Law: I saw the guitar player John Jorgenson in Glenrothes back in 2003(ish) – I even bought his CD (Franco-American Swing). So, my Bacon number to Elton I reckon, is 2(ish).
Don’t let the sun go down.. and yet another standing ovation. Standing ovation.. yeah, that’s right, I’m still standing. (yeah, yeah, yeah)
We kept having to remind ourselves that we weren’t just watching Elton on the screen, but that we were actually in the same room. GRR-oovy
Saturday night’s alright for fighting, but as this was a Thursday night (& the sun had gone down) we all reckoned it was alright to sing-a-long as the keyboard took another hammering. A large cloud of glitter dropped thru the rainbow lights to bring the show to an end, and the band stood up to take their bow.
A minute or two of hand-clapping & foot stomping and then the spotlight picks out – stage right, front – Elton (towel round neck) – Your song. How wonderful life is, 3hrs of memorable music.
Farewell Elton, and thanks.
Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, now moving onto Krakov, Prague, Bremen and coming to a large stadium near you.. probably…..eventually.
He played Perth, Scotland back in 2008, less than 2 miles from where I’m writing this, and we couldn’t get tickets. So, we’ve had to come 1000miles (twice as far as the Proclaimers) to finally see him perform – but it’s been well worth it.
Friday: Schönbruin Tiergarten:
While we were there we also looked in on Lynn & Ranzo von Svalbard @ the Schönbruin Tierpark –(Mrs.P’s wannabe aristocratic cousin and her Finnish bearfriend). I have to say, they’ve adapted to the neighbourhood remarkably well. Keeping up with the Hapsburgs in this gated community can’t be easy (or cheap). However, their recently installed en-suite pool is impressive and I’m told that they occasionally dine on peacock. How very posh.
FYI – Schönbruin translates literally as ‘Beautiful Bear’. That’s nice to know.
Personally, I prefer to live more modestly and have freedom of movement (oh look we’re back to Brexit). Walruschnitzel anyone?
We even had a waltz in the Schönbruiner Schlosspark – as we were in Vienna we just thought we’d give it a whirl. Interestingly, I read somewhere recently, that Emperor Franz Josef who was born in the palace here, also died here as result of pneumonia, after catching a cold while walking in the park – possibly where we were dancing.
We enjoyed our wee break in Vienna, and took it at a slow pace. Other than the concert, we only had a couple of things on our itinerary, so we were never over-Strauss-ed.
I used to think that Midge Ure must’ve gone to another Vienna (apparently there are 5 in the US of A) when he sang, “..it means nothing to me, ahh Vienna”, back in 1980. I mean, how could he not be impressed with this city? But apparently he was only passing comment on the arty pseudo-intellectualism (oo-err) being attributed by the press to the Ultravox song at the time.
We’re back home now, and the May Day question has kinda been answered. 7th of June was the day PM Theresa May resigned (as party leader, but not as PM) & will scuttle off like her predecessor, leaving the country in a mess.
Since coming home, we watched (18may) the pinnacle of international cross border co-operation and fun. That’s right, the final of the 2019 Euro-cheesi-singing Contest, where a dutch bloke called Duncan beat some Aussis on poles (the Poles themselves didn’t get past the semi-finals). The UK entry, (Mike Rice from Hartlepool) came in last. Even a song about hate, by some Icelanders with Palestine flags, got more support. Possibly the euro-voters reckoned that since it appears, or since they’ve been told repeatedly over the last 3 years that the UK doesn’t want to be part of Europe they’ve reciprocated.
Oh aye Teresa, take a look around. This is Euro-vision, set-up post-WW2 – a group of forward-looking Europeans with the intention of fostering post-war harmony. It maybe sparkly nonsense but that hasn’t stopped non-Europeans (Israel & Australia) from wanting to join in the camperaderie of the club. Much better to be strutting your stuff on the international stage as a member, than be stuck outside the club. Mmmm…, doesn’t that sound a wee bit like ..erm,..you know, the EU. No?
There are 2 appropriate Austrian analogies that might be applied to Brexit.
- The Franz Klammer hypothesis:-once we’re out it’ll be all ‘downhill’
- The Schwartzenegger Scenario: as an independent Scotland “we’ll be back”
So long, farewell Elton, auf weidersehn, and goodnight Vienna.
Adieu also to the great Austrian racing driver – Niki Lauda, whose passing was announced on Monday (20th May). His courage and determination brought him 3 F1 titles in the 70’s & 80’s.
Paul R Bear 
Once again a fabulous read. I felt like I was there.
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