Hi kids
I’m back? Did you miss me?
Aw…I missed you too! Kisses!
So I spent the week in Vienna and Salzburg and I saw amazing things like this:
and this:
And we went to the Mozart’s birthplace:
and stood in the room he was born in and saw the house he died in and his death mask.
We also went to Beethoven’s house:
and saw his Art Conquers All creed and his death mask (with teeth!). Sorry no photos allowed of that.
And then, because it’s one of my favorite things to do, we went grave hunting and hit some really big ones like
And lest you think me a stuffy classical music listening snob, there’s also Falco. Yes, THAT Falco
And I saw Art with a capital A.
Most moving for me was The Kiss by Gustav Klimt
Aside from this having been one of my favorite images since I was a teenager, the Belvedere where the Kiss is housed displayed it perfectly. As you round the corner into the gallery space, it’s hung on the stark black wall and lit in a way that all the fine gold filaments of the robe shone. It was bigger than I had expected it to be. Nearby on the other walls are more of Klimt’s work including Judith:
Yes that is a severed head under her arm.
Also saw some Egon Schiele, like this and this and this.
Now, that was a good day.
What else…oh the food! and the drinks!
and of course goulash!
It was a truly magical trip – Vienna and Salzburg are both such gorgeous cities with crumbling old cemeteries
and mountains
and MOUNTAINS
It was a wonderful place to spend my birthday.
And lest I forget there’s also Lederhosen!
and more Lederhosen
And even GIRL LIEDERHOSEN
After all, Salzburg is the home of Sound of Music
But more than anything, the whole trip really felt like it was about Mozart – about chasing Mozart’s ghost – from the house he was born in with it’s little baby violin to the homes in Vienna where they carried his piano in and out each night for concerts – to the house he died in. On our last day we watched the Opera Die Zauberflote on the patio of the Opera House, projected on the big screen (that’s where us regular people who can’t afford to get in go to see it)
and we found where he himself was buried – or at least where they think he’s buried. For those of you that don’t know, Mozart was buried in a pauper’s grave – more than likely due to his inability to budget and a gambling problem. If you have an interest in this genius I highly recommend Mozart: A Life by Maynard Solomon.
We trucked out to St. Marx Friedhof and climbed the long hill as the lily petals fell off the trees and we found him
Simple.
Beautiful.
Mozart.
Auf Weidersahen Austria. I truly hope to see you again soon.
Though I must admit, on the long 8 hour flight from Berlin, I already began to scheme about the next trip….
Ally Malinenko 
