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June 19, 2011

Hungarian Beatlemania

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A few of us headed out after dinner tonight and stumbled across a block party with bands set up to play at opposite ends of the street. Close to where we settled in for a couple of beers was a Beatles cover band that was awesome. Looking up the band on the Internet back at the hotel later, it turns out that this group--the BlackBirds--is from Hungary!

Turned out to be a great night out in Vienna: an unexpected delight!

June 20, 2011

Not Quite The Opera We Expected

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Our group headed to the Volksoper tonight to see Bizet's Carmen. Having seen this work performed twice, I briefed the kids--almost none of whom had ever been to the opera before--about what to expect and explained this work would contain a few musical themes they would recognize. (If one is an opera newcomer, Carmen is an ideal first exposure.)

Turns out when we arrived that what we were scheduled to see was a ballet, not an opera. Now I'm sure it's a beautiful art form for those who understand it, but dance is not really my cup of tea. The music in this performance was only loosely based on Bizet's score. So it was disappointing, though there were some striking visual images created on stage.

June 19, 2011

The Kunsthistorisches Museum

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Spent most of the afternoon exploring The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna's world-class art history museum, with the treasures of the Habsburgs displayed in a spectacularly beautiful, yet surprisingly comfortable, venue. This may well be my favorite among the major museums of the world, pulling ahead of the British Museum. The Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections here were first-rate. There were couches arrayed in all the rooms displaying paintings, encouraging visitors to take their time to appreciate the art. Among the notable painters represented are Caravaggio, Rubens, Raphael, Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Eck, Durer, and lots of Brueghel.

My favorite painting of the day was Caravaggio's "David with the Head of Goliath."
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About Vienna

This page contains an archive of all entries posted to As Far As You Know in the Vienna category. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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