Vienna - Friday April 5, 2019

I visited Vienna, Austria, to attend the European Geophysical Union General Assembly, a conference full of Earth scientists. I arrived on Friday morning after a successful red eye flight (that is, I'm pretty sure my eyes were red). Having watched 3 or 4 YouTube videos in advance, I was able to take the S Bahn (surface commuter train) to the U Bahn (subway) to the U1 station, Vorgensgartenstrasse, near my hotel.

I was lucky that they gave me a room at 10 am when I arrived. As usual for international travel, my first task was to convince myself that I could keep myself supplied with food and money. The simple pasta dish I had for lunch was tasty and the ATM I saw advertised in a nearby grocery store worked. The cash supply was important, as credit card use is discouraged (something else I learned in a video).


After a ride on the U Bahn to central Vienna, I was greeted by the opera house. A friend, one with very good taste, had given me suggestions. The opera house was on the list. I never did manage to get inside (there seemed to be a long line at the entrance every time I walked by).



The concert hall (Musikverein), at the edge of the old city, was also on the list. I had already picked out a concert to see and had paid for a ticket on line, so I stopped in at the box office to up the ticket. I would come on Monday to see the concert.



Skipping ahead to a photo taken Monday April 8, this is one of the smaller performance spaces in the Musikverein. Kontrapunkte. Modern classical music. After each piece, the composer was invited to take a bow (all three composers were present). Photography of the show itself was discouraged.



Outside the concert hall were several sidewalk stars. I found more near a symphony hall. My sample is Bach, because I like his music, Furtwangler, a conductor who recorded a famous version of Beethoven's 9th that I enjoy (in places it sounds like Bach), and Boulez, a modernist composer/conductor who worked with Frank Zappa.



Nearby the Musikverein, was a park, Karlsplatz, and a cathedral. Vienna was the center of the Holy Roman Empire for many years.



Imperial Catholicism.



It was raining so to get out of the rain I ducked into the tower of St Stephan's cathedral, a 12th century monument to gothic Catholicism. This is the view from the tower. The rainy day view isn't the best. The tall building on the horizon is near the Vienna Center, the conference site (just across the Danube from my hotel; it will show up again in my photos). On the far right, near the horizon, the Ferris wheel can be seen (it will show up later in my photos, too).



Detail outside St Stephan's cathedral. Jesus with wounds emphasized.



Catholicism conquers all.



St Stephan's cathedral roof. Symbols of two of the kingdoms of Holy Roman Empire?



Another St Stephan's cathedral detail. Catholicism doesn't bring in the bucks like it used to.



I came back twice later in the week to have another look at St. Stephen's and get more photos. This is the front.



This is a detail photo of the entrance.



St. Stephen's interior with art installation of suspended objects lit with purple lights.



A closer look at the art installation. To the right is a nice example of the gold iconic art that always reminds me of Klimt's gold period.



Back in my hood, near my hotel, I spotted marijuana growing inside a storefront.



Later I took more photos of this shop (above) and of another marijuana shop across the street (next photo).




Is the the marijuana district? And why is marijuana advertised mainly in English? I didn't investigate further.

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Vienna 05 April 2019 / Jonathan Krall / revised January 2020