Vienna Part 2 - Museums & Concerts

The Vienna art scene is, apparently, a pretty eclectic mix of radical modern art and classic, guilded, gold leaf architecture and paintings.

I have very little art knowledge but we visited two really beautiful galleries and museums during our visit, first the Secessionist Building which was originally built to showcase the artists within a radical art movement in the early 1900s. The building has incredible columns and a huge globe on the top of the building made up of gold leaves, it is a truly stunning building.

It was a small building with 4 different exhibitions, including a famous Gustav Klimt wall with the 'most famous kiss in the world' according to the posters, it seems to be their most favourite art! If I'm honest two of the exhibitions were a little too self indulgent and surreal for me but we stepped into a pitch black room which lights up with a screening of a gorgeous recording of a couple performing an old song in a 1920s style room, it was a really interesting trip.

Apparently the most famous kiss

The second visit was the Belvedere Museum which is an old Palace where their Kaiser used to live. It now holds 3 buildings worth of art. The Museum is split into 3 buildings which you have to buy a ticket for, you can get combinations of tickets depending on what you fancy seeing.

The main Palace (the Upper Belvedere)

The Upper Belvedere is the main building which holds the usual old paintings, I call them Jesus paintings, and some gorgeous historical art and collections. It pretty much just shows you the main artistic influences throughout history, which, if I'm honest, almost every other big museum I've been to has done.

The Lower Belvedere is at the other end of the garden and holds temporary exhibtions. We went to a Baroque themed exhibition which was truly stunning, the curating of the rooms was impeccably done with silver embossed titles on each wall for the room's theme. There was also a Japanese inspired Avant Garde collection which was also really beautiful set up.

The 21 Haus is the conteporary fine art uilding across the road from the Belvedere Palace. They had a photography exhibtion downstairs and fine art installations upstairs. I honestly canot understand modern art but we did see some really interesting pieces and even a couple of Damien Hirst pieces including 13 sausages carefully pinned to a canvas and named '13 Sausages', simple and sweet!

One night, after we'd massaged our poor feet from all of the walking we put on our gladrags to attend a classical concert in the Orangery of the main Palace where the Hapsburg dynasty lived. It is a truly stunning area but the Palace looks almost fake with how well it is kept!

The concert was in two parts, firstly of Mozart and then the Strauss family. They change their bill every night and they have classical singers and balle dancers to compliment the music. Lucy and I were by far the youngest people there by approximately 50 years so the people watching of heads bopping and eyes closed conducting with their arms.

The orchestra was fairly small but it was really entertaining, at the end they play a 'rousing' piece to get everyone clapping along, if I'm honest it was one of the more cringey experiences I've had in my life, but who doesn't love a good bit of audience participation?! (I don't).

They are constantly advertising this concert around Vienna and cloaked men will approach you every time you walk past them offering you tickets. We bought ours on LastMinute I think and must have saved an absolute fortune.

I couldn't recommend Vienna more for a chilled short city break, I wouldn't say there was enough to fill more than about 3 days in but if you don't mind spending your ays wandering and drinking coffee while people watching whilst on holiday then Vienna is perfect for you!

Vienna Part 1 - Sightseeing

I've been terrible at finding time to do my holiday posts but finally I've found time, lucky you!

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Vienna with my Mum, sister and grandparents on our yearly Easter break city trip. I'd never been to Vienna before but had heard it was a great city for music and art lovers.

{Clearly I was pretty happy to be in Vienna}

As soon as we stepped off the plane you got a fresh intake of cold, crisp air, the kind of air you only get when you're on the top of a mountain it's such a heavenly feeling. Our taxi took us into the centre of Vienna but you can easily get a train straight from the airport into the tube system of the city (we did this on our way back as it's SO much cheaper!). However as you travel along the roads, the pavements are lined with trees in the shape of bulbs, on closer looking and our taxi driver explaining to us, they were all huge balls of mistletoe. Obviously during the wintery months most of the trees are bare but you can still see bulbs in full bloom, it was a really beautiful sight.

We stayed in the Hotel Royal and it was right next to the main square with their incredibly beautiful cathedral, it couldn't have been better placed, and whats better? There was a late night McDonalds opposite! Oh and also the whole of Vienna on your doorstep, but mainly McDonalds…

{I'm not going to say what all of these buildings are as I will inevitably get it all wrong!}

We had a couple of days where we did a lot of sightseeing, as we were with our grandparents we used their sightseeing tours and to be honest we probably saw more of Vienna in the 4 days than we ever would have on foot.

Vienna is a truly stunning place for architecture, so many buildings take you by surprise with it's incredibly delicate work and it was interesting to see the different artistic styles which have influenced the city throughout history. During the war many buildings were bombed so a lot of the beautiful buildings are sandwiched by odd grey buildings which almost create more attention for the historical buildings in contrast.

{They love a good bit of gold leaf in Vienna, who can blame them?}

The city is buzzing full of city people shopping in the square but I would also say that it is primarily a city to sit and watch the world go by with a coffee and an apfel strudel, a perfect relaxing holiday for all ages. We did some lovely arty and musical things on the trip but you'll have to wait until Part 2 for that!

New York Day 3 and 4

Day 3:

Today was a Sunday so we had a bit of a lazy morning with a delicious bagel, they're so huge here! We decided to get the subway over to Soho for a wander, my God its complicated and BOILING down there! I couldn't get out of there soon enough and I don't know how commuters do it on busy mornings.

Once we got there we found a lovely villagey feel to Soho, I really liked it and the streets looked so lovely to live in. We went to the Apple store where I got my new Urbanears headphones, they're so cool I'm absolutely in love with them, I can't hear anything else when I've got the music on though! 

Then we had a wander and went into a few shops until we got to the Meatpacking District which is so nice. We went into Anthropologie and we bought these cute 5 year journals which ask you a different question for everyday in the year and you answer them for 5 years to see how much you and your thoughts have changed, its such a lovely idea I can't wait to start filling it.

We went through Chelsea Market which was lovely and walked along a walkway through the area. We stopped off for lunch at the New York Burger Co. Which is kind of a fast food place with posh burgers, it was delicious and I had two mini burgers to try the different toppings on offer, I was absolutely stuffed afterwards!

Once it got to late afternoon we got the Subway back to Central Park for a little bike ride. It was such a lovely thing to do and I think the park is definitely my favourite part of New York. Mum struggled up the hills and left very hot and sweaty, it was pretty funny but she got annoyed at me laughing at her!

When it got to dinner time we went straight back to the diner from last night, I was so stuffed still but managed a shrimp and scallop linguine which was amazing, the scallops were so big and juicy I swear they're always better in America. Then we all shared a Choc Fudge Sundae for dessert which was so naughty and I would never manage one for myself!

Another busy day but I feel we saw more of the locals' New York. Oh and we went past Carrie's apartment in SATC and it looks so lonely and small in real life, very strange that people were taking pictures of some steps up to an apt!

Day 4:

Last day so we decided to get the tram to Roosevelt Island to get a good skyline view of NY. Its a really boring and strange island but perfect for families, was odd to see something like that 2 minutes away from one of the busiest cities in the world!

{Lucy looking beautiful}

Then we wandered along Lexington, went to Bloomingdales and a cookery shop where we found the Bagel cutter we'd wanted for so long! If you don't know what it is just watch one episode of the OC and it is sure to be in the kitchen scenes.

We went along 5th avenue again and went into a few shops but its been so muggy today that it was almost unbearable to be outside. We had lunch at a restaurant called Rosie O'Gradys on 53rd at 7th Avenue where I had a HUGE burger and the crispiest chips, I really struggled to even get the burger in my mouth!

Then we got picked up from the hotel to the airport, we've ended up at the airport 2 hours early before even check in so we have 4 hours to kill at JFK before our long flight home! I really loved NYC and I think I want to make it my mission to find a job here for at least a year or something, the experience would be amazing I think! 

Here are a few random snaps from the holiday:

{So darn American}

{Most amazing toy Shop called FAO Schwarz, there was a huge piano you could run along but thought better of going on it and being the ginat net to small kids playing!}

{Little version of Ron}

{In the Quidditch Supplies Stand}

{The Sorting Hat, Lucy was a Hufflepuff, I was of course a Griffindor}

{Horse racing badges along the Ralph Lauren walls}

{TAXI!}

New York Day 1 and 2

So I've been a terrible blogger and have ignored this website for a long while now but I do have my excuses! I've been staying with my cousin in London for the Olympics and they've just got the internet sorted in the new flat, it's been strange to see just how important television and internet is to our daily lives, especially during the Olympics!

My last post told you about my incredible birthday surprise of a holiday to New York with my Mum and sister, it was one of the most amazing trips and it has definitely ignited a love for the place and to live in such an interesting place at some point in my life.

I wrote a diary while there so I shall just write up what I said there as I don't think I could give it justice with my two weeks ago memory of my time there!

Day 1:

So we got to the airport and I found out that I was going to NEW YORK! It was such a lovely surprise and I feel so lucky! We had a yummy Mexican breakfast at Giraffe and got on the plane, the flight was good and we watched lots of films!

When we arrived JFK was quite far away from the city so our bus was quite a long journey! We're staying at the Park Lane Hotel right by Central Park, its really beautiful!

We went for a wander down 5th avenue and went for dinner at TGIs, I had this amazing pulled pork burger with chips and JD sauce, delish!

Once we got back we completely conked out I was so tired!! I can't believe I'm in New York!

Day 2:

We woke up really early for brekkie, HUGE bagels and delicious warm hot chocolates.

Then we travelled on the Subway, most confusing thing EVER! They really should have come up with a better system, more like London's!

We went to the Empire State Building and the views were just beautiful, you can see so far and all of the massive Central Park. It was a really nice experience to have. We saw Times Square too which is just insane, absolutely huge screens everywhere and larger than life shops.

Then we went SHOPPING! The weather was boiling so I bought some cute shorts from American Eagle and changed into them for the day! I also bought some delish smelly Victoria's Secret body sprays and lots of Pink stuff which was a mission to find! I got some nice gym shorts with the NY Yankees sign on, a lovely soft hoody in grey and lots of VS knickers.

Lunch was perfect, we were walking down Broadway and there was a huge market all down the Avenue (I'm just starting to understand how all the streets and avenues work!) We found a Mexican stand and bought some burritos and some fresh lemonade (it tastes so different and amazing here) we just sat on the pavement in the middle of Broadway and watched the people walk by, it was so perfect doing exactly what people in New York would do on a Saturday afternoon!

Then we wandered around Central Park which is just so incredibly beautiful, I could have wandered and sat there all day and people watched! There's just so much going on, there was a concert in one section and people ballroom dancing in another, if I lived there I think it would by far be my fave spot!

For dinner we found this amazing American Diner called 'Brooklyn Diner USA' which claims to be pretty good. Mum and Lucy had the burger which looked delicious and I had steak with mac and cheese which I'd heard is a big New York combo, it was delicious but so filling! Would go there again (hopefully) its on 57th street on broadway or 7th avenue I think!

And now we're back in the hotel and I'm ready for a good nights sleep after a relaxing bath! Can't wait for tomorrow, the plan is Soho and Central Park bike ride!

I wish I could go back!! Will update you on day 3 and 4 tomorrow and then tell you all about my Olympics adventure! It's been a busy one I can assure you!