yk's Trip Report - 11 days of Art Nouveau in Vienna & Budapest Spring 2009
May 24th, 2009, 08:42 AM
#124
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Hi yk,
I'm coming to this a little late, but I just read your trip report in one sitting and enjoyed every word. I love the way you organize your reports and I really enjoyed your photos.
About the clapping in unison- when I was a dancer, we called it Russian or Russian-style clapping. It's maybe a little more common in the ballet world. When I was at the ballet in Paris last year, the audience ended up clapping Russian-style. It's actually brilliant, because it's much easier on your hands!
I'm coming to this a little late, but I just read your trip report in one sitting and enjoyed every word. I love the way you organize your reports and I really enjoyed your photos.
About the clapping in unison- when I was a dancer, we called it Russian or Russian-style clapping. It's maybe a little more common in the ballet world. When I was at the ballet in Paris last year, the audience ended up clapping Russian-style. It's actually brilliant, because it's much easier on your hands!
May 25th, 2009, 04:48 PM
#126
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YK - I hear you just got back from SF? I am looking for insight on the Westin St. Francis. Can stay there with my stepdaughter to celebrate her 16th birthday for a weekend in August - the room is 60.00 a night plus starwood points. Feedback? 
May 25th, 2009, 05:14 PM
#128
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MomDD-
P.S. I suppose you had already seen the review posted by 111op recently on the Westin St Francis?
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...omment-5572518
P.S. I suppose you had already seen the review posted by 111op recently on the Westin St Francis?
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...omment-5572518
May 25th, 2009, 05:51 PM
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Hi yk!
You've sure been busy travelling!
I might be visiting my sister in the UK at xmas and definitely will be next spring. I also really, really want to get to Madrid to see the Prado and the Reina Sofia sometime in this winter. So nothing for the next while.
btw, I've decided to try this new catchphrase whenever anyone at work asks me to do something- "No, it's not possible!"
You've sure been busy travelling!
I might be visiting my sister in the UK at xmas and definitely will be next spring. I also really, really want to get to Madrid to see the Prado and the Reina Sofia sometime in this winter. So nothing for the next while.
btw, I've decided to try this new catchphrase whenever anyone at work asks me to do something- "No, it's not possible!"
Jun 1st, 2009, 05:36 PM
#132
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<i>Postscript</i> - Almost <u>4 weeks</u> after I returned from my trip, I finally received all three postcards I mailed in Budapest (all to my house, addressed to DH). By contrast, all 5 postcards I mailed from Austria arrived within 5 days of posting.
Jun 1st, 2009, 06:10 PM
#133
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Apres, sorry for not replying sooner. No trips on the horizon (GASP!), but hope to head north to Canada in August or September. If I find an incredible deal to London, I might hop over this summer, but the lowest price I'm seeing on American Airlines right now is $700.
Jun 1st, 2009, 07:22 PM
#134
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Hi yk,
I had skimmed over this while on vacation but finally had a chance now to reread more thoroughly and look at the photos. Thanks for the detailed tips! This TR will definitely be more helpful than any guide book when I finally get to go (hopefully this year). I'm going to plot all your Secession places on my Google map. Is Butterfly House open for visits?
Were the museums very crowded on free Sundays? If so, were there any that you would choose to go on another day to avoid crowds?
Re Jonas Kaufmann photo: wow, "easy on the eyes" was an understatement!
Fantastic blue sky in that Stein Gate photo.
Did you see Stoclet Palace when you were in Brussels?
You must read the diaries of Alma Mahler-- they cover 1898 to 1902 (from her flirtations with Klimt to just before her marriage to Mahler) and describe the day to day lives of the Secession artists.
I had skimmed over this while on vacation but finally had a chance now to reread more thoroughly and look at the photos. Thanks for the detailed tips! This TR will definitely be more helpful than any guide book when I finally get to go (hopefully this year). I'm going to plot all your Secession places on my Google map. Is Butterfly House open for visits?
Were the museums very crowded on free Sundays? If so, were there any that you would choose to go on another day to avoid crowds?
Re Jonas Kaufmann photo: wow, "easy on the eyes" was an understatement!
Fantastic blue sky in that Stein Gate photo.
Did you see Stoclet Palace when you were in Brussels?
You must read the diaries of Alma Mahler-- they cover 1898 to 1902 (from her flirtations with Klimt to just before her marriage to Mahler) and describe the day to day lives of the Secession artists.
Jun 1st, 2009, 07:52 PM
#135
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Hi MlleFifi-
<i>This TR will definitely be more helpful than any guide book when I finally get to go (hopefully this year). I'm going to plot all your Secession places on my Google map. Is Butterfly House open for visits?</i>
Oh good! I bet you'll really love Vienna (no chaos there for sure). It's a city that I can go back again and again and never run out of things to see/do. However, I think I'll wait until 2011 before going back, when the Kuntskammer at the KHM reopens. I didn't go to all the Secession spots this time, but if you pick up that guidebook, it has a handy map in it with the walking route. Yes, one can visit the Butterfly House, though I don't know how much you can see there. From the outside, it's just like a glass greenhouse. The Butterfly House and the PalmenHaus share the same building, BTW.
<i>Were the museums very crowded on free Sundays? If so, were there any that you would choose to go on another day to avoid crowds?</i>
No, not at all. I'd say WienMuseum Karlsplatz has the most visitors, but still fairly empty. When I was on the top floor (Vienna 1900 galleries), there were no more than 10 visitors on the entire floor. I was able to look at everything close-up, in peace, in detail, at my own pace.
Hadyn House had perhaps 2 visitors in each gallery. I was the only visitor at the Otto Wagner Stadtbahn Pavilion Karlsplatz (it's a small place). My relatives told me that the other museums them went (one of the Beethoven House, and the clockmuseum) were not crowded either.
<i>Did you see Stoclet Palace when you were in Brussels?</i>
!!!!! I don't think it's open for visit; nor it was ever open for visit? If you know otherwise, please please please let me know. I'm dying to see the interior. In fact, I think it is under petition to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Or, did you mean if I've seen the exterior of Stoclet Palace? No, I haven't.
Thanks for the tip of Alma Mahler's diaries. Will look for it.
<i>This TR will definitely be more helpful than any guide book when I finally get to go (hopefully this year). I'm going to plot all your Secession places on my Google map. Is Butterfly House open for visits?</i>
Oh good! I bet you'll really love Vienna (no chaos there for sure). It's a city that I can go back again and again and never run out of things to see/do. However, I think I'll wait until 2011 before going back, when the Kuntskammer at the KHM reopens. I didn't go to all the Secession spots this time, but if you pick up that guidebook, it has a handy map in it with the walking route. Yes, one can visit the Butterfly House, though I don't know how much you can see there. From the outside, it's just like a glass greenhouse. The Butterfly House and the PalmenHaus share the same building, BTW.
<i>Were the museums very crowded on free Sundays? If so, were there any that you would choose to go on another day to avoid crowds?</i>
No, not at all. I'd say WienMuseum Karlsplatz has the most visitors, but still fairly empty. When I was on the top floor (Vienna 1900 galleries), there were no more than 10 visitors on the entire floor. I was able to look at everything close-up, in peace, in detail, at my own pace.
Hadyn House had perhaps 2 visitors in each gallery. I was the only visitor at the Otto Wagner Stadtbahn Pavilion Karlsplatz (it's a small place). My relatives told me that the other museums them went (one of the Beethoven House, and the clockmuseum) were not crowded either.
<i>Did you see Stoclet Palace when you were in Brussels?</i>
!!!!! I don't think it's open for visit; nor it was ever open for visit? If you know otherwise, please please please let me know. I'm dying to see the interior. In fact, I think it is under petition to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Or, did you mean if I've seen the exterior of Stoclet Palace? No, I haven't.
Thanks for the tip of Alma Mahler's diaries. Will look for it.
Jun 1st, 2009, 08:22 PM
#137
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I have no idea where it's located. If it's really far out, I don't think I'd bother, at least not until I can tour the inside. If their petition for UNESCO World Heritage goes through, I think the clause should be that it <i>has</i> to open to the public.
Jun 12th, 2009, 06:21 PM
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Wow, what a thorough trip report with so many picts! Never seen anything like it! I don't think I can ever comploetely digest it...even picts of your rooms. A few years ago we had some time in Vienna at the end of a tour including Warsaw, Krakow, Prague and Budapest. But you certainly have an appreciation for the fine arts. Our last night we did go to the Vienna Opera...and sacer tortes at the hotel across the street. Yes, Budapest was a treat, including side trips to Szentendre, Visegrad and Holloko (a UNESCO site).
One interesting aspect of our trip was that Agnes our
very knowledgeable guide as a young woman (parents did well as travel agent and auto dealer) lived well under Communist rule in Poland and gave us a thorough evaluation of economic and political life now as compared with then. Your comment about the older folks not smiling: fact is older people ARE having a harder time even while younger enterprizing folks are making it...in fact Agnes' parents once well off are in dire straits on low pensions. Yes, now a thriving economy and freedom, but more crime and drugs, e.g.
Ozarksbill (our son lives in Cambridge, MA BTW)
One interesting aspect of our trip was that Agnes our
very knowledgeable guide as a young woman (parents did well as travel agent and auto dealer) lived well under Communist rule in Poland and gave us a thorough evaluation of economic and political life now as compared with then. Your comment about the older folks not smiling: fact is older people ARE having a harder time even while younger enterprizing folks are making it...in fact Agnes' parents once well off are in dire straits on low pensions. Yes, now a thriving economy and freedom, but more crime and drugs, e.g.
Ozarksbill (our son lives in Cambridge, MA BTW)
