Day 3

We got organised early as our slot for the Belvedere was 10.30. We walked to the gates of the botanical garden part but they were shut. The official let three people come out but wouldn’t let us go in so we had to dash along the street to go into the gardens by the main entrance then walk up the hill to the palace. On entering an audio guide was €5 each.

There was a lot of art but most of the crowds were centred round the Klimts, in particular The Kiss where Chinese tourists were hustling to get a selfie. I hadn’t been a Klimt fan but in fact when I saw the paintings, specialities landscapes, I did appreciate the detail.

There was a room of women painters. I loved the one Fauvist, Helene von Taussig. She was killed by the Nazis. One woman, Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, escaped to Britain. I hadn’t seen her work in exhibitions at home though she lived all her life there.

We did enjoy it and learned a lot about Austrian and Hungarian art, but were overwhelmed by seeing so much.

From there we had a short walk through back streets to cafe Goldegg, founded in 1910. It was authentically art nouveau with only locals on their laptops or reading the paper. It was cheap - we got a huge bit of apple strudel for under €5. It was delicious, not too sweet, with only a thin layer of pastry.

We walked back to the lower Belvedere as Jenny thought our ticket included more Klimt but it didn’t so we didn’t buy another ticket, feeling we’d not be able to appreciate any more art in the day.

So we had half an hour back at the hotel to change into less hot clothes as it was warm and sunny before heading out again.

This time we got the tram to opera and walked to Stephandom the huge cathedral. We paid €7 and had a QR code for an audio guide. It was an impressive building, particularly the late Gothic pulpit carved from limestone. The master mason carved himself in a corner. It was fabulously intricate, much more so that Roslyn Chapel. When we came out there was a choir with Israeli flags asking for the hostages to be released. We didn’t linger.

From there we walked to Adolf Loos’ loos, more art nouveau. Not a penny - it was 50c but interesting. The minder locked us into our stall but we managed to get ourselves out!

From there we wanted to go to the illusion museum but realised it was closed so headed for the Jewish Museum. There was an Austrian army man outside with a gun. I asked the woman on the information desk if any of the netsukes were still there. She was really nice and asked us to go with her. She said most were away on loan and people got cross having paid €17 for the museum when that’s what they’d come to see so we could see the few they had for nothing. It was so kind of her at the end of the day. She waited while we had a good look at them. So beautifully carved. The Hare With the Amber Eyes is a well known book by Edmund de Waal about his rich family in Vienna and how they lost all their art when the Nazis came. The story is a maid had the netsukes safe as the children liked to play with them. His relative in Japan had this hare and he inherited it and others which he donated to the museum. We were so pleased to be able to see these beautiful pieces.

When we emerged the rain was bucketing down. Thankfully we’d taken brollies. We headed back to opera for the tram which came quickly. However we had to get off who knows where as there had been an accident. We ended up walking back. Only 20 minutes but we were tired and it was wet.

Jenny had booked dinner at a place quite near the hotel that a friend had recommended. It was a beer place, full and noisy. Our food was microwaved and awful. I had a spinach and cheese thing. Totally mushy and tasteless. We must do better for food!

Here’s some beautiful netsuke

15917 steps and 11.3 km today.