A Palace, Some Paintings, and a Puritan Opera

It's hard to believe we've only been in Vienna two full days - we've already seen so much! A few cathedrals, two palaces, a concert, an opera, and the graves of many famous composers amongst countless other things. What a beautiful city! 

The Belvedere Palace

Everything has been incredible, but my favorite thing so far was the Belvedere, a baroque palace complex in the middle of an expansive park that houses a beautiful art collection, including Gustav Klimt's most famous work, The Kiss. This museum rolled in at the top of my list of things I wanted to see in Vienna, so I was very pleased when a group of my classmates agreed to go with me! I was most excited to see the Klimt pieces (which indeed did not disappoint), but the rest of the art collection was beautiful as well. There was a large exhibit on impressionism, one of my favorite art movements, that housed many stunning pieces. I had only really seen English and French impressionist pieces before, so it was quite interesting to see Austrian and German approaches to the style. The collection even had a few paintings by Edvard Munch (the painter of The Scream), a Norwegian painter that my older sister loves! The palace itself was incredible, with ornately decorated rooms and hallways with beautiful views of the palace grounds. I can only imagine how beautiful the must be in the spring and summer with green grass and blooming flowers!

Gustav Klimt, The Kiss

View from the Belvedere

Interior of the Belvedere Palace

After the Belvedere, we went to the Vienna State Opera House to see I Puritani. I've only seen one opera before so I don't have much experience with the genre, but it was quite interesting to see. This play was set during the English Civil War, a period of English history that I found fascinating, so that made it made it so much more engaging to me, a history major. The stage design was relatively simple yet beautiful. The first act began with the stage surrounded by decapitated statues of kings, a clue to the opera's setting of the during the Civil War (a quick explanation: Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentarian side of the conflict against King Charles I, wanted to destroy artifacts that represented the monarchy, such as statues of kings). Thankfully the opera house provided personal devices with subtitles in different languages, so it was much easier to follow the story and stay engaged. Hopefully the next three operas we see do the same!

Today is our last day in Vienna for this leg of the trip, and we're set the Schönbrunn Palace and the Vienna Philharmonic. Stay tuned as we continue our journey!