Day 2 of 14: Walkabout, Art, Valentine's Day Dinner

It stopped snowing. This morning about 4:30, I heard the sound of snow shovels on the sidewalk below. There wasn't a lot of snow, but there was enough, and they're diligent about clearing it here.

We took the streetcar to town and walked around window shopping. I'm not much of a shopper but I see things in Vienna I don't see in the states. At least, not in Oklahoma---I'm sure you'd see Prada and Cartier and Ralph Lauren and that other shit in Manhattan. That kind of stuff ain't for me, but from time to time it's interesting to look at, if for no other reason than to wonder why someone would spend the price of a good used car for a purse.

It was overcast and just a bit rainy, and the occasional horse-drawn carriage clip-clopped along the cobblestones. I told B: "If I stumble upon a decent man-purse in one of these shops, I'll take a look." And I did see some good looking murses, but they were leather and very expensive. Nice to look at (and, oddly enough, to smell) but too fancy for this Jethro.

Dropped into the Cafe Hawelka for a coffee.

Then to the Belvedere to check out the Alfons Mucha exhibit. This guy was a hell of a graphic artist, and prolific to boot.

Illustrators don't get their due. "Serious" artists like Picasso get the glory but give me a good illustrator any day. Norman Rockwell was no slouch, and I really liked his depictions of Americana (whimsical though they may be.) But Mucha's stuff is even more enjoyable to me, mostly because he masterfully combines realism with fantasy.

Check out his work; here's an example:





















And while Mucha did a lot of commercial illustrations, he was also a "serious" painter. Google his stuff and see for yourself.

We took the streetcar to the Rathaus (city hall) to check out the ice-skating rink they've set up.





















Then we took the streetcar to Hansen, a very nice restaurant in the basement of the former stock exchange.

I like to eat, and I like good food, but it's rare for me to spend too much $$$ on dinner. However, I wanted to take B somewhere nice for a belated Valentine's Day treat. When the 14th rolled around this year, she was in Vienna and I was wherever the hell I usually am, so we figured this would be our special day.

Check out the menu. What would you have ordered?

And as long as we're talking about food, what about this?

















The cancer continues to spread, even here. Well---what the McFuck ya gonna do?

Maybe in Vienna, if you're tired of ordering the same old McShit, you can get a McWienerschnitzel.

I dunno. Maybe I'm a snob about this kind of thing.