Saturday dawned rainy with the promise of sun and mild temperatures later in the day, so we decided to investigate the Natural History Museum.  Anna Grace was surprised that there was a fee (she has grown up on a diet of Smithsonian museums, after all), and more surprised that there was no bag check. What there was instead, was a collection begun over 250 years ago (!) housed in a grand and beautiful structure.

We toured the museum a la Musee d’Orsay style, that is, we started from the top floor and worked our way down. At the top was a temporary exhibit of “Arctic dioramas” that seemed like it should have been on the other side of the Museum Quartier at the art museum.

Apparently this moose, lacking opposable thumbs, unsuccessfully attempted to procure a bottle of red wine from the shelf of the local arctic beer and wine store. 
The Vogel Sammlung (and most of the museum, for that matter) was decidedly old-school, much to my happiness. Call me old-fashioned, but I like museums where there are cases of nature to look at without the distraction of hands-on interaction or subject matter electronic education booths. Wandering up and down the aisles, looking at this bird or that, was just plain fun.  Besides, one doesn’t need an interactive screen to imagine what Mrs. Peacock might be saying to Mr. Peacock.
The Gems and Minerals were all lined up neatly in several rooms. An OCD dream.
The Animal Kingdom was arranged by Class.
To move between collections one moves through beautiful hallway after beautiful hallway.

All this art, nature, and architecture for a mere €10. We capped our visit with a light meal in the rotunda cafe to enjoy a little Austrian/Italian fusion fare: two cups of Rindsuppe and a shared pesto bruschetta.