Mother Nature served up a schlecht Sunday recently, so what better to do than gaze at art and cozy up in a cafe for lunch? After all, we do love our art brut.
The House of Liechtenstein is my favorite. Wanting importance but not being royal, they did the next best thing: they bought their way into favor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Continue reading “The Princely Collection of the Liechtenstein Family”
Two visits within one week, and the only Wildschwein spotted was a stuffed specimen at the nature center.
But did it all spark joy is the larger question.
If people want sacred experiences, they will find them here.
If people want profane experiences, they will find them here.
I take no sides.
Getting ahead of ourselves on the hiking season, we decided an 8 kilometer wander on a crisp but sunny late winter day along what turned out to be a rather dull and very brown trail in a nature preserve was a good use of our Saturday. Not one single wild boar to snap with my new camera; but at least the signs of spring, and the Schnitzel and antlers at the Gasthaus made the outing worthwhile.
Last week I toured the new Haus der Geschichtes Österreich (House of Austrian History), a museum that recently opened in a wing of the former Hapsburg Palace. The museum’s focus is on Austria from 1918 forward, when the Empire was dissolved.
One might be surprised at what there is still to learn.
Once upon a time Japan was terra incognito. Then along came Commander Perry in 1845 to “suggest” (he brought his fleet of American warships as a calling card) that Japan end its policy of national seclusion by opening its ports to trade, and the fascination with the exotic began.