Vienna Adventures

Labyrinths, treasures, turquoise Medusas, memento mori, blood-red vases full of offal, secret doors, ivy-covered alleyways . . . I saw so many sumptuous, mysterious, occasionally gruesome things in Vienna last week, and it was all just so atmospheric that I’m going to post my favorite pictures here.

The medieval “Greek Alley”, featuring some of the very oldest buildings in the city.

The Hofburg is packed with these semi-hidden “jib doors.” This one was especially interesting, very small, as if for a child. (It might just be a cupboard, but it might also lead to a wondrous secret world . . . They didn’t let me look inside, so I am choosing to believe in the secret world scenario.)

Those gorgeous, curling leaves . . . I’ve been taking lots of pictures of gothic/baroque ornamentation and trying draw them afterwards, and realizing just how complicated all these carvings are. The struggle.

Hedge maze at Schönbrunn Palace

The orangery.

This is . . . not something I would put in my living room, but it was a common motif in olden days, called the “Pelican in her Piety”. A bird piercing her own chest to feed her young was an allusion to religious redemption, charity, etc. Mysteriously, it also pops up a lot in the art of the secret society of the Freemasons.

Proudly headless.

I love how delicately distressed he looks, as if the skull has disappointed him in some way.

Archimboldo!

This lady strikes me as delightfully sinister, I think because of the hellish red background.

And that was Vienna! I’d been several times before, mostly for readings and book stuff, but this trip was purely for exploring, and definitely gave me my favorite version of the city. It really is one of the prettiest capitals in Europe. It often gets overlooked in favor of Paris or Amsterdam, but during this post-COVID travel rush that Europe is experiencing right now, I would take Vienna over the scorching crowds of Paris any day.