Der Kuss und ich bin Figaro

Yesterday was our first day with no Wake/Flow House events--free to plan as we wished.  The kids are still sleeping in quite late, so we got a late start to the Belvedere.  I hear that we will visit the Belvedere a lot with our classes, so I will have more to write later.  For now, the story goes that a French general was in some way deformed and so his father would not give him a post in the French military.  He came to Vienna, defeated the Turks, and was awarded this palace and land by the Hapsburg rulers.  There is an upper and lower Belvedere because he apparently did not like the huge palace, and built a smaller palace so he'd have somewhere a little more cozy. 

The first photo is looking from the upper, to the lower Belvedere and inner-city Vienna.  2. Kids riding the sphinx with upper B in the background. http://www.belvedere.at/de

This day's visit to the upper B was just to explore a Klimt exhibit that is closing this month.  Gustav Klimt's The Kiss is housed in the B, while a lot of his other works are in another museum.  So, The Kiss in person: my impressions.  The overall image is less romantic than in prints.  The woman's kneeling presence and the man's hulking, robed presence lend a sort of paternal aspect to the kiss.  She is delicate.  The hands of both are more like sketches so that they do appear overwhelmed by the glowing mass of feeling around them.  They are just barely on solid ground.  She is more precariously placed than he, with her feet just over the edge.  Also, the golds are less strong and solid than in prints, so the image is lighter.  All this to say, wow! 

It was fun to be with Maya at this exhibit.  One room of the exhibit shows many of Klimt's pieces from a time when he was challenging himself to copy other's work mostly Monet.  Maya picked out her favorite.  It was the one actual Monet in the room.

We did look through a few rooms of the permanent collection (non-Klimt) and Gabe is drawn to landscapes.  I told him that he is very American that way. 

After the museum we walked (through the falling snow) to a brew-pub nearby for lunch.  The large, ball of dough is called a Knoodle.

Maya and I went to see the Barber of Seville at the Volksopera (not the large and grand Stattsoper, but a smaller theater) with two students in the evening.  I loved the music and the very open orchestra pit.  The setting was 1930's, there was a Nazi army raid on the house at some point, and they sung in German (not Italian).  Figaro and Rosina were great.  So, it was a bit strange overall, but a good time.