Arrival!

It was an early flight that brought me to Vienna via Munich (on one of those 'regional' planes that are so little -with one seat and then two on the other side of the aisle). It all went smoothly and I caught the bus to Westbahnhof to meet my friend (word of advice; have the correct change! Go break your large notes in the airport so that you have 8€ for the Airport bus and 8€ for a Day ticket on the the public transport. You can use your card as I did but obviously this might not be something you want to do). I was lucky enough to be staying in the lovely Funfhaus district in a beautiful flat with a terrace that was lovely in the sunshine.

I had started out determined to run around on Thursday afternoon but I quickly realised getting up at 2am I was tired! However I didn't want to completely waste the day so after a quick tour of the very lovely Duplex apartment I would be staying in, we headed out to a museum that we both keen to visit which was the Mumok. The Museum is in the 'Museum Quarter' where lots of other Museums can also be found. On the way we walked past:

The Secession

The Secession

The Secession building was designed by Klimt and a group of artists who decided to separate from the established Vienna art scene. It wasn't open so I didn't get to see the decoration that is inside but the outside was so lovely I got a postcard to send to my Grandmother (the search for international stamps begins!).

We also stopped in on a beautiful Church of Maria Hilf (the Saint is on display here!):

The Church of Maria Hilf

The painted Nave roof of the Church

An icon in the Church

A Trompe d'oeil in the side Chapel

The Altar

The very fancy organ

A pretty arch near the Church

We also stopped by the famous market in Vienna called Naschmarkt. It is a typical market  with dried fruit, nuts and olives, cheese and dried meat as well little covered stores that sold Austrian, Russian and Italian specialities. We stopped at a lovely wine store (opposite the Russian store) where we tried some local wine (Vienna and Austria is famous for it's wine. Vienna is surrounded by vineyards).

When we got to Mumok we had a lovely time looking around their exhibitions which are all temporary but very interesting. My favourite with '55 dates' which had highlights from the collection, including a great piece by Yoko Ono where all the masculine pieces from a chessboard had been removed. As well as a piece by Picasso and a Jasper Johns but this is my favourite piece:

I am sorry to say I didn't  note the artist but how cute is it?

We got hungry and decided to go look for something to eat. On the way I took some pictures of the beautiful buildings that made up the Museum Quarter square.

We had decided to go to a Bao Burger place but it was closed (and thus every time we tried to eat there, the place didn't work out so we never got to try it) so we went to a lovely pizza place (Bros Pizza) that had vegan options. Tasty! We then went back to the flat to enjoy wine on the terrace and get a early night after my early start.