Vienna (Wien) - Austria

After leaving Budapest I took the train to Vienna, Austria, where I couchsurfed with my new friends Jascha and Nora for two nights and played one concert.  The concert, at a cool DIY underground venue called Subterrarium, was amazing, and there was a very nice crowd of intent listeners.  I felt very fortunate to have such a great audience, since I am a nobody in Austria!  Below are some pictures I took while wandering the city in my spare time.


One of the main city center shopping streets, very alive in the early evening.


Up.


Part of the Imperial Palace, lovely at night.


My hosts took me to an art exhibit opening my first night in Vienna, and it turned out that the artist was Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Matt Cipov, who had just flown in to set everything up and be there for the opening.  His stuff is really cool, so please check out his website and catch some of his work back in Wisconsin if you get the chance.  Really great guy, as well, had a lot of fun talking to him, and I think we were both equally shocked to run into fellow cheeseheads that night.


A park with a giant statue of Maria Theresa, Austria's only Empress.

Vienna: The Gig

Radio appearance on Austria's state radio station earlier in the day. Klaus is sitting closest to the camera, he is the most awesome dude who booked this most excellent gig for me.

I was opening for Mark Geary, and Irish songwriter raised in the U.S., think Damien Rice or David Gray. He has really wonderful lyrics, and I've been listening to his cd a lot since he gave it to me. Check him out.

Playing my opening set

I handed my camera to someone in the crowd to take these pics.

Mark in motion

Vienna: Schonbrunn Palace

The day of my gig in Vienna, I took some time in the morning to visit the fabulous Schonbrunn Palace, "Vienna's Versailles". The Hapsburg emperors of the Austo-Hungarian Empire lived in this huge palace. I toured the right hand side, where the royal apartments are, and let me tell you, its pretty posh. Unfortunately, they did not allow photography inside. I guess you'll just have to settle for the view from the outside...

This is a victory monument for some obscure Austrian battle, and it was built on a hill overlooking the palace.

This is the view from the monument.

Vienna

Compared to Budapest, Vienna had a much more bustling, tourist-friendly, commercial scene. In one way it made Vienna more exciting since there were more people out and about, but I really loved how un-touristy Budapest was.

The American Bar with a really cool exterior! Had to go in for a (1o euro!) gin & tonic.

The central Palace for the Austrian Empire back in the day. In my next post you'll see where the emperors actually lived, Vienna's Versailles...

Vienna's plague column. Many European cities have one, and I ran into one in Budapest as well. They were usually built after the plague to give thanks to higher powers for sparing citizens.

Vienna's beer man is nowhere near as cool as the Polish ones.