Friday, June 08, 2007

Vienna Vienna Vienna

Right after the exhibition of Herr Hermann Nitsch in Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin last year we thought of going to his castle, Prinzendorf, for a celebration of Pfingsten (Zielone Świątki). Every year he makes a little event on this occasion. So Jacek booked the tickets - which were cheap then, and so we decided to go. In the end of May we flew to Vienna. Vienna is big, pompouse and one can see that the Austrians are polite and peaceful, no wonder, Austria was a big powerful land for so many centuries. We visited Museumsquartier, a very cool place, where are many museums, exhibitions and events.



There was even one polish exhibition, "Umpolen", with mainly videos from IKOON from Warsaw. Ok. We also saw an exhibition of Bernard Rudofsky, who was really an interesting architect. He even designed shoes! Ha!

At the same time there was Putin visiting Vienna, so some parts of the city were closed... oh... and there were helicopters flying the whole time... we spotted one...


At least we tried...

We also visited a project from Angela Dorrer, "Urban Pilgrims", where one could write some thoughts about Vienna, the city and cultural life! Of course as I love to answer questions, fill out forms and polls, I wrote also what I think. Actually, I drew.



After spending some time in Vienna, we got bored with the big city. Ok, historical centre is beautiful, but boring. We have also seen all exhibitions in Museumsquartier...
The good thing was that we rented a car. We decided to go to Neusiedlersee just to chill. We found a place to stay in a small village, a Guesthouse, with a view to the lake, and with an own winery. We bought some wine, which was really good, and went to the lake... we spend some days there, doing nothing, having fun, swimming and having some suntan - especially me. I need sun to feel good. That's it.


Don't miss the swans in the background... yes, it was that lovely!

We also took a trip to Hungary, a short one, just few hours. On the way we visistied some strange places...


The palace of count Esterhazy....

And we also took a trip to Bratislava... funny city. In the wonderful historical centre there were many english tourists, being drunk, shouting etc, just like in Cracow and Prague. Apparently there is a cheap airline going from UK to Bratislava. How typical.


But one can also find very strange structures in Bratislava... maybe also typical...?
(Have you seen the movie "Hostel"? Yesterday I saw part 2. No comment.)

After that we drove finally to Prinzendorf, hoping we will attend Pfingsten thing there. As we arrived we noticed that is was surprisingly quiet... hmmm... in front of Nitsch's castle there were few cars, ok, good sign. Good cars... We rang the bell. After half an hour came Mrs Nitsch looking at us angrily. She said that actually this year they do not organise Pfingsten ceremony because last night there was an opening of Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach (a small town nearby) and they decided it is enough of events for one week. Shit! We came all the way to Austria, just to be greeted by frustrated Frau Nitsch saying she doesn't really want to see us. She told us how tired she was of the museum's opening, having guests etc etc. We were so upset... all for nothing! For a moment I thought to put her on my enemy list (which is quite long), but then I thought she was more frustrated then us. She let us in, just to say "hallo" to Master Nitsch, who was chilling alone in the garden. And so we did say "hallo". In the end Mr Nitsch wanted that we stay a bit, although he was tired and had hangover. I think he wanted that my legs stay there, but in the end we left. Frustrated and disappointed.



It was Sunday. Our plane was on Tuesday. So we were driving around Austria without any logic. We didn't know what to do with all this time. We went to Mistelbach, anyway, it was on the way to... nowhere... but since it was Pfingsten, everything was closed. It was boring to death. We boycoted, of course, the Nitsch Museum. In (the only) one opened caffee we found Nitsch Pralinen... Ha! Now, that is how he makes his living!



We came back to Vienna for one night, went to a concert of a polish band, Robotobibok, in Volkstheater, organised by Polish Culture Institute in Vienna. Jacek wanted to see this concert... it was one day before his birthday... but the concert was somehow ... not good. They all played like they do not listen to each other. And the ladies from the Institute were so embarrasing. I heard them talking all the time, and between the songs, one of them shouted to the musicians "Tomek (I don't remember the name, let's say it was Tomek), Tomek, introduce the members of the band!" Oh, how embarassing. Good thing he didn't do it at this moment.

Next day, was Jacek's birthday (and my Dad's). We had some famous Sacher Torte and went back to Berlin. That was it. At least we had good weather. In Berlin it was raining as hell.

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