Church, Old Town, Castle, Museum: Repeat

I'm not sure where on this train journey of our lives the realization hit us, (probably when Kenz and Diane pointed it out), that every city we visit has the same elements and the elements were starting to blend into a spectacularly repetitive super nova.

Perhaps we were starting to blend together as well. Youdy or Wenseff. It seemed that the Dalmatian Coast had rubbed off on him.

The best part of a traveling circus is being nimble, curious and seeking the less obvious, quirky, resident-revealing story in each city, I call it the Dodo bird. Sometimes perceived rotten apples turn into a surprisingly delicious strudel.

Villach - Austria

We were greeted by some locals frozen in time in Villach, a whistle stop town on our train trip just over the border in Austria. There were few people in sight, just these 4 to twilight zone us.

Salzburg - Austria

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific composer born in Salzburg performing by the age of 5 at numerous courts.

At the Mozart Museum we learned that he was quirky, brilliant, an excessive spender, childlike, adored his sister, quite vain about his hair and a bit of a prankster. Frustrated with his opportunities he moved to Vienna at the age of 25 to increase his chances of stardom.

So many castles, churches and museums in Salzburg's old town.

You may be familiar with Salzburg from the "Sound of Music". How do you solve a problem like Maria?

We didn’t find the answer in Salzburg nor did we attend any Sound of Music tours or sing alongs that run as rampant as Austrian Apfelstrudel. When the Sound of Music was first released, sophisticated Austrian didn't appreciate the “show tunes” or the costumes as they weren't traditional Austrian. What really chaffed their dirndls was that the song "Edelweiss" wasn't an old cherished tune but was newly created for the movie.

Stunning vistas in Salzburg and one imposing castle. We have been wondering after the many high-on-the hill castle visits what desperate fools ever thought that they could breach the walls and how did anyone ever succeed.

Linz - Austria

We went for the famous Linzer torte (first cake recipe to be recorded in written form) and found a fantastic museum, Ars Electronica Center, an Austrian cultural, scientific and educational research museum presenting the future. Everything from fabric that molds and conforms to weather conditions to future research on AI, uses for fungi and the future of prosthesis (the alternative limb project) enlightened us on human advancements.

Linz is a city next to the Danube famous for astronomer/mathematician/philosopher Joannes Kepler (formulated the 3 laws of planetary motion) and the composer Anton Bruckner. Both have institutions in their name, we visited Bruckner's University to hear some of the graduate concerts but the timing didn't work.

Vienna - Austria

8 years ago when I came to Budapest, Vienna and Prague with Tia, Joanne and Barb, my band of bonding women, Barb's purse got stolen at our hotel in Vienna and numerous hours at the US Embassy shortened our positive experience.

Returning with an open mind we had a much better time, partly because of these 2 beautiful people who joined us from Sweden.

We met some interesting characters along the way. One was a bagpipe player named Marx Augustin, a poet and improviser from the 17th century who famously fell into a plague pit while drunk, woke up to commence playing the bagpipe loud enough to get rescued and returned to sing his songs while wandering through the streets creating the cult of his song "Oh you dear Augustin" or "O du leiber Augustin" . Now that's a positive outlook on life.

Working girls.

Klimt's "The Kiss" was the opening act at The Belvedere Museum. While it was fun to see such an iconic art piece I find I am drawn to his other artwork such as Klimt's summer home titled "Forester's House in Weissenbach on the Attersee" and "Fritza Riedier" who is also blending into the chair, kind of like our blending.

We met people holding things up and Albert Hrdlicka's memorial against war and fascism as a reminder against anti-semitism.

Vienna Opera! We got last minute, standing room only tickets for "Dialogue des Carmelites" by Poulenc. Unfortunately with the lack of air in the theater, I couldn't stand standing! Gorgeous theater and I am glad that I lasted 30 minutes of the 3 hour opera but I couldn't save the Carmelite sisterhood. They all eventually die opera style-horribly.

Bratislava - Slovakia

We took advantage of a chance to see Slovakia on a day trip from Vienna. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and for 300 years was the capital of Hungary adding fuel to our super nova of church, old town, castle elements. Matus Vallo is a bass-playing architect mayor who has been working hard to renew pride in the city, restore neglected buildings and improve public spaces.

We meet up with Mozart again in Bratislava as it was one of his first concerts as a 6 year old prodigy.

The gorgeous St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church or the Blue Church was the draw even if I couldn't force those doors open because the church was closed.

Čumil, man at work, was fun to meet. He basically sits in the street watching. Due to careless drivers he's lost his head twice so they added a unique traffic sign for him. Some say he's a typical communist era worker who works less and watches more. He is the most photographed object in Bratislava.

President of Slovakia's pad, old town and Bratislava's many statues, food products and a fresh Moravian cheese dispensing machine.

Brno - Czechia

Is it Czech Republic or Czechia? The Czech Republic is what is most often used on official documents and the name Czechia is what the country prefers to be called in familiar terms. Since Czechia and I are on a first name basis that's what I am calling it.

Brno started out as a bummer being a letdown after our other adventures. Every city we visit has a specialty, beer, pastry, coffee, wine, cheese and they are proud to promote it. At the BRNO tourist office our lady of the info said there are no specialties in Brno.

Brno on arrival looks like one of those sad East European cities that had an imperial glory in its day as a stop over on the road between Vienna and Prague, but has long ago lost the luster.

I can tell a lot about a town by the ladies fashions in their window displays. This town flashes back to 60's housewives and oversized, flowery fashions for the elderly.

A little marketing 101 course is needed in this Southern Moravian city tourist bureau. So here goes.

Why Brno you ask? Czechia is known for its natural waters and soothing springs, plus it had good train connections to lots of smaller towns. It was a totally open book, 4 days to look for Dodo birds and be surprised.

The first Dodo was seeing the Dragon of Brno hanging right outside city hall. When a dragon was threatening the countryside devouring everything in sight, including young girls on phones, the visiting butcher had an idea to trick the dragon by placing caustic lime inside the hide of a sheep. Trojan feast eaten and this is all that remains of the dragon. Some things look bigger in real life.

I thought I had arrived in Palm Springs when I saw the modernist Villa Tugendhat on the hill. Fritz and Greta Tugendhat commissioned architect Ludwig Vies van der Rohe in1928 to build one of the pioneering types of architecture in Europe for their family home. The Tugendhat family lived in the house for 8 years before the family fled to Switzerland and the home was requisitioned by the Gestapo.

The legacy of the German functional furniture designer Lilly Reich is stamped on Villa Tugendhat with 3 chairs : Brno, Barcelona and Tugendhat. Chairs that have been copied into our present day design venacular and are still produced by Knoll.

The split of Czechoslovakia and creation of modern day Slovakia and Czechia was signed at Villa Tugendhat in1992.

During the Thirty Years' War*, Brno was the only city to succeed in defending itself against Swedish sieges, thereby allowing the Austrian Empire to regroup its armies and to repel the powerful Swedish army.

How was this accomplished? My spies in Brno tell me it was a Brno spy planted in the Swedish army that overheard the Swedish commander, General Torstenson, tell his aide de camp early on the morning of August 16, 1645, “After 3 months of serious damages to our troops, if we aren’t successful today by high noon we will withdraw immediately”.

Brno command used the spy's information to set the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul's clock forward so that at 11:00 it would ring 12 times tricking the exhausted General Torstenson into withdrawing. The brilliant Commander-in-Chief Raduit de Suches stationed in Spilberk Castle in Brno was successful in repelling Sweden and the clocks still commemorate the event at 11:00 every day with 12 strikes.

Spilberk Castle home to Moravian rulers, a prison under the Hapsburgs and temporary detention center during Nazi regime for prisoners being exported to concentration camps. The black marble Astronomical Clock commemorating the Swedish withdrawal.

Where else in the world do you find a Romani Museum of Culture. We see countless Romani people in every European city and the stigma attached had us curious to learn more about their culture, struggle and why a museum in Brno. The Museum opened after the Velvet Revolution* by the Czech Romania intelligentsia to offer an alternative history tracing the Romanis voyage from India, marginalization by society, constant movement to escape persecution, highlighting the art, crafts with an emphasis on Czech Romanis.

The museum and the many colorful buildings in Brno.

Observational time spent in the Brno Observatory and Planetarium. And yes that is the real moon Youssef took a photo of on the 45 year anniversary of our first date and the new friends we met.

Another point for Brno is House of the Four Mamlases (Four Numskulls-Czech Translation). They all look miserable holding up their loin cloths and the building at the same time.

Staying in Brno did allow us an escape to a nearby sauna retreat where we experienced 12 different saunas out in the countryside helping us realign for more luggage shifting.

On a scale of 1-10 in terms of Dodos, Brno ended up close to a 10, but only if you visit all the places listed.

New lesson: don't always judge a city by its fashion store displays.

*Thirty Years' War Religious war fought between 1618 and 1648. It was primarily a war for European dominance between Habsburg-ruled Spain and Austria, and the French House of Bourbon.

*Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution Non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989.