We are in Brno for a symposium on Ungar and Kafka where Vicky is giving a keynote speech about her grandfather. We have three days here and then another three in Vienna which we don't know and has always been on our list of places to visit. A great chance to learn more about the sights and history of this culturally rich part of Europe.
We are here in Brno as guests of the city and they have put us up in the very comfortable International Hotel. This is a short walk from Freedom Square, the popular central spot full of bars and market stalls. It is actually a large triangle, rather than a square. We inspect the plague monument and admire how well the city has restored the old buildings before finding a bar for a craft beer for me and spritz for Vicky. It is really mild for early October and we sit outside. We seem to be the only non-locals - clearly not a lot of foreign tourists in Eastern Moravia in the Autumn.
Freedom Square, St Peter and Paul Cathedral behind market place, Spilberg Castle
We learn that Brno has a long history. At the eastern end of the Czech Republic it was the capital of Moravia and was an important centre for hundreds of years. Ferdinand II, the holy roman emperor, based himself here in the Thirties Year war until it was captured by the Swedish army. Napoleon stayed for several nights before the battle of Austerlitz. In the 19th and early 20thC Brno had a significant German speaking population including the Jewish residents who ran much of Brno's textiles industry. Since the Velvet Revolution the city has had a real facelift and now looks busy and prosperous.
Veveri Castle
Villa Turgendhat
Our first full day in Brno is largely free so we book a guide to show us round. Robert, a wild-haired professorial type meets us outside the Grand Hotel and is very excited when he discovers that Vicky is Hermann Ungar's granddaughter and a VIP visitor! He tells us that he can show us a lot more by car and drags us off to a free carpark down by the railway lines. First stop is the very fine Veveri Castle, some way out of town at the end of a long and scenic reservoir. We discover that Brno is surrounded by woodland - the second largest forest in the Czech Republic. The castle is perched on rocks in three sections, high above the road. We walk up but it is out of season and only open at weekends. Robert tells us a complicated story about its history, past owners, and what happened during the communist era. Unfortunately we don't get to the end of many of his explanations as he thinks of something else midway through and goes on to tell us about that instead.
Driving back into town we see a street full of grand, formerly Jewish owned villas - now mostly converted to hotels. Nearby there is another grand villa which is now in the middle of the Brno exhibition centre surrounded by big sheds. After exploring some more historic streets and the university centre we head for a 'must see' - the Villa Turgendhat, built for a young family in the grounds of their parents' villa by the great German architects, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lily Reiche in 1928-30. We can't get inside - you have to book weeks in advance, but get a good feel of the place by walking round and visiting the exhibition in the basement. In the evening Vicky gives a very well attended interview about discovering her Jewish roots in the small, Mehrin Jewish centre. We also learn about plans to build a beautifully designed Jewish museum near the railway station in Brno.
Statue by the cathedral, plaque on side of cathedral, Town Hall where Vicky gives her speech
Nicely restored houses in the Boskovice ghetto, the Boskovice synagogue
On our second full day in Brno we explore the city in the morning before a symposium on Hermann Ungar and Franz Kafka where Vicky is giving the opening speech. It is very well received and we are treated to more hearty Czech food before and after the event! The next day we join a trip to explore the Ungar roots in the town of Boskovice. We have visited before but this time we are with the Brno German society and are received by the young and charming Boskovice mayor. More speeches, coffees and exchanges of books. A local guide then shows us around the ghetto. Most of the houses have been restored and it is clearly popular with younger residents although someone tells us that the houses are more draughty than a modern house. We visit a couple of museums and local book shops and are able to look around parts of the 'kaiser house' where the Ungars lived.
After another hearty, four course lunch kindly provided by the mayor we are guided around the splendid chateau, once lived in by the Mensdorff-Pouilly family - related to Queen Victoria - and now beautifully restored and used for local functions and concerts. A friendly guide shows our group around the chateau telling us about its history and of the family. some of us descend a hidden staircase under a trapdoor to reach the gallery of the family chapel. The rooms have mostly been refurnished with the family furniture or similar to match pictures and photographs from the early 20thC.
Trumpet for calling the servants and some Mensdorff ancestors, Count Alfons' games room
Returning from Boskovice we say goodbye to our kind hosts and jump on the train to Vienna. On Friday night Brno station is packed with locals, including a scout group, either heading home or off on excursions for the weekend. An Austrian train (OBB) arrives and we find seats to take us the hour and a half trip to Vienna. I have only been to Vienna once for a work visit so am looking forward to our 'city break'. We get off to a good start when the taxi drops us at the O11 boutique hotel on the Operring. Very comfortable room in a great location! We start exploring straight away along the streets behind the opera where we stop for a drink before having dinner at Gasthaus Poschl - where Tommy's good friend Lucien tells us we will get the best Wiener schnitzel in town.
Schnitzl at Poschl's, Secession Building, Klimt's Beethoven frieze
Vermeer's Art Lesson, Breughel's Peasant Wedding, Dürer's Virgin and Child with Pear
We start our first full day in Vienna with a stroll down to the Naschmarkt. It is Saturday morning so the stalls are in full swing. Turkish stalls selling baklava and cheese, fruit and veg stalls, tourist stalls selling dirndls for children, and a big flea market. We then head back to the Secession Building to see Klimt's Beethoven frieze which represents the great 9th symphony. This famous frieze gets a floor to itself in Olbrich's building that was opened in 1898 to celebrate Vienna's secession movement - Austria's development of impressionism.
A short walk up the road takes us to the Museum Quarter and the spectacular Kunsthistorisches Museum, built in 1891 and full of Hapsburg treasures. It's worth a visit just for the interiors - the cafe is spectacular. The Spanish/Hapsburg rule over the Netherlands is much evidenced by all the Rembrandts, Breughels and Vermeer - a stunning collection. Outside loads of tourists are gathered around the huge monument to Marie Therese that stands between the Kuntshistorisches Museum and its twin, the Natural History Meseum. All are monuments to the height of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We round off our morning of art by a visit to the Albertine and then enjoy lunch in the splendid and popular Palm House which apparently becomes a techno nightclub from time to time. After a bit more exploring we round off the day with a trip to the opera to see Pucinni's Il Trittico - three one act operas of which the third, Gianni Schicchi, was brilliant.
Mozart statue - city of music, Marie Therese and the Natural History Museum, Kurdish protesters in front of the Stephansdom
Upper Belvedere
On Sunday morning we head for the Upper Belvedere, Prince Eugene of Savoy's great palace which now houses more art but this time Austrian. As well as all the formal portraits, landscapes and the iconic 'Napoleon cross the alps on his white charger' by David, there is a great collection of Klimts. The Kiss has so many tourists taking selfies in front of it that it is hard to get close to but we admire the variety of Klimt's other work on display. The weather is changing to October rain as we head back across town. We stop in a bierkeller to taste the local produce and head on past churches and gardens to reach the museum district again.
Three Klimts in the Belvedere, portraits of Sonja Knips and Fritza Riedler, The Kiss
Our final Vienna museum is the Leopold. This modern white cube on 4 floors was opened in 2001 to house the collection of Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold. Its star attractions are works by Klimt and Egon Schiele alongside Richard Gerstl and Oskar Kokoschka. There is also a fine collection of ceramics, glass and furniture showing the work of Vienna modernists and the Wiener Werkstätte. Having seen many example of Schiele's work with strongly outlined portraits of male and female nudes we are fascinated to see the variety of some of his other work. We finish our Vienna visit with more food and gift shopping as the weather deteriorates before an easy flight home the next morning.