Being Tourists.

It’s not really something that we do.   The standing around,  the gawking.   It’s just never appealed to me at least.  I’m pretty sure Travelling Companion feels the same.

Don’t misunderstand,  we’ve gone a few places and seen a few things,  but always on our own terms.  No bus tours for me, thanks.   Unless I take my own.

When we went to Washington D.C. in May of 03 (oh,  that rhymes)  we took our own accomodations.

By that I mean these:

 

Note the “for sale” sign. 

We won’t talk about that.

 

Anyhoo,  since we’re sort of “reluctant tourists”,  you can readily understand why it’s taken us this long (over two years?)  to get out to see the works of “Hundertwasser”.   I can see you just now saying,  “Hundert…what?”  Um ya,  it’s the name of this guy,  who was an architect/artist (and there are probably other words to describe him,  but I’ll go easy here)  who had a unique approach to design.  
Whether I like it or not?  I’m not sure.    He was quoted as saying,  “The straight line is ungodly”, or at least that’s a close transliteration. 

And that’s all fine and dandy,  and I can certainly appreciate the use of curves in a building such as the Guggenheim,  (been there,  loved it) where the only flat surfaces are the floors.  Pretty cool I’d say.   But that’s the thing.  Some of us prefer walking on level surfaces.  As a matter of fact,  not walking on an even surface can be downright painful.    Which is why I could NOT live in one of his buildings!   We went into the museum/souvenir shop,  and I don’t think I could have stayed there any more than about 20 minutes,  or I would have plunged head long into one of the displays.  I mean,  I’ve been out on the deck of a pitching sailboat,  but at least then there’s something to hang on to.  I don’t do well when the floor just mysteriously falls away from under foot.   It’s not that the floor was moving or anything,  but unless you watched every step,  you were in trouble.

 

I’ve dropped off a few visitors at the Hundertwasserhaus,  but it just so happens that we didn’t make it to that exact location on Sunday.   I was tooling along the Danube canal,  and spotted both a sign and an empty parking spot,  and figured I was done.

Turns out we ended up at the Kunsthauswien,  which literally translates as the Vienna Art House,  but only has the work and musings of Hundertwasser as its theme.   I’ll stick in a Google maps link if you’re curious.   It turns out we could have walked on over to the Hundertwasserhaus,  since it’s only about 400 metres,  but it’s just more of the same.   It’s a housing complex where there are residence and office buildings,  with a few shops on the first floor.  That’s all you’re going to see.

 

So we meandered around the museum shop a while, where Travelling Companion bought a couple little things that will later be gifts of some sort.  I wandered around and tried not to fall over.  (Uneven floors,  remember?)

 

 

This is the back courtyard going in to the museum.

Clicking on that picture will NOT make it that much bigger,  since I don’t want to get in trouble with T.C.  She’s camera shy.

The thing is,  his architectural work can be seen scattered about,  throughout the city and other parts of the country.   It just so happens that there are a few spots there in the third district within walking distance of each other.  

People live in these places. 

Surely to goodness their floors must be level.  

Here’s a smattering:

 

 

And this is why I have very little desire to go to these touristy spots:

Wow.  That’s a lotta crap.  And that was only one shop.  There were many.

 

I’m trying to look enthusiastic. 

I really do like some of the tile work.  I think it’s neat.  The rest of it?  Meh,  I’m not overly thrilled. 

I’ve heard tell,  that certain buildings that he “designed”  are now having some structural issues.   Hm,  wonder why that would be?   The building that we live in, upon which our apartment is perched, was built in 1908.    It’s a big heavy boring cube.  Well,  it’s got some fancy bits out front,  but they’re not “structural” in nature.

Solid as a rock.  

You can come to your own conclusions.  

I mean,  if you want to get even more “boring,  yet solid as a rock”,  I suppose a pyramid would be the ultimate,  but the visibility would suck.  Best to just stick with cubes,  which would imply the use of straight lines.   Not that I’d want to influence your opinion or anything.

*****

 

I hope you’re enjoying your spare day in February.  We have to wait another four years for the next one.

 

Thanks for stopping by.