Vienna's parliament.
In a rather fortuitous coincidence, I just happened to be in Vienna at the same time as Flowers for Kim Il-Sung, a North Korean art exhibit that was only on display for one week, and only in Vienna. More fortuitous was that I went on the free day. The exhibit was primarily composed of paintings that glorified North Korea, Kim Il-Sung, and Kim Jung-Il. My favorite painting titles were, "We are the happiest children in the world,"and the ironically titled, "Our leader cares greatly about our nutrition," in which Kim Jung-Il is portrayed lifting the lid of a cooking pot and peering into its contents.
Next on the daily agenda was the Shonbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Hapsburg family (why their summer and winter palaces are about 2 kilometers away from each other I'll never know). It was, as expected, over the top. The sheer size of the grounds was staggering (probably bigger than the Topkapi Palace), and each room in the palace had some sort of theme. One was the "Chinese lacquer" room, composed entirely of black Chinese lacquer pieces on the walls. I forget the names of the other rooms, but I'll just call them the "marble column" room, "bigger than the rest" room, and the "make poor people feel even poorer" room.
Shonbrunn Palace, and some of the gardens.
From the front.
Palace gardens.
Touring the palace made me feel bad about the upcoming 350 square foot studio I will soon be residing in for the next year. To make myself feel better, I decided to sit down for a cup of overpriced coffee at Cafe Sprel. I'm pretty sure the purpose of Vienna is to make me recognize how little money I will ever have in my life.
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