Belevdere Palace - Vienna

When I went I just bought them at the entrance. Good art there.

Just buy when there, there are different options depending on which areas you want to see. I focused on just the Upper Belvedere, wonderful art and of course, Klimt's fabulous Kiss. I was there fairly early on a Monday and by some strange coincidence found myself completely alone in the darkened gallery with it for a good 10 minutes--for those 10 minutes it belonged solely to me. I had a good lunch in the Menagerie restaurant.

Would suggest that you purchase tickets for both Upper Belvedere (where the Klimt paintings are) and Lower Belvedere, which had some very nice exhibits when we visited last August.

The Palace is art in itself. Beautiful.

The Klimt "Lady in Gold" was on display there when I visited in 2001, but it is in New York now. See the Meryl Streep movie of the same name to learn why. There are still other works by Klimt there as well as ones by Egon Schiele. Interesting contrast between the older "official" imperial painting style with nudes resembling Playboy centerfolds to the modern styles.

Also nearby is the "Heroes' Monument of the Red Army" or as the Austrians sometime refer to it, "Tomb of the Unknown Rapist". Austria still keeps it in good repair as a thank you to Russia for leaving.

Actually, the movie is "The Woman in Gold" and stars Helen Mirren. But Sam is quite right that it is worth seeing.

Hi,

If you want to see the Soviet Military Memorial in Vienna, it's not far from the other historical site Schwarzenberg Platz, dedicated to their commander Schwarzenberg, just a minute or two between the sites.

Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, I keep getting those two mixed up.