Vienna Has 100 Museums & That Doesn't Even Include All the Pastry Shops

How to decide where to go? That omniscient being known as Google prognosticates that the best museum in Vienna is the Kunsthistorisches Museum. And so I go. 

But not before stopping at a classic institution in Vienna -- the Central Cafe, for a meal.

                                  The Central Cafe is mellow in winter

                       Classic Viennese breakfast

On the walk to the museum, on a day so windy you have to bend your body into the wind so as to keep on your feet, the sun comes out. For the first time since I've been here, I see a sculpture in full sunlight.

          Maybe this is how Vienna looks in summer

One ought not ask why three men wearing rubber horse heads are playing the Viennese Waltz on accordions on the museum lawn on a cold winter day. Just enjoy & leave some coins in the hat.

                                 The building itself is a work of art

                 Cold marble & warm wood & gleaming gold are a stunning combination

This is a view from the second floor, looking down into the museum cafe, with the cold sun streaming in

A fanny & a long hallway of repeating arches is a divine combination

                                 Could this be the first graphic novel?

                               The text even has thought bubbles, like a comic book 

This large head from antiquity happened to be at exact eye level. I stood very close & we looked at each other for a long time. What a strange feeling came over me...the passing of eons meant nothing. This is why museums exist...to lead us to understand that the basic elements of human life are the same in all of us, no matter where, no matter when, for good & ill.

This lady's proportions are all out of whack, which makes her kind of mesmerizing

This museum has dozens of massive paintings by Reubens

This painting of Istanbul, also sweeping in scale, was painted by an artist who had never been in Istanbul, nor seen any visual depictions of it, yet it is uncannily correct.

This pair seem almost like they could slide into cubism in another minute

       Bruegel painted naturalistic scenes of ordinary people, which was rare at that time

To visit Vienna & not admire the pastries would be a crime. I stop at Demel, another traditional spot.

These dancing couples revolve slowly atop bouquets of roses in the front window -- all made of sugar

                                       Likewise this opera mask

                                     The front counter

                                People stand & stare, mesmerized 

   The kitchen has glass walls, so you can see the candy artists at work. The two on the right are making Star Wars figures.

                                          Chocolate popes

                                      Sugar roses for a wedding centerpiece

                       Their candy shop is a museum too....lots of opera-related items

                          Beautiful packaging for candy violets

                                                     Elephants

              The packaging is at least as gorgeous as the contents

         Back outside, I see that a moody winter sky makes its own Viennese art