Vienna 10/30

Vienna, October 30, Tuesday

I went to the most amazing fabric shop I have ever seen: Komolka. I think much of the fabric was couture; everything from beads and crystals to sewed on roses to feathers to something like the design felting I have seen demostrated. I asked if I could take some pictures for my friends in America and did so.

The feathers amazed me most. I couldn't figure out how they were attached. They were real feathers: blues on blue, reds on red, multicolor on anything. There was one fabric that made me think of the 20's dresses I have seen in pictures with rows of strings hanging down like fringe, but all over, not just at the bottom. I went into the pattern area and saw a book of tracht designs, the traditional Austrian/Bavarian costume, with swatches to show what was used. One taffeta had a hunting scene at the edge.

I also went into a craft shop. It was stuffed with beads, pens, paper, inks, clay, everything.

I didn't buy anything. The fabric was expensive, up to $300 per meter.

We had a Mozart cake and coffee downtown just after noon because we planned to go out later with Garrett's friend from Fullbright days. The cake was heavenly. The coffee was too. The cake was 2 layers of chocolate with a filling of pistaccio nougat and milk chocolate frosting--fondant that tasted like fudge. Oh man!!!!

I had planned to go to the Secession museum in the afternoon, but it was something of a disappointment. The only Klimt was the Beethoven Frieze, down 2 sets of stairs and up one. Because it is a frieze, it is installed at the top of the wall, so you have to climb it to see it. It was along 3 walls, and there was a guide to explain. It was strange.

Gernot took us to a restaurant that featured wild game. Garrett and Gernot had venison, and I had rabbit. It was a new experience, but good; the meat was dark, in a sauce and with potato dumplings. I couldn't begin to eat it all.

Garrett and I shared a dessert, crepes with plum conserve and poppy seeds and whipped cream, and Gernot had poppyseed cake. We rode back to our hotel on the bus.