Vienna, The Belvedere, Day 8

After lunch, Tauck byssef us up to these Belvedere Museum, which had been the palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, famous for driving the Turks out of Austria and preserving the Hapsburg rule. He was the son of Louis XV mistress, banished because he was a short, ugly hunchback. But apparently he was a brilliant military stategust and the Hapsburgs rewarded him with this and other palaces.

The Belvedere contains a large collection of old masters (most unfamiliar to me), impressionists (Van High, Manet, Pissaro & several Austrian artists) and most famous of all, a small collection of Gustav Klimt's work,. He's known for: The Kiss, painted in the style of the Woman in Gold, the subject of the lawsuit covered in the movie of the same name. His other paintings portray a wide range of styles from commissioned portraits to impressionist style landscapes, none as impressive as the guilt style of the two noted above.

We couldn't photograph the art so I can only include pictures of the building, garden and views from the windows. At 3, we returned to the shop for a brief rest before a private dinner in a private palace in the city. It will be a late night!Read more