Flora
Spring was about as far along in Austria as it was in Minnesota
when I left. The trees were just beginning to leaf out. Daffodils were in
bloom, although not tulips (if there were any.) In the countryside the vineyards
were showing no new growth, but some spring ephemerals were blooming. We did
not attempt to identify the wildflowers in these pictures.
Fauna
The first birds I became aware of woke me up at 4:30am during
my first mostly sleepless, jet-lagged night in Vienna. They sounded a bit
like American Robins (which also like to sing at that time) and also a bit
like Wood Thrushes. The courtyard outside the window served as a perfect resonator
for the flute-like tones. Later, while walking around town I noticed these
birds that, except for being all black, might as well be American Robins.
Our bird identification
was hampered by the lack of a field guide. But, ever resourceful, I contacted
Shirley back in Minnesota, and she has a Hungarian field guide (a gift from
her parents when they visited Europe.) Now Magyar is probably the worst European
language to try to decipher if you don't know it. There are no cognates. However,
the pictures were paired with the scientific Latin names in italics. So Shirley
would look up a described bird, give us the Latin name; whereupon we would
search for the name on the Internet, and verify that this was the bird we
were seeing. So turdus merula turns out to be in German Amsel
and in English ... Blackbird (as in "Blackbird singing at the dead of night.")
The picture to the right does not show the drooped wing position which we
observed and is characteristic of thrushes. Here are some
of our own pictures of birds and other critters.
Equitation
As many of you know, Janna has been associated with Herr Riegler,
an Oberbereiter at the Spanish Riding School, since her first visit
to Vienna in 1997. So of course we had to pay a visit to the Spanish Riding
School and to Reitstall-St. Lukas, Hans and Eva Riegler's own stable and training
facility, to see them do their stuff. These pictures
were taken by Joe Dolson and Mark Ward or were scanned from postcards.
Sign und Zeit
Melk
Our original intention had been to visit the Czech Republic on the weekend
— going to Litomysl, where the Kysilko's originated, and to Ceska Rybna
and Krouna, where my more recent ancestors had lived. However, the spring
floods had been fairly severe there. The train routes were interrupted with
bus segments, throwing schedules into disarray;
the bus schedules on the Czech Web sites were missing essential information;
and car rentals were expensive. We decided to stay in Austria and tour the
countryside.
On Saturday we choose as our destination the town of Melk, situated on the Danube an hour's train ride west of Vienna. Melk's main attraction is a palatial Benedictine cloister dating back to the 11th century (but "modernized" in the Baroque style in the early 18th century.)
Further flexibility was demanded of us. We hoped to bus to a nearby town to tour another castle and spend the night. However, we were thwarted by the vagaries of Austrian scheduling, for this weekend was a school-holiday and the busses weren't running. So we took the train back to Vienna, and set out again on Sunday for . . .
Krems and Dürnstein
The train to Krems follows the Danube Valley and for much of the way the
Danube itself. This is wine country with vineyards visible for most of the
hour's journey. 
(The perceptive reader will wonder why we were not back in Melk. The answer
is that on Sunday we were north of the Danube, on Saturday south.) The same
floods that kept us away from the Czech Republic had damaged a segment of
track, so the last quarter hour into Krems was on a bus.
In Krems we had tea and cakes at the konditorei with the candy critters pictured on the Fauna page. Apparently confectioners pull out all the stops during the run-up to Easter. We then hopped on a shuttle train that took us to Dürnstein an der Donau, a much older town where if you climb a steep hill for about a half hour you can explore some ruins of a 13th century castle. Supposedly Richard the Lion-hearted was held for ransom here on the way back to England from his Crusade. After exploring the ruins and the town, we returned to Krems for more exploring and an excellent dinner.
Palaces and Other Museums
I visited a good number of museums, usually with Janna and Joe. These places
have in common that taking pictures is verboten, so this part of the
show-and-tell will be more tell than show. 
The
major exception is the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace. In addition to these
pictures of buildings, gardens, and statuary, most of the bird
pictures on the Fauna page were taken at Schönbrunn.
Perhaps now would be a good time to comment on the characteristic shades of yellow found on many buildings – old and new, great and humble – in Austria, as well as on the background of these pages. Sometimes referred to as "Hapsburg yellow," the color is said to have been a great favorite of Empress Maria Theresa's. And since she was so loved by the Austrian people, all manner of buildings sport these colors. (I am no authority in historical matters. You can choose to believe this or not. All I can tell you is that the color is ubiquitous.)
Other museums I visited included:
- The Kunsthistorisches Museum
(Art history museum) is several museums under two roofs.
- The Picture Gallery houses works by most of the European artists from the 15th - 18th centuries represented in your art history textbook, not to mention the originals of some of their paintings pictured therein. Lots of Breugels but only one Vermeer.
- The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, which I rushed through.
- The Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, which I skipped.
- The Ephesus-Museum, which documents archeological work in Ephesus.
- The Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments. Also some not so ancient instruments, including a fair number of Bösendorfer pianos. Only one clavichord was available for playing, and none of the keyboard instruments were open to reveal their inner workings. On the plus side, I finally got to see a basset-horn.
- The Haus der Musik (House of music) resembles American science or children's museums. There are many interactive exhibits, some of which were quite fascinating — or would have been fascinating if the designers had given any thought to controlling the background noise. The coolest exhibit by far is one that gives you a chance to conduct a video of the Vienna Philharmonic, with sarcastic remarks by the musicians if you screw up. Unfortunately, a never-ending line of school children puts this exhibit out of reach of most adults.
- The Belvedere Gallery houses a collection of mostly modern art. It is known for its holdings of Gustav Klimt's works, although many of these were recently returned to Klimt's heirs. I was most tempted to try to circumvent the no photographs rule to get a picture of a scupture consisting of toilet paper tubes glued together (Heimo Zobernig, "N.T.", 1997.) But we could not induce the guard to look away, not even as he recited some of his poetry to us. Therefore, Shirley will just have to take our word for it that the structures she created for her mice (Larry, Darrell, and Darrell) were worthy of an honored place in a Viennese museum.
and Finally — the Music!
The impresarios, the civic leaders — and the merchants — are making full use of this Mozartjahr to drum up tourism and other business. And that's saying a lot for a city that peddles Mozartkugeln (chocolate balls) during ordinary times, and where the Cafe Mozart has been around for ages. Mozart's name and visage confront you at every turn. Spend any time in the Inner Ring (downtown) and you are sure to be accosted by caped and bewigged Mozart imitators selling tickets to less than first-rate concerts. Janna warned me to adopt New York style eye avoidance habits. Still, if you find yourself in Vienna not having booked tickets in advance, these folks will provide same-day musical opportunities.
I was fortunate in my choice of travel time. The two weeks before Easter were the occasion of a special series of events called Osterklang (Sound of Easter.) And with Janna and Joe monitoring the Web sites of the major venues, we were able to attend a number of very fine performances.