"Scientific Research" (part 11 of many)

On Thursday, 6, Denise, Thales and I enjoyed a nice dinner in the company of Landon and his girl-friend Sarah. We went to the restaurant located on the top of the panoramic tower in Vienna, close to the convention center where the EGU was taking place. It was like a nice celebration for the poster Landon presented that same afternoon.

Landon and I scrutinized the contents of Zipfer, one liter in total.

Poster at EGU2010

This picture shows Landon and me in front of the poster Landon presented during the 2010 European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, in Vienna. The title of the poster: Evaluation of different strategies for mitigating azimuthally asymmetric tropospheric delays.

Hofburg Imperial Palace and Franz Josef I

Vienna is a typical European city, where you trip over History at every corner. In the middle of it all, we find Hofburg Imperial Palace, the official residence of the Austrian Imperial Family, the House of Habsburg (and later, Habsburg-Lorraine). We visited Hofburg on Monday, 3.

In this Palace lived the de facto last emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I (1830-1916). He reigned in a time when the monarchic rule was under pressure by the republican ideals everywhere in Europe and in the Americas.

His reign was marked by a failures in foreign policy and by personal tragedies. In his personal life, he had an unhappy marriage with the egocentric and anorexic Empress Elizabeth, more commonly known as Sisi, who was more interested in riding horses, traveling and enjoying her lovers. During his lifetime, Emperor Franz Joseph witnessed the death of his young daughter and the suicide of his son and heir to the throne. He also saw the murder of his wife by an Italian anarchist. As far as external policy goes it includes the defeat in the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859, the defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and finally, the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. Maybe he faced his biggest challenge at the end of his life, when his nephew and heir to the throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo. His reaction led to the beginning of World War I, that engulfed the European countries like a collapsing castle of playing cards. Franz Josef died during the war, and with him the Empire. Even though he was succeeded by grand-nephew Karl, the Empire ended with the war, and the Republic of German Austria was proclaimed.

The picture shows the current coat-of-arms of Austria, Österreich, the "Eastern Realm", with an eagle holding a scythe (representing agriculture) and a hammer (representing industry). The chains represent freedom from National Socialism.

What is the legacy of the Empire? Music, arts and culture.

Wiener Mozart Konzerte

Monday evening (May 3rd) we watched a Mozart concert in which all orchestra members dress in 18th century style, including wigs, coats and stockings. It is played by a small orchestra (the correct size for the time) formed by selected musicians from the symphonic and philharmonic orchestras (as the ad says). It was a very nice concert, actually, where selected pieces were played, including a few overtures, aria solos, a concert for flute and the first movement of Symphony 40. The interesting was that during the Rondo Alla Turca, the director faced the audience and started directing it: the audience responded with rhythmic claps. Watch part of it here.

Schloss Schönbrunn Palace

On Saturday, May 1st, we visited Schloss Schönbrunn Palace, the Summer residence of the Austrian imperial family, the Habsburgs. The palace is located in a huge area, referred to as the Schönbrunn Park, with gardens, the zoo, a maze, a look-out (known as the Gloriette) and nice walkways among the trees.

The Habsburgs ruled Austria, and the surrounding countries, for over 600 years. They were very successful in promoting a series of dynastic marriages, which made them very influential in Europe. Let us look at one example, Maria Leopoldina, archduchess of Austria. She was the daughter of Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor, with his second wife Maria Teresa. Leopoldina married the crown prince, and heir to the Portuguese throne, Pedro de Alcântara. At that time, the Portuguese royal family was living in Brazil due to the Napoleonic Wars (curiously, Leopoldina's sister Marie Louse was Napoleon's wife). A few years later, she would be instrumental in Brazil's independence from Portugal.

The Palace has several apartments that belonged to Francis Josef I, to whom I will talk about in another entry.

"Scientific research" (part 10 of many)

After leaving Schönbrunn Palace we enjoyed a nice outdoor dinner. During this occasion, I investigated a glass of Gösser, another Austrian beer.

The interesting thing is that there is a beer mug called Kaiser. Well, Kaiser is a popular beer brand in Brazil. It's advertisement even says that "Kaiser is a great beer." Not in Austria: Kaiser is just a mug where they keep cutlery and napkins.

Marionette magical flute

Vienna is music, and music is Mozart. We ended up the very entertaining day watching Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) during the evening. The characters are all played by marionettes (before you ask me, no, they do not sing, it is all playback).

You know that marionettes are an Austrian tradition, don't you? If not, you should watch The Sound of Music's The Lonely Goater.

In the picture, it is Mozart "in person."