Day 22 - My Best Laid Plans Diverged in a Yellow Wood

In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley, 

~ Robert Burns

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
~ Robert Frost

The Plan:  Sleep late, breakfast, laundry, Albertina museum, interesting lunch, Photography museum.

My roommate, John, made plans to spend the long weekend in Budapest.  His alarm went off early this morning and he tried valiantly to remain as quiet as possible as he made his preparations to leave. Alas, I never fully got back to sleep, but merely tossed and turned and turned and tossed until I finally rolled out of bed. 

Breakfast was spent with classmates discussing weekend plans and continuing yesterdays discussion of racism and gender.  

Soon afterward, as I have no slaves to pawn the task off on, I found myself at the laundromat doing women's work. (I hope the sarcasm is evident or I will be receiving a flood of comments.)  The last time I did laundry I was chastised for not providing photographs.

The laundromat is different from the ones at home in that you pay at a central console rather than putting coins in each individual machine.  The owners were kind enough to provide precise, articulate, and yes even colorful and descriptive placards to assist in working the machines.  

A variety of sizes of washers and dryers can be found throughout the comparatively quiet little establishment.  Two bistro tables with stools, a small row of wooden chairs joined at the hip, a corner table for folding your freshly washed linens, lingerie and lace all conspire with the light mint green paint and individually pressed vinyl floor tiles to evoke an atmosphere conducive to cleanliness, which as we all know, is next to Godliness.  Standing conspicuously in the middle of the room, an upholstered coin operated massage chair beckons not only with its promise of draining away the aches and pains of the day but also with its apparent homage to my own Alma Mater in its hues of maroon and gold!  

Once my stash of slightly soiled, stained, and sweaty garments were sorted, soaped and started, I allowed the magnetic pull of the thrown of Sparky to grab hold of me and I eased myself into its waiting arm rests, inserted the requested change and held my breath in anticipation.  The lounger vibrated, shook, poked, prodded, rolled, hummed and successfully made the wait time feel imminently shorter by at least five minutes.  Ah, I thought, only another ninety minutes to go.

I returned to my hotel with a bag of still fragrant, fluffed and folded future luggage contents.  (They were somewhat fragrant prior to my efforts, but what was previously pungent is now positively perfumed.) 

On the way to the Albertina Museum I walked next to the Schmetterling Haus.  Schmetterling is the German word for Butterfly.  In one portion of the Hofburg Palm house, the plants still remain, but with the addition of some newer, quite beautiful, residents from the insect family.  I've never seen so many butterflies of varying colors and sizes in my life.  

The Albertina Museum is . . . . well, I've been told it's great.  I was also told not to miss the Habsburg state rooms but upon arriving at the museum I found a rather long line of people waiting to purchase tickets along with a sign informing me that portions of the Habsburg staterooms were closed today for a private party.  "Explitive!" I said,  I'll just have to come back tomorrow instead.  

Off to the photography museum!  But Wait!  It's nearly noon and I haven't had torte!  Quick to the Cafe!  

Cranberry-Mascarpone Törtchen 

Now to the Photography Museum!  What?!  There isn't a Photography Museum?  Drat!  My German has failed me again!  It is a school for photography and it doesn't have galleries open to the public. MASSIVE EXPLETIVE! 

Consult the Vienna Guide Book! - Aha!  Here we go! A museum that is comprised of a collection of the furniture that once belonged to the Habsburg family!  That could be interesting!  Where is it!  Just down the road.  Let's walk.

The path ahead lead to an area that was not over run with tourists.  In fact it was over run with Viennese.  I came across one of the primary shopping areas in the city.  An eight story mall, store after store of clothes, sports equipment, shoes (both men's and women's), shirts, dresses. . . . did I say shoes?  Excuse me, I've got to take a divergence.  I didn't find any shoes that I thought were worth the price, but I had fun looking! 

Oh!  I'm on my way to the museum.  Looking down one of the side roads I spy a church that I can see from the rooftop of my hotel.  I make a mental note to stop on my way back from the museum.  I walk along another 50 - 100 steps and a very tall building catches my eye on one of the side streets.  It is painted with enormous letters. HAUS DES MEERES - House of the Sea!  Aquarium?  Furniture?  Aquarium?  Furniture?  Aquarium? 

Hmmmmmmmmmm  - AQUARIUM!  But this one isn't just an aquarium, it also has amazing vistas. 

In addition to multiple tanks filled with a large variety of sea life, the aquarium has two huge aviaries with some absolutely beautiful birds and even a few fun little monkeys.  I've put the pictures in the photo album. 

A couple of hours at the aquarium and it's time to find some dinner.  But wait!  There's more!  The MariahilfeKirche!  Construction on the church began in the late 17th century.  It has been connected with miracles at the Mariahilfe mountain in Peru.  It was my last stop, other than the multi-story grocery store that had a special escalator made specifically for grocery carts.

So what is the moral of today's story, boys and girls?  That's right! Listen to the Bobbys.  (That's Bobby Burns and Bobby Frost) When plans go awry, don't get frosty, you'll get burned.