Christmas Eve-scursion

Today has actually been just the first day we've had to slightly relax and take in some sights. So I took the oldest two boys out to ride some trains (Will and Worthy's favorite activity) and see some things I've wanted to see.

I went to look at the Looshaus (built 1911) which I had read about in Paul Hofmann's The Viennese. I remember reading how scandalous it was; per his belief that architecture should be devoid of most/all ornamentation, he designed this building to be built directly across from the imperial Hofburg palace, which, as you can imagine, has quite a few "ornaments."

The Looshaus

The Hofburg


We took the tram across town to see the Hundertwasserhaus. As quirky as it is, it seemed to me to fit the urban fabric better than Loos' monolith.

We continued on the "1" to the Prater, a huge park that was once the Habsburgs' private Imperial hunting grounds. (There is a giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater on which was filmed a scene from Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise.)