On the Viking Europe:
Tonight we are in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, preparing to sail overnight westward, back to Vienna where we will disembark and start our trip home.
After Durnstein came Vienna to the east. On our own we found the specific souvenirs of the Hawaiian collection at the museum of ethnology.
DH, who docents at the Bishop Museum, likes to track down Hawaiian artifacts that left the Islands on Cook’s ships in the 18th century and found their way to museum collections in other countries.
Of course we enjoyed the Viennese art of drinking coffee. While in a cafe across the street from the Hofburg Palace, we saw the Lipizzaner Museum.
With our equestrian friends Ruth, Kathy, and Chris in mind, we decided to check if any events were going on. The time was in between a practice and a performance, so we toured the stables, the tack room, the winter riding school, and the summer riding school!
The stallions have a long career at the Spanish Riding School and are well taken care of. No photography by visitors is permitted, and one is not allowed to pet the horses. Their stalls are cleaned every hour, and they have an annual vacation on a private ranch where they run free.
A little further down the Danube River is Budapest, Hungary. Buda is on one side of river, and Pest is on the other side. Our ship Viking Europe tied up right by the chain bridge, the oldest of six bridges that span the two parts. Magnificent!
Here are a few more travel photos. I hope you enjoy them! It’s still snowing!
If the photos don’t show up on this post, I’ll try to put them on the next one.
~ Rebekah
Rebekah’s Studio 
In Wien (Vienna), the Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology) has a collection of 238 objects of Pacific culture that Leopold von Fichtel, on behalf of the Emperor of Austria, bought at a museum auction in London in 1806. This is one of the museum’s oldest ethnographic collections. The objects were from the expeditions of James Cook (1728-1779). We saw a photographic record of the collection that includes articles of pre-contact art from Hawai’i, such as finely decorated ipu (gourd), paintings, an oblong ‘umeke with carved figure, a whale tooth bracelet, an ‘uli’uli with feathers, feather capes, images by Webber, a model of a tall hale (house) woven with feathers (Modell einer Orakelhütte), and an Akua hulu manu. The significance of the objects is that they were created prior to contact from Europe. We were not able to view the actual objects in person, as the exhibits were closed for renovation.
And what a welcome sight when it’s freezing cold outside! One time I ordered goulash! Prior to actually being in Vienna, I hadn’t understood that the coffee shops exist for customers to spend the whole day drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. It’s true! That’s the culture and the art. How civilized!
Ahhh, coffee and chocolate in Vienna. Very expensive, with coat check but worth it. Art and I so enjoyed your travel blog. Mahalo.
Bekah, did you guys find any letters, Hawaiian coins (Kalakaua), pictures of Hawaii, hula implements, kahilis in those museums?