K & L's Travel Blog

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The construction starts early this morning at 8:00, but we manage to get up and dressed and showered and out by 9:00. We eat out for breakfast at the same restaurant we went to for our Saturday brunch, Die Scherbe, just down the street on the way to town.

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We are exploring our contrasting tendencies for pessimism (me) and optimism (Kitty) and how this manifests when we travel. I trend towards negativity and have a need to prepare for the worst-case scenario, while Kitty will sometimes hold onto hope long after it should have been abandoned. I’ll formulate back-up plans when there is no need, and Kitty just improvises. This morning we speculate whether or not the restaurant will be open. We approach and don’t see anyone. There’s a sign saying their menu starts at 11:30. I’m convinced they are closed. We nearly walk past them but Kitty sees that they are in fact open, just not busting at the doors as they were for brunch on Saturday. I love the way travel brings these personality dynamics into focus.

Over breakfast we plan to visit a nearby Baroque palace, Schloß Eggenberg. It’s an easy streetcar ride away. On the streetcar we spy two Japanese tourists who are actually more burdened with travel gear and anxiety than we are. He takes photos of the ticket machine and tram stops. We feel cool in comparison, which is hard to believe given my belly pouch & camera. I imagine the language challenges we faced in Budapest don’t even come close to what they are likely experiencing with the German, and shift my Schadenfreude towards empathy. We help them to orient towards the palace when we disembark, and anticipate tracking with them through the morning, but we never see them again once we enter the gardens. Instead, we end up tracking with another lesbian couple, but oddly are not inspired to actually speak to one another. It becomes a joke we share with knowing looks after sharing the tour, the Bruegel, the gift store and even the WC.

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To be honest I wasn’t too excited at the prospect of more Baroque and Rococo. I think I overdosed on it in Valencia last winter. At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised by the gardens, palace, tour and art collection. They had a Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Jan Brueghel, enough to get us excited about visiting the museum in Vienna on Sunday where they have an extensive Flemish collection. The palace is exceptionally well maintained. The tour takes us around the perimeter through elaborate room after elaborate room. Furnishings are minimal, though. There are clever panels and ceiling paintings that bring together Biblical and classical motifs, all in the service of Eggenberg power with a little sex appeal thrown in. The women’s rooms have imagery of powerful women like Judith and Cleopatra, often in the act of either destroying themselves or the men in their lives.

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We have a late lunch at the Gösser Restaurant, eating Styrian chicken, French fries, and salad in their beer garden. We have plenty of food left over for dinner (though at this point it’s 7:45 and I can’t imagine eating anything). Although I’d hoped to get out for night shots we are both exhausted from the hours spent touring Eggenberg. No regrets, though. Another lovely day in Graz. I still see photos on every street.