Schnitzel with Noodles (Alex)

Today, we went to Vienna. First we started by going to the Villa Tugendhat, which was one of the first houses with ‘modern architecture.’ It has very large windows, and over all, was really cool. There was an ‘Onyx Wall’ that became translucent when the sun set in the winter. The house was not designed for guests, and the rooms were very bland. A couple of interesting events happened with the house. A German soldier stayed there during the war. The Russians used it as a horse stable. Also, the document to separate the Czech Republic from Slovakia was signed here. Once we got to Vienna, we toured around a little bit. I had some very good schnitzel. This is what we did today.

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The villa was the ultimate statement of the “less is more” ideas of Mies Van Der Rohe… one of the four most influential architects of the early 20th century.  Basically it was his “Fallingwater”.  And it’s in an equally out of the way place…. it was built in Brno because Mrs Tugendhat, who really liked his work, had some extra land there behind her father’s home.   It is just a stunning place given that it was designed in 1929…. Renee and I loved the open living/dining room but we couldn’t take pictures. I laughed when Anna said “it looks like every house in LA”….. no, Anna, actually every house in LA looks like it.

— David