A Visit to Vienna: Military History Museum

While I was in Vienna, I was coincidentally reading a book about the Arctic Expedition of Julius von Payer. He was an explorer from Austria-Hungary, and led an expedition in the 1870s, which led to the discovery of Franz Joseph Land. He was also a painter, and produced various paintings with this expedition as subject material. And it turns out that these paintings are exhibited in the Military History Museum in Vienna. So I figured I pay this museum a visit.

Cute & Awkward

I was in Vienna a while ago, and while I was there, it happened that it was during the time the ImPulsTanz - Vienna International Dance Festival was going on. So I decided to attend a couple of shows while I was there, and this was one of them.

Albert Lortzing's Zar und Zimmermann

Oh, this was intellectual, and fun at the same time!

A Visit to Vienna: Villa Beer

As I was preparing for my week-long visit to Vienna, I was told by a friend that I should book a ticket to see Villa Beer. So I did just that, and visited Villa Beer one Sunday morning.

Book Review: Die Entdeckung von Franz-Josef-Land by Julius Payer

So I picked up this book recently, due to the fact that I didn't know anything about Julius Payer, nor did I know about the Austro-Hungarian Expedition to the North Pole. So I took this as an opportunity to learn something new, hence I picked up this book. I have to say, I learned a lot!

See, I didn't even know that Franz Josef Land existed. But as I picked up this book, I had to look it up. It's actually a collection of small islands in northern Russia, near Novaya Zemlya. It's one of those islands that are near the North Pole, but it's pretty much uninhabited, so it's outside of my consciousness I suppose. But in any case, in 1872-1874, a group of men from Austria-Hungary, led by Julius Payer, sailed towards this direction. They were onboard the sailing ship, the Tegetthoff. However, their ship got trapped in sea ice, and therefore they drifted without direction. At some point, they reached this archipelago, and that was the catalyst for the discovery of these islands.