Wien, days 3 & 4

Friday was radiology day, and although we unfortunately didn't get to hear about Ötzi, we did get to walk around the facility and look at some of the imaging instruments, which was interesting. We also had a lecture about ion beam therapy and plans for a building where patients can go to receive this therapy. I found the whole topic of ion beam therapy extremely interesting. Since we had some free time, several of us decided to go to the Albertina to see the Impressionists. I think I have already mentioned that Impressionism is one of my favorites, so this was a dream come true. I saw some old favorites, like Monet's Waterloo Bridge and one of the Water Lily Pond paintings, and also found other artists to admire, like Paul Signac, whose landscapes I really liked, and Seurat, whose sketches were amazing. On the third floor was a special exhibit entirely devoted to Magritte. I had never really considered Surrealism to be one of my favorites, but I found many of Magritte's paintings very thought-provoking, and I enjoyed discussing them with the others. Some of my favorite paintings from this floor were:

Universal Gravitation

Personal Values

Time Transfixed

The Key to the Fields

Saturday morning we went to the Sigmund Freud house and heard the second half of the lecture on Sigmund Freud. It was really neat to be in Sigmund Freud's library and look around to see all the books that were either written by Freud or about him or psychoanalysis. I also enjoyed learning hearing about psychoanalysis itself. We briefly covered it when I took psychology in high school, but this time I seemed to understand it better, and I'm looking forward to reading The Interpretation of Dreams.

(left) What my future library will look like. (right) Sigmund Freud's living room/waiting room for patients.

After lunch we went to the Museum of Natural History. After some initial complications due to our tour somehow being scheduled on the wrong day by the museum people, we had a brave guide volunteer to show us around on the fly. He did a remarkable job, and I learned many facts about the animals and other artifacts exhibited, as well as took a multitude of pictures. Everything seemed worthy of being documented, and I felt a reconnection with my inner child as I got excited over dinosaurs, large cats, giant turtles, wooly mammoths, gigantic blue whale baleen, owls, harpies, snakes, and lizards. After some coffee/hot chocolate, we were ready to grab our luggage and head to the airport for our flight back.