The weather did not look promising when I awakened. I was able to have breakfast on the balcony, but there was a notable breeze. There were also puddles on the various balcony chairs indicating a past with rain. The “brooding” sky indicated a future with it too.
I had initially planned an activity that would be mostly outdoors, but this plan had to change. I did some research.
I had heard from my good friend Athole, that a cinema in the city regularly showed the classic movie set in Vienna
“The Third Man”. A showing on this day was to be at 16:30 CEST. I had also noticed the “Vienna Crime Museum” as an interesting prospect. The combination of these two activities as a potential theme made sense. I set off.
The 49 tram, and U2 underground took me to the museum. I arrived just as the predicated rain started. I picked up the audio guide, having read that most of the labels in the museum were in German, with no translation. This turned out to be correct, so the acquisition of the guide was a wise move.
The museum was a fascinating tour of criminal Vienna from medieval times through to the present day. I noted the transition from confession, to evidence as the reason for conviction. I also noted a relatively early abolishment of the death penalty compared to other nations, but a number of exceptions made to this throughout the years in particular cases.
The death penalty was essentially re-introduced by the Nazis in 1938. They took delivery of a guillotine, which was used many times against the various groups the Nazis did not like. It was soon after World War II that the death penalty was finally fully abolished, and no executions have taken place since.
There were some fairly gruesome photographs, paintings, and accounts of violent crime in the city. These led right up to a case in the 1990s, where a murderer was imprisoned, released, and then went into the journalism profession. He visited other countries leaving a mysterious trail of murders, all essentially identical to the one he had been convicted for in the first place. Suffice to say he was eventually captured, but took his own life before a second conviction was possible.
I enjoyed the museum very much, and it was located in an interesting and obviously historic building.
I then walked the half an hour to the cinema, and bought my ticket. Popcorn seemed obligatory in the circumstances so this was also purchased, along with a Czech beer.
In the tiny theatre, this felt very much like the episode of “Mr. Bean” where Rowan Atkinson plays the eponymous anti-hero viewing a horror movie. This theatre was perhaps half-full, and I could hear a mixture of languages around me.
I will not spoil the movie lest you want to see it. I will give detail that it was released in 1949, and is in the black-and-white “film noir” style. This in itself was an interesting choice as “Technicolour” was very much available at the time. The setting of the movie is post World War II occupied Vienna, and has the feel of the beginning of the “Cold War”. It is a tale of espionage amidst the black market of the age.
I very much enjoyed it, and would recommend it to you. It is often ranked highly in list of “Best British Movies of All Time”.
On my walk back to the apartment, I was in the mood for a simplistic dinner. To that end, I bought a frozen pizza from the branch of “Lidl” in the same street that I was residing on. This I enjoyed.
