“Wow.”
It’s a word that’s said often for many reasons:
“Wow … what a beautiful sunset.”
“Wow … that pizza was good.”
“Wow … that was an exceptionally large booger I pulled out of my nose.”
Of course, there’s other interjections, like: “oh,” and “cool.” But, “wow” seems to be the one that garners the most emotion. We just love wow’s. Wow’s are what gives travel meaning.
My husband is an artist. He loves to visit museums when we travel. The thing about travel is that, if utilized correctly, it becomes more than just a country-counter. Travel isn’t about having a lot of countries under your belt. It’s not about the: “Yeah, I been there, I saw that,” moment because that doesn’t mean anything. It’s about the “I can’t believe this world is so beautiful.” It’s the “wow” moment that allows a traveler to learn more about themselves and people around them. That “wow” moment becomes the inspiration for life. My husband loves to visit museums because seeing art up close is his inspiration for life, for work and himself. It’s his “wow.”
The Albertina in Vienna.The very first place we visited in Vienna was the Albertina, a museum in the first district of the city. Frank grew up around art, thanks to his mom who was an art teacher. His favorite artist is Albrecht Dürer for many reasons. They share a lot of similarities: Dürer was a mathematician, my husband was an engineer (lots of math in that career) and they both became artists. To Frank, Dürer is the best watercolor artist and made exceptional art engravings and made his favorite piece is The Young Hare.
We visited every single room in the Albertina. It wasn’t until the very end, in a small hallway leading down the stairs to another exhibit that we saw it:
The Young Hare.The Young Hare, the painting of a rabbit that seemed to lock eyes with my husband.
“It’s here,” he said. “I can’t believe I’m looking right at it, my favorite painting.”
Frank stared at it, studying the painting, burning its image into his memory to be remembered. That tiny hallway leading to a larger room held his most favorite painting, his inspiration for his artwork, by an artist who was his inspiration to become an artist. It was the most uneventful hallway, but it didn’t matter. People squeezed past us to get to the big room with the big paintings, unaware of the small painting. Hundreds of thoughts ran through his mind as he admired the painting in that instance where travel ceased being a country-counter and became beautiful instead. But, he uttered one word and the most suitable for this moment:
“Wow.”
(The Albertina is located at Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Wien, Austria. Bring your student ID if applicable. It may help you get a discount on admission prices).
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