This is a pictorial essay of my visit to 'der Wiener Internationalen Postwertzeichen Ausstellung' or WIPA 2008. I travel regularly to Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic on business or for research, and I have happened to visit quite a number of stamp shows.
Compared to the other shows I have attended, WIPA was a bit of a disappointment. It was a huge show, really requiring the map that they handed out to find all of the shows nooks and crannies, which were spread across several floors and perhaps dozens of different rooms/halls. It seemed that by far the largest number of boothholders were the stamp issuing entities from just about every country from Austria to New Zealand. And while there were great exhibits, and coffee was rarely more than a few steps away, there were a paltry number of stamp societies present. I look for these in particular, because they are often selling hard to get reference works. Also, the number of actual stamp dealers, as opposed to auctioneers or country post offices, was relatively small for a stamp show this size, In fact those dealers there seemed to be just a small subset of the regular crowd from the Sindelfingen show with a bare handful of new faces.
I don't regret the trip to Vienna; I've been there many times and have yet to be sorry I went. However, for someone who wanted to spend a bit of money on stamps, I found the show far below my expectations. It would have been a decent place to take kids -- they had different technology displays, a special kids area, etc. You'd have to be well-heeled though, as the entrance price was EUR9 (about US$13.50 in Sept 2008). The Vienna museums are be a much better value, particularly with a multi-site pass. And that, in the end, is what I ended up doing. I skipped the last two days of the show and instead went to Schoenbrunn, the Hofburg, various churches including St Peter's (very impressive, after all the trips to Vienna it was the first time I'd been there), the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum), and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum). All except St Peters were repeat visits, and always well worth it.
I'll be posting tours of those sites later (Oct-Dec 2008). For example, there was a small but interesting first-time exhibit for Emperor Franz Josefs son Kronprinz Rudolf, who committed a murder-suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling on January 30, 1889.
I have to put a plug in for the Cafe Frauenhuber as well -- it's my favorite Vienna cafe. It's in the center, is very old, and dated in a good way, with excellent service and comfortable food. Mozart played here. No joke. Prices are typical for Vienna cafes, perhaps a little less than the some of the ritzier ones, in the Opera district, for example. I know Wiener Schnitzel in Wien is trite, but really, where better to have it? Every trip to Vienna (and that now counts many) I have a one in the Frauenhuber with an excellent Edelweiss Hefeweizen.
Note for the slideshow: each thumbnail may be clicked on for a larger image and further description.
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