Flower Owl

Another object discovered in the Kagran School Gardens: a flower owl.

Blue Door

I love blue doors, but unfortunately in Austria most doors are painted brown or grey or in similar dark colours. Guess how glad I was when I discvored this blue door in the Greek garden at the Kagran School Gardens!

Green House

Yesterday I was at the Kagran School Gardens. They are located around the Vocational School for Horticulture and Floristry and serve as a training facility for the students and provide plants and teaching aids for prospective gardeners or florists. Usually the gardens are open to the public only once a month, but in July and August they can be visited from Monday to Wednesday.

Sprayed Artwork #2

Here´s another sprayed artwork by Douglas Hoekzema - it covers the wall of an apartment building in the 2nd district.

Sprayed Artwork #1

Douglas Hoekzema - an artist from Miami, Florida - created a temporary artwork on the glass facade of the "designtower" in the 2nd district. The artwork will be on display until mid September 2013. Click here for a short making of video.

Summer is Taking a Break

The past weeks we were blessed with beautiful summer weather (temporarily it was even too summerly with nearly 40°C/104°F), now summer seems to take a break. Temperatures dropped considerably, and yesterday it was raining nearly all day long.

Sunday Flowers #87

"Every flower about a house certifies to the refinement of somebody. Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy." - Robert G. Ingersoll

Another Nice Courtyard

Here's another beautiful courtyard in the city center. It's also open to the public because it houses a bookshop specialized in graphic design and photography.

On The Alp

The decoration in the window of a confectionary in the city center carries the passers-by away to the alp... I have already seen much better decorations there... How do you like it?

Sunset Obsession #2

Yesterday's sunset photographed on my way home after another bicycle tour. The days are getting significantly shorter...

Nice Courtyard

I love courtyards and when I pass an open front door always check if there´s maybe a courtyard hidden behind and then sneak into it. The courtyard in this photo was easy to access because it houses two shops.

Golden Baby Lion

Here´s a closer look at one of the golden baby lions which have been added by some artist to the Mark Antony monument in the city center.

Mark Antony And The Golden Lions

The Mark Antony monument by Austrian sculptor Artur Strasser next to the Secession building is currently decorated with two golden lion babies. The historic preservation agency is not very happy about this work of an unknown artist as the adhesive does damage to the monument. The agency will remove the lion babies as soon as possible.

Sunday Flowers #86

"Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?" - Maurice Maeterlinck

Beautiful Things

If you want to see/buy beautiful things, the "Vermischte Warenhandlung", hidden in a small courtyard in the city center is the perfect place.

Urban Gardening #4

The urban gardener who planted the sunflowers of yesterday's post even decorated the pole of a traffic sign with two flower pots. I love it! There should be more people who green up the city on their own initiative.

Urban Gardening #3

This seems to be another example of urban gardening, this time not in a community garden, but in a tiny public green space in the 6th district.

A Fish Called Quip

This is "Quip", he's the mascot of the "Haus des Meeres", the Viennese acquarium which houses over ten thousand aquatic beings on an area of around 4.000 square meters (43.000 sq ft). The fish sculpture is located right outside the acquarium and serves as temporary memorial against the over-fishing and pollution of our oceans.

Sunday Flowers #85

"I love to smell flowers in the dark... You get hold of their soul then."- Lucy Maud Montgomery

Modern Balconies

I´m living close to the former Nordbahnhof (North Railway Station) area where´s currently a lot of construction activity going on. Yesterday I discovered this new apartment building, the differently coloured glass at the balconies caught my eyes.

Sunset at Viertel Zwei

Sunset at "Viertel Zwei", a new area (consisting of several office buildings, a hotel and a residential building) in the second district.

Urban Gardening #2

You have to start early to become a good hobby gardener...

Urban Gardening #1

There are a lot of new housing complexes close to my place and in between there´s a flourishing community garden. The hobby gardeners all seem to have a green thumb...

Tomatos on The Windowsill

A small tomato plantation on a windowsill in the city center....

Sunday Flowers #84

"The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy." - Henry Ward Beecher

Floating Swimming Pool

It is still very hot in Vienna. Last Sunday the public pools reported a new record attendance. If you want to cool down in the very city center, you can do this at the "Badeschiff", a floating simming pool on the Danube Canal. There´s also a sun-deck and a restaurant. This stretch of the Danube Canal has already had one of the first so-called "river-pools" in the early years of the 20th century. The modern building in the background is  the UNIQA Tower, the office building of an insurance group.

St. Francis of Assisi Church

The catholic St. Francis of Assisi Church (also known as Kaiser Jubilee Church or Mexico Church) was built between 1898 and 1910, it was consecrated in 1913 and is administered by the Order of the Holy Trinity. The church is located on Mexikoplatz which commemorates the fact that Mexico was the only country outside the Soviet Union to protest against the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany.

August Theme Day: Street Lamps

These street lamps are located on Reichsbrücke which links the 2nd with the 22nd district. The bridge was opened in 1980, and I think the lamps are very characteristic for this period. The white building is the "skyscraper Neue Donau", designed by Austrian-born Australian architect Harry Seidler.