Yellow & Green

I love to sneak into courtyards, curious about the "treasures" I might find there. Recently I discovered this simple, but beautiful arrangement of a table, a chair and some plants in a courtyard in the 6th distict. I love the combination of yellow and green and the splash of blue.

Sunday Flowers #109

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." - William Wordsworth

Sunny Afternoon

The Botanical Garden is a popular recreation area, especially on a sunny spring day like yesterday.

Façade Detail #33

An Art Nouveau tree on the façade of an apartment building in the 7th district.

Maritim

I love painted shutters like this one. It hides a combined design bureau/shop/café in the 6th district.

Reflections #26

Reflections in the windows of the Kunsthalle Wien building at the MuseumsQuartier complex. The decorations on top of the windows indicate the original use of the building: in the 18th century it housed the imperial stables.

Painted Passage

This colourful painted passage leads into the MuseumsQuartier complex.

Rainy Sunday

On Saturday it was sunny and abnormally hot for this season and I enjoyed a chat with a friend of mine sitting on one of these chairs... Over the night we had a sudden change of weather. It's not easy to keep up with this year's changes in temperature...

Sunday Flowers #108

“A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose.
It doesn’t have to. It is different." - Marianne Williamson

Hide And Seek

An exclusive shopping district is currently being created in the heart of the city center. The "Golden Quarter" promises luxury shopping pleasure in a historic ambience on around 11.500 sqm. In such an ambiance even the covers of the building lot are rather elegant as you can see in this photo.

Young Street Musicians

In Vienna street performances in public spaces require a permit. Performances have to take place in exactly defined locations and at stated hours, the reservation of locations in the city center requires even a charge. In addition performers must have reached the age of 16. These young musicians hopefully met all demands...

Haydn House

This house has been Austrian composer Joseph Haydn’s domicile for 12 years. Haydn bought the ground-level house in Gumpendorf, at that time an outlying village of Vienna, in 1793 and had it renovated, adding another floor. The most important works of the composer's old age were created in this last residence, including the two oratorios "The Creation" and "The Seasons". Haydn died here on May 31, 1809.

Façade Detail #32

A beautiful façade in Praterstraße in the 2nd district. I would love to live in such a gorgeous building one day...

Soo Many Colours

A young woman admiring a work by German visual artist Gerhard Richter at the MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien) in the current exhibition "Musée à vendre pour cause de faillite" (on show until May 15).

Happy 4th Blogiversary!

Let's celebrate! Today this blog turns 4! When I published my first photo, I didn't have any idea of how this blog would evolve, if I would find enough interesting subjects to photograph or if I would get any followers. Not everybody understands this rather time consuming hobby, but I like how it helped me to see my native city in a new way. I started to notice a lot of things that I have ignored or taken for granted before and that's exactly why I will continue this work. I woud like to thank everybody who has ever visited my blog and especially those who left a comment. I appreciate your support and I am looking forward to sharing more photos of "my" Vienna.

Sunday Flowers #107

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." - Thomas Gray

First Picnics

For one week the weather in Vienna was just like in spring, yesterday with 20°C (68°F) even like in summer. The outdoor areas of the cafés and the parks were crowded... Last Sunday some people had a first picnic in Stadtpark.

Kurrentgasse

Kurrentgasse is a picturesque alley in one of the oldest parts of the city center, open only for pedestrians.

Graffiti Walls

The walls on the banks of the Danube Canal are "legal graffiti walls" where the sprayers can go wild without fear of breaking the law. However, you can find there mostly scribblings, for good street art you have to go to other places.

Skateboard Boys

Boys having fun at a skate park in the 22nd district.

Bacchus

This sculpture of Bacchus, the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine in Greek mythology, is located in a passage of the Lower Belvedere.

Enjoying The March Sun

This past weekend we enjoyed a foretaste of spring: the sky was blue, the sun was shining and it was unusually warm. The parks were crowded, everybody took advantage of the weather. This guy draped himself on the stairs of the Lower Belvedere to enjoy the March sun.

Sunday Flowers #106

"The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower." - William Cowper

International Women's Day

On the occasion of today's International Women's Day here's a work by a female spraying artist. Bulgarian-born Mandarina Brausewetter was classically trained in painting and industrial design and then has worked as an illustrator. She was one of the first spraying artists in Vienna who distributed stencil graffiti in the city’s public space.

The Graffiti Sprayer

The walls on the banks of the Danubel Canal are covered with a lot of graffiti. Last Sunday I caught this sprayer in the act...

DC Tower

The 220m (including the antenna 250m) high Donau City Tower, designed by French architect Dominique Perrault, is Austria's tallest skyscraper. The building was inaugurated last week, it houses offices, apartments, a hotel and a restaurant.

New University of Economics #6

The Libary & Learning Center designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid is my favourite building of the new University of Economics and Business, opened in October 2013.

Krapfen

Krapfen are traditional Austrian carnival sweets: doughnuts made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat or oil, the "classical" Krapfen is filled with marmelade or jam with powdered sugar on top. There can also be different fillings (e.g. plum butter, vanilla cream) and toppings as you can see in this photo. Today is the last day of carnival, the last possibility to indulge in these sweets...

It's Schanigarten Time Again

As I told you recently, gastronomers had to wait until March 1st to open the outdoor areas of their cafés/restaurants. Luckily this past weekend the weather was nice enough to enjoy some first drink or meal in the newly opened "Schanigarten" as we call the outdoor areas in Austrian German. There are several speculations concerning the origin of this term: One says that "Schani" derives from the common name "Hans" or French "Jean" for an apprentice boy or waiter, who was told to "Put up the garden!", and he then carried chairs, tables and flower boxes outside.

Sunday Flowers #105

"O the green things growing, the green things growing,
The faint sweet smell of the green things growing!
I should like to live, whether I smile or grieve,
Just to watch the happy life of my green things growing." - Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

March Theme Day: People on The Street

I have to admit that I didn't take this photo on the street, but in a park, more precisely in Burggarten where these tourists were taking a break from sightseeing.
Click here to view thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.