Lucky Charms

In Austria we use to give lucky charms (for instance horse shoes, chimney sweepers, fly agarics, ladybugs, pigs, lucky clovers) to friends and family at the beginning of a new year. For those who have a sweet tooth (like me for instance) there are even sweet lucky charms... Dear readers, I hope you have a beautiful New Year's Eve! I'm very much looking forward to spending another year with you!

Christmas Sale

In most stores Christmas sale started on Monday. Based on my own experience I can tell you that the shopping streets and centers were crowded... Even if a lot of shops have already had special offers before Christmas.

Red Christmas Dress

I just couldn't ignore this red Christmas dress in the window of a jewelry store in the city center. Do you like it too?

Another Sweet Christmas Decoration

Yesterday I discovered this literally sweet Christmas decoration in the window of a small new pastry shop in the 13rd district.

Christmas Illuminations #3

Ten huge chandeliers are illuminating the Graben during the Christmas season. Each of them weighs 40-50kg and consists of 20.000 LEDs.

Another Christmas Tree

To end the small series of Christmas trees and the Christmas holidays here's the tree in front of (foggy) St. Stephen's Cathedral.

O Christmas Tree, o Christmas Tree...

The huge Christmas tree in front of Schönbrunn Palace.

Merry Christmas!

This year the huge Christmas tree in front of the city hall is lit in the French national colours in homage to the victims of the tragic events in Paris on November 13...
In Austria we are celebrating Christmas this very night: The tree is set up and lit for the very first time, the Christkind (Christ child) places the presents beneath the tree, bells announce the arrival of the Christkind into the house - when he arrives the family gathers around the tree and sings Christmas carols. The presents will be unwrapped and a lot of families will eat a baked carp for Christmas dinner.
Dear readers, I wish you all a very merry Christmas!! Frohe Weihnachten!!

Driving Home The Christmas Tree

Have you already bought and decorated your Christmas tree? In Austria we usually set up the tree not until Christmas Eve. In Vienna the sale of the Christmas trees started on December 12. I love to see people carrying home their tree by foot or in the public means of transport.

Sweet Christmas Decoration

The confectionary Gerstner put some houses made of chocolate in its window for the Christmas season.

Upside Down

The Christmas decoration in the window of a make up studio in the city center.

4th Sunday of Advent

"Be merry all, be merry all,
With holly dress the festive hall;
Prepare the song, the feast, the ball,
To welcome merry Christmas." - William Robert Spencer

Christmas Illuminations #2

Christmas lights on Ringstrasse, next to Vienna's biggest christmas market in front of the city hall.

Eye-Catching Display

I discovered this eye-catching way to arrange Christmas decorations for sale in an exclusive florist that offers also home and garden accessories.

An Inspiration?

For my female followers: Is this an inspiration for your Christmas outfit? A skirt made of fir branches?

Christmas Illuminations #1

The merchants of the Viennese shopping streets have to pay the Christmas illuminations in large part by themselves, that's why the lights show great variety. On Kohlmarkt in the city center you can currently walk under a beautiful "sky" of glittering lights.

Out of Time

I guess the time when a rocking horse was a much sought-after toy is over...
By the way, if you want to connect with Vreni's Vienna Daily Photo on instagram, please click here.

An Angel is Watching You

A huge angel is currently watching the shoppers in the passage of the upscale "Golden Quarter" shopping district in the city center.

3rd Sunday of Advent

It's time to get ready for Christmas. Have you already digged out or bought your Christmas tree decorations?

Winter Wonderland

It didn't snow in Vienna so far and according to the meteorologists we won't even have snow for Christmas. Nevertheless a confectionary in the city center shows this snowy village in one of its windows.

Winter at the MQ 2015 #3

The video projections of "Winter at the MQ" don't stop at the Leopold Museum...

Winter at the MQ 2015 #2

Here are two of the so-called "ice pavilions" where you can warm yourself up with punch and indulge in delicious treats during "Winter at the MQ".

Winter at the MQ 2015 #1

"Winter at the MQ" is the Advent event at the MuseumsQuartier Wien (MQ): In so called "ice pavilions" in the inner courtyard the MQ gastronomers serve punch specialities, DJs provide a diverse mix of music, there's an ice curling rink and a race track for remote-controlled cars, and video projections on the facades bathe the MQ in a very special light. The event runs through December 23.

December Sunset

The sun currently sets already at 04:00 p.m. Usually I'm still working at this time of the day, but last Friday I had the day off and enjoyed the view of the sunset behind the trees of the Danube Island.

Far Away...

I really miss the quiet atmosphere of the Old Danube, where the city seems so far away... It was good to come back last Friday.

2nd Sunday of Advent

In Austria today is not only the 2nd Sunday of Advent, but also Saint Nicholas Day. During the night Saint Nicholas filled the children's boots with gifts and sweets, and at the same time checked up on the children if they were good, polite and helpful last year. Saint Nicholas is usually accompanied by Krampus, a demon-like creature warning and punishing bad children. If the children were not good, he puts a tree branch in their boots. The K. u. K. Court Confectionary Bakery Demel  shows the "team" in one of its windows. Click here for Austrian actor Christoph Waltz's explanation of Krampus.

It is a Long Time...

It is a long time since my regular bicycle rides along the Old Danube last summer... Yesterday I had the day off and took a short walk by the water.

Trapped

"Trapped" is the title of this new mural in the 4th district by Swiss-Turkish contemporary artist ONUR.

Imperial Palace

Until 1918 the Imperial Palace was the political centre of the Austrian monarchy. Today it houses not only the offices of the Federal President, the ministers of the chancellor's office and the secretaries of state but also several museums and the Austrian National Library.

Waiting for Christmas

In Austria we don't only have Advent wreaths for the countdown to Christmas, but also Advent Calendars: they have 24 "windows", each of them reveals an image, a poem or a small gift such as a toy or a chocolate item. The first "window" was opened yesterday (December 1), the last will be opened on December 24 (Christmas Eve). In this photo you can see the beautiful Advent Calendar that I got from my aunt. It's too beautiful to open the windows! Fortunately I got another one (filled with chocolate) from my mother...

December Theme Day: Shop Window

The Christmas decoration in the window of the K. u. K. Court Confectionary Bakery Demel is whetting the appetite of the passers-by for Christmas cookies.
Click here to view thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.

Baked Apples

On Saturday my aunt invited some friends to celebrate the start of the Advent season. For dessert she served baked apples.

1st Sunday of Advent

Today is the first day of the Advent season, the "countdown" for Christmas. In Austria we traditionally buy an Advent wreath and light the candles on every Sunday of Advent - on the first Sunday one candle, on the second two candles and so on, until on the last Sunday before Christmas all four candles are lit.

Vintage Design Market

If you are in Vienna this weekend and already watching out for Christmas presents, don't miss this vintage design market in the city center (1010 Vienna, Wildpretmarkt 1).

City Jungle

A jungle in the city? Yes, on a garage door in the 4th district!

My Uncertain Shadow

Here's the last photo of the "Baroque Baroque" exhibition by Olafur Eliasson: "Your uncertain shadow (colour)" comprises five colored HMI lamps positioned side-by-side on the floor and directed at a white screen. As visitors walk across the space and into the light, their moving shadows are projected onto the screen, where they are magnified in a fanning array of five differently colored silhouettes. This is a very special self portrait.

Baroque Baroque #2

We are still at the "Baroque Baroque" exhibition by Olafur Eliasson. In this photo you can see "Wishes versus wonders": half of a circular brass ring, five meters in diameter, hovers over the parquet floor with its open side touching a mirrored partition that intersects the rooms of the Winter Palace. The reflection visually completes the circular form, producing a virtual ring that appears to pass from the actual space in the reflected space.

Baroque Baroque #1

Last Friday I attended the opening of the exhibition "Baroque Baroque" by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson at the Belvedere's Winter Palace. The former city residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy was an important site of artistic and scientific patronage in baroque Vienna. The exhibtion is an encounter between artworks, aesthetics, and worldviews from two vastly different epochs. In this photo you can see the "Fivefold Tunnel", an arched passageways that connects two ceremonial rooms of the einfilade, a reminiscent of a baroque arcade.

Bright Colours on a Dreary Day

Yesterday was a very deary day, so I was pleased all the more when I saw these bright coloured chairs. At the end of this month they will be stored for winter according to the law.

Sunday Flowers #174

"The silence of a flower: a kind of silence which we continually evade,
of which we find only the shadow in dreams." - Vicki Lewis Thompson

Breaking The Rules: Je Suis Paris

Last Friday I went to Paris, my favorite city (besides Vienna, of course), to see an important photo trade fair and several exhibitions. I was looking forward to this trip for weeks... and then happened the terrible attacks, one of them in the proximity of where I was staying...

View of the Town #12

Another view of the town from the hillside of the Kahlenberg.

Kahlenberg Cemetery

The small Kahlenberg Cemetery is located on the southern hillside of Kahlenberg. It was inaugurated in December 1783 and consists of a handful of funerary monuments mainly from the Biedermeier period. The Resurrectionist Congregation still buries their friars here.

Sunday Flowers #173

"Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful.
It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you
so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.” - Siobhan Vivian, Same Difference

Porcelain Art

On Thursday I attended the opening of the exhibition "Viennese Variations" at the Augarten Porcelain Museum. The exhibition presents the works of two German porcelain artists. Gudrun Gaube’s decoration of Augarten porcelain is inspired by the first period of Vienna porcelain, the Du Paquier era (1718-1744).

Illuminated Vienna #3

Another light projection of the "Illuminated Vienna" event. This one is more generally themed...

Illuminated Vienna #2

Another light projection of the "Illuminated Vienna" event covered the Natural History Museum with mushrooms.

Illuminated Vienna #1

The United Nations proclaimed 2015 as the "International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies". In this context Vienna hosted from October 24 to October 26 the "Illuminated Vienna" event: The Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) and the Natural History Museum were covered with light projections created by national and international artists. The dinosaurs were perfect for the Natural History Museum.

Inviting Doorway

This inviting doorway leads to a restaurant in the 19th district where you can enjoy home-style country cooking and Austrian wines. The special offer is currently "Martinigansl" (roasted goose) for St. Martin's Day on November 11. The goose became a symbol of St. Martin of Tours because of a legend that when trying to avoid being ordained bishop he had hidden in a goose pen, where he was betrayed by the cackling of the geese.

Monument to Beethoven

This monument to Ludwig van Beethoven is located in the Heiligenstädter Park in the 19th district, it was erected in 1910. Beethoven lived for some while in Heiligenstadt, at that time situated outside the city limits, and wrote there the "Heiligenstädter Testament" (1802) - the letter to his two brothers which he never sent and in which he expressed his despair over his advancing deafness.