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. 

Sunday Flowers #172

"But he that dares not grasp the thorn. Should never crave the rose." - Anne Bronte

Songs in the City

Yesterday started the 18th edition of the "Voicemania", an international a cappella festival. To kick off the event, in the afternoon some of the participating artists performed on balconies and in churches in the city center. The festival runs through December 6.

Enjoying the View

After arriving on top of the Kahlenberg the promenaders can enjoy a gorgeous view of the town.

I Heard it Through the Grapevine

Climbing the Kahlenberg last Sunday, I walked along the grapevines for a while.

View of the Town #11

My view of Vienna while climbing up the Kahlenberg last Sunday, a day with perfect autumn weather.

The Gloriette

The Gloriette is located in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. It was built in 1775 as a "temple of renown" according to the plans of Imperial architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg. Today the central part of the building houses a café, and the observation platform on the roof offers a beautiful view of Vienna.

Taking a Selfie

Schönbrunn Palace and its gardens are a must-see for tourists. From the small hill they can enjoy a gorgeous view of the palace and the town. The perfect location for taking a selfie...

November Theme Day: Ephemeral

A whitered dahlia, symbol that beauty is ephemeral.
Click here to view thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.