The terrace

Today I have nothing special to show you, dear readers, but only the terrace of a friend of mine where we recently spent a very nice evening. She can count herself very lucky, the average apartment in Vienna is not equipped with such a nice place. I´m trying not to envy her ;-)

Franz Grillparzer

This monument to Austrian writer Franz Grillparzer (1791-1872) is located in Volksgarten. Grillparzer, who graduated in law and was for a long time director of the archives at the Imperial and Royal Hofkammer, became famous in 1817, after the first performance of his tragedy "The Ancestress". This monument (the photo shows only a detail) was designed by architect Karl Hasenauer and opened in 1889.

Citybikes

The Citybike Wien system is a free bike system. You can hire a bike at 61 stations across Vienna and return it at any other station, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The first hour of every ride is free of charge. Before hiring a Citybike you need to register either with a credit card (Visa, MasterCard, JCB) or a Citybike tourist card - at the terminal of one of the stations or on the internet. You can find the general traffic rules for bikers here.

Schulhof #1

The name of this narrow street in the city center is Schulhof (schoolyard). The name either derives from a school run by the Jesuits or a synagoge (jiddisch: shul) which were located here in the past. The building on the right hand side houses the Clock Museum.

ImPulsTanz

ImPulsTanz is Vienna´s International Dance Festival, this year it takes place for the 27th time: For five weeks thousands of professional dancers, choreographers and teachers from all over the world come together for performances, research projects and workshops (e.g. HipHop, Bollywood dance, African dance, jazz, bodywork) that are open for anyone of any age.

Modern Reflections

I´ve already showed you two buildings of "Viertel Zwei" here, now here is another part of this new quarter in the second district - and some reflections.

Someone loves flowers

Someone near my office obviously loves flowers and lets participate the passers-by in this love. I like it when people green the houses and the sidewalks! For many years I had some flowers on the window sill next the door of my flat but lately all the flowers have been stolen.

Life Ball

Last night the Life Ball, one of the biggest AIDS charity events in the world took place for the 18th time at the Vienna City Hall. The Life Ball is an exuberant festivity that celebrates life and makes a loud and sounding statement in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The proceeds from the event are distributed to non-profit organisations supporting HIV positive and AIDS patients.
On the occasion of the XVIII International AIDS Conference that starts today, this year the Life Ball was extended even to the Burgtheater with the Red Ribbon Cotillon and the Parliament with the amfAR gala.
The photo shows the City Hall yesterday at noon when the preparations and rehearsals were still going on. Unfortunately the spectacular opening ceremony in the evening that always takes place in front of the City Hall and attracts lots of watchers had to be cut short due to a storm.

Ice cream vans

It´s once again very hot in Vienna... For those who try to cool down on Donauinsel there are several ice cream vans driving around the whole day long. This picture was taken very early in the morning before their hours of business had started.

Welcome back to Vienna

I´m back to Vienna and will resume the daily blogging.

Black & Pink

In Vienna there aren´t as many scooters as in the cities of some southern countries, but lately you can see more and more of them in the streets. I just love the colours of the two in this photo.
This blog will take a break for a week, I´m going to leave very early this morning to a city with more scooters around. If you want to know where I will be spending the next days, click here.

Viertel Zwei #1

There is a lot of construction activity going on in the 2nd district. One of the new quarters is "Viertel Zwei", consisting of several office buildings, a hotel and a residential building. The concept of this new area envisions explicitly a working environment where people love to work. The building on the left hand side houses the Austrian mineral oil authority.

Italian Ice Cream

You can find a lot of Italian ice-cream parlours all over Vienna. One of them uses this trolley to sell its ice-cream to tourists and passers-by. The trolley is usually positioned on the corner Kärntnerstrasse and Graben, in the very city center.

Hot in the city

Summer had some start-up difficulties, but now it´s really hot in the city. One possibility to cool down in the city center is the "Badeschiff", a floating simming pool on the Danube Canal between Schwedenplatz and Urania. On the "Badeschiff" you can also find a sun-deck and a restaurant and there´s plenty of space for cultural and other leisure entertainment. 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.

Sweet Sunday #4

As of late the confectionary Gerstner on Kärntnerstrasse offers cupcakes in five flavours: nutty pistachio, vanilla bean, lemon drop and peach cobbler. I haven´t tried one of them yet, but I will certainly do in the near future. My first choice will be the nutty pistachio cupcake.

Old Danube

The "Alte Donau" (Old Danube) is a dead end of a former river branch of the Danube, separated from the main course of the river by a dam. It is popular for sailing and windsurfing, and alongside its banks there are a couple of lidos - the most famous is the "Gänsehäufel", opened in 1875.

Doorway #1

I found this doorway in Salmgasse, a quiet street in the third district.

Sale!

I´m a little late with this news, sale started already some days ago, but only yesterday this shop window caught my eyes. And yes, of course, I entered the store... and I didn´t leave it empty-handed...

July Theme Day: Reflections

Reflections of a tram and the Vienna State Opera in the window of an Italian café on Opernring.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Bicycle shop

I like the entrance of this bicycle shop on Praterstrasse because the old decorations really stick out on the otherwise perfectly plastered facade.

Life is a like box of chocolates...

... you never know what you´re gonna get (from the movie "Forrest Gump"). At SchokoLadenWerkstatt, a nice little chocolate shop in Ballgasse, you´re gonna get delicious home made chocolates, pralines and chocolate truffles. Personally, I would love to buy the whole range of items... Yes, I´m a chocoholic ;-)

Eternal Beauty

I discovered this beautiful lady on a building on the corner Tuchlauben and Bognergasse in the city center.

Come sail away

Today is the third day of the 27th Donauinselfest ("Danube Island Festival"), Europe´s biggest open air festival with free entry. The festival area extends over 4,5km with 13 stages, 21 "islands", more than 300 music bands, theatre and cabaret groups. This year the organizers of the festival are expecting 3 million attendants. As I don´t like the crowd, I have never even thought of visiting the festival in all these years. I prefer to enjoy the quiet spots of Donauinsel, like this small harbour for sailboats.

Herbs

Herbs in front of a flower shop in Wollzeile in the city center. I especially like the baskets in which the herbs are placed.

View of Kahlenbergerdorf

Kahlenbergerdorf was an indepdendent municipality until 1892, now it is a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna.

Apricots

As I told you in the previous post, "Haas & Haas" also sells specialities. At the moment they are offering various products made of Wachauer apricots (The Wachau is a beautiful valley in Lower Austria): nectar, jam, sauce, spread, sparkling wine, liqueur.

Tea Shop

I showed you already one of the windows of "Haas & Haas" tea shop right behind St. Stephen´s Cathedral. Now here´s a photo of the interior, more precisely the array of the teas. As you can see in the center of the photo, they are currently promoting ice teas (btw I like the colours of the wrappings). The shop doesn´t only sell teas and tea accessoires, but also coffee, jams, honey, chocolate, confiserie, specialities, room perfumes and dishes.

Holocaust Memorial

The Holocaust Memorial (also known as the "Nameless Library"), the central memorial for the 65.000 Austrian victims of the Holocaust, is located on Judenplatz and was unveiled in October 2000. The outside surfaces of the memorial, designed by British artist Rachel Whiteread, are cast library shelves turned inside out. The spines of the books are facing inwards and are not visible, therefore the titles of the volumes are unknown and the content of the books remains unrevealed. The shelves appear to hold endless copies of the same edition, which stand for the vast number of the victims, as well as the concept of Jews as "People of the Book". As a work of art, the memorial was not intendend to be beautiful and forms a contrast to the beautiful architecture nearby.

Waiting for guests

This is how the outdoor areas of Vienna´s restaurants look most of the time this summer: deserted due to bad weather. So far, we had only one week of sunny and hot weather... This photo was taken on Judenplatz which was the center of Jewish life in the Middle Ages.

Modern Tourists

Modern tourists don´t walk all day long, but they take a Segway Personal Transporter (maximum speed: 12,5 mph/20kmh). I saw this group yesterday in front of the Old Town Hall which provided the magistrate of Vienna with administrative space until 1885 when it finally moved to the current Town Hall. The baroque building still houses administrative offices as well as the "Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance".

Sweet Sunday #3

Cakes and their reflection in the window of "Patisserie zum Schwarzen Kameel" in the city center.

Reichsbrücke

Reichsbrücke lies on an important axis leading from the city center to the north-east of Vienna. This bridge across the Danube river carries six lanes of traffic, used by 50.000 vehicles daily, subway tracks, two foothpaths and two cylcepaths. This is already the third bridge on this very spot, opened in November 1980, after the previous bridge had collapsed four years before.
The bridge is not beautiful at all, but it´s near my place and during summer I´m using one of the cyclepaths regularly on my way to Donauinsel, so I thought I might share this view with you - besides, I like the sunset light in this photo.

Façade detail #2

Art nouevau facade on Fleischmarkt in the city center.

Floral Headdress

I spotted this headdress in the window of a fashion store on Praterstrasse, where you can find collections of young international designers. Personally, I would never wear such a creation, but I like the old-fashioned head of the mannequin.

More public screening

Since May selected performances at the Vienna State Opera are broadcasted live on a LED video screen which was set up in front of the Opera House. Informations about the opera, the performers, the Vienna State Opera and its works are provided 45 minutes before the event starts and during the intervals. The admission is free! As you can see, tonight´s opera is "Tannhäuser" by Richard Wagner.

Everything´s coming up roses

I saw these beautiful roses in a flower shop close to St. Stephen´s Cathedral. If I had to choose, I would go for the pink roses.

Public Screening

Austria didn´t qualify for the current FIFA World Cup in South Africa, nevertheless there are several public viewing areas all over the city. Yesterday I passed by this one, in front of a restaurant in the city center.

Kahlenberg

This is still Vienna!! Kahlenberg (484m) is located in the 19th district and is part of the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods), a low, wooded section of the Alps in eastern Lower Austria and Vienna. It is one of the city´s most popular destinations for a sunday afternoon walk. If the weather is fine, the mountain offers a beautiful view over the entire city.
On top of Kahlenberg you can see the Modul University Vienna (on the left side), the church St. Josef and the Suite Hotel Kahlenberg (on the right side).

MuseumsQuartier 6

This is the second modern building at MuseumsQuartier, it houses the Leopold Museum which shows masterpieces of Austrian art of the first half of the 20th century. It contains the largest Egon Schiele collection in the world, and it features also artists such as Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl.

MuseumsQuartier 5

The modern building on the left side, clad in anthracite grey basalt lava, is the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK), the largest Austrian museum for international modern and contemporary art.

MuseumsQuartier 4

This is the outdoor area of one of the restaurants at MuseumsQuartier (MQ). When the weather is fine it is practically impossible to find a free table.
If you look carefully, you will see horses and horsemen on top of the windows - they remind the original function of the historic buildings of MQ as imperial stables which housed 600 horses and 200 state coaches and gala coaches.

MuseumsQuartier 3

These pieces of courtyard furniture are called "Enzis", after the comunications officer at the MQ who assigned an architect´s office to develop ideas for the winter season 2002. Originally the "Enzis" were used as glogg stands, but soon they became a fix part of the MQ. The special geometry enables a lot of different formation types. Especially in summer they are a big success - you can sit, lie, chill, chat, eat and relax on them. Since 2007 the visitors of MQ can vote the seasonal colour of the "Enzis" - this year they opted for "candy shop pink".

MuseumsQuartier 2

This is the courtyard of MuseumsQuartier Wien (MQ). When the weather is fine, it is always crowded by people soaking up the sun, chatting and enjoying the outdoor areas of the various restaurants.

MuseumsQuartier 1

Opened in 2001, the MuseumsQuartier Wien (MQ) is one of the ten largest cultural complexes in the world and offers space for modern and contemporary art and culture. The MQ combines independent new architecture and revitalized buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. This photo shows a part of the main facade, Vienna´s longest Baroque facade.

I want to ride my bicycle

Yesterday I finally could ride my bicycle for the first time in this season! As usually I took a trip on Donauinsel (Danube Island), a 21,1km long island between the Danube river and the parallel excavated channel Neue Donau (New Danube). The island is a recreational area with sport opportunities from rollerblading, cycling, swimming to canoeing, but you can find there also a lot of bars, restaurants and nightclubs.

Balcony #1

This balcony in the second district caught my eye because of the plants and the red ball. According to the forecast, after long weeks of very unseasonable weather this weekend it will be warm and mostly dry, so it should be finally possible to enjoy balconies and terraces.

Picture in picture

This is one of the windows of a tea shop and teahouse on Stephansplatz in the city center, right behind St. Stephen´s Cathedral. The photo in the window shows the Giant Ferris Wheel, a symbol of the Prater amusement park and a very popular tourist attraction.

Façade detail #1

Caryatids on the facade of an apartment house in Praterstrasse.

Front garden

The flower shop in the Vienna Stock Exchange that I mentioned already here, welcomes its clients with this appealing arrangement of plants and a hammock.

June Theme Day: Funny Signs

I think this sign doesn´t need any further explanations...

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants