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.
"The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower." - William Cowper
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 walls on the banks of the Danubel Canal are covered with a lot of graffiti. Last Sunday I caught this sprayer in the act...
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.
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...
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.
"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
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.
I discovered this blackboard in front of a café in the 4th district. Isn't this a cute way of advertising coffee to go? And don't you also want to eat a croissant right away looking at this drawing?
... in this colourful graffito on a garage door in the 7th district.
The Max Reinhardt Seminar is the School of Drama at the University of Music and Performing Arts. A "Lehrgang für Declamation und Mimik" (Course in Declamation and Mimics) had been in existence in Vienna since 1852. In 1929 Max Reinhardt received a call to the University of Music and Performing Arts to create a drama seminar. Initially, this Seminar was taught at the imperial theatre in the Schönbrunn Palace, in 1940 it moved to the nearby Palais Cumberland. The Seminar offers a four-year course taught by some 40 professors, many of whom are themselves notable actors and directors.
A beautiful Art Nouveau doorway in the 7th district. By the way, according to the Mercer 2014 Quality of Living Rankings, Vienna has been ranked as the city with the world’s best quality of living for the 5th year in a row. For more information please click here.
Vienna's smallest house is located in the 7th district. It was built in 1872 and designed by the architect Josef Durst. Its layout spreads on not more than 14 square meters. From the time it was built until today, the house’s name changed three times: first, it was called “By the white grapes”, then “By the golden lamb” and finally “By the golden deer”.
I have known this cute shop, located close to Schönbrunn Palace, from passing by for several years, but only last week I finally had the opportunity to go there during the opening hours. It's a very girly place, perfect if you are looking for a "special" gift.
After I had read about the association "Stadtschrift" that collects, preserves and documents historical storefront signs, I started to pay more attention to old signs and recently fell in love with the signs (characters) of the 1950s and 1960s. This café in the 7th district has been rehabbed some years ago and now looks inside pretty much as it must have looked originally - at least that's what I read.
"Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!" - Thomas Blackburn
In the early 20th century, most cities in Europe had gaslit streets. In Vienna 45.000 gas lamps were registered in 1913. Gas lighting for streets soon gave way to electric lighting, although the transition took decades to complete. In Vienna the last gas lamp was extinguished in the 13th district on 27 November 1962 by Mayor Franz Jonas. Now it is located in front of the Hietzing local museum.
Today is Valentine's Day! Did you know that it began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus? February 14th was first associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England it finally evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery and sending greeting cards. According to a recent survey Valentine's Day matters to only one out of three Austrians. Anyway, I think these sweet hearts would be an acceptable gift ;-)
A beautiful door with Art Nouveau ornaments in the 8th district.
The name (Griechengasse) of this tiny street in the city center refers to the greek merchants that resided here in the 18th century. There's still a Greek Orthodox church just around the corner.
These chairs in front of a Spanish restaurant in the city center seem to wait eagerly for better days. They have to be patient until March 1st when the gastronomes are allowed by law to open their outdoor ares.
The Broken Fingaz Crew is an Israeli graffiti crew consisting of four members. The crew was formed in 2001 in Haifa in Northern Israel. Some days ago I discovered one of their scary works in the 7th district. During my research on this piece of street art, I found out that the crew did also this one.
"Flowers are almost perfect; their only flaw is that they are weak;
they can’t protect themselves against the evil!” - Mehmet Murat İldan
The City Hall currently forms the backdrop for the "Vienna Ice World": The square in front of the building was transformed into a 7.000 sqm ice rink, an ice path snakes through the City Hall Park, and there are also six curling rinks. Hungry sportsmen and spectators can fortify themselves at various outdoor stalls with culinary delicacies and warming drinks. The Vienna Ice World will close on March 9.
These three chairs seem to admire the paintings in a gallery in the city center.
The façade of the recently mentioned UNIQA Tower was designed as media façade. A matrix of 160.000 individually controllable LED video pixels is attached to profiles in between the double layered glass façade and brings the building to life at night. Please click here to get a better idea of the light installations.
Usually I don't take photographs of escalators but the one in a design shopping center in the 2nd district looks really cool.
Reflections in a design shopping center in the 2nd district.
A beautiful window in Grünangergasse in the city center.
"Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning." - Lydia M. Child
That's the entry to a "special" hotel: It was first documented as a tavern in the 17th century. At that time it was located next to a river connected to the Danube, allowing the dinghies of large ships to unload goods fresh from the Orient. Thus the tavern was quickly coined “The Orient”, a name it retained when it became a hostel in 1896. According to time’s aesthetic, the hotel was furnished in purest fin de siècle. The film "The Third Man" was in part shot here; Orson Welles was reputedly often a guest and enjoyed spending post-filming hours here as well. Rooms are mostly rented out by the hour, the Orient is known to be the most exclusive hot-sheet hotel in town.
Click here to view thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.
The name of this square in the city center derives from the Franciscan Church (in this photo on the left) that was built here in the 17th century. In the center of the square lies the Moses Fountain. In summer you can enjoy the quiet square in the outdoor areas of a café and a restaurant.
The Kursalon Hübner is located in Stadtpark and was intended to increase the recreational value of the park by offering curative waters to drink, but after its completion in 1867, it soon experienced a change of use: In 1868 the first concert featuring compositions by Johann Strauss took place. The Kursalon rapidly became the meeting place for Viennese society and celebrated the cult of the waltz and joie de vivre. Today it is an event location with two ballrooms, hosts Mozart and Strauss concerts and also houses a restaurant.
A closer look at the ducks and seagulls in Stadtpark. Due to the past days' low temperature the pond is partly frozen.
Until some days ago winter was rather mild, but now it's freezing cold, and on Sunday evening it started even to snow. Yesterday I had the day off and took a walk in Stadtpark where - as usual - some people were feeding the ducks.
In the course of the Diesel reboot campaign people were asked to submit their artwork to the Diesel Tumblr.
Now the stores all over the world present selected artworks in their windows. In Vienna the featured artist is Nicolas Boillot.
"The flowers of late winter and early spring
occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size." - Gertrude S. Wister
Last summer I developed a certain obsession for sunsets (see here, here, here and here). Recently I happened to a see the sun setting over the city center when I crossed the Danube Canal and couldn't help taking a photograph. Admittedly, the sky was much brighter in reality...
I just can't get enough of atlantes ;-) Here we have two impressive exemplars on the façade of Palais Sturany in Ringstrasse.
In the afternoon of Sunday before last young and old had a lot of fun chasing soap bubbles... I've seen several soap bubble makers during the past few years and I have to say that this lady did a very good job.
Yesterday I read in the newspaper that Vienna's 7th district is suffering from graffiti sprayers who excessively daub house walls, front doors and even the works of street artists. So far it has been an unwritten law that street art is not oversprayed. I stumbled upon this spoiled work of some street artist some months ago.
