I Can't Help it...

Maybe I should change the name of this blog to Vreni's Old Danube Daily Photo ;-) I have gotten a little obsessed with my walks along the Old Danube recently, I know, but first I had to check how it froze over and now how the ice is getting thinner...

Swan on the Ice

As I have already told you the ice on the Old Danube has gotten thinner, but swans can still walk on it... And if the ice collapses under their feet, they would just swim... 

Sunny Day

On a sunny day life seems easier and I feel more energy than when the city is covered with fog. 

On Thin Ice

Due to the warmer temperature during the past few days the ice on the Old Danube has gotten thinner, and yesterday only some brave (or stupid) set foot on the ice cover... By clicking here you can see once again what was going on in this place Sunday before last.

Sunday Flowers #215

"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration." - Claude Monet

Sunrays

After two terrible misty weeks, today the sun was finally back and we had 3°C (37°F). Some people enjoyed the sunrays in Burggarten.

Still Resisting

The snow is already melting... In Burggarten I discovered a lot of remains of snowmen - a sad sight... This snowman was still looking rather good...

Snow in the City

When I left my apartment on Monday morning it snowed heavily. Only 10 minutes later I got off the subway in the city center and there was not even one snowflake - as in most parts of Vienna. During the night before last the snowfall finally hit the whole city...

February Theme Day: Loving Life

It was hard to find a photo for today's theme day...I searched my archive for photos of people who look happy and seem to love their live, but couldn't find any good one. Then I stumbled upon this picture of a mural in the 6th district and immediately thought that it depicts perfectly the moments in which I love life: when I have time to stroll through the city with my camera and take a lot of photos.
Click here to view the thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.

First Steps

All beginnings are difficult... Especially the first steps on blades... I loved to watch this dad teaching his daughter how to ice-skate...

Sunday Afternoon on The Ice

Nothing new in Vienna: it's still cold and the Old Danube is still frozen over. Yesterday's foggy weather didn't prevent people from spending the afternoon on the ice.

Sweet Sunday #17

"Nothing in life is a piece of cake; well, except an actually piece of cake."- Hiba Fatima Ahmad

Ice Hockey Players

Young ice hockey players on the still frozen Old Danube. 

Taking a Break

Ice skating can be exhausting, once in a while you just have to take a break...

Hideaway

During my past walks along the Old Danube I asked myself where all the swans and ducks had gone. On Sunday I found them: they are crowded in a small part of the water that's not frozen...

Sunset Obsession #36

I just can't resist taking photos of sunsets... This is the sun setting over the frozen Old Danube last Sunday.

Watch Your Step

Another photo taken last Sunday afternoon on the Old Danube. I read that it's the first time in 30 years that the Old Danube is frozen. In Vienna the natural waters aren't officially authorized, so people step on the ice on their own risk...

An Afternoon on the Ice

It's still cold and the layer of ice on the Old Danube has gotten thicker during the last week. Yesterday afternoon there was a lot of acitivity going on: people were walking, skating, playing ice hockey...

Sunday Flowers #214

"Winter should not be considered as only negation and destruction.
It is a secret and inward working of powers, which in spring will burst into visible activity." - Henry James Slack

Majolikahaus

The Art Nouveau Majolikahaus (1898-1899) in the 6th district was designed by Austrian architect Otto Wagner. The ornate building is namend after the weather-proof, ceramic tiles painted in floral designs on its facade as in majolica pottery.

If You Can Touch it...

"brut" is a co-producing institution focusing on experimental and innovative performing arts. One of the two venues of "brut" is located at the Künstlerhaus. When I passed there some days ago, the sign "Never forget: If you can touch it - It can also touch you!" caught my eyes.

So Near And Yet so Far

The view from the banks of the Old Danube towards the modern buildings of Donau City.

Sunset Obsession #35

The sunset over the Old Danube last Sunday... The sun currently sets at 04:28 p.m. - I'm very much looking forward to the long days in summer...

A Walk on the Ice

Due to the cold weather, the Old Danube is currently frozen. Yesterday I saw a lot of people skating or walking on the ice... I preferred to stay on the "mainland"...

Sweet Sunday #16

"Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness 

as one can possibly want and hold." - Judith Olney

Austrian Museum of Applied Arts - Bentwood Chairs

Bentwood furniture was not a Viennese invention, nonetheless outside Austria the bentwood chair is still frequently called "Viennese chair". The furniture manufactory Gebrüder Thonet developed the first industrial-scale production processes for bentwood furniture. These processes replaced previous individual craft skills with an investment in machinery that allowed any worker to produce accurate and repeatable bent components. The best known piece of the manufactury was the No. 14 chair, the iconic chair of Parisian cafés. The furniture collection of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts presents an overview of over 100 years of production by Gebrüder Thonet an competing firms, from the 1830s to the 1930s.

Austrian Museum of Applied Arts - Have a Seat

This reading bench for museum visitors was created by American artist Jenny Holzer in 1993 and is an aluminium cast after an original bench from Danhauser Furniture Factory that existed from 1804 to 1838. During the Biedermeier period Danhauser was THE furniture manufactory in Vienna.

Austrian Museum of Applied Arts - Empire & Biedermeier

The various spaces of the permanent collection of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art are organized in a chronological fashion. This rooms shows objects from the Empire and the Biedermeier period.

Foyer of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts

Some weeks ago I spent an afternoon at the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (MAK). It was originally founded in 1863 as the "Imperial Royal Austrian Musuem of Art and Industry" and designed by famous Austrian architect Heinrich von Ferstel. Today it houses a collection of applied arts, design, architecture and contemporary art. The museum welcomes the visitors with this beautiful late-historicist entrance foyer.

Hand in Hand

Sunday, a walk in a snowy park, hand in hand with your loved one - sounds like a good program to me...

Snowy Vienna

It is still very cold and the town is finally covered with snow. I decided to do my Sunday afternoon walk in the park of Schönbrunn Palace and took this photo from the outside staircase of the palace towards the Gloriette. The structure was originally built in 1775 as a "temple of renown", today it houses a coffeehouse.

Sweet Sunday #16

"All people with healthy physical appetites have a sweet tooth somewhere in their heads." - Macmillan's Magazine, 1887

Photo taken at the K. u. K. (Imperial and Royal) Court Confectionary "Demel" 

Cold And Windy

Baby, it's cold outside... Yesterday we had -6° C  (-42,8° F), but with the strong wind it felt even colder. Nevetheless I did a 3,5 km walk along the Old Danube. There were only a few people out and about...

Sleeping Girl

Today is a public holiday (Three Wise Men), so we can sleep in - like this girl created by the French-Austrian street art duo Jana & Js.

Reflections #32

As you may already know, I love chairs... - even if they are part of a window display. After having taken the photo I didn't like the reflection, but then it grew on me...

Red Caps

I was taking a picture when a man asked me, two ladies and a man to pose for him. We caught his eyes with our red caps/hats/hair. He also took a photo with my camera and I like it a lot.

The Hookah Smoker

Smoking a hookah and watching at the Old Danube, he had his own little party on New Year's Eve...

The Force of Habit

Well, yes, I did my last walk in 2016 along the Old Danube... It was a very sunny, but rather cold day. The Old Danube was partially frozen, so the swans had to walk on the ice... It was fun to watch them...

January Theme Day: Photo of the Year

As you already know, I love sunsets and the Old Danube. So I just had to choose a photo that combines these two "elements" in one. Furthermore I took the first and the last walk in 2016 along the Old Danube, so we've come full circle...
Click here to view the thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.

Beautiful Chandeliers

The chandeliers on Graben in the city center are Vienna's most gorgeous Christmas illumination. Tonight they light the "New Year's Eve Trail": from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m the next morning gastronomers serve punch and culinary treats, and there are entertainment areas with various show programs (operetta, rock, pop, DJ lines, hit music). On Graben you will find the "classical area". Whatever you do tonight, I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and wish you all the best for 2017!!!

Franziskanerplatz by Night

Franziskanerplatz is located in the very city center. Its name derives from the Franciscan Church and monastery, built in this square in the 17th century. Although there are some taverns it's usually a rather quiet square. Please click here for a photo by day.

St. Peter's Church

The construction of the Baroque St. Peter's Church started in 1701. The design was inspired by the St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican in Rome. The church was the first domed structure in baroque Vienna. In 1733 St. Peter's Church was consecrated to the Holy Trinity.

2016 Christmas Illuminations #6

A lot of lights in a commercial center in the first district...

2016 Christmas Illuminations #5

Eye-catching is the perfect adjective for the Christmas lights in Rotenturmstraße in the city center.

Second Day of Christmas

In Austria today is St. Stephen's Day, a public holiday. Saint Stephen was the first martyr of Christianity... The photo shows Christmas tree decorations at the Christmas market in Stephansplatz, adjacent to St.Stephen's Cathedral.   

The History of the Christmas Tree

Christmas trees as we know them today first arrived in Vienna during the Biedermeier period from northern (Protestant) Germany: In 1814 reports compiled by the state police contain the first mention of a Christmas tree festivity held in the salon of the Arnsteins, a Jewish bankersfamily. Those attending were given lavish gifts, a custom that was not usual on Christmas Eve in Vienna at the time. However, it was via court circles that the Christmas tree spread rapidly to the living rooms of the middles classes. The wife of Archduke Karl, Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg brought the custom from her German (Protestant) home. Christmas 1816 saw the first Christmas tree, festively decked with candles in the Habsburg family. Emperor Franz I attended this celebration and was so taken with the magical aura of the Christmas tree that the ordered a tree to be put up in the Imperial Palace at Christmas from then on. Subsequently it became the norm in Catholic families to celebrate Christmas around the tree. Contemporary accounts record that while it was still almost impossible to procure a Christmas tree in 1821, by 1829 there were already street vendors.

Merry Christmas!

In Austria we celebrate Christmas this very night: We set up the Christmas tree and light it for the first time, gather around the tree, sing Christmas carols, unwrap the presents and have Christmas dinner and maybe go to the Midnight Mass. Merry Christmas from Vienna! Frohe Weihnachten!

Almost Last Minute

In Austria we usually set up the Christmas tree not until Christmas Eve, still it's high time to buy a tree. In Vienna you can do so in nearly 300 locations, even in the very city center (The photo was taken on Graben). I read that the Viennese prefer to buy a fir tree because of its rich colour and blunt needles...

The Gifts Are on Their Way

Out of the way! The gifts have to be delivered in time!

Snowy Christmas Tree

Yesterday we had the first snowfall of this winter. After touching the ground, the snow quickly melted. However, in the afternoon, when I had to run an errand for the office, the cars, the plants and trees were covered with a thin layer of snow. I would love to have a white Christmas, but according to the forecasters the odds are bad.