April Theme Day: Wet

These kind of tables always catch my eyes, especially on a rainy day.
Click here to view thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.

Down There...

Last Sunday I did an afternoon walk in the 19th district. When I turned back I had this view of the town.

Colourful Cardigan

I don't know if this is really a gentlemen's cardigan or if he just hastily threw over the next best piece of clothing before leaving for an afternoon walk, but I must say this cardigan is really eye-catching...

Spring

Spring has its blue ribbon

Fluttering through the winds

Sweet, well-known scents

Touch lightly and forbodingly the country.

The violets are already dreaming

Willing to come soon.

Listen, the faint sound of a harp from afar!

Springs, yes it's you!

It's you I heard! - Eduard Mörike

Togetherness #1

When I will be their age, I also want so sit on a bench in cosy togetherness...

The Boats Are Back

The boat rentals at the Old Danube have already put the boats to water.

Sunday Flowers #222

"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.
The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month."- Henry Van Dyke

Old & New

A modern and an old office building in the Viertel Zwei area. The modern building houses the headquarter of the Austrian mineral oil authority.

Deserted Campus

Another impression of my walk on the deserted campus of the University of Economics and Business last Sunday. The building in the background was designed by Estudio Carme Pinós S.L., based in Barcelona, Spain.

Outdoor Staircases

Last Sunday I did another walk on the campus of the University of Economics and Business where the outdoor staircases of the Teaching Center, designed by Vienna-based architects BUSarchitektur ZT GmbH, caught my eyes.

I'll Give You Three Guesses

Guess which of these very similar apartment buildings has recently been renovated... I love the French windows!

Advance Warning

If you want to know what to expect in the very near future, sometimes you just have to watch the ground: in this case there are stairs ahead in 15m. I have never seen a similar warning before...

Luxury Design And Furniture Fair

Yesterday I was at the luxury design and furniture fair H.O.M.E.D.E.P.O.T. at the Semperdepot. The building was constructed from 1874 to 1877 according to the plans of Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer and originally served as a depot for the stage sets of the Austrian Federal Theatres. Today one part of the building houses studios of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the other part can be rented for events.

Sunday Flowers #221

"I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, 
the sun was almost bright." - Millard Kaufman, Bowl of Cherries

Donauturm

The 252m high Donauturm was opened in April 1964 on the occasion of the Vienna International Garden Show. Two high-speed elevators transport passengers to the observation deck and a rotating restaurant which offer a splendid view of the town and it environs.

7th Blogiversary

Today this blog turns 7!! I can't believe it! I created the blog seven years ago very late in the evening (or rather early in the morning) without really knowing what I was doing,and I had no idea how I should publish 365 photos a year thinking that there weren't so many interesting things to photograph. Throughout the years I didn't manage to publish a photo every day because I was on vacation, too busy, too tired... or I published photos one or two days late, but I'm still proud that I didn't give up blogging. It is fun, but also rather time-consuming. Anyway, looking for photo subjects I experienced my hometown more attentively and discovered things never seen before. Thank you for visiting my blog and for commenting on the photos! I appreciate your support and I am looking forward to sharing more photos of Vienna with you. And now let's cut the cake and celebrate!

Modern Living

The 110m high "Mischek Tower" is an apartment building in the Donaucity area. It was erected from 1998 to 2000 and was the highest residential building in Austria until 2002, it is still the highest prefab house of the world. Definitely not the kind of building I want to live in...

Sunset Obsession #37

The Light House on the Danube Island at sunset last Sunday.
By the way, the international consulting firm Mercer ranks Vienna highest for quality of living for the 8th year in a row! The annual survey compares the political, social and economic climate, medical care, education and infrastructural conditions such as public transportation, power and water supply. It also takes into consideration recreational offers, the availability of all kinds of consumer goods (from food to cars), as well as environmental conditions.

Training Day

I did so many walks along the Old Danube when it was frozen over in January and February that it seemed "strange" to me to see it in its "normal" condition on Sunday... Some people have already digged out their rowing boats. These group did some training in their dragon boat.

Sitting, Watching...

Did you notice that I haven't been at the Old Danube for some weeks? Well, yesterday I relapsed... And I admired this girl sitting on the edge of one of the platforms... I always have an unpleasant feeling when I'm too close to the edge...

Sunday Flowers #220

"That is one good thing about this world... there are always sure to be more springs." - L.M. Montgomery

Girl With Flower in her Hair

Street art by an unknown artist on a shutter in the 4th district.

Never Getting Tired of This View

Standing in front of the Upper Belvedere you can see the spire of St. Stephen's Cathedral in the city center but also Leopoldsberg and Kahlenberg in the norhtern outskirts.

Restart Your Heart

There's not much to say about this photo... We all have to restart our heart one day, I guess... 

First Spring Flowers

Nature is awakening... On Sunday I discovered some first shy spring flowers (crocuses and snowdrops) in the Botanical Garden.

Beautiful Sphinx

I'll never get tired of photographing the sphinxes in the garden between the Upper and the Lower Belvedere.

Sunday Flowers #219

"Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity." - John Ruskin

Interesting Style

I love art fairs not only for the art, but also because it's a perfect place for people watching. This couple had a really eye-catching style of clothing and got some funny looks... You can't see it in this photo: the girl's eyebrows were turquoise...

Art Vienna #2

Here's another work that caught my eyes at the art fair "Art Vienna": it combines an old papercollage with modern spraypaint and was realised on a vintage wood drawer by 3stepscrew, a German street art collective.

Art Vienna #1

Recently the first "Art Vienna" took place at the Leopold Museum. The art fair focused on Austrian and international contemporary art and classical modernism. This photos shows two eye-catching works by Spanish artist Samuel Salcedo.

March Theme Day: Black and White in Color

I love bright colours, black and white subjects don't really catch my eyes, but this heart on the banks of the Danube Canal did (because underneath there was written in red "for my beloved")...
Click here to view thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.

Krapfen

Krapfen are traditional Austrian carnival sweets: doughnuts made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat or oil. The "classical" version is filled with marmelade or jam with powdered sugar on top, but there are also Krapfen filled with vanilla cream (in this photo), plum butter, nougat... Today is the last day of carnival, the last possibility to indulge in these sweets.

Andromeda Fountain

The Andromeda fountain is hidden in the courtyard of the Old Town Hall in the city center. It was created by Austrian sculptor Georg Raphael Donner in 1741 and is one of his last works as he died in the same year. The relief in the center depicts how Perseus saves Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus.

Sunday Flowers #218

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant;
if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." - Anne Bradstreet

The Only Way is up

These stairs are part of the Schützenhaus on the banks of the Danube Canal. The building was designed by Austrian architect Otto Wagner and erected from 1904 to 1908 as part of a never realised weir system. Today it houses a restaurant.

Spring Was in the Air

Yesterday was the first day that felt like spring. I was in the office the whole day, but I guess a lot of people ate their first ice cream cone of the season and put on clothes in bright colours.

Vienna Opera Ball Poster

The old tradition of carnival balls continues to thrive in Vienna. Each year more than 450 balls take place, the higlight of the ball season is the Vienna Opera Ball held at the Vienna State Opera this very night. In 30 hours the opera has been transformed by 350 skilled workers and 150 auxiliaries into a gorgeous ballroom where more than 5.100 guests will spend a glittering ball night. This year's poster of the Vienna Opera Ball is a collage of "quotations" of different operas and milestones in the history of the ball.

Ice Bar

On the occasion of tomorrow's Vienna Opera Ball the Swiss born artist Daniel Spoerri created an ice bar located in front of a delicatessen store in the city center. Hundreds of heels of ladies's shoes are frozen into the ice blocks.

Sunrays

In the late Sunday afternoon the sun came through the clouds and I caught some first sunrays...

Having a Chat

Yesterday was a rather gray day, nevertheless a lot of people did an afternoon walk along the Old Danube. These friends (or couple?) took a break and had a chat. As you can see the water is still mostly frozen...

Sunday Flowers #217

"A flower doesn't love you or hate you, it just exists." - Mike White

A Goddes in the Garden

There are a lot of statues in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. This one shows Diana, the goddess of hunting.

University of Vienna - The Old Chemical Institute

The Old Chemical Institute of the University of Vienna was designed by Heinrich von Ferstel in the historicist style and erected from 1869 to 1872. Today it houses the Center of Pathobiochemistry and Genetics of the Medical University of Vienna.

University of Vienna - The Grand Staircase

The University of Vienna was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. The main building on Ringstraße was designed by Heinrich von Ferstel. The building has two grand staircases, this one leads to the large ceremonial hall. A monument to Emperor Franz Joseph I, who opened the building in 1884, watches over everything that's going on there...

Blue/Red/White

The outdoor areas of the cafés and restaurants are still closed, but in a passage in the city center the blue and red chairs and white tables are already waiting for guests.

Valentine's Cakes

How about presenting your partner with a heart-shaped cake for Valentine's Day?

Cycling on the Ice

I really wanted to take a break from publishing photos of the Old Danube, but then I did another walk there yesterday and saw this guy cycling on the ice. He was the only one who dared to "step" on the ice...

Sunday Flowers #216

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; 
but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable." -  Joseph Addison

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

A detail of the monument to Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, located in Burggarten since 1953. Originally the monument was erected in 1896 in Albertinaplatz. Click here and here for more photos.

Soap Bubbles

Soap bubbles are always fun to look at...Even if you can't see them in this photo, there were a lot of children trying to catch the bubbles, but also several adults photographing and filming them (the children and the bubbles).