Category Archives: Austrian Adventures
A Break from Baroque: Maria am Gestade
I am so glad I found out about these quick tours of various sites around the city that are offered by a member of our local women’s association. This week, we visited Maria am Gestade, a church that forms part of the terrific view from our living room. Visiting hours are limited, so I have […]
A Red-Letter Day in Vienna
First of all, we accidentally wandered into Vienna’s May Day celebrations this morning while out walking, and I am so mad I didn’t have my camera! Next year, I am definitely going out to take pictures. Here’s a photo from the newspaper, though. International Worker’s Day is a big deal here in “Red Vienna.” The […]
Duernstein in der Wachau
This weekend we made a day trip out to Dürnstein in the Wachau. I’ve visited before, but wanted to show it to the husband. And anyway, now I have a better camera! We had a hearty lunch at the Sänger Blondel, named for the minstrel who supposedly rescued Richard the Lion Heart from Dürnstein castle. Afterwards […]
Two Hours and Two Thousand Years
This morning, I took advantage of a tour advertised by the American Women’s Association of the church of St Ruprecht and the surrounding area–which happens to be more or less my neighborhood. It was really interesting. St Ruprecht is debatably the oldest church in Vienna, dating from about 740 AD. The current church, dating mostly […]
Just Really a Lot of Eggs
Yeah, I know back home y’all have crocuses, buttercups and birds. Here in Vienna, nothing says “spring” like icy sidewalks, biting winds, and fragile stacks of $15 eggs for sale. As long as you are bundled up, Easter markets are a great place to enjoy a glass of new wine and a yummy snack while […]
Vienna in Black and White
First real, pretty snow in Vienna today! So, I took the opportunity to test out the monochrome setting on my camera. I like the way these photos turned out. That’s all!
An Advent Photo Gallery
Vienna is nothing if not photogenic at Christmas time. Click any photo for a slide show with captions. Enjoy!
Weirdest Christmas Tradition Ever
Austria is a Christmassy sort of place. It gets plenty cold by the beginning of December, and snow arrives right on schedule. In the countryside, impossibly quaint small towns look like they belong under a Christmas tree with a toy train running around them. In Vienna, we have at least a dozen Christmas markets going, […]
Snow Globes!
Did you know that snow globes were invented in Vienna? In 1900, Edwin Perzy, a surgical instruments manufacturer, was trying to use a glass globe to project light. He filled the globe with water, and then tried adding glass powder to increase the refraction. Instead, he got a snowy effect. From this experiment, he […]
In Which Naked Men Are Not Actually My Favorite Thing About a Museum
So, we are making up a bucket list of Stuff We Want To Do For The Six Months That The Weather Is Disgusting in Vienna. It includes a bunch of museums because they have art, which my husband likes, and they are indoors and warm, which I like. (Actually, I like art too, but I […]
Attitude Adjustment: Austrian Style
Fall is a tough time for me. Mostly because I know winter is coming. Now don’t go telling me to go skiing or whatever. I don’t ski. I do have my own ways of coping with winter. But coping is not the same as liking. I don’t have to like winter, no one can make me […]
Wine Wandering and Kitten Attack!
We accomplished exactly two things this weekend. Drinking wine and introducing a little chaos into our lives. On Saturday we met some friends for the Wien Wein Wandertag. This is an annual event sponsored by the city to promote the local wines. Trails are marked so that people can hike through the vineyards which surround […]
Food is Homey
Last weekend, we went to an Austrian food festival at the Hofburg palace in Vienna. The motto of the festival was “Essen ist Heimat” which Google translates rather awkwardly as “is eating home.” In fact, it’s an expression meaning “eating is homeland” or “eating is homey” or something along those lines. Austrians, like Germans, are […]
Here I Go Again With The Graffiti
Another day, another walk along the Donaukanal. I don’t know why I love this stuff so much, but I do. Posted without comment, except that I do think the last one, created as a memorial to a pet, is rather sweet. Oh, and is that green guy with the blue hair the Shoney’s Big Boy…?
Strolling at Schoenbrunn
Since we got back from our three weeks of stuffing our faces R&R to the States, I have been trying once again to lose that last few pesky pounds! So, every day I have been either going to the gym or going on a good walk. Yesterday, I hopped on the U-Bahn and went to Maria […]
The Castle Augghhh
A few weeks ago, I ran across a mention in a guide book of the Castle Aggstein, about 90 minutes from Vienna. Well, of course you know what my Monty Python-obsessed better half started quoting. Clearly, we had to visit, and soon. In fact, Aggstein proved to be somewhat less Pythonesque than the place we […]
Krems Cuts the Mustard
Last weekend, I was escorted by my husband and daughter to the Wachau Valley town of Krems an der Donau for a birthday lunch. Krems is famous for three things: wine, apricot brandy and mustard. The wine is pretty good. The apricot brandy (schnapps) is unspeakable. The mustard is excellent. I am not even a big […]
Round the Ring
Since I moved downtown, my quick-and-dirty exercise routine has been to walk the Ring, a walking/biking path that follows the outline of the old city walls. It’s a little noisy, but always interesting. Today I snapped a few pics with my phone to share. Gosh darn it, I love Instagram.
A Surprisingly Cool Heating Plant
This morning, the American Women’s Association arranged a tour of a heat-generating waste incineration plant. Why, might you ask, would a women’s group do such a thing? Well, for a start, this was the famous Fernwärme Spittelau, redesigned in 1987 by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. So, it’s really cool-looking. (I am quite fond of Hundertwasser—he was […]
Yet More Vienna Graffiti
I went walking by the Donaukanal again this morning, and once again, I got distracted by all the interesting graffiti. You might wonder why in Vienna, with all its museums and masterpieces and stuff, I spend so much time looking at street art. I just like it, that’s all. In fact, I prefer it to […]
Lost in the Woods…Again
If you have been reading this blog, you may have come to the conclusion that my husband and I are somewhat directionally challenged. I mean, you would think having lived all over the world we’d be able to find our way out of a paper bag by now. But the Vienna “Stadtwanderwegs” have just kicked […]
Catholic Bling, Awesome Ruins and Really a Lot of Apricots
The daughter is home from college and brought a friend with her to visit. I offered to drive the two of them to a famous abbey yesterday. Road trip! Traveling with college girls was slightly different than other family trips have been lately. No moaning, no groaning, no dragging anyone out of bed. Instead I […]
The People’s Roses
I stopped by the Volksgarten (People’s Garden) today. Built on the site of an old fortification that was burned to the ground by Napoleon in 1809, the park was opened to the public in 1825. It is a lovely oasis amid the hubbub of the Innere Stadt at any time of year. Today, the weather […]
New Food, Old Attitudes, Some Graffiti, and More Gnomes, Of Course
I am big on walking for exercise. Now that we are living downtown, my walks are even more interesting. I carry my cell phone with me everywhere, and snap photos of anything that strikes my fancy. Here’s the latest batch, accumulated over the past few weeks.
The Prater Through a Different Lens
I just discovered Instagram and am having so much fun with it! This morning I went for a walk on the Prater and played around with the photos afterwards. See, the Prater reminds me a little of Opryland, the amusement park in Nashville that I visited several times a year when I was a kid. […]
