Category Archives: Wien Wanders
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Along the Donaukanal
This was supposed to be a gym day, but I can’t pass up sunshine! Instead, I decided to check out the walking/biking path along the Donaukanal (Danube Canal). Originally a natural tributary of the Danube River, the Donaukanal has been used as a canal and regulated as such for several hundred years. It’s easy to […]
Orgy on the Danube
On Sunday we were having some trouble getting the new GPS to work, so we decided to hike in the one park where it is impossible to get lost: the Donauinsel. We just turned south from the parking lot instead of north this time. We had a good five-mile hike, picnic, and cappucino break (of […]
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
We tried another Vienna city trail today, determined to actually follow the trail for a change. We packed a picnic and headed out to enjoy the beautiful, warm early spring day. Stadtwanderweg 8 climbs the Sophienalpe, named after Archduchess Sophia, the mother of the Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. Her summer home was located on the mountain. […]
Signs of Spring
One sign of the approach of spring in Vienna: the ball season is drawing to a close. This has about as much impact on our nightlife as you might expect. We did to go to the OSCE Ball last night. Rather coolly referred to as a “dinner dance” by some Viennese because food and seating […]
Wien Wetlands
Vienna has wetlands? Heck, I didn’t know that, either. But in fact, there is a really BIG park called the Donau-Auen that goes all the way from just north of Vienna to Bratislava. It is the largest protected natural wetland in Europe. It also provides flood protection for Vienna by allowing the waters to spill over along […]
