Otherness

People often comment that the shopping areas of Vienna (including the rather smart Mariahilferstrasse and even the Kärntner Strasse) look somewhat old-fashioned.

Not having succumbed to 1970s brutish city centre redevelopment as is the case of most British cities, Vienna remains largely untouched. Its smart shop fronts gleam as brightly as the things on sale inside (be they expensive artifacts or glorious bits of golden plasticy tat).

One thing I have noticed since we arrived in February is how few global retail outlets are present here. The ubiquity of some of these shops make any city somehow interchangeable with any other. Not that I have been searching for something "essential" to Vienna since we have been here (I could look in the direction of the Fiaker rides around the city centre or the Spanish Riding School displays for that), it was rather just something that struck me immediately as "different" or even "foreign" about Vienna which took me a long time to work out why.

Some of the usual (and other, not so usual) suspects are present here, including:

• Body Shop
• Crabtree & Evelyn
• Esprit
• Foot Locker
• H&M
• KFC
• Macdonalds
• Starbucks
  
• Zara

The presence of multiple Starbucks shops in the alleged coffee capital of Europe, seems particularly provocative. They seem ever popular though.

Sounds of summer

I have been really busy and a tad distracted recently and the hot weather has been sapping the energy from my weary body to the point where posting a blog entry has almost made me swoon at the thought of the expended energy (that's my excuse for my laziness anyway).

Today I have been sat working by the noisy open window (possibly more of that later) of our lounge with the swallows wheeling and darting above the rooves outside. They shrieked as they fly by like excited children and reminded me of the (pleasant) din created by the kids in the street where I live in the UK as they run and squeal and laugh and run some more up and down and up and down. It made me feel a little homesick.

I noticed there was a lot of fast feathered activity around one particular area across the street and realised the there must be a nest under the flashing of one of the buildings immediately opposite. I decided to see if I could capture any of the aerial aerobatic antics with my camera.

Needless to say, I think I took about thirty photos and this is the only one that captured anything other than brick, slate, tin and sky.

I fear the people who live opposite may now think I am a peeping tom!

A walk by the river

It was so hot yesterday that we were barely capable of doing anything!

We had intended to go for a swim again but as I have been suffering a little from a pulled shoulder after trying vigorously to swat flies which were pestering me, plus the imminence of the pool closing, we decided to go for a walk along the Danube.

W got the train to Friedensbrucke and walked into town as far as Schwedenplatz and then turned around and walked back on the other side, this time as far as Spitelau and the Hundertwasser Fernwärme (power station/heating works designed by Austrian artist and bonkers architect, Freidensreich Hundertwasser).

The walls by the river walk are filled with graffiti, some of it banal, some of it really interesting. Have a look and see what you think:



Even Amy Winehouse made an appearance!
This is the Fernwärme I mentioned:

Einfach Raus!

This is the name of the ticket we have just discovered on the ÖBB (Austrian Railways).

This is a special ticket that is valid on all Austrian trains except the big fast inter-city trains. It is valid for between 2 - 5 people and costs 28Euro for a whole day's travel for all the people in the group.

We decided to investigate the possibilities over the weekend, starting on Saturday with a trip to Eisenstadt (the regional capital of Burgenland). Saturday was a really warm day and the town centre was uphill from the station (oh my aching shins and blistered feet) so we were a bit tuckered out by the time we arrived to saunter through the, rather deserted, town centre (anyone would think it was a bank holiday or something!).

We had a bit of lunch (Würstel with freshly grated horseradish all round) and made our way idly (we had to run at full pelt) back to the station to catch the next train to Neusiedel Am See, which we sort of missed as we got off at the wrong station. We could see the lake twinkling the distance but had just missed the train (well, we had got off it actually) into town, so we got on a different train and came back a different route into Vienna.

We arrived back in Vienna earlier than we originally expected, and decided to tootle off on another train/adventure to Mödling, an outlying small spa town, just because we could. The town centre was uphill, again, and looked really unpromising from the main road. We almost turned around and came back home but didn't, for some reason I can't remember, and ended up somewhere that was so dinky it looked like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang could have been filmed there (was it? I don't know, but if you do, then please tell me).

Then we headed home, via a Turkish-shop stop to pick up some provisions (delicious pistachio nuts,
aubergine dip and (a tin of!) humous).

Easter Sunday, and a new Einfach Raus ticket beckons, but not before finding the rather brilliant journey planner on the ÖBB website called Scotty, which allows us to plan our journey to the minute before we have actually left the house (I think Austrian public transport efficiency is second only that of Germany).

Today we're going to Melk.

Melk lies on a bend in the Danube, about 100km from Vienna. It's a pretty little town (this time downhill from the station!) which boasts the most jaw-dropping baroque "pile" (atop the hill in the town centre) that I have ever seen. It completely dominates the town.

This pile is a still functioning monastery, with a museum, and gallery, and fountains, and gardens, and church, and cherubs, and frescoes, and relics (!!!), and gold-leaf, and general pomp, and, in fact, so much visual pastel confection that at times, you may feel like you're having a sugar-rush.

Easter Monday we set forth again, this time with Payerbach-Riechenau as our destination of choice.

We were thwarted early on in the journey today however, as both of us were daydreaming and missed our first change (Ottakring). We eventually got back to Wien Meidling (our main departure station) and decided to head towards Wiener Neustadt (which is on the way to Payerbach-Riechenau) and review the situation later in the morning.

Wiener Neustadt (New City) is actually medieval, and not an overflow council estate (like Wythenshawe is to Manchester) as I had previously thought and in itself looked picturesque and probably held enough to keep us entertained for the afternoon, had it not been a Bank Holiday and had everything not been shut. So, after a cursory circuit of the old town we headed back to the station to venture forth, to our original destination.

We arrived in Payerbach-Riechenau and "siezed the day" yet again by jumping onto yet another train which was already in the station when we arrived which took us up the snow covered mountain to Semmering.

It snowed when we arrived and was really beautiful.

Snow pix to follow soon, when I have sorted them out!

Einfach Raus? Well, it gets you out of the house doesn't it?

A change is as good as a rest

The day after our return from Chicago, the lovely Bridget came to stay.

It felt odd when we were in America and getting ready to "come home", that the home we would be coming back to was Vienna rather than the UK, and I don't think either of us was really looking forward to it. Having a visitor to stay however does make you focus on "nice" and "interesting" things to do rather than the mundane or irritating. We had a very jolly few days in the end.

B hasn't been to Vienna since the late '70s, so there were a lot of "architectural walks" to keep us busy and re-familiarise her (and us) with the delights of the city, including several stops along the way for a drink and something to eat.
The weather wasn't great. It was cold and windy most of the time, and we even had a flurry of snow at one point (on Thursday I think). The 14 degrees celcius promised for Friday didn't materialise much to our disappointment (until Saturday) and so planned trip up to the Kahlenberg to survey the city and its environs took place in pouring rain and low cloud. On arriving we took a very cursory glance at the the gloomy city wrapped in mist below, and almost immediately scurried back to the bus before it left and went into town for another drink and something else to eat.

North, South, East and West

To conclude our walk, and allow us a little time inside to thaw out we, decided to visit the observation platform at the top of the Sear's Tower. The day was a little murky but the views were still amazing!

Views to the north:
to the east:
to the south:
and to the west:
We needed a drink after that. It's a shame there wasn't a bar up there!

A walk in the park

On Tuesday we went for a walk...

We walked down Michigan to the river,
Through Millennium Park,
past the Anish Kapor sculpture,
down to the lake,
along to the Museum Campus,
back into town to a fantastic acrhitecture/design bookshop called Prairie Avenue Books,
past the elevated train tracks,
through the square which houses the Mies van der Rohe federal buildings and a huge Calder sculpture
and along to the Rookery (I stood on the stairs and got told off by the security guard)
How our feet ached!