Christmas Eve in Vienna

Christmas Eve day started with shopping in Nachmarkt (the big outdoor food market) (smoked eel for Sieglinde, shrimps, dolmades, olives, bread, cheeses, meats, wine, cognac) for a simple "grazing" dinner (us in front of our dinner in the apartment), then a late breakfast and coffee at Café Sperl, followed by touring the Christmas market in front of Schonburg Palace.

We stopped later in Nachmarkt at one of the fish vendors for oysters on the half shell with champagne.

So, no Christmas tree as such, but we do have a wreath with candle from Nachmarkt, which right now sits atop our clothes drying rack in the middle of the apartment (Sieglinde insisted on a picture - one that doesn't show the undies).

Church services here are at midnight, by which time we'll be sound asleep, so we're inside for a peaceful, restful, quiet Christmas Eve. A little cognac, some Christmas CD's (Kings College Choir, Cambridge, A Festival of Lessons and Carols is on now) from home and just us together. Perfect. Oh, and it's snowing outside now.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Third Man - abbreviated Vienna tour...

What is said by some to be the best example of film noire is the 1949 classic The Third Man, written by Graham Green, and starring Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, and others. Set in post-war Vienna, of course I had to see it while here. It plays every weekend in English at a theatre only a ten minute walk from my apartment.

It was fun to pick out sites in the film I already knew. What really surprised me at the Harry Lime’s apartment (Orson Welles) is actually an apartment building in what is the Palais Pallavicini, which I walk by on a regular basis on Josefsplatz, just off of Michaelerplatz. I had no idea the name of the building, or the significance. My first week here, I was invited to a large UN staff party at somebody’s apartment in this building, and I passed (jet lag). Had I only known!

So, the first picture of the grand doorway with the imposing statues is the Palais, Harry’s apartment. In the film, after being struck by a truck in front of his apartment, he’s carried across the road and dies in front of this statue of Emperor Franz Josef in the small squar. In the movies, shot when Vienna was still in ruins after the war, the entrance to the apartment and the base of the statue show lots of battle damage and pock marks from gunfire. Long plastered over now.

The smaller, less impressive doorway is 8 Schreyvogelgasse, where Harry makes his first appearance hidden in shadows. Great scene, and an interesting little street in real life. You can watch a clip of this scene at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_SQyCJega8 which features the zither music the movie is also famous for.

This is the movie where a famous line originated (courtesy of Orson Welles): "In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." Bit of fact to correct the movie – the Germans invented the cuckoo clock!

OK, if you don’t know the movie, or care, this doesn’t mean much, but it was a fun day for me having just seen the movie the other day. If you like classic movies, and appreciate film noire, rent it one night. Then check all the locations at http://axion.physics.ubc.ca/thirdman/thirdman.html

Simple pleasures for a simple mind today…!

Day trip across the border to Bratislava

I had meant to take the train to Bratislava (Slovakia) earlier in my stay while the weather was still good. It’s on the Danube, and you can take a boat there from Vienna. It’s only an hour by train from Vienna (border guards on the train checking papers, but no passport stamp), so today was the day I finally got around to it. Still haven’t gotten to Budapest. Grey skies, damn cold, and no surprise – there were large Christmas markets in the Old Quarter of Bratislava!

Bratislava is just across the border from Austria, and is very poor by comparison. It’s one of the oldest former Celtic towns in Europe, and was the eastern border of the Roman Empire. In days gone by, it was an important centre of the Slavic Empire of Great Monrovia, the western bulwark of the Hungarian Empire (at least that’s what I’m told). Those days are long gone… Now, it’s out of the Soviet Union, poor, and happy to be in the EU. Although, they still use their own currency (Slovak koruna).

I had great street food at one of the Christmas markets (where all the music being broadcast were Christmas carols in English. Strange), did a lot of walking (hard on the feet on uneven stones) and stopped in at a café for that traditional Slovak cold weather drink - Irish coffee. To be fair, I did walk by an Irish pub…and a Mexican restaurant, several Chinese, a couple of Japanese… The world truly is a global village.

Great travel day. Vienna subway south from Karlsplatz, streetcar on to the train station, train to downtown Bratislava (saw deer in the fields on the way), and snow on the way back. Finished the day by more of a long walk in the centre of Vienna (huge crowds, hard to move) to a favourite schnitzel place ("eine grosse bier bitte" to wash it down) in the Neubaugasse area, and a walk to settle dinner, with a little Christmas shopping on Mariahifler Strasse, cutting across Gumpendorfer Strasse, right past my favourite coffee shop, then through Nachmarkt to my apartment. See, I’ve learned a LITTLE it while I’m here!

Bratislava street art

The Old Quarter is a bit of a warren of tiny alleys, shopping streets, courtyards, cul-de-sacs and private apartments. Interspersed around the main shopping parts are some quite funny sculptures that really make you stop and look twice, and then smile.

The man peering out of the manhole appears as a popular icon in tourism marketing and just cracked me up. The photographer peering around the corner reminds me so much of my father. No signs warn you of them, no attention is drawn, they're just little surprise you stumble upon.

This is the “off season” for tourism, and I still had to wait around a bit to get shots without anyone posing by the sculptures. Great street art, and cities need more of this.

More of Bratislava

I spend about five hours walking all about, and shot around sixty pictures. I only wish the light had been better.

Now that I’ve seen Bratislava, I’m not in any huge rush to go back. I did walk around the non-tourist downtown area for a bit, and even stumbled on a market tucked into an alley (dozens of little stands all hawking counterfeit jeans, bags, designer goods, all run by bored looking Asians who appeared quite out of place) and it was all dirty, poor, shoddy, sad. Some streets in the Old Quarter are still being renovated, and there are lots of empty shop windows. One can only hope Slovakia benefits from joining the EU and getting out of the Soviet sphere of influence.

Still, the Old Quarter was an interesting way to spend a day… Would have been a LOT better if my wife were with me!

Vienna - Christmas at night

I took these (tragically without a tripod to stabilize the camera - not that I have one, or would lug one about!) last night in the city centre area around Stephansplatz. The lights are amazing, and the crowds are huge. Bus loads of people come in for the lights and the markets. Lots of hot wine and food stands, and Christmas trees. First time I've seen trees 16 foot and higher, and lots of them! What the pictures don't show is that it had started snowing. Lovely evening.

Another day, another Christmas market...

I was looking for a nearby place to go for Christmas Eve service with Sieglinde, and lo and behold (note the Biblical tone!) a ten minute walk from my apartment is a three hundred year old baroque cathedral, Karlskirche, complete with a huge Christmas market in front. http://www.karlskirche.at/

These were taken just as the market was opening on Sunday morning, so not many people yet, and the stands around the mulled wine (Gluwein) booth are empty. These are jammed later in the day, and they're all over town. Terribly civilized. The roast potato and chestnut guy was just firing up his stand.

Tropical pictures for cold winter relief...

It’s winter here in Vienna, so in lieu of any new pictures from here (I’m thinking of taking the train across the border to Bratislava, Slovakia, next Saturday for the day) I thought I’d post some “warm” pictures to counter the cold here. It’s also Saturday, I’m doing laundry, bored, and need a break from work e-mail…

These shots are from a Caribbean/South America project a couple of years ago. Sunset at Oistens, Barbados. Famous local fish fry place where there are multiple fry stands to choose from, cold beer, local rum, lots of local music and people watching.

The two pictures of the big waterfall are Kaieteure Falls, Guyana. 800 foot vertical drop of the Potaro River (twice as high as Niagara Falls). No fences, no crowds of tourists. Only access, other than a couple of weeks hike is by charter plane landing on a gravel strip. When the water is low, you can actually swim at the lip of the falls. That’s me cringing on the rock outcropping. If you look closely, you can see the crack running through it just to the right of me. Scared silly. The things you do for a picture!

The smaller falls are further inland from the Kaieteur Falls, still in Guyana, but a part of the greater Amazon basin. These are the Orinduk Falls, which are a small series of layered falls on the Ireng River. Great place to cool off. The opposite river bank is Brazil. Another gravel landing strip, with a local Indian village of grass huts.

The harbour/town picture is Georgetown, Grenada. Great place. Too bad I was there in a suit, carrying a briefcase and running between meetings. At least I had one great dinner on the beach.

Saturday morning café life in Vienna

Spent a chunk of my Saturday morning, as usual, doing work reading in a café. This is Café Sperl, once favoured by a young, starving artist who went on to start a world war (little guy, funny moustache, raving mad). It’s been around for 127 years now. Lots of older regulars, many with dogs, many smoking. Great, high ceilings. Waitresses that look and act like they came with the original furnishings. Of course, they smoke too. A pool table covered with a wide selection of newspapers, including a few in English. Something I haven’t seen here too often.

My melangé (sort of a cappuccino) arrives on a small silver tray, three sugar cubes in tiny bowl, and a tiny glass of water on the side. In Myanmar, coffee arrives with a tiny glass of tea on the side.

Lovely atmosphere, and for the price of a single coffee, you’re left alone for hours. And...no tourists! This place is off the beaten track, but only a block from Naschmarkt, and quite close to my place.

New apartment

So, since coming back to Vienna from the US meeting tour, I’ve moved apartments. I am now half a block from Nachmarkt, the largest outdoor permanent market here in Vienna. These are two views from the corner outside my front door. One shows the market buildings at the end of the street. One shows the tiny park at the end of the block, where a hot wine stand is going up today (a big local tradition at Christmas. They're everywhere). Another shows the advent wreaths for sale in the market (just down from the fish monger with the large tank of live eels...). Who knew purple was a Christmas candle colour?

My new apartment (furnished) is quite homey. Separate bedroom, tiny kitchen, two TV channels in English. Very quiet.