People of Vienna

So I have gone overboard today and shared quite a few images from out and about in Vienna. Just random shots of people doing their thing as they enjoy the city.

I won't comment on each of the photos, I will leave you to make of them what you will.

I did wonder how the artist would cope with the queue of people in front of the coffee vendor but as it happens I needn't have worried, if you look at the painting he is working on you will see he wasn't including the coffee stand in his composition.

And in the final shot, while I had been quite taken aback by the animal headed buskers this group of lads were not the least bit interested, perhaps because they had got the attention of a pretty local girl to take their group photo.
 

In The Jewish Quarter

 Historically Vienna had a thriving Jewish community and this is celebrated in really cool museum in Judenplatz and just outside of this stands a very moving holocaust memorial.

The streets around Judenplatz are very atmospheric, none more so than Schulhof (the first three images) which is where there was once a school, "Schulhof" translates to "school yard".

I particularly like the third image where the sunlight reflected in the windows on the right is projected onto the walls of the church on the left.

The final image I have added as this is a square on the edge of the Jewish quarter and is home to the fire service museum. I don't think I have ever seen such a pretty fire station. I believe that the building was completed in 1730. The exhibitions are housed on the upper floors and are manned by members of the fire service and visits to the museum can be interrupted when the crews get a shout and have to go out and save lives.

A Summer Palace

 Built as a summer palace for Prince Eugene of Savoy the Belvedere is a complex of baroque palaces, an orangery, stables and parkland. It is now a museum of art, housing world class exhibitions. and it is designated a world heritage site.

At one point the upper Belverdere as seen in these images was the home of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the imperial throne. Following his assassination and the start of the first world war the palace complex was nationalised and became home for collections and exhibitions of modern art.

Palace Gardens Too

 

These shots of the colonnade and lantern are from the rear face of the Schloss Schonbrunn, the side of the palace that faces onto the extensive grounds.

If you have seen my posts before you will know that I am a fan of black and white images and today I have picked similar shots to compare the colour images with the black and white. I like all four pictures but I am having difficulty choosing a favourite or to say whether colour beats monochrome. I look at the first image and think colour has it today and then I look at the second image and think ah, but does it really, perhaps monochrome steals it, and then I move onto image three and... oh I am so confused.

Candid

 Here are a few candid shots of people out and about in Vienna and Graz.

It can be fun to capture images of people while they are absorbed in something and not posing for the camera. Sometimes they are aware of the camera but don't seem to mind as in pictures 1, 3 and 6 and in the others they are totally unaware.

The guy on the step was taking a break from the kitchen where he worked. The guy in the Wookie onesie seemed quite pleased to have his picture taken and he raised his hand to acknowledge me, I think he was a bit down on his luck, however he did not seem to be low in spirits.

Mur Island, or Murinsel

 Welcome to Mur Island, a unique floating structure on the River Mur in Graz. It was designed by the New York artist Vito Acconi and created in 2003 when Graz was the European city of culture.

It is a fascinating structure which contrasts with  the renaissance architecture in much of the city. The island is connected to each bank of  the river by a walkway and the central part forms a sort of amphitheatre where there is a café and a playground.

I may have shared a couple of these pictures in the past but as I was editing them today I thought they were worth a share.

Graz is a fascinating  city, it probably would not feature high on peoples lists of places they must visit but having stayed there on my road trip I would say it is definitely worth a visit.

In The News

 

On my first morning in Vienna, in June 2018 I went to look around the Hofburg and Volksgarten not knowing that there was a major event in the offing. I arrived to find TV crews and lots of police, military and secret service personnel. There was also a group of people flying a Russian flag and carrying placards.

I tried, very politely, to speak to the presenter in the first image to find out what was going on but he ignored me but with a little help from Google I found that there was to be a visit from Vladimir Putin to meet with the Austrian President.

The group  of demonstrators I saw first were actually pro Russian activists there to support President Putin and cheer him on for his actions in Crimea.

It was fun watching the TV crews preparing, interviewing people and doing their presentations to camera. The first crew was Austrian, for OETV, the next two were from Russian state TV and the final crew were from Austrian channel Servus.

There was a second demonstration taking place in Heldenplatz (see pic 4) there were from Georgia and were protesting against Putin as you will see from their placards and posters. It was interesting but unsurprising that although they were permitted to hold their protest close to where Putin would be arriving they were not on his route, unlike the pro Putin crowd. The secret service presence was also much more noticeable around these protesters too.

Later in the day after all the formalities of the visit had been conducted Putin was attending the Natural History Museum to open a new exhibition. Again security was high. I waited around to see Putin arrive amid really intense security before he was ushered inside the museum. I would like to think he would nor get the same greeting now and I think the posters of the Georgian protesters are as relevant now as they were then.

In The Snow

The forecast tells me that there will be snow across high ground in the UK this weekend but its an absolute certainty it wont be anything like this.  These pictures were taken in March in Austria en route from Salzburg to Venice

High on a hill...

Salzburg, famous as Mozart's birthplace and setting for The Sound of Music.

The first picture is of the church of Sankt Sebastien on Linzer Gasse, a pleasant shopping street in the city.

Next is a view of Festung Hohensalzburg and views of the surrounding area taken from the castle.

The final shot  is of  Unterach am Attersee and the mountains along the eastern shore of the lake.

Walking around the city it was funny to see signs and t-shirts with the slogan "No Kangaroos", apparently because of the number of visitors who confuse Austria with Australia and think they will see kangaroos. Almost to silly to believe but it's true...

Attersee

The reflections in yesterday's blog seemed to go down well so I have picked some more lakes and mountains pictures for today. (If you didn't see yesterdays click on the link to have a look, you won't be disappointed).

These were taken in the evening light around the shores of Attersee in Upper Austria, north of Salzburg.  There were a number of lakes in this region, Attersee being the largest, and it was huge. It was beautifully calm though so provided some lovely reflections.

We also stopped off to skim stones and make a splash as you can see in pictures 3 and 4.