I have just had my first ice cream cone of the season–chocolate and strawberry–at one of the best ice cream places in Vienna, Bortolotti’s at Schüttauplatz, in the 22nd district. That’s special in Vienna because most of the smaller ice cream places close from October to March. (Some of them even turn into fur coat shops for that time.) It’s the family’s only chance to recover from a relentless summer season and it fits the Viennese idea that there is (still) a season for certain things. Well, I am old-fashioned and like that. It means one appreciates those things more. 🙂
You don’t know what you got till it’s gone …
28 Feb… as Joni Mitchell reminded us in “Big Yellow Taxi”. Well, it works in the reverse, too–you don’t know what you don’t got until it comes back again (that just doesn’t scan as well).
This afternoon when I went out for a round with Mylo I was stunned by the beautiful blue sky and almost blinded by the sun. It was in that moment that I realized how gray our weather has been for weeks now. It turns out that this winter we have had the least sun since 1903. Not a statistic one really wants to live through if one has a choice as Vienna typically doesn’t get much sun in winter in the best of years.
Skating
10 FebFor a number of years now the City of Vienna has set up an ice-skating rink in front of City Hall. Friday evening at about 10 p.m. Maylo and I walked by and this is what we saw.
How to tell the museums apart
1 FebA joke just sent to me by a friend for people who know the layout of the Ringstrasse:
Franzi (a little boy) asks his father, “Papa, how can you tell the Museum of Art History from the Museum of Natural History?” (In Vienna they face each other across the statue of the great Empress Maria Teresia.)
His father answers, “That’s very easy, Franzi. The Museum of Art History is about art and culture and that is near the opera. In the Museum of Natural History you find asses and monkeys. And that is near the Parliament building!”
Roof avalanche
22 JanAll around Vienna you see these signs in winter.
They always make me smile because “Dach” means “roof” and “Lawine” means “avalanche”. Seems like such a dramatic way of describing the snow that slides off the roof.
Snow – update
17 JanI had an appointment near the Freyung this morning. This photo is from about 11.30 and it is still snowing now at almost 2 p.m.
Snow
17 JanMylo and I walked out into a pillow fight this morning, big downy flakes such as come about once a winter in Vienna. Wonderful!
A winter walk in the Vienna Woods (where else? ;-))
12 Jan
There was quite a bit of activity this afternoon in the Woods. People of all ages, moving at all speeds, with dogs, without dogs, with Nordic walking poles, without Nordic walking poles … but I only saw one person on a bike. Could be because the conditions were pretty hazardous. After at least a week of rain everything froze quite quickly and then came the dusting of snow that you can see, so you didn’t notice the ice underneath until it was too late!
There are a few houses in that part of the Woods, but only few. This one always makes me think of my home country, New England.
When the snow stopped, the light was gorgeous.
As you can see, more or less just a typical winter’s walk in the Vienna Woods.
