Today's flowers

Have a happy week :)

http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

First Sunday in Advent

Sonja's photo :)

Old plane tree

The old plane tree at Dr. Karl Lueger Platz
Vienna, 1st district

After the first snowfall

After the first snow has melted,
the Autumn colours are back again.

Vienna, 1st district, Kumpfgasse

Brenda's Photo Challenge - From an ant's view

Jeannne of Life or Something Like It,
is this week's Challenge Host and has chosen for our theme:
"From an Ant's View"

It was not as easy as it seemed to be at first sight.
But whenI imagined an ant crawling right over my writing desk,
I had found my line of action...

Please visit all the other contibutors at
http://www.brendaphotochallenge.blogspot.com/!

Maybe the last picture is from a delirious ant's view?

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Laeitia of Laetitia's World , so here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 6 (or more) random things about yourself.
4. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

But in between you also have to write something about yourself, something most people think, they don’t know about you. If you don’t want to expose your darkest sides – show only the sunny side of you, maybe they never find out the other stuff. So here goes, some of my pet hates and some of my joys!!!

1) I am an outdoor girl and I love to take long walks with my friends and, if nobody wants to join me, my dog!
2) I love to hike in the mountains, but that's no secret.
3) I really hate feeling helpless when so many people live in poverty and misery and I can't do anything about it.
4) I studied to become a highschool teacher but I did not finish my studies. It took me a long time to break the taboo and talk about it.
5) I hate myself when I notice that I am sooooo honest, that I aaaaalways speak the truth, when I lose my sense of humour....
6) My personal freedom is most important to me. I could never take a bank loan, for instance :)


I tag the following persons:

1) Ayamlin at A Comfortable Vacation 2) Martin at jours chômés 3) Susan from The Irish Photograph 4) Mary Beth at Small City Scenes of Stanwood 5) Jorge from Vaggabundices 6) Marina from Marina's Life and Family

Sky Watch Friday - Vienna's winter skies

Wiener Christkindlmarkt

Rathauspark

Rathausplatz with Christkindlmarkt

Christkindlmarkt

Hotels at Ringstraße

http://www.theringhotel.com/

Kärntnerstraße

Vienna's sky is wearing soft winter clouds at daytime,

and at night a sparkling glittering fancy gown!

Visit

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

for a global skywatch!

The First Snow!

The first snow here in Vienna!
My doggy took me out to the Stadtpark immediately to check the situation!
The snow made the dog chase around like a bat from hell!
It is not too warm outside, so I think the snow will stay for some days!
Happy week to all of you!

I tried this post for about 3 hours, with various pictures, with loading problems, never being contented with the post, etc, then I deleted all, and now I tried again and finished the post in 5 minutes.
Well, that's blogging!

Today's flowers - Red and René Magritte

Here a late pink rose, in the meantime covered by the first snow!

When my husband goes to the market on Saturday, he usually brings me some flowers.
He knows a flower seller whose flowers are really outstanding:
Beautiful and fresh, they usually stay fresh for two weeks!
I tried to photograph the red blossoms against René Magritte's blue sailing ship made of blue waves!

I want to thank the

TODAY'S FLOWERS TEAM

DENISE B. CASTRO at PHOTO&GRAPHIA

LAERTE PUPO at IPSIS PHOTOS

for organizing this beautifull meme.

At http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/ you find flowers from all around the globe!

Sky Watch Friday - Storm

Today's weather report for Vienna, Austria:

Stormy western winds with gusts of 80 to 120 km/hour

(50 to 75 miles/hour),
daytime temperatures of up to 14°C (57°F) .

Driving could be dangerous, trees, branches and roof tops might be tossed and tumbled by the storm.

I expected a breathtaking sky but is was unspectacular.

However, the storm will blow off the last leaves
and on the weekend we expect the first snow flakes!


Have a lovely weekend!

Check the sky all around the blue planet here!

Brenda's Photo Challenge

Jeanne from life or something like it has accepted to be the hostess for the next photo challenge and will announce a new theme in the next few days!

A new - blue - award!

Antigoni from Greece has given this nice award to me because I love the sea. Thank you so much, Antigoni, for thinking of me!
You may also visit Bobby and Jerry's site "TheRightBlue.com" where they share their "ocean devotion" by posting photos from their dives in Hawaii.
Now I have to mention six things that I like in my life and then pass on the award to six other bloggers.

To begin with the things I like:
1) Sleep long on weekends
2) Play with my camera
3) Cuddle my dog ;>
4) Nearly all outdoor activities (except things like freestyle climbing, flying or bungee jumping)
5) Cuddle my husband *LOL*
6) Read books and watch movies, and BLOGGING!.

I want to give this award to:
1) Sharon from Funky Fairy Frolics
2) Karen M from Loved and Engraved
3) Annie from Annie's Blog
4) Mary Beth from day4plus
5) Coca from coca bixinhos
6) Just Jonie from Morning Coffee

Have a pleasant week!

A curious stroll through Vienna's 2nd District

Last Wednedsay evening, my friend Brigitte and I strolled through Vienna's 2nd district, Leopoldstadt, accompanied by a little booklet, our culture guide.
The district is situated on an artificial island between the Danube and the Donaukanal on the area of the former floodplains of the Danube.

So, come on!

The first recommended object on our tour is the "Dianabad", Europe's first indoor swimming pool from 1850!
Remarkable: the building once served also as a ball and concert hall during the winter seasons.
Here, Johann Strauss' world famous "Donauwalzer" received its world premiere in 1867.

Today, nothing is left of the original building.
After being rebuilt around 1900, destroyed in WW 2 and finally burning down some years ago, the building looks like this today:

A so called "Erlebnisbad", a water and fun park with waterslide and wave pool,
and some original Jugendstil mosaics in the entrance hall for decoration.

We walk through Karmeliterviertel with its churches and market places

and try to find a house which Johann Strauss, the king of waltz, once inhabited. When we look up, a stag, larger than life, looks down on us! We've never noticed that bizarre creature before!

We walk through the rainy little streets and the small hidden market squares of Karmeliterviertel, with its small pubs, "Beisln", and its old houses, some of them more than 250 years old, and the classical houses of Vienna's wealthy bourgeoisie.

We plan to visit this "Beisl", Gasthaus zum Sieg, on one of our next trips.
It promises traditional Viennese food, and its interior has not been changed during the past 70 years (at least)!
We LOVE that!

Throughout the centuries, the second district was mainly inhabited by Jews.
Today we see some kosher shops and some inscriptions on the walls, but all the synagogues have been destroyed by the Reichskristallnacht progrome of 1938 foreshadowing Holocaust.
What a horrible catastrophe!
Needless to say, only a few Jews have returned.

"Freud's lost neighbors" , an exhibition at the Sigmund Freund Museum Vienna in 2003,
showed the history of the residents of the house at Berggasse 19 from 1939 to the present. Please follow the link for a precise outline!
By now, a documentary is being screened by the Jerusalem Cinemateque in cooperation with the Austrian Embassy.
Thank you Dina for your valuable hint!

Again we have to search for a shelter from the rain, and this time we choose an Italian restaurant, run by a Croatian owner.

The evening is too short for a visit of the Prater, Vienna's largest recreational area with its amusement park, the "Wurstelprater", and the famous giant's wheel "Riesenrad" reminding of Harry Lime and the Third Man.
This would be a nice weekend trip!

Follow this link to see more contributions to the meme
THIS IS MY WORLD!

Today's flowers - White and pink

My Christmas cactus has opened all its petals during last week!
And this is a rose from last summer.

and from the flowershop!

This orchid grows in our office and it blooms already for the third time, which is very remarkable!

View more flowers from all around the globe here: