Some snowflakes in Vienna!

Oh how nice! Finally we get some snow here, too!

Applause!

Today I'm 8 months without smoking!

With a little help from John Cleese :)

By the way, where's my hubby?
And the dog?
Hehehehe!

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Winter's garden

Winter has come with -7°C and even colder,
and the flowers in the gardens are sleeping, decorated with snow.
Some hide in wintergardens behind thick panes of glass,
but some are artificial at all and begin to glow only at dusk.

Wow, come and see the magic!

Flowers from our friends' retreat some 30 miles from Vienna.

See more flowers all around the globe at http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Sky Watch Friday - Workweek's sun

Watching the sky from my office window this afternoon.

I'm dead sure you'll find unenslaved skies as well
at http://skyley.blogspot.com/!
:(

My World Tuesday

We left (some of) these footprints on our hiking trip through Austria's Pre-Alps some days ago.

If you want to see more photos from our trip, please follow this link to my hiking blog!

We met those two fellows somewhere on our trip.
They were so cute and curious,

and made friends with our dog immediately!

We walked for some hours through the rolling hills,
the meadows and woods were covered with white frost.

The sun set big and red,
just as a good winter sun is expected to do :)

Visit My World Tuesday to see more contributions from all around the globe!

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Frosty

Here in our part of the world,

nature is covered with snow and ice.
But frost creates charming substitutes for flowers!

Enlarge to see every frosty detail! :)

* * *
View more (unfreezed) flowers:

Sexy pin-up trees

When you explore the world with curiosity and open eyes, you often see surprising things. As a blogger, you are used to that. So: have you ever seen pin-up trees?

I'm sure, my rambling friends passed by and saw nothing... ;)
What about you?
Austria, Mostviertel, near Kaiserkogel

Vienna after the big Silvester party!

650.000 came to celebrate the New Year in Vienna!

They followed the "Silvesterpath"
leading from St. Stephen's Square to the Riesenrad,
with lots of music, dancing, eating and drinking,
and , of course, fireworks everywhere.
When all the broken glasses and firecrackers had been removed from the streets,
the visitors returned next day to carry on with celebrating the New Year :)


Where Stephansplatz meets Graben,
thousands danced a midnight waltz!

Sky Watch Friday

On our trip through Austria's Pre-Alps yesterday
there was a perfect winter sky!

A Happy New Year to the skywatchers all around the globe
and special thanks to the skywatch team for all its efforts!
Thank you!

Prosit Neujahr!

Dear blogging friends,
My very best wishes to all of you for a
Happy New Year!



I hope you will join me again on my walks
in the New Year!


By the way,
I took these pictures today on a trip through the Mostviertel,
a superb region in Austria's Pre-Alps :)
Coming soon..

How did she get up there?

When I posted this photo with my dog 10 meters above the Vienna river,
CES asked me, a little shocked, how the dog managed to get up there.
Well, I'll show you!

The dog simply jumps up the little wall which is not very high here,
and speedily balances along it.
I dare not call her for fear she might fall down into the Wienfluss river.

I love the Stadtpark very much.
After the regulation of the Wienfluss, the whole river area was rebuilt between 1903 and 1907, with a gate out of which the river flows, pavillons and stairs to its shorts.
There is more information here in Wiki.

I love its architecture, the bridges, the old trees,

and the pond with its waterfowl.

And tourists love to take pictures of the golden statute of
Johann Strauss,
Austria's king of waltz.

When the dog realizes that we are on our way to Stadtpark,
she begins to run like mad...
Vienna's Stadtpark is a very important part of
OUR WORLD!

By the way - JOHANN STRAUSS!
The traditional Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2009
will be conducted

for the first time by the Argentinean-Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim.

He is one of the most famous conductors in the world and most loved by the Vienna audience.
Barenboim also founded the West-Eastern Diwan Orchester which consists of Israeli and Palestinian musicians!
Perhaps a good way to make peace.

The New Year's Concert 2009 will once again be broadcast by the Austrian Broadcasting Network to over 70 television networks and 300 radio stations around the world.

Here you see the Musikverein building where the concert is performed every year.

Neujahrskonzert 2009
Dirigent: Daniel Barenboim
Programm:
Johann Strauß: Ouvertüre zu "Eine Nacht in Venedig" (Berliner Fassung)
Johann Strauß: Märchen aus dem Orient. Walzer, op. 444
Johann Strauß: Annen-Polka, op. 117
Johann Strauß: Schnellpost-Polka. Polka schnell, op. 159
Johann Strauß: Rosen aus dem Süden. Walzer, op. 388
Johann Strauß: Freikugeln. Polka schnell, op. 326
- Pause -
Johann Strauß: Ouvertüre Zigeunerbaron
Johann Strauß: Einzugsmarsch Zigeunerbaron

Johann Strauß: Schatz-Walzer, op. 418 Josef Hellmesberger: Valse espagnole

Johann Strauß-Vater: Zampa Galopp
Johann Strauß: Alexandrinen-Polka, op. 198
Johann Strauß: Unter Donner und Blitz. Polka schnell, op. 324
Josef Strauß: Sphärenklänge. Walzer, op. 235
Johann Strauß: Éljen a Magyár! Polka schnell, op. 332
Joseph Haydn: Abschiedssymphonie, 4. Satz

Click on the image above to hear the waltz "The Blue Danube" from last year's New Year's Concert!

Frosty blossoms!

Finally, Vienna's got it's first wintry temperatures:
-1°C!

I just returnd home from a morning stroll with my doggy through Stadtpark where I found all kinds of frosted leaves

spread on a daisied meadow.

Some bushes show their barren leaves and forgotten blossoms
in wonderful brown hues.

Fascinating daisy!
I think it won't stop blooming even when covered with snow:)

Between the houses on a sunny spot,
some yellow blossoms won't wait for spring!

In the park, the ponds are beginning to freeze up!

After two hours in the sun we walk home where my new book patiently waits for me,
MIDDLESEX, by Jeffrey Eugenides,
too absorbing to let me pay visits to you and thank you for all your good wishes :(
Please forgive me !