G & J away from home

Thursday, 14 May

Still in Vienna, of course.  Ascension Day in Austria today so a public holiday.  It certainly made a difference to the traffic noise this morning, but then the church bells started.

While the hotel staff cleaned the room we set out for a stroll through Stadtpark which is right on the hotel's doorstep.  Since the weather was nice I was able to replace some of the fuzzy photos I had snapped of the front of the park during the city tour with much better ones.

This was one of the lights I had been pleased to get a fuzzy through-the-bus-window photo of during the city tour but this morning I had all the time in the world to wander around the column and get the very best shot I could.

Lights & Lamps: At the entrance to Stadtpark

The Stadtpark has the Wein River flowing (trickling) through it and the gate, railway station, and promenade are in Art Nouveau style making it very much to my taste.

The Vienna River Gate in the city park was established in the course of the regulation of the Vienna River. It is one of the great masterpieces of Art Nouveau of European significance.
- https://www.wien.gv.at/verkehr/brueckenbau/baustellen/wienfluss.html (with Google Translate)

The website referenced above is in German but has great information about the park and the architects and artists involved in its creation.  I haven't been able to find any better reference.

Gary was pleased to find the sun shining on Johann Strauss so I snapped a shot of the pair of them together.

Gary with Johann Strauss in Stadtpark

As well as the Wein River (which is in a deep channel) there is a large pond in the park and the ducks were out enjoying the sun with their babies.

Ducks and ducklings

Here's the 'river' Wein, and I've included this view because the square modern building that can be seen at the very back of the photo is our hotel, the InterContinental.

View along the Wein

A newer addition to the park (if I was reading the German plaque correctly) is this basilisk fountain from 2008.

Basilisk fountain

While we wandered around the park we saw people doing Tai Chi, runners, dog walkers, people sitting enjoying the sunshine, playing sports in the courts and grounds, and a mothers-with-babies exercise class.  Although today was a holiday we've always found plenty of people in the park each time we've visited but this was the first time we walked right around it.

When we got back to the main gates Gary discovered the railway that sneaks in not quite underground to the little Art Nouveau railway station that caught my eye on my first tour of the city. Of the many photos I took of the place, here's just one:

Art Nouveau railway station at Stadtpark

We wandered around the block to buy our lunch from the bakery again (sadly it was closed for the holiday) but on the way were able to spend a bit of time looking at this building which we liked.  The city tours were a great introduction but even in the free time that went with them there was seldom time to saunter along and study one building out of the many.

On the corner opposite the hotel

 (All the photos can be clicked on which will usually give a larger version.)

Detail of the same building

As we walked home I found another light for my lamps and lights collection.  This time I don't know what the building was, but it had a row of these great lights high on the wall.

Lights & Lamps: in Vienna

And at the same place Gary found a car he thought he might like to have ... have his photo taken with, that is:

Gary's new car?

After we got back to the hotel there was a thunderstorm - not much rain here but incredibly long rolls of thunder.  What with the bakery being closed and the weather being uncertain we ate at the Cafe Vienna in the hotel.  I had a very nice potato soup and Gary had a burger and fries which he tells me are the most expensive he's ever eaten.

I've finally got all the photos sorted and backed-up to to the cloud - one thing to be said in favour of a good strong internet signal rather than the hit-and-miss arrangement on the boat.

(Gary informed me firmly this morning that the Vista is a ship because you can put a boat on a ship but not a ship on a boat.  Now I know!)
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