I've taken many pictures of Vienna, most of which will never get their day in the sun in the coveted competition to be named Lunchtime Photo. So here's a whole bunch of them: some that just amused me, others that are interesting but not photographically exceptional.
For example, parking in Vienna can be tight:
Sometimes this is because parking is really, really forbidden:
The best part of this festival of no parking signs is that every one of them has a slightly different set of regulations underneath it. I have no idea how anyone can figure out what they are and aren't allowed to do here.
Karlskirche has the following high above the altar:
These are the Hebrew letters for YHWH, or Jehovah. Is this common in Christian churches? I've never noticed it before.
Here's a painting at the Belvedere Museum (left). Compare and contrast it with the Haunted Mansion stretching picture from Disneyland (right).
One thing I noticed at the Belvedere—which is an art museum—is that a few of the descriptions included charts. My kind of art museum! But then I visited the newly opened (and free) Wien Museum and their exhibits were loaded with charts. For example:
The Wien Museum had tons of stuff like. Some were better than others, though. This one breaks a whole bunch of chart laws:
On the bright side, this is a welcome change from historical claims that Jews controlled all the money. This time Protestants are the villains.
The Wien Museum was recommended to us by our waiter at dinner one night, and it was pretty interesting. But also very eclectic and, for my taste, a little heavy handed on the wokeness. One display, for example, was titled "Architecture in the Service of Power," which perhaps was hardly necessary for an exhibit about buildings constructed during the 18th century height of empire. The best example, however, was for a reconstruction of playwright Franz Grillparzer's home:
First off, there's the earnest question, "Is the room original though?" Answer #1: this is a purely linguistic question that depends on how you define "original." Answer #2: Who cares?
At the very end, though, we get the coup de grâce: Today, we're told, we view this reconstruction not merely as a glimpse into the life of a famous person, but "through a lens of Biedermeier-period social relations and gender roles." Sure we do. In any case, here's the room:
But speaking of gender roles, another exhibit at the Wien Museum informed me that at 19th century Viennese balls the women were often given miniature reproductions to wear. Just think! You could have been the lucky gal who got to dance all night with a miniature Bessemer converter pinned to your gown:
Here's the Prater amusement park from high in they sky. It looks a wee bit different these days than it did in The Third Man—which, by the way, shows several times a week at the Burg Kino. We caught a screening on Saturday.
Finally, here's a picture of the Vienna subways—in this case the U4 picking us up at Schwedenplatz, our local hub for all things transit. According to Wikipedia, "It was previously called Ferdinandplatz, but was renamed after World War I to thank Sweden for sending aid to Austria."
The Tetragrammaton was fairly common on European coins in the 1600s along with the eye of god or the hand of god. Usually on larger denominations like talers or trinkets called jetons.
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The US dollar has a sort of eye of god thing on it.
Did you go to the cemetery at the end where they finally buried Harry Lime?
You do know who was buried in Harry Lime's grave, don't you?
That bit of Hebrew is certainly better than the plaques at some German churches bearing anti-Jewish messages.
Those parking signs may bring a brief laugh, but I'd think that pausing to try to make sense of them could be dangerous.
The shot is a little deceptive because it was shot with a really long lens, I think. The regs just seem to change every few meters.
Hoping a shot with a normal lens focal length would make the parking sign layout look significantly less crazy. Because, otherwise… holy cow.
Prater amusement park: Website lists 140 attractions/restaurants (about 20 for children), including:
Burger King (as it should be, foreign food is icky)
EXTASY
A fifty year old building with an impressive roof structure houses Extasy, a ride with extremely swift turns that will guarantee an adrenaline rush – dizziness included.
JACK THE RIPPER [do you really want an attraction with that name?]
Show fearlessness and courage when entering the scary place of horror somewhere in the deep back streets of London. The bloody traces of Jack the Ripper will make your blood curdle and your terrifying cries for help will be heard throughout the Vienna Prater. The terrible torture methods from that time will haunt you throughout the bone chilling journey. Absolutely NOT for cowards! Young visitors have to be accompanied by adults.
=-=-=-= When I first scanned the image, I was struck by what seemed to be more trees/greenery than I'd expect from a place like that. Wikipedia informs me:
In 1978, part of the Prater was designated the "Green Prater" (German: Grüne Prater), and was placed under "landscape protection"
Parking signs mark the Beginning (anfang) and End (ende) of spaces reserved for vehicles of diplomats from Portugal, Finland, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands. Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 7 or 10 PM.
Cellphones can often translate text on signs and I wouldn't be surprised if that technology makes it into cameras.
Perhaps if America was a little more “heavy handed on the wokeness,” we wouldn’t have so many people agreeing with ignorant statements like “wearing a mask is just as bad as the holocaust” or “white people are the most oppressed people in society.”
One thing the EU and Canada and other countries more performatively woke than us are good at is having a lot less random mass violence from white supremacists and their enablers in the government. (Germany in particular makes it completely illegal to deny the Holocaust existed or display any Nazi symbols whatsoever. We could use that level of wokeness here to temper the First Amendment rights that appear to be pushing us further towards finding Second Amendment solutions.
Interesting pie charts indeed. Why don't they include the break-own of the remaining 83% of "bankers and big businessmen" and the remaining 98.5% of the overall population?
"Today, we're told, we view this reconstruction not merely as a glimpse into the life of a famous person, but 'through a lens of Biedermeier-period social relations and gender roles.' Sure we do."
Kevin, have you ever actually met an academic historian? I'm one (or was, at least--went back to teaching high school, which is way more fun), and the viewpoint you quote has been the standard "lens" (yes, we use that word) since the new social history of the 1950s and '60s. It is entirely uncontroversial and not remotely "woke," whatever snarky thing you mean by that. I mean, I'm not especially "woke" by any standard--I read military history, the traditional kind, for fun, for god's sake--but race/class/gender analysis has been the holy trinity for pretty much all historians for decades.
Except the “we” on the placard isn’t applying just to academics but, rather, the public at large. I assure you most people do not see life through a lense of race/class/gender analysis. Assumptions like that are what led to Trump being elected.
Pretty Ameri-centric view. It’s a sign translating a plaque in an Austrian museum, how do you know what the average European uses as their “lens” to view the world? And I doubt any of the people this is intended for ever will ever vote in an American election.
English is the lingua franca of the world now, and just because something is in that language doesn’t mean it’s meant for the citizens of a country thousands of miles away.
Hard to believe, but in a world of 8.1 billion, worrying about the opinions, attitudes and reactions of 300 million people in a country isolated by two oceans is not a high priority.
To more precise - the target is not the average European but that average museum visitor who bothers to read the signs.
That's why museum's point those things out. They're just pointing out that one has to look at artifacts in context. When I visited Schonbrunn Palace as a kid, I remember wondering why someone built such a fantastic - as in fantasy - palace in backwater Vienna. Then I learned some history. Vienna was the capital of a major empire whose collapse led to the first world war.
You can argue whether lens is the right metaphor, but one of the reasons we have museums and the like is to encourage us all to develop more than one way of seeing.
'Architecture in the Service of Power' certainly sums up my first impressions of Vienna -- the buildings and their siting seemed intended to impress and intimidate. I didn't get that feeling in London, another capital of an empire, perhaps because the modern office/commercial/corporate headquarters buildings overshadow the palaces.
The transport museum there focuses on public transit in Vienna up to the subway system pictured above that was only built starting in the 1970's. Not open every day or all day - check the website. Very interesting place if you are even a bit of a public transit nerd.
Dear Kevin: I have considered writing to you several times on this journey of yours. However I've held my hand back because when you were in Prague I was going to recommend you stop by and see the Kafka house on the back side of the castle which, in 1994 I found to be quite fascinating. It was smoke stained, dirty & grimy and thoroughly dusty. In other words, as I imagined how Kafka lived and wrote in this hovel on the inaptly named Golden Lane.
But looking at it now after a Google, it seemed all prettified and reminded me only of that great regret was not buying anything in central Prague when I was there. I’ve been back in Prague in the intervening years, but never to the Kafka house and I felt uncertain recommending it to you all pretty now and whatnot.
However, with you and Marian now in Vienna on a bright Sunday, I might suggest to you a visit to Donauinsel Island, where nudity is practiced. I will say that I accidentally wandered on to Donauinsel Island fully dressed in a suit & tie, and was shocked to see portly gentlemen dressed only in brown business shoes with no other clothes on and likewise women and children wandering the green paths and beaches completely naked. I have checked, and apparently this is still permitted.
Nothing so demonstrated the difference between the United States and European sensibilities than this...view...lol
***
It is just a short distance from the Alte Donau to the Neue Donau where a section of the Danube Island has been transformed into a contemporary city beach. Copa- Beach teleports you to the Copacabana with its loungers, fine sand and street food. Admission is free and the location right next to the Donauinsel station on the U1 subway line makes it ideal for spontaneous sunseekers – it only takes six minutes to get from Stephansplatz to Donauinsel by public transportation. Stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, and climbing are among the sporting activities on offer. In fact, there is never any shortage of people out exercising on the Danube Island. All year round, joggers, cyclists, and inline skaters are out on their favorite routes up and down the 21-kilometer-long island. 50 floating jetties as well as stony beaches and grassy areas make it easier to get in and out of the water. You shouldn’t be shocked if someone rides past you in their birthday suit, either. The three nudist beaches are among the most attractive in the city, and can clearly be identified by the FKK markings painted on the asphalt paths.
***
It was, as noted, shocking to me...as I feel certain it would be to the two of you...and yet, after 15 minutes, clothing is optional, one might come to realize, Who cares? It was an epiphany of sorts for me. Best Wishes, Traveller
Welcome to Vienna, Kevin.
There are a lot of embassies here, for example the US has three: the bilateral one, the one for the UN, and the one for the OSCE.
Often, these embassies are just a few rented floors in a normal (i.e., 120 year old) house, only the bigger countries have their own buildings. The UK one is a nice Palais close to Belvedere, but still: it’s an old building in a dense neighborhood.
Curbside parking is highly overbooked, thus diplomats usually get space for one or two cars reserved for them. Thus those signs. And as embassies cluster in certain locations, you get clusters of these “reserved parking” sign.
How long will you be staying here in Vienna?
Ps, check your twitter DM.
The Bessemer process had a big impact on women's fashion. There's only so much shape and support a garment can give you if all you have to work with is cloth or wood. They didn't have elastic fabrics until the early 20th century. If you wanted a tight waist and something to hold your breasts up, you went with ties and whalebone, but whalebone can only take so much localized force. The Bessemer process dramatically cut the price of steel in the mid-19th century. That meant it could be used in a dress. Clothing has always been high tech. Where technology led, fashion followed.
(I learned about this at the museum in Bath. At first I was surprised, but then I applied my new lens. We take things like elastic waistbands for granted. The same technology that gave us nylon stockings also enabled Kevlar vests.)