Jedes Jahr gibt es im Zentrum Wiens in den Straßen rund um den Stephansdom eine wunderschöne Weihnachtsbeleuchtung. Jede Straße erstrahlt in ihrem eigenen Design. Die Kärtner Straße mit Sternen, am Graben gibt es wieder riesige Kronlüster und in den Seitenstraßen Kronen oder große rote Kugeln.
Every year gorgous Christmas lights illuminate the city centre of Vienna, the streets around St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Every street gleams in its own design. Kärtner Street with stars, over the Graben hang vast chandeliers and in the side streets are crowns or big red balls.
Derzeit ist der Himmel über Wien grau in grau. Nur manchmal blinzelt die Sonne durch die Wolken hindurch. Trotzdem gehe ich spazieren und fotografiere.
These days the sky over Vienna is grey. Only sometimes the sun is shining through the clouds. Nevertheless I go for a walk every day and also take pictures.
Im Stadtpark
Der Park liegt in Zentrum von Wien. Er wurde 1862 errichtet und war der erste öffetnliche Park der Stadt. Am Wienfluss befindet sich eine Jugendstilanlage mit Mauern, Treppen und Pavillons, die 1903 – 1906 erbaut wurde.
City Park
is in the city centre. It was built in 1862 and was the first public park in Vienna. Above the Vienna River are walls, stairs and pavilions in Art Deco style. They were built between 1903 and 1906.
Schönbrunn
Das Jagdschloss Leoplod I wurde unter der Kaiserin Maria Theresia zu einem repräsentativen Barockschloss ausgebaut. Der Garten besteht auch heute noch aus Broderieparterre, streng gestutzten Baum- und Heckenreihen sowie aus einem kleinen Wald. Statt des Kaisers und dessen Hof bevölkern jetzt jedoch Läufer und Spaziergänger die Gartenanlage.
The hunting lodge of Leopold I was enlarged under empress Maria Theresia to a prestigious palace in baroque style. The garden is still in this style with ornaments of flowers, trimmed trees and scrubs as well as a small forest. Instead of the emperor and his court jogger and walker use the garden know.
Donauinsel / Isle in the Danube
Eine 42 km lange Insel mitten in der Donau vor Wien, die man seit 1988 in voller Länge benutzen kann. Sie wurde zum Schutz gegen Hochwasser errichtet und wird von Menschen und Tieren genützt.
is a 42 km long island in the middle of the Danube in the area of Vienna. You can use the whole island sinde 1988. It was built to protect Vienna from flood water of the river. The isle is used by humans as well as animals.
Jetzt habe ich einen ganz dünnen Faden vertrickt. Eine total edle Mischung aus Mohair, Seide, Merino und Yakwolle. Man gönnt sich ja sonst nichts. Das Strickstück war leicht wie eine Feder, was am Anfang gewöhnungsbedürfitg war. Der Faden ist sehr dünn, ich strickte aber mit Nadeln Nr. 4. Da die Maschen sehr locker waren, musste ich aufpassen, dass sie nicht von der Nadel purzelten.
Auch die Armkugel (die Abnahmen) stellte durch das Lochmuster eine neue Herausforderung dar, die ich Reihe für Reihe gemeistert habe.
Auf das Strecken der Arbeit unter einem feuchten Tuch vor dem Zusammennähen habe ich verzichtet um den Flaum der Wolle nicht zu zerstören.
Nun ist das Stück fertig und wartet darauf ausgeführt zu werden.
Nice sandy beach, coconut palms, turquoise water. Swimming in the sea I can see the temples of Tulum.
I walk 4 km in the sun and 50°C. heat to the temples. Not the best idea. In front of the entrance is a long queue. Thanks God it is in the shadow. A coati is walking nearby and looking at the tourists.
What a surprise the entrance fee is only 80,– pesos.
It is no more possible to go into the Templo del Dios and the Castillo and so it’s not really possible for me to take the typical picture of Tulum. After visiting the temples I return to the beach. That’s very agreeable!
Playa del Carmen
Cancun
I’m in paradise. The wheater is nice. Hot and sunny. But I can’t enjoy it because due to SARS-Covid 19 my flights home are cancelled. I don’t know how and when I can go home.
Therefore I cancel my stay on the Isle of Holbox and I go to Cancun. The city isn’t nice, the beach is very, very long without any shadow but with ugly hotels. Only on one public beach you can rent umbrellas and sunbeds, on „Playa Marlin“.
The last days I skype with Vienna make telephone calls and stay on the beach reading. At last I get a message that I fly home on the 24. march with a flight from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Not free. I have to pay for the flight.
Informations:
Mexico is after Uzbekistan and Iran not so cheap for me. In Yucatan it is more expensive than in the North. Tulum has international cuisine but expensive. I booked my accommodation and the bus tickets via internet before I go to Mexico but I think it’s also possible to do that in Mexico.
A church with crenels instead of coloured windows, unusual. The Spanish defend themselves against the Mayas in this church. A sound and light show is every evening in front of the cathedral.
Nicer are the dancing shows. Do you want a place to sit it is necessary to come early.
in the wildness. It was worth to get up so early. At 6 a.m. the bus is collecting me. First we go to the border of Guatemala. Than we go by boat to Yaxchilan passing the jungle with very big trees and crocodiles. The temples are in the middle of the forest. You can hear the noisy calls of the howler monkeys.
Find the crocodile!
In the afternoon we go to Bonampak where are gorgeous frescos from the Mayas.
I stay in a room with garden view in Palenque. As I don’t speak Spanish I need more time to find the bus that go to the temples.
Campeche
After two weeks in Mexico Montezuma’s revenge catch me. The Mexicans are very nice and help me. As I stay alone I change my accommodation. Than I stay in a hotel with a reception and what a surprise with a swimming pool. And an internet that works very well. I rest one day in my room looking German TV.
The old city centre of Campeche is very colourful. Beautiful old houses and an old city wall reminds you of the colonial era.
During the bus ride from Mexico City to Oaxaca Mexico is like its chliché. Dry soil, giant cactus all over the mountains and an eagle wheeling in the sky. Only the bones are missing. They lie in the Museo Antropologia.
Inside the bus you get high from the films they showed with an enormous sound volume and frozen because the temperature is only 19° C. Grazy! The Mexicans bring their own blanket along.
Oaxaca in the evening
I sit in the Café del Jardin at the Zocalo.
The Mariachis play. On the table in front of me I have a big portion enchiladas verdes. On the second time the waitress already know that I prefer pollo (chicken) in my enchiladas. You shouldn’t order Chapulines. Except you like frite grasshoppers.
The square is very busy in the evening. Many Indian women sell big scarfs. The inhabitants walk around on the square, the hawker try to sell souvenirs to tourists. Shoeblacks they still exist here polish the shoes of their clients.
A special botanical garden is also in Oaxaca. The soil there is very dry and dusty. It is an ethnobotanical garden and shows the relation between human and natur. Therefore many economic plants crow here beside the cactus.
Hierve el Aqua
I go by a guided tour. Though they told me that the guide speak English he doesn’t. Another tourist translate for me. First we go to Tule to the biggest tree in the world.
Than we go to a textile and a Mescal factory.
After lunch we visit the temples of Mitla.
And the best comes in the end. A natural pool high above in the mountains with an amazing view. Hierve el Aqua. Springs with mineral water that built natural pools and stoned waterfalls. Don’t forget your bikini! Absolutly great !!!
I have thought about travelling to Mexico very long time. Alone as a woman. Is it safe enough?
Know I’m standing here. On the Zocalo. In the morning it was chilly but at 10 a.m. it is very warm in the sun. The square is big but after the Imam-square in Isfahan it is not so grand for me.
First I need Mexican money. I’m looking for an ATM. After the liquidity problem is solved I start with the sightseeing.
Cathedral
Palacio Nacional
Colegio de S. Ildefonso
Templo Mayor
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Beside funny sculptures and a strange culture there is an architecture I really know, Art Noueveau.
Einige Türme von Wien habe ich bereits im ersten Teil vorgestellt.
I have written about some towers in Vienna in my first report.
Weitere Türme sind die 2001 fertiggestellten Vienna Twin Towers des Architekten Massimiliano Fuksas im 10. Gemeindebezirk. Da sie am Kamm des Wienerberges stehen, sind sie von vielen Plätzen der Stadt aus sichtbar.
Die Türme sind 138 bzw. 127 Meter hoch, beherbergen hauptsächlich Büros sowie im unteren Teil zehn Kinosäle, Cafés, Restaurants und ein Fitnessstudio.
The Vienna Twin Towers built 2001by architect Massimiliano Fuksas in the 10th district of Vienna are further towers. As they are located on the peak of Wienerberg you can see them from many places in Vienna.
The towers are 138 and 127 meters high and mainly offices are inside as well as ten cinemas, cafés, restaurants and a gym in the basement.
Marina Tower
„Unverbaubarer Blick über die Donau aus allen 41 Stockwerken“ verspricht die Website des Marina Towers. Bis Mitte 2022 soll er mit rund 500 Wohnungen fertiggestellt werden. Für den unteren Teil sind ein Kindergarten, ein Café, ein Ärztezentrum, ein Lebensmittelgeschäft sowie ein Fitness- und Wellnessbereich geplant.
„Open view on the Danube from all 41 floors.“ promises the website of Marina Tower. It should be finished in the middle of 2022 with almost 500 flats. A kindergarten, a café, a medical center, foodstores as well as a fitness and spacenter were planned for the lower part of the tower.
TrIIIple Tower
Ebenfalls am Wasser, dem Donaukanal, entstehen weitere drei Wohntürme. Auch hier werden im unteren Bereich Geschäfte, Cafés, Restaurants und ein Kindergarten angesiedelt. Die Höhe der Türme ist mit 105, 110 und 115 Meter gestaffelt.
Also on the waterfront beside the Donaukanal further three apartement towers are under construction. The basement should shelter stores, cafés, restaurants and a kindergarten too. The heights of the towers are staggered with 105, 110 and 115 meters.
Vienna Twentytwo
Der ca. 110 Meter hohe Wohnturm ist nur der Anfang eines neuen Stadtteils. Ihm sollen noch ein weiteres Hochhaus sowie niedrigere Häuser folgen. Platz zum Wohnen, für ein Hotel und zahlreiche Büros.
The 110 meters high tower with flats is only the beginning of a new city quater. A second skyscraper and other buildings should follow. Space for flats, for a hotel and many offices.
During the last year I walked much trough Vienna. After the modern architeture I started to photograph old houses in Vienna.
I thought: “I want to take pictures of all Art Nouveau houses in Vienna.“ But after some tours I saw that this would be a very big challenge because the range of the construction activities around 1900 was very high.
I want to show you some of my tours to special buildings or places with many houses in Art Nouvau style.
1.Around the Naschmarkt
Our first tour starts in front of the Secession built 1897/98 by Josef Olbrich as an exhibition hall for an union of artists with the same name. The dome of golden foliage made of bronze is called the golden cabbage from the Viennes.
The Secession building shelter the famous Beethoven-Frieze made 1902 by Gustav Klimt.
According to the original purpose of the building exhebitions of contemporary art still take place in the Secession. The three medusaheads above the entrance symbolise the visual arts.
After the Secession we pass the Naschmarkt, one of the biggest food markets in Vienna and we walk to Linke Wienzeile 36 – 40.
Nr. 38 The corner of this building is very special. It has the shape of a quadrant. Golden medaillons and palm leafs designed by Koloman Moser decorate the front. The roof is framed by metallic sculptures called „The Caller“ made by Othmar Schimkowitz.
Nr. 40 Majolikahaus designed by Gustav Roßmann. The colorful floral decor on the front was designd by Alois Ludwig a student of Otto Wagner and made by Wienerberger brick factory. The both sidequaters with the balconies are lower than the center of the house therefore you can see the rich decorated cornice better.
The three buildings were built by Otto Wagner in 1898/99.
Behind the Naschmarkt is a big parking space where you find a fleamarket every Saturday. On the right side, Linke Wienzeile 48 – 52 you see a business building designed 1913 by Hubert Gessner. The bay-windows originally an idea of Adolf Loos are framed by pillars. The big sculptures were made by Anton Hanak.
Boulevard Hof, Linke Wienzeile 60, 1902 designed by Ely Wasserstrom.
The house of the „Four Seasons“, Linke Wienzeile 64, was designed 1913 by Josef Hecht. The reliefs in the first floor should be the four seasons.
On the left side are the backsides of the houses in Hamburgerstraße.
We go further through the Steggasse. The building on the corner Steggasse1/ Hamburgerstraße 16 was built 1901/02 by Josef Plečnik. Because of the little hill he designed two different parts. The balconies had originally floors made of glass. Very beautiful cornice and waves on the front in the backside.
Around the corner in Hamburgerstraße is a picturesque ensemble of Art Nouveau buildings. The house Hamburgerstraße 8 stand out. It is very small and reminds me of Art Nouveau in Belgium.
Hamburgerstraße 12 was designed 1899 by Josef Drexler.
The last one of the ensemble is the Rüdigerhof. Due to the shape of the ground one front is very small. It looks like a tower. I find the gold-blue design and the decorated cornice very nice.
Magazin mixt 