Hi Everyone!
This week has been full of
packing and getting ready for us to have visitors. Yes, while we’re packing, we’re
getting one last set of people to come see us here. And I do love visitors
especially when showing them the beauty of the city. This time we are hosting
my DH’s brother and our nephew. We hope to show them why we like this city so
much.
Vienna is a lovely city,
steeped in history and still making a change in today’s world. It has been the
host to many of the current peace talks and more summits regarding the
governing of our home lands. Hardly a week has gone this past year when there
hasn’t been an American dignitary in the city brokering some deal. Even the
Iranian nuclear deal was done here and today, the Syrian issues is being
discussed.
But the Vienna of the past is
what really interests me. That doesn’t include the recent past, meaning WWII,
mainly because I don’t write in that era at all and I’m interested in it for
different reasons, some of which I may address in a later post. To be honest, I
don’t really write in the historical era either but I do have a liking of all
things Victorian and I might as well soak up that atmosphere while I’m here. We’ll
be visiting some of those type places today as we go to the Sigmund Freud
museum and various other places in Vienna. Yesterday, we did a long hike that I’m
still reeling from…LOL!
Our weather in the past week
has been the normal winter gloom. I’m sorry to say that makes me happy as I don’t
like the weird weather but it is still unseasonably hot. We’ve had only one day
where it dipped into the 30s though we’ve had several days where the wind chill
has been dreadful. And the Austrian portion of the Alps now has snow. This is a
good thing for all those skiers around.
We’ve also had some fog
again. I’m sorry for the picture quality but I really wanted to show everyone
just how dense it was. The fog was so dense, you really couldn’t tell it was
day at all. Many days, this will have burned off by noon but not this one. The
picture was taken from the foot of Stephansdom, looking up toward the steeple.
This is something that you can normally see and it’s always interesting when
you suddenly can’t. Yes, the steeple and much of the top of the cathedral has
been hidden from view because of the dense fog. I’ve seen it a few times with
the only other time where it was denser was when we returned home from a trip
in October 2013.
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| Top of Stephandoms shrouded in fog |
The second picture I’m
showing you is of a mountain within an hour of Vienna called Schneeberg, which
is the tallest mountain in the southern Austrian Alps. It was taken in
September 2014 when we went there. The only way up to the top is by cog train. The
place is closed in the winter due to the snow. From what we understand, there
was less than a foot accumulated by January 1 when there should have been at
least 2 feet. This year, there has been very little snow and the winds have
been kicking around what snow there is. The last picture is of the same kirche
as the previous one. It’s from a website that Schneeberg has set up to show the
world it’s small mountain. For more pictures of the Austrian southern Alps, go
to www.schneeberg.tv.
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| Slightly side view of Elisabeth Kirche in late September, 2014 |
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| Front view of Elisabeth Kirche February 15, 2016 |
I’m showing you both pictures
because I wanted you to see the weather difference when compared to our first
years here. Then it was more of what’s known as a classic Vienna winter. This
year has been anything but classic. However, it has allowed us more moveability
where we’re not just confined to indoor venues. Last winter, we would have
never been able to do the walk from Kahlenburg to Nussdorf like we did
yesterday. We’ve been sliding down instead of the slow, easy pace we took.
Tomorrow, we’ll be going to
the UN and seeing Schonbrunn for one last visit. While I can’t wait to get
home, it sure will be hard to leave this city with it’s wonderful history
behind. That’s about it for this rendition of A Writer in Vienna or commonly
known as Monday’s Austria Scoop.
Hope you enjoyed this little
look into Austria and beyond. See you all next week!
Lynn
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