Saturday, December 27, 2014

December 27, 2014




Its this time of year when a porcelain figure of Marx Augustine sits on our dining room table, the fabled legend of a seriously dedicated party animal who was found lying in the street in 1679 and thinking he was dead, taken outside of the walls of Vienna and dumped in a plague pit bagpipes and all, when he awoke sometime next day, he found he could not get out, so he played his bagpipes until he was heard and rescued, he never caught the plague and some say it was the alcohol that save him. he was a poet and song writer.
Oh, My Dear Augustine
(Chorus)
Oh, my dear Augustine
Augustine, Augustine,
Oh, my dear Augustine,
Everything's gone!

Money's gone, man is gone,
Everything's gone, Augustine!
Oh, my dear Augustine,
Everything's gone!

(Chorus)

Coat is gone, floor is gone,
Augustine lies in the mud.
Oh, my dear Augustine,
Everything's gone!

(Chorus)

Even rich Vienna,
Is broke, like Augustine
And cries with me the same way,
Everything's gone!

(Chorus)

Every day was a feast,
And now what? Plague, the plague!
Now all the corpses feast.
This is all that remains.

(Chorus)

Augustine, Augustine,
Lay down in your grave!
Oh, my dear Augustine,
Everything's gone!

(Chorus)

Wednesday, December 17, 2014


Karmelitermarkt

1020Vienna Leopoldstadt Austria 




A market close to the centre of Vienna in the second district, approximately 12 minutes walk away from Stephans Platz, you can also use the tram 2 from Schwedensplatz and get off the second stop on Tabourstrasse. Then walk down behind the Church on the left.
The Market is open every day except Sundays and Holidays. It is having a revival in the last few years, Monday to Sunday the fixed stands are open selling Fresh fruit and vegetables, Poultry, beef, pork and game, there are 2 flower shops. Also there is restaurants, coffee shops and much more.
Friday and Saturday mornings there is a farmers market, Saturday is now very busy with plenty off bio and organic food and drinks on offer, It is well worth a Visit especial on Saturday mornings.


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Vienna Christmas market Rathausplatz


The Rathaus Christmas market



Vienna City hall was completed around 1883 and houses the city mayor and Vienna's municipal administration. More than 2000 people work in the building. The building is Gothic in style and is one of the most grand buildings on the Ring Strasse. The park in front of the Rathaus was initially the parade ground but in 1863 Emperor Franz Joseph commissioned a park for the citizens of Vienna . This is the site of the Christmas market, one of the largest in Vienna,
This is a very big tourist attraction, and I am afraid to say it, as a person living in this beautifully city, I would not go there, for the reason it becomes so packed you can hardly move. Now as we have had people visiting us from Grimsby England, we felt it improper not to take them to see this event and true to the popularity it was jam packed with tourists from all around the world, and its fair to say that if you are in Vienna this time of year this should be in your itinerary of things to do in Vienna.
To get there you can walk from the City centre or catch many of the trams that go past, http://www.wienerlinien.at will have the information you need to get there.


Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Belvedere Christmas Market Vienna 2014

Belvedere Christmas Market Vienna.

This charming Christmas market is situated in the front of the Beautiful Belvedere Palace
which in the  Spring and summer has some magnificent gardens with exquisite water features, but this time of year with the rain and cold it can be a bit challenging, but its worth the effort, the Christmas market is not that large but it has plenty of space to maneuver, its not the crush of the jostling crowds of the Rathaus platz and allows you to drink your punch or Glühwein while looking around the craft stands with ease


To get there you can take the tram D which stops outside one of the entrance points on Prinz-Eugen-Straße 1030   Vienna.
Belvedere Palace
The building was finished around 1723 and houses one of the biggest collections of Gustav Klimts works also Fin de siècle and Viennese Secession art works that  was established on 3 April 1897, founded by Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, Josef Engelhart, Ernst Stöhr, Wilhelm List, it was considered a forum of the international avant-garde that redefined and repositioned both itself and the country’s art.
The Gardens created by Dominique Girard  a pupil of André le Nôtre, who had designed the gardens surrounding the palace of Versailles.