Tom in Wien and the Land of the Changeable Weather

A long time ago, in a galaxy that just so happens to be the same one we are in now, I decided to go on holiday to the good old United Kingdom! Such a trip is fraught with dangers, mostly the danger that the required scheduling is so monstrously complicated that it grows into a hideous multi-headed creature and eats you. This did not however occur, though somehow my meticulously forged itinerary does still make me a bit uneasy. I remember a time when one didn't have to be organised! I guess that was a time before I had just under two weeks to try and visit as many friends and family as possible while they were scattered across the country and leading busy lives...

The whole trip was something of a whirlwind, in 12 days I visited 7 different places and saw goodness knows how many people, but many were still left out. I regret each and every one but unfortunately unlimited time was not in my possession.

Exeter cathedral

I'll keep the actual itinerary recount brief, as a lot of the time what I was there for were the people, not the places! But there were some new things. A lot of time was spent in London, from which I made day excursions to Oxford (which never changes, actually met a french girl who studied decadence, albeit the literary movement epitomised by Oscar Wilde et al), and Milton Keynes (not half as bad if you go there for a conference about space things). I also made a longer excursion to Exeter, my sister's university town. As well as putting a face to her life and anecdotes of the last years, this afforded an excellent opportunity to be a real proper tourist in my own country. Seen through Austrian eyes, there is a lot to like about the historical towns and cities of Britain!

New College Oxford. What a lawn.

My biggest trip by far was via Ediburgh and Glasgow (briefly) to team up with my friend Gavia for a crazy, spontaneous trip to Orkney! Just off the tip of John 'O Groats this archipelago is chock full of history and scenery and being an island and very northern represents a combination of two of my favourite things! After a train journey to Aberdeen and a short plane hop we had a very enjoyable time, albeit less than 72 hours I think... The scottish weather threw up the usual mix of sun, rain and dramatic clouds which meshed nicely with the 5000+ year old monuments, Viking runes, Viking cathedrals and tasty foods/whisky on offer.

An island in Orkney

Britain is pretty great for a holiday y'all! You should, like, go sometime. A very abbreviated set of photos of my travels can be found by carrying out the usual operation.

Der Tom

PS possibly incomplete list of British foods eaten: fish and chips, curry, boiled beef + english mustard in a bun, devon pasty, victoria sponge, haggis (stuffed in a chicken), cullen skink + oatcakes.

Tom in Wien and the Visit of the Parents

Occasionally, people just plain can't believe what I write on this blog and have to come and see for themselves what's going on here. Of course many of them claim they have come to see me, but am I better than Vienna? We may never know, but for sure the best thing is the combination of us both!

My parents had been to Wien before, so I could dig into some slightly less conventional/ extra tourist attractions in addition to the general Innenstadt/ Kaffeehaeuser/ Brauerei round that I tend to base my initial introduction to Vienna tours on (of course due to the variety available here, I can and do amend this itinerary regularly. Book your places now!).

Among other things we finally got to the (conjoined!) arms and armour museum and the old musical instruments collection. Favourite instrument (you can use handsets to listen to them being played) was definitely the 'Viola de Gamba', at the time called just the 'Viola' as our modern version wasn't so popular. They look beautiful with their strange dropped shoulders and sound great, a differently tuned cello with way more strings. Check one out below!

Among the other things on the itinerary was a trip to the area of the Bisamberg, where we accidentally found an entire wine festival in progress! Result.

And having promised wildlife, I was extremely gratified to find that the Lainzer Tiergarten offered up excellent views of wild boar, a black woodpecker, a slow worm and another queen ant!! Photos of most of these are found in the album accompanying this post, mixed in with a few of the blue and distant hills of the Wienerwald because who doesn't want to look at that???

Der Tom

Quick Trip to Linz

If there is one way in which I approximate almost exactly a native viennese person, it is this: I barely ever leave Vienna. Oh, sure, I go for hikes outside the city limits, but when it comes to actually visiting other areas of the country I have an absolutely terrible record. In a cumulative two and a half years I have been to a few mountainous regions but of the major cities and towns of Austria I have seen very little. I went to Graz for the weekend once, and I have changed trains in Salzburg...

This kind of laziness is exactly why people outside the capital think Viennese people are selfish idiots. Linz is the 3rd largest city in Austria with just under 200,000 inhabitants (dependant, as always, on where one decides the city stops) and is also only about an hour and a quarter from Vienna. Of course, till last month I had never been. As a schoolfriend of mine was also crazy enough (sensible enough?) to move to Austria and now lives in Linz, I finally took the chance of a free day off for the 1st of May to check it out.

To be honest, I did almost no official tourist stuff, but perhaps that allowed me to get a more natural picture of Linz life anyway. The one exception was a trip to the big beer festival/ fairground of the Urfahranermarkt, where I inadvisedly went on a ride and spent the rest of the evening feeling like I had drunk 3 pints of beer despite being sober...

The contrasts with Vienna aren't very strong architecturally, it's Austria so evereything looks amazing, the differences come with the more relaxed, small town atmosphere. If you walk down Linz's main street or go out to the bars, you will meet people you know. I imagine this to be both a curse and a blessing.

Of course, a smaller city means it is even easier to get out into the surrounding countryside, which we took full advantage of. Back in May, it seemed like the lovely weather would stay forever...

I had great fun in Linz, and hopefully I'll be back again! Here's the few photos I managed to get.

Der Tom

The in between spaces of central Vienna

Today's small batch of pictures were taken on a couple of occasions in late April and as such I was a little lost for a theme to put to the accompanying blog post. However eventually something has popped into my Saturday-addled consciousness. Lucky you, internet!

All the photos today were taken in the green/blue spaces of Vienna, but unlike a lot of recent things I have posted, they are all places that can be reached almost instantly in the middle of the City.

The Donaukanal branches off the regulated Danube proper and passes right by the first district before meandering back off to join the main river. At the point where it passes some of the poshest and most elegant of Vienna's architecture it forms a sort of trench between the 19th century plaster la-di-da buildings. The concrete walls of this trench are full to bursting with fantastic graffiti, like taking a part of the south bank and stretching it out a loooong way. Stepping down from street level to this park/walkway/canal/art gallery, in summer encrusted with several 'beach' theme bars and deckchairs, is an excellent thing to do if and when the Habsburg atmosphere of the city centre is starting to get you down!

As for the rest of the photos, we have a buch of my absolute favourite building in Vienna, the Nazi-built flak tower in the Augarten. This *thing* looms ominously out over the second district, clashing rather with the surroundings. Encountering it in the leafy, relaxed Augarten with oblivious children playing underneath it can really give you the feeling that this is some kind of a propped open time rift back to 1945, if only you would dare to climb over the rusting fences...

I guess the tenuous point of this rather waffly post is to sing the praises of all the parks and squares of Vienna (or heck, any city really) that are stuck in between the bits of the city you see every day, and in which you can pause to contemplate or merely change your suroundings utterly with a short walk.

Here's your link, hope to see you round here again soon.

Der Tom

This post brought to you by the objective fact that The Mountain Goats are the best band ever.