Im Kaffeehaus

In the Quiet
of the Early Morning
Café Frauenhuber
Himmelpfortgassee

Magazines and Newspapers
Neatly stacked, waiting
for the first morning patrons

Choice seating
still available

The left window seat
is already taken

Look,
another corner table,
how about sitting here?

Would you rather
chose this cozy corner?

Under this table lamp,
you say?

The first Melange,
followed by another cup?

Café Frauenhuber
Vienna's Oldest Coffeehouse
Himmelpfortgasse 6

Images and Text
© by Merisi

In The Quiet Of The Morning

In the Quiet of the Morning
A cup of Viennese coffee Melange
- the sheers still closed,
no harsh light, please -
the morning papers
and a glass of water.

*

Café Frauenhuber
Vienna's Oldest Coffeehouse
Himmelpfortgasse 6

*

Images and Text
© by Merisi

Elective Affinities

6th District



Bird on the roof: Schönbrunn's Gloriette
Tentacled seedpod by the water: Karlsplatz
Dress behind bars: 6th District
Horse chestnuts: 13th District
Climbing rose: Ennsegg Castle

*
Images and Text
© by Merisi

Viennese Moments

Fountain
Mariahilfer Strasse
6th District

Turning a Corner
Pfauen-Theobald-Gasse
6th District

Storefronts
Hietzinger Hauptstrasse
13th District

Still Life
Door with Halfmoon Window
and Dinosaur
6th District

Planters with Laurel
Wallnerstrasse

*

Images and Text
© by Merisi

A Streetcar Named Pizza?

Tram Stop Burgtheater
Tuesday
3 November 2009
2 pm

I instinctively reached for the camera,
otherwise, who'd believe what my eyes saw:

Departures:
# 1 Pizza
# 10 Fettflecken!

A blink of an eye later,
the sign changed back to the regular schedule:

I jumped on the #1 tram,
the "Pizza" and "Grease Stain" destinations
looked a bit too risky, after all!

From what I have learned in the meantime,
this is a practical joke
by the transit authorities,
going public with the amount of trash
cleaning crews encounter on their daily rounds:
A not so subtle reminder
to the traveling public
to please not leave
pizzas and grease stains
behind.

I am glad it was not me
who encountered the pizza on the streetcar:
I was so hungry,
I would have eaten it!

*

Images and Text
© by Merisi

Viennese Moments

Portrait of a Lady
Chanel Boutique
Kohlmarkt

Construction Fence
South Tower
St. Stephen's Cathedral

Portrait of a Lady
Chanel Boutique
Kohlmarkt

"Unglaublich"
"Past Belief"
St. Stephen's Cathedral

Portrait of a Lady
Chanel Boutique
Kohlmarkt

Wiener Neustädter Hof
Theodor-Herzl-Steps
Sterngasse

Portrait of a Lady
Chanel Boutique
Kohlmarkt

"Le Salzgries"
French Restaurant
Marc-Aurel-Strasse

Portrait of a Lady
Chanel Boutique
Kohlmarkt

Images
© by Merisi
5 November 2009

Sensory Perceptions

"Direct experience

is an evasion,

or hiding place,

for those

without

any imagination."

Quoted from
"The Book of Disquiet"
by Fernando Pessoa

Images:
1, 4 ,7 Strudlhof Steps
2 Payergasse
3 Farmers' Market, Yppen-Platz
5 Staudigl, Wollzeile
6 Lower Austria
© By Merisi
Picture Thinker

November Rose

November Rose
Volksgarten Park
Rose Garden
Vienna

Photographed
on the 3rd of November, 2009,
a grey and cold autumn day
with sleet and snow surprise.

*
Images and Text
© by Merisi

Where The Wild Things Are

Still Life With Heron
Neck stretched out,
looking quite at home,
in the middle of the city!
Rose Garden Fountain
Volksgarten

You here?
The large bird looks at me,
now hunched down,
neck bent over its breast,
after the first click
of my camera.

Watch Your Step
he mumbles,
looking over his shoulder,
watching me stumble and
almost fall into the pond.
I feel flustered,
like a little girl
who has encountered Big Bird
on her way to school!

"Here's Looking At You,
Kid!"
He is gorgeous,
isn't he?

A Grey Heron
in the Year of Darwin
with the Natural History Museum
in downtown Vienna
as a background,
if that is not worthy
of a newsbreak,
what is?

*

"Nor Sleet nor Snow nor Heron"
can stop Merisi
from bringing your the latest news
from the
Snow and Heron Capital
on this dreary November 3, 2009!

Images and Text
© by Merisi

Shades Of Grey

Dancing in the Wind
Maugre the grey skies above
fruit and leaves waltz on!
Dear Old Plane Tree
Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Platz

Where's the Sun?
We all want to know!
Restaurant Steirereck
Stadtpark

More Light!
Calling all chandeliers!
Shrouded Cartier
Graben

The Real Thing
is to the left.
The temporary structure is
covering the lower half of the south steeple
of St. Stephen's Cathedral
during its rennovation
St. Stephen's Square

Symmetry of Time
Rose window and
golden hands of time
St. Stephen's Cathedral

Sweet Comfort
Lipizzan Horse
Spanish Riding School
at the Imperial Stables
Reitschulgasse

*

Viennese Moments
in Grey
2 November 2009
Images and Text
© by Merisi

Autumn

Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain,
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned,
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand,
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain!

Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand
Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land,
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain!

Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended
So long beneath the heaven's o'er-hanging eaves;
Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended;
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;

And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid,
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!

"Autumn"
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Images captured
at Prince Eugene's
Belvedere Gardens
30 October 2009
© by Merisi

Sunday Feast

Pumpkin Soup
With Pumpkin Seed Oil and
Seeded Small Baguette





Roast Goose with Seabuckthorn Berries
Red Cabbage with Roasted Chestnuts,
Mashed Potatoes, Lingonberry Compote,
Austrian Bread Dumpling, and Gravy

Melange with Kaiserschmarrn
Pancake Soufflé
Austrian Emperor Style
Plum and Elderberry Compote

Served at
Stille Nacht Hof
Stille Nacht Platz 2
5112 Arnsdorf-Lamprechtshausen
15 miles north of Salzburg

An Autumn Meal
November 2008
*
Images and Text
© by Merisi

All Hallows' Eve in Vienna

Spooked
Wall Billboard
Naschmarkt
Linke Wienzeile
Vienna Left Bank

"1 Gott"
Artwork and Window Reflection
Café Rühmann
Karlsplatz

Oysters at Twilight
"Fin de Claire"
French Oysters
Naschmarkt

It's Alive!
Or is it not?
Lardo di Colonnata
La Salvia
Yppen Platz

You Can Run And Hide
Black-Eyed Susan
will find you!
Palais Liechtenstein

Images and Text
© by Merisi
31 October 2009

Halloween Special: Lady Button-Eyes!

When the busy day is done,
And my weary little one
Rocketh gently to and fro;
When the night winds softly blow,
And the crickets in the glen
Chirp and chirp and chirp again;
When upon the haunted green
Fairies dance around their queen -
Then from yonder misty skies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Through the murk and mist and gloam
To our quiet, cozy home,
Where to singing, sweet and low,
Rocks a cradle to and fro;
Where the clock's dull monotone
Telleth of the day that's done;
Where the moonbeams hover o'er
Playthings sleeping on the floor -
Where my weary wee one lies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Cometh like a fleeting ghost
From some distant eerie coast;
Never footfall can you hear
As that spirit fareth near -
Never whisper, never word
From that shadow-queen is heard.
In ethereal raiment dight,
From the realm of fay and sprite
In the depth of yonder skies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Layeth she her hands upon
My dear weary little one,
And those white hands overspread
Like a veil the curly head,
Seem to fondle and caress
Every little silken tress;
Then she smooths the eyelids down
Over those two eyes of brown -
In such soothing, tender wise
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Dearest, feel upon your brow
That caressing magic now;
For the crickets in the glen
Chirp and chirp and chirp again,
While upon the haunted green
Fairies dance around their queen,
And the moonbeams hover o'er
Playthings sleeping on the floor -
Hush, my sweet! from yonder skies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

*

This is a poem by the American writer Eugene Field.
Field was born in 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Who of us has not hummed
his lullaby, "Little Boy Blue"?

The eyes I am showing you here
stared at me from this little wooden shed
in the vineyards of San Polo in Chianti,
Tuscany, Italy.

Take your broom
Click on the fig above
and fly over to Elizabeth's
in New York City
for more Halloween fun
all over the world at her
"World Examining Works"!

A Happy and Safe
Halloween!


Photographs
© by Merisi

Vienna Today

Akademie der Bildenden Künste
Academy of Fine Arts
Founded 1692

Il Barbiere di Vienna
Barber to the Court
Since 1869
Operngasse

Stepping Up
Academy of Fine Arts

Red Eye
Waldmüller Retouched?
Poster around the
corner from the Academy

Yellow Leaves
Academy of Fine Arts

Crushed
Instant Art
Beer can on window sill
Academy of Fine Arts

*

Photographs and Text
30 October 2009
© by Merisi

Orange

No Orange, You Say?
Trust me,
there's plenty of orange below:
I was almost literally floating
above a bed of orange canna
that circles the fountain in the
Rose Garden!

The steeples of the Votive Church,
the roof of Vienna University and
the parapet statues on the roof of
the Burgtheater, the
Austrian National Theater,
all vying for attention with
the spectacular clouds.

A solitary rose petal,
carried off by the night winds,
left alone to decry her fate
in the wet grass
in the shade.

Canna leaves,
coasting in the
morning sun.

Canna blossoms
taking a dive amongst
the water lily leaves.

Water lily leaves
gallivanting in the shady side
of the fountain,
oblivious of colour and time.

Orange feet?
Alright,
says the Mallard duck,
go ahead, shoot them,
but then go,
we want to nap!

Canna
Orange.

Not enough orange,
you say?
Please,
click on that
Canna blossom then! ;-)

*

Rose Garden Fountain
Volksgarten Park
Photographs and Text
October 2009
© by Merisi

The Sky Below

A Moody Sky
A fountain statue and
the moody sky above reflected
in the shimmering water below
Volksgarten Park
Vienna

*

Photographs and Text
29 October 2009
© by Merisi

*

Clicking on the
SkyWatch icon below


takes you straight to
Sky Watch Friday Headquarters
from where you can journey on to visit
hundreds of skies around the world!

Blue Hour At Prince Eugene's Belvedere

The Upper Cascade
in the Palace Gardens of Prince Eugene of Savoy's
summer residence, the "Belvedere",
located about a third of the way
down the hill from the Upper Palace
towards the Lower Belvedere Palace.

The Upper Belvedere
A view from the bottom of the steps
that lead to the
Upper Belvedere

The Lower Belvedere Palace
and the Inner City with
St. Stephan's Cathedral beyond.

Lower Belvedere Palace
The gate to the left opens to
gardens of the Orangery.
Prince Eugene was fond of exotic plants.
In his country palace, "Schloss Hof",
the Orangery was one of the largest
and most innovative of his time. *

Wilder Wein
The brilliant reds of the
Virginia Creeper climbing the west wall
of the Orangery's garden
play with the muted tones
of the blue hour,
before irrevocably
descending into dusk.

Lower Belvedere Palace
We get a glimpse of the silhoutte of
a statue in the entrance hall
of the palace.

Blue Hour
Walking back up the hill,
with the sun now set beyond the horizon,
the sky over the Upper Palace appears
to be tinted indigo blue.

Vienna in Blue
Beyond the Lower Belvedere Palace,
the Inner City has changed
into evening glamour.
St. Stephen's steeple, illuminated beacon,
will guide us
safely home.

*

Photographed by Merisi
in the Blue Hour
of Wednesday,
28 October 2009


*) Click on the picture
for a virtual visit to
Prince Eugene's "Schloss Hof"

Coffee Or Tea With That?

Morning Light
streaming through my
kitchen window

Little Helpers
Can you spot
the turquoise vase
hiding in the corner?

Apple Tart
for breakfast?

No Way!
Say my little helpers.

First Things First!
Blueberry pancakes
for breakfast it is!

Coffee, Anyone?
Pancake or
Apple Tart with that?

*

Sometimes,
Merisi goes domestic!

I hope you don't mind
this little interlude,
the puzzle below
will be finished later
in the afternoon.

A slice of apple tart
with that coffee?
Tea, anyone?

*

Photographs and Text
October 2009
© by Merisi

Where In The City?

Where in Vienna?
Ever noticed
this building?

Green

Sometimes
Green Can Be Cool *
Naschmarkt

*

Photographed
October 2009
© by Merisi

* Says Kermit,
the Frog:
Click!

Pink And Purple

Pink Zinnias
Naschmarkt


Waiting for the Bus
Gumpendorfer Strasse

The Countess in Pink
Die Gräfin vom Raimundhof
Mariahilfer Strasse

"The Real McCoy"
Ms McCoy checking
on her window dummies
Mariahilfer Strasse

"La Vie en rose"
Pink along my path:
Walking from Vienna's
Naschmarkt to Mariahilfer Strasse

Images and Text
© by Merisi
October 2009

Vienna By Night

Nighthawks
Naschmarkt
Vienna

*

Captured
Saturday Night
© by Merisi

Thus Sang The Jolly Autumn

Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;
Then rose, girded himself, and o'er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

Quoted from
"Autumn"
by William Blake

*

Thursday
October 30, 2008
68°F (20°C)

Pictures taken during a walk
from the Burgtheater to Heldenplatz,
through the Volksgarten's Rose Garden.