Spring Is Here!

High Noon in Vienna
Short Lederhosen
are a-blooming!
Edelweiß, Edelweiß,
on spring mornings you greet me?

Spring truly has arrived,
as you can see:
Viennese were taking in the sun
and brunching al fresco

This fellow probably
belonged to a music band
that performs in traditional costume

Even billboards
seem to take on gaudier colours
when the sun's shining

*

Photographed
along Wienzeile,
the left bank of the Naschmarkt,
above the river Wien,
which runs underground here
27 February 2010

Images and text
© 2010 by Merisi

Dreams of Spring

Promise of Spring
Blue skies and a warm late February sun
bath the tile roof of St. Stephen's Cathedal
in brilliant light, carrying promises of spring.
The verdigris of the North Tower's
Renaissance cap glims in the sun,
and the teal dormer window frame of the building
to the right, on Singerstrasse,
slowly emerges from early morning shade.

A few steps down,
at Weihburggasse, a shop window
arranged in shades of teal,
invites to stop for a cup of tea,
reading about Jane Austen's gardens or
leafing through a collection of
Pierre-Joseph Redouté's rose studies.

George Clooney
would have us brew coffee
from ground beans imprisoned
in teal aluminum pods and
drink it from pressed glass cups:
Is this meant to give
the now distilled beans one more look
from the inside out into a world
from which they disappeared
way back when picked?

Wouldn't even Sir Charming
rather sip his morning coffee
holding on to the proper handle
of a porcelain cup with gayly painted rim
in spring colours,
while looking out his window,
surveying spring's triumphant arrival
at Lake Como?

Photographed
in Vienna
24 February 2010

*

Images and Text
© 2010 by Merisi

Sometimes, She Dreams In Italian

Princess Ann
had to move to Rome,
to discover that she could do some of the things
she had always wanted to do.
All day long,
if she wanted to!
In the opinion of Her Highness,
two small dogs were fine,
even for a princess,
and took them out of the palace
on long walks without a chaperon.

Saint Francis
smiled.
He sanctioned
such independence.

Princess Ann,
Merrily on her way.
After all, there was no Irving Radovich
pursuing her anymore to secretly take pictures.

Henry James
was right, the Princess thought -
while putting the key in the keyhole
of the dove-coloured door of her terracotta palace -
"there are days when the beauty
of the climate of Rome alone
suffices for happiness". *

*

Photographed by Merisi
on a Roman Holiday
in September 2009
© 2010 by Merisi


*) Henry James, Italian Hours

Spring Awakening

Spring in her Steps
Suddenly, it felt like spring
Zur Schwäbischen Jungfrau
Graben

*

Captured
24 February 2010
© 2010 by Merisi

Alfresco Lunch

Carpe Diem!
A construction crew near the Burgtheater
took to the roof of an equipment shed
to better enjoy their lunch
in spring-like temperatures

Meierei im Stadtpark
It was still too early
for the Meierei to be open
when I took this picture in
the early morning sunshine.
It was going to be a great day for
lunch at the terrace overlooking
the river Wien.

Early Morning Reader
This gentleman seemed
totally immersed in the headlines:
Who needs a bench to sit down
when tabloids hold your attention like this?

Reading
while the dog's looking
for squirrels
Stadtpark

*

Photographed
24 February 2010
© 2010 by Merisi

Once Upon A Coffee BreakSchloss Halbturn, Burgenland

Once upon a time,
on a particularly icy winter day,

in the middle of the country side,
there appeared out of nowhere

a beautiful castle
with a restaurant

that offered the weary traveler
hot coffee and the best croissant imaginable
at 9am in the morning!

Coffee Melange
Made with coffee beans
gathered from wild coffee trees
in Ethiopia and roasted locally
So good, I had to
have a second cup!

Restaurant Knappenstöckl
Schloss Halbturn
Burgenland

Schloß Halbturn
was built in 1711 by
the Austrian Baroque architect
Lucas von Hildebrandt
as a hunting and summer residence
for the imperial family.

It is located 40 miles
southeast of Vienna and
open to visitors from early spring
into late autumn.

*

Images and text
first published in January
© 2010 by Merisi

Sunday in the Country Viennese Escapes

Country Road
Close to the Hungarian Border
near the hamlet of Kittsee
Burgenland Region

"Border Runs
Along the Middle of Path"
Hiking along a dirt road,
I encountered the above sign.
I decided to be adventerous
and walk back to the car
on the Hungarian side.

The Iron Curtain
supplanted by snows of yesteryear

*

Photographed
21 February 2010
near Kittsee
40 miles southeast
of Vienna


Images and text
© by Merisi

Italian Days Viennese Escapes

Morning by the Sea
I had arrived in the evening after dark,
in a raging thunderstorm,
the rain still pelting my window
as I fell asleep.
I was not expecting to wake up
the next morning to brilliant sunshine
and an almost calm sea.

I found this small coffee bar
just around the corner from the hotel,
and with a view of the sea.

True Italian Cappuccino
No, Signor Clooney,
the art of making
a perfect cup of coffee
was not invented by the Swiss!

To the last drop,
pleasure,
and all the while,
more pleasures wait:

Illuminarsi d'Immenso *
Yes, to fill oneself with light
which knows no bounds.

*

Photographed
in Marina di Pisa
Tuscany, Italy
September 2009


*) "M'illumino d'immenso"
Giuseppe Ungaretti
There are various translations out there,
the above is my own

*

Images and text
© by Merisi

Winter Blues

Venice in Winter
Piazza San Marco


*


Yes, It is still
"Vienna for Beginners"
Even though,
"You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream"
(Edgar Allen Poe)

Images
© by Merisi

Viennese Moments

Yellow
Wool felt flowers
on wood slat table
Tuchlauben

Gold
with a little tea rose
Graben 19

A Golden Crown
and a 1932 skyscraper
Herrengasse

Spring Flowers
and striped awning
Valentino Boutique
Herrengasse

*

Photographed
18 February 2010
© by Merisi

On A Minor Key

There's a place I know
where the birds swing low,
And wayward vines go roaming,
Where the lilacs nod, and a marble god
Is pale, in scented gloaming.
And at sunset there comes a lady fair
Whose eyes are deep with yearning.
By an old, old gate does the lady wait
Her own true love's returning.

But the days go by, and the lilacs die,
And trembling birds seek cover;
Yet the lady stands, with her long white hands
Held out to greet her lover.
And it's there she'll stay till the shadowy day
A monument they grave her.
She will always wait by the same old gate, —
The gate her true love gave her.

Song in a Minor Key
by Dorothy Parker

Schönbrunn Palace
Palmengarten
Palm House

Photographed
January 2010
© by Merisi

Heat. A Hallucination

Saturday
At The Farmers' Market
"Heat!"
I wished myself away
to summer in Santa Fe!

I felt like a fish on ice,
water glazed and shock frozen
in a blast freezer,
not sure if whole or not.
Not that it matters,
once you are on ice
and exposed naked behind glass!

Steaming Hot Espresso?
I could not imagine
how to peel off my icy trappings
to sit down. And - chissà - if I were even
able to hold a comforting hot cup
with my gelida manina?*

I marched on,
to the clinkclank of the ice
jangling at every step
as it began to fall.
I passed the train station,
dreaming myself all the way to Santa Lucia,
emerging there into warm springlike air,
watching gondolas ride into the sunset
on Canal Grande.

I found myself
stepping into my warm kitchen instead,
wheighing the odds
of adding grated apples to
David's perfectly fine
Sugar Crusted Popover recipe. **

From my safe warm haven
I saw a bird
take off into the golden glow
of the setting sun.
Will it return
and bring along Spring?


* click to hear
Mario del Monaco sing the aria
"La tua gelida manina"
from Puccini's "La Bohème"

** Click for David's recipe

Yes,
adding one grated apple
and the zest of one lemon
made for very good popovers.
The picture's less so,
I had to turn it sepia
to make it bearable.

Images and Text
© by Merisi