Fotoeins Fotografie

My Vienna: 30 days of spring from the 6

By HL fotoeins on 16 May 2022

Danube morning: photo by Christian Stemper, courtesy of Wien Tourismus (no.50401).

With this entry’s appearance, I’m on the other side of the world, 8500 kilometres away.

I dashed in and out of Vienna a handful of times between 2001 and 2003 when I lived in Heidelberg; but I have no visual records of that period in time. I’ve returned to Austria’s capital city for the first time since 2018. I wondered then how a stay in the Mariahilf, the city’s 6th district, would go.

That time is now, because I’m spending a month in the 6.

To minimize weight, I’m experimenting:
•   32-L backpack as the 1 and only piece of (carry-on) luggage, and
•   “no bricks no heavy glass”, but a compact mirrorless Fuji X70 camera.

The apartment location and neighbourhood are ideal. I’m within easy reach of the city’s U-Bahn, surrounded by the U3, U4, and U6 metro lines. I’ve already located a drugstore and several grocery stores, all inside a trivial 0.5 km (0.3 mi) walk. I’ve also been told I’ll have many Viennese coffees and several meals in the area.

There’s a lot to pursue, see, and do; and there’s no time to waste.

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Vienna Themes

The key questions are obvious: Why a month? Is that too long? Or have I enough time to explore, uncover, and learn about things I’ve planned? Perhaps, the danger is an overdeveloped sense of curiosity and the ambition of having too much to do.

But the chase: that, I’m eager to tackle. I’ll hop on a fair share of buses, “Bims” (trams), and trains; and with almost 16 hours of light every day, surely I’ve got to put down a total of 50 km (31 mi) of walking at the very least.

I’m here to track down and find traces for:

1.   Ludwig van Beethoven: 250th birth anniversary in 2020, postponed by the pandemic
2.   Jewish Vienna: artists, scientists, writers; memorials and monuments
3.   Hedwig Kiesler: a.k.a. Hedy Lamarr; Vienna-native, actor and inventor
4.   Josef Kornhäusel: Biedermeier-period architect
5.   Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky: 1st woman architect in Austria

with potentially additional coverage of:

• 2. Türkenbelagerung (Ottoman siege 1683)
• Dr. Marietta Blau
• Böhmischer Prater (Bohemian Prater)
• Donau “Limes” (Danube frontier), in Comagena & Vindobona
• Zaha Hadid
• Theophil Hansen
• Theodor Herzl
• Hugo von Hofmannsthal
• Hans Hollein
• Siegfried Marcus
• Mechitaristen
• Dr. Lise Meitner
• Felix Salten
• Egon Schiele
• Schneekugelmanufaktur
• Arthur Schnitzler
• Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis
• Dr. Olga Steindler-Ehrenhaft
• Otto Wagner
• Stefan Zweig

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Maps on 50- and 10-km scale

There are over 900 map-pins of everything I could think, but I have zero intention of checking every item for two big reasons: A, that’s not feasible over a mere month; and B, similar to my feelings towards Berlin, Vienna is “ein lebenslanges Projekt.”

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And as for eating and drinking …

Wunschliste der Wiener Küche

“Alphabetisches Essen Is’ Olles Umsonst.” Will’s ich? Sollt’ ich? 😅

B
Backhendl

D
Döner: Yaprak-Art

E
Eismarillenknödel

F
Faschierte Laibchen: schon vielmals als 🇩🇪 Frikadelle
Frittatensuppe: schon mal als 🇩🇪 Pfannkuchensuppe

K
Kalbschnitzel: das einzige echte Wiener Schnitzel, bestimmt nicht aus Huhn oder Schwein
Kummelbraten

M
Marillenknödel
(andere) Mehlspeisen: Schnitte, Strudel, Topfengebäck, Torten; alles oh my

O
“Oida, des is’ voi leiwand!”

P
Pferdeleberkäse: schon vielmals als 🇩🇪 Leberkäse, aber noch nicht aus Pferdefleisch

S
Schinkenfleckerln
Schopfbraten: ähnlich wie tschechisches “VPK” (Vepřo Knedlo Zelo)?
Schwarma: Damaskus-, syrisches-Art; mariniertes Hähnchen vom Grillspieß
Shakshuka: israelisches Frühstück

T
Tafelspitz: auch Mark-Brotaufstrich dazu, ein Muss
Trześniewski-Brötchen: insb. Räucherlachs, Speck mit Ei, Trüffel-Ei mit Schinken

W
Wiener Wein: z.B., Gemischter Satz, Grüner Veltliner, etc.

Z
Zwiebelrostbraten

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This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-mLo.