The only time I had visited Nuremberg (Nürnberg) was 2003. But it’s now the 30th of July in 2025, as I arrive from Vienna by train. I check into my hotel, and hurry over to the German National Museum (Germanisches Nationalmuseum) to take advantage of their extended Wednesday hours. Founded in 1852, this is the German-speaking world’s largest museum on Teutonic culture. I’m here to see 2 specific objects in their collection.
Long thought to be the world’s oldest pocket watch by Peter Henlein from the 16th-century, additional research with non-invasive non-destructive scanning technology has shown the central parts likely to be late-19th century, although many parts date to the 16th century. But it sure is pretty and interesting to see in person. Mechanism: worked iron and brass; Case: gold-plated brass.
Terrestrial globe, Nürnberg, 1492-1494 CE: about 50-cm in diameter; designed by Martin Behaim, and painted by Georg Glockendon the Elder. As one of the oldest surviving globes in the world, the Behaim terrestrial globe has since 2023 been inscribed into UNESCO’s Memory of the World program.
For late 15th-century, India and Southeast Asia appear to take shape, with a lot of coastline yet to be mapped.
North and South America are missing, but east Asia seems to hold some promise, especially with Japan (the large island of Cipangu on its own at right). The South Pacific is also missing representations of Australia and New Zealand. I’m reminded by terrestrial globes I’ve seen in Vienna’s Austrian National Library (Prunksaal, Globenmuseum).
Sketch of the Behaim globe (Wiki). Europe and Africa are at far-right, and Cipangu is where Japan is supposed to be.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 30 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
It’s overcast today which is slightly disappointing not to get a final bout of good light. But the illumination while gray will be fairly even. I’m sticking to the 1st district today and see what I can find in a meander and stroll. No surprise a month goes quickly, as well as over 90% of my planned time in Europe having elapsed.
Schottenkirche (Scots Church & Foundation). There’s a Romanesque chapel with …
… one of the city’s oldest images of the Virgin Mary statue, c. 1250 CE.
Facing southeast from Freyung, towards the Austriabrunnen , Kunstforum, Park Hyatt, Stephansdom, Peterskirche.
Heidenschuss: c.1850 statue referring to a legend of a local baker who secretly dug tunnels below ground to expose the Ottoman Empire’s advanced lines of attack during their 1st Siege of Vienna in 1529.
Above the door at Tiefer Graben 8-10: where Beethoven lived from 1815 to 1817 and worked on pieces Opus 98, 101, 102, 106, 137.
In 2000, the City of Vienna officially unveiled its memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust with a sculpture by British artist Rachel Whiteread. Situated at Judenplatz, the memorial takes on the form of an “inverted library” whose books are placed spine facing inwards.
The books are placed with their spines inwards. There’s a model concept in Wien Museum Karlsplatz.
Stephansplatz, Stephansdom, and the usual crowds in late-afternoon.
Weeks in advance of my arrival, I purchased online a 31-day ticket for 51€ from the Wiener Linien (WL) transport authority. With a registered account, the WL mobile app included my digital ticket shown above. At a conversion of 1€=$1.6CAD, the ticket comes out to $2.70 daily.
Except for the screenshot, I made all other images with an iPhone15 on 29 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
The sun showed up at the right time, as I entered the 150-metre long passageway through the Sünnhof building in Vienna’s 3rd district. Truth is, at the right time of day, the illumination of the umbrellas suspended over the passageway is sure to light up everyone’s face, regardless of age. I’m confident Mary Poppins would have felt at home.
There’s no admission charge, but people are more than welcome to sit outside with a drink from any of the cafes or restaurants lining the passage.
The Sünnhof is just one example of a Vienna architectural staple: “Durchhaus”, a building through which a path is constructed to allow passage from one side of the building to the other. There are many “Durchhaus” examples in the city, especially in the 1st district.
North end of Sünnhof passage, at Landstraßer Hauptstraße 28.
150-metres later at the south end of Sünnhof passage, at Ungargasse 13.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 28 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
In 2018, I returned to Vienna for the first time in 16 years. One of the first places I saw and visited was the Wien Museum Otto Wagner Pavilion at Karlsplatz. That started a journey of discovery: about the architect, about his building designs which remain a part of the urban landscape, and about the city’s first railway network which is now part of the modern public transport framework.
It’s summer 2025: my 5th visit to Vienna in 7 years. What’s “old and familiar” from repetition has become “fresh and new”. That means I said “hello” again to the former railway station pavilions at Karlsplatz, completed in 1898-1899 and shining examples of Vienna Art Nouveau (Wiener Jugendstil).
While the east pavilion has found new life as a bar, the west pavilion is home to the Wien Museum Otto Wagner Pavilion at Karlsplatz, which has a permanent exhibition about Otto Wagner and his direct involvement with the design and construction of the city’s first urban railway.
West pavilion, west side: at left is the entrance underground to U-Bahn lines U1 (red), U2 (purple), and U4 (green). Karlsplatz station is a junction for these 3 U-Bahn lines.
Detail of the western side.
West pavilion, east side: main entrance to the Wien Museum Otto Wagner Pavilion at Karlsplatz. At the surface, the museum is isolated from the U-Bahn junction station below ground.
Detail of the eastern face. For a civic construction of steel and concrete, there are plenty of floral and leafy motifs. For as much of the current U-Bahn signage solid in Helvetica or Sans-Serif font, there’s still life in the “old” lettering, bold and proud in Serif font.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 27 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
It’s one thing to mourn the loss of family, and to know where they are laid to rest, all in the city where I was born. Echoes of the extended double-stage grief have lessened in frequency and intensity over the years. It’s another thing to mourn the loss of a friend, one whom I had just begun to know and one whose final resting place is on the other side of the world. This grief is renewed when I return again to Vienna’s Central Cemetery.
Section 26 of the cemetery is a not only a place to pay respects to all who rest here, but also to recognize their sacrifice as all in this section made their wish to donate their bodies to science after their last breath.
Evelyn Brezina (1977-2024) was a disability rights advocate, saw the world from a unique perspective, and lived her life with purpose and with joy. Having seen her online presence, I met her in person briefly in the summer of 2023. She died unexpectedly in January 2024.
Fast forward to the present on a breezy cloudy day, I walked across the length of the cemetery towards its eastern wall. Rows of graves and trees clear with an open field and the appearance of an octagonal structure. I look for wall board number 110, and locate the name plate. As the only one person present on this afternoon, I’m sat on a bench for some time, with only the wind and rustling of trees for company.
“See you next time.”
Section number 26, Vienna central cemetery.
Dem Andenken jener Menschen, die ihren Körper nach dem Tode in den Dienst der Wissenschaft und medizinischen Aus- und Weiterbildung gestellt haben. // In memory of those people who, after death, placed their bodies at the service of science and medical education and training.
There are several boards and walls, each with several hundreds of names.
At centre here is the nameplate for Evelyn Brezina.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 14 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
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