Salmannsdorf is tucked away in the northwest corner of the Austrian capital city. It only seems “far” when a bus route reaches its final stop; fact is the terminus for bus 35A is only 8 km northwest from the city centre.
First mentioned in an official document in 1279, the small village of wine growers began next to the Krottenbach creek and surrounded by hills. The name “Salmannsdorf” is likely derived from the personal name Salman or Salmann, or from the professional name of the “Salmann” who was a trustee or scribe of the land register called the “Salbuch”; literally, he of the Sal, or the Sal-man(n). By 1938, the village had been fully absorbed into the city of Vienna’s 19th district.
In a compact area, I’ve gathered:
a cross dedicated to victims of the French Napoleonic occupation 1809
where Franz Schubert composed “Das Dörfchen” (The Little Village) in 1821
Johann Strauss II (JS2) spent boyhood summers at his maternal grandfather’s house, where JS2 wrote at age 6 his 1st attempt at waltz “Erster Gedanke”
Franzosenkreuz (French cross), in front of Salmannsdorfer Straße 32.
French cross: memorial to the victims of the 1809 Napoleonic campaign and French occupation.
The slope up Dreimarksteingasse with a plaque at building address 6 (right).
Memorial plaque: Franz Schubert composed “Das Dörfchen” at this location in 1821.
Dreimarksteingasse 13, facing northwest. There’s a plaque on the outer wall of the bright yellow barn-like structure (upper right). Johann Strauss Sr. And his family spent summers here from 1829 to 1832.
Johann Strauss Jr. at age 6 composed his 1st waltz at this location; this is memorialized by the plaque on the wall. “Hier hat ein großer Musikant / Der ‘Meister Strauß’ war er benannt / Den ersten Walzer komponiert / Und dadurch dieses Haus geziert.”
Dreimarksteingasse 13, facing south.
Across from the Strauss’ summer residence is the village church whose names include Dreimarkstein Chapel and Saint Sebastian’s Chapel. The small church dates back to the late 18th-century.
Near the top of Dreimarksteingasse with the village chapel at left and the yellow building (once occupied by the Strauss family) at right.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 9 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
In Vienna’s Museum of Science and Technology, I get to nerd out over things like cameras, calculators, radios, televisions, and telephones: all of which are now contained in some compact form within a mobile “smart” phone. Much of the history for the development of gadgets large and small is both long and fascinating.
But there’s also regulation of the Danube river, fresh- & waste-water management, computers & data management, bookmaking & block-type, print-making & lithography, tools & equipment “at home”, national radio & television broadcasting, telegraph & telephony, power generation, engines & automobiles, aircraft & airports, industrial-scale smelting, elevators & funiculars, transport signals, hygiene practices, et cetera, et cetera.
No surprise, really, that it’s a wae difficult to see everything available in the museum’s general collection inside a single visit.
TMW: Technisches Museum Wien.
Ebene 4 (4th level).
Ebene 3 (3rd level).
Typewriter: one of the earliest prototypes, by Peter Mitterhofer in Partschins (Italy) in 1864.
Top view: one of the earliest typewriter prototypes, by Peter Mitterhofer in Partschins (Italy) in 1864.
Arithmetic (mathematics) book from Johann Hemeling, printed in 1678 by Johann Görlin in Frankfurt, Germany. At right is an example of compound interest of 5-percent applied annually over 20 years on a principal of 10 million; that is, 10^7 * 1.05^20 =26532977.
Hewlett-Packard HP-35 electronic pocket scientific-calculator: USA, 1972.
Texas Instruments SR-40 electronic pocket scientific-calculator: USA, 1975.
Rolleiflex reflex camera with cut film adapter: Franke & Heidecke, Braunschweig (Germany), around 1929.
Front view, Leica I 35mm-camera: Ernst Leitz GmbH in Wetzlar (Germany), 1930. The word “Leica” is constructed from “Leitz” and “camera”.
Top view, Leica I 35mm-camera: Ernst Leitz GmbH in Wetzlar (Germany), 1930.
Front view, Leica IIIa 35mm-camera: Ernst Leitz GmbH in Wetzlar (Germany), 1938.
Top view, Leica IIIa 35mm-camera: Ernst Leitz GmbH in Wetzlar (Germany), 1938.
Left: Western Union, internal memo, 1876. Right: purple Telekom/Magenta telephone booth with a large digital screen and webcam.
Würfeluhr (Viennese cube-clock), 1930 to 1960s. This style of city clock can be found throughout the city of Vienna.
On Ebene 1 (level 1), the public can make their own thermograms: images in the thermal infrared at wavelengths around 10 microns. Red to orange are the warmest temperatures.
The hope is real: to live long and prosper (in the thermal infrared) with my trusty X70 (in the optical/visual). Thankfully, my glasses and camera remain “cool”.
I received neither support nor compensation for this piece. Except for the final two frames, I made all remaining images with an iPhone15 on 8 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
In northwest Berlin, the Zitadelle Spandau (Spandau Citadel) might have one of the oldest structures in Berlin with the 36-metre Julius Tower going back to the 13th-century. The Citadel is also home to a variety of arts and crafts, including a collection of sculptures which used to be in Berlin’s public spaces.
But I’m here for the bats 🦇 because in the basement of one of the buildings, there’s a “bat-cave” for education and preservation. It’s worth remembering that bats, like bees and birds, are excellent pollinators.
The walk up to Zitadelle Spandau.
I’ve found it: Fledermauskeller (lit., bat basement) 🦇
One of two bats on view: the Egyptian fruit bat (Nilflughund).
The other type of bat on view: Seba’s short-tailed bat (Brillenblattnase).
Looking for food scraps on the floor.
The occasional roost.
👆🏽😍 🦇
10 seconds.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 9 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
One-third of the 2025 travel summer is complete; 30 days done in Europe’s Schengen Zone, 60 more to go.
What is now the U3 line through southwest Berlin began life as an “brand new extension of transport service” into a growing part of the capital city in the early 20th-century. These are 5 to highlight here.
Heidelberger Platz, 1883.
Podbielskiallee, 1913.
Dahlem-Dorf, 1913.
Freie Universität (Thielplatz), 1913.
Krumme Lanke, 1929.
I’m learning about Alfred Grenander’s architectural fingerprints in Berlin, particularly with the U-Bahn stations which remain today.
Track level, U3 station Heidelberger Platz.
Images of Heidelberg appear in alcoves throughout the station. The image at centre is…
…a well-known and well-photographed motif: “view of Heidelberg from Philosophers’ Path”. I have fond memories of living there from 2001 to 2003.
U3 station Podbielskiallee.
The top of the weather vane says “1913”, and inside the white-U are 3 fish. The name appears in the German Fraktur font.
U3 station Dahlem-Dorf with its famous thatched roof.
Interior, U3 station Dahlem-Dorf.
Interior from street-level down to track-level, U3 station Dahlem-Dorf.
U3 station Freie Universität, originally called Thielplatz: entrance building.
U3 terminus (for now) Krumme Lanke, track-level.
In front of Krumme Lanke station at street level is an open plaza named after Alfred Grenander, who designed in 1929 this very modern-looking entry building for the station.
“Alfred Grenander (1863-1931), Swedish architect who designed around 70 stations for the Berlin elevated and underground railway from 1902 to 1931, as well as the entrance building at Krumme Lanke station.” This sign appears just outside Krumme Lanke station and next to Fischerhüttenstrasse.
U3 line map, from Krumme Lanke station (via QR by BVG). Intersections with U-Bahn and S-Bahn are shown, as well as travel times to other stations on the U3 line. In full operation, a complete one-way trip to Warschauer Straße is 40 minutes.
Except for the very final image (Perlschnur), I made all other images above with an iPhone15 on 7 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
It’s channel 1: the national broadcaster ARD (*), known informally by many as “Das Erste” or “The First”. Their studios look grand, modern, and imposing, and hide a grand piece of history in physics.
Like most places of higher learning, they start modestly, and in Berlin’s case, the late-19th and early 20th-century at the University of Berlin (now: Humboldt University) burst at the seams with ideas flowing in the natural sciences and social sciences, at a time when the city itself welcomed openness and creativity.
Berlin is best known for its history, decades of extended trauma, its architecture, and a cultural centre with contemporary art and electronic music. I know Berlin as a place of world-changing science with renowned scientists, whose names massively stamped the last half of my undergraduate years.
(*) ARD: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland; translated as “Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations of the Federal Republic of Germany”. It’s something like Canada’s CBC, Australia’s ABC, or Great Britain’s BBC.
ARD Hauptstadtstudio
ARD (national channel no.1) radio- & tv-studios at Wilhelmstrasse next to Marshallbrücke. On the right side (west-facing wall) is a memorial plaque near the back corner, hidden behind the tree.
Left panel: From 1996 to 1998, the building owner association SFB & WDR led construction of the Berlin radio- & television-studios for the broadcaster ARD.
Right panel: Built for Hermann Helmholtz, the Physics Institute of the University of Berlin once stood at this spot from 1878 to 1945. Key physicists worked here, including James Franck, Gustav Hertz, Walther Nernst, Wilhelm Wien, Max Planck. In his institute lecture on 14 December 1900, Planck described the early principles of quantum theory.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
“From 1914 to 1932, Albert Einstein worked here as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.” State Library of Berlin is located at Unter den Linden 8.
The Einstein plaque appears at left in this image, next to the doors of the former Prussian Academy of Sciences. On 4 November 1915, Einstein presents his “field equations” for general relativity in a lecture to the Academy.
Humboldt University
Formerly the University of Berlin, today’s Humboldt University main building (next door to the State Library) greets visitors with a statue of physicist Hermann Helmholtz. Einstein also presented lectures about his developments in general relativity to the university’s physics institute.
Max Planck, who discovered ‘h’ the elementary quantum of action, taught in this building from 1889 to 1928. This memorial plaque is on the outer wall of the main building’s west wing. Planck is also honoured with a memorial statue in the main building’s front courtyard. Today, a massive German network of research institutes is named in his honour as the Max Planck Gesellschaft; I had the great privilege of spending 2 years at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg.
In 1931, American physicist Millikan was invited to Berlin. In this incredible image of a dinner-gathering in Berlin on 12 November 1931, seated from left to right, respectively, are: Walther Ernst, 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Albert Einstein, 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics; Max Planck, 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics; Robert Millikan, 1923 Nobel Prize in Physics; and Max von Laue, 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 27 May 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
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