Ich bin's!

Vesperal salutations to you all! Firstly, I must apologise for my long absence. I do not really have an excuse, other than that nothing really blogworthy has happened. I have spent a lot of time moping on my own and basically counting down the days until I return to the UK. I never thought I would be looking forward to the prospect of being unemployed and living with the Parents but such is life! Working only 13 hours a week leaves me a LOT of free time. This would be fine, were it not for the fact that I have a grand total of 1 friend. So, I spend  lot of time walking the streets of the city with my camera and sitting in the sun. I have now actually got to the point where I cannot bring myself to photograph anything else. Here are some of the results of the last few weeks: 

I love how Imperial Austria still like to be. Everywhere there are reminders of The Way Things Were. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. This next one is a private joke for the Inner Circle. Hope you have as much of a giggle as  did:

While I do not like living here, it cannot be denied that the city is beautiful. This is probably why people have a hard time understanding why I'm not really happy here.

Everywhere you look, particularly in the First District, there is something beautiful. Maybe I should have studied architecture. Actually no, Bad School is an architecture school and it would appear that being arrogant is a prerequisite for working in this field.

I think it is Dublin that people call the City of Doors (I remember seeing a postcard when I was there with words to that effect), but Vienna could probably give it a run for its money. 

Have a guess how much a 40 minute Fiaker ride costs. Go on, I dare you...

65€! For less than an hour! I was shocked. Not that I would ever want to go on one anyway.
Outside Julius Meinl there are some new, presumably temporary, statues. They are a bit weird.

Up there is a bar with an excellent view of the city. I am not rich enough to have been there yet. Maybe, just maybe, I will meet a rich man and he will treat me to a rooftop cocktail before my departure (Sorry Boyo).

There are loads of random pieces of street art all over the city. Some of them are pretty rubbish, but I liked this one:

I was a bit apprehensive about going back to my old neighbourhood in case I was spotted by an Undesirable, but I had to because I wanted to take a picture of this bridge:

Even though Strauss is no longer on his plinth, the Stadtpark is still worth a visit. Especially when it is about a million degrees outside

The Blue Man vases by the river/stream/trickle are excellent, whoever designed them (probably someone employed by Franz Josef as he seems to have commissioned everything in this Stadt!) must have had an excellent sense of humour.

Mr Boring commented on the lack of architecture in my recent posts. I hope this one is making up for it. Here is the roof of Stephansdom. Someone VERY uncultured once made the comment that "it looks like a bad handbag" Clearly she does not know what she is talking about.

The Volksgarten is looking lovely at the moment. It is full of roses, but I only photographed those yesterday so you will have to wait for me to put them up.

This is Augustin, remember him? He is the drinking LEGEND who survived the plague because he was drunk.

Bring your own Lederhosen? ALWAYS. If there is an event involving Trachten, I bin dabei!

Spittelberg is a nice part of Vienna. The Christmas market there is lovely, but it is also quite beautiful in the summer. It is also quite deserted at 9am on a Friday morning. Do NOT ask what I was doing out and about that early!

Aaaaaah, controvesial gnomes (yes, that is a Nazi salute).

I love this bridge over to the MQ. Like, seriously LOVE IT.

One of the best things about being out really early is that you miss all the tourists. This is the first time all year that I have been able to get near this lovely elephant.

Here is another nice door, this time on the Natur Historisches Museum. Doors doors doors.

These flags are outside the Hofburg Hotel. I would never have enough money to stay there, but I do appreciate all the different colours.

I am not sure how, but photographs of the Innenhof of the Hofburg have as yet escaped my beady eye. Not any more!

On Saturday morning I went to Schönbrunn. I was there early, before they even switched on the fountains. It was laaaaaahvley. The garden has been planted with flowers so it is looking nice in preparation for the Parental Visit next week!

The Gloriette is a lovely place. Inside the cafe there was a man playing the piano so I stood outside and listened for ages. It was like a little free concert while I took my pictures!

One thing I do enjoy in Vienna is watching people. This woman was particularly amusing. She was Italian I think and shouting VERY loudly. Dignity people, always dignity.

And that concludes another epic ramble on very little. I keep thinking of things that I want to write actual, proper posts about but when I finally get online things just pour out of my brain like nobody's business. Oops!