Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts

Overheard: Vienna

Tuesday, May 19, 2026


I recently visited Vienna - my fifth time there. As it was Eurovision Song Contest season, I kept my ears open and overheard the following.

  • The lighting is on point, the drinks are very good.

  • You can fly very cheaply, and you can stay at my place!

  • He's good on the bass i'n't he? He's got his own sound, yeah.

  • So many people find her empowering!

  • Every time I drink and try to study, it doesn't work.

  • I prefer the Danube because I'm a water person.

  • Rudolf was very sensitive and intellectual.

  • I need to charge my phone, and then I can relax.

  • You look so fucking disappointed!

  • It's a bangarangadrama!

  • When all that was going on, I stayed out of it.

Circle Lines | Vienna

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Vienna Laengenfeldgasse, Herbert Ortner, Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA

Vienna does not have a circle line. But with some quick U‐Bahn changes, it's possible to do a loop. 

You could do a tiny, small, medium or large loop. I took the medium option, on the U4 and U6 lines. I started and ended at the central Karlsplatz station.

The whole trip took about 30 minutes, in grey carriages with bright red chairs and bright yellow poles and handles. 

Here's who I saw:

- Quite a few older people with scooters

- A lot - a lot! - of people wearing grey: a boy in a tracksuit, a man in grey denim jeans + jacket, a woman with slacks and jumper (and a wine t-shirt)

- A young boy dragging his younger brother onto the train, play slapping each other and laughing a lot

- Three young men with a tent folded into a dark green bag, repeatedly banging their hands on it

- A young woman speaking into her phone: 'Nei-ne-ne-nei-ne-nei entschuldigung, sorry!'

- A little dog in a check coat popping its head over its seat

- A blonde English woman shaking her head saying, 'It's so stupid, no one asked for that'.

- A man in a moss green coat, white baseball hat and circular glasses dozing off

- A woman with a disappointed look on her face, rubbing her forehead and eyes

- A man with a black sweatshirt holding a light blue coffee cup and cake box

- A young girl wearing pink, shouting and knocking the back of her legs against a vent in the train. Eventually, she became quiet by tapping her mother's head.

- A man in a long beige coat and beige trousers, as if to match the beige cardboard box he's carrying. Maybe to compensate, his friend has long, bright red hair.

Overheard: Train in Austria

Monday, October 28, 2024

white train with blue and green symbols on a train track
WESTbahn, Kabelleger, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA


Two people on a train in Austria are looking at various websites on a laptop. One's about fabric, one's about chairs, another is about ice-cubes. Maybe they are planning the interior of a bar or café?

They're mostly speaking in German with occasional bits in English.

- It feels a little bit more modern
- Get your rave on!
- Your 360 degrees experience!
- Step over it? Step on it.
- Good morning you spicy little fuck nuggets. Love it, love it!
- He is the big guy in Europe for the ice cubes.

Sending postcards to museums

Friday, August 20, 2010

Last year, when I went to Norwich, I bought some snapshot sets at a second-hand market. I had never seen such things before: little envelopes in which were several snapshot photocards. "How novel," thought I, "I'll buy them!"


I bought sets with pictures of: Shetland, Amsterdam, Niagara Falls, San Remo, Norway and Vienna.

A year later, I have looked at and admired these sets quite enough - but what to do with them? I don't want to just throw them away (that would never do), and charity shops don't seem worthy enough - so I hit on the idea of sending them to relevant museums.

This is a bit foolhardy: museums generally have lots of things in their collections, more than enough, and possibly don't need items they have not solicited. On the other hand, I'm intrigued to see which museums might like the sets. And, so...

I'm sending the Shetland set to the Shetland Museum.



The Amsterdam set go to the Amsterdam Historical Museum.



The Norwegian Maritime Museum receive the 19 images of Norway's coast.



20 photographs of San Remo go to San Remo's Museo Civico




Beautiful photographs of Vienna go to the Wien Museum




And finally, the twelve photographs of Niagara Falls go to the Niagara Historical Museum


I'll let you know what happens.



Linz, 2009 European Capital of Capital

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Austrian city of Linz is in the news at the moment, as it's holding a No Music Day on Saturday. The project is all part of Linz's time as the 2009 European Capital of Culture, a title it shares with Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

I visited Linz over the summer during the Pflasterspektakel festival - a five-day celebration of street theatre. And what a celebration it was, with theatre taking over the streets and plazas. Comedians, clowns, acrobats, gymnasts, trapeze artists, jugglers all vying for attention, with great busking and music performances too.








Away from that weekend, a vibrant series of events were taking place in Linz including plays set on buses and public transport and headphone-led plays through the city's streets.

In the midst of it all are Linz's outstanding venues, the neon-clad Lentos Art Museum (below), the concert hall Brucknerhaus and the museum Ars Electronica Center with a great series of exhibitions, shows, plays and concerts.



There is also a ferris wheel and skywalk high above the city's rooftops, as well as a vast array of symposia and projects about Europe and European identity.

Ferris wheel at Höhenrausch, Linz
Image by knorp

I really enjoyed seeing how the graphic identity of Linz09 was incorporated in to familiar images of the city like Linzertorte, the local speciality.


Linzertorte + logo, Wikimedia Commons

Olympics: Togo's first ever medal

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

I'm thoroughly enjoying the Olympics so far. While the Chinese, Australians, Koreans and Americans are winning medals all around them, I love to hear about the achievements of smaller countries.

The two countries I follow - Ireland and Austria - have had some success. Austria has a silver (in judo) and a bronze (in swimming) - not bad for a landlocked country! Ireland came very close today with canoeist Eoin Rheinisch coming 4th in the men's kayaking. So close - but I'm cheered to hear he was beaten to the bronze by Benjamin Boukpeti who has won Togo its first ever Olympic medal. Full story here

So let's be upstanding for the Togolese national anthem - as national anthems are always entertaining.



Home Sweet Home installation

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I've been creating a home - at Home Sweet Home, part of the London Festival of Architecture. Home Sweet Home is a large city plan on the floor. Those taking part are given plots, houses and a blank canvas structure. Houses are created with paints, glitter, pipe cleaners, stickers, feathers and lots more.

Mainly, it's great fun, and touches on issues of housing, what makes a home, what works in cities, how cities work, democracy and community.

Our house was number 47, and we recreated a little bit of Austria in London, and then invited the neighbours around for delicious Austrian cakes.


Home Sweet Home: the planHome Sweet Home: keyHome Sweet Home: Our homeHome Sweet Home: NoticeboardHome Sweet Home: Boats

Austria -v- Switzerland

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Last night, I went to the Austrian Cultural Forum for a movie mix of Euro2008 and Eurovision. The forum showed Eleven Minutes, which lasts 90 minutes - 2 45 minute sides: 4 films from Austria, and similar from Switzerland. At the end, the audience voted for their favourites.


The film-makers play with the theme of football, rather than the ball.

The films were very interesting: one explored Austrian attitudes to foreigners, another showed Austria's only black football team, and the final replayed the exuberant commentary from Austria's last footballing defeat of Germany (1978 - see below) contrasted with the monotone German commentary.

The Swiss films examined an Italian Swiss chap deciding whether to support Italy or Switzerland, a Spanish Swiss guy assessing his relationship with his father through football, and a Swiss guy trying to fall in love in Euro 2008.

Best of all, at 'half time' and 'full time', we were treated to Austrian wurst and beer.

In the end, Austria were the winners - just like in 1978. Listen to this guy, Edi Finger, he gets very excited.

Fußball! Football with London's Austrian fans

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

ast night, I was supporting Austria. What felt like every member of the Austrian Club of London was in the Crown & Two Chairmen on Dean Street to cheer on Austria.

There was sausages, bread, mustard, Austrian beer, gurkensalat and my favourite Austrian drink almdudler (it's not orange, it's not cola, it's herbal).


Almdudler
A jolly Austrian chap was making his way around the bar painting everyone's faces red, white & red. It was all very jovial - until just before kick off when the Austrians starting booing the Germans. It also became very crowded, with 4 very tall men standing in front of me and nowhere else to go.


Austrian football fans, London
So, we decamped to a nearby bar - me, 2 Austrians, 1 German & an English guy. Austrians and Germans gathered in this bar, and it was altogether more sociable. The Austrians cheered as their team false-started, the Germans cheered as they scored their goal.

A German chap & an Austrian chap stood together, and had the crowd cheer for their respective teams. Ultimately, the Austrians lost and ended their Euro 2008, but it didn't really matter, they were all friends in the end.


Austrian football fans, London

PS: Just how orange is Alan Hansen?

EuroRevision: Europe squared.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

I want to collect a map for every country in Europe. Get in touch if you want to help.

On conventional world maps, each country is shown with reference to their size.

EuroRevision changes this view by re-positioning each country's map on a 10cm x 10cm piece of paper.





Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer