A Summer's DaySo lovely and so temperate

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Photographed this morning in the countryside,
40 miles southeast of Vienna, in the Burgenland region
Images and Text © by Merisi

László Fehér’s "Society"Morning on the Waterfront

The Ringturm

Wrapped in László Fehér’s work “Society”

The tower, designed by architect Erich Bottenstein

and built in the early 1950s, is 305 ft high

and Vienna's second-tallest structure.

Link:  More about ->  László Fehér’s "Society"
Photographed at 6:45 this morning
Image © by Merisi

Of Turkish Coffee in Viennaand being out of Focus

Turkish Coffee
and a sinfully good
chocolate mousse tarte
that comes as close to
Mississippi mud pie
as you'll ever get
this side of the Atlantic -
that, plus the expectation of
Cardamom flavoured Turkish coffee,
was enough to make me forget to focus
Note to myself: next time, set the camera on "automatic"

Out of focus at the Bakery at Hotel Daniel
Landstrasser Gürtel
3rd District
Images and Text © by Merisi
Repost

The leafy Windows of ViennaLooking up in Klimt's Neighborhood

Windows
Hietzing
13th District
July 2012
Images and Text © by Merisi

Vienna in SummerMeadows and Larks ascending

Into the Vienna Woods
View of Vienna's 14th District
from "Roter Berg" in the 13th District

Roter Berg
Meadows and Woods
13th District

Sunflowers
Community Gardens
Roter Berg

Bike at Rest
Roter Berg

One of my favourite spots of Roter Berg:
Over these meadows, if you are lucky,
you can observe a good dozen of larks rising
and listen to their song - it's mesmerising

The Lark AscendingTone poem by Ralph Vaughan Williams"At sight of sun, her music's mirth,As up he wings the spiral stair,A song of light, and pierces air With fountain ardour, fountain play,To reach the shining tops of day,And drink in everything discernedAn ecstasy to music turned,Impelled by what his happy bill Disperses; drinking, showering still, Unthinking save that he may give His voice the outlet, there to live Renewed in endless notes of glee, So thirsty of his voice is he, For all to hear and all to know That he is joy, awake, aglow; The tumult of the heart to hear Through pureness filtered crystal-clear, And know the pleasure sprinkled bright By simple singing of delight ..."  Quoted from "The Lark Ascending" by George MeredithSky Watch Friday

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Vienna in SummerAnd the Mornings are easy

Annagasse
Early birds on the move

Café Oper
Mozart on his way to work

Marco-d'Aviano-Gasse
Director's Chairs ready for the
Kings of the world

Roses for You
with a view
of the Church of the Capuchins
Neuer Markt

Rotenturmstrasse
Tourists at rest
Photographed 27 July 2012
Images and Text © by Merisi

Glimpses of AnnagasseViennese Moments

Synergy
"The interaction
of two or more agents or forces
so that their combined effect is greater
than the sum of their individual effects."
This is a definition of synergy,
according to answersdotcom,
but could well stand as a description
of Vienna's Annagasse.

Look at this beautiful façade,
venerated for the "Blue Carp" -
"Zum Blauen Karpfen" -,
yes, the beauty of this façade alone
would send you swooning,
but it is the interaction of all of the buildings
along this street that make you
want to never stop looking up.

Looking Back
Supplies are being delivered
in the early morning
to the merchants, restaurants and hotels
along my favorite Viennese street.

Annagasse
I imagine someone having breakfast -
big cups of Viennese Melange coffee! -
behind the sheer half-drawn balloon shades
of this bay window.

Another view
of the house with the bay window,
at Annagasse 4,
the so-called Kremsmünsterhof,
erected around 1600.

Its 1660/1680s façade
has only recently been uncovered
and restored to its former beauty.

Leaving Annagasse
It almost hurts,
each and every time
my time is up.
You feel the same?
Would it be of comfort
if I assure you that
I have more images
to share with you?

Photographed
in the early morning hours
of July 29, 2009

Photographs and Text © by Merisi
Repost

Dreaming of drinking Coffee elsewhereCafé-Konditorei Zauner in Bad Ischl

Waking up
300 km from where
you'd thought you'd be
the evening before

The morning sweetened
with rock candy
and brightened by sunshine

A pot of Earl Grey
and what is - for my taste -
the best croissant
in the whole wide world,
Zauner's Ischler Kipferl:
Golden buttery brioche layers
rolled with roasted ground hazelnuts.
Austrian pâtissiers are masters at
this kind of pastry,
Zauner's creation
is one of the best I have ever tasted

Café-Konditorei Zauner
Esplanade
Bad Ischl
Salzkammergut
Upper Austria

Dear Readers,
a repost, and I hope you won't mind, sitting down again,
in this beautiful place, and letting time slip by
without looking at the clock.
I repost this particular post because lately I have been
particularly nostalgic for a morning visit to Zauner's in Bad Ischl.
I even contemplated getting into the car.
After all, Bad Ischl is but a three hours drive away. ;-)
A wonderful day to all of you,
and thank you for taking this imaginary trip down
memory lane with me,
yours,
Merisi


Images and Text © by Merisi

Viennese MomentsSecession Pavilion and Naschmarkt

Academy of Fine Arts
Getreidemarkt

Naschmarkt
Linke Wienzeile

Secession Pavilion
Getreidemarkt

Wooden Fence
and snapdragons
Getreidemarkt

Village Green
behind the Secession Pavilion
Getreidemarkt

Images and Text © by Merisi

Monday's RoseMorning in the City

Schlaftrunken
noch die Stadt

The city's still half asleep.
In the distance, a nightingale,
closer by, an Amsel sings,
and a rose petal holds on
to the last drop of last night's rain

while the young day
hurries off with last night's dreams

Photographed Saturday morning
in the Rose Garden of Volksgarten Park
Images and Text © by Merisi

The AwakeningMorning in the City

Vienna Rising
Window reflections
Herrengasse

St. Michael's Wing
of the Imperial Palace
Verdigris dome and parapet figures
and Palais Herberstein
Michaelerplatz and Herrengasse

Photographed 21 July 2012
Images and Text © by Merisi
50 mm lens

Up, up, and awayA Viennese Escape

A Bouquet of Balloons
Flying high over Heldenplatz
this morning

Images and Text © by Merisi

Viennese Art Nouveau The Secession Pavilion

Gilded Laurel Leaves
Dome on the roof of
the Secession Pavilion

Medusa Masks
above the entrance

One of two planters
designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich

The Secession Pavilion
by architect Joseph Maria Olbrich
built during 1897-1898

The Pavilion was damaged during WWII and looted in 1945
In 1973, the Austrian government purchased
and restored this Art Nouveau jewel
Photographed 19 July 2012 - Images and Text © by Merisi

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Summer in the CityA Viennese Morning

© by Merisi

Looking UpApril Weather in July

On Top of the Opera House
The Kinderoper
in a colorful tent

The Back of the Opera
View from the upper level
of the Albertina Palace

Turquoise Sky
framed by the Sacher and the opera house

Intent on capturing that narrow band
of turquoise sky, barely visible on the horizon,
I missed a step and literally flew through the air,
landing with one foot caught in a sewer grate.
I barely saved my camera, holding it up until the last moment,
and somehow I escaped serious injury too.
I may have to rethink the use of fixed lenses,
with a zoom lens I simply could have zoomed in! ;-)

Images and Text © by Merisi