Sunday 2 December 2007

When Evening Falls at Christmas Time in Vienna


Freyung

Am Hof

Freyung

Franziskanerplatz

Palais Harrach

*

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.


From "A Dream Within A Dream"
by Edgar Allan Poe

St. Stephan's from Churhausgasse

11 comments:

  1. Lovely poem except. It cetainly looks that way, with all that dreamy archetecture, 'frosted' now with lights and decor, and, well, actual frost. :-) Beautiful.

    Wishing you a wonderful Christmas season Merisi.

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  2. Architecture... spelling (and accurate typing) is one of the first things to go when my head is stuffed up...

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  3. Now.. I love to visit everyday.. but I have missed a few days and you know what?

    Its great! Why? Becasue there is a DRAMATIC shift in the light and texture and colours!

    Incredible!

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  4. It looks like the Christmas spirit has arrived in Vienna. Gorgeous!

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  5. TLC ILLUSTRATIONS:
    I hope you are feeling better soon!
    Those lines from the Poe poem come to my mind often here in Vienna. Somehow it is a city that makes you think about dreams. ;-)

    SIMON:
    I had a tough (*smile*) tinme not giving away that the city was gearing up for Christmas. You are are right, something's shifted. It feels as if in a different city, a few steps off the main streets (they are closed to cars like the side streets in the center, but filled with legions of tourists right now), even at the busiest times like Saturday, when I took these pictures, and you feel transported into a different world: Silence envelopes you, only hushed voices whispering, the shops turn local, no more global chains, magic.

    HEXE:
    Yes, it's Christmas spirit all the way. The only thing I miss are the bagpipe playing shepherds from the Abruzzi I love seeing and hearing in Rome, and Piazza Navona's Christmas market, most of all the fragrances of turkish honey and roasted almonds.

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  6. Are there really 'no' ugly bits of Wien?

    No litter; no ill-mannered architecture; no loud street signs?

    Ah.

    'Somehow it is a city that makes you think about dreams' you say.

    And Simon says: 'Silence envelopes you, only hushed voices whispering . . .'.

    How can I bear to live anywhere else?

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  7. I stand amid the roar
    Of a surf-tormented shore,
    And I hold within my hand
    Grains of the golden sand-
    How few! yet how they creep
    Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep!
    O God! can I not grasp
    Them with a tighter clasp?
    O God! can I not save
    One from the pitiless wave?
    Is all that we see or seem
    But a dream within a dream?

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  8. Really wonderful, thanks!

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  9. Lovely, all. I especially love the last one, when night has fallen. Although the first of twilight is magnificent...

    Mari-Nanci

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  10. I love the soft pink of the first photo with the perfect evergreen in silhouette.

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  11. Hi Merisi - I have been so busy, I regret that I haven't visited my favorite blogs much lately. Yours is so festive! One really gets a "feel" for Christmastime in Vienna. It is just lovely. I look forward to more beautiful photos throughout the month...

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