Thursday 18 December 2008

Sky Watch: Gray Sky


Belvedere Gardens
and Lower Belvedere Palace,
with Vienna's city center beyond.

Lower Belvedere Palace
and Orangerie.
St. Stephen's cathedral in the background.

A Sphynx
Without a Secret?

Upper Belvedere Palace
Christmas market in front of the
South facade of the Palace

Against All That Gray:
Santa Claus times three!

Santa's Toy Train
Belvedere Christmas Market

Prince Eugene of Savoy's
Belvedere Palace

Prinz-Eugen-Strasse 27
Vienna, Third District

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40 comments:

  1. Grey sky's are good also the Christmasman, nice shots:)

    Merry CHRISTMAS!! , visit my blog:
    www.joannwalraven.blogspot.com

    JoAnn/Holland

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  2. Ah, we have gray skies here in Seattle, too, but what a great background for the Santa shots!
    Really lovely! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. In your sky shots, it appears that there are rings in the monotonous gray skies (so sorry). Is that my imagination? Thank you for sharing Christmas there.

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  4. Grey skies are often to be seen here in the Netherlands. Your photos are great and you are right to add the colourful Santa photos to them.

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  5. Hello Merisi, it seems almost all of us have gray skys ;) Well, it is December, isn't it!
    Happy swf

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  6. lucky you it is already Friday! i think i want your camera - so clear.

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  7. The skyline is still full of construction cranes! They were up when I was there in 2005 -- I thought all that work would be done by now.

    Great shots. The two of Santa made me laugh out loud. Danke! I needed that!

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  8. Great shots, I cannot wait to visit Vienna next summer. Thanks for sharing.

    Cheers!
    Regina In Pictures

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  9. I like that first link; moody.

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  10. Santa has triplet brothers? Who knew! :D

    Tink *~*~*
    My Mobile Adventures *~*~*

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  11. Great last shot of the Santas. Is it me, or do those Santas look a bit dazzed and confused?

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  12. So clean and crisp, and the sphinx so buxom.
    Lovely pictures as always.

    Merry Christmas Merisi.

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  13. Thank you all very much for your visit and kind comments!

    @ Dewdrop:
    Unfortunately these rings are real,
    and I have no idea how they happened! They are not visible in the original, they only show up in the reduced size version. This happens every now and then, even though I always use the same method. I would be immensely grateful if anybody out there could enlighten me about the reasons behind this.

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  14. Celestial Charms,
    I had the same thought,
    they do look a bit dazed. Maybe too much hot mulled wine? I am a little worried about those little kids, riding with these drunkards! ;-)

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  15. Steph,
    looks as if Vienna is the new Florida for construction cranes. As soon as the first leaves start falling, they wander towards Vienna city center. ;-)
    I am sure those are different cranes from the ones you saw in 2005.

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  16. There is a silver lining to grey clouds: the air temperature is usually a bit warmer than when the skies are clear. Happy Sky Watch!

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  17. I love the first two pictures. Thru' bloghopping I am learning Vienna is a foggy place too :)

    Happy Christmas.

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  18. Great shots -- no secrets there then lol.

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  19. Very good photo blog you have here!

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  20. A beautiful series of photos!

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  21. Ilove the series of strange and interesting statues under the grey skies.

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  22. I can't see any rings on my computer.

    Is it my imagination, or are certain parts of the sphinx a little darker than others? It almost looks as if someone has been there with dirty hands.

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  23. Lovely shots Merisi, as always.

    I put up my SWF at:
    http://indicainq8.wordpress.com

    Cheers!

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  24. It looks as though the Sphynx needs to make a visit to Victoria's Secret so that she can have some secrets :D!!
    ~Allie

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  25. Lovely! Even with gray skies. Come to think of it, I LIKE gray skies, too.

    Paz

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  26. Vienna is beautiful even with mist and grey skies. Lovely shots of the city here and the cute sanat pictures makes it seems like xmas already so have a lovely holiday season.

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  27. That looks like a wonderful place. These images are great.

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  28. Oh what delightful photos!!!

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  29. That's a pretty candid shot of that sphinx. I find her very attractive. ;)

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  30. OMG! Even Gray Vienna is beautiful! And where is Victoria when a girl needs her?
    Love it!
    hugs
    Sandi

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  31. I stayrd and stayed.
    and stayed and stayed
    to see what I could see,
    enjoying every minute
    of all there was for me.
    When I had reached the very end,
    to Skywatch I retuned
    to thank you
    my dear blogging friend
    for wonders I had learned.

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  32. These pictures are beautiful! I love gray skies :)

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  33. Very fine sequence, with the grey skies views and the happy images of Santa Claus. I enjoyed it!

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  34. Very atmospheric...it looks cold and Christmassy.

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  35. a nice series of holiday shots.
    enjoyed your post.
    happy holidays.

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  36. This is a lovely series of Christmas shots. I think the gray skies make the colors stand out more. :)

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  37. Christmas really does a lot to enliven a grey cold time of year. Great shots and happy ho ho ho holiday season.

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  38. Thank you all for your visits and for leaving a comment.

    I indulged myself in visiting your blogs in return, and got reachly rewarded. Thank you and a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to you! :-)

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  39. l really love the composition all the lines in the belvedere place gardens

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