Wednesday 30 December 2009

Christmas in Vienna


There Are Days
when the city
outshines itself.
This past Monday
was one of those.
The white clouds sailing
in the blue skies high above
the Donau-Kanal only enhanced
the quality of that morning's brilliance,
illuminating even the façade of
St. George's Church to the left,
still in the shade,
by sheer reflection of the light
around it.
I took this picture from Hafnersteig,
at the corner of Griechengasse,
a part of the city so full of reminders
of the myriad contributions to the city's
commercial and intellectual growth
by Greek immigrants,
of people who came here
during the 19th Century,
looking for tolerance and
freedom of religion.

Illuminated
by midday's sun,
the Christmas lights
above Kärntner Strasse -
the historic center's shopping boulevard -
shine even more brilliantly
than at night when
artificial light is but a poor cousin
to the sun's power

A Few Stray
rays of sunshine successfully
travel down to the bottom
of Kohlmarkt -
a rather canyon-like narrow lane -
and alight the silver and white
Christmas decorations of
Berger's bookshop

The Gingerbread Angel
can only imagine the light
around her, what with
the silver star
in front of her eyes -
much to the delight of the
powderblue snowflake that
does not even try to conceal
her schadenfreude,
laughing so hard
she almost falls off the shelf

A Gilded Bauble
leans against a cookbook
singing of bratapfel and ginger

Christmas Tree
A Norway Spruce graces
the courtyard of the
"Böhmische Hofkanzlei"
designed by baroque architect
Johann Fischer von Erlach to house
the Bohemian Court Chancellery
during the first half of the 18th Century.

The Chancellery is long gone
and today the palais is home to Austria's
Constitutional and Administrative Courts.

*

Photographed
28 December 2009

Gingerbread angel and snowflake:
Kameel Pâtisserie
Gilded Bauble:
Babette's Foodie's Paradise
Am Hof

Glossary:
bratapfel - Baked apple
schadenfreude - Pleasure derived from the misfortune of others

*

Images & Text
© by Merisi


19 comments:

  1. Fantastic. I hope you are having a lovely Christmas.

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  2. Elegant as ever, and the blue snowflake gets my vote every time.

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  3. so lovely...the street decorations are beautiful glistening in the sunlight. i liked the gingerbread angel and the snowflake too :)
    hoping you have a healthy and prosperous 2010

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  4. I've been following and loving all of your Christmas posts, Merisi. <3 Beautiful photography, as always! I also love your poetic blurbs about everything (the one about the Christkind from last week comes to mind -about the sun setting over Grinzing and the Vienna Woods). Thank you for continuing to share with us your perspectives of the city. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and all the best for the New Year! :)

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  5. oooohhhhhh
    aaaaahhhhhh

    this one---->
    """the Christmas lights
    above Kärntner Strasse"""
    looks plum magical, indeed!


    :-)


    thanks for your glorious sharing!
    thanks for showing me
    your amazing merisi's vienna
    again in 2009.

    i always enjoy visiting
    your world over here
    and my american express card does not suffer...

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  6. Vienna must be a city of joy to shine so brightly.

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  7. It's small wonder Vienna took out top city in the world to live.

    Again, thanks for sharing such beautiful photos, capturing such special moments so that we may all live, if only vicariously, in this beautiful city.

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  8. How wonderful to be able to see your elegant Vienna through your eyes and your camera lens, Merisi. I've enjoyed sharing your journeys with you, and look forward to a new year of your lovely photographs and beautiful way with words.

    Best wishes to you and your family for a new year filled with all the things that make you happy.

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  9. What an exciting walk to share with us. Love that cookie angel in the window.

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  10. Beautiful, I feel as if I have visited Vienna for Christmas.
    I hope you had a lovely Holiday.
    I also want to wish you the best possible New Year filled with joy and love.
    Sue

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  11. Simply exquisite, dear Merisi...and I love the narrative you create for the Gingerbread!!! You have the makings of a wonderful Children's book there...Have you ever thought about putting one together with photos? I'd buy it just for your photography...but your beautiful writing would be a fabulous bonus!! Have a wonderful New Year, dear friend! 2009 has been that much brighter because I met you!!! Looking forward to spending more time basking in the glow of your gorgeous blog in 2010! Love, Janine XO

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  12. Again and again you fill so much art and beauty, divine....., into your words and images. Yes, you are touched by angles.

    Happy New Year dear Merisi.

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  13. Delightfully illustrated, informative and witty :-)

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  14. Beautiful, Merisi! I can just imagine myself there--even if I never get there in person, I feel as if I've experienced it all through your wonderful eyes. Thanks for that! Happiest of New Year wishes to you!

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  15. I can only imagine how magical Christmas in Vienna must be!

    Warm, woolly wishes for a wonderful 2010, to you and yours, Merisi~!

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  16. Oh, my! Thank you for another lovely stroll through your city (love the laughing snowflake!) A very happy and inspiring New Year to you, Merisi!

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  17. A fantastic post..a very lovely city. Thanks for sharing. Happy new year. anne x

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