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European Holiday and River Cruising Memoirs

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European Holiday and River Cruising Memoirs

Tag Archives: Love

Day 12 – Vienna; City of Enchantment, My City of Dreams.

20 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by KidazzleInk.com in Amsterdam to Budapest, Austria, River Cruising, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized, Viking River Cruise

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Austria, Hofburg, Love, Schonbrunn, Spanish Riding School, St. Stephen's Cathedral Vienna, Vienna

Global City of Enchantment, Vienna.

My favourite, a Global City of Enchantment, Vienna.

If you think Mozart, or Strauss, Freud or Adler, Buber or Wagner, Zinnemann or Menger…… if you think any of these great people, well of course…. you’re probably thinking pure Vienna. So many astoundingly gifted minds of the 20th century were either born in, or lived close by Vienna.

Vienna, Beautiful Imperia Architecture.

Vienna, Beautiful Imperia Architecture.

From music, to philosophy, from architecture to  psychiatry, from 20th century film direction to pure mathematical tables, this magical city has been called home by many of the world’s greatest thinkers in all areas of human endeavour.

Vienna's Classical Buildings

Classical Buildings

It’s operas, universities, theatres, and cultural pursuits have continued to be at the cutting edge of human endeavour over the past couple of centuries.

Culturally,  aesthetically and academically, Vienna has always been at the forefront of visionary thought and cultural advancement.

Personally I just simply continue to love everything about Vienna.

Grand Vista's, Vienna.

Grand Vista’s, Vienna.

Ask me why….and sadly I won’t be able to tell you. Perhaps it is buried deep within my early inner layers, or maybe even perhaps behind a past life’s door!

But one thing I can tell you for sure,  I’ve been mesmerized by Vienna for far longer than I  care to remember….for some reason it has always held a  strange romantic appeal which I believe must have seeded in childhood, if not, perhaps a long time before!

Just as the diamond sparkles and radiates its crystal inner beauty, so too does Vienna radiate its mesmerizing and spellbinding magical aura for me…and in the most enchanting of ways. Yes everything Viennese continues to attract and even intrigue me…..right down inside my own secluded inner core.

The streets of Vienna, 2013.

Promoting the arts in Vienna, 2013.

It was now day 12 of our wonderful river cruise and for the first time in my life we were able to tour this most enchanting of cities…..first by bus, then later by foot.

The architecture was everything I thought it would be. I’d heard so much about it. Some people love it… some dislike it’s grand decore.

Yes it’s so very ornate, so decorative and so classically imperial. There’s the early Romanesque, the Gothic, the captivatingly, beautiful Baroque and the oh-so-pretty Rococo. And of course as well there’s the ultra modern, architecturally pleasant modern contemporary.

I was most certainly not disappointed by the short few hours we had there. I only wish there had been more. I REALLY THINK AN OVERNIGHT STAY in Vienna and a SECOND DAY of sightseeing in this Imperial City would have been so very wonderful.

More of Vienna's architectural lovelyness.

More of Vienna’s architectural loveliness.

Dearly Beloved (D.B.) probably still doesn’t fully understand my par amour and neither do I in fact.

But we had a lovely day. We saw the sprawling, majestic palaces such as The Hofburg or Imperial Palace, The Belvedere Palace and Schonnbrunn Palace.

The Magical Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna.

The Magical Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna.

There were so many ornately detailed stately buildings such as the famous Vienna Opera House,  the Kunsthistorisches Museum, The Natural History Museum, the Albertina Museum, The Parliament Building and the Seccession Building and of course the classical Rathaus.

There were the beautiful Gothic and Baroque churches interwoven through the streets of the city center; architectural marvels such as St Stephen’s Cathedral, St Peters and St Charles along with many other wonderful kirche.

St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.

St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.

Then of course there were also the many many highly decorative statues and the neo-classical fountains scattered throughout the city.

Ornate statue, Vienna.

Ornate statue, Vienna.

A real highlight of Vienna that continues to add immensely to it’s captivating imperial enchantment is of course, its beautiful horses.

Beautiful Horses, Vienna.

Beautiful Horses, Vienna.

The Spanish Riding School in the centre of Vienna houses the most exquisitely trained Lipizzan dressage horses. These beautiful animals regularly entertain the public with morning performances. If you would like to experience some even more personal equine adventures, there are also the captivating horse and carriage tours that can also be hired to transport you in style as you take a look around the this lovely city.

More of Vienna's beautiful horses.

More of Vienna’s beautiful horses.

Vienna is such a timelessly beautiful city.

I do so LOVE..yes truly LOVE LOVE  LOVE it all…

So much so I often tell D.B. to just look for me in Vienna if I decide to go on a little personal sojurn.

Promoting music and the arts in modern Vienna.

Promoting music and the arts in modern Vienna.

.

Shop front, Vienna Style.

Shop front, Vienna Style.

Contemporary architecture, Vienna.

Contemporary architecture, Vienna.
More of Classical Vienna.

More of Classical Vienna.

A different angle St Stephen's Vienna.
A different angle St Stephen’s Vienna.

One last photo of beautiful Vienna.

One last photo of beautiful Vienna.

Video Link: Absolutely beatiful Piano combined with ENCHANTING VIENNA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7iclRWuGgA

Related articles
  • Set-jetting in Vienna (brandsandfilms.com)
  • Wien – Vienne – Vienna! (usaustria.wordpress.com)
  • Happily ever Vienna (australiantimes.co.uk)
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John Lennon – Fear and Love

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by KidazzleInk.com in Austria, Time flies when you're globe trotting and river cruising, Uncategorized

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Alps, Austria, Bavaria, Beatle, BMW, Fear, John Lennon, Love, Munich

The breathtaking beauty of the snow-capped Alps, with their wide green valleys below, was totally captivating, drawing us in like bees to a honey pot.

The Magical Alps near Werfen

The Magical Alps near Werfen

We were on our way from Bavaria to Austria. With such magnificent scenery surrounding us it was hard to believe, that on this particular day, the hills were alive ……… not with music but with my own fear and pandemonium!

The Gastein Valley

John Lennon was totally right when he said, “There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid we pull back from life. When we are in love we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement and acceptance.

On this particular day, surrounded by all of this beauty, I was undergoing my own inner- battles.

The Austrian Alps

The Austrian Alps

I was so totally passionate and “in love’ with the absolutely mesmerizing landscapes that were unveiling before my eyes and yet, at the same time, so absolutely terrorized by my better half’s driving, as he was learning to travel on the right hand side of the road.

Should we open up to all that life had to offer on that day or should we indeed pull back and remove ourselves from this terrifying experience altogether? My thoughts spiralled around inside my head. “Should we stop? Isn’t this all too much? Maybe we should give it a miss! Maybe we could just return to Munich and catch up on some of the wonderful sightseeing back there that we’ve missed due to our previous few days of illness.”

But somehow the beauty of these remarkable Alps just kept drawing us in. My love for this amazingly stunning scenery was actually the main thing that kept me going despite my massive fears. At the back of my mind I just kept trying to tell myself.…”It’s only just like riding a bike. You know, you’ll get used to travelling on the wrong side of the road. Give it a chance. Just don’t think about it. For goodness sakes, close your eyes!”

Despite my rampaging inner dialogue, and despite my beloved’s growing chagrin, I was still extremely prone to breaking down and exhibiting full-blown tantrum-like behaviours with utterances such as:   “Ahhhhhh! For goodness sake move over towards the middle of the road will you! We nearly hit that signpost just back there! What are you trying to do anyway –kill us or something?”

I’m sure that all of these uncontrolled outbursts must have taken a toll. Certainly, it took away, from what could, and should have been, a totally enjoyable new experience test driving our sleek new black “Beamer” (BMW) which we had just rented for the 5 day journey through Austria.

Beautiful Black Beamer (BMW)

Beautiful Black Beamer (BMW)

At the very least I know my own fears and undignified behaviour were taking their toll on my husband. He started to echo his own little mantra:

“Concentrate,

Concentrate…

Keep to the Right. Look to the Left.

Keep to the right. Look to the Left.

Concentrate!”

Driving into the Austrian Alps

Driving into the Austrian Alps

Mercifully we did survive after all. Despite my high anxiety levels associated with driving on the “WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD” Austria and the Alps are still among my absolute favourite places in the world. In spite of the irrational fears, it was the amazingly beautiful scenery that had encouraged me to “open up to all that life had to offer with passion, excitement and acceptance.”

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