As seen through the windows of a train from Vienna to Villach and then to Ljubljana. I had a bit of a scare in Vienna when I boarded a train to Lienz and started questioning myself if I got on the correct one, because I was reading it as Linz in my head, the on-train display showing stops was not showing Villach and Linz as I checked on a map, was definitely not where I needed to go. I started wondering if it was possible that the train was doing a bit of a loop around Austria to get to Linz via Villach. I got my suitcase and almost got off - one of the passengers I asked said it was not going to Villach, but another said it was. I was checking the progress of the train on google maps and only when it veered south, not north, I sighed with relief :-)
Perhaps people would get confused with Lubin and Lublin in Poland if you could take a train from the same train station to both... hmm, you can, from Wrocław.
Starting the trip at Vienna main station:
Tram tracks, trees, pigeons and bikes.
Underground repairs that destroy the surface.
The main hall.
And we are off...
Vienna
Still Vienna
Pörtschach am Wörthersee. The stone monument on the right, with a cross, commemorates "Carinthian struggle for freedom 1918-1919" - a small border war between Yugoslavia and Austria. This region became part of Austria by plebiscite on 10 October 1920 - a public holiday in the State of Carinthia.
The old Felten & Guilleaume (F&G) building in Kapfenberg. This city is known for steel works and has an interesting history - there is a data centre in underground chambers built during the war.
This was my third or fourth visit to Vienna (pop. 2 million). All were short. This one was the first when I was on my own. Vienna is significant for me, because two of my grandparents were born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of which Vienna was the capital. They also met, 20-something years later, somewhere in today's Austria, back then Germany, both working for Austrian "bauers" - farmers.
As I was reading now about Vienna, I saw this 1966 photo by Herbály István, and the striking monument (Plague Column) in the middle looked familiar:
Yes, I saw it, I took a photo of it:
But, you know what, there is no road there anymore. That street is pedestrianised. I walked there. This is my photo taken from the opposite direction. You can just see the monument in the bottom left corner:
So, what is my impression of Vienna? It's a rich city. You can see that it was a capital of an empire. The buildings are grand, the ornamentations are elaborate. There is a feeling of great wealth:
Vienna World Museum
Francis I, Emperor of Austria, 1824 - in Latin, in gold letters. In the text below, the date is written in old-style Latin: MDCCCCXVI - I was taught to write it like this: MDMXVI - 1916.
Golden eagle on a pole.
Urania, named after the Greek muse of astronomy, originally opened as a public education institute and observatory under the patronage of Emperor Franz Joseph I.
I still don't like the architecture of old Vienna, because I feel uneasy, like in a maze: buildings are tall, streets narrow and curvy, I cannot see the way out, I feel trapped:
The new developments are much more human friendly (open, green, bike-friendly) from the little I saw:
The public transport network is great: trains, metro, trams, buses:
I would like to explore the new neighbourhoods of Vienna more. There is ongoing work to make the centre of Vienna better:
There is some ugliness too, mainly graffiti:
A few interesting photos:
The flag of two Austrian regions (Tyrol and Upper Austria) is the same as flag of Poland: white-red. Btw, the flag of Czech Republic used to be white-red until 1992.
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