Garden gnomes are a controversial topic: some consider them pure kitsch whereas others think they ornament a garden beautifully.

Whatever point of view you prefer, it is for sure that they often become the target of pranks. The so-called practice of ‘gnoming’ implies kidnapping gnomes for the purpose to return them ‘to the wild’. There are even ‘associations’ that have specialized in this practice (e.g. France’s Le Front de Liberation des Nains de Jardins and Italy’s Garden Gnome Liberation Front MALAG). Meanwhile some ‘liberated’ gnomes have already travelled the world.

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Vienna 2012

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Vienna 2013

This old sign tells the name of the building on which it can be found

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Vienna 2103

A restriction sign that itself looks a bit out of order

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Vienna 2013

Last days of summer here in Vienna and a small green retreat in a growing city

A part of the staircase and the golden ceiling of the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), which was designed in Neo-Renaissance style by Heinrich von Ferstel (1877).

“This is something everyone knows: A well-used city street is apt to be a safe street. A deserted city street is apt to be unsafe.”
Jane Jacobs

The scenery above reminded me so much of Jane Jacobs’s concept of ‘Eyes on the street’. Jacobs argued that streets are safer when more people are on them and/or being watched by residents from their windows. She introduced this principle for a liveable and secure neighbourhood in her great publication ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York 1961)’. Her phenomenology of urban sace was an important influence on the so-called ‘New Urbanism’ movement and is still widely received.

Might sound like a joke, but actually is not. In Vienna every tree in a public park or next to a road, has an official number. So the one above is registered ovbiously under the number 1007. This system was established to facilitate the work of the so-called tree doctors (aborists).

Through a visit to the Viennese Chocolate Manufactory ‘Leschanz’ you can get an impression what Imperial Vienna looked like. The noble store is located in the first district of Vienna and was opened first in 1844. Quite soon it became supplier to the Imperial Austrian Court. Thankfully the original interieur of the shop in the Freisingergasse has not been adapted very much over the years. These days you can create your own chocolate or customize the offered products. You can choose from a broad range of chocolate delicacies, confectionary, cakes and other sweets.

Wiener Schokoladenkönig Leschanz
Freisingergasse 1
1010 Wien

If you are looking for a new penthouse this ship one like at the Getreidemarkt might be perfect.