predaj cestovných

this too is bratislava :)

take a walk on the wild side

This too is Bratislava, believe it or not. I would bet a pint of lager against more than a hundred or so native Slovaks knowing this particular place. (Some do know about it, obviously, as - unfortunately - is proven by the waste dumped there.)

deep winter

Please accept my excuses for not going outside these days - again nothing fresh here on the blog but something from the archives.

We've got 5 to 15 degrees Celsius below zero, plus fierce north-easterly winds, plus a few centimetres of snow which get blown around in snowdrifts so that you cannot even go cross-country skiing, as there are vast patches of ground barely covered in snow while in other parts snowdrifts are half a metre deep, or even deeper.

But it should be milder tomorrow or on sunday, with a cosy minus 5 and a mere wind force of 3 to 4. Possibly you'll see something new then, here on this blog.

rock or root?

 Both, actually! And whoever is doubting this, watch the photo below:

quartz vein

It is quartz-in-granite. You won't make a fortune on them admittedly.

circumnavigation of geschriebenstein

I am proudly announcing the first circumnavigation of Geschriebenstein = Írott-kő peak (884 m AMSL) since time immemorial. Which, admittedly, wasn't too difficult as possibly few people since the evolution of mankind ever found it worth trying to achieve this.

But I also tried, and managed, to do so without getting any weird questions asked about what I was trying to achieve there - which I did by avoiding fellow Austrians (I couldn't quite avoid all Hungarians*) but they still didn't ask me any questions, possibly because for them, with this peak being the biggest one of whole Western Hungary, while your average Austrian just would consider it being a hill, the achievement might even count for something.)

*) Oh, and of course of them were plenty: first today it was a lovely sunny sunday, and secondly this peak is even more popular with Hungarians (it being the biggest one of Western Hungary, did I mention that already? ... well, it is of course also the biggest one of Burgenland but still I'd say that Hungarians visiting the peak outnumber Austrians by ... well, dunno, by much!)

Above you can see the lovely Hungarian side, with mostly naturally grown forests while on the Austrian side ugly spruce plantations dominate in the peak region. And the rock below is the boundary marker no. B122 - put up in 1922 as Burgenland belonged to Hungary till 1921 - there wasn't a borderline there previously, it was only then when the border was put up.

It was a "green" border then though, easily to be penetrated by smugglers and mushroom pickers; which changed radically after 1945 when at first it became "just" dangerous to cross the border and later, when the Iron Curtain was put up, became virtually impossible. You can see the death zone of no-man's-land down there, if you only know what to look for:

And I don't mean the boundary marker. :) Watch the trees: to the left the Austrian side - spruce monoculture (when there, in this region and at this altitude, naturally a spruce-beech-fir mixed forest would evolve), to the right the Hungarian one - here rather young birch trees only: this was the death zone, no trees were allowed to grow there, between the actual border and the iron fence which was put up at some distance from the borderline; and when the Iron Curtain was removed the first trees to take root there were the pioneers of nature - birches.

bohemia

This weekend I discovered, to my huge surprise, that in my native Bohemian Massif some rare plants are to be found which I never expected to find there - Lilium martagon, Dactylorhiza maculata, and last but not least, this one here, Platanthera montana, already on the Czech side of Böhmerwald/Šumava, in the previous no-mans-land of Cold War times which has been converted to a national park:

(Oh, about World Cup. Well, I was away for the weekend. Yes sure, there's TV and everything in Mühlviertel but I've had other things on my mind, okay? Yes right, big upset there with the Netherlands sending Brazil home, but it serves them right, right? Not that I've seen a minute of the match but Brazilians ought to play like Brazilians, right? Oh and yes, absolutely, Spain needs to improve if they want to get anywhere. No big surprise about the other match, I always suspected it would end in a draw - only that I thought it would be a goalless draw, and that obviously some drama was involved there but, again, I didn't see a minute of it.)

(Yes and?? Oh okay, right, Germany versus Argentina. Oh of course, they were the better team and by a long way, and Argentina really didn't deserve better - they have to perform if they want to proceed to the semis, right? Oh but now, how could I? I never could support the Germans, that's outright impossible, I'm Austrian, see? Right. So yes, of course they deserved to win, but this changes nothing, I'll just have to hope then that the Germans will be punished by the Dutch team in the finals, as being beaten by the Dutch, and especially in the finals, really would be a defeat that hurts, for the Germans.)

(Oh but no, I've got nothing against the Germans, not at all really. Point is, there's just this rivalry you know, in sports, especially in football. And German media are just so arrogant when it comes to football, this Joki Löw guy for example downplayed Ghana as a team which, even though much better than the Austrian equipe, and to be played against with utmost concentration, isn't quite a match for them. Which is both annoying for Ghana and Austria, for the latter especially as there was no reason to mention Austria which, of course, didn't qualify. So this to explain. So you still don't understand? Pity. I guess the problem then is that you're not Austrian; which, unfortunately, then couldn't be helped ...)

spring

The tower of London. In fall.

But what we have now of course soon will be spring. Surely the first flowers are already furiously flowering, despite rather cold and wet weather for early spring (recently, we even had a thunderstorm and hail, here in Vienna).

But as I am still confined to my flat I just have to wait yet another couple of weeks (at least) before I can offer you brand new spring photos.

the ufo

It seems I've finally found the temporary home of the Extraterrestrials occasionally voting on my 'Where're you from' poll. It is even called 'The Ufo', really they are unimaginative that they couldn't think of a less dull name for it - but that's Extraterrestrials for you.

And I swear that I caught sight of some of them in this street; I am perplexed to not find them in the picture, they obviously have technologies available of which we can't even dream: they just edited themselves out of the picture.

Here they sat and drank Slovak beer (and again edited themselves out!); they really look nothing special, just the tiny little green men everyone would imagine.

(PS: As for the autumn crocus I've decided to give them a couple of days to finally come out. Seems they're a bit shy, so I won't disturb their habitat for the time being. Surely tomorrow I'll catch sight of them, you'll see!)

embassy

The American Embassy in Bratislava is guarded like a fort: not only is there a fence put up around the embassy, on the plaza in front of it pillars are preventing an attack with car bombs. (I'm now curious if the US Embassy of Vienna is equally guarded - if so then I didn't take notice of it.) But then Slovakia is a member of NATO while Austria isn't.

The strangest things of all however is the cowgirl guarding the embassy:

bratislava

The capital of our neighbour Slovakia only lies some 50 kilometres to the east of the Austrian capital, and even though I'm already living nine years in this town I've never made it to Bratislava, until today. Bratislava was a little town with little charm and much industry in the communist era but is now a nice (though still little) town certainly worth a visit.

(PS: I hope for news from Lobau tomorrow.)

wagner pá

Wagner Pá, a musician from Brazil on tour in Austria, today said on Radio FM4 about Barcelona that the city is a great theme park for tourists.

Well, I have to agree, even if this harsh judgement seems to be a little bit unfair: one might just as well call quite a number of valleys in the Austrian Alps theme parks for tourists, too. Same difference, too many tourists in both cases.

Nevertheless, Barcelona still is a beautiful city (as well as the Alps still are wonderful).

Probably I should return to Barcelona sometime, not as tourist but to live there for a while; surely would give some insights.

(As for the Picture: Gaudí's Sagrada Familia; a film scan, only mediocre quality but acceptable, I think.)

plaça reial

Barcelona, a few weeks back, were my first holidays in a location boasting palm trees. (And no, I'm not kidding. I just prefer the boreal zones, okay?)

I was fascinated particularly by the date palms, this specimen being located on Plaça Reial:

Plaça Reial really is a nice Iberian Plaza, although quite small and overcrowded. Personally, however, I prefer La Rambla del Raval where there grow palm trees, too, and which is much wider than the former. Mainly because Rambla del Raval is much less 'touristy', although it would be tough to find a spot in Barcelona where one could guarantee that no tourists will be about.

One strange thing about Rambla del Raval: lots of Turkish restaurants there. I didn't realise until then that Turks, too, live on the Iberian peninsula - on the contrary, I did expect to find lots of Arab restaurants: I thought that Arabs would play a similar role there as Turks do in Austria. Not so, obviously.

(PS: I still hate scanning. And I'm only just satisfied enough with the quality of this scan to feel like showing it here.)

okupa

And now for something completely different:

[... sorry for the delay ;-) some minor problem with blogger upload, but now the problem's solved ...]

Sorry, but today blogger wouldn't upload any images.

Don't ask me why, seems to be a technical problem. What the hell ...

I will describe the image I have selected for today: it was taken in Barcelona, Park Güell, a view over the city with a house prominently in the upper half obviously occupied by squatters.

On the roof sprayed an inscription which reads: Okupa y resiste - occupy and resist. And above that, in smaller letters: Why call it tourist season if we can't shoot them?

Please notice, perfectly placed - this inscription: in view of every tourist ascending the slopes of Park Güell.

I confess - I sympathize. Yes, you're absolutely right, I was a tourist too. And on the other hand, what has tourism to do with rising housing costs in Barcelona? Well, come to think of it, quite a lot.

There was a huge boom in tourism in Barcelona after the Olympics of 1992. (Quite incredible what masses of tourists frequent the sights; I've left with the impression that it's much worse than even in Vienna.) As a consequence, of course, real estate prices went up and over the roof. So, I do sympathize. Still, I wouldn't like being shot.

bird

On La Rambla del mar [and yes, yet another poor scan, sorry] this bird did walk up and down and cried all the time for no reason at all, or so it seemed at the time.

The bird was rather too big for being a young one crying for his mother - and then, how would he ever have got there if he couldn't yet fly? Well, sure, you're right, he has webbing on his feet. But then this bird looks grown up, or at least for my eyes, he does.

You see, I'm no good with birds; I haven't the slightes idea which species this one might be.

This bird, however, kept me occupied while my companion slept off the last hour of the day on the Rambla del mar.

park güell

Gaudí for the second time - Park Güell:

If by chance you've ever been to Barcelona surely you'll have visited Park Güell, or at least tourists are meant to do so. But despite being a rather overcrowded attraction, the park really is something very special.

However, you'll have to be there as early in the morning as possible to enjoy the park properly - or alternatively, you'll have to climb up to the higher parts of it where you might be quite alone with the exception of the occasional local jogger or other tourists following the advise given here by me.

As for midday and afternoon, I'll have to confess that we fled the park before the tourists might occupy even the lonelier parts of the park.

me, not very sharp

Today, finally, a picture that shows ME. Just to prove I was there, at Camp Nou (Nou Camp) (literally: the New Camp) - FCBarcelona.cat, més que un club:

As you may imagine this picture wasn't taken by me but a friend who accompanied me (and please again excuse the poor scan). I concede that the picture don't gives away a great many details.

You might think now that I've gone totally gaga even to think about showing this picture in public. But first hear the story that comes with it!

This photograph will alwas remind me of the minutes we spent there, at the press center of FCB. Althoug we were in no particular hurry, my friend had seen already enough and wanted to leave, whereas I insisted we'd take a photo of each other posing before the sponsor wall as if speaking on a press conference.

The picture of my friend would show sharp eyes but blurred background as one would suppose it should be (I wouldn't show that one here as it would intrude into his privacy rights). Mine, on the other hand, shows - as you can see - a relatively satisfactory sharp background, and that's about it.

Honestly, I tried to explain to my friend how to manually focus with a split screen viewfinder (my OM-10 is not an autofocus model) but I didn't succed on the first try and when it was clear (as I asked him afterwards) that the outcome would be approximately like what you see now he refused to try a second time but pushed to leave the hall immediately. I was left with little choice but to comply.

sagrada familia

At last - Barcelona! Sagrada Familia, Gaudís masterpiece, still incomplete - Christmas façade:

The church is still very much a construction site and will continue to be one for at least twenty years, probably even longer, before the successors of the catalan architect eventually will finish his work. (Well - we do not know if they ever will succeed in this task.)

As for the construction cranes, there are only two possibilities: either you stamp them away on the computer or you integrate them into the picture. I did the latter as I am lazy by nature - and wicked enough too to enjoy contrasting the work of a century with modern construction machines.

Sagrada Familia really is very impressive, despite (or maybe because) of still being under construction. The entrance fee is not wasted on this one, of that I am sure.

As for the quality of the picture, please excuse the poor scan. (As I mentioned earlier in this blog, I went to Barcelona only taking my film camera with me, meaning everything you'll see the next days of Barcelona will be scanned.) I might eventually manage better scan quality, but for the time being I'm an amateur with scanning. Also, this is only a scan of a print size 9x13 centimetres (that's about 3,5x5 inches).