First Austrian Islamic Cemetery

It was vandalised by right-wing extremists even before it was operating, and there was considerable opposition against having a purely Islamic cemetery also by moderate political forces.

Anyway, here it is, and God sees that it is good. Possibly, probably, it makes it easier for Muslims to feel integrated and at home here in Austria, where many of them found their new homeland. So even though I am radically against separation along cultural divisions (religion obviously being one of them) I am radically in favour of the idea behind building this cemetary - which is, for me, a statement of the Islamic community that they want to adapt to Austria.

off to work

I'm walking along here every day, on my way to work. What you can see here is the first blizzard of Vienna in this winter, and the first day when we had snow of any quantity worth mentioning.

hepatica

vienna

kalksburg

The name of Kalksburg village (a neighbourhood of Liesing district) usually (typically) is associated with the asylum for alcoholics which is located there, and if not that then for the Kollegium Kalksburg, hardly a well-known folk group. But it is also a region surrounded by beauty and wilderness.

no more catenaccio

Who would have expected that Italy is unable to win against New Zealand? Obviously they had to play against eleven Kiwis plus one referee (no, make that three), but still ...

Anyway, isn't it strange how the mighty Italian team couldn't win against the team which many considered being the weakest one of the whole tournament after North Korea, even though (for once) trying to score and not to catenaccio their way through to the next round?

And I find it even stranger that, considering performance so far, actually the Slovak team might be the weakest of them all, safe for North Korea. As ever, the turtle would not agree with me here, she claims that the prize for the weakest team - except for North Korea - should be awarded to Honduras. We shall see, but not today when Ivory Coast will play Brazil: finally a match I am looking forward to.

no more concreting

That's a game on words which only works in German, so let me explain: in German we use 'to concrete' when the goal is blocked, when a team is only trying to prevent the other team from scoring, rather than trying to score for themselves.

So very well, today we finally saw a match where not even both teams desperately tried to win the game but that also both had plenty of chances to achieve this. And even though the defences of both Cameroun and Danmark only made this possible (with a great number of individual mistakes), this game still was very much watchable. What a pity that we won't see much anymore of Cameroun - in this championship.

(Oh, and this concrete building by the way is Wotruba Church, in the district of Liesing. Actually not that beautiful if you ask me, ugly even I would say.)

heath

Icy north-westerly winds blew over Perchtoldsdorf heath, beyond which you can see the twin peaks of Wienerberg City and the towers of Wohnpark Alterlaa. If you're interested in the flowers not flowering there already take a look at today's herbarium entry.

well, flowers

A year ago (or so) I tried to set up a Herbarium site but I'm only getting started there now: there's some construction work to be seen there soon, or so I hope. So far only the entry for Colchicum autumnale is finished, but watch out for more.

Meanwhile I'd say it is again time for showing some flowers here in my blog proper; today's are Symphyotrichum lanceolatum (Lanzett-Herbstaster).

presenting a flower

Today, when going home after a hard day's work, I saw a roadside flower blooming under the grey sky.

Honestly, it wasn't a particulary beautiful one at all.

Nor was it rare, or even under conservation laws.

Nor special in any other way one could think of.

But I did pick it for you which is what makes it a very special flower indeed. To make the grey sky look a little bit brighter.

(Well yes, probably in your part of this world the sky was a shiny blue today. But then I never said I only picked it for you, right? I did so for all readers of my blog - the seventy-two of you.)

(Well yes, if you insist ... I did pick it for me too, partly. So really I picked it for seventy-two people plus one, satisfied?)

(Finally, to also satisfy your botanical curiosity if you have any at all, and to give some hard facts: this most likely is an autumn aster - Lanzett-Herbstaster, Symphyotrichum lanceolatum, but the taxonomy of this species is still disputed. It is in fact true that it is not a rare one, it isn't even indigenuous to Europe but an American immigrant. And you really most likely wouldn't notice it if you ever came across one, on the roadside, after a hard day's work ... it's like with a wallflower on a party, she's there but you don't notice her.)

liesing river

Vienna has some streams which may become torrents during and after heavy rainfalls, but most of them are tamed now, as is the Liesing river here:

It was a tiny stream when this shot was taken, but some people already drowned in Liesing river or had a close escape.

Many of these Viennese streams coming down from the hilly area west of the town, the so-called Wienerwald, are even running below earth in canals for quite some distance (as does the Liesing for a few hundred metres) but lately some of these are renaturalised (as is the Liesing further downstream, about five kilometres down from where this shot was taken).

winter

Winter has come to stay.

At least that's what I think. Last night some regions in the Wienerwald - the hills in and around the western part of Vienna - saw up to half a meter of snow, whereas here it was more like only ten or twenty centimetres:

This was in the afternoon; the sun almost came through the clouds but then finally decided against it. I wonder if she'll change her mind tomorrow.

Additional notice, now that february will be over soon (and with it winter): I was wrong after all. Hardly any winter worth mentioning, overall, 2007/2008; there was snow only twice, here in Vienna: early in november and then around the turn of the year.