Vienna–January 26, 2017

I took a day trip to Vienna, Austria for a short meeting with a company that is based there. Here are some pictures from the train window. It was still dark out, and the window was not clean, hence the lack of quality i the pictures:

Village with church at left snow-covered buildings in middle distance Snow-covered village in middle distance

The Manner company, which makes creme-filled wafers (Manner Schnitten), has a store at the Vienna main train station. You can buy dispensers and large packages:

Manner Schnitten dispenser and truly enormous Manner Schnitten bar

Some pictures on the walk to the meeting, which took me past Karlplatz:

Store window display with man riding on back of pig Two crows on either side of a hand facing palm outward, keyhole in palm of hand. Blue and yellow smiling fish Mulicolored abstract with many circular shapes At left, grid of symbols; at right, elephant-like creature mosaic of man standing next to a stack of bricks; has Austrian flag in right hand. Stencil painted image of Charlie Chaplin Building with two large columns in front Detail of people in religious procession carved on column Women bathing child; carving detail on column Abstract painting on large box statue standing man statue abstract statue of man Statue of woman holding dog; next to large coffin monument to brahms

And from there to the meeting. The last picture is one of four similar sculptures on the corners of a bridge; the title of the work is “4 Larven” (Four Larvae), by Franz West.

mondrianesque planter mondrianesque planter Large white larva-like sculpture on bridge

After the meeting, I had time to stop by Stephansplatz and see the church there, plus a mosaic on a corner across fom the church:

st stefan church closeup st stefan Closeup of church showing three-leafed circular design in carving mosaic of birds on two corners of a building Church steeple with gold cross on top

Signage

Sign: 15 süße MInuten

The sign reads “15 Sweet Minutes” and was near a restaurant and a massage parlor, and I don’t know which one it was for.


Manga style man and woman

Text reads: “In your life, you are the hero.”


Three-dimensional yellow BILLA shopping bag on side of store

This 3-D shopping bag on the outside of the grocery store is a clever touch.


Advert for One Man Anti-Show; shows performer (a bearded man)

I thought the idea of an “Anti-Show” is great. (I am a fan of Eugène Ionesco, who wrote “anti-plays.”)


Circular sticker; smiling tomato in center

A sticker that is against genetically modified food.


OBB with slash through upper part of O to represent an umlaut

Here’s someone else using a slash to represent an umlaut. In this case, it’s the logo for the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreiche Bundesbahnen).