Blowing My Own Horn

One of my travel photos was published on the Sympatico/MSN.ca web site as part of a photo gallery of the top 15 cities in the world to live. The survey ranked Vienna as #1.

Flakturm

This is one of two Flak Towers (I recommend reading this article) located in the Augarten. The other is rectangle in shape.  As explained in the article flak is a German acronym meaning anti aircraft guns. 

 Built by the Germans in 1942 as anti aircraft defense they could also house many thousands of troops. What I found interesting is that the explosives required to destroy these structures would also destroy the surrounding neighbourhood.

There is a total of  four other  flakturms still standing in other parts of Vienna.  

Man in Orange

In the background is the very impressive Votivkirche. While we were there they the church was in the midst of a huge cleaning.

The Upper Belvedere

The Belvedere was the summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy. It is now a gallery housing many great works including Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. 

Bronze Elephant

After waiting quite a while for the children to finish playing on the elephant I finally gave up and took the shot. I was a little reluctant taking a picture of children I don't know, however, when viewed later I realized they actually made the photo work. Taken at the Natural History Museum. 

    

On Guard

 A pair of eagles guard the entrance to the Volksgarten.                                                              

Stephansdom

Stephansdom (German) or St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna. The last full week of March I had the opportunity to accompany my wife on her business trip to Vienna for 3.5 days and then to London for 2.5 days. So for the next little while I'll post shots from that trip. I hope you enjoy them.