You know you're in Europe when...#2

YOU know you're in Europe when...you buy a slice of strudel, to take back to your hotel room for supper, and it comes wrapped like a Christmas present.

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Location:Vordere Zollamtsstraße,Vienna,Austria

District Six

I MANAGED to do something today that only a few visitors to Vienna ever achieve.

I turned my back on the centre of the Austrian capital, crossed the Ringstrasse and the tracks that carry the iconic red trams, and explored one of the neighbourhoods outside the city's medieval core.

It wasn't because I ran out of things to do in District 1 -- I don't think that's actually possible with so many palaces, galleries, museums and shops inside the Ringstrasse -- but I wanted to see Vienna's big market.

The Naschmarkt, which has been around since the 16th century and in its current location since the early 1900s, occupies a narrow patch of land between the two of the city's main arteries and stretches from the Karlsplatz to Kettenbruckengrasse subway stations.

Tourists often pass the Naschmarkt as they sit in their oversized coaches for the journey out to Schonbrunn Palace, but from the street all you can see are the back walls of the stalls that face into the narrow pedestrian arcades.

Not that long ago this was the place to buy everything from meat and vegetables to cheese and herbs but, as restaurants and bars have moved in to accommodate the cafe set that now live in the 6th districts low-rise apartment buildings, many of the original tenants have gone.

There are still a lot of fruit and veg stands with the produce arranged in neat rows and all marked by a small sign advertising the price, and a few butchers had various cuts of meat displayed behind glass.

There were also a number of delis with tubs of colourful dips, pots of olives, plates of jamon and wheels of cheese on sale and often with someone pacing outside offering samples to passing shoppers.

Naschmarkt means "to have a bite" and the locals go from one stall to the next sampling the goods on sale, buying a little package that's handed over carefully wrapped in paper and they often stopping to linger over a coffee during their excursion.

I gave the coffee a miss and instead bought a handful of fresh strawberries, which were as big as a baby's fist, and sat opposite the famed Secession building to enjoy the golden dome of the architectural masterpiece for a few minutes.

Every Saturday the Viennese shopping experience is doubled when a flea market sets up in a car park at the far end of the Naschmarkt.

I arrived just before 9am and crowds of people were already rummaging through the stalls of bric-a-brac which appeared to be selling everything from old clothes and bags to jewellery, crockery and cutlery, vases, toys and musical instruments.

This is the Flohmarket, or flea market, and while it was anything but glamorous I expect there were some treasures hidden below the piles of junk.

The 6th District is also the place for lovers of architecture to go to see some beautiful Art Nouveau and Secessionist buildings.

While many of the buildings around the market were destroyed during World War Two, there are still dozens of dwellings constructed during the last days of the 19th and early 20th century when Art Nouveau was all the rage.

At the time the locals didn't like this brash new style, but 100 years later the Viennese love the decorative buildings that survived the Second War's bombs.

There are two more Otto Wagner designs beside the market, and I joined a couple of other people to gaze up at the facades of the beautiful structures.

Wagner was the founding father of the Secessionist movement -- the group of artists, architects and designers that emerged in the 1880s to challenge the traditional idea that the functional didn't need to be ugly -- which also counted Gustav Klimt as a member.

The Majolika Haus and Wagner House are two Art Nouveau apartment buildings that sit side by side, but they look very different.

The facade of the Majolika Haus is covered by colourful tiles that are arranged as a floral spray with garlands of green leaves, red roses and blue blossoms, while next door the Wagner Haus has golden medallions and peacock feathers set on the white stucco facade.

Wagner was the man who designed Vienna's subway system and not far from the Secession building I saw the Wagner Pavilions which were built in 1897 as the twin stations for the Vienna City Train.

The Wagner Pavilions lost their original function when the modern underground replaced the original horse-drawn and steam-driven predecessors in 1901, and today these quaint steel-and-marble structures serve as an exhibition space and coffee house.

Otto Wagner had so much to do with the way modern Vienna looks and, as well as the houses and public buildings, he designed 34 stations and bridges for the subway network that are still being used today.

After doing a Wagner tour of Vienna these past couple of days I have decided this fellow would have got on well with Charles Rennie Macintosh and Frank Lloyd Wright, they appear to be kindred spirits.

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You know you're in Europe when...#1

YOU know you're in Europe when...the high-flying jets turn the sky into a blue-and-white tartan with thier contrails.


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Mr Belvedere

WAR is, according to one old saying, good for the economy.

It certainly was for a particular Austrian general who funded one of his country's most ambitious building projects with the extra money he made leading his forces in battle.

The senior soldier was Prince Eugen of Savoy, one of the Hapsburg dynasty's most celebrated generals, and after he defeating the Turks in 1683 he was given a generous booty that let him build Vienna's two Belvedere Palaces.

The magnificent Baroque structures, which were built in the early 18th century on a hill that provided the estate sweeping views across central Vienna to the hills on the other side of town, were a summer residence for the prince.

He lived in Lower Belvedere, and entertained in the larger building at the top of the hill, and would enjoy the fresh air in the French-style gardens that filled the gap between the two palaces.

Today Eugen's people are long gone and now the Belvedere buildings accommodate two galleries which are home to some of this country's art treasures including a swag of works by the amazingly talented Gustav Klimt.

The Lower Belvedere is home to the Museum of Austrian Baroque Art while the Austrian Gallery occupies the grand rooms up the hill.

Usually a Monet would be the highlight of a gallery visit for me -- and there were two at the Belvedere with The Chef one of just a few portraits painted by the Impressionist master -- but it was the Kilmt creations that were most memorable.

There were two rooms where his works hung, one on the south side of the building which has springtime sun bursting through the windows, and another facing north which was dark and cool.

Adam and Eve was in the light-filled room, while Klimt's most famous painting The Kiss -- featuring the liberal use of gold, and reflecting the impression that Italian mosaics made on the man during a stay in Venice -- was in the darker room.

While his golden works were stunning, I loved the landscapes which were filled with lots of green and dots of red and yellow to show where flowers were blooming in the gardens.

There are three floors of Upper Belvedere open to visitors and I walked around each level twice, once to look at the art and a second time to take in every feature of the stately rooms.

The Upper Belvedere was also the setting for an important event in modern Austrian history with the State Treaty signed in the grand Marble Hall in 1955.

The four nations that occupied Austria after World War Two -- the US, UK, USSR and France -- signed the document that finally gave this country sovereignty in the room and then the document was displayed from the balcony to the cheering crowd below.

Finally, on my fourth visit to Vienna, I got to see the inside of the twin Belvederes, and it was worth the wait.

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Over Iran

ANOTHER flight, another selection of aerial photos.

This trio was snapped as my Emirates ride cruised high above Iran on the way from Dubai to Vienna, and that's Iraq out past those snow-capped mountains.

After leaving the ground in Dubai we did a right, and flew over the sapphire blue water of the Persian Gulf until crossing the Iranian coast, then we cruised parallel to the invisible line that marks the border with Iraq.

When the land out to the left stopped being Iraq and became Turkey we did a left and flew a straight line to the Austrian capital.

These photos were taken as we flew above northern Iran, where vast lakes dotted the landscape and snow-capped mountains stretched towards the horizon, but this wasn't what the whole country looked like.

In the south it was sand as far as the eye could see, with little hamlets of just a few dwellings presenting the only signs of human habitation, then mountains began climbing out of the desert.

And those mountains seemed remarkably high, we were flying 10km up and the tallest peaks didn't look to be that far below the plane.

At first the hills were naked and the same colour as the desert, while the valleys were green and covered with the squares and rectangles of the farmers' fields.

My camera was in the overhead locker, and at first I resisted the urge to retrieve it, but when we flew over this lake I jumped up because the colours were just so vivid.

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Location:Vordere Zollamtsstraße,Vienna,Austria

Trip #8

A quick trip to Sydney has added a few klicks to my kilometres-flown number and another hotel to the list, so here are the stats for my eighth trip of the year.

Flights – Two in two days

Kilometres flown – 1410km...from Melbourne to Sydney and back

Total Kilometres flown in 2011 – 60,154km

Hotels – Sofitel Wentworth Sydney
Total number of hotels in 2011 –20

I'm off again this week, for 10 days in Europe with stops in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary...so stay tuned for more adventures.

Sydney's Opera Kitchen

THE highlight of my visit to Sydney was lunch at Opera Kitchen.

The informal eatery, which only opened in December, is set on the Sydney Opera House's lower concourse level to let diners enjoy the vistas across Circular Quay but it wasn't the view that appealed to me.

It was the fact that someone has created something completely new when it comes to eating in a city that is saturated with restaurants, bars and cafes.

Instead of opening a restaurant, hiring a chef, and serving a collection of completely expected dishes, Opera Kitchen has brought together four of the city's most popular restaurateurs and got them to contribute a few dishes to the menu.

Guests at Opera Kitchen can enjoy dishes from Justin North (Becasse Bakery and Charlie & Co Burgers), John Susman (Cloudy Bay Fish Co), Nahji Chu (Misschu) and Kenji Nishinakagawa (Kenji).

The kitchen is divided into five sections, so each restaurant gets its own space, and after diners order their food at a central point their request goes to the particular chef who prepares the food and then waiters collect it and deliver it to the tables.

I was only after a light lunch -- I had only just had a big breakfast at the Sofitel, and then morning tea at the new food court at the redeveloped Westfield shopping centre in Pitt Street -- so I ordered a plate of Peking duck pancakes and some dumplings from Misschu.

This is the same Misschu I wrote about when I was in Melbourne last week and it seems she started her food empire by establishing the tuckshop-style eateries in Sydney but wanted to do something in her hometown of Melbourne so opened the place in Exhibition Street. 

Over Australia

I FLEW to Sydney this morning, for a two-day visit planned to let me see some of that city's newest attractions, and clear skies over Australia's south-eastern states and territories meant I had a wonderful view during the hour-long hop.

The Qantas jet took off into the west from Tullamarine Airport and, because I had a had a window seat on the right side of the plane, I finally got to see my house in Sunbury from the sky.

I don't know how many flights I have done during the past two years, but this was the first time everything came together -- we used the east-west runway, the sky was clear, we turned over Diggers Rest to go north, and I was sitting on the Sunbury side of the plane -- to let me see my very own tin roof.

I didn't get my camera out in time to snap a picture of Melbourne, which was off the right wing as we made a series of right turns to head north, but the city looked wonderful with the glass walls of the skyscrapers sparkling in the sun and the blue of the bay providing the background. 

But I did snap pictures of Canberra and Sydney as we cruised over.

There were a few clouds in the sky above the NSW capital but if you look closely you can see Centerpoint Tower, one side of the Harbour Bridge, Anzac Bridge, Fort Denison and the Opera House.

The sky was clearer over the national capital and it was easy to spot both the new and old houses of parliament, Black Mountain and its tower, Lake Burley Griffin and the Carillon, the National Museum of Australia on the site of the old Canberra Hospital, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Library of Australia.

Everyone knows that a lot of thought went into planning Canberra, and it's easy to appreciate this effort when flying over the city and seeing all the streets laid out below.


I thought about what Walter Burley Griffin said in 1912 when he was selected to design the new Australian capital - "I have planned a city that is not like any other in the world. I have planned it not in a way that I expect any government authorities in the world would accept. I have planned an ideal city, a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future''. 

Trip #7

AS my seventh trip of the year was another Victorian jaunt I didn't do any flying, I didn't need my passport, I didn't add any new countries to the master list, but I did collect another hotel.

So, here are the hotel stats updated to include my night in Melbourne.

Hotel - The Langham Melbourne

Total number of hotels in 2011 - 19

There are also a few new photos, use this link to see my Melbourne in winter gallery...https://picasaweb.google.com/wordsillustrated/MelbourneInWinterLowResImages?authkey=Gv1sRgCOav3sP14-eupwE&feat=directlink

Food, glorious food

NO visit to Melbourne is complete without a couple of good meals and my two-day jaunt to the Victorian capital also included stops at a number of new restaurants and cafes for a meal, a snack or a quick coffee.

We visited The Atlantic at Crown which is a fine dining-establishment at Crown where the seafood dishes are determined by what's available at the local fish markets every morning.

That day the kitchen was using Portland hapuka, Port Albert garfish, Port Franklin whiting, Queenscliffe snapper, Mornington Peninsula flathead as well as Stanley crayfish, New Zealand salmon and Port Lincoln kingfish.

It took us several hours to make our way through the mini-degustation lunch chef Donavan Cooke created for us which included scallop tartare with celeriac remoulade, Tasmanian truffle, green apple and hazelnut tuille and yellowfin tune with heirloom tomato confit and jelly, basil and balsamic glaze.

The only non-seafood dish we enjoyed was caramalised crispy skin port belly with pineapple cumberland sauce, corriander, spring onions and soy beans.

Dinner the first night was at Miss Chau in Exhibition Street, a hole-in-the-wall eatery best described as “a hawker-style Vietnamese tuckshop’’, which serves traditional Asian street food.

We also had our morning coffee the second day of the excursion at Manchester Press, a funky coffee house in Rankins Lane with a staff of talented baristas that create little works of art in the froth of your latte or soy cap.

Winter preview

FOR two days this week I played tourist in my home city.

Tourism Victoria organised a two-day visit that let me see what the city has to offer culture vultures this winter and I got to visit galleries and museums, shops and restaurants, and even spent an evening at the theatre.

The tour started at the Melbourne Museum, where we got to explore the Tutankhamen exhibition and gaze at several darkened rooms filled with treasured collected from the tombs of ancient Egypt, before visiting three of the city’s finest jewellery galleries.

Gallery Funaki, Pieces Of Eight Gallery and e.g.etal are just some of the establishments in our CBD that blur the lines between jewellery store and art gallery, showing beautiful treasures made by the city’s best artisan jewellers as well as some of the world’s most famous craftsmen and women.

I didn’t realise there was such a market in bespoke engagement and wedding rings, and it seems that betrothed Victorians are looking for a unique piece of jewellery to wear on their finger rather than just dashing into Tiffany’s and buying the biggest rock they can afford.

It seems the option is also much more affordable, with a one-off ring featuring a precious stone costing around $3000, and the engaged couple get to work with a local artist to create a one-of-a-kind band.

That night we had seats in the front row seats at the Comedy Theatre to enjoy a performance of Rock of Ages, before spending the night in a Terrace Suite at The Langham down by the Yarra River.Day two included a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria to learn all about the treasures heading our way for that institution’s annual Winter Masterpieces expedition.

Vienna: Art & Design is set to feature 300 pieces – everything from paintings and photographs to furniture and fabrics as well as a the life-sized facade of a famous Viennese building – from early last century, an era that’s said to have played a big part in setting the boundaries of modern design.

We also made a dash out to Collingwood to visit The Compound Interest which is part gallery, with two exhibition spaces that regularly hold displays of illustrations and modern art, and part studio where local artists rent space to work.

The trip was a bit of a rush, and we were constantly running late as Tourism Victoria packed a bunch of activities into the itinerary, but it was great fun and made me fall in love with my beautiful city all over again.