Wiener April

Viennese April

To celebrate May 1, we thought we’d review beautiful April.  Our faithful blog readers may recall that we experienced the coldest Viennese October in 100 years; interestingly enough, we were also treated to the wettest Viennese March in 90 years.  Although damp, we thankfully didn’t have to endure funky temperature fluctuations like folks in the Midwestern US.  The Wiener March temperatures were mild, the sun poked out a bit each day to keep us all sane, and the mercury gradually rose as the month progressed.  Then, on April 1, the Austrian angels all proclaimed, “Lucky you!  Here is the most luxuriant month you’ve ever seen.” Travis is fond of the phrase “fecund effulgence” (or "effulgent fecundity”) to describe the lush and fragrant spring we’ve been given.  Here are a few photos to exhibit our verdant Wien – our apologies for not providing a scratch and sniff blog for all you nasal learners. 

The April reflection begins closest to home –right out of our apartment window, actually.  Presenting the Jensen version of time-lapse photography.  The above photo was taken on April 1.

and April 4

and April 7

and April 11!

Our secret garden – so secret we didn’t even know our apartment building had this garden until March.  In April we took full advantage of our tiny halcyon plot, under the watchful eye of Herr Gnome.

Moving down the street just a couple of blocks, here you see a lucky shot:  our favorite streetcar (the 49) en route in front of our darling neighborhood café and its blossoming tree.

With our faithful 49 we can reach the Rathaus garden.  Karla, knocked out by the vernal splendor of the moment, rests on a carpet of magnolia blossom confetti.

Across the street in the Burggarten, Travis sniffs the peonies.  In German these are called Pfingstrosen – Pentacost roses.  This year they bloomed a bit prematurely!

Public greenspaces in Wien are quite clean given the size of the city and the number of dogs who obediently trot along with their humans.  The dogs adorably implore you to pick up noop-noop with this cleaver sign.  In Austria the word “wurst” is translated not only as “sausage” and (a-hem) sausage-looking items, it also is used idiomatically to express “it doesn’t matter” or “I have no preference.”  So, the tandem question here is, “Does this noop-noop belong to you?” and “Do you care if you get a fine of 36 Euros?” The Austrian police are very strict about the scoop your poop law – there have even been newspaper articles reporting on the “no mercy policy.”

Even the cars are sporting tender new growth.

And furthest afield, we take in the Weiner view from Cobenzl, at the edge of the Wienerwald.  Ja, it really is that green, and ja, it really does smell like freshly tilled earth from the surrounding vineyards.  And ja, we really do appreciate how incredibly fortunate we are.