even more pics

Bratislava agin, looking toward the National theater
Just off the side of the Karlskirche

Looking south down the street next to the Karlskirche

The interior court of the Spanish riding school, with Japanese tourits and a few of the horses visible in their stallls

Easter Vienna and Bratislava, even more

The Rathaus in Vienna. Light was fading fast, and I didnt have time to move closer to the building to be able to get more detail into the shot.

Bratislava, showing the mix of relatively modern (including the bridge over the Danube) with the retained.

Picture #3 Another view of the Rathaus.

# 4 This is what you get for $40 a night. No tv, no coffee machine. The toilets and showers are shared. But it is really all that I need when I am travelling, just wish it came at half that price.

#5 Heading back to Hungary. This is about 20 miles east of Vienna, the fields in bright sunlight are almost blinding, but there was a large cloud mass so the fields were only moderately bright

Easter Vienna Bratislava, more notes

Bratislava still has a section of its old wall remaining.

The view from my "seat" at the Staatsoper. There were about 200 people outside, not counting those tooting car horns and sidewalk stroller-conversationalists. The production was absolutely first rate, with a Satan who looked like he had just stepped out of a GQ ad--black leather trenchcoat and red vest. And handsome to boot, sort of a Johnny Depp face, but with more of a Tom Cruise body.

The trees are in the gardens at Schönbrunn palace. Different styles of trimming are done to produce different styles of aisles. Here the trees are cut to produce an arch overhead. In other pathways the trees were sheared off square, to look something like thick lime popsicles.

A new version of the classical pediment, only this time in glass.

Vienna/Bratislava Easter 2011

Main drag of Bratislava. The downtown is definitely worth a 2-3 hour stroll, there are cafes galore and by any standard the beer is cheap== full service for 1/2 liter of beer was running about $2.00, when it is about $5 in Vienna.

It is not hard to get there, about 1 hr trainride from Vienna, but then figure it is at least another half hour or so each way to get to the train station in Vienna, travelling by metro or streetcar. So total travel is about 3 hours to spend a profitable 3 hours. I guess I am glad I went, but i think the time would have been better spent in one of the Viennese museums.

I wanted to get to the center of town just before sunset to capture the glow from the buildings. I would have liked to have a deeper blue in the sky, but it still turned out well.

This is the main altar of the Karlskirche, and while I am not a big fan of baroque, I have to admit that this one nearly knocks your socks off. The triangle and tetragramm at the center of the nimbus are extremely effective, the rays of gold effervesce with natural light. This photo was taken at around 6 pm, before I headed off to the opera to watch public tv screening of the performance of Faust going on inside.

On the way to the Albertina on the Monday after Easter I happened past the Spanish riding school. There was a huge gaggle of Japanese tourists in the courtyard, all of them going gaga over the beasties, and then a group of three horses were paraded out, and I got a quick shot off as one passed by.

Here is more of the sunset light effect on the royal buildings, I think this is the Kunsthistorisches Museum. You can see the shadow of the cupola cast against the main dome, giving you an idea of the angle of the sun... i.e., very low on the horizon.