Ian Bateson

A Wet Day in Vienna

Friday 14th March

Unfortunately the forecast was correct and we had rain all day, so we planned a few indoor locations and more cafés than usual. We also had the benefit of the 72 hour pass, so we could sightsee in the dry. The first stop was one we missed yesterday – the Justizpalast (City Courthouse) which only allows 25 people in per hour. So we joined the queue with approximately 28 other in front of us, hoping they weren’t too strict on numbers.

On the half hour the doors opened and the doorman clocked 25 people inside leaving 2 young adults, us and the remaining queue on the outside. We were just debating whether or not to wait the hour until the next session, when the very helpful doorman opened the door letting the 2 people in front of us in and said to us “I don’t like leaving the old people standing too long, so will try to get us in”, of course he was speaking to Vanessa at the time. A few minutes later he let us both in. You’ll love what came next…

The entrance inside was ultra secure with an open hatch and shelf through which we could pass all our baggage for inspection. We enter via a double door where the outer has to be closed before the inner one opens. Then they continue to inspect our possessions.

Belts, watches, wallet, phones, cameras etc were all inspected, but they confiscated one item in the photo to be returned when we left. I would have thought the water as they weren’t letting any drinks in. Have you guessed it yet….

[Click here] to reveal the item – my miniature Jobo tripod!

At least we were allowed entry and didn’t have to wait or return at another time. The public are only allowed entry into the main hall which was quite impressive and with only 29 people it’s not too difficult avoiding people in the photos.

I did get my deadly weapon back when we left and passed a queue of about 40+ people waiting to get in. Two stops down the line on the tram we found another Nordsee café for lunch before heading back to the Karlskirche. The inside was worth the £8 cost which all helps towards the cost of the external restorations.

Time for another coffee before heading of to the Russisch-Orthodoxe Kathedrale zum heiligen Nikolaus (Russian Orthodox Church).

I now realise that it is open to visitors, but closes at 2pm weekdays, so we might try and return again tomorrow or Sunday morning.

The next location we planned was outside, but at least the rain had eased a little. So back to the tram. There weren’t any obviously picturesque bridges to photograph, but the Zollamtssteg bridge looked interesting.

Time for yet another coffee, so I found another café nearby, but discovered when I went to pay that they only take cash! There was no warning on the door, so be careful and check in future as we don’t carry cash anymore. So I had to search out an ATM.

Just around the corner from the café was the Österreichische Postsparkasse (old post office) which also has a café. The building looks deserted but is now a museum devoted to architecture and the public are free to wander around inside. People are still working here, but otherwise have a wander.

The main hall would be worth a photo, but it’s now used for the café seating area. But we were at least inside in the dry and found a couple of staircases to photograph.

Compare the images below – colour or black & white?

…or this angle?

The rain was now easing off and the forecast improved for the evening, so we headed off to find an ancient clock in what appears to be the ‘old town area’.

Not too far from here was the Ankeruhr which in an elaborate, historic clock with copper accents & figures that move around on the hour.

The architecture around this area is definitely more dated than the rest of the city we’ve seen to date. Walking on to catch the tram back to base we pass an interesting cobble stone alley with old buildings surrounding the area.

We’ll explore this area again tomorrow as it’s only a few stops on the tram from our apartment. But first we have the Spanish Riding School performance to watch.

We headed back for our evening meal and to pick up my main camera and tripods as we planned to visit the Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark amusement park, thinking some ICM photos (in camera movement) would be worth a try with all the lights and motion. It was open, but as far as we could tell the only attractions open were indoors, so back we went to our apartment.

Thursday 13th March

The morning was forecast to be damp so we had a lazy start and left the apartment at approx. 10:30am and headed to the Rathaus (City Hall) but as on several locations the whole area was covered in heavy plant machinery and cranes, but I did manage to grab this distant image later in the day.

To the left of this is the Austrian Parliament building which like many of the buildings in Vienna looked very clean. So we think they must have been sand blasted during the last few years.

As you can see the weather has now significantly improved and we had sunshine and clouds for most of the day. However we needed our coats today as the wind chill factor kept the temperature down.

Adjacent to the parliament building and heading south is the Natural History Museum which unlike the UK, isn’t free. But also not on our list of places to visit, except for taking photos. The statue hides a horrible green ticket office that was in front of the building.

Walking east past the Hofburg building which was an ornate imperial apartment building we past the Spanish Riding School which our son had recommended, so we bought tickets for the Saturday performance. Continuing along Kohlmarkt street we had lunch in Nordsee, which was a sandwich and hot food bar. Like most food places we see, the food was well presented and tasty.

Nearby was the St. Peter’s Catholic Church (Peterskirche) which was magnificent inside. Despite a service in progress, they still allowed photographs.

This was in complete contrast to the Bronzemodell Dom zu St. Stephan cathedral nearby which wasn’t worthy of a photo inside, but we took this image of the impressive exterior.

Heading west again we pass the other side of the Hofburg apartments which had a park to the left of the image.

Walking past the building there was a statue commemorating Mozart with a musical arrangement of flowers in the foreground.

At this point we were starting to feel the effects of the many miles we had walked over the past day and a half. So headed to the Karlsplatz subway to purchase a 72 hour travel pass which would cover the rest of our time in the city. This cost 17 Euro each which works out at approx. £5 per day and gives unlimited travel on all public transport throughout the city. There are 24 and 48 hour passes if preferred which work out slightly more expensive per day, but well worth considering.

Before taking the train, we were close to the St. Charles’s Church (Karlskirche) which unfortunately had scaffolding around one of the towers, but we may return another day when it rains to look inside.

Time to rest our legs, so we took the train from Karlsplatz out west to the Schönbrunn palace and gardens. The palace you can walk around, but this is chargeable, however the massive gardens are free. There is also a zoo adjacent to the gardens if you are interested. Before attempting to stroll around these gardens we had a rest in the café and enjoyed a slice of black forest gateau which is a favourite of ours, not often seen anymore.

Time to work those legs again; the fountains were all switched off, but we guess they’ll be back on soon for the Spring, Summer and Autumn seasons. My brother sent us a photo of him in the gardens in 1982, so we returned the favour by standing in the same place.

I had intended to hang around here until sunset and the blue hour following, to take a photo of the Gloriette Schönbrunn which is lit up in the evening. The full moon would also be rising in the east, but as happens on many occasions we were disappointed as it had started to cloud over as you will see in the following images and the forecast had changed to show light rain in the evening.

Gloriette Schönbrunn
Schönbrunn Palace
Gloriette Schönbrunn on the hill
Schönbrunn Palace

After this we headed back to our apartment on the train and decided to eat in. Vanessa had a curry and I chose tortellini which of course had to be washed down with some wine. Unfortunately I couldn’t restrain myself, so the whole bottle was consumed.

Tomorrow we expect some rain, so another late start is planned and some sightseeing by tram.

Vienna

Wednesday 12th March

We had an early flight departing Heathrow at 7:05am and were in the city centre by 11:30am. Made our way to the apartment which was surprisingly cheap even for March. Expecting to leave our bags in the office until 3pm, we were told our room was ready. So quickly unpacked and headed out on foot walking east towards the river Danube.

The weather was warm and sunny for March, so no coats required. The city was remarkably clean – shame our towns and cities in the UK can’t follow the European example. On reaching the Danube we photographed a tower building I had previously seen on LocationScout (an app you can ready about in the Planning section of this site).

A closer look reveals our interest in photographing this building…

It was 3 miles from our apartment to the Danube and along route Vanessa’s sole of her boots started to come away from the leather. So naturally we had to shop for another pair of blue shoes as they wouldn’t have lasted the trip. She had previously tried and failed to find a new similar blue pair in the UK, I did consider this was part of her plan. The apartment was so cheap, she could blow the savings on a new pair of shoes – not so cheap at £101! But she’s worth it (just).

Heading back across the Danube there must have been about a dozen or more river cruise boats all moored up, some taking on passengers, so I guess the cruising season is about to start.

Back on the west bank, there was an interesting church, the St. Francis of Assisi Church.

We thought this would be an interesting subject at night, so we hung around the area in search of a bar. To my absolute amazement we couldn’t find one that was open (this was about 4pm!), so I relegated my passion for a beer to a coffee only to be told, sorry we are now closed! So clearly tourism hasn’t started in the outer city district. Resorting to Google, we did find a café on the river bank, so I left Vanessa there whilst I took the underground back to the apartment to collect my Canon camera and our tripods for the evening.

I’ve never captured light trails before, but the location of the church next to a major road made it difficult for an isolated image. These 2 images were each taken by combining two exposures – one for the street lamps and the other for the church which avoids the lights burning out with a 5 second exposure.

We now took the underground back to our apartment (which was a 2 minute walk from the station) to drop off our camera gear, but this image altered our plan.

We then walked 400m to the left of the Votive Church to the Café Restaurant Maximilian which we can recommend. I had one of the best seafood pasta dishes I’ve ever had and Vanessa’s burger was really tasty. We will be revisiting this before we go home on Sunday.

A Grey Day in the Isle of Purbeck

Awake at 0620 to check the weather and finding a disappointing cloudy sky. Rechecking the forecast it looked like this was going to last all day, so wifey gets a lie in. There was no rush to get out now, so we had a cuppa in the motorhome and later set off for RSPB Arne (as we were members now).

We spent the morning on one of the trails with little to show for our time. We settled in one of the hides, but after 30 minutes we were both freezing, so it’s off to the café for a sandwich and coffee.

Heading off in the afternoon towards Big Wood and Shipstall beach we pass miles of power cables as the whole area was being prepared for ‘Winter Watch’ which we think starts next week on the TV. Fortunately the afternoon trek was more productive.

A spoonbill – not seen one of these before.

Sika Deer wandered into view whilst photographing the Spoonbills

Finally along the beach we came across a few dozen Oyster Catchers. The tide was going out to reveal the mudflats, so obviously it was feeding time.

Tomorrow we return home; it’s been a nice little break, but not with the clear skies and sunny weather we were expecting. But we will return as it’s only 75 minutes from home. Hopefully we’ll get sunshine on the next visit.

A short getaway to the Purbecks

Well the forecast was looking good with clear skies and maybe some fog in the morning, so we are taking a few days in the Motorhome back in the Purbecks. We always stay on a campsite just outside Wareham on the Bere Road as it gives us good access to RSPB Arne, Corfe Castle and the south coast coves.

On arrival we headed out past Corfe Castle to Kingston which overlooks Corfe. We only had 2 hours before sunset, so had to work fast while the weather was good. Managed to grab this shot of the castle from the hillside.

I’ve always wanted to capture this shot with the castle surrounded by fog, so maybe we’ll try again in the morning.

One of the main reasons for coming to the area at this time was to capture the moon setting to the west of the castle with the sun rising from the south east. We would view it from the hill shown in the above image to the right of the castle. I woke early to check the sky and could just see the moon through the fog, so everything looked promising. Dragging wifey out of bed for a quick cuppa, we then set off for Corfe.

Well, we changed from the planned viewpoint as we couldn’t see the castle (or the moon) at all, so we headed back up to the hillside near Kingston. After waiting for an hour we still couldn’t see the castle – in fact we could only just make out the top of the hill to the right. So we headed back into Wareham for breakfast at our favourite café, The Goat for a smooth latte and bacon butty:-

Yes, the sourdough bread was crammed with bacon.

After breakfast we returned to the hillside with virtually no change in the height of the fog. So we left the engine running to keep warm for the next 20 minutes and then decided to set up the cameras ready with the telephoto lenses. Whilst we were getting our gear out of the boot, the car cut-out and I couldn’t restart it. Vanessa set up her tripod ready for a view of the castle while I phoned Driver Guardian to get a mechanic out to the car.

We waited another 50 minutes for assistance to arrive and during that time the fog had dispersed to this level….

Well the mechanic arrived and whilst I was dealing with him the fog really started to clear. Vanessa hopefully got some really good shots, but I had to wait until he left. As I thought, it was a failing battery, so I didn’t want to leave the car ticking over again at the risk of another cut-out, so I grabbed one quick shot and packed away.

We managed to get to Halfords and had a new battery fitted. This left us enough time to head to RSPB Arne to walk the dog and hopefully bag a few more shots.

Whilst wandering back though the woods we came across this chance encounter…

Later getting a clearer image of the Sika deer.

Back at the car park we decided to join the RSPB as we visit this site every time we come to the area…. and now of course I’ve got to return to get more misty shots of Corfe and hopefully one with the moon in the right position. Maybe tomorrow will be foggy again and I can try again, but if not we’ll try a few coastal shots.

Last Day in Pembrokeshire

Just a quick update – the weather today wasn’t inspiring with heavy rain later, so we decided to stay put and I checked tyre pressures etc before the journey home tomorrow.

We should say that the locals have been very friendly and helpful and we must make a mention for the farmers. There were lots of tractors travelling along narrow roads and they always pulled over where possible to allow other motorists to pass. Shame all farmers don’t do the same.

We will return in a few years, but probably around the April period so we can visit Skomer Island to photograph the Puffins.

Hopefully we’ll try to get away again in the new year.

Day 8 – Back to Grey Skies & High Wind

The weather has been much better than the long term forecasts which we reviewed before leaving home, so we couldn’t grumble when we set off this morning to greyer conditions. Vanessa really wanted to have another chance to photograph the seals, so we returned to the only beach we had spotted the seal pup before and made sure that the tide was out.

Luckily the seal pup was high on the beach so I decided to try getting down to its level with the drone, but remaining very conscious of its proximity so as not to disturb the seal.

The drone was about 40 metres from the pup when I took this, so I’ve had to magnify the image.

The seal did look up just as I took this, so I decided I was close enough and then returned the drone back to the take-off point to avoid any further disturbance.

Switching over to camera + 500mm lens I captured the pup looking up

From here we headed off to Abereiddi as there was a Blue Lagoon nearby. On arrival we had to park at the back of the beach (luckily the tide was out, but on the rise). A short walk brought us to the Blue Lagoon…

There was a placard explaining the purpose of this lagoon – Slate was quarried from Abereiddi until 1910. It was formed when the channel to the sea was blasted allowing the sea to flood in. The lagoon is very deep and a popular location for ‘coasteering’ – the sport or activity of exploring a rocky coastline by climbing, jumping, and swimming

There was a tramway from the cliff top to the port of Porthgain (covered on day 4) where the slate was transported to the port’s ‘road rock creation’ facility.

The water in the lagoon was definitely bluer than the surrounding sea water. I did wonder if the slate contained a copper content? The image below shows significant colouration in the slate.

We headed into St Davids for a coffee and sandwich and later headed off to Porthclais – a very small village harbour, but there really wasn’t much to see here, so we moved on. Vanessa wanted to try one more location, so I scanned the Google map coastline for a possible location and came up with Caerfai Bay and Caer Bwdy Bay.

The first location wasn’t as photogenic as expected so we walked east around the coastline towards the next bay, but we noticed the beach down in the crevice of the rocks which may provide more photographic opportunities – but not now, as the tide was an hour away from it’s peak. So if the weather tomorrow morning is suitable, we may try this location again.

The coastline along Caer Bwdy Bay looked more promising.

The Common Gorse flowers adding a hint of colour in the image – unfortunately we were only minutes away from the sun setting (behind the grey skies), so the light wasn’t at it’s best. Time to return before it gets too dark.

Day 7 – More Pembrokeshire Coastline

We had such a great day yesterday that we decided to repeat the exercise along a different stretch of the coastal path. So we headed down to Martin’s Haven in the south west corner of Pembrokeshire and headed out towards Marloes Sands. The sun was out all day, so we expected some good opportunities for photographs.

We walked into the blinding sunlight for about 1.5 miles before taking our first photo of Watery Bay.

We continued on towards Gateholm island and then headed on towards Marloes Sands…

These Sands have a very large number of rocks and boulders. Would probably be better at high tide.

2 miles was far enough for our dog, so we headed back towards the car, but this time stopping to take in the views (as the sun was behind us now).

The skies remained clear, so we headed back to Ceibwr bay to recapture the image of a few days ago – this time with some light on the subject.

The above image was so much better than the one we took during the aftermath of storm Bert.

Moving west along the path we looked to take a few more distant photos of this cliff face as the sun was setting…

..and finally (just before the sun set).

Day 6 – Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

Not wishing to upset any Welsh reading this, but the Pembrokeshire countryside doesn’t really standout compared to other areas of the UK, but where it excels is along its coastline. This was the main reason for coming here, so with good weather forecast, we decided to have a stroll along the coastal path. We couldn’t walk too far as our 13 year old dog would be walking with us.

We parked the car in the Solva harbour carpark which was along a south facing stretch of coastline to capture the best of the sunlight, then walked west along the path. The harbour looked interesting, but when we started there was a large grey cloud covering the sun, so we thought we’d have another look on our return.

The first incline would take us to the top of the cliff – did I say we had a concern about our elderly dog? She ran up the steps and showed us youngsters up. We walked about a mile and still the sun was obscured, so we continued until we came across an amazing coastal view. We stopped and waited for the cloud to pass, but only after it dumped a rain shower on us.

This was the image we were waiting for. The shower had passed behind us, but looking around gave us this bonus image…

Hopefully you spotted the rainbow in the top right of the image. Also note that today we could use the 10 stop filter to extend the exposure to 30 seconds and blur the water as there was virtually no wind.

Moving on a little we were soon sandwiched between two views (east and west), but once again waiting for the sun to appear.

Stood on a narrow peninsular this first image (above) was facing east with a 20 second exposure, whilst the image below was taken by turning the tripod around to face west.

Being conscious of our dogs stamina we headed back. The sun was now shining on scenery we passed earlier and stopped to take this image.

Unfortunately none of the beaches had seals, so we would have to try elsewhere to get more images. So back to Solva which was now in sunshine.

We arrived back at the carpark around 2pm and headed straight into the Harbour Inn for lunch (and a pint of course).

When we left, we only had about 75 minutes before sunset, so we set off in search of more seals, but we were unsuccessful because of the high tide which apparently encourages the seals off the beach to swim and fish. The sky was covered with a high cloud layer which we hoped might light up a fiery red as the sun lowered in the sky. So we headed down to a small harbour inlet in the village of Abercastle, arriving after sunset. We waited and waited for the sky to turn red, but not this time.

Day 5 – A Brighter Outlook

The motorhome stopped rocking around 5am this morning, so I had hoped for calmer weather today. Not a chance! We headed out to Strumble Head to photograph the headland with lighthouse and there was a possibility of spotting a few seals.

We arrived on the cliff top adjacent to an old building which was now used for spotting whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals etc. We met some keen ‘watchers’ of the seas who were looking out for porpoises. We on the other hand faced into the wind which was so fierce it nearly knocked us off our feet.

We patiently waited for the sun to appear to get a good image. I wanted to try to blur the water with a longer time exposure, but all I got for my trouble was a blurred lighthouse. So the image above is the best for the day.

Chatting more with the ‘Porpoise watchers’ they advised where we might spot a few seals – so off we went down towards the lighthouse.

By this time we were cold and battered by the strong winds, so time for a coffee and lunch. Hence we headed off to Fishguard to find a café – and enjoyed a nice bacon bap.

Last location for the day was Ceibwr Bay to capture another coastline image. We waited for about 1 hour for the sun to appear and light up the amazing rock strata – but like many other days, luck wasn’t on our side, so this was the best we could manage.

The sea was crashing into the rocks behind us but most of the sea spray dispersed before reaching us. The wind was the strongest we had experienced in the UK whilst taking photos so it was very tiring standing here for most of the hour. Hopefully tomorrow we will have lighter winds.