Garten Tulln

On Friday a friend and I made an excursion to the new Garden Exhibit in Tulln. Tulln is the Garden city of Eastern Austria. This new Exhibit is really a collection of gardens set up to teach and inspire people to do more with their gardens.

You walk along a path past (or through) gardens designed with various purposes in mind. Some concentrate on herbs and vegetables. Others have glorious flowers. Some are mostly rock and gravel. Some are for relaxing, others allow children a place to be active, others have ways for adults to exercise bodies and minds.

If you watch Universum on Austrian television, these gardens may look familiar. There was a program on how the people involved made the natural garden and the very formal garden with sculptures and a labyrinth next door to each other.

Kittsee Museum - last chance!

I would like to refer everyone to my old post about the lovely museum in Kittsee.

http://marthajeanne.blogspot.com/2007/04/eggs-and-more-at-kittsee.html

I have just read that it is closing at the end of September. I fully intend to get back there this year. I recommend that you do so as well. It may be a long time before the items on display there can be seen again.

Medieval Fun

It has been raining since Sunday. Pouring and pouring. Today was supposed to be still cloudy with some rain, but we woke up on this holiday morning (Fronleichnam, Corpus Christi) to bright sunshine. Jerry and I checked the internet until we found a fun excursion. Burg Lockenhaus has a Medieval Festival this weekend. We walked around the camp of those participating, visited the booths, watched dancing and music, and ate lunch. In the camp I saw two women working with card weaving looms. I have been meaning to get back into card weaving, so this will be an added incentive.

I decided that the stairs of the burg were too much for me, so we did not visit the whole castle, but apparently it is well worth visiting. It belonged to the Templars at one point, and the 'cultic room' has various symbols that have not been satisfactorily explained. Both general tours and specifically Templar ones are offered (at least in German). The festival is on until Sunday, May 25. There is also a Medieval festival going on in the Boehmischer Prater this weekend, if you would prefer not to leave Vienna.

When we had had enough of the crowds we drove on to the nearby Naturpark Greifenstein. We walked up to the Aussichtswarte (Tower) on the Hungarian border. And I do mean up. The forest road leads through needle trees up to the top of Burgenland's tallest mountain. OK, not all that tall, but a fair climb from the parking lot. The last thing I really wanted when we got to the top was to climb stairs, but when Steven said that there was a lovely view, I compromised and made it up the first flight. He was right. It was lovely looking out onto the Hungarian plain.

Around here it seems to be the newest thing to make walls and towers of wire cages filled with rocks. Generally I don't get the point, but this one fascinated me. The tower is filled with different kinds of rocks, and each one is labeled. As we hiked up the path we met up with big chunks of the various rocks with explanations of what kind of rock it is, where it can be found near the park, and how it was created. In case you are wondering, most of the rocks we saw are metamorphized sedimentary rocks. The explanations are in German, Hungarian, and English.

This area was once under an ocean, and some of the rocks include fossil shells. For those of you learning German, a local joke:

Wir haben Muscheln gesucht am Alpenostrand.
(We looked for shells on the ______.)

The joke is that Alpen-ost-rand is the standard word for the eastern end of the Alps. As you saw above, this is the Eastern end of the mountains. Normally you would look for shells on a 'Strand', a beach. If you divide the word differently you get the Alpeno-strand, a favorite holiday destination for Viennese who cannot afford an expensive vacation. ('Balkonia' is another.)

Early summer in the Danube National Park

The weather was so lovely on Monday, that we felt we wanted to get out into it. The open air part of the Orth Information centre for the National Park has enclosures with turtles and watersnakes. There are frogs galore, and the central pond contains various fish. Here you see a window of the underwater observation room. In the background is the 'insect hotel'.

There are various places for children to play: a willow tunnel made to look like a snake and an enormous nest full of straw. But the children we saw were mostly as busy as we were trying to count the turtles, and catch sight of the snakes.

On Monday the biggest surprise was the amount of noise the frogs were making. We actually saw them bubble up their cheeks to call out.

Other exhibits show how to recognize the signs that larger animals have passed, and what happens when they have passed away. Yes, the aroma coming from that side path is a dead animal. Road kill is brought in at intervals and allowed to decay. There are pictures to show the progression.

Many of the plants are labelled, and a ranger took the time to point out to us one that is often mistaken for Wild Garlic. Well, they both have wide leaves in the spring, but I doubt that I would mix them up. Good thing, too. The Baerlauch, or Wild Garlic had a lovely flavour in the spring before it blossoms, and has become a real hit in recent years, I often pick it. The Herbstzeitlose, or Autumn Crocus blossoms in the fall, and is VERY poisonous. Apparently there is no antidote. I found that its leaves were much more like tulips than like Baerlauch. Another reminder not to eat plants you aren't really sure of.

After learning about the animals to be found in the park you can also walk out from the Schlossinsel onto a trail that leads down through the park to the Danube. Or else drive down to the Danube, and walk along it for a way. There is an excursion restaurant at the Danube, or an organic food snackbar in the Schloss (run by Biohof Adamah). We had been meaning to visit the Mill Ship on the Danube one of these days, but at least for now will have to give up on that, as it sank this winter. They are working at raising it again, so maybe by the end of the summer. A ferry for pedestrians (and I think bicycles) is available as well.

We have bought a family season pass to the Schlossinsel in Orth, so you will hear more about what goes on there as the summer progresses.

On your way back to Vienna, you will probably want to stop at one of the many Bauernhof shops or stands offering asparagus, which is at the height of its season, or strawberries, which are just starting.

Drehorgelfest

Next weekend there is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy Spring in Vienna. 'Drehorgel' (calliopes, hurdy-gurdies, what-ever you want to call them) from around Europe meet in the Böhmischer Prater. They play there from 14 - 18 on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

This is a lovely amusement park, more old-fashioned and family oriented than the real Prater. We don't have small children anymore, but still enjoy the ambiance and the mini and micro golf courses. There are also several Gasthäuser.

Parking is limited in the area, and do pay attention to the signs, not just where others are parked. You will have to walk almost as far from your car to get in as from the public busses. Check the Anfahrtsplan on the website to find your best approach.

Schlosshof and Plant markets

I wrote about Schlosshof a year ago: http://marthajeanne.blogspot.com/2007/05/outings-schlosshof-and-burg.html

Jerry and I went back on Saturday. He had a new camera, and wanted to try it out on both plants and architecture. I enjoyed walking in the gardens.

Saturday was nice as there weren't a lot of people around, in spite of the glorious weather. If you are interested in the animal parade, that will be on Thursday (1 May). It was fun so you may meet us there. There is a special garden weekend with plant sales at the end of May. We bought season tickets, so you may see us there, too. It's worth noting that the season tickets are on sale until the end of May. This makes sense - go more times and pay less. At present the season ticket is aobut the same as 2 1/2 trips. Later it will up to 3 1/2 trips.

To get there, either travel out Route 3 through Gross Enzersdorf on the North side of the Danube, or to Hainburg on the South side and cross the Danube there. In either case, there are brown signs pointing the way. There is a bus shuttle from Vienna on weekends and holidays. You can find more information about the palace and activities there at http://www.schlosshof.at/en/index.html

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With May coming, it's time for those of us with gardens to buy plants and seeds. I assume you know about the big garden stores in Vienna. But there are several other places to get special plants next weekend. One is Arche Noah. This is part of the 'alternative life-style scene' so food there is more vegetarian and whole than sausage and grilled chicken. There will be lots of exhibiters on Thursday. Less going on Friday through Sunday.

For special varieties of Tomatoes try Stekovics in Frauenkirchen, Burgenland.

You can also go to Tulln and combine visits to several large garden centers with the new Garden Show. I haven't been there yet, well of course not - it opens on Wednesday, but the advance information makes me curious. Tulln is well known for its gardens and garden centres, so this is bound to be worth seeing.

Orchids and Rainforests

Wait a minute! Isn't this a blog about Vienna, Austria? What's this about orchids and rainforests? Well that's what Jerry and I saw on Saturday, and not only in Vienna, but just down the road from us in Hirschstetten. For those of you to whom Transdanubia might as well be on the border of Siberia, Hirshstetten is one of the exits off the Sueosttangente once you have crossed the Prater Bridge. The 22nd district is made up of several former villages, and the main street of Hirschstetten (Deer place) could be any farming village North East of Vienna - until you get far enough that you can see around the corner to the Coptic Orthodox Church. Go past it (left at the end of the village) and right after the cemetery on the left is the entrance to the parking for the Blumengaerten Hirschstetten. This is where most of the plants are raised for the various gardens of the City of Vienna. We once visited the greenhouses on a special occasion. That is usually not possible, but the Palmenhaus can be visited. The central part of it is kept at rainforest conditions. The signs all say to be sure to close all doors because of free-living monkeys. We didn't see them, but between the wonderful collection of plants we also a variety of terrariums holding a lovely iguana, turtles, a squirrel-like creature, giant snails, frogs, and other creatures. There was also a pool with koi, some of which were quite large. The side areas were not as hot or as humid, and had different vegetation.

Right now (Until Sunday, February 10) most of the visitors were going right instead of straight into the Palm house. A ways back, in one of the greenhouses is a lovely orchid exhibit. There were a vast assortment of all colours and shapes of orchids, and a few other tropical plants. Exhibits by botanical gardens and orchid clubs alternated with stands by garden shops that specialize in orchids, and a large proportion to those leaving the exhibit had bought a plant, orchid earth, fertilizer, or something of the sort. I like growing herbs and vegetables, but I don't do as well with flowers, even in the garden, and houseplants just don't survive, although I was almost temped by the cacti labeled 'winter hard'. But I've also done a fair job of killing cacti before. I might have been tempted by the vanilla plants if there hadn't been a long explanation posted about how difficult it is to turn the green pods into the brown sticks we buy. However it was fascinating to spend time looking at all the flowers, and breathing in the various aromas in the greenhouse.

Other Palm Houses in Vienna that can be visited are at the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn palace. The one at Schoenbrunn has been in the news recently. A few years back it was renovated. No expense was spared in replacing the old glass. At the same time it was decided that as the 'Sisi Palm', the largest they had and very old, needed repotting, it would be easier to plant it down into the earth, rather than to find a pot the right size for it. Well, the plant seems to have liked that, as it has had a growth spurt, and has now reached the top of the building, and threatens to break through. If you want to see this plant, you have to hurry, as in a few weeks the Palm House will be closed for a day or two to allow the gardeners to cut it down. They will first cut off all the leaves, then remove the trunk a meter or so at a time to be sure not to damage any of the other plants.