I lived in Vienna, Austria from September 2013 to June 2014 to study at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts.

Field Trip to See the Rosary Paintings by Ernst Fuchs

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Next weekend, our class is taking a 4-hour train ride to Klagenfurt to see the Apocalypse Chapel painted by Professor Ernst Fuchs and his assistants, including our director Laurence Caruana. Today’s field trip, however, was much shorter.  We went to the parish church of Hetzendorf in Vienna to see his Three Mysteries of the Sacred Rosary Paintings

DLH_6739L to R: Lizzy, Martin, Clovis, Laurence, Rachel, Hadley, Kevin, Florence

There’s quite the story behind these paintings – their slashing by a psychopath (as described on the site) to winning a prize at the Sao Paulo Biennale (South America).  In addition to what you can read on the website, we learned from Laurence this morning in a presentation that these paintings were very controversial and that Fuchs received a lot of criticism because of them, including from the clergy.  He had won a competition to paint these after he had returned from his time in Israel and had decided to devote himself to religious art and to building bridges between the Jews and Christians (being a Christian of Jewish heritage – read more about his life on his website – I still say it would make an amazing movie).  Some of the symbols in these paintings reflect these efforts and are no doubt part of what caused such a storm.  There were many other reasons too – but I’m no expert on the matter and can’t recall all the details of this morning’s talk.  I’m not sure how different they are now than from before they were restored, but they were certainly more impressive in person than in our morning slideshow. Hopefully these photos give you a good idea anyway.   I really like the use of gold on paintings – those of you who know my work know that…

On the Way:

  • I love field trips, especially when I get to walk / see places I’ve never been to before.
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  • We all met at Schönbrunn Palace after lunch.  I was there early and most others late, so I had time to play with a few panned shots of tourists.  They look better if you click on them to see them large  – always an option with these galleries.  We then walked through the gardens (which I’ve been to often and thoroughly enjoy) before going through a neighbourhood I hadn’t seen before.
  • It was cooler than we’d expected, but still above freezing… check out the photo of a flowering tree – sweet smelling but alarmingly early!  Not sure what this is going to mean for the farmers, but it’s certainly not typical February weather for Vienna…
  • On our way to the church (p.s., don’t always trust your iPhone GPS – good thing we had a paper version too), we walked by another little palace that I later explored (now a restaurant, spa and fashion school/museum +). There are palaces everywhere here.
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  • I had dressed up a little for the occasion – palaces and churches do that to me – and it felt so good to not be in my painting or hiking clothes for the first time in what seems like months!
  • I’m not sure if it’s all my walking this week, or if it was this morning’s Kundalini yoga class, but my legs are letting me know they’ve been quite active lately. Good thing I have a day off before my Sunday hike with classmates – this time we’ll be doing #6, a 12.5 km (4.5 hour) hilly hikein District 23.
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Vienna City Hike #5 – Bisamberg

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DLH_6476I don’t think I could pick a favourite – the five City Hiking Paths I’ve done so far have all been excellent.  Today’s hike # 5 to Bisamberg offered lots of new sites, and since I chose to only bring my long lens (70-300mm), you’ll see a different feel to my photographs this week. I discovered how much better/faster a lens this one is compared to my shorter one – don’t think I knew that… shooting handheld at high FStops and low ISO was not a problem today, especially in the bright sunshine.

DLH_6472Summary:

  • great company – Martin & Nora
  • lovely weather – sunny and 10 degrees Celcius (50F) by the end
  • not as hilly at the others – wine country
  • 4 hours, including a break at a picnic table in the sun for a while

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I’m sure I could say more, but since a picture is worth 1,000 words ….
(click on 1st image if you want to then use your arrow key to view all at full screen)

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Things are Looking Up – Vienna’s Architectural Details

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DLH_6216When was the last time you took a walk and only looked above ground level?  It’s amazing what you can see above the storefronts of most cities – but especially here in Vienna. I had noticed many of these architectural delights before, but certainly not all of them. Wow! Every day I notice new things, and since I often vary my route to school, the surprises are endless, even after 5.5 months here. Plus looking up is a nice change from the endless streams of dog urine on the sidewalks that can’t be helped in a district without grass…

Screen shot 2014-02-19 at 10.17.06 PMWednesday’s route went along Burgasse all the way to the historic core, past the Volkstheatre, the back of the Natural History Museum, and through the Imperial Palace grounds to my school in the Palais Palffy.  It normally takes about 35-40 minutes, but today it took a little more than an hour.  I could have spent a whole day around the palace, but had to rush and got to school as the 10 o’clock bells were ringing. Trust me when I say that this is just a sampling… (one that filled up my free media storage space on this blog – I do like to share!).

 If you click on one, you can then proceed through them at full-screen. If you’re a subscriber, you can click on the blue title in this email to go to my blog page, where the photos are displayed in a gallery.

stroller ramp

 

 

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Vienna City Hike #3 – Hameau

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panning with the camera

Yay!  It feels great! Not only did I get out on Saturday morning for a 3.5+ hour hike after spending so much time crossed-legged on the floor painting this week, I’m back on track in terms of doing Vienna’s Hiking Paths in order.  That same part of my brain that likes to finish one book or project before starting another feels much better now that I’ve done City Hike #3 – Hameau. If you’ll remember, I had skipped it to do the much shorter Hike #4 on a cold day when I had very little energy.  Then again, I haven’t done 1A, right next to Hike 1 because I’m saving it for when the grapes are growing again. Somehow, my brain has no issues with that.

forestscapeThis hike was truly blissful!  I left at 7:30am after making a huge batch of organic curry soup (cauliflower, butternut squash, brown rice, lentils, celery, carrot, spinach, ginger, and garlic. I’m glad to report it’s a good batch – thank goodness because I have enough for the whole week!).  I’m an early bird, so I don’t mind leaving right after sunup – it simply meant no hiking buddies like when I did Hike 2.  I enjoy my own company, though, so I didn’t mind that either. It was worth it so I could take advantage of the warm sunny weather (3-9 degrees during my hike) and still get 7.5 hours in at school with the rest of my class.  The forecast was rain for Sunday.

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dancing with the camera

Highlights:

  • The starting point to all these paths is in the city, accessible by public transportation.  In addition to seeing all sorts of gorgeous buildings on my way to the trail heads, I get to walk through very different neighbourhoods than mine before entering nature. For this hike, I took the U6 subway to Alser Strasse and then tram 43 to the end stop at Neuwaldegg (17th district).
  • These trails are all well marked – you just have to keep your head up, but out of the clouds, so as not to miss a sign and end up on one of the hundreds of intersecting trails that go who knows where.  I’m glad to report that I didn’t have to do any backtracking this time. The only tricky part was finding the first sign from the tram station – if you don’t have a smart phone with Internet access, it’s a good idea to write down the list of landmarks so you can ask someone. One sign informed me that I was about to enter Black Mountain Park (Schwarzenbergpark) –  part of the Vienna Woods Biosphere Reserve recognized by UNESCO in 2005.  Very promising!
  • For the first hour, you’re mostly walking on sidewalks and paved trails. Then you hit the dirt paths – where you can connect more directly with nature and encounter less people.  I like the variety and have felt completely safe on all these trails.  That’s quite the blessing!
  • I certainly didn’t need my headphones – the song of the birds, the wind, and sheep made an amazing soundtrack to gorgeous sights and colours – even in the winter.  Have you seen the movie “August Rush“? It’s my favourite and celebrates this kind of music.
    original – in camera backlit wonder
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  • I so enjoy finding creatures and figures – in tree trunks, roots, and sometimes while playing in Photoshop afterwards.
    mirrored image – forest spirits
  • The namesake for this trail is Hameau, a rain shelter with a history (badly translated by Google, but decipherable).  I reached it at the top of the hill at about 10am and enjoyed my organic snack from Denn’s: lactose-free yoghurt carrot cheese; wheat free bun, golden carrot. It kept me going until my late lunch at Vapiano’s: pizza – not lactose or gluten free, but so good once in a while.
    She wasn’t a young woman!

The Lowlight:

DLH_6111This wasn’t a big deal at all, but I nearly wiped out twice near the end of the trail where there had recently been some tree cutting – the tracks of the heavy machinery in the mud and all the branches made it a bit more challenging to walk – not a huge inconvenience and only for about 15 minutes.  I’m actually more grateful that the rest of the trail wasn’t as muddy – it’s been an unusually dry and warm winter I’m told.

I made it to school by 12pm, even before the teacher, and had a very productive day working on my painting.  As for today, it’s a home day.  A bit of writing and photo editing, a bit of studying, a couple of loads of laundry, a movie or two, and perhaps more cooking.  Life is good indeed!

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Lunchtime Stroll

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I brought my lunch to school today, as I most often do, but this time I decided not to stay in the classroom to relax or to keep on working. Instead, after I finished eating, I went for a half hour stroll around the neighbourhood with my iPhone camera.  What a neighbourhood it is!  Thought I’d share as I got quite excited – not having walked in that direction for a while.  I even stopped into my friend Donnalyne’s favourite confectionery / café to buy myself a Florentine (a childhood favourite) in honour of my friend Cheryl’s birthday in St. John’s.  Happy birthday Cheryl! It was delicious!

P.S To see them full-screen, click on the first and then you can click on the arrow to make your way through the gallery.

 

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Tidbits

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I didn’t want to make yesterday’s post too long, so I’ve decided to wrap up my week’s summary in a separate post.

What caught my eye?

Vienna is relatively clean.  With all the smokers, however, there’s bound to be some unusual ashtrays.

IMG_4985Vienna’s Iceworld:

On Friday, I had to go to the main OeAD office to pick up my new apartment keys, and so I walked past City Hall and got to see Vienna’s Ice World.  In addition to a couple of skating rinks, there were long snaking ice paths between them and very appealing food stalls.  It was 3pm, and I hadn’t had lunch yet, so I had myself a Finnish specialty – fire roasted salmon on an organic baked potato and sauerkraut sauce.  It was quite cold eating that standing outside, but fun too!  I may return to skate one day- it’s 6 Euros entrance fee, plus 6 Euros skate rental.  Lockers are 2 Euros, but I could skip that, making it an $18 Cdn outing.
It did look fun and it’s been a few years since I’ve been in Ottawa when the Rideau canal was open – the world’s longest outdoor skating rink.

At School:

  • Poetic Landscape

This week we worked on the concepts for several paintings.  One I haven’t talked about before is our “Poetic Landscape”.  Timea and Benedetto will be coaching us on very specific elements – drapery, transparent figures, and landcapes.  If you’ve followed the link to Benedetto Fellin‘s artwork in previous posts, you’ll see he specializes in all three within each composition.  Our first task was to find examples of these elements to collage together as our painting sketch – something I did in Photoshop. We’ll be doing the drapery from real set-ups in class, however.  Although I’m really motivated to learn both drapery (for long flowing dresses) and transparent figures, I can’t say this project had me very excited when I first heard of it. I saw it more as a simple practice exercise.  After putting these elements together, however, I’m really looking forward to it.  I chose an image of a Buddha and a drapery set-up I found on the Internet and superimposed them on a photograph I took of Shag Rock in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland.  Doesn’t it look like he’s rising from a lotus? Love it – and reconnects me to the very spiritual nature of the Rock – the island of Newfoundland. We’ll be doing this in oils over an acrylic ground.

  • Dominique poetic landscapeFantastic Creature:

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Do you remember that I showed this pony painting by Bob Coonts in my Inspirations post? It’s similar in style to a phoenix that my friend Lori Reddy and I did together (I painted the background and she brought it to life, leaving me breathless!  I later used a similar technique for “Jubilation”.

by Bob Coonts
by Dominque Hurley

Well, that’s the style I’ve decided to use for my Fantastic Creature project, but stepping it up a notch.  On Thursday, I spent most of the day designing the owl, learning new ways of approaching such tasks thanks to Timea’s coaching.   I also added another layer of colour and more white details on the canvas.  Fun!  I’m also including early process photos taken by Laurence & Florence as I just got these.

  • Sacred Codes

On Thursday, Laurence gave a great 2-hour presentation on the Hindu Worldview, looking at the different eras and sacred texts to answer these 3 questions: “Whence Come We?” “Who Are We?”, and “Where are We Going”?.  I certainly learned a lot thanks to his wealth of knowledge and personal experiences.

  • Still in Progress:

On Friday, I spent most of the day working on my self-portrait – you can hardly tell the changes unless you know what to look for, but trust me, I’ve done quite a few more hours of work on this since you last saw it.  Oils in the Mischtechnik take time… Laurence spent quite a bit  coaching me on how to apply shadows on the female figure.  Very helpful.

This blog is as much a diary of my time in Vienna as it is a way for me to share my journey with you – hope you’re enjoying all the details.

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My New Home Until Bali

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For my first four months in Austria, I shared a very small apartment in OeAD’s Kandlgasse international student residence with 3 young women from elsewhere in Europe.  When it became legal for me to stay in Vienna longer than a trimester, however, my room was no longer available.  Luckily, a single apartment in the same complex eventually opened up. What a relief!  I love this modern clean “passive house”  and neighbourhood – my 40-minute walk to school, the organic grocer at the corner, the tram/bus/subway central 2 blocks away, etc. I wasn’t thrilled about the fact that this whole district doesn’t have trees, but I’ve just found a couple in the courtyards in front and behind my new place.  Yay!  I’m even thrilled at the bare vines growing on the wall outside my window –  signs of nature!  Progress! Interestingly, I have mixed feelings about living on my own after 3 years of having roommates.  When I weigh the advantages and disadvantages, however, it’s clear that I’m going to enjoy having my own space for a while.

Disadvantages:

  • Single apartments are expensive: including cleaning and administration fees, it works out to $863 Cdn / month.  That’s a lot! For the past 3 years, I chose to have roommates, so I could invest more of my time and financial resources in my art, education, and travel.  This is definitely the main disadvantage, but since I’m here, I’ll enjoy it instead of worrying about it. It was obviously meant to be.
  • No more in-home greetings and tourism stories – it was nice coming home to a “hello”, wishing people a nice day, and hearing about various spots my roommates visited with their organized group.  I was lucky – all three were very nice.
  • I won’t get as much practice in unconditional love. As you know, my life purpose is to both explore and express my love of beauty and the beauty of love.  I’ve focused a lot on learning how to be unconditionally loving, with definite progress thanks to the resources at RealLove.com . I’ll write more about this soon, but basically, living with 3 young students with very different schedules, personalities, and various levels of cleanliness and consideration was great training ground.  Each time I got irritated (especially when I couldn’t access water because of a sink full of dirty dishes), I got quicker at recognizing the counter-productiveness and selfishness of my internal reactions.  When I return to Newfoundland in July, I may live with roommates again, but this time I’ll look for compatible ones.  Until then, I’ll certainly enjoy being on my own.
  • My new room is not in the main building, which means I’ll have to suit-up to do laundry, and only once my hair is dry during the winter months- not a big deal, but a slight inconvenience.

Advantages:

  • None of my roommates in the last 3 years have had similar schedules, interests, lifestyles, habits, or life philosophies. After one day on my own, I feel more free to be me – woke up at 6am, played some music, sang, did my guided yoga practice with normal volume, etc.  The walls here are pretty thick, so it’s nice not to feel like I need to be quiet until noon or 1pm, when “normal” students wake up.
  • I’m an introvert and need a lot of alone time. After being out and about or at school with people all day (all of which I enjoy), I need my own space to recharge my batteries.  I do my best work, thinking, etc. when I’m on my own. Then, and only then, can I enjoy and do well in public.  Although I had my own room, there were often big dinner parties after my bedtime as well as several house guests in our very small space, and so recharging my batteries was sometimes challenging.
  • Allergy-free zone:  I’m hoping my skin issues have something to do with my allergy to perfume.  Europe hasn’t caught on to the scent-free movement.  Sharing a space with three young beautiful social European women meant constantly coming into contact with clouds or perfume or films of it on shared surfaces like the shower, floors, etc.  I even had to buy my own toilet paper as the last communal batch was scented.
  • A clean kitchen!!!  Cooking will be so much more appealing when I can access things, have more than a shelf in the mini-bar sized fridge, and not be turned off by the stinky dirty dishes sometimes left there for days.  I like to clean mine as soon as I’m done, but I had to respect that others didn’t.  We’d had a group meeting about kitchen etiquette, but it only helped for a week.
  • More sleep: I have an unusual schedule.  I wake up at 5am and am in bed around 9pm.  So dinner parties that started at 8pm right outside my room weren’t fun.  Also, my roommates often came home late at night or in the wee hours of the morning interrupting my sleep with their high heels on hard floors or the occasional dramatic post-party conversations or cooking. It wouldn’t have been so bad if our hours were the same, but alas for all of us, they weren’t (although that also had definite advantages, especially when it came to bathroom use).  Also, our place really echoed, so that didn’t help.  If last night was any indication, my new place is very quiet! Yay!
  • Guests: Now that I have a little more space, I’m hoping my friends from the Czech Republic come to visit. For 15 Euros a night, I can get another mattress delivered if they want to stay overnight.

So there you have it.  I have a new home for the next 2 months, and I’m thrilled.  I’ve unpacked, put up my prayer flags, had my ritual house-warming ceremony (smudged it with palo santo smoke, lit a beeswax candle, did a bit of fung shui, invoked my angels and guides to help me fill it with healthy energy, etc.)  For those of you I know like pictures, here’s how it looks.

 

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Vienna City Hike Path #4 – Jubiläumswarte

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I woke up with low energy on Saturday – probably because I stayed up late watching movies Friday night.  Still, the sun was coming out and it would be warmer than on Sunday (-2, but -7 degrees with the wind chill), so I focused on how much I enjoy being out in nature in order to get myself off my computer chair and out the door. Even waiting for tram 49 down the street I considered turning back, but I knew this wasn’t an intuitive message – it was the kind of mental noise that stops me from doing things I enjoy.   Already, it was late – almost 1pm.  Instead of doing all the city hikes in order, therefore, I found the shortest one on the list, City Hike #4 – Jubiläumswarte – 7.2 km and an estimated 2.5 – 3 hours.

DLH_5790I’m really glad I got out.  It felt good to be moving and seeing new things.  This trail went through parks, hillside garden communities, forests, etc. No vineyards this time.

Sure, it was colder than last week, but after a few minutes on steep inclines, my hands warmed up. An advantage to the cold weather was that there was no mud this week.  Instead, there was a dusting of snow on the higher elevations (hadn’t seen snow since Christmas in Canada).

At the top was the Jubiläumswarte tower.  I saw someone going up and so I worked up the resolve to do it – it would be a shame to have climbed all the way up here and not see the view, even if I was still in low gear.  You can understand, therefore, why I had mixed feelings when I realized he had climbed over a shoulder-height winter fence to do it – something I wasn’t willing to do.

There were a lot less people than the other hikes, and only 1 restaurant near the very end.  I didn’t want to eat there because soon it would be dark, and I didn’t know how far I still had to go.  At one point, I added about 20 minutes to my trek when I took a wrong turn. There are lots of signs, but sometimes, it’s just not clear with all the criss-crossing trails and my assumption that the biggest of the 2 paths in front of me was the correct one was wrong.  Oh well… no big deal.  When I did catch up to creatures of the human variety, I was instructed to turn back. Even with that detour, the whole trail only took me 2.5 hours.

When I got back to my neighbourhood at 4pm, I decided to try a vegan restaurant called Loving Hut.  I had a coconut curry dish that came with rice and salad for 8 Euros.  It was quite good and very welcomed as I hadn’t eaten since my bowl of porridge at 9am.

DLH_5837 copyI’m glad I pushed myself.  Who knows how long the trails will still be safe to walk – a bit more ice and I wouldn’t have wanted to be up there.  And even with that outing, I still have plenty of time to do my packing, laundry, cooking for the week ahead, and work on my quotes project.  I’m sharing a quote a day on my public Facebook Page.  Here’s one from last week.

Blue Lotus

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Vienna City Hike #2 – Hermannskogel

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This weekend was one of contrasts!

Quote 3_Precious MomentsOn Saturday, I spent at least 14 hours sitting on my butt in front of the computer.  I did watch one or two movies at the end of the night, but for about 11 hours, I worked on a new project for my Facebook followers. I had been getting requests to see more of my work, and so I’ve decided to offer 1 of my images a day (painting or photography) as a backdrop to inspirational quotes.  This was today’s offering, for example.  I’m greatly enjoying this project as it definitely fits my business name – Dominique Hurley – Art & Inspiration.  My public Facebook Page is open to non-Facebook members, so feel free to visit or Follow it.  While I was working, I listened to several inspirational podcasts hosted by Deb Ozarko. Time just flew! They’re about letting go of fear, judgment, conformity, status-quo, and celebrating a simpler, heart-centered life of purpose, passion, and compassion.  I found out about them because she contacted me from British Columbia asking to interview me, following a recommendation from a friend I’ve been “inspiring for decades”.  Wow!  Thanks Jo-Anne! If anything I say can be of any help to anyone, then I’ll be glad to do it – even if it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul conversation for anywhere close to an hour as it just hasn’t been a part of my Vienna experience.  I know I’ll be fine, though. Actually, it will be great!  I’ll let you know when it gets released on iTunes – we haven’t even set a recording date yet.    If you’re looking for inspiration though, I recommend these podcasts – all sorts of topics like veganism, living with intention, standing in our goddess power, courage, and forgiveness.

Sunday Hike

DLH_5675On Sunday, however, I got off my butt!  My classmate Martin Cash and I headed to Vienna’s tallest hill for a 4.5 hours exploration of City Hike #2: Hermnanskogel.  Martin, it turns out, is a perfect hiking partner.  His pace was almost as leisurely as mine, and if it wasn’t me uttering in awe “check out that vibrant green moss on this fence”, it was him exclaiming “look, these trees have eyes”.  It was great being in nature with a fellow observer who appreciated subtleties in colours and textures.

I’m so glad I brought my real camera (last week I only had my iPhone)- I almost left it at home, not knowing how steep the hills would be, but it was worth the extra weight.  There were a few times, though, when I’d wished I had also brought my long lens.  Maybe next time – but that would mean a tripod too…  Still, I’m thrilled with the results – lots of in-camera dancing and panning, as well as mirror work and other artistic adjustments in Photoshop.  You’ll get plenty of straight shots too – a nice variety to represent both the visual and energetic experience of the day.

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The trail head was 2 subways and a bus away from my place, but with Vienna’s amazing public transportation system, there’s rarely more than a 5 minute wait for anything – even on Sundays, it seems.  From the bus stop, we simply followed the signs (and fellow hikers, many with their nordic walking sticks.)  We were soon past the vineyards and into the forest.

The high was to be 12 degrees Celcius today – we’re having a very unusual winter… still fall, really!  You’ll see that in the photos.  I so resonated with the purples, greens and oranges (yes, some of these were digitally saturated, but others weren’t – that’s just how I experience colour).  The birds provided background music at the beginning of our hike, but near the top, strong winds added to the impressive soundtrack.

We weren’t alone on the trails, but there weren’t nearly as many people as last weekend on Trail #1.

If you read about my love of dogs in a previous post, you’ll understand how thrilled I was when this little dog chose to walk with us rather than his elderly owners behind us – I think he preferred our calm and positive energy instead of their constant yabbering and complaining.  I like listening to German for my learning purposes, but I kept my distance too.  Anyhow, I couldn’t help but take these pictures of our companion checking out the smell-mail on this 1891 marker (a behaviour he would repeat along the way).  Centuries of dogs have left messages there.

Once in a while, I could see the roadway and it looked shiny and wet, despite the fact it hadn’t rained in hours.  It was only once we got closer that I figured out that it wasn’t an ordinary paved road. Wow!  The work involved! There’s history to this, I’m sure…  By the way, it’s a very long road!

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At the very top top – the highest point in Vienna, we found this tower, which was erected in 1888 by the Tourism Club.  This spot also marked the 0 km point during the Austro-Hungarian era.

On our way down, we stopped at a very busy restaurant (there are a few along the trails – some of which are usually closed by this time of year).  We shared a table with a young couple and their newborn in a carriage.  They had parked about 1km lower down and taken the smoother trail up.  There’s no way they would have managed the very muddy steep trails we had taken. I sat with my back to the long wall plastered with stuffed animals (not the toy kind)- but I could feel that wild boar behind me staring… Although I resonated with many of the podcasts I’d heard on veganism yesterday (I was vegan for 3 years and vegetarian for longer), I ordered a chicken schnitzel. A few years back, after several health consultations by medical intuitives and a lot of tears, I had had to bring chicken and fish back in my diet.  My body, it turns out, needs meat occasionally – and I prefer when someone else cooks it.  Martin, who had eaten a sandwich partway up, had a cafe latte and Sacher cake – very Viennese!

Part of the #2 loop was closed due to trail maintenance (they were cutting down trees – a painful site to see, I’ll admit), so we took a detour. At one intersection, Martin felt we should veer right on an unmarked trail down.  I used my necklace as a pendulum to confirm.  It was the right decision – we ended up reconnecting to trail #2. Had we followed the crowds, we would have ended up back on the trail I did last week (which would have added another hill and about 2 hours to the trek).  Instead, we were back in town for the 2:50pm bus.  A truly wonderful day.  I hope you enjoyed seeing it through my eyes.  Now lets see for how many days this week my legs will remind me of today’s good work…

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Healthy Stress & Hiking Paths

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Humans are complex beings  – at least I am…. a study in contrasts at times.

I have traveled around the world, yet I was almost too afraid to explore Vienna’s hiking paths on my own, and I hadn’t found anyone to join me. It’s not like I spent my first 4 months here locked up in my room, but this is something I had wanted to do and hadn’t.   I didn’t know how safe it would be for a woman alone to be walking in the woods around here.  I didn’t know how to get to the trail heads.  All sorts of little fears had gotten in the way of my making it to the thirteen hiking paths around Vienna.  Until yesterday.  The sun was shining and I had done my research (plus I’d written I would in my blog, so….).  I felt the fear, but did it anyway.  Have you read that book? “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers?  I did about 15 years ago, and I’m a big fan!  I’m also a fan of a saying that was printed on my Lulu Lemon yoga bag:  “Do one thing a day that scares you.”  It’s good to stretch our comfort zones – that’s how we grow.  My life is a testimony to that.  And lo and behold, Sunday morning, I even learned how to make my body’s stress induced reactions healthy! During breakfast, I watched a great TED Talk (14 minutes) that revealed scientific evidence on how our beliefs change our reality – worth a watch!  Stress, it turns out, is not a public enemy.  It’s only bad if you believe it is.  If you believe it’s good, your body will respond differently and you’ll live much longer.  Check out the video – I’m sure it has added a few years to my life!

After watching that, I headed out with a healthy attitude.  I had chosen Hiking Path #1 (logical, I know) – Kahlenberg, described as “an uphill walk through vineyards and wooded hills rewarded by a marvelous view of Vienna and the Danube.”  Perfect!  And it was.  As it often happens, there was absolutely no reason for fear… It was simply wonderful! It often is.


They advertised that it is a 3-4 hour hike – it took me 4 hours and 20 minutes from the end station of tramway D – the start of the 11km loop.  I only brought my iPhone to take pictures, but I still like to walk at a leisurely pace, so I’m usually slower than most.  It was awesome!  There were times I was on my own, but the trails were far from empty: people of all ages – walking, jogging, mountain-biking, dog-walking, pushing strollers and wheelchairs, and nordic pole walking.  This is how Viennese balance their café & confectionery culture!

The path was pretty well marked, but I’m glad I had written down the route’s major landmarks.  There are lots of trails that intersect this loop and I had to ask a few times to make sure I was still on track (literally!).  There was only once when I was wasn’t – I had gone a hundred meters down a very steep hill, only to have to climb back up again.  Good exercise!  As you’ll see in the photos, some of the paths are paved, on gravel, or packed dirt – or mud.  I enjoyed the variety and loved being able to see past the buildings across the street.  It felt so good to be in nature!

When I got to the top, the clear blue skies had turned a bit cloudy, so the views of Vienna weren’t perfectly clear.  That’s OK.  I joined all those who had gotten there by bus or by car (the parking lot was full!) to admire the view.  I also treated myself to some roasted potatoes and a delicious bowl of goulash soup (that was for you Papa), which I ate sitting on a bench in the sun. I don’t usually eat beef, but was in the mood to taste this traditional dish.  I then entered the packed church in time to hear a lovely hymn.  In addition to the church, Kahlenberg is home to a transmission tower, a historic tower, food stands, tourist shop, a fancy restaurant, ballrooms, hotel, private university, conference rooms, and a house with a big back yard and several Newfoundlander dogs.  Nice! By the way, the washrooms on the descending path near the bus stop are the only free ones.  I saved a Euro there and many people do along the trails, as I found out when I saw something move downhill from me while I was talking a picture.  (The elderly gentleman standing next to me didn’t say a thing while I was shooting away near his wife’s hideaway… oops!)  After spending half an hour at the top, I headed back down past a really cool hebertism trail (obstacle course among and up the trees) and through the forest and vineyards.  In the fall, tourists and locals spend a lot of time up here at all the heurige – wine taverns.  Since I could never get past the smell of wine, this hasn’t been part of my experience.  I love Vienna’s spring water though 🙂

Note: There was an interesting plaque at the top of the hill that left me curious – I don’t have much time to research it now as I need to get to school soon, but it turns out that it’s about a parallel universe and the creatures that live there. Seems that Kahlenberg is also known to some as Seen des Himmels (Lakes of the Sky). Check out their website if you want to know more and click on this image to see it larger – hopefully you’ll be able to read the text.

IMG_4634Anyhow, I had a great day in nature and now I’m excited to explore the other 12 trails – I’ve got til June! I tell ya – feel the fear and do it anyway!  It’s worth it!

P.S.  On Saturday night, Ellen and Monica, two of my roommates, went to a ball in the Hofburg Palace – it was organized by their university.  Ball season is such an important part of Vienna culture, and one I won’t be participating in, so I wanted to share a couple of their photos.

Have a great week and hope you get some time in nature!

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