My town, your town, our towns...

There are some beautiful and interesting photos on this site of country views. So, for those of us that do not have ready access to the country, who live or work in towns or cities, I am proposing a running thread of interesting things, buildings, events that occur in an urban setting. These may be everyday commonplace to you, but unknown and interesting to others. It might be an unusual angle on a well-known landmark, but is more likely to be found where tourists rarely tread.

I will start with some photos that I took 20 years ago to the day, with my Olympus D501Z 2MP camera. The building is at Liechtensteinstrasse 28 in Vienna, Austria.

The building was called Zur Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (To the Holy Trinity) and may originally have been free-standing when built in 1781. At that time it was about 1 km outside the city walls. Over the years, other buildings arose, and the road was built. This was widened when the large houses were built; but these buildings were left standing, though latterly abandoned, narrowing the road back down at this point.

On the right, we can see the shop of Rudolf Schlapota, horsemeat and pork butcher.

On the left, the second storage place of the Alexander Häuser family, whose shop was in another part of the street. In between, the window and room cleaner, Anton Burkart, established 1918. There was also a lawyer's office on the upper floor. This building could tell a lot of tales.

I decided to revisit the building, with the aim of making better photos. Imagine my surprise when I found that some renovation has recently been done.Looking carefully, it can be seen that a lot of old pieces of wood have been used to achieve this, and it is unclear what may happen in future. The building seems to be uninhabited still.

I am glad that this building has been preserved, though I found its previous state more interesting.

Over to you to show something interesting in the town where you live!

David

You both live in very photogenic areas. Lovely pics.

Alan

Few shots of Tallinn old town. Although I live in Tallinn, there is absolutely no reason to go into old town - unless thre is good weather and you don't forget to take your camera with you. Otherwise it is dedicated to tourists :(

There are some very interesting photos here; but they would be greatly enhanced with brief texts identifying them and explaining their significance. Enquiring minds want to know: please satisfy our curiosity. 😀

David

I have similar thoughts. So I am taking it to mean where I currently live.

David

Thanks for this, Bryan. The roof doesnt look extraordinary to me. What aspect of the design performs the heat dissipation?

David

We need something like that here these days!

David

There has been a lot in the local papers about a new tramline. I must confess that like many, I cannot see the need for this, as there was a bus line running along the street, and there are other ways of getting to the same places. But the other day, I noticed that work has started on laying the tracks. This involved digging out the street and putting the rails in. (Maybe they will be made more straight and level next week!) Concrete will be poured around them, and the overhead cables will be added. It looks to me as though only cycle traffic will be able to coexist on this street (though it is not fun if you get a wheel caught in a tramline), and it is not clear whether the previous on-street parking is eliminated for good. The only advantage of a tram, as opposed to an electric bus, that I can think of is that they don't need batteries. But the powers that be presumably know better!

The lines currently stop at the six lane road that crosses the Danube at the Reichsbrücke -- seen here in the background with its unique lighting. (The skyscrapers are on the other side of the river.) This road forms a major access to the city centre, and building tramlines over it will seriously disrupt traffic!

The bar code and the pre-rusting of the lines are a thoughtful touch!

I will post more as the project develops.

David

After the Christmas Market, which runs from the middle of November until the end of December, the space in front of the Wiener Rathaus is converted into a vast skating rink. This runs from the end of January for two months and becomes more ambitious each year. This year it is on two levels.

This the main area. The ramp between the two levels can be seen at rear right.

Looking the other way, towards the Burg Theater:

And back from the same spot looking towrads the Rathaus and showing the elevated area with eating below it.

In these last two photos one can see the Burg Theater end and turning by 90 degrees to the left how the rink is extended down nearly as far as the Parliament building.

David