Vienna in December 2013
Impressions from a snowless month over here in Vienna.
Greek Series: Athens in Bird’s-Eye View
This post is part of the Greek Series, in which I recount my travel through Greece in pictures. So, the first two entries were all about Athens, as it was the starting point of our journey. It’s time to get away from the city smog (and Athens genuinely has much of it). But not before I show you some impressions from above the city looking down on a fantastic sea of urbanity. Most of Athens today is relatively young, as the city regressed into a small town up to the 19th century. After the country gained independence from the Ottoman empire, Athens became increasingly important again and exploded truly during the 20th century into the metropole it certainly is today. There are some street shots here as well, but most of the pictures were taken from one of the many hills of Athens with a beautiful blue sky as a permanent background. The last one is a panorama.
Greek Series: Contrasts of a Metropole
In the Greek series, I recount my travel through the country in the past September. This one is all about contrasts and the different faces of Athens.
Greek Series: Urban Life in Athens
A short introduction to the series
In September 2013, friends and I backpacked through Greece and discovered a beautiful and amazing country torn between its ancient history and the struggles of the present. I shot a ton of pictures in these three weeks, and it took me months to sort them out. But my plan was right from the beginning to publish them on this blog. I just didn’t know how exactly. So, after some brainstorming, I decided to organize them thematically and post them in separate collections and not in chronological order, which didn’t seem like a good fit for this blog. So anyway, this is the first part of a long series of pictures that will continue through the winter. Occasionally, there may be some postings with wintery shots from Vienna, but apart from that, it will get sunny, at least over here (well, maybe not right from the beginning) 🙂
In full awareness of the ancient history of Greece and its stunning remains, I want to hold the old stones back for now and show you some impressions of urban life in Athens as I saw it.
Vienna in Late November
Impressions were collected in late November around Prater and Donaucity.
Photographing the new WU University Campus
Largely unnoticed, the new university campus of the Economic University of Vienna (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) was built in a relatively remote part of the city. So, most of us knew about the construction plans, but little did we know about the futuristic character and the sheer extent of the sight. What a surprise! The campus consists of about 6 to 8 buildings constructed by different architects in different styles. In common, they have a modern and environmentally friendly approach. They are centered around a student plaza, effectively creating a public space for its “citizens.” There are also a couple of cafés and shops there. One is the “Campus” (shot 4), with a mixed approach of modernism and natural elements of wood and plants. The centerpiece of the campus is the library (as it should be). It was designed by an architect from Hamburg and is simply astonishing (shots 2 – 3 exterior, shots 7 – 9 interior).
Michael Hoffman Photography 