March 2025 Archives

At the end of February, I visited Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. The Baroque-style palace was the home of the Habsburg rulers, and it was named after the spring or well on the site. Franz I and his wife Maria Theresa lived here in the mid-1700s, and the design of the palace and decoration of it is from this era. The longest-reigning emperor Franz Joseph spent most of his life in the palace and died there in 1916, before the dynasty ended in 1918. The palace would later reopen as a museum.

The palace is one of the top attractions to see in Vienna, and a visit in to the palace gardens in the spring or summer will be enjoyable, but visiting in low season to avoid the majority of the crowds gave me enough time to look around the palace without too many people in my way and without having to wait in long queues.

The first room that I saw was just outside the main house, and this is located in one of the wings of the palace and seemingly free to visit without a ticket at this section. This is a small chapel.

The Billiards room was the first main room that I saw when I entered the palace.

This part of the palace is the private apartments, and the audience chamber was the next room. This room was the room that the emperor would use to receive guests to the palace. High military and government officials would be welcomed here. 

The emperor's study and room were next to see. The rooms contain personal photographs, and there is a bed in this bedroom. This bed is where Franz Joseph passed away, and the painting was of him after he passed.

Next was the apartments of Empress Elisabeth.

The couple's bedroom has a dark blue pattern wallpaper and matching furniture. It was decorated for their marriage in 1854.

Below is the reception room of empress Elisabeth.

The Marie Antoinette room is the dining room, and this was always used for the family dining.

The breakfast room.

The yellow salon room has views over the gardens.

Balcony Room

Hall of Mirrors was one of the original rooms decorated in the mid-1700s by Maria Thresa.

The Rosa rooms are named after an artist who contributed the landscape paintings.

The Great Gallery is possibly the most impressive room in the palace. It is over 43 metres in length.

The Small Gallery is also impressive but on a smaller scale.

The Chinese Cabinet is on room that leads off the small gallery. It is named for the Chinese-inspired artwork that was popular for the period.

The Hall of Ceremonies room has the most famous portrait of Maria Theresa.

Horses room.

The Blue Chinese Salon was being restored during my visit.

One of the most important rooms of the palace was inspired from Chinese design. The Vieux Laque room has black laquer panels from China.

Th Porcelain Room was made using sketches of the family of Maria Theresa, and it is a unique design.

The Millions Room contains sketches from Asia.

The Goeblin Room has tapestries hanging in it and represents the Zodiac.

The Red Salon.

The Rich Room contains Maria Theresa's bed.

Franz Karl's study and Salon rooms were the last on the tour.

I hope to visit Vienna in the summer so that I can enjoy the gardens, but I recommend a visit to the palace. I went on the Grand Tour, which includes access to all of the rooms. There can also be combined tickets with the zoo and the palm house on site depending on the time of your visit. Although the zoo and the palace can be done in one day, i would recommend two days to do this so that you do not feel rushed. The palace and gardens can be seen in one day.

Invader (also known as Space Invader) is a street artist from France who has pasted up ceramic tiles featuring 8-bit characters inspired by the digital games of the 1970s and 1980s across cities all over the globe. His work is titled as "invasions" and features popular video game characters, such as PacMan and Space Invaders, Super Mario Brothers, Star Wars, and more. There is a map and an app where you can earn points by capturing the mosaics, and this enabled me to locate many that I would never have seen in Vienna. This is the first time that I downloaded and properly used the app. Below are most of the work by Invader that I was able to discover on my visit to Vienna.

More street art by Invader on this blog:

Street Art by Invader in Brussels

A new restaurant opened in Ruislip in th autumn of last year. Cafe Chennai is a vegetarian restaurant that serves up south Indian cuisine from Tamil Nadu and the surrounding area. The restaurant opened in place of Italian restaurant Zaza, and this restaurant's tasty traditional south Indian cuisine has become a firm local favourite of mine. 

The kadai paneer and paratha is excellent, and the paneer is not chewy/overcooked but tender and tasty. The paratha is always a favourite of mine as it is flaky and delicious.

Another firm favourite is the uttapam, which is similar to scrambled egg or pizza, though I cannot describe it any better. They sell different varieties or a selection of three - the pizza one with cheese, a vegetable one, and one with chili. This is served with various chutneys and sambar, which is similar to soup.

The restaurant also sometimes serve cocktails, but these are not available all of the time.

They also do special offers for different events and holidays. There was a set menu that I tried for Diwali with different options, and you could also for additional items. The paneer rolls were delicious. This also included different dessert options.

The restaurant is also known for its dosa. I enjoyed a chocolate dosa for dessert.

There are also a lot of starters, and I love the peanut mixture. This is an excellent item to enjoy as a snack.

Another quick and healthy treat is their selection of idli and medu vada. This is also a traditional breakfast food, and it is served with chutneys and sambar.

I enjoy the food here and recommend it. It offers traditional Indian cuisine, and the food is tasty and prepared well.

The Broken Fingaz Crew is a duo of street artists from Israel who have painted all over the world. There are a couple of murals from a visit several years ago in Vienna from the duo, although the only one that I could find that was not painted over is pictured below and is off a side road west of the historical centre of Vienna. The artists work in an illustrative style that reminds me of comics with inked outlines and bright colours.

St. Stephen's Cathedral is located in Vienna, Austria. The cathedral dates from th 1100s, but Roman ruins of a cemetary have been located on the ground before the cathedral was built. Visitors can step inside the cathedral for a quick look around the main area, but going further inside it would cost. The cathedral has a nicely-decorated and colourful roof, and the building does look beautiful in the sunlight and almost turns into a gold colour. Th square has a few cafes and several shops, and visitors can take a horse and carriage ride from here too.

Outside the cathedral is a smaller model of it.

There are also some religious reliefs designed onto the sides of the building.

I took some photographs of the gargoyles and detail of the exterior.

There are several beautiful buildings in Vienna, but this is probably one of the most beautiful ones.

The Association of Visual Artists of Austria was an artistic movement around Gustav Klimt's artwork at the end of the 1800s, and they built a building named the Vienna Succession to house their exhibitions. The architecture of the building functions as a gallery but also appears to be styled as a temple. The gallery hosts exhibitions, but the main attraction is the "Beethoven Frieze" by Klimt. Music was important to the group of artists.

The frieze is painted directly onto the walls of the gallery, and it is inspired by Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony". The figures represent human emotions and a series of different stages of life.

Visitors to the exhibition can listen to the music on headphones while they view the painting.

When I was in Vienna at the end of last month, I wanted to visit a concert and an opera as Vienna is noted for its musical heritage. I went along to "Orpheus in the Underworld" at the Volksoper in Vienna. The opera was performed in the Austrian language, but there were translations in English, and the singing voices were also translated. The play is about the Greek mythology Orpheus and wife Eurydice, and she is bored with her husband and falls in love with the god of the underworld with the other gods and Orpheus going to claim her back. Comedy and entertainment take place with some amazing sets.

Although there were subtitles in English (as I cannot speak Austrian), these were located in the top right of the stage and obscured with the overhang. I had to bend down in order to read the translations. 

The story and music and the good production in Vienna's Volksoper helped me to enjoy a few hours of entertainment.

It has been awhile since I have visited a zoo, but when I went to Vienna at the end of February, Schönbrunn palace was doing a special winter ticket that included a visit to the palace, the gardens, and the zoo on site. I took advantage of this and had my visit to the zoo in Vienna at the end of February, and I was impressed at the animal selection.

I saw sleepy koala bears.

I saw sleeping lions (male and female) and cheetah big cats.

The tigers had been fed and were sat down.

There were plenty of different habitats for the animals, though I could not see all of the animals as some were hidden away to keep warm or preferred to sleep during my visit.

I saw a couple of rhino and also a hippopatamus.

I also saw reindeer, and they perked up when my camera made a noise.

The pelicans were also on show.

As were the wombats and anteaters. There was also a section of farm animals for those who wanted to see those.

I like the red pandas as they are so pretty, though I did not get a good view, but this one was up and walking about. Normally they can be a little bit docile.

Part of the zoo was located on a hillside, and I walked up it to get some good views.

Part of the trail led through a suspended walkway where viewers could look down and admire views.

At the top was a farmhouse and restaurant and a few cattle and barn area so visitors could read about the life keeping animals on a farm.

Below this was a large area with a pack of white wolves. I heard them howling collectively later.

There was also an area of sea life and penguins.

I also saw some seals playing around.

Meerkats are always fun to watch.

There were a lot of different types of monkeys and a monkey house near the cafe, and these were all fun to watch.

The elephants were also impressive to see.

This monkey or primate was very vocal and jumped all the way to a large tree and started to make a lot of noises, which set off the howling wolves. Th primate kept swinging around to the top of the tree and looking in every direction whilst making a sound.

The lemurs are also always nice to watch and are active. 

The primate enclosure is also worth seeing near the cafe, and there were a group of them playing with a blanket and enjoying wandering around.

I also spotted a couple of giraffes and a young one.

The flamingos are normally associated with a warmer climate, but they looked content enough.

And lastly, I spotted a zebra.

The zoo is quite compact in size and has so many animals that people will recognise and enjoy visiting. The lack of foliage meant that it was easier to see many of the animals at this time of the year. 

In January, I visited London Chocolate, a bespoke hand-crafted small batch chocolatier located in the Connaught Village area of London. The cafe sells a range of different chocolates, chocolate bars, and hot chocolates to have in or to take away. Chocolate beans are imported for use in this specialised chocolate cafe. I bought a range of chocolates, a couple of chocolate bars (flavours change often), and hot chocolates over a couple of visits.

I tried the milk hot chocolate and a dark hot chocolate. The milk is the more popular and my favourite of the two that I tried. It is creamy and had the right level of sweetness. It isn't as thick as the traditional Italian style, but it was a very good hot chocolate and one of the best ones that I have enjoyed in London.

I also bought a couple of chocolate bars, including the popular Dubai Chocolate chocolate bar.

The chocolate bars are delicious and recommended. 

Street artist ROA is a high profile street artist who is originally from Belgium but who has painted all over the globe. The artist's style is recognisable and rendered in a black and white illustrative style with high detail, and the subjects in the street art are bird and animal. The below mural was painted just outside of the city centre in Vienna and features a bundled grouping of different animals on top of each other. Th work is called "Fox and Friends" and was created in 2013, although the bottom part of the mural has since been painted over. It features a rabbit and a beaver. 

Unfortunately, the artwork dates from several years ago and has been painted over, so it is difficult to really appreciate it.

More street art by ROA on this blog is located below.

ROA's Giant Flea Street Art in London
Phelgm and ROA Street Art on South Bank, London
Street Art: ROA

When I was in Vienna last month, I discovered some street art by the French and Austrian duo Jana & JS. These artists create street art across cities with themselves and their families as the subjects of their artwork. They painted in London back in 2013, so when I came across their work in Vienna, I was happy to see what they have been up to since. 

The first piece I discovered on the side of a building facing Arne Karlsson park, and it was painted in 2020.

The second piece was located on Gierstergasse, and it was actually painted in 2014.

More street art by Jana & JS on this blog can be seen below:

New London Jana & JS Street art
Mixture of street art in London by various
Jana & JS Street Art

For the past three years, Ramadan lights have been strung up between Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square with a small light installation archway at Leicester Square to encourage photographs. The Ramadan lights mark the month of Ramadan and have been launched by the mayor of London. This year, the lights went on at the start of March and will be on until 6 April. From the start of April, the message will change to "Happy Eid". 

The stars and geometric shapes are colourful btween the greetings.

I hope you enjoy the lights.

One of London's iconic department stories is the Liberty London store with its Tudor-framed exterior. In 2019 following a renovation of the department store, a Lego model was created showing the exterior and the interior of the store. The Lego model is displayd on the top floor of the department store, and I discovered it on my last visit. The Lego model is encased in a glass box against a wall, so I was not able to view the interior. Over 700 photographs of the shop were taken in order to create the model, and it took a year and over 100,000 Lego bricks in order to build. There are over 400 Lego people, and they are all unique.

The Lego sculpture can be viewed in the department store on the top floor near the central lifts/elevators.

I discovered the Duke of York Square Saturday food market (in Chelsea off King's Road) back in early January on a sunny but cold day. I had never been before, and I did not know about it until I stumbled upon it. The market has a lot of different products and street food to enjoy whilst visiting and shopping. Different types of products can be found here, and I found all of the items to be very good quality and have been back a few times to pick up the pasta, truffle spread, cookies/cookie dough, granola, and other items that I enjoyed.

The market can be very busy on sunny days and during the lunch break. One of the vendors sells mushrooms, and I got the delicious jar of truffle spread. They also have morels, which I would find in Ohio when I lived there.

There are plenty of baked goods from different parts of the world. Cakes, cookies, cinnamon buns, macaroons, doughnuts,  chocolates, and so many other items are on offer for those with a sweet tooth.

I like the look of the little filled parcels but have not yet tried one.

There is even a seller who sells sausage rolls and Scotch eggs. It is a British dish, and it contains sausage meat enchased around a boiled egg. (I have never tried one as I don't eat pork, which is traditional, but they just don't appeal to me.)

The bread also looks nice.

Going to the market is a nice event to try and buy food that you normally cannot find anywhere else.

From Thursday evening until Saturday late, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square came to life with a spaced-theme art installation, "Piccadilly Unplugged - Art After Dark". This event is curated by Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stpanian, founder of NASA International Space Orchestra. The art installation contains a few works as well as telescopes located in various places and pointed at the moon for people to enjoy in this year of the planetary parade and a partial solar eclipse.

Piccadilly Circus is the location of one of the installations, expanding like foam around the famous Eros statue; they are actually inflatible "space rocks" that have been to the moon and back. Leicester Square is also the location of "Cats", inspired by Schrodinger's quantum physics paradox.

The "Space Rocks" was meant to have a soundscape, but this must have been drowned out with the noise and buskers.

"Cats" attracted a large crowd of people.

Another installation was a phone box set up so people could call the moon.

Th "Cabinet of Curiousities" provided items and sculptures made of clay.

I also had a quick look at one of the telescopes.

Museum of the Moon is a large-scale sculpture of the moon that has toured the world on display in several locations. The artwork was created by Luke Jerram, who has also created similar sculptures of the Earth, Mars, and the sun. The sun is the most recent one, and the moon was the first and my favourite of the sculptures. The sculptures can be placed in different locations where they alter or compliment the atmosphere. The location that I saw the moon in was at St. Albans Cathedral. While the moon was being displayed in the cathedral, beautiful organ music was playing in the background. 

I walked around the sculpture and underneath it to see the different viewpoints and to see the back of the moon. I also tried to locate the flags on the moon, but I couldn't see them, but I did not really know where to focus. 

I had previously visited St. Albans Cathedral for a tour (you can read about my visit to St. Albans Cathedral here), but I missed a little bit of the tour so had a quick look at the cathedral after visiting the sculpture of the moon.

Luke Jerram's other sculptures that I visited are included in the links below:

Sun / Helios at Bath Assembly Rooms 2025
Earth at Canary Wharf 2023
Earth at Southwark Cathedral in 2022
Mars at the National History Museum in 2022

I also saw Luke Jerram's earlier artwork "Play Me I'm Yours" pianos, which have popped up since 2008 and are still located in various places. To see and read more about the pianos, view here: http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2012/07/street-pianos-in-london.html

Yesterday was Pancake Day. This year's Pancake Day, I took the day off work to watch a new pancake day race. I was originally going to go to Greenwich as it was a lovely day, but I ended up in Bankside as a friend arranged to meet me in that area aftrwards. Contrasting with last year's wash out pancake day, this year was wonderful warm weather with full sunshine. The crowds were not at Bankside like some pancake day races, but last year's pancake day was busy due to school being out that week. I enjoyed that it was not too crowded, as last year was not fun with the rain and the crowds.

The Bankside Pancake Day Race teams are from local businesses and communities, and the money raised goes to helping charities. The teams have four members for each race and have to flip the pancakes twice in the middle part of the track and then turn around and hand the pancakes to the next team member. The winner is the first team to come back after all team members have gone. As usual, some of the teams participate in fancy dress and costumes. 

Batman, Easter Bunny, prisoner, dinosaurs, and a team of sea captains from the 1800s made up some of the teams this year. Obviously, the costumes have a disadvantage because they won't be able to run as quickly. There definitely needs to be a category for "best costumes" as in some races.

The Better Bankside Pancake Day Race has been taking place for the past few years now in Marlborough Sports Garden, which Mr. Londoner told us would sadly be developed on later this year, taking another rare green space in this part of London.

Check out some of my Pancake Day posts:

• Valentine's Day Pancake Day 2024 (2024)
• Leadenhall Pancake Day Race 2024 (2024)
• Japanese Souffle Pancakes from Coffee Addict (2023)
• TFL Tube Lockdown Strike Pancake Day (2022)
• Lockdown Pancake Day 2021 (2021)
• Happy Pancake Day! Pancakes at Pancs, Covent Garden (2020)
• Pancakes: "Crème de la Crêpe" in Covent Garden (2020)
• Pancake Day at "Where the Pancakes Are" in Flat Iron Square, (Borough, London) (2019)
• Leadenhall Market Pancake Day Race (2019)
• Pancake Day at Outsider Tart (Chiswick, London) (2018)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2017 (2017)
• Happy Pancake Day - Balan's Soho Society (Westfield)! (2016)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2015 (2015)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2014 (2014)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2013 (2013)

To get ready for Pancake Day this year, I visited My Old Dutch on King's Road in Chelsea. The restaurant is considered London's oldest pancake house, and it has been located at the premises since the late 1950s. There are a few of this restaurant chain located around the city now, but this is the original one. I had never been to the restaurant before. I ordered the pistachio stack of four pancakes (proper American pancakes and not crepes). 

There was a stack of five pancakes served with pistachio sauce, dried raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and vanilla ice cream.

The interior of the restaurant had a couple of neon signs and tulips hanging upside down from the ceiling.

I enjoyed my pancakes. Happy Pancake day / Shrove Tuesday!

Hopton Castle in Shropshire is a Norman castle built in the motte and bailey (moat and tower) style and was either built in the 1100s or 1200s. The castle served more as a fortified home than for defenses and was seiged during the Civil War as the owners sided with Parliament. The castle was habitable until the 1700s. The castle was filmed for "The Time Team" with rumours of a massacre during the Civil War, but nothing could be discovered. The castle is maintained by an independent trust. 

There is not too much to see of the castle, but the keep can be entered, and visitors can walk around the castle, which is a pasture for cattle. The castle sits in a valley ("Hop" means valley and "tun" or "ton" means settlement), so it is unlikely that the castle was built for defense.

There is a small amount of parking next to the castle for visitors to explore it.