Optics and Exposure

Make sure to stop and smell the roses.

This morning we took the train out to Schloss Schonbrunn (Schonbrunn Palace), where the Emperor spent his summers. It was originally built as a hunting grounds before becoming a complete summer palace. We spent pretty much the entire morning and early afternoon touring the inner halls and rooms, and walking the gardens. We were quite impressed with the well trimmed trees lining all of the paths. These trees were three stories tall, but the edges facing the paths were trimmed to a perfect vertical. We were lucky enough to see the ancient trimming rig still in use (a wooden structure that follows a string along the ground, and uses a plum bob to guide the workers).

Panoramic shot of the Schonbrunn Palace

After we’d had our fill of Schonbrunn, we took the U-bahn back towards town to the Naschmarkt, an outdoor market built on top of a section of a canal. We stopped for some coffee at a nearby cafe while waiting for Andy to join us. Andy was our capable guide to the Naschmarkt. He helped us pick out the ingredients we needed for the dinner that Lauren and I had planned (a thank you to our hosts). A hidden gem along the Naschmarkt is a woman named Helena.

Lauren and I with the amazing Helena, owner of a storefront near the Naschmarkt.

Upon learning that some impending repairs would force her to close her booth for a few years, Helena decided to buy a storefront nearby to sell her produce. This woman is quite a wonder. Despite running her farm, she manages to drive an hour (each way) into Vienna to open her store at 9:00 every day. She’s done so well at that location that many of her colleagues have asked her to feature their products (wines, fruit brandys, dried pasta, everything you can imagine). With all this, I’d expect the woman to be exhausted at the market, but she was quite the opposite. Buzzing from corner to corner, she was giving us samples of some of their wines while rushing to help other customers in between sips. Lauren and I were so impressed, that we had to get a photo with her.