Northern & Central Europe

This page is focused on northern and central Europe including Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. For Germany there is a seperate page.

Scandinavia – Finland

I traveled throughout Scandinavia during the summers from 1983 to 1995. In 1984 a performer from the Kansalis Finnish circus whom I had met in Spain invited me to do some shows, which in those days were strictly juggling. It took me a week to track down the circus, which had changed its tour dates. I only stayed some days but it was a fun experience. I had done some circus work in the States, poorly paid and literally made to shovel elephant shit 5 minutes after having done a show. If you are not a big name act in the circus, it generally sucks big time.

Norway – Oslo

Norway was the Scandinavian country I spent the most time in and Oslo the city most visited. The most important street is the Karl Johan Gate, which connects the train station to the castle. From the station it is an upward sloping pedestrian zone until Egertorget, which is an open area where most of the big shows were presented. Down the other side, the street is open to traffic and is hectic for making shows. By far the best pitch, there would often be a line-up of 5 to 10 performers each evening on Egertorget. Here is a photo from 1986 of Michael Bonnet, an American juggler rocking the pitch. I studied finance and became a performer. Michael studied and performed and eventually became a banker. Michael was an accomplished linguist who really inspired me to travel to places like Latin America and Asia.

The upper corner of Egertorget was the chosen spot for David “Circus Skunk”. His show relied on fairly basic music, juggling and slack rope techniques and a very minimum of speaking but his soft, subtle style really charmed the masses. It was eye-opening to see him work the often rowdy crowds with such a soft and simple character. He had grown up in California but like myself was born in Puerto Rico yet we didn’t seem to get along so well. Despite many musicians in Oslo, he had been one of the few clown/jugglers. I showed up on the scene and soon afterwards a lot of other jugglers started showing up. He seemed put off that I would show up each and every evening hoping to do at least one if not 2 shows. He thought that was excessive but the summer is short and I had to earn my money and was used to festivals and other cities where one could do numerous shows per day.

Social problems despite wealth

Per capita, Norway had by far the worst junkie problem I have ever seen. In Oslo I would park by the foreign embassies since they were generally under tight surveillance. Elsewhere, one could hardly stop at a red light without a junkie trying to break into your vehicle. I was broken into while parked next to the kings farm, another time at high noon in front of the city hall while inside my motor home and plenty of people looking out a picture window in a crowded bar a couple of meters away.

Another time, I was parked near the performing pitch and had taken a girl there to make out while waiting my turn to perform. I had mirrored windows so I got a good look at the junkie trying to break in before I bashed him by opening the door. Bicycles were a big target as well and they used to lock up some of the well-known burglars over Easter weekend to lower the unbelievable number of break-ins since many people in Oslo would traditionally go to their huts on the coast then.

Oslo parks, beach & King’s farm

Other than dealing with junkies, my time in Oslo was pretty relaxed. Most of the performers used to park their vans overnight up at a lake but I drove out to the nearby peninsula Huk where the king had a farm where his herd of horses were kept. Here a local friend of mine makes friends with the royal herd. There was a woods on the other side where I would park and in the afternoon ride my bike to the nude beach, passing by the Viking ship museum.

One of the other attractions in Oslo was the centrally located Frogner Park. One section of this huge park is known as Vigeland Park. This park within a park is home to a series of over 200 sculptures by the artist Gustav Vigeland depicting nude bodies piled together including this tower. Despite the obvious phallic symbolism of the tower, the figures suggest affection and human bonding without being overtly sexual in nature.

Outside of Oslo – Risør

LOTS of performers used to work in Oslo, always bitching about how over-played it was. Yet the south coast of Norway had lot of little towns where one could perform for a day and then go on to the next as well as some bit bigger towns like Arendal, Kristiansand and Stavanger. These photos are from Risør, a nice little town that held a wooden boat festival, which was on the racing regatta tour. And in Scandinavia, land of the Vikings, sailing old wooden boats is a strong cultural tradition. I got to go out on one of the races, which was considered an honor. I have no experience in sailing so I spent most of the time trying to keep my head down to avoid a swinging mast-pole from bashing it in. I was actually hired to perform in Risør and this was one of my first serious paying gigs.

Viking traditions

Rather than going south, many of the performers, almost exclusively non-Norwegians, would hang around until long after the short summer vacation was over. They were waiting for the magic mushrooms to be in season. Apparently this is also an old Viking tradition. They would get zapped out of their skulls and go invade England to rape and pillage. And rather than says “cheers” when toasting a drink, the Scandinavians coincidentally say “skol”. It is claimed that the Vikings would lop of the top of their opponents’ heads and drink the blood out of their skullcaps to a hearty yell of Skol. Fact or fiction, I don’t know but seeing how people there get intoxicated and act crazy, it certainly rings true.

Weather & geography

The weather in Norway was freaky. When it was sunny in the north it would be continually pouring rain in the south and vice versa. One summer it was pissing down in Oslo so I decided to go north getting as far as Tromsø above the Arctic Circle. Along the way I had to cross bridges and take ferries to get pass the fjords. In the mountains I encountered a snow storm despite being the middle of summer. One can drive through Sweden where it is flatter and a straight line of trees but I enjoyed the scenic landscapes, like in the photo below, although it included the payment of numerous expensive tolls.

Traditional wooden houses

The center of Trondheim is built along a large river rather than the adjoining coast. There were many old wooden houses were built up on stilts. Unlike central Europe, one rarely finds houses in Scandinavia surviving from the middle ages. For warmth, the structures were built mainly of wood. And to keep warm and provide light over the long, cold, dark winters, there were a lot of stoves, fireplaces and candles used. Combined with Scandinavian drinking habits, most structures burned to the ground sooner or later.

Denmark, Copenhagen

Copenhagen was one of the most interesting cities in Scandinavia. It also had a long pedestrian street and quite a few possible pitches. I did some nice shows here but not consistently so. I saw other performers do almost nothing and get a huge crowd and I always had to work hard to get a nice circle. Unlike most other places in Scandinavia, there were other jugglers who had worked the streets well before I did.

Danish performers

There was a large kid’s circus group that specialized in unicycling and many of them juggled. I would be trying to make a living and then 3 or 4 young teenagers would show up nearby and pass clubs from tall unicycles. They grabbed attention being so young and such a group show had power in numbers. It was hard to compete against them although they were just looking to make some pocket money. A couple of times I saw dozens of them with their leader show up, supposedly this was to advertise the group but it seemed a bit like something out of Oliver Twist with kids working and bottling the crowd.

What was positive was that there were various Danish performers in Copenhagen, while I rarely saw a Norwegian one in Oslo or Swedish one in Stockholm in those days. I remember a group a group of young women who sang songs and acted out shorts skits that had the audiences crying with laughter. Someone explained to me that they used the theme songs and lines from well-known TV shows and advertisements, which sounded like rich source of comical material that can be tailor fit to different cultures. Another guy used to yell through a used toilet-paper tube as if it were a megaphone and his whole repertoire was to read menus of local restaurants, Again, a concept I never saw elsewhere but it got a great response.

Misadventures in Copenhagen

The spot in front of the bank was my favorite in Copenhagen when I could get it. I once had a volunteer here who though he would be funny. Instead of handing me my torches after helping me on my unicycle, he started throwing them at me and not gently. I was riding around yelling at him to take it easy and not be so aggressive but he thought it was hilarious. I eventually got all the torches and when I started to juggle them, one of them broke in half and the flaming end flew into the crowd. By coincidence, it flew right under the ass of the guy who had thrown the torches at me. The crowd must have thought that I had thrown it back in revenge but it had gotten damaged during his antics and broke. Makes one wonder if the idea of karma has something to it after all.

One of the reasons I was attracted to Scandinavia in my early career was that one could perform in English and most of the audience would seem to understand especially in a cosmopolitan city like Copenhagen. I have some vague memory of this show where an old guy came in and started saying a bunch of things to me in Danish and I didn’t understand a word.

Copenhagen musicians & street vendors

A couple of American musicians Steve and Harris also played Copenhagen heavily. Coincidentally, they also lived in Tübingen for a while in a big commune with 2 nurses that I had met while traveling in Thailand. I think they were as attracted to the young women who seemed to hang around the street scene there as they were by the money. The laws tightened up for sellers in following years but the first season I passed through Copenhagen the vendors were virtually unregulated. It was hard to find a place to make a show because hundreds and hundreds of young people were taking all of the possible places to sell their jewelry and trinkets. Many of them were Israelis who would travel and buy cheap things in Latin America and Asia in the winter and sell the stuff in Europe in the summer. One of them made the comment that it was not a bad life to spend your summer looking down the shirts of beautiful girls contemplating a purchase.

Sweden, Stockholm misadventures

I often spent time in Sweden on my way through to Norway. I first went there within a couple of weeks after first arriving in Europe in 1983 to visited a couple of girls I had met early in the year in New Orleans. One was living in Stockholm and had invited me to visit. I went to her place as arranged and around 10 pm she suddenly said that she had to go off for a week to see her grandmother and now I should leave but if I was still in town when she returned I could visit her then.

I went into the old town known as Gamla Stan to look around and thought I would catch a late train out of town since I had a month long train pass but I ran into a guy named Viktor who was very friendly and I ended up staying at his place for the next week. He told me many tales of his travels to places like India and was a great inspiration for my own future travels.

I was mistrustful but again contacted the girl and she again said I should come to visit. I left my backpack in a locker in the train station and went to her place. Sure enough, we got along fine but at midnight she suddenly claimed that someone was coming to fix her stove the next morning and it was better if I wasn’t there. I went to the train station but found out that it was all locked up until morning.

I only had a light jacket on and it was freezing. I saw a bunch of young people who were staying overnight in a line to buy some concert tickets when they went on sale the next morning. I put myself in line as well but was shivering. Then the garbage men came around and emptied the public trashcans and replaced the heavy paper trash bags. They were fairly large so I took one and curled up inside, not warm but it helped.

A year later I took a ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm. A girl on the ferry invited me home. A few things she said made me question if she was a lesbian but I didn’t know. When it got late she said I should get undressed and get into her small bed with her. I didn’t know what she expected but when I caressed her slightly she freaked out and told me to leave. I never went to Stockholm again.

Göteborg street shows

As it was on the way to Oslo, I would generally stop in Göteborg, Sweden most summers. I had some of my most profitable and some of my most stressful shows there. The place to perform is a main drag known as “the Avenue”. The sidewalks were wide enough for shows in the evening but one still had cars driving up and down. Many “old timer” classic American cars would cruise by with their motors revving to get attention of the girls.

The people would get very drunk on the weekends and it was always on the edge of getting out of control. I also saw the popularity to play there went in waves. One summer there would be few acts and the money was great. As word got out, lots of performers would show up and it would become wall to wall shows and the audiences seemed to suffer from burnout or overload. The money would go down and then fewer performers would show up. This would fluctuate over a few years’ time so depending where the cycle was it could be great or terrible.

Göteborg – Liseborg Amusement Park

While in Göteborg I once contacted the Liseborg Amusement Park and got a contract for the following summer. Unfortunately, the artistic director screwed me around and backtracked on many promises and then grabbed a third of my pay for taxes although it had been negotiated in after tax amounts. I never did get my money even after complaining to the boss of the park. They had people doing surveys of the people leaving and I heard that my show was one of the most popular things as it was something new. But the management couldn’t get beyond the idea that I should charge more than the 3 man jazz band sitting in a corner with hardly any audience doing the same sets year after year.

They had a stage show with Las Vegas known performers who I know got paid much better than me. They had a larger crowd but only because they had 3 acts and they did 2 shows a day. I had a few less people but did 4 shows and really blew the people away. I think they called around and found that there are a lot of acts, especially from Eastern Europe and third world countries that will work for next to nothing – so why pay me a livable wage.

Switzerland – Uster

This is the local castle and nearby brewery in Uster, Switzerland a small town around 35 kilometers from Zürich. I had an Aunt and Uncle and 4 cousins living there in 1976. A family tradition was that with 14 you got to spend a summer visiting my paternal grandparents. My oldest sister and brother got to see them in Mexico. Then they moved to LA where my next older sister visited. When it was my turn, we took a family trip out west.

As compensation I got to go to Switzerland for a month. And I went in April during the school year, I believe because they were planning to move back to the States at the beginning of the summer. I took my schoolbooks with me but never opened them. I was too busy site seeing and getting drunk. Unlike the States, alcohol was readily available to teenagers there. One could buy beer at 16 and if controlled in a store, you could tell them it was for your parents and often, as not they would believe you. And as my cousin and I both had the hobby of collecting beer cans back then, we were kept pretty busy adding to our collections. When I returned to school, it seemed that nobody had really noticed that I had been gone.

Alps, Santis Mountain in Apenzellerland

These images are from 1985. My French girlfriend was with me at the time and we hiked up to the top of Santis Mountain in rural Appenzellerland, Switzerland. It was not technical but a good days hike non-the-less. The view was spectacular yet one could get a cold beer at the bar on top and ride the cable car back down. Very convenient when you are thirsty and tired but not quite the rugged nature I was used to in the Colorado Rockies. I’m not much of a skier but did do some skiing in Switzerland when I was younger. No matter where you are in Switzerland you are never far from some nice nature that has its appeal summer or winter.

Zürich, Theaterspektakel

From my home in Stuttgart, Switzerland is only 2 hours’ drive away. Also, my good friend and fellow American juggler Steve Goetz married a Swiss acrobat and settled in Zürich for 10 years. I would stop by at least a couple of times a year particularly each August during the Zürich Theaterspektakel which is a well know festival. We only get to pass our hats there and just barely get tolerated by the organizers yet it was a traditional place for lots of old-timer performers to meet up.

In recent years the organization has changed and many of the regulars stopped coming. Instead there has been a wave of Spain based performers, many from South America, and all looking for a place to make money as most of southern Europe has suffered economic problems. I miss the old atmosphere but also appreciate the creativity shown by many of the newer performers. The following photos are all from Theaterspektakel 2010, the first 2 are views of what has always been known as the main pitch. The following 2 photos are on the other side of the main festival area on what is referred to as the fly pitch although many of the biggest and best crowds can be gathered here.

Antwerp, Belgium

I have never worked much in Belgium but my favorite place there was Antwerp, which was the scene of the following true story: Summer of ’94 and I’m doing a tour through Belgium. Stop in Antwerp, one of the best cities in the country for street shows. After seeing many possibilities, judge the plaza in front of the big cathedral to be the best pitch. Unfortunately, many other performers have already discovered this fact. One of the regulars, a juggler from Amsterdam, is ready to give it a go. He stands on his chair and commences to shout to the people to gather around. Strange thing is that he is wearing a Walkman and wiggling to the beat. Bored of his own generic show that he needs some music to entertain himself with, or what?

Meanwhile, 15 yards behind him, there is a couple sitting propped against the doors of the cathedral, sucking face oblivious to the show or anything else for that matter. She starts to rub his crotch, glances around, like no problem; it’s only mid-day with a million people around. Naturally with some discretion, she proceeds to unzip him and give him a blowjob. Well, Mr. Be-Bop juggler is too out of tune to notice what his intended audience is looking at, nonetheless that it obviously isn’t him. He had had a few interested onlookers but suddenly the place was getting packed. Funny though that the entire crowd was behind him.

Show time over here

Over here! Show time!  Juggling, unicycling, the big 8 footer!!! The crowd swells. Suddenly, breaking through their edge is a monk. Or rather a groom-to-be, dressed as a monk, out on the town with his bachelor party buddies. Such dressing up and making nonsense in the street are one of those local pre-wedding traditions.

“What’s this?!” cried the intoxicated monk. “Unholy, sexual conduct in front of our Lord’s cathedral. This is blasphemy. This is heresy. Repent your evil ways and give the wench to me or you’ll burn in the fires of hell for this!!” or so I understood him from my less than perfect knowledge of the local dialect. The crowd loved it. What a frickin’ show.

Audience appreciation

And this crowd wasn’t cheap. Someone threw the couple a coin, followed by another. It showered money to the tune of a decent hat. By then my own view of the event was blocked. I don’t know if she finished him off or got too self-conscious and bailed. The finishing touch to an unbelievable street “show” was when the whole crowd took up the chant in English: “WE WANT MORE, WE WANT MORE!”

Afterwards, I went up to the unlucky juggler who by this time had finally noticed that something was wrong and wisely decided to give up on his crowd draw. Well, who could do a show to top that anyway? “What happened?” he asked, “I kind of wondered when I saw everyone was behind me, so like I decided to stop”. RIGHT! Noticing subtleties like that is the forte of a master street performer. Anyway, show time!  Juggling, unicycling!, the big 8 footer!!! Such be our European street scene. THE END.

Austria – Vienna

I always liked Vienna. It has some majestic buildings like the upper Belvedere Palace shown here. Not the only castle in Vienna, the Belvedere complex is one of the nicest. Built in Baroque style during the Habsburg dynasty, It has a lower and upper palace, contains a world class art museum and has extensive gardens. Vienna has a couple of big pedestrian streets and is full of tourists year round. Problem is that they only allow music and no clowns or jugglers to perform there. My first attempts there were excellent since clowns were not often seen and there were so many musicians that by the time the police would come to control me that I would have already have done a few shows. Then they very severely limited the number of musicians as well and would be hassling me before I had my props set up for my first show.

The intersection of the 2 main walking streets is a big plaza known as Stephansplatz dominated by the Stephan’s Cathedral. I once did a show there and had a guy watching that appeared to be mentally retarded. An adult that acted like an overly active 5 year old who was totally into my show and happened to be around 7 feet tall (2,10 m) and about 600 pounds (273 kg). He volunteered to help me onto my high unicycle from where I still had to reach up to his shoulder rather than down. Then he lit my torches, which I had handed him. I started to ride around within my circle and as I was about to get the torches, 2 policemen entered the show.

They went to the guy and demanded the torches. He looked at them and with a serious expression said that he couldn’t do that because they belonged to the clown! The police proceeded to try and jump up and grab the torches but they couldn’t reach them. I meanwhile was using pantomime to indicate that the police were idiots and the crowd started to laugh at them. Eventually I had to stop the show anyway but they let me off with a warning. There were a few hundred people standing there watching what they would do and I think they were too embarrassed and afraid of getting hassled from the crowd that they didn’t what to do more.

Multiple visits to friends & family in Vienna

While I was in Kathmandu in early 1989, I had met an Austrian woman Ulli who was a teacher in Vienna. We were never romantically involved but became good friends and I would visit her on occasion in Austria. Then my Uncle Ham who had once lived in Switzerland for some years took a research position for a couple of years in Vienna. He and my Aunt had taken over the raising of their granddaughter Bridget who was about 9 and arrived knowing little German. I arranged that my Uncle hired Ulli to tutor him and Bridget in German.

Ulli was surprised when I eventually mentioned that my Uncle had won a Nobel Prize in medicine for the groundwork of genetic engineering. He later had the idea that the human genome could be mapped much faster than the method that was being used by the US government sponsored team. Craig Venter was the marketing and organizing guy who spearheaded the alternative project that took the lead in the project. Venter was always the guy in the news, proclaimed as a genius. Or sometimes the credit was given to the government team, which finally caught on and did a lot of the work by copying the methods of Venters team. The unsung hero and real brains behind the scene was my Uncle Ham. These photos are of a building in Vienna designed by the artist Hundertwasser that I was first shown by my friend Ulli.

Vienna revisited in 2024

In 2024 I reconnected to my old friend Ulli and visited Vienna again. The following is more of a photo dump showing the above mentioned Stephansplatz with the cathedral and the many horse drawn carriages found there. In addition are a few of the majestic buildings in the center including the Albertina modern museum, summer palace and Postsparkasse building. Returning home to Stuttgart looked drab and small in comparison as Vienna is really one of the most impresive cities in Europe.

Vienna – Praterstern, Opera house, Albrecht fountain, Sacher + Mozart Cafés, Albertina Museum

In late October 2025 I was again in Vienna, this time for 4 days with my wife and I finally got time to take extensive photos. I stayed with my friend near the Pratersternplatz (square) with its bus and train station transportation hub. Outside is a monument to Wilhelm von Tagetthof, a commander of the Austrian-Hungarian marines from the 1860s. Nearby is the permanent amusement park known as Prater, the Ferris wheel  visible in the background.

We took a subway to the Wiener Staatsoper or Viennese State Opera House which is also the home of the Vienna ballet. It is an elegantly styled building but also had a huge banner hanging from one side with an advertisement for insurance that I suspect is a sponsor for the upkeep. Northeast of the opera is the city tourist-infomration office topped with a beautiful copper dome and statues holding a globe with a sign for the Generali Insurance company.

Just north of the opera is the Sacher Hotel and Café where the famous Sachertorte (cake) comes from. Next door is another traditional Viennese coffeehouse, the Café Mozart, where the Bürgerspitalzinshaus a convent and hospital built in 1305 formerly stood. This  was renovated in the late 1700s into a Zinshaus or apartment building.  The year after Mozart’s death in 1791 a café was first opened there. The owner and name changed a couple of times. Long known as Café Katzmayer, it was a popular meeting place for journalists and actors. The building was torn down and replaced in 1873 – 1883 but Katzmayer lived on and became Café Mozart in 1918.

Across from the Mozart Café and the northwest corner of the Opera house is the Albertinaplatz (square). Here one sees the Albrechtbrunnen fountain and the Albertina Museum to the north. A couple of photos of the Albertina from teh north side were taken a couple of days later.

Vienna Burggarten, Glashaus, Hofburg

To the northwest of Albertinaplatz is the entrance into the Burggarten (garden). The Northeast side of the Burggarten is flanked by an extensive Jugendstil or art nouveau styled glasshouse. Part of it is now a restaurant and part is a Schmetterlinghaus or butterfly house. To the north is one side of the extensive Hofburg royal palace complex. The Hofburg was the former winter residence of the royal Hansberger family. Built over hundreds of years in comprises 16 separate but connected buildings with many enclosed courtyards. Different wings of the complex contain various museums and exhibitions, the court of arbitration.

We went SW around the Hofburg clockwise passing the section housing the Weltmuseum or world museum to the main entrance on the NW side. This side is curved and overlooks the Heldenplatz or Hero’s Square with its multiple equestrian statues and monuments. This area and a couple nearby squares were the staging point for military displays on the National Day while we were there. Lots of marching soldiers and some military vehicles and a Eurofighter jet. But we had already seen preperations on the Heldenplatz the day before.

We ended up at the Hofburg multiple times including on the National day when there were military troops marching around the Heldenplatz, In der Burg courtyard and Josefplatz with it’s Kaiser Josef II Denkmal  monument. We also strolled through the courtyard of the Burgstall where the royal horse stables are based. The many equestrian statues around Vienna show what importance horses were is historical times. The only one of the buildings in the palace complex was the Prunksaal which contains the national library.

Vienna – Art History and Natural History Museums, Museum Quarter

Southwest of the Hofburg across the Burgring Street is the Maria-Theresien-Platz with multiple fountains, sculptured shrubs and a large monument with multiple equestrian figures with riders in the center. To the NW is the Naturhistorisches Museum or Natural History Museum. To the SE is the Kunsthistorisches Museum or Art History Museum. Farther SW across the Museumsplatz is the Museumquartier, or museum’s Quarter, a whole complex of additional museums for modern art, modern Austrian art, architecture and an interactive kids’ museum. 

Vienna – Parliment, Burgtheater, Rathaus

We didn’t have time to visit the museums and backtracked to the Burgring Street going NW.  We skipped by the Volkstheater and farther back Justice Palace to the west and continued as the ring road bends due north and becomes the Doktor-Karl-Renner-Ring. On the west side of the road is the Austrian Parliament building. Prominent in front is the Pallas-Athene-Brunnen fountain.

Farther north was the Rathaus or City Hall and on the east side of the ring road the Hofburgtheater or more commonly just called the Burgtheater. We could not get close to the City Hall as it was fenced off in preperation for National Day festivities the next day. There were many tents set up in front that appeared to belong to social organizations like the Red Cross. We were able to go into the reception area of the Burgtheater but the strairways and corriders of the majestic theater were roped off. I had attended a play there on my last visit but had no chance to take photos.

Vienna – University, Liebenberg Monument, Votiv Church

Past the Rathaus going north on the east side of the ring road we passed the cafe Landtmann and the Johann Andreas von Liebenberg Monument. He was mayor of Vienna from 1680 – 1683. His efforts to fight the pest in Vienna  in 1679 boosted his career and his defense against the  Turks second attempt to siege the city became his crowning achievement. Farther on the west side of the road is the University of Vienna. Just to the north of the university is the Sigmund Freud Park flanked by the Votiv Church.

Vienna – Schottenplatz, Freyungsplatz, Palais-Daun-Kinsky, Ferstel-Passage, Herrengasse, Verfassungsgerichtshof

East of the Sigmund-Freud-Platz is the Schottentor or Scottish Gate. Southeast a couple of blocks one finds the Schottenkirche or Scottish church next to the Freyungsplatz. There was a long history of Benedictine monks from Ireland and Scotland in Austria and particularly Vienna. The original church here was built in the 12 century, destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 13^th century. It was heavily damaged by an earthquake in the mid-15^th century, poorly repaired and the roof collapsed in 1634. The tower was struck by lightning in 1638 and was completely rebuilt over the following decade. It was yet again heavily damaged in 1683 during the 2^nd Turkish siege.

South of the church is the Freyungsplatz where one sees the Austriabrunnen fountain and Verfassungsgerichtshof or constitutional court. In connection with the National Day holiday there were stands here advertising the Austrian military services. One could pose with a machine gun surrounded by sand bags and there were people wearing historicalmilitary uniforms. Across the plaza are the Palais Daun-Kinsky and Palais Porcia palaces. A bit farther Southeast is the Palais Festel palace with its renowned passageway with shops and fountains.

Vienna – Herrengasse, Café Central, Steinberger Hotel, Minoritenkirche, Figl Denkmal

Going west through the Ferstel Passage one comes out in the Herrengasse with a lot of majestic buildings like the Palais Niederösterreich, another popular Viennese coffee house the Café Central and the luxury Hotel Steinberger. A block to the west was the Minoritenkirche church and in front of it, the Leopold-Figl-Denkmal monument. Figl was the first Federal Chancellor after WWII after having been sent to both Dachau and Mathausen concentration camps. He was then sent to Vienna where he was scheduled for execution before the Soviets freed the city.

Vienna Kapuzinergruft, Neue Markt, Donnerbrunnen

A couple of blocks northeast of the Albertina Museum, half way to the Stephansplatz is a pedestrian zone square called Neue Markt or New Market. There is a Capuchin monastery called the Kapuzinerkloster. Next to it is the Kaisergruft aka Kapuzinergruft or kings-crypt and catacombs where many of the cities historical figures and royalty are buried. The entrance fee was sizable. The large Donnerbrunnen or thunder fountain is here as are a couple of popular delicatessen shops.

Vienna – Fleischmarkt, Holy Trinity Greek Church, Griechenbeiisl, Schwedenplatz

There are some impressive buildings pictured here in the Fleischmarkt (street) . At the junction to Griechengasse or Greek alley ones sees the Griechenkirche zur Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit or Holy Trinity Greek Church. Across the way is a Greek market and a Greek Restaurant called the Griechenbeisl. This historic old restaurant was formerly called the Augustiner Stuben Gelber Adler or Yellow Eagle. Upon entering the building one sees a grate covering a subterraneous room filled with money as people toss donations here for good luck. 2 blocks to the north is the Schwedenplatz or Swedish Square, an open area and transportation hub with U-Bahn, Street-trams and buses flanked to the north by a busy street and the Donaukanal. I took pictures of a few of the eateries located here.

Vienna –Salesian church, Schloss Belvedere

On the eastern edge of the center, a few blocks southwest of the Stadtpark is the Catholic Salesianerinnenkirche der Heimsuchung Mariens or Salesian Church of Our Dear Lady. It is right next to the lower entrance of the Schloss Belvedere castle. My first photo for Vienna shows the upper castle when I visited Vienna in 1990, the view obscured with scaffolding on my latest visit. I took these photos in 2025 when we more extensively toured the outside of both the upper and lower castles and gardens in between.

Vienna – Heumarkt, Palais Schwarzenberg, Monument to Soviet soldiers

North from Belvedere along the Prinz-Eugen-Strasse one comes to the Am Heumarkt square passing the Schwarzenberg palace on the right. In the middle of the square is a fountain and a large monument to Soviet soldiers who died in WWII. Across the street to the NW is the French embassy and European Agency for Human Rights, behind one sees the Karlskirche church.

Vienna – Wiener Konzerthaus, Intercontinental Hotel

NE from the Heumarkt Square one sees the Akademie Theater which belongs to the Burgtheater. Next door is the Wiener Konzerthaus or Vienna concert house. Across from the Concert House one sees a couple of luxury hotels including the Carlton Ritz. Just past the Concert House the Stadtpark U-Bahn station is across the street and the Intercontinental Hotel is around the corner. My wife, friend Ulli and another of her friends went to a concert which I skipped because of my tinnitus. I meet up afterwards and we went to the Intercontinental for a drink. I am not usually the one to go to fancy Hotel bars but it was encouraged for people who were attending the Viennale Film Festival.

There was a movie showing set in the Hotel, which despite a long history is planned to be torn down. There were a couple of films we would have liked to see but they were mostly booked out in advance. We tried to go one and be on standby in case people didn’t show up for their tickets. There were a handful  that came available but we arrived too late to get a good number in the queue and ended up at a different cinema for a film not included in the festival.

Vienna – Alte Donau, Strandbad Gänselhäfel

As a break from walking around the city center we took an afternoon and went along the Alte Donau or old Danube. By the center there is a waterway called the Donaukanal or Danube Canal. Farther east is the Danube River itself but in greater Vienna it is split into the Danube and the Neue Donau or New Danube with a long island Donauinsel in between. For a couple of kilometers there is a further waterway branching off of the Neue Donau called the Old Danube. It is a quieter area where one can walk and see some nature and some small boat docks, sports grounds and swimming places. One swimming place we passed, Strandbad Gänselhäfel looked rather ominous from the gate. And nearby was a cluster of high rise buildings. All were in in different architectural styles but all a contrast to the historical charm of the center. 

Mauthausen concentration camp

Near Linz, I went with my friend Uli to see the Mauthausen concentration camp. Like Dachau near Munich which I eventually visited as well, it has been maintained as a museum to the horrors of the holocaust. It was actually a whole complex of camps set up around a large granite quarry where the prisoners were used as slave laborers who were worked to death in the mine. The whole place really looked the part; cold and austere – simply an institution meant to dehumanize people.

Dissection tables. gas chamber & cremation ovens

Holding cells and a dissecting table for extracting any dental gold or who knows what kind of atrocious experiments. They had multiple gas chambers disguised as shower rooms and ovens to burn bodies. Even with the ovens going 24 hours, it is hard to imagine how they could burn them fast enough on such a large scale. Personnel to do this dirty work were easy to come by – they had an endless stream of workers. It was a very somber experience just to visit and one I have always had to departmentalize in my brain as I ended up living in Germany.

Even my own father-in-law had been in the Nazi party and fought in the war. It is strange to think about how people I know and their relatives participated in such an event yet they are also someone’s parent, or aunt or uncle. Even my friend Uli had to confront her mother for displaying a plaque for some award won by her beloved brother since it was given by a Nazi regime and had swastikas on it. Not that I think Austrian Nazis were somehow worse than German ones but many didn’t face up to their guilt as well after the war, relying on the excuse that they were one of Hitler’s first victims and thus somehow not responsible for their own participation.

Austria, Salzburg, Mirabell castle

I had been in Salzburg once in the late 1980’s but my focus was on doing juggling street shows. Musicians were allowed at the time to get a license but other performances were not allowed. Thus I didn’t stay around or play tourist. I returned in late Oct. 2025 for a day on my way back home to Stuttgart after a visit to Vienna and Bratislava. My wife and I wandered southwest from the train station coming to the Mirabell castle. We didn’t go inside but looked around the extensive gardens filled with statues including unicorns and fountains like the Pegasusbrunnen  and a building the “Vogelhaus”  or bird-house.

Mirabell castle surroundings; Trinity Church, Andrae Church, Regional Theater House, Sacher + Bristo Hotels, Mozart residence.

To  the east of Mirabell Castle is the Mirabell Congress (convention) Center next to the Andrekirche or Andrea Church. South of the Castle one finds the Landestheater or regional theater house. Across the road is a house where Mozart once lived in. As we would see, Salzburg’s most famous son is referred to constantly. His house when he was born, statues and squares dedicated to him shops selling memorabilia or the delicious round chocolate balls known as Mozart Kugeln. East of Mozart’s residence is the Dreifaltigkeitskirche or Trinity Church. Nearby was the Hotel Bristol and west towards the Danube River the luxury Hotel Sacher entrance.

Salzburg historical center; Salzach River, Marko-Feingold-Steg, Maria Hiimelfahrtkirche, Getreidegasse, St. Blasius

Then we came to the Salzach River and crossed the lock covered Marko Feingold Steg footbridge. There were good views of the Sacher Hotel, the historical Bankhaus Spangler building and old fortifications behind on the hill to the Southeast. On the other side of the river to the northwest one sees the Maria Himmelfahrtkirche (Mary Assumption Church). Now in the historical center we ended up in the Getreidegasse aka Grain Alley, which is a main pedestrian street with lots of shops, restaurants and cafes including the Mozart Cafe. The Getreidegasse is quite long and rather than intersecting side streets, the buildings are connected and one gets to the parallel streets through passageways. We headed north to the end of the street at the St. Blasius church. Next to it is the Bürgerspital or old residents’ hospital with it’s interesting courtyard known as the Admonterhof and then the Spielzeugmuseum or toy museum and Festspeilhaus or concert house.

Salzburg; Alte Rathaus, Mozarts Geburtshaus, Alter Markt, Florianbrunnen

We circled back to the Getreidegasse checking out multiple passage ways until we passed Mozart’s Geburtshaus or birth house. We eventually got to the Alte Rathaus or old city hall. Nearby to the south was the Alte Markt or old market place with the Florianbrunnen fountain in the middle and many luxury shops like Louis Vuitton, Prada and the elegant Tomaselli café.

Salzburg Festung Hohensalzburg

The fortress known as Festung Hohensalzburg on the hill known as Mönchsberg or Monks Mountain is the most iconic site of Salzburg. We were rather worn out from our trip and felt it would be too much to climb up and really look around and come back down in time to catch our train home. And we were not sure what one could see without paying entrance. There is a special cable car, the Festungsbahn,  that goes up a steep incline to get there. We looked at the station but the queue was long and the sign stated 14.50 Euros round trip. The entrance to the fort and adjacent buildings in the complex like a chapel and museums is another 11.20 Euros.  A price for both all included is 18 euros. We decided to skip it all together. I hope to return to Salzburg and start my sightseeing by checking out the fort with enough time to properly enjoy it.

Salzburg Mozartplatz, Judengasse, Universitätsplatz, Kollegienkirche

We circled back from the Kapitalplatz over the Residenzplatz northeast to the Mozartplatz. St. Michael Kirche Church is on the corner.  There is a statue of Mozart in the middle and good views back towards the Residenzplatz. From the Mozartplatz we went back west over the Waagplatz where there is a interested painted building and there starts the Judengasse or Jew Alley  which curves northwest back to the Alte Markt. In the Judengasse were shops specializing in Christmas decorations, traditional regional clothing the Altstadt Hotel and multiple restaurants. 

Salzburg – Universitätsplatz, Kollegienkirche, Max Rheinhardt Platz

Rather than backtracking thorough the Getriedegasse we swung south to the parallel Universitätsplatz or University Plaza. The Kollegienkirche church is located there and there was an outdoor market set up. We circled further south aroudn a number of university buildings to the Max Rheinhardt Platz where one sees the Wildermannbrunnen or Wild Man Fountain and a shot of a church steeple with the fortress in the background. By then the sun was setting and too dark for more pictures but we swung north and followed the river northeast on our way back to the main train station. On the way, I took the last photo but with my cell phone of a sign advertsing the Sound of Music musical show. The 1965 film had been a huge hit in America in my childhood and was already a Christmas holiday staple on TV back then. But my freind in Vienna we had just visited mentioned that she didn’t even hear of it until about 20 years later from an American friend. As it is set in the Salzburg area, its referred to in  local appeals to American tourists. I believe that if one asked most Americans what they know about Austria at all; they would first mention the movie. Probably more know it than realize Hitler and Arnold Schwarzenegger are both Austrian. Nope, they are not German.

Austria –  Graz, Linz, Innsbruck

I traveled around Austria a few times visiting towns like Graz, Innsbruck and Linz but seem to have misplaced most of my pictures of Austria. Graz was a medium sized University town that was open and fun and good for shows. Inssbruck was OK but nothing special. At least I never got stopped from performing there and the few times I went was busy trying to work rather than see the sites. Linz was probably close in size to Graz but seemed to lack much atmosphere for making shows outside of the big buskers’ festival they hold each year, asking performers to participate without any pay.