Old Postcard Wednesday--Flughafen, Wien

 

I need assistance from my dear friend, Francessa, in Vienna to translate this handwritten German. She is extremely busy with her teaching right now, but in the event that she finds this post perhaps she will take pity on me and help me out. This old postcard was mailed to me in its used condition by my childhood pen pal Rosmarie Gugler who lived in Mauer-Ohling, Austria, in 1962. I wrote about Rosmarie in a former post and about how I have been hoping to find her (still hasn't happened).

Check out that prop plane coming in for a landing on the bottom left of the postcard! And on the top left, those unearthly-looking tall plants looming in front of the dining room...I wonder what kind of plant that is and if it is still popular landscaping at the Vienna Airport. Is that tall building the airport hotel, and is that why an arrow is drawn pointing to one room--perhaps as an indicator that it was where the sender of this old postcard stayed prior to or following a flight? There are plenty of hotels around the Vienna Airport area these days, per Vienna Airport Hotels Guide. I can tell how the airport has grown, judging from Bing images (this one of the whole layout is copyrighted but worth the click to see).
I loved this nighttime view:

Below is an information overview, via Airports Guides:

Vienna International Airport (VIE)
History, Facts and Overview
(Vienna, Austria)

The Aspern Airfield was created in 1912 and remained the region's main military airbase for many years. It was not until 1938 that Austria saw the arrival of Vienna Airport, built nearby and within the south-easterly city of Schwechat. It was the year of 1954 when Vienna Airport finally superseded Aspern Airfield in terms of importance and usage, and five years later, the existing runway was extended.

Construction of the terminal building at Vienna Airport commenced shortly afterwards and in 1972, an additional runway was added to meet demand. Further improvements have been made in subsequent years to accommodate charter flights, including the recent addition of the SKYLINK terminal, which is able to cope with large Airbus planes.

Vienna Airport boasts modern facilities, including a total of over 70 shops, including duty-free outlets. Various cafes and restaurants are also available, such as Bar Cafeteria ARS and Cafeteria Europa, should you require refreshments.

Business travellers will find conference and meeting facilities at the onsite Astron Hotel and Convention Centre, while the airport's recently opened VIP Business Centre offers similar services.

 More from the site linked above:

A busy two-terminal facility that provides an essential gateway into and out of the capital city of Austria, Vienna International Airport (VIE) is the country's largest and most significant airport. Located around 16 km / 10 miles to the south-east of the city centre, Vienna Airport is close to Ebergassing, Fischamend, Himberg, Mannswörth and Schwechat, often going by the alternative name of Schwechat Airport.

Vienna Airport serves flights to a vast number of international destinations, as well as to a variety of domestic cities, with the main airlines including Air Berlin, Austrian Airlines, Austrian Arrows, Lufthansa, Niki and SkyEurope. Currently in excess of 14 million passengers pass through the terminal each year, although this figure is set to rise sharply following the completion of the new SKYLINK terminal.

For full information, visit the Vienna International Airport website. You sure won't want to miss playing the Follow Me Song featured at the website; or click here! Somehow I just can't imagine Francessa humming this song to herself.....well, maybe she does while she is grading tests, thinking about her next flight out of Flughafen Wien!


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Old Postcard Wednesday-- Prater Riesenrad, Vienna, Austria

I had a pen pal in Austria.

We wrote sporadically from 6th-8th grade, then lost touch. She is on my mind each Christmas when I unpack the one gift I have from her (I wonder what I sent to her.....something nice? nothing at all?), a candle holder accented with tiny pine cones. Since Francessa (Francessa's Thinking blog in Vienna) and I have become friends over the past blogging year I've wondered where the old letters from my pen pal might be stored, and I came across them in one of my file cabinets last week. I saved fewer letters than my memory told me I did, and I'd forgotten that she sent quite a nice group of postcards, adding a note that said she hoped I didn't mind if some of them were used. Today's postcard is one of them.

Francessa has already checked on my pen pal's girlhood name in the town where she wrote the letters. No luck so far. But the search is on for Rosmarie Gugler who lived in Mauer-Ohling, Austria, in 1962.


A site called Vienna Waits for You, in a page of info about the Giant Ferris Wheel and the new Prater Ferris Wheel Square, begins: You may want to visit this landmark of Vienna in the footsteps of the immortal movie “The Third Man” or simply enjoy the view of the city from almost 200 feet up. One thing is certain – only when you have taken a ride on Riesenrad are you really in Vienna!

A tourist who did exactly that provides a review at this site:

Well, the first thing to recommend about the Riesenrad - or giant ferris wheel to you and me - is that it was built in 1897 by Walter Basset, an Englishman! Hurrah!! It has become one of Vienna's most iconic landmarks solely due to the famous film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel 'The Third Man'. It might not be sought out by thrill-seekers but it certainly is by film buffs. If you haven't seen the film you might find yourself seriously underwhelmed, but if you've long savoured Joseph Cotton's celebrated scene with Orson Welles you wont leave the city without taking a turn on the wheel. . . I braved my rather sad fear of heights to go on the Riesenrad and was remarkably calm until the wind rocked the closed wooden carriage as we rested at the 12 'o clock position. Hardly bungee-jumping I know but I was suitably pleased with myself..and no, I'm not going back on it!

One further word, the Prater park is perhaps a touch on the seedy side (quite safe though) - aren't most funfairs?- and hardly in an elegant part of Vienna, so perhaps a daytime trip is best for the faint-hearted!

So, of course I wanted to include a scene featuring the Riesenrad from the 1949 film-noir, The Third Man, the mystery thriller that won the Oscar back then. (No, I haven't seen this movie, and, yes, I sure will after this.) The video clip I found at You Tube is really choice, not only for the perfect film it glimpses but for the oh-so strange English subtitles offered. When I read this quote below from the movie, well, you'll see ....... Grab a seat and enjoy!





Opening narrator: I never knew the old Vienna before the war with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm. Constantinople suited me better.
[Scenes of black market goods changing hands] .........

......... Now the city is divided into four zones, you know, each occupied by a power: the American, the British, the Russian and the French. But the centre of the city that's international policed by an international patrol. One member of each of the four powers. Wonderful! What a hope they had! All strangers to the place and none of them could speak the same language. Except a sort of smattering of German.
-Source: imdb.com











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