the roses of the Volksgarten - Vienna

For those of you who are roses enthusiasts , you would love coming here  between late Spring and Fall where all the hundreds of varieties of roses are in full bloom... This is Vienna´s Volksgarten which is actually open to the public for free since 1825.

The Rose Garden is located inside the Ring (Google Map), Vienna´s first District. 

This beautiful park is within the Ring located between the Heldenplatz 

and the Hofburg. 

All the tourists visiting the city won´t miss this park because it´s

 almost near to everything within the Ring..so if you´re dead tired, 

 you could come and sit at one of its benches while enjoying the 

beautiful blooms of roses and its scents.

This building is part of the Hofburg ( summer Residence of the

 Habsburg Dynasty) that houses the Chancellor´s Office.

The National Library in Heldenplatz

This photo was taken about a year ago in Summer during my 

lunchbreak. The building behind is one of those museums in the

 Museums Quartier.

During Winter time, all rose bushes are covered with sack to prevent damages that might destroy the whole plant.

I visited the Park about 2 weeks ago and took these photos...

This is the City Hall of Vienna named the Rathaus... don´t be mislead by the german word "Rat" (LOL!),  it simply means Council.

The roses last Summer 

The way to  my work is not so far. My office is within the Ring which is just around the corner of the Volksgarten.

Now that Spring is really here, I think they will soon take out the sacks and the rose bushes will soon show the first leaves... I can´t wait to see the first blooms in one of my city strolls during lunch breaks. 

I hope your Thursday will be great, enjoy it!

Mercy´s Simple Cupcakes

We had gusty winds today and we couldn´t bike... so instead, I took the chance to do  some baking after  preparing today´s lunch.. 

I thought of baking my simple recipe for cupcake that has apple chunks & blueberries  mixed in the batter... 

I hope you´d try this recipe. The cupcakes are not only scrumptious looking but they´re very tasty and yummy. 

Mercy´s Simple Cupcakes....

Ingredients:

100g Blueberries1 apple peeled, cored and cut into small chunks

250 g All purpose- Flour

125 g sugar ( or 8 tbsp stevia powder as sugar substitute)

3 tsp Baking powder1 tsp Baking soda1 egg

250 g Buttermilk

75 ml olive oil or any vegetable oil

for the Topping:

250 ml whipping cream1/2 pack gelatine in

 powder form ( about 4-5 g)

4 tbsp sugar ( or 4 tbsp stevia powder instead of sugar)

fresh  strawberries , washed and dried

Preparations:

Preheat the oven at 180 °C.

1. In a small bowl, beat the egg, add the buttermilk, add the oil, mix til well blended, set aside. 

2. In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, add the buttermilk mixture and with a wooden spoon, mix all until everyting is moist and well blended. 

Add the blueberries and the apple chunks to the batter and spoon this to the cupcake pan lined with cupcake paper. Fill each lot with 3/4 of the batter.

3. Place the cupcake pan on the lower rack of the oven and bake it for 15-20 minutes... After the baking time, remove from oven and let the cupcakes cool down...

4. Meanwhile,  pour 1/2 of the gelatine pack in a cup with 1 tablespoon cold water , mix and leave for about 5 minutes til the powder is dissolved. 

5. Set your mixer to the highest speed level and whip the cream adding the sugar by & by  til it gets slightly stiff.. 

Heat the gelatine  in the microwave for about 10 seconds,  then add a bit of the whipped cream for the gelatine to blend in. Add this to the cream being whipped ...continue whipping til ready for topping.

Use a pastry bag with bigger hole for the whipped cream to top the cupcake then add the strawberry to decorate the top. Arrange all the pieces on a platter...

Happy Baking!

Wishing you a good start of the week.

Thanks for dropping by to read this blog.

xoxo,

   

Mercy

This post is linked to :

Once Upon a Time in A Bed of Flowers

A brisk walk to the Stadtpark

 In my corporate world, the first quarter of the year is always the busiest.. there´s the reconciliation of accounts, preparation of the financial statements etc.  This week has flown by so quickly that my office days went too quickly as swift as a passat.

The weather was great, we had  plenty of sunshine with cloudless blue skies....

 To relieve a bit of stress after hours of working with computer, I took a

 brisk walk during lunchbreak to the nearby Stadtpark and took pictures...

Wien Fluß...with Vienna Hilton on the background

Wienfluss in Summer  ... (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The Ring is the avenue that surrounds the old part ( city center) of

 Vienna.. and it also has parks... Stadpark is one of those.

Wienfluss in winter with The Intercontinental Hotel behind the trees.

A happy duck flirting with my camera giving me a good shot of his profile

School children come here to feed the ducks

Posing for my camera or maybe waiting for me to throw the bread cubes.

The kids, loud & giggling, were so excited to throw the bread ..but the ducks played safe and didn´t come too close to them.

The Kärntner Strasse is located inside the Ring and is the heart of the city.

 From here, it takes about 10 minutes by foot to the Stadtpark. 

Now that Spring is taking over  and weather is becoming warmer everyday....more and more visitors, locals or tourists come here to relax, sit for awhile, feed the ducks or simply pass-by and enjoy the beauty of nature....

Have a nice weekend!

Tulips...more than just a pot of flowers

As it started last weekend, I welcomed March

 with a jolly feeling. My tulips started to flower  and thought that this might be a good omen for a  wonderful Spring.

Well, Spring flowers would be nice in reality if one has done  the pre planting many months  before . It was an experiment to plant the tulip bulbs in a container too close to each other last Fall. Put it outside the yard covered with dried leaves for protection against frost.

My purpose was, if the bulbs start growing, the stalks would grow tightly next to each other and they would resemble cluster of tulips gathered in a vase like freshly cut ones.

Of course, I fertilize once in awhile until 

the bulbs started popping-up !!!...and the leaves became thicker.

 A cracker container was used so that each of the bulbs can be transferred easily to another pot  in case  something goes wrong with their growing. 

I must say that the bulbs seemed comfortable in the container.

 So I let them be there  where they are. The leaves 

have grown thicker each day. 

The first bud opened and popped-out right on time, exactly 

on  the 1st of March.

Flowers are inspiring! Just by looking at them, they take

 away the stress  after a hard day´s work. More flowers  

opened  yesterday  and I expect to have  more this 

coming weekend.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

Hope you enjoyed these tulips, too!!!