after we did not participate in the zoo run last year, we managed to enlist this year. and this year we even made it into the tiger starters block - so it was "team tiger", yeah. i convinced a few of my co-workers to join me in the 6.4 kilometres long run that leads through the zoo in schoenbrunn, thus it was six people on our running team. our boss even had shirts printed with a cute tiger on it. the tiger block is the last to start, but still it was very, very, very, very hot this day. so we took several breaks at the enclosures of lions, cheetahs, leopards, wolfs, and of course the tigers; since we were on their team, it was a must. this year there were not that many costumes as the last time we ran. maybe because of the weather, or maybe it was because we were among the very last ones to cross the starting line, and therefore did not see that many other runners. but what stayed the same as the last time was all the helpers that stood along the course and cheered and helped us to keep the motivation up - they really do a great job. nina and i reached the finish line holding hands. again our rank was pretty bad, but it was fun and a unique way to do a tour through the zoological garden. we had our favorite meal, namely chilli for nina, and sugared pancake for me. to drink we had beer. after everyone had renewed their strength a bit, we went to a nearby restaurant to have another drink to wind down after all the excitement and exhaustion. great fun, so i am definitely looking forward to the zoo run 2018.

nina and i have been to the zoo at schoenbrunn once more. again it has been quite a while since the last time we were here. but today we were here for a special occasion, namely the opening of the new giraffe[001-006,058-068] house. after over two years of construction time, the new enclosure has been opened. it is much bigger and spacious, then the old one, and all new and shiny. but besides the opening i had a special surprise for nina, which i had kept a secret for almost over a year now. and as it happens, nina wanted to take a short break to change her camera lens. she put her bag right on a bench right in front of where my surprise was - so exactly where i wanted her to be; awesome. as i had donated a little sum of money to support the funding of the giraffe enclosure, i was offered to have a name printed on a glass window of the newly giraffe house. i initially asked them to print "ninsti & nostromo", but they said it can only be names, no "&", "+", or "und"; this was a bit frustrating. so, after a little negotiation with the staff in charge for the window printing at zoo vienna, i convinced them that "ninsti and nostromo" is actually one name, consisting of first-, middle-, and last-name, and "and." is the abbreviated form of nina's fictional nickname "andrea". either they believed my outrageous story, or they just did not want to argue any more, i do not know; but i think the latter, because they even omitted the "." after the middle-name; so in the end, i got the text approved and printed - how marvellous. it took nina a while to realise that this was indeed a text by me for us. she was confused, and amazed at first, but then she was impressed, all happy, and pretty surprised - totally worth the effort. i was happy she liked it. after having revealed my surprise to her, we continued our tour through the zoo. we started at the bird house with fish[007], a sloth[008-009], turtles[010] and monkeys[011-012] right in front of it, and the scarlet ibis[013] right next to it. the southern sea lions[015-030,031-034] were enjoying the warm weather and sun, while dozing off. the massive male sea lion was showing off, but the females did not seem very impressed, so he soon stopped and also rested. the lions[035-036] and cheetahs[037-038] were also taking a nap, enjoying the sun - a cat does, what a cat has to do. at least the giant panda[039-043] was - surprisingly - more active, which means it was feeding on bamboo. but at least we did not get the usual rear view of the panda, but this time we even got to see it in profile. a rare sight for us. in the east africa house we spotted the southern ground hornbill[044-046] and a southern dwarf mongoose[047-057] gang, with one of the little guys doing the sentry duty. then we visited the giraffe house once more, as the giraffes[058-068] were out again grabbing some hay. next we went to the aquarium and terrarium house. there we were watching some reptiles, like the mexican crocodiles[069-072], or the black-chested spiny-tailed iguana[072-074], which was more colourful than i had anticipated a reptile to be. then we came to one of nina's favourites, the jellyfish[075-086]. they have a vast amount of different jellyfish species, with all of them having one thing in common; they are extremely difficult to capture with the camera, as the light conditions are really horrible in the tanks, when it comes to taking pictures in the aquarium section. but they are really beautiful when they float around in their water tanks, almost like they are not affected by gravity at all. also i always wonder how they manage to not entangle or knot their tentacles[084]. through a window in the aquarium and terrarium house one can look outside through a window, right into the flamingos[0889-096] area of the zoo. as they get special food here in the zoo, they are extremely colourful, and have that typical flamingo colour; really beautiful. then we headed for the butterflies[097-102], another one of nina's favourites. but they are also hard to catch with the camera, because they almost never rest. and once they finally do, they have their wings folded most of the time. but i caught some while feeding or hatching out of their cocoon. then there were also two aldabra giant tortoises[103-105] in the terrarium house - really big animals. they were also resting, and just lying there and enjoying their break from feeding. to sum it up, the new giraffe house is way better than the old one, and also it has our names in it. we should come here more often again; nina and i agreed on that one.

after a very, very long time, we had been to the zoo in schoenbrunn again. this time we also paid a visit to those animals we usually come by less frequently. like the koala bear[001-004]. also the kangaroos[005-006] are usually off our usual route, so we stopped there too. the giant panda[007] had had babies two months ago, but they were not out yet, unfortunately. cute as always were the red pandas[008-012], aka firefox. so fluffy, so cute, i so want to hug and cuddle them. but then i would also like to cuddle and hug the lions[013-025]. big cats as they are, they are lying around, dozing off, and napping. and if cats are not sleeping, there is only a few other things they might be doing. either sitting in boxes, chasing red laser dots, or eating. and that is exactly what the tigress[026-052, 063] did. thus we got a good view on her, and could take a few shots of this majestic big cat. we like alpacas, but they do not have them in schoenbrunn; instead they have vicunas[053-059], who come pretty close to the cute alpacas. we had our next stops at the enclosures of the capybaras[060-062], the rabbits[064-065], the parakeets[066-067] - who have a aviary on their own, donkeys[068-070,072-073], goats[071], loads of insects[074-082] in the insect-house, and buffaloes[083]. our round trip then brought us to the nyalas[084-085] and the rhinoceros[086-092], who seemed to be grumpy as always. next were the monkeys[093-096], where one of them tried to get some free treats by reaching through the bars of the enclosure. the rest of the gang was rather leisurely, and just sat around watching the visitors of the zoo. we found the vultures[097-099] pretty impressive, but their cage seems way too small. those big birds, with their enormous wing span seem to be quite narrowed. the crow[100] instead was enjoying its freedom and was trying to get leftovers from the snacks the visitors were eating. or visitors leaving peanuts behind for them, such as i did. the clever bird liked them a lot. usually a rare sight are the wolves[101-109]. generally they can be found in the upper most area, the furthest away from any human eye walking along the fence. but this time two of them got pretty near, and were howling. what a nice, scarce sight. the penguins[110-124] were next on our tour. they do not mind being stared at anymore. instead, they stare back at the visitors, maybe studying them or just being curious. no one knows. last stop were the cheetahs[125-128], who usually rest right at the big windows so one really gets a very good look at them; they were sleepy and totally calm. we spent the last minutes there, before we had to leave, as the zoo was closing. yeah, we definitely should go to the zoo more often again. we still find new things every time we go there - we love this place.

jake and his kin was in vienna and invited us to join them on a tour to the vienna zoo. gladly we joined them. it was quite a hot day, and maybe too hot for most of the people, who seemed to have preferred going to the public bath or a place for swimming; so the zoo was rather empty. we met andrea, jake, and little noah at the cheetah[01-07] enclosure. the big cats were resting in the shadows, staying out of sunlight. the once cute little cubs are now full grown up - but still cute kitties, nonetheless. next stop were the flamingo chicks[11-15], with their way too long black legs and their gray fluffy plumage. there were actually quite a lot of the young ones. really cute and fascinating that one day they will look so much different as grown up birds. then we admired the seals[16-23], especially the one big alpha male[16-21] in the pool, posing on a stone. its mass is really impressive. next were the penguins[24-28], all loud and cute, standing or swimming around, diving along the big glass windows in the artificial arctic. then we took a little break to grab a bite and have something to drink, like a coffee, or ice cream - or both. then, for the first time in all our visits to the zoo, we got right to the pelican[33-43] feeding. the big birds were all lined up waiting for the fish. they were thrown by the zoo keepers and the pelicans caught them with their big throat pouches. once swallowed down, some of the birds passed the chow on to their fledglings. this was done by poking the beak down the throat of the parent bird, and it looked like they reached all down to the stomach. then came strange noises, and after some time the head of the young one emerged from the big poach again. weird stuff - why haven't we seen that before? while jake, andrea, and noah were having another break, nina and i tried to get a closer look at the wolf cubs and the lynx cub. but unfortunately all of them were well hidden, so we did not spot any cub at all. seems like they hide somewhere, when it gets pretty hot outside. i imagine the wolves in a pit in the ground, and the lynx on, in, or under big trees. then we called it a day, since jake, andrea, and noah had to leave, and nina and me also had some stuff to do. we usually knew the zoo to be very crowded on sunny sundays, but it seems that if it gets really really hot, there are no people around. good to know.

yes, we have been to schoenbrunn again, but this time, it was all a little different. we got there for the fourth viennese zoo run. the entry number was limited to 1500 and nina and me got lucky we got our starting numbers, because it was already sold out and we ended up on the waiting list. in april we got an email that we can run as two people had canceled their registration - happy us. there were four starting blocks, each of them had an animal assigned to it. we were in the royal angelfish block (and sadly not in the tiger block), which was to start as the second one. the remaining two blocks were zebra and elephant. we ran pretty slow and relaxed, taking our time to peek at all the confused animals, which might have been wondering what was going on at this time of the day, when the zoo is usually already closed and there should not be any people around anymore, and what all the people are running from - must be a pretty scary predator. so we saw lions, tigers, cheetahs, the cute fluffy newborn wolf cubs (we had not seen them yet), elephants, flamingos, zebras, polar bears and many more. a lot of contestants had painted their faces and body parts to resemble an animal of their choice (mostly tigers from the tiger block, which made it easy with the make up). some also had hats on, that looked like fish, and the runner with number 1 had a giraffe costume on, as the run was to raise money for the new giraffe enclosure and also to help children suffering from pulmonary hypertension. the route was six kilometres long and for the most parts it was flat, only a short passage was uphill and then downhill again. along the run stood loads of helpers that cheered us on and help keeping the motivation up. visitors were not allowed in the zoo during the competition, but there was a short section of the route where we had to run outside the zoo, and there were some people cheering too. of course nina and i crossed the finish line holding hands, and we did fairly bad when it comes to our ranking (let's just say we were not the slowest ones). but since we enjoyed the atmosphere and the animals, and, on top of that, nina had a little cold and a stuffy nose, it is perfectly okay. unfortunately this also meant that we did not get a price, which would have been a cute and fluffy plush giraffe, which really would have been pretty nice to have. in the finish area every contestant got drinks and food; nina had a chilli, i had an kaiserschmarrn; since we were in the "kaiserfisch"-block, this was the only appropriate choice. that was really fun, and the both of us are already looking forward to next year's run - hopefully we make it into the tiger block this time...

my brother, his wife, and my their son, aka "nephew" paid us a visit this weekend. as my christmas gift to them was tickets to the zoo for the whole family, they redeemed them today. we were pretty lucky as the polar bears[01-17] were in a play mood and enjoyed their cooling bath in the heat and were busy with a coconut they could not open. we were also tremendously lucky to see the peacock[22-36] fanning out its impressively sized and colourful plumage. that was the first time we saw it for the peacocks in schoenbrunn. my nephew was - as always - fascinated by the penguins[19-21,37-44]. they lined up really cute today and a big group stood there ready to be captured by our cameras. and then we were even more overwhelmed by how lucky we were this day, as also the white peacock showed its fan[45-55]. both peafowls doing their mating ritual on the same day - incredible. then we stopped at the flying foxes[56-63], the small-clawed otter[64-71] (cute as always), the group of black-tailed prairie dogs[76-79], the capybaras[80-82], the tigers[83-88], the hippopotamus[89-91], and - lastly - the sleeping koala bear[92-93]. my nephew seemed to have enjoyed the trip to the zoo, although he got an animal overflow soon, and so after a while ice-cream and playgrounds got more attention than all the animals - comprehensible with the huge amount of animals in the zoo. what a nice family excursion to the zoo, we really enjoyed that.

this morning we woke up and it was white outside. snow fall during the night made it a snow covered place. so we decided to see how all the animals at the zoo would like the snow (or not). the first animal we paid a visit was the cute koala bear[001]. he could not care less about snow, as first of all he was sleeping, and second of all, his enclosure is indoor only. but it is nice to see there is a new male koala, after the former one had died just recently. now the koala girl ain't so lonely anymore, although they are in separate enclosures. next were the pandas[002], and they really had fun in the snow. the cub was playing with mama bear in the snow; that was really fun to watch. a little more active than usual were the red pandas[003-004,006-008]. we have now seen quite a few red pandas in other zoos (and the big zoo of internet), and actually all of them are way more active than those two ones in schoenbrunn. too bad, since they are so cute when they run around. the tigers[009-040] were not really that much impressed by the snow, it seemed. yet they enjoyed being outside. also, pretty not cat-like, they lay down in the snow. the cheetah[041-058] families preferred to stay inside, so we left them there cuddling, and warming up, and headed over to the next big cats. the leopards[059-079] were also pretty lazy and preferred to stay inside, where it was warm and dry. so we went back to the cheetahs[080-097], which now were outside, and specially the cubs seemed to enjoy the snow. besides they found a tree to climb on and thus get pretty close to the fence. they liked being up there, and climbing down was a bit of a test of courage for the three of them. and eventually, more or less elegant, they all made it down[091] again in safety. the wolves[098-106] did not really behave different with all the snow around. most of them were lying at the point farthest away from the fence and the people, only a few were walking around. surprisingly we spotted both lynx[107-121] - very lucky us. one of them was in their shed, and did not look too happy about the wet, cold weather - well, at least this cat is a cat after all. the other one, doing a round in the enclosure also did not really enjoy getting wet paws. aaaaw, soooo cute. the spectacled bears[122-133] had a fight going on. about what, we could not say. most likely they were playing or teasing. yet it was quite impressive to see the bears at full height standing on their hind legs. the monkeys[135-140,143-146] did not look too happy at all about the snow. all of them were huddled up, not moving and trying to get out of the cold wind and stay dry, as it had started to drizzle. pretty unimpressed about any weather phenomena were the pelicans[147-148], and a crow[149-151], sitting on a pole in the middle of the monkey enclosure. both of them did not mind the snow at all it seemed. well, the crow is more than used to that i guess. on our way out we stopped by the cheetahs[152-164] once more, where they all sat outside and watched their territory. so, summary: most animals do not like snow too much, some do not care, and only a very few ones are having fun. pretty much like with people, i guess.

as already indicated in a previous bLog-post, there will be another post about a visit to schoenbrunn - this time with nina and my dead, who came to visit us for a few days. so we thought it's a nice idea to take him to the zoo, since he had not been to the zoo at schoenbrunn for over 30 years. so, here's roughly our tour: panda bears[001-006], fluffy cheetah cubs[007-058] (of course - you wouldn't have expected it any other way, right?)... ...sleepy, lazy tigers[059], a quite active nina and dad[060,063], seals[061-062], penguins[064-065], "franz josef's land" (aka the new polar bear enclosure[066-082])... ...the fast growing wolf cubs[083-106] were also pretty active today. it seems bringing my father along made all the animals very active and in the mood to pose for the camera. never before have we seen that many animals being active at once. since i told nina about my double lynx encounter at my last visit, she was quite eager to see some lynx[107-117] too. so we went there, and spotted one - yippieh. it even got very close to the fence to get some good pictures of him. such an adorable animal. next were some birds of prey[118-129], a really super cute porcupine[130-137], which we should have paid way more attention in the past - we will change that from now on, promised. and the wonderful and big pelicans[138-143]. last animals for us to visit were the small-clawed otter[144-155] and the coatis[156-159]. then we called it a day, since we were pretty tired, as it was pretty hot, thus even more strenuous. what a wonderful family excursion to the zoo. we really enjoyed that.

this time i have been to the zoo alone, and - happily - there were not many people, as it was thursday afternoon. while the main reason for going to the zoo was to test my new canon lens, the other main reason of course was - you might have guessed it - the cheetah cubs[01-33]. they are still so very fluffy, still so super cute, but already a little bigger this time, yet, as ever, still so adorable! then i moved on and paid the koalas[34-35] a visit. but there was only one left, as the other one had died recently. a notice said the koala died because of its age, and that it had been very old for koalas, namely 16 years. but the remaining koala is already 14 years, so one wonders how long there will be a koala left at the zoo - poor koalas. passing by the flamingos[36-37], and cranes[38-40], i soon ended up at the lions[41-87]. the big kitties were rather lazy either, busy with grooming and washing. this gave me a good and nice look at their big tongues, impressive as the domestic cat's one with their barbs, but even bigger. last stops were the polar bears[88-91], whose fur was green today, because of all the algae in the ponds, and the newly opened coati[92-93] enclosure right next to it. and eventually the lynx. for the first time ever since my visits to the zoo at schoenbrunn i saw two lynxes - isn't that awesome? all this time i really doubted there's even more than one lynx at all, because i never spotted them. if i was very lucky, sometimes there was one, but even then he was always well hidden, so only the back of his ears were visible. i was really surprised and happy - yay. also i'm really happy with my new lens, and i'm still quite amazed by the image stabilizer. all pictures today were taken with it, i did not even bring my other lens with me, so i can test it thoroughly, and can get acquainted with the lens in a known environment.

yeah, another update from the zoo at schoenbrunn - this time with ninsti, as she wanted to see the cheetah cubs too, but had not had the chance to do so yet. so, gladly, i joined her. but at first we paid some bears a visit, namely the cute little red panda[001-002] bear, the brown bear[012-027], and of course the polar bear[029-048]. we also had a look at the cute fluffy wolf cubs[052-075], which also had grown quite much in the meantime. also, there's news from the zoo that there is another litter of three cheetah cubs, but still hidden from the public, so that the mother does not freak out, and the babies can still enjoy their privacy - how cool is that? six cheetah cubs. but for now we totally enjoyed and adored those fluffy little kitties[076-155], playing, running, dozing, fighting, eating, sleeping, pooping, and looking cute. although they have already grown up, i still wished i could take one of them home with me. and, i hope you're not tired of cheetah cub pics yet, because i'm pretty sure next week i will be at the zoo again, as my father will come to pay us a visit, and we planned to take him to the zoo. so be prepared for more...

geekU and his girlfriend alex came to vienna to watch a football game, and had a little spare time on sunday, so we met and went to the zoo in schoenbrunn - a thing we had already planned years ago, but never managed to go up to now. so i showed them around, to the polar bears[001-007], the meerkats[011-012], the very cute and bustling otters[013-014], the seals[015-016], to finally end at the cheetah cubs[017-018] - yuhuuu! unfortunately they were were sleepy and lazy, so we decided to walk on, and return later again, hoping for more cub action. and soon we were not disappointed. the cubs[041-092] have woken up, and were very active. and while i could have stayed for hours, i managed to drag myself away from the cheetahs and show the guests the wolf cubs[093] instead. unfortunately they were at the far end of the enclosure, so it was hard to spot and shoot them with my camera. after alex got her load of elephants and monkey sightings (her main reason for going to zoo schoenbrunn), i managed to lead them on a route around the area to - by sheer coincident - stumble upon the cubs[094-135] again. oh no, my bad. but actually the two enjoyed the fluffy fur balls almost as much as i did, so i had no guilty conscious about it. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, cuteness overload - i wish the kitties would never grow up, and i wish they had a webcam like the zoo in milwaukee has for their jaguar cubs (though they have already grown up several months ago - they were born in december 2013).

besides the new polar bear enclosure "franz josef land", with the peacock eating polar bears, it's cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubs and baby time all over the zoo of schoenbrunn. so nina[006], her family[004] and me went to the zoo. so we wandered through the zoo, seeing the all-time cute red panda[007-018], the big cats[019-023] section, and the three little cheetah cubs[024-031], which i was longing to see so very much. but soon the mother and the cubs vanished, and we decided to come back later again. so we admired the new, really big polar bear enclosure with the two polar bears[046-051]. nearby was another peacock[052-056], still alive when we left - i wonder for how much longer. another small miracle happened this day: we really spotted the lynx[065-066]. yes, he really exists - we couldn't believe it. for so many times we stood in front of the fence trying to find the cute cat, but in vain. but this day, we really saw it. fortunate us. next we went to see the wolf cubs[067], but they were all asleep and pretty far away from the viewing spot. next offspring was the baby reindeer[076-078], a brown and a gray one - very cute. later we came by the cheetah cubs[092-117] again, this time they were in the public area of their enclosure again, so i took some more pictures of those little cute fluffy fur-balls. this is really cuteness overload. and finally, there were the flamingo chicks[118-125] too. all gray, all tiny, and with no feathers and no wings, they do not look like their parents at all. oh, spring/summer in the zoo is wonderful - so many babies and cubs. we really enjoyed that day at the zoo.

my brother, his wife, and my nephew came to visit me in vienna, and planned to go to schoenbrunn zoo, since my nephew wanted to see elephants, crocodiles, hippopotami, and giraffes in real life. those animals he asked specifically for, the rest was bonus. so we grabbed our camera gear and went on an educational family photo-safari trip. since it was the first warm weekend day in this year, tons of people had the same idea as we had. additionally there was also the vienna city-marathon today, so even more people going outside. but still, we enjoyed all the animals. my nephew got to see the meerkats[02-04], giraffes[06-07,09], koalas[10-11], the hippos[12-13], not so real cats[14-16], but also real cats[21-25], seals[26], and the all-time super-cute red pandas[28-29]. some reptiles[30], flamingos[31], sea creatures[32-34], and turtles[36] followed. after a short ice and ice-coffee break[37-38], we headed back to the elephant house where there was feeding time. to get their treat, the elephants had to perform loads of little tricks, which was nice to watch. after several hours at the zoo, my nephew got quite the animal overload. too much new beings, each of them an exciting new experience. so we went home, watched the pictures taken during our trip, and went to bed early, since we all were pretty tired. yet, a fun day for all of us.

my brother, his wife, and my nephew came to visit me in vienna, and planned to go to schoenbrunn zoo, since my nephew wanted to see elephants, crocodiles, hippopotami, and giraffes in real life. those animals he asked specifically for, the rest was bonus. so we grabbed our camera gear and went on an educational family photo-safari trip. since it was the first warm weekend day in this year, tons of people had the same idea as we had. additionally there was also the vienna city-marathon today, so even more people going outside. but still, we enjoyed all the animals. my nephew got to see the meerkats[02-04], giraffes[06-07,09], koalas[10-11], the hippos[12-13], not so real cats[14-16], but also real cats[21-25], seals[26], and the all-time super-cute red pandas[28-29]. some reptiles[30], flamingos[31], sea creatures[32-34], and turtles[36] followed. after a short ice and ice-coffee break[37-38], we headed back to the elephant house where there was feeding time. to get their treat, the elephants had to perform loads of little tricks, which was nice to watch. after several hours at the zoo, my nephew got quite the animal overload. too much new beings, each of them a new experience. so we went home, watched the pictures taken during our trip, and went to bed early, since we all were pretty tired. yet, a fun day for all of us.

there was an article online about the new enclosures for the absolutely cute nude mole rat in the desert house in schoenbrunn, right next to the zoo. since you get admission discount with an annual season ticket for the zoo, it was a good opportunity to renew our zoo card for schoenbrunn. the price is pretty ok, considering we are to the zoo quite often. so i enjoyed watching the nude mole rats[052-054] (and it is pretty hard to get unblurred pictures, since it's pretty dark in the tunnel their enclosure is located in). and although nina didn't think they are cute before seeing them in real life, she then decided that they actually are really cute. also fun were those fishes[035-051] that nibble your dead skin. furthermore there were some reptiles[001-005,008], cacti[009-010,018-028], and also birds[013,015-017]. afterwards we thought why not go the zoo as we have our new season ticket, and there was still a little time left until the zoo closes. so we focused on the big cats, like cheetahs[055-065], panthers[066-085], and tigers[086-110]. today we were lucky, as most of them chose a good place to see them and take pictures. cute kitties!

since i took a view days off due to easter holidays, i went to vienna. and so i had another visit to the zoo of schoenbrunn. i thought there wouldn't be too many people since it was on a wednesday, but i was wrong. loads of tourists, school classes, etc. most likely also because the weather was excellent for a visit to the zoo i did not end up being there alone. i focused on the big kitty-cats this time, like lions, tigers, cheetahs, and lynx. unfortunately i did not see the panther and the lynx. both were hiding, i guess. additionally there was a construction site right opposite the lynx cage, so i guess the cat was also annoyed by the noise they made. and the cage was full of trees and bushes and green. so no idea were it decided to take a nap far away from me. sniff. but at least most of the cats enjoyed lying around in the sun[02-09,39-41], or playing in the little pond with a ball[10-18]. of course i also stopped by all the other lovely cute little animals[01,19-38] they have there. was - as usual - a lot of fun with all the kitties around. a few days later i finally made it to the giger exhibition. though i have been to the last one too, this year's one had a few exhibits i haven't seen before. but i was happy to find the alien head in the exhibition once more, but this time they had another one. though again an original alien movie prop it wasn't the one with the wires i have seen the last time. well, one gets what they expect from giger art: penises, asses, breasts, and pictures of joyful coitus right next to strange creatures, and contaminated, deformed bodies. very enjoyable, i like this look and atmosphere in the pictures by h.r. giger. sunday we (ninsti, me, and some friends) went to the prater to enjoy the festival on the labour day. loads of bands on several stages (though some "stages" actually only were tents). after the concerts we found a maypole. i guess due to intoxication or boredom we decided, in accordance with austrian tradition, to take it with us. so five people ended up dragging the quite heavy and huge pole through the prater. loads of people went or drove by cheering for us, but actually no one seemed too much surprised to see some guys running around with a large tree. since the pole was really heavy we decided to not take it home with us, but rather re-erect the pole at the nearby pub called "fluc". with the help of some drunk people from the pub we really managed to tie the pole to some street lantern, where we finally left our trophy. puh, i guess i can mark this "you should have done that once in your lifetime"-thingie as done. maypole stolen - yippieh!