Roses in Volksgarten

Yesterday morning I read an article on the BBC app about Vienna which mentioned the roses in the Volksgarten. So, seeing as the weather was nice, we thought we'd take a little wander and have a look.

The roses are in bloom in May and June, and the array of varieties and colours is spectacular.

All pictures copyright Swedish Pete

Life Ball 2012

I was very priviledged on Saturday night to be able to attend the 20th Life Ball in Vienna. The Life Ball is a huge event held in the Rathaus (Town Hall) in the city, and is one of the largest AIDS charity balls in the world.

Combining fashion, style, costumes and great entertainment, the Life Ball is a riot of colour and exuberace. With an impressive guest list and even more impressive surroundings, this is THE event to be at every year!

Vienna has a long tradition of balls, with the majority occuring between November and February. The Life Ball has some of the elements of a traditional Viennese ball, but with its own particular style and flair.

I made our oufits, which worked out really well and reignited my passion for sewing (more on that over on Modal Corpus!). The theme was Fight The Flames of Ignorance, with most people opting for outfits in flame colours of reds and oranges. I decided that I wanted to be a bit different and go with purple... just because!

Outfits designed and made by m4dswine, using fabrics from Komolka. Make up by m4dswine using products from MAC and Chanel. Photography by Swedish.

The first event of the evening is the Magenta Carpet, the walkway in for people holding Style Tickets (half price tickets that come with the condition of looking absolutely fabulous) and the celebrity guests (this year's events included Milla Jovovich, Antonio Banderas, Brigitte Neilson and Naomi Campbell as well as prominent Austrians). Outfits and costumes ranged from the more traditional dresses and tuxs to body painting, clever use of wire and lighting and some of the most amazing hair ever! Pictures of some of the best costumes can be seen here: Life Ball Costumes 2012

During that time, the ticket holders and other guests assemble in Rathausplatz to watch the opening ceremony. Outside the Rathausplatz the general public gather to watch the festivities on giant screens, and the whole thing is broadcast on national television.

 The opening includes singers, bands, speeches and a fashion show. This year, the guest speakers were Antonio Banderas and Naomi Campbell, who were presenting the Crystal of Hope award to Bobbi Bear, a charity in South Africa that helps young children to speak out about rape and abuse; Bill Clinton, speaking about his charity, the William J Clinton Foundation, and Milla Jovovich speaking in her role as an ambassador for AMFAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research); she also sang in the fashion show (and was surprisingly good!).

This year's fashion show was put together by Franca Sozzani, the editor in chief of Vogue Italia (you may know her from such programmes as America's Next Top Model) and featured many of the designers who have presented the fashion show over the last 20 years: Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Heatherette, Philip Treacy, Vivienne Westwood, Missoni, Diesel and many others.

Unfortunately, my camera did not perform to the task at hand, and I don't have any decent photos of the fashion show, but a slideshow can be seen here: Life Ball Fashion Show 2012
I did manage to get a reasonable picture of the final model, with wings of fire - the theme of this year's ball being "Fight The Flames of Ignorance".

Once the ball was declared open, the party really began. The Rathaus is a fabulous Neo Gothic building in Vienna, and the inside is just as amazing as the outside. Transformed for the evening, the juxtaposition of the party lighting and outrageous costumes against the grand and formal interior made for an hedonistic atmosphere reminiscent of the days of the Empire (or what I might imagine it would be like, with all the dancing and wigs!).

There were many rooms with different types of music in, so there was something to please everyone really. A heavier emphasis was placed on the electronic and techno beats found in some of the larger nightclubs, but there was also a 70s disco room, some more generic house infused pop and live music, including the wonderful Judith Hill, whose guitar based soul band was a welcome relief from the beeps and repetitive rhythms of the other rooms. And you should totally check her out, she has a fabulous voice!

The outdoor courtyard hosted a variety of bars and entertainment in the form of cabaret and burlesque, but we stayed upstairs mainly where there was also some New York cabaret/burlesque, including Yozmit, who is a little out there for my taste, but entertaining nonetheless!

After many hours of dancing and enjoying ourselves, we left for our homes at around 4.15am. One really really great thing about Vienna is the underground - at weekends it runs all night and when you live as centrally as I do, it is a hop skip and a jump home - I was in the flat by 4.30!

My friend and I decided that we both really really want to go again next year, with more time to prepare our outfits, especially as we now have a much better idea of what to wear!


All photography by m4dswine unless otherwise stated.

One month in...

It is almost a month since I arrived here in Vienna with a van full of stuff and my cat. The last 4 weeks have flown by but other than getting the flat straight and sorting a few things out, I don't feel like I've achieved very much.

I've found that the culture change is bigger than I expected, particularly the language. I'd really hoped that a switch would just flick in my head and I'd pick things up really quickly, but, while I can formulate sentences in my head quite easily, actually speaking them out loud has proved more difficult than I feel it should. I can understand a fair amount of German when I am listening to others, but being able to speak it back... it is all a matter of shyness/nerves, but I'm struggling to get over that.

I must persevere though - I shouldn't be too hard on myself, and I still intend to keep to my self imposed deadline of 6 months to get a reasonable grasp of the language. I just need to figure out the best way to learn!

I'm also no closer to finding a job - I have applied for a few but because of the language thing I'm still very limited as to what I can apply for. Hopefully something will come of the applications I've already made, but in all honesty I haven't really looked that hard! I'm quite enjoying the time off at the moment.

One thing I am doing is broadening my skills. I've decided to take an online course in pattern drafting and sewing techniques, mainly just for me, because I have discovered an amazing shop which has all the fabric under the sun ever, and partly because sewing is something I love, and if I was better at translating what I want to make into an actual garment, I'd be able to start up as a proper designer. So figuring a few things out will be really helpful!

I've spent a lot of time this week sewing, for an event that I am going to with a friend tomorrow night, which I will of course blog about.

Tomorrow night, we are going to the Life Ball, which is a massive massive AIDS charity event that attracts attention from all over the world (apart from the UK it seems). It takes place in Vienna's Rathaus and involves celebrities galore. It is outrageous, amazing and so so cool. Keep an eye out for my write up of the event, but for now, have a look at the website: www.lifeball.org

The Move Part 1: Chaos reigns

So, moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do, or so they say. Our move was no exception. My poor parents, it was a disaster.

The bottom line was: too much stuff, too small van. The combination of the 2 problems meant that I was somewhere close to having a nervous breakdown at various points of the day.

Packing up day was supposed to be a breeze. Parents arrive, we deliver furniture, take some to the tip/recycling centre, then load up the rest. Which we did. Except it became clear at a certain point that the van wasn't big enough. Cue a mass cull of stuff. And me going through mild panic.

Ultimately, a decision was made: we needed a bigger van. Luckily we were able to arrange that, even though it did mean my dad, myself and The Beard driving an hour back into Cornwall to swap vans over, a process which surprisingly only took 10 minutes (given we had to swap about half a van's worth of stuff into the new one). Once we'd got back the van loading process was surprisingly quick - we managed it in about 45 minutes in all, with 4 of us doing the loading.

It was quite possibly the most stressful day I've had in a long time - the last time I was that stressed was when I moved into the last house from my first flat. That was stressful for different reasons though, and I have to give massive props to my parents, The Beard and our dear friend Gray for being champs and helping me retain some level of sanity! Especially my mother, who had expressly told me that she didn't want to do masses of cleaning, and I'd kinda promised her that she wouldn't have to... and then she had to. Also massive thanks must go to JP, my parents' friend who helped with the van rental, and the replacement bigger van - an absolute star.

So, by the end of the long day, we'd packed up the van, cleaned the house and were ready to set off for the ferry port, leaving The Beard behind to finish up the last bits, head to a friend's house and then get a plane a couple of days later.

The thing is, you never realise just how much stuff you have until you start packing it up into boxes. Even though I was trying to be ruthless and we did get rid of a fair bit of stuff, the amount of things we had stashed in that little house with the limited storage is nothing short of amazing.

My top tip for moving? Don't underestimate how much stuff you have. I have no idea how you measure how many boxes you will need, but it will more than likely be more than you think.

Next up: Ferries, cats and vans

The internet has finally arrived!

I apologise for my massive lack of posting but it has taken much longer to get sorted than we could have imagined, and although I've had the internet on my phone, writing blog posts on there, even with the Blogger app, isn't the easiest thing in the world!!

Also, we've been focussing a lot on getting things straight here - organising insurance, unpacking boxes, sorting out bank accounts, mobile phones etc. All the really boring things that take time. And the weather has been so lovely we've been hanging out by a friend's pool quite a bit as well!

But now that the internet is installed we can relax a little, and I can start to update you all with the journey so far.

And then get onto the really important things, like finding all the good places to hang out and do stuff!

Is this the real life?

I'm still waking up in the morning sometimes not quite believing that we upped and left for a new city, a new country. I suppose at the moment it still feels a bit like an extended holiday, especially as it is so sunny and warm here at the moment!

But I love our new flat, and the view at night of Prater is lovely.

We're slowly getting sorted. The internet should hopefully be installed today, then I can crack on with the tales of the journey and our first couple of weeks.

Today is a sorting day: I am still trying to master the washing machine, I need to finish sorting the boxes in our bedroom so I can get that sorted and the kitchen cupboards need rearranging!