View allAll Photos Tagged lilliputian
I took some time to process and upload this one specifically because I had already captured it before with my Panasonic Lumix TZ5. The first capture was one of my favorite waterfall captures I have ever made with a point and shoot prior to my entry into the preferred "silky effect." Little Mashel Falls is flowing at about half of its full strength here and yet it is still very striking. One major bonus is the heavy mist problem that I experienced earlier in the year had all but vanished. A lot of effort to get to this waterfall was expended by myself due to the fact that the city of Eatonville no longer allows you to park your vehicle by the start of the trail. This forced a new required 4 mile round trip that did not exist before, so keep this in mind if you plan on visiting this waterfall and its upstream and downstream companions. Enjoy!
After surveilling the growing military instillations of Blefuscu, an unmarked Lilliputian Air Force jet lands in neutral Kentucky around twilight to refuel before making the trip back home.
The illustrations are from “Moon People of Jupiter” by Isaac R. Nathanson in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring, 1931).
“Commander Lowell looked on, a happy smile on his face. ‘All right, everybody,’ he finally commanded. ‘We still have lots of work before us. Many of our repairs are not of a permanent nature. We must land somewhere.’. . . The choice narrowed down between Io and Europa as the only bodies on which a safe landing might possibly be made. . . further careful observations revealing signs of an atmosphere, we decided to attempt a landing on Io. . .
“We were now only a little more than 300,000 miles from Jupiter, and only about 50,000 miles from Io, which was approaching us fast; and we steered straight for that satellite, with all hands standing by.
“As we neared its surface, the engines braked hard. The final signal to land was given. We circled the surface of Io at a high rate of speed, but could not control the ship as formerly. Diving down at an oblique angle to within a few miles, we shot along, still going at about five miles a minute; barely cleared some extraordinarily high mountains, and continued at a slower pace toward open country; the ship the while settling rapidly and partially out of control.
“Skimming the surface, we finally made a long, scraping landing, with considerable force, sufficiently hard to throw us all to the floor, but with no serious injury.
“As we struck the surface, and above the grating and grinding of the ship, a loud commotion arose outside and cries rang out on all sides of us, the sounds carrying through the steel walls of our space-ship. On looking out, I was dumbfounded to see that we had landed right in the midst of some great city; and in our imperfect descent, had created great destruction, wrecking many of the buildings, and killing and maiming numbers of the inhabitants. . .” [Quoting the story]
So my friend Brian had an idea for a fun photo he wanted me to create for him. He wanted to be Gulliver of Gulliver's Travels, tied down on a beach by the Lilliputians... all of whom would be played by his wife Lynnea.
I originally wanted to shoot this on a beach (as per the original idea) but the lake in Chelmsford, MA that we were relaxing at didn't afford a beach with a suitable layout for the shot. So we instead did it on a nearby grassy knoll.
First we "bound" Bri by encircling him over and over with a thin twine. Then I helped him lie on a slightly raised knoll and lay flat before him so that the camera would be angled up to make him appear bigger. I said "imagine there is a six inch high person standing on your chest lecturing you" so that he would look in that direction. That was the first shot.
The subsequent shots all featured Lynnea using the thickest rope I could find on short notice as a prop. Bri would stand out of shot (typically on a footstool) and hold the rope while Lynnea would pull on it this way and that.
After recording about a dozen different poses, we did the lecturing pose, and then I shot the "sitting on the toes pose" when Lynnea was just relaxing on the stool. I thought the pose would come in useful and as you can see it did.
Shots were all done by daylight, no flash. EOS5D with the EF24-70mm 2.8L lens, which is the widest I own.
Then, after some cleanup in lightroom, came the hours of photoshop work to carefully clip Lynnea out of her surroundings in various pictures and edit her into this one at reduced scale. I thought the grass, which to a Lilliputian should be knee high at least, would be a problem, but it turned out that just using a gradient transparency on the ends of her legs (or whatever was closest to the ground) worked fine unless you look really close.
Things I would do differently if I shot this again:
(1) I really need to get a chromakey backdrop for shoots like this. I shot Lynnea against a grassy green background, but that was not uniform enough to make clipping her out simple... it was a LOT of work.
(2) Lynnea had been swimming prior to the shoot, and threw on a pair of pants for her poses. But in each subsequent pose water slowly seeped through the material and created spots in various places. I was mostly able to edit those out, but it was additional work.
(3) Get thicker rope, or simply edit the rope out altogether and use the twine. The size difference between the reduced rope and the twine bugs me a little.
(4) A beach location with a nice uniform ocean background would have made for easier editing.
(5) I would have backed off a little more when shooting Bri. At 4x6, 6x9, or 8x12 the photo is fine, but at 8x10 the ends get clipped. That was just dumb on my part... to produce an unclipped 8x10 print some edits would be required.
All that said, I am really pleased with how the resulting image came out. And more importantly, my beloved friends Brian and Lynnea are happy with it, which is really what this was all about. Doing something nice for people I hold very dear in my heart.
Love you guys, glad you liked the photo!
A bit of a stretch today, but for...
Daily Dog Challenge "670. Life Imitates Art"
… I was inspired by drawings/paintings of Gulliver tied down by the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels, using those ever busy LEGOs (who are...
Our Daily Challenge - August 31, 2013 - "Representations of people"
…) as my Lilliputians.
Yes, Henry is VERY patient.
Stop on by Zachary and Henry's blog: bzdogs.com
Doppelbelichtung/ double exposure www.uetliberg.ch
Thick hoarfrost frozen on the pasture grass, creating a Lilliputian winter wonderland this morning.
Date: December 27, 2017 08:20
Temperature: 1°C (33°F)
(for further pictures or information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link you will get them as soon as possible!)
The Vienna Prater
Lieblingsnahausflugsziel (favourite nearby excursion destination) in Biedermeier Vienna is the Prater. The season opens with the race of "noble runners" on May 1. The usually before the carriages of the nobility running lackeys on that day line up under high bets to public competition. The main avenue along to the pleasure house (Lusthaus) and back drag the racers to the cheers of the audience. Trumpet-blasts, flags and cash prizes await the winner. Military music they escorts into the first Prater coffee house where them a splendid breakfast is arranged, while the ones having fallen by the wayside are collected. This race is banned in 1848 because of inhumanity. In the afternoon swayed - as from now on every Sunday - people and cars down the hunter line (Jägerzeile - since 1862 Prater Road). The state-carriages of the Court, the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie to evening make in a continuous parade the main street with its lofty Prater coffee houses to a "Nobel Prater".
"Bey the public-houses (Inns)" in the Prater.
Coloured engraving, T. Mollo. 1825
The people has fun in the Wurstelprater (Hanswurst, clowning on Vienna stages) in a tangle of guest houses and Prater lodges, puppet booths, calendula games and swings between the Prater harpists, salami sellers and spectacle. Here is the stronghold of the showmen with their monkey theater and flea circus, jugglers and fire-eaters, giants and dwarfs, menageries, panoramas, wax figures and ghostly apparitions. On the "Zirkuswiese" in Circus gymnasticus the popular equestrian companies by Christoph de Bach (? 1808) and Alexander Guerra perform. One camps in the Prater floodplains and waits until at nightfall on the "fireworks meadow" Stuwer (? 1802) lets shoot up his sparkling rockets.
City Chronicle Vienna
Dr. Christian Brandstätter, Dr. Günter Treffer
2000 years in data, documents and images
From the beginnings to the present
Courtesy
Christian Brandstätter Verlag mbH
The publishing service for museums, businesses and public authorities
www.brandstaetter - verlag.at
The historically grown amusement park looks back to a rich history. First documentary references of that area, which originally had jungle-like character, go back to the 12th Century. The former imperial hunting ground in 1766 under the "popular" Austrian Emperor Joseph II was made accessible to the public. Soon after, a number of small entertainment venues (carousels, shooting galleries, food stalls, ...) arrived, entertaining the people and also providing for the physical well-being.
The inhabitants of Vienna enjoyed themselves by riding artfully designed Hutschpferden (swing horses) and by swinging into lofty altitudes. In the process you could with long poles jab into rings. Hence the name carousel. It had been created recreational devices for the general public.
The fireworks of Stuwer and the balloon ascents end of the 18th Century dragged the Viennese from the city to the fairgrounds in the Prater. Following the trend of the times were national artistic institutions (theaters, waxworks museum and people museum - "Präuschers panopticon" with 2,000 objects, Vivarium, Planetarium, ... ) built and connected to the hustle and bustle. Sensations in the old Prater were the Abnormitätenshows (abnormalities) in which Lilliputian, Hirsute men, Siamese twins including "Freaks" (monster, abnormal shape) were to see. The thick Prater-Mitzi or the Russian-born trunk man Kobelkoff, as well as the ghostly magic theater of Kratky Baschik enriched the morphology of the bizarre Prater landscape. With the development of technology and electricity, the entertainment in the Prater was becoming more and more diverse.
In the emerging age of railways, the in Trieste born Basilio Calafati founded the first railway carousel in 1844. In this hut in 1854 the figure of the "big Chinesers" was set up as a mast. Many showmen and technicians from all over the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, but also from the rest of Europe in the illustrious Viennese amusement park their ideas put into practice.
The Englishman Basset succeeded in 1897 to set up the still existing Ferris wheel in the Prater. This vehicle with a diameter of 61 meters originally had 30 cars. When the first "living pictures", the Cinematography, were born, 1896 the first cinema was opened in the Prater. Electricity in 1898 the first electrically operated Grottenbahn brought in the Prater. This fairytale train was also the first in Europe. On the occasion of the popularity of the airplane in 1911 the first "Aeroplan Carousel" was established. Followed in 1926 the first "Autodrome" and in 1933 the first "ghost train". In 1928, the still running "Liliputbahn", a reduced form of the great steam locomotives was placed in the Prater. 1935 brought a Prater entrepreneur from Chicago the rapid "flight path" in the Prater, a system not running on rails.
The Prater always changed its face, modernized and adapted itself to the trend of times. One attraction always replaced the other. Only few historical venues have been able to transport themselves into the present. Tradition-conscious companies such as the "Pony Carousel" from the year 1887 or the nostalgic slide tower "switchback (Tobogan)" from the 50s fight against the taste of the times and the needs of the visitors. In popularity but the historic Ferris wheel, the "Miniature Train" and of course the restaurant "Swiss House" (specialty: stilt and beer) will never lose.
Rickety ghost trains and sparkling grotto railways, although dusty, will not allow to be pushed out of the Prater. Between the historical venues flash the new, modern, hydraulically operated high-tech fairground rides. 1909-1944 the enormous dimensioned "roller coaster" always was a magnet for the Prater trippers. A reduced form is the after the war built "Neue Wiener roller coaster". Was swallowed entirely by history the magnificent "Venice in Vienna". On the site of the present Emperor's Meadow (Kaiserwiese) was located around the turn of the century the illusory world of the artificially recreated lagoon city. The initiator Gabor Steiner created in 1895 a world in the Prater, in which not only the high society, but also the Bohemian maids and the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state amused themselves. In the era of the fin de siècle (= the decadent over-refinement of feeling and taste at the end of the 19th century), in which the Prater flourished, performed the most famous conductors of the time (Strauss, Lanner, Ziehrer).
Characteristic for the Wiener Prater today is also the adjacent green, left in its naturale state Praterau (Prater floodplain). An engaging recreational landscape with trees, meadows and ponds. Through this welcoming and quiet part of the Prater leads the 4.5 km long main avenue, which is lined with old chestnut trees. At the time, colorful flower parades were held there where, inter alia, even the Emperor and Empress and Mayor Lueger showed up. Along the main avenue were situated the now defunct, three famous coffee houses. The1783 built by Canevale "pleasure house" (Lusthaus) at the end of the main avenue, however, is still to be found. Past is the "Vaudeville Light", where for a long time popular movie stars and artists of yesteryear (Aslan, Jeritza, Moser, ... ) entertained the Prater audience.
To the Prater belongs also the fairgrounds. There in 1873 took place the world exhibition. The Rotunda, those proud crowned by a cupola central building in 1937 became a prey to the flames. What in the course of time of historic buildings of facilities in the Prater not had outlived itself, was destroyed in World War II. The most severely battered amusement park but was rebuilt. It established itself again as an integral part of the cultural entertainment of the city of Vienna. The force measuring machine "Watschenmann" is part of the local history of this unique institution, but also the cheeky and defiant "Prater Puppet" characterizes the color of the Vienna Prater.
(for further pictures or information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link you will get them as soon as possible!)
The Vienna Prater
Lieblingsnahausflugsziel (favourite nearby excursion destination) in Biedermeier Vienna is the Prater. The season opens with the race of "noble runners" on May 1. The usually before the carriages of the nobility running lackeys on that day line up under high bets to public competition. The main avenue along to the pleasure house (Lusthaus) and back drag the racers to the cheers of the audience. Trumpet-blasts, flags and cash prizes await the winner. Military music they escorts into the first Prater coffee house where them a splendid breakfast is arranged, while the ones having fallen by the wayside are collected. This race is banned in 1848 because of inhumanity. In the afternoon swayed - as from now on every Sunday - people and cars down the hunter line (Jägerzeile - since 1862 Prater Road). The state-carriages of the Court, the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie to evening make in a continuous parade the main street with its lofty Prater coffee houses to a "Nobel Prater".
"Bey the public-houses (Inns)" in the Prater.
Coloured engraving, T. Mollo. 1825
The people has fun in the Wurstelprater (Hanswurst, clowning on Vienna stages) in a tangle of guest houses and Prater lodges, puppet booths, calendula games and swings between the Prater harpists, salami sellers and spectacle. Here is the stronghold of the showmen with their monkey theater and flea circus, jugglers and fire-eaters, giants and dwarfs, menageries, panoramas, wax figures and ghostly apparitions. On the "Zirkuswiese" in Circus gymnasticus the popular equestrian companies by Christoph de Bach (? 1808) and Alexander Guerra perform. One camps in the Prater floodplains and waits until at nightfall on the "fireworks meadow" Stuwer (? 1802) lets shoot up his sparkling rockets.
City Chronicle Vienna
Dr. Christian Brandstätter, Dr. Günter Treffer
2000 years in data, documents and images
From the beginnings to the present
Courtesy
Christian Brandstätter Verlag mbH
The publishing service for museums, businesses and public authorities
www.brandstaetter - verlag.at
The historically grown amusement park looks back to a rich history. First documentary references of that area, which originally had jungle-like character, go back to the 12th Century. The former imperial hunting ground in 1766 under the "popular" Austrian Emperor Joseph II was made accessible to the public. Soon after, a number of small entertainment venues (carousels, shooting galleries, food stalls, ...) arrived, entertaining the people and also providing for the physical well-being.
The inhabitants of Vienna enjoyed themselves by riding artfully designed Hutschpferden (swing horses) and by swinging into lofty altitudes. In the process you could with long poles jab into rings. Hence the name carousel. It had been created recreational devices for the general public.
The fireworks of Stuwer and the balloon ascents end of the 18th Century dragged the Viennese from the city to the fairgrounds in the Prater. Following the trend of the times were national artistic institutions (theaters, waxworks museum and people museum - "Präuschers panopticon" with 2,000 objects, Vivarium, Planetarium, ... ) built and connected to the hustle and bustle. Sensations in the old Prater were the Abnormitätenshows (abnormalities) in which Lilliputian, Hirsute men, Siamese twins including "Freaks" (monster, abnormal shape) were to see. The thick Prater-Mitzi or the Russian-born trunk man Kobelkoff, as well as the ghostly magic theater of Kratky Baschik enriched the morphology of the bizarre Prater landscape. With the development of technology and electricity, the entertainment in the Prater was becoming more and more diverse.
In the emerging age of railways, the in Trieste born Basilio Calafati founded the first railway carousel in 1844. In this hut in 1854 the figure of the "big Chinesers" was set up as a mast. Many showmen and technicians from all over the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, but also from the rest of Europe in the illustrious Viennese amusement park their ideas put into practice.
The Englishman Basset succeeded in 1897 to set up the still existing Ferris wheel in the Prater. This vehicle with a diameter of 61 meters originally had 30 cars. When the first "living pictures", the Cinematography, were born, 1896 the first cinema was opened in the Prater. Electricity in 1898 the first electrically operated Grottenbahn brought in the Prater. This fairytale train was also the first in Europe. On the occasion of the popularity of the airplane in 1911 the first "Aeroplan Carousel" was established. Followed in 1926 the first "Autodrome" and in 1933 the first "ghost train". In 1928, the still running "Liliputbahn", a reduced form of the great steam locomotives was placed in the Prater. 1935 brought a Prater entrepreneur from Chicago the rapid "flight path" in the Prater, a system not running on rails.
The Prater always changed its face, modernized and adapted itself to the trend of times. One attraction always replaced the other. Only few historical venues have been able to transport themselves into the present. Tradition-conscious companies such as the "Pony Carousel" from the year 1887 or the nostalgic slide tower "switchback (Tobogan)" from the 50s fight against the taste of the times and the needs of the visitors. In popularity but the historic Ferris wheel, the "Miniature Train" and of course the restaurant "Swiss House" (specialty: stilt and beer) will never lose.
Rickety ghost trains and sparkling grotto railways, although dusty, will not allow to be pushed out of the Prater. Between the historical venues flash the new, modern, hydraulically operated high-tech fairground rides. 1909-1944 the enormous dimensioned "roller coaster" always was a magnet for the Prater trippers. A reduced form is the after the war built "Neue Wiener roller coaster". Was swallowed entirely by history the magnificent "Venice in Vienna". On the site of the present Emperor's Meadow (Kaiserwiese) was located around the turn of the century the illusory world of the artificially recreated lagoon city. The initiator Gabor Steiner created in 1895 a world in the Prater, in which not only the high society, but also the Bohemian maids and the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state amused themselves. In the era of the fin de siècle (= the decadent over-refinement of feeling and taste at the end of the 19th century), in which the Prater flourished, performed the most famous conductors of the time (Strauss, Lanner, Ziehrer).
Characteristic for the Wiener Prater today is also the adjacent green, left in its naturale state Praterau (Prater floodplain). An engaging recreational landscape with trees, meadows and ponds. Through this welcoming and quiet part of the Prater leads the 4.5 km long main avenue, which is lined with old chestnut trees. At the time, colorful flower parades were held there where, inter alia, even the Emperor and Empress and Mayor Lueger showed up. Along the main avenue were situated the now defunct, three famous coffee houses. The1783 built by Canevale "pleasure house" (Lusthaus) at the end of the main avenue, however, is still to be found. Past is the "Vaudeville Light", where for a long time popular movie stars and artists of yesteryear (Aslan, Jeritza, Moser, ... ) entertained the Prater audience.
To the Prater belongs also the fairgrounds. There in 1873 took place the world exhibition. The Rotunda, those proud crowned by a cupola central building in 1937 became a prey to the flames. What in the course of time of historic buildings of facilities in the Prater not had outlived itself, was destroyed in World War II. The most severely battered amusement park but was rebuilt. It established itself again as an integral part of the cultural entertainment of the city of Vienna. The force measuring machine "Watschenmann" is part of the local history of this unique institution, but also the cheeky and defiant "Prater Puppet" characterizes the color of the Vienna Prater.
(for further pictures or information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link you will get them as soon as possible!)
The Vienna Prater
Lieblingsnahausflugsziel (favourite nearby excursion destination) in Biedermeier Vienna is the Prater. The season opens with the race of "noble runners" on May 1. The usually before the carriages of the nobility running lackeys on that day line up under high bets to public competition. The main avenue along to the pleasure house (Lusthaus) and back drag the racers to the cheers of the audience. Trumpet-blasts, flags and cash prizes await the winner. Military music they escorts into the first Prater coffee house where them a splendid breakfast is arranged, while the ones having fallen by the wayside are collected. This race is banned in 1848 because of inhumanity. In the afternoon swayed - as from now on every Sunday - people and cars down the hunter line (Jägerzeile - since 1862 Prater Road). The state-carriages of the Court, the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie to evening make in a continuous parade the main street with its lofty Prater coffee houses to a "Nobel Prater".
"Bey the public-houses (Inns)" in the Prater.
Coloured engraving, T. Mollo. 1825
The people has fun in the Wurstelprater (Hanswurst, clowning on Vienna stages) in a tangle of guest houses and Prater lodges, puppet booths, calendula games and swings between the Prater harpists, salami sellers and spectacle. Here is the stronghold of the showmen with their monkey theater and flea circus, jugglers and fire-eaters, giants and dwarfs, menageries, panoramas, wax figures and ghostly apparitions. On the "Zirkuswiese" in Circus gymnasticus the popular equestrian companies by Christoph de Bach (? 1808) and Alexander Guerra perform. One camps in the Prater floodplains and waits until at nightfall on the "fireworks meadow" Stuwer (? 1802) lets shoot up his sparkling rockets.
City Chronicle Vienna
Dr. Christian Brandstätter, Dr. Günter Treffer
2000 years in data, documents and images
From the beginnings to the present
Courtesy
Christian Brandstätter Verlag mbH
The publishing service for museums, businesses and public authorities
www.brandstaetter - verlag.at
The historically grown amusement park looks back to a rich history. First documentary references of that area, which originally had jungle-like character, go back to the 12th Century. The former imperial hunting ground in 1766 under the "popular" Austrian Emperor Joseph II was made accessible to the public. Soon after, a number of small entertainment venues (carousels, shooting galleries, food stalls, ...) arrived, entertaining the people and also providing for the physical well-being.
The inhabitants of Vienna enjoyed themselves by riding artfully designed Hutschpferden (swing horses) and by swinging into lofty altitudes. In the process you could with long poles jab into rings. Hence the name carousel. It had been created recreational devices for the general public.
The fireworks of Stuwer and the balloon ascents end of the 18th Century dragged the Viennese from the city to the fairgrounds in the Prater. Following the trend of the times were national artistic institutions (theaters, waxworks museum and people museum - "Präuschers panopticon" with 2,000 objects, Vivarium, Planetarium, ... ) built and connected to the hustle and bustle. Sensations in the old Prater were the Abnormitätenshows (abnormalities) in which Lilliputian, Hirsute men, Siamese twins including "Freaks" (monster, abnormal shape) were to see. The thick Prater-Mitzi or the Russian-born trunk man Kobelkoff, as well as the ghostly magic theater of Kratky Baschik enriched the morphology of the bizarre Prater landscape. With the development of technology and electricity, the entertainment in the Prater was becoming more and more diverse.
In the emerging age of railways, the in Trieste born Basilio Calafati founded the first railway carousel in 1844. In this hut in 1854 the figure of the "big Chinesers" was set up as a mast. Many showmen and technicians from all over the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, but also from the rest of Europe in the illustrious Viennese amusement park their ideas put into practice.
The Englishman Basset succeeded in 1897 to set up the still existing Ferris wheel in the Prater. This vehicle with a diameter of 61 meters originally had 30 cars. When the first "living pictures", the Cinematography, were born, 1896 the first cinema was opened in the Prater. Electricity in 1898 the first electrically operated Grottenbahn brought in the Prater. This fairytale train was also the first in Europe. On the occasion of the popularity of the airplane in 1911 the first "Aeroplan Carousel" was established. Followed in 1926 the first "Autodrome" and in 1933 the first "ghost train". In 1928, the still running "Liliputbahn", a reduced form of the great steam locomotives was placed in the Prater. 1935 brought a Prater entrepreneur from Chicago the rapid "flight path" in the Prater, a system not running on rails.
The Prater always changed its face, modernized and adapted itself to the trend of times. One attraction always replaced the other. Only few historical venues have been able to transport themselves into the present. Tradition-conscious companies such as the "Pony Carousel" from the year 1887 or the nostalgic slide tower "switchback (Tobogan)" from the 50s fight against the taste of the times and the needs of the visitors. In popularity but the historic Ferris wheel, the "Miniature Train" and of course the restaurant "Swiss House" (specialty: stilt and beer) will never lose.
Rickety ghost trains and sparkling grotto railways, although dusty, will not allow to be pushed out of the Prater. Between the historical venues flash the new, modern, hydraulically operated high-tech fairground rides. 1909-1944 the enormous dimensioned "roller coaster" always was a magnet for the Prater trippers. A reduced form is the after the war built "Neue Wiener roller coaster". Was swallowed entirely by history the magnificent "Venice in Vienna". On the site of the present Emperor's Meadow (Kaiserwiese) was located around the turn of the century the illusory world of the artificially recreated lagoon city. The initiator Gabor Steiner created in 1895 a world in the Prater, in which not only the high society, but also the Bohemian maids and the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state amused themselves. In the era of the fin de siècle (= the decadent over-refinement of feeling and taste at the end of the 19th century), in which the Prater flourished, performed the most famous conductors of the time (Strauss, Lanner, Ziehrer).
Characteristic for the Wiener Prater today is also the adjacent green, left in its naturale state Praterau (Prater floodplain). An engaging recreational landscape with trees, meadows and ponds. Through this welcoming and quiet part of the Prater leads the 4.5 km long main avenue, which is lined with old chestnut trees. At the time, colorful flower parades were held there where, inter alia, even the Emperor and Empress and Mayor Lueger showed up. Along the main avenue were situated the now defunct, three famous coffee houses. The1783 built by Canevale "pleasure house" (Lusthaus) at the end of the main avenue, however, is still to be found. Past is the "Vaudeville Light", where for a long time popular movie stars and artists of yesteryear (Aslan, Jeritza, Moser, ... ) entertained the Prater audience.
To the Prater belongs also the fairgrounds. There in 1873 took place the world exhibition. The Rotunda, those proud crowned by a cupola central building in 1937 became a prey to the flames. What in the course of time of historic buildings of facilities in the Prater not had outlived itself, was destroyed in World War II. The most severely battered amusement park but was rebuilt. It established itself again as an integral part of the cultural entertainment of the city of Vienna. The force measuring machine "Watschenmann" is part of the local history of this unique institution, but also the cheeky and defiant "Prater Puppet" characterizes the color of the Vienna Prater.
Two Lilliputians sit on the Giant Grandmother's knee during the Memories of August 1914 event in Liverpool . Note her trusty pipe in her left hand .
Batu Caves, Malaysia
Standing at 42.7 m (140 ft) high, the world's tallest statue of Lord Murugan, a Hindu deity.
"Flowers construct the most charming geometries: circles like the sun, ovals, cones, curlicues and a variety of triangular eccentricities, which when viewed with the eye of a magnifying glass seem a Lilliputian frieze of psychedelic silhouettes." - Duane Michals, The Vanishing Act
Happy Sliders Sunday everyone! The kaleidoscope image is a Dahlia flower I took in a nearby park this summer. The photo was processed using Corel's AfterShot and PaintShop Pro programs. The original photo can be found here for comparison: www.flickr.com/photos/144303013@N02/30579687684/in/datepo...
DSC_1236 -c3
As the polling stations were getting ready to close in the British General Election, I was at the Angel of the North, grabbing a photograph. I was actually en route the Newcastle Airport to pick up my son and made a slight detour!
I love this work of art, but still recall the controversy when it was first proposed. One thing is for sure, it's certainly helped to put the region on the map.
I still recall photographing the main body as it was being fabricated at Hartlepool Steel Fabrications Ltd. It looked very much a Lilliputian scene as figures surrounded the supine sculpture.
("A" side) Instruction # 48 *C*
Things are what they seem to be, or maybe something else." - Richard Salvar
Mis imágenes están protegidas por derechos de autor, si está interesado en alguna de éllas, sírvase dirigirse a sobrenivel@yahoo.com.ar
Gracias
(A heartfelt Thank You to all the Lilliputians, for all the amazing work & effort to create such a magical experience! From us 'Liver-putians'.)
(for further pictures or information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link you will get them as soon as possible!)
The Vienna Prater
Lieblingsnahausflugsziel (favourite nearby excursion destination) in Biedermeier Vienna is the Prater. The season opens with the race of "noble runners" on May 1. The usually before the carriages of the nobility running lackeys on that day line up under high bets to public competition. The main avenue along to the pleasure house (Lusthaus) and back drag the racers to the cheers of the audience. Trumpet-blasts, flags and cash prizes await the winner. Military music they escorts into the first Prater coffee house where them a splendid breakfast is arranged, while the ones having fallen by the wayside are collected. This race is banned in 1848 because of inhumanity. In the afternoon swayed - as from now on every Sunday - people and cars down the hunter line (Jägerzeile - since 1862 Prater Road). The state-carriages of the Court, the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie to evening make in a continuous parade the main street with its lofty Prater coffee houses to a "Nobel Prater".
"Bey the public-houses (Inns)" in the Prater.
Coloured engraving, T. Mollo. 1825
The people has fun in the Wurstelprater (Hanswurst, clowning on Vienna stages) in a tangle of guest houses and Prater lodges, puppet booths, calendula games and swings between the Prater harpists, salami sellers and spectacle. Here is the stronghold of the showmen with their monkey theater and flea circus, jugglers and fire-eaters, giants and dwarfs, menageries, panoramas, wax figures and ghostly apparitions. On the "Zirkuswiese" in Circus gymnasticus the popular equestrian companies by Christoph de Bach (? 1808) and Alexander Guerra perform. One camps in the Prater floodplains and waits until at nightfall on the "fireworks meadow" Stuwer (? 1802) lets shoot up his sparkling rockets.
City Chronicle Vienna
Dr. Christian Brandstätter, Dr. Günter Treffer
2000 years in data, documents and images
From the beginnings to the present
Courtesy
Christian Brandstätter Verlag mbH
The publishing service for museums, businesses and public authorities
www.brandstaetter - verlag.at
The historically grown amusement park looks back to a rich history. First documentary references of that area, which originally had jungle-like character, go back to the 12th Century. The former imperial hunting ground in 1766 under the "popular" Austrian Emperor Joseph II was made accessible to the public. Soon after, a number of small entertainment venues (carousels, shooting galleries, food stalls, ...) arrived, entertaining the people and also providing for the physical well-being.
The inhabitants of Vienna enjoyed themselves by riding artfully designed Hutschpferden (swing horses) and by swinging into lofty altitudes. In the process you could with long poles jab into rings. Hence the name carousel. It had been created recreational devices for the general public.
The fireworks of Stuwer and the balloon ascents end of the 18th Century dragged the Viennese from the city to the fairgrounds in the Prater. Following the trend of the times were national artistic institutions (theaters, waxworks museum and people museum - "Präuschers panopticon" with 2,000 objects, Vivarium, Planetarium, ... ) built and connected to the hustle and bustle. Sensations in the old Prater were the Abnormitätenshows (abnormalities) in which Lilliputian, Hirsute men, Siamese twins including "Freaks" (monster, abnormal shape) were to see. The thick Prater-Mitzi or the Russian-born trunk man Kobelkoff, as well as the ghostly magic theater of Kratky Baschik enriched the morphology of the bizarre Prater landscape. With the development of technology and electricity, the entertainment in the Prater was becoming more and more diverse.
In the emerging age of railways, the in Trieste born Basilio Calafati founded the first railway carousel in 1844. In this hut in 1854 the figure of the "big Chinesers" was set up as a mast. Many showmen and technicians from all over the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, but also from the rest of Europe in the illustrious Viennese amusement park their ideas put into practice.
The Englishman Basset succeeded in 1897 to set up the still existing Ferris wheel in the Prater. This vehicle with a diameter of 61 meters originally had 30 cars. When the first "living pictures", the Cinematography, were born, 1896 the first cinema was opened in the Prater. Electricity in 1898 the first electrically operated Grottenbahn brought in the Prater. This fairytale train was also the first in Europe. On the occasion of the popularity of the airplane in 1911 the first "Aeroplan Carousel" was established. Followed in 1926 the first "Autodrome" and in 1933 the first "ghost train". In 1928, the still running "Liliputbahn", a reduced form of the great steam locomotives was placed in the Prater. 1935 brought a Prater entrepreneur from Chicago the rapid "flight path" in the Prater, a system not running on rails.
The Prater always changed its face, modernized and adapted itself to the trend of times. One attraction always replaced the other. Only few historical venues have been able to transport themselves into the present. Tradition-conscious companies such as the "Pony Carousel" from the year 1887 or the nostalgic slide tower "switchback (Tobogan)" from the 50s fight against the taste of the times and the needs of the visitors. In popularity but the historic Ferris wheel, the "Miniature Train" and of course the restaurant "Swiss House" (specialty: stilt and beer) will never lose.
Rickety ghost trains and sparkling grotto railways, although dusty, will not allow to be pushed out of the Prater. Between the historical venues flash the new, modern, hydraulically operated high-tech fairground rides. 1909-1944 the enormous dimensioned "roller coaster" always was a magnet for the Prater trippers. A reduced form is the after the war built "Neue Wiener roller coaster". Was swallowed entirely by history the magnificent "Venice in Vienna". On the site of the present Emperor's Meadow (Kaiserwiese) was located around the turn of the century the illusory world of the artificially recreated lagoon city. The initiator Gabor Steiner created in 1895 a world in the Prater, in which not only the high society, but also the Bohemian maids and the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state amused themselves. In the era of the fin de siècle (= the decadent over-refinement of feeling and taste at the end of the 19th century), in which the Prater flourished, performed the most famous conductors of the time (Strauss, Lanner, Ziehrer).
Characteristic for the Wiener Prater today is also the adjacent green, left in its naturale state Praterau (Prater floodplain). An engaging recreational landscape with trees, meadows and ponds. Through this welcoming and quiet part of the Prater leads the 4.5 km long main avenue, which is lined with old chestnut trees. At the time, colorful flower parades were held there where, inter alia, even the Emperor and Empress and Mayor Lueger showed up. Along the main avenue were situated the now defunct, three famous coffee houses. The1783 built by Canevale "pleasure house" (Lusthaus) at the end of the main avenue, however, is still to be found. Past is the "Vaudeville Light", where for a long time popular movie stars and artists of yesteryear (Aslan, Jeritza, Moser, ... ) entertained the Prater audience.
To the Prater belongs also the fairgrounds. There in 1873 took place the world exhibition. The Rotunda, those proud crowned by a cupola central building in 1937 became a prey to the flames. What in the course of time of historic buildings of facilities in the Prater not had outlived itself, was destroyed in World War II. The most severely battered amusement park but was rebuilt. It established itself again as an integral part of the cultural entertainment of the city of Vienna. The force measuring machine "Watschenmann" is part of the local history of this unique institution, but also the cheeky and defiant "Prater Puppet" characterizes the color of the Vienna Prater.
"Teenie Weenie Town" written and illustrated by William Donahey. Copyright 1942 by William Donahey. Whittlesey House, publishers, Jersey City printers.
Zwingle, Iowa, ca. 1928-1933
THE PALIMPSEST, APRIL, 1932
FROM BELLEVUE TO CASCADE
Beside the North Fork of the Maquoketa River, situated on the line between Jackson and Dubuque counties, lies the town of Cascade. As a pioneer village it was neglected by all the early railroad building activities, and the lack of such transportation threatened for a generation to doom the community to oblivion.
At intervals for thirty years, various projected railroad schemes included Cascade on their route, only to fail, one by one, leaving the community in deeper despair. The earliest of these proposed roads was the “Ram’s-Horn”, first broached in 1848. It was to have extended from Keokuk to Dubuque by way of Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Cascade. An “air line” directly across Iowa, passing from Bellevue through Cascade, was suggested, but interest in this road was soon overshadowed by a more promising “Southwestern” route from Dubuque, which likewise pledged a station at Cascade. The organization of the Davenport and St. Paul seemed promising but it “also went up in thin air”.
If ever a community had reasons to feel discouraged Cascade certainly did. Outside aid had apparently failed, and it seemed that the town would have to build the railroad if there was ever to be one. Various citizens bestirred themselves.
On October 13, 1876, Dr. W. H. Francis of Cascade wrote to Captain M. R. Brown of Bellevue concerning the feasibility of constructing a narrow gauge road from Bellevue to Cascade. The matter “met with instant favorable response on the part of the people of Bellevue.” All winter the subject was discussed. On March 9, 1877, a meeting was held by the citizens of Bellevue for the purpose of organizing and financing a preliminary survey for a narrow gauge road to Cascade.
Not until August 4, 1877, however, was the Chicago, Bellevue, Cascade and Western Railroad Company organized at Bellevue. This arrangement was apparently not entirely satisfactory, for another meeting was held at Garrytown and a third at Cascade on August 30th when final details were settled. Officers and a board of directors, including three men from each township on the route of the proposed road, were elected. It appears that capable, energetic men were chosen, who believed that the road could actually be built. From the name of the company it may be assumed that the promoters held high hopes that the new railroad might eventually become an important link in a trunk line across the State connecting with the Milwaukee narrow gauge then building westward to Galena from the lakes.
The project was eyed jealously by Dubuque, for the “gate city” did not welcome competition at Bellevue. According to a Cascade Pioneer editorial in September, 1877, D. A. Mahony was urging “the business men and capitalists of Dubuque to take active steps to build, or assist in building a Narrow Gauge Railway to Cascade,” and warning them that “the loss of the trade of the southern part of the county” would be incalculable. He warned his fellow citizens that Cascade was “putting her shoulder to the wheel” in behalf of the Bellevue project.
“The time for action has come,” declared the editor of the Pioneer, “and our people have organized for a purpose, and that purpose is to secure a home market for the products of the surrounding country, and an outlet for other markets” by establishing rail connections with the grain market at Galena to the east and with the thriving cities on the Missouri River. “We understand”, he continued, “that Dubuque business men scoff at the very idea of the people of this section having the financial ability to construct the road. We beg to differ with them on that point, and refer them to the directory elected to manage the organization who alone if they chose to, or were required to furnish the capital could construct the line between Cascade & Bellevue.”
Even in those times, however, when the wages of unskilled labor were as low as fifty cents a day, railroad building was expensive, and few roads were completed without one or more reorganizations. The capitalization of the company was fixed at $200,000, and stock was distributed in sums ranging from $5000 to a few shares held by enthusiastic boosters along the way, some of whom, not having the money to pay, arranged to assist by working out their subsections with teams and labor. In 1878, a tax was voted in Bellevue and in various townships along the route. The people of Bellevue were particularly loyal in their financial support of the new road, as they felt such a railroad would be advantageous in securing the relocation of the county seat at that place.
Perhaps the most important task confronting railroad builders was the location of the route. The determination of the grade between Bellevue and Cascade was particularly difficult, for the altitude of the river town was only about six hundred feet above sea level while the table land only a few miles to the west attained an elevation of eleven hundred feet. But the financial support which might be expected from the various communities that were directly benefited was as important as the engineering factors in determining the location of the right of way.
At the lower end of Bellevue, Mill Creek empties into the Mississippi, and it was the valley of this little stream that afforded the only practicable opportunity of reaching the prairies inland. For a distance of about two miles, the line runs on the north side of Mill Creek, then crosses to the south side for about three miles, and thence returns to the north side, climbing steadily all the while until it emerges upon the uplands. Passing on westward with a great sweeping S curve, the road reaches the first station at the town of La Motte, eleven miles from Bellevue. A mile and a half east of La Motte is a long siding which is used for “doubling”, since the grade ascends there at the rate of about one hundred feet per mile.
Beyond La Motte the topography of the country is of bold relief, and the line contains many stiff grades and sharp curves. Passing Zwingle slightly more than four miles west of La Motte, the line continues down grade to Washington Mills on Otter Creek, twenty-two miles from Bellevue. About fourteen miles from Bellevue, the road passes into Dubuque County and thence along the county line between Dubuque and Jackson counties through Bernard and Fillmore to Cascade. At two sharp curves the right of way dips over into Jackson County for a distance of about a mile in each instance. Nineteen and sixteenths miles of the entire route lies in Dubuque County and sixteen miles in Jackson.
With very little ready cash in the treasury but with unswerving faith that the job could actually be accomplished, the directors launched bravely upon their undertaking and on September 19, 1878, the first ground was broken at Cascade. According to the Cascade Pioneer, it was an event “that will never be forgotten by the present generation. It was a grand gala day for Cascade and five thousand people were present to participate in the happy occasion.” The line was partially graded in Washington Mills, and some work was done at Zwingle and La Motte that year.
By the close of the season, however, the cash was practically exhausted and reorganization was imminent. On January 7, 1879, J. W. Tripp resigned the office of president whereupon Vice president James Hill assumed the management until March 1st, when he was made president. On May 9th, George Runkel, acting in behalf of J. F. Joy, a Detroit capitalist, proposed to take over the unfinished road and complete it without further delay, the offer was accepted and the old company’s franchise was transferred at Zwingle on May 17th to the Joy interest, operating under the name of the Chicago, Clinton, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad Company. The new management prosecuted the work of construction with vigor, and on January 1, 1880, the road was completed from Bellevue to Cascade.
“At Last We Have It!” proudly announced the Cascade Pioneer. “On Monday it became apparent that the track would be completed to the town on Tuesday. Although no general celebration was announced, yet a large number of people gathered at the depot to see the last rail laid and the train come in. The laying of the track to the depot was completed at noon. Engineer Allen Woodward and his fireman, Sam Elmer, on No. 2, were patiently waiting for the completion of a switch east of the depot, while an immense crowd of men and boys occupied every available space on the cars, to enjoy their first ride on the narrow gauge.”
As soon as the switch was completed, “Woodward seized the bar of the throttle valve of No. 2” and backed the train up the track “as far as the O’Brien place,” then, reversing the lever, he “sent the little engine flying towards Cascade, and in a few minutes drew up at the depot” where a cheer of welcome went up from the multitude. Vice-president Runkel honored the members of the press by inviting them to ride in the cab of the engine. Among the number were John Blanchard of the Monticello Express, Tom Duffy of the Dubuque Herald, and the editor of the Pioneer.
More than fifty years have now elapsed since the celebration of this notable event in the history of Cascade, but the little narrow gauge trains still make their daily trip from Bellevue and return. At seven in the morning, after the arrival of the mail at Bellevue, the little engine and cars, constituting the mixed train, begin their “up” trip, which is made on the leisurely schedule of ten miles per hour. Between stations, however, considerably greater speed is attained than the schedule indicates, as one hour is allowed for climbing the steep grade up Mill Creek to La Motte. When business is heavy or the track is slippery, this is accomplished by “doubling”. The train is divided and part is taken up and side tracked at the summit while the engine and crew return to the bottom of the hill for the remainder of the train.
There is always considerable switching at the stations en route, “spotting” cars at the elevators, coal sheds, and stock-yard platforms, as well as the work of loading and unloading the local freight at the depots. Much of the schedules time is consumed in this manner, especially at Cascade where one hour and ten minutes is allowed for the turn around and work in the yards. At 11:25 A. M. the train begins its “down” trip to Bellevue, where it arrives in due time at 2:40 P.M.
A ride on the downward journey is a delightful experience. At places the train travels high on the edge of a precipitous bluff where wonderful vistas greet the eye in every direction. Again the track leads through deep valleys close to a crystal clear, gurgling little stream, hemmed in on either side by rocky ledges. But most of the way the route is across open farming country, more prosaic though none the less beautiful.
For the amount and quality of service expected, the road is well equipped with motive power and rolling stock. There are in use about fifty box cars, thirty-eight stock cars, twenty-six coal and flat cars, and one caboose. The passenger equipment consists of two coaches both of the combination express and passenger variety. Four engines, numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, constitute the motive power of the road. A rotary snow plow is used to remove the deep drifts from the numerous cuts through the hills. The engines are of regular type, one with four drivers and three with six drivers about four feet in diameter. They are all equipped with automatic couplers and air brakes. Occasionally, when in need of repairs, they are loaded on a specially constructed flat car and transported to the Milwaukee engine shops at Dubuque or Marquette where they are repaired without being removed from the car.
Compared with modern transportation units, the little engines, cars, and coaches seem Lilliputian, yet for the territory served they are adequate. The trains are operated as efficiently and perhaps more economically than their more impressive neighbors out on the main line. Freight has to be transferred at the Bellevue terminal. Two small coal cars are required to handle the standard load of thirty tons, five narrow gauge box cars of grain fill only one large box car, and two narrow gauge stock cars make up one standard gauge carload of hogs or cattle. Formerly the task of loading and unloading was all done by hand and sometimes as many as ten or twelve men were employed in this operation, but in recent years modern machinery has been installed. A clam-shell bucket loader is used for transferring coal, and belt conveyors for grain and corn.
There can be no doubt that the building of the narrow gauge saved the life of Cascade. In 1876 it was only a straggling village, “lazying along side of a sandy street”. It had once been a way station on the Western Stage Company line, “but that means of transportation had long ceased to exit, when the railroads came west of the Mississippi river.” Only the existence of a few churches seemed to hold the town together. Then along came Isaac W. Baldwin with a few cases of type and a Washington hand press. Apparently “he had bout as much excuse for running a newspaper in this village as he would have had peddling peanuts in a grave yard”, but he exerted a decisive influence on public opinion by his Pioneer editorials. Cascade got its railroad, and in consequence grew into a prosperous community of more than twelve hundred inhabitants.
From time to time there have been several attempts to induce the Milwaukee to transform the road into a standard gauge, but the company has always maintained that the business was not sufficient to warrant the unusual expense due to the topography of the country.
Thus the sole survivor of the narrow gauge railroads in Iowa continues to function, perpetuating the history of an early phase of railroading. Tourists in northeastern Iowa who come across the Bellevue-Cascade railroad for the first time find it an interesting surprise. What impresses them as an amusing curiosity is none the less a genuine railroad of vital importance to a number of substantial communities
Ricky : "Uhhhhhmmmmm... Is that hot air balloon super tiny or very far away??!!"
Me : "It must be super tiny because it's in front of those trees and they're only about 20 feet away..."
Ricky : "Mom.... There's people in the basket!!!"
Me : "That's weird..."
Ricky : "WEIRD??!! We're seeing tiny people flying a tiny hot air balloon and all you say is that's weird??!!"
Me : "Well... I guess it's not really weird because, of course, a hot air balloon would have to have people flying it... Right??"
Ricky : "OMG MOM."
(for further pictures or information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link you will get them as soon as possible!)
The Vienna Prater
Lieblingsnahausflugsziel (favourite nearby excursion destination) in Biedermeier Vienna is the Prater. The season opens with the race of "noble runners" on May 1. The usually before the carriages of the nobility running lackeys on that day line up under high bets to public competition. The main avenue along to the pleasure house (Lusthaus) and back drag the racers to the cheers of the audience. Trumpet-blasts, flags and cash prizes await the winner. Military music they escorts into the first Prater coffee house where them a splendid breakfast is arranged, while the ones having fallen by the wayside are collected. This race is banned in 1848 because of inhumanity. In the afternoon swayed - as from now on every Sunday - people and cars down the hunter line (Jägerzeile - since 1862 Prater Road). The state-carriages of the Court, the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie to evening make in a continuous parade the main street with its lofty Prater coffee houses to a "Nobel Prater".
"Bey the public-houses (Inns)" in the Prater.
Coloured engraving, T. Mollo. 1825
The people has fun in the Wurstelprater (Hanswurst, clowning on Vienna stages) in a tangle of guest houses and Prater lodges, puppet booths, calendula games and swings between the Prater harpists, salami sellers and spectacle. Here is the stronghold of the showmen with their monkey theater and flea circus, jugglers and fire-eaters, giants and dwarfs, menageries, panoramas, wax figures and ghostly apparitions. On the "Zirkuswiese" in Circus gymnasticus the popular equestrian companies by Christoph de Bach (? 1808) and Alexander Guerra perform. One camps in the Prater floodplains and waits until at nightfall on the "fireworks meadow" Stuwer (? 1802) lets shoot up his sparkling rockets.
City Chronicle Vienna
Dr. Christian Brandstätter, Dr. Günter Treffer
2000 years in data, documents and images
From the beginnings to the present
Courtesy
Christian Brandstätter Verlag mbH
The publishing service for museums, businesses and public authorities
www.brandstaetter - verlag.at
The historically grown amusement park looks back to a rich history. First documentary references of that area, which originally had jungle-like character, go back to the 12th Century. The former imperial hunting ground in 1766 under the "popular" Austrian Emperor Joseph II was made accessible to the public. Soon after, a number of small entertainment venues (carousels, shooting galleries, food stalls, ...) arrived, entertaining the people and also providing for the physical well-being.
The inhabitants of Vienna enjoyed themselves by riding artfully designed Hutschpferden (swing horses) and by swinging into lofty altitudes. In the process you could with long poles jab into rings. Hence the name carousel. It had been created recreational devices for the general public.
The fireworks of Stuwer and the balloon ascents end of the 18th Century dragged the Viennese from the city to the fairgrounds in the Prater. Following the trend of the times were national artistic institutions (theaters, waxworks museum and people museum - "Präuschers panopticon" with 2,000 objects, Vivarium, Planetarium, ... ) built and connected to the hustle and bustle. Sensations in the old Prater were the Abnormitätenshows (abnormalities) in which Lilliputian, Hirsute men, Siamese twins including "Freaks" (monster, abnormal shape) were to see. The thick Prater-Mitzi or the Russian-born trunk man Kobelkoff, as well as the ghostly magic theater of Kratky Baschik enriched the morphology of the bizarre Prater landscape. With the development of technology and electricity, the entertainment in the Prater was becoming more and more diverse.
In the emerging age of railways, the in Trieste born Basilio Calafati founded the first railway carousel in 1844. In this hut in 1854 the figure of the "big Chinesers" was set up as a mast. Many showmen and technicians from all over the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, but also from the rest of Europe in the illustrious Viennese amusement park their ideas put into practice.
The Englishman Basset succeeded in 1897 to set up the still existing Ferris wheel in the Prater. This vehicle with a diameter of 61 meters originally had 30 cars. When the first "living pictures", the Cinematography, were born, 1896 the first cinema was opened in the Prater. Electricity in 1898 the first electrically operated Grottenbahn brought in the Prater. This fairytale train was also the first in Europe. On the occasion of the popularity of the airplane in 1911 the first "Aeroplan Carousel" was established. Followed in 1926 the first "Autodrome" and in 1933 the first "ghost train". In 1928, the still running "Liliputbahn", a reduced form of the great steam locomotives was placed in the Prater. 1935 brought a Prater entrepreneur from Chicago the rapid "flight path" in the Prater, a system not running on rails.
The Prater always changed its face, modernized and adapted itself to the trend of times. One attraction always replaced the other. Only few historical venues have been able to transport themselves into the present. Tradition-conscious companies such as the "Pony Carousel" from the year 1887 or the nostalgic slide tower "switchback (Tobogan)" from the 50s fight against the taste of the times and the needs of the visitors. In popularity but the historic Ferris wheel, the "Miniature Train" and of course the restaurant "Swiss House" (specialty: stilt and beer) will never lose.
Rickety ghost trains and sparkling grotto railways, although dusty, will not allow to be pushed out of the Prater. Between the historical venues flash the new, modern, hydraulically operated high-tech fairground rides. 1909-1944 the enormous dimensioned "roller coaster" always was a magnet for the Prater trippers. A reduced form is the after the war built "Neue Wiener roller coaster". Was swallowed entirely by history the magnificent "Venice in Vienna". On the site of the present Emperor's Meadow (Kaiserwiese) was located around the turn of the century the illusory world of the artificially recreated lagoon city. The initiator Gabor Steiner created in 1895 a world in the Prater, in which not only the high society, but also the Bohemian maids and the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian multinational state amused themselves. In the era of the fin de siècle (= the decadent over-refinement of feeling and taste at the end of the 19th century), in which the Prater flourished, performed the most famous conductors of the time (Strauss, Lanner, Ziehrer).
Characteristic for the Wiener Prater today is also the adjacent green, left in its naturale state Praterau (Prater floodplain). An engaging recreational landscape with trees, meadows and ponds. Through this welcoming and quiet part of the Prater leads the 4.5 km long main avenue, which is lined with old chestnut trees. At the time, colorful flower parades were held there where, inter alia, even the Emperor and Empress and Mayor Lueger showed up. Along the main avenue were situated the now defunct, three famous coffee houses. The1783 built by Canevale "pleasure house" (Lusthaus) at the end of the main avenue, however, is still to be found. Past is the "Vaudeville Light", where for a long time popular movie stars and artists of yesteryear (Aslan, Jeritza, Moser, ... ) entertained the Prater audience.
To the Prater belongs also the fairgrounds. There in 1873 took place the world exhibition. The Rotunda, those proud crowned by a cupola central building in 1937 became a prey to the flames. What in the course of time of historic buildings of facilities in the Prater not had outlived itself, was destroyed in World War II. The most severely battered amusement park but was rebuilt. It established itself again as an integral part of the cultural entertainment of the city of Vienna. The force measuring machine "Watschenmann" is part of the local history of this unique institution, but also the cheeky and defiant "Prater Puppet" characterizes the color of the Vienna Prater.
This spring I bought a dwarf raspberry plant as a novelty. I thought if it ever did produce raspberries they would be tiny. Well, my little raspberry bush is less than half a meter tall and I've been astonished by the size, colour, taste and number of berries it's producing.
Most of British Columbia is under a massive "heat dome" right now. Heat-ravaged crops are producing nothing! Raspberry season is over before a single berry has been picked.
I'm SOLD and am going to buy more dwarf raspberry bushes for next year.
A photo of my lilliputian raspberry plant is in comments.