Gathering friends going back to her childhood, up to the most recent addition (that would be me), my dear friend Christine Schranz (second from left, surrounded by three of her long-time pals) celebrated her birthday tonight with a dinner at the
Palmenhaus. Our daughters are in Croatia on a school trip, and that meant a late and laughter-filled evening, topics ranging from hauntings to bikini waxes to the film, 'Caramel.' And that's not all...but on to a brief description of the beautiful Jugenstil greenhouse. Overlooking the Burggarten, the greenhouse was built in 1901 by architect Friedrich Ohman, replacing the earlier one that dated back to 1822. The restaurant is incorporated into the building, with 15-metre high ceilings, conservatory style, festooned with a variety of dramatic plants. At one end of the building is a tropical butterfly house with a film in one room depicting butterflies ghoulishly siphoning their 'nectar' from the bodies of dead birds...and venturing into beehives, thirsting for honey, only to be swiftly dispatched to butterfly heaven by swarms of vigilant bees. Graphic closeups of a praying mantis feasting on one of the Schmetterlingen were sufficiently disturbing to give anyone nightmares. A butterfly documentary...gruesome, macabre, yet fascinating. Only in Vienna.
Gathering friends going back to her childhood, up to the most recent addition (that would be me), my dear friend Christine Schranz (second from left, surrounded by three of her long-time pals) celebrated her birthday tonight with a dinner at the Palmenhaus. Our daughters are in Croatia on a school trip, and that meant a late and laughter-filled evening, topics ranging from hauntings to bikini waxes to the film, 'Caramel.' And that's not all...but on to a brief description of the beautiful Jugenstil greenhouse. Overlooking the Burggarten, the greenhouse was built in 1901 by architect Friedrich Ohman, replacing the earlier one that dated back to 1822. The restaurant is incorporated into the building, with 15-metre high ceilings, conservatory style, festooned with a variety of dramatic plants. At one end of the building is a tropical butterfly house with a film in one room depicting butterflies ghoulishly siphoning their 'nectar' from the bodies of dead birds...and venturing into beehives, thirsting for honey, only to be swiftly dispatched to butterfly heaven by swarms of vigilant bees. Graphic closeups of a praying mantis feasting on one of the Schmetterlingen were sufficiently disturbing to give anyone nightmares. A butterfly documentary...gruesome, macabre, yet fascinating. Only in Vienna.
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