City of light

I boarded an aeroplane. Yup, what a hypocrite. Not just the bad-for-the-environment avocados, driving and cat food, but now I'm flying. I just had to do a survey for British Airways and they asked "How can we be greener?" I said, "You CAN'T! Your business model relies on burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases! Though offering no single-use plastic water bottles and limiting your on-board menu to locally sourced plant-based food would help in the areas where you can do something."

Anyway, this is Vienna. Where man masters nature in the statues.

See how terrified nature is?

To be fair, it's a lovely city with great public transport and kind and polite if not terribly warm people. Apart from the gardener in the botanic gardens with whom I talked about tree pests and diseases. He was lovely. But that's for tomorrow.

There are many vegan restaurants. I recommend Spacebowls to anyone who decides to visit. It's near Karlsplatz. Organic. Actually, they serve meat too, but a lot of vegan stuff and their space cakes are to die for.

Before the conference, at which I was speaking, I mainly wandered around, trying to feel my way into the place. Not sure I was successful. One night, my route was busy busy busy with people in pink T-shirts with the logo "We run the night." I was walking the night, I suppose.

I tried to take pictures in the city, but always had the wrong lens. Still, it was fun experimenting with the light...

I've enjoyed looking at the city - and eating at Spacebowls and Swing Kitchen and Bowls and Pots by Miss Mae. I enjoyed the paintings at the Upper Belvedere - they are on a video I will post here tomorrow. But, I have to say that the moments of greatest joy came with trees and, on Wednesday night, in a street near where I was to meet some of the conference organisers.

I was under some trees and saw something above me... a bat!! I remembered seeing something before I arrived about bats in the city. I crossed to a bench where I could sit and watch the bats flittering above the trees and some birds, too dark to identify them, flying into the trees to roost. I felt the sense of wonder and joy at these beings getting on with their lives despite us. Their incredible resilience. Their remarkable perseverance.