I fell in love with the Graz city logo! ~Workation in Wien Day 12~

This morning, I grabbed a sandwich and a cappuccino for breakfast from a nearby cafe. I packed my bags and headed back to Vienna. I was so busy yesterday that I didn't notice, but while waiting for the tram to the bus stop, I spotted the Graz city logo.

It puts one letter of the alphabet into each of four squares, with the color inverted only on the third one. You could say it's a common design, but for some reason, it felt strangely right, and I thought it was very good.
This logo is on things related to public services like buses, trams, and trash cans, and it's strangely cute.

I also like the combination of the gray-based trash can with green accents, and the white text on a black background for the bus that I used for the top image. Perhaps this kind of design works precisely because the name is a simple four-letter word.

The names of the three major cities in Austria are all four letters long.

And then I realized that Vienna (Wien), Graz (Graz), and Linz (Linz) are all four letters long. But the logos are quite different.

This is the Vienna city logo.

This is the Linz city logo.

When I went to Linz, there was a large object of this logo in the Hauptplatz (the city center), and at first we were talking about how 'the letter I must have fallen over...', but later I realized that it was just the design of the logo. It's a mystery why the 'I' needs to be tilted, though...

Among these three, I overwhelmingly prefer the Graz design. I'm not an expert on design, but the Vienna city one feels a bit classical? I feel like Linz is trying too hard (is purple the city's color? There were purple trams running too). I have a good impression of the gray, black, and green logo of Graz. Part of it is because green is my favorite color, but the font, the spacing of the letters, and the use of the squares are stylish without being too aggressive (*this is just my personal opinion).

Our company has also been considering a name change for a long time (the company name is generally too long and you can't tell what kind of company it is, and even people we work with often haven't been able to read/call out our company name), but when I start thinking about what to do with the logo as well, I end up finding it troublesome and putting it off. I decided under the foreign sky, all by myself, that this year I will definitely change the company name and the logo!

How to use the express bus between Vienna and Graz

I took the return bus from a bus stop inside a shopping center called MURPARK instead of the city center.

Tickets can be booked online, and you present a QR code when boarding. Between Vienna and Graz, the bus only stops at two locations in Vienna and two in Graz, but since each bus stop is a bit far apart, you need to be careful not to make a mistake when booking.

The inside of the bus is clean and has USB charging, and perhaps because it's a bit cheaper than the train, it seems to be popular. There are two seats on each side of the aisle, and even on a weekday, it was about 60% to 80% full. Solo travelers seemed to be occupying the two-seat rows by themselves, but if it's this full on a weekday, there's a possibility that someone else might book the seat next to you even if you book as a single person on some days. The seats aren't very wide, and the luggage rack is small, but there is a storage space for suitcases at the back of the first floor. We went with one backpack and one large bag, so we could put them at our feet, but the backpack wouldn't fit even if we tried to put it on the luggage rack. There is also a toilet on the bus.

Heading to a creative Asian restaurant in front of the Naschmarkt

After returning from Graz, I spent the afternoon tidying up the house and working, and in the evening, the four of us—my child's teacher, her son, my child, and I—went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Market Restaurant, which serves modern Asian cuisine. The name 'Market' comes from the fact that it is located right in front of the Naschmarkt, a food market.

Although it is creative cuisine, it is by no means eccentric. Rather, it is more like standard Asian dishes with a stylish little twist. My child ordered a set of avocado salmon rolls and salmon nigiri, I ordered the avocado mango rolls with peanut sauce, and we shared a daikon radish and carrot salad. The avocado mango rolls were topped with chopped peanuts and peanut sauce, and they were delicious both as they were and with a little soy sauce. The daikon and carrot salad was like 'namasu' (pickled daikon and carrot) made with sliced radish and carrots, but with a spicy kick from chili peppers. It was delicious but quite spicy; if they had held back a bit on the chili, I would have even ordered seconds. The teacher and her son also asked, 'Can I have a bite?' and tried some. They both said, 'It's spicy!', but since they both love Japanese food, they seemed to have the same impression as us: 'Spiciness aside, the flavor is quite good.'

Tomorrow, we are finally going to the flea market!
(To be continued)