The first and probably a very lasting impression: HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT HEAT!!! Yes, it was hot. Sunny and hot and glorious.
Here we go then!
Day 1. Endless travelling from 6 am to 6 pm. The highlight of the day might have been that the AC stopped working on the train 2 hours into the 4-hour journey and by the time I got off I literally couldn't breathe because the inside of my nose was swollen from the heat. Another highlight was Boeing 777 flying the hour-long flight between Frankfurt and Vienna. I seriously thought I was on the wrong plane and I'd end up in China or Canada instead. Not that I wouldn't have minded Canada or anything...
We went swimming in the evening, which was a bit pointless because the water was just too warm.
Day 2. An international folk festival day in Maria Saal with some exceptionally bad Chinese orchestra and an absolutely fabulous concert in Wolfsberg in the evening.
Kärntner Freilichtmuseum in Maria Saal.
Fancy wearing some woollen socks in this heat? No? Why not?
The Irish performers. The wigs were VERY distracting.
Day 3. We hit jackpot when our car was the only one in the shade on the parking lot when we came back from our hike in Tscheppaschlucht.
It was mostly stairs.
The gorge
and the river were pretty magnificent and the temperature was almost bearable.
When you suddenly find the Estonian flag in the middle of nowhere :)
And there's a magnificent waterfall
and an even more magnificent and extremely fat pig waiting for you at the end of the hike.
For some reason this landscape looks surreal. I'm waiting for a giraffe to come out because it's as if it were a painting by Navitrolla.
Lines...
Nessi actually looks quite alright in this picture, a minute ago she looked as if she were dying because of the relentless heat.
When there's a path
and a field
and a church,
one just has to go and take a zillion pictures of the path and the field and the church. And the sun was setting.
Day 4. We left at 7.15 am because it wasn't too hot then. Yet.
Lake Wörthersee, Klagenfurt. The pier and the palm trees!
I can't say there were too many people there to catch the first boat of the day. So we had the boat to ourselves (almost).
The scenery was worth the early wake-up call!
Velden and Velden Castle where the rich and the beautiful go to, also known as a superbly posh hotel that didn't look too posh in reality. Yes, we stood on the red carpet, I think.
siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick ride! (If you got the reference, then I feel so so sorry for you, I actually copy-pasted it to get the number of "i" right.)
Our next stop was Pyramidenkogel observation tower that actually tried out my fear of heights. I won ;)
This is what Wörthersee looks like.
The Flying Fox or the Dying Fox? Thank you, camera, for focusing in on the green cord. That was highly appropriate and necessary. Thank you, again. But don't worry, I still love you to death.
When ordinary people go to Minimundus, they have a look at the famous buildings,
but not me because there were trains!
All these
cute little trains!!!
A picture of Arc de Triomphe? No, it's a picture of a train.
The CN Tower. It was MUCH more easy to take a photo of this one than of the real thing.
They didn't have Big Ben or Tower Bridge or the Gherkin?!? Buckingham Palace would also have been nice. Or Harrods in Christmas lights. The National Gallery and Nelson's Column? Or London Eye at least...
What they did have were places I had just been to or was going to in a few days' time. Like Pyramidenkogel
or Castle Hochosterwitz
or St Stephen's Cathedral
or Bled castle and Bled island. All of them were more magnificent in real life I might add.
Bathing birdie in front of the Louvre ;)
Day 5. In a heatwave there's no place as cool as the mountains.
Driving up.
After hiking for about 45 minutes, there was our destination. Or at least it should have been visible. Back there. In the cloud. Doesn't look very welcoming, does it?
Tell me about poor visibility.
I should have brought my bike. Definitely (not).
Actually the view from the top was quite breathtaking.
Despite some stubborn clouds.
After finishing lunch I did have some time to crawl around a bit.
Some take a bike, some take a parachute and then end up waiting for the weather to get better. If it ever does. Good luck! I preferred coming downhill on my own two legs.
Day 6. The day we go abroad. To an actual foreign country. Called Slovenia.
Lake Bled in all its glory featuring a row boat, a Pletna boat, two stand-up paddle boarders, Bled Castle, the mountains and some clouds.
A staircase to heaven on Bled island.
The colour!
I loved these boats!
The castle had loads of stairs. It had loads of heat as well. More than needed actually.
Day 7. Fairy-tale castles and towns in the simmering heat.
Castle Hochosterwitz with all its 14 gates
and quite a lovely courtyard.
The view from the castle was spectacular
especially thanks to the patterns
in the fields.
Quite a deserted St Veit
and Klagenfurt.
Day 8. Back to Vienna, which is by far the most beautiful city I've ever been to (relax, London is still my everything and won't be replaced by anything).
Just
look
at
the
capital
of
Austria!
Tom Cruise was there at the premier of Mission Impossible 5. He left a day before I arrived. How rude!!! He also left this in front of the Opera House. How am I supposed to take a photo of the Opera House when it looks like a construction site?
Some
other
bits
and
pieces? No, a napping man instead.
St Stephen's Cathedral
It was so hot that even
Starbucks had decided to go on ice.
They got my name right! They got my name right! Almost....
There wasn't only architecture, there were also some people.
The Town Hall was cleverly covered,
Day 9. Homewards.
Because I had only 24 hours in Vienna, I decided to choose only one museum to go to. I chose Mumok because of Roy Lichtenstein and
Andy Warhol. It was worth the money and now I have a Campbell's tomato soup magnet on the door of my fridge :D
My obligatory photo of the underground. I always take pictures of the underground. I've taken pictures of a station at every underground system I've been to. *Starts counting and realises she has been to something like 3 cities that have an underground system. Maybe 4.* Oh well, at least all in all I have a lot of pictures, because all the Tube stations are just so different.
The best view of Vienna. My first ever attempt of making a panorama.
