Last week I went to Austria with my parents. I was so excited for all the hiking and the pretty landscapes, epecially when the weather forecast said that it was supposed to be nice and sunny. Well guess what, of course it wasn't... :D Well not exactly, it was warm, or like..very hot when we arrived, and then on the last day, which actually worked out pretty well.

We left at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, which meant I had to get up at 4 a.m. I was actually surprised that I didn't have a problem with that. I normally get up at like 9 o'clock, but recently I've been getting up much, much earlier even when I don't have to. We arrived to Austria around 10 a.m. and our first stop was a Carthusian monastery in Gaming. And of course the first thing we did was beer tasting. You can imagine that drinking beer in 30°C isn't such a good idea...

From there we went to the lake in Lackenhof, which was near the location we were staying at.  The lake was really pretty and it was very humid there, so there were a lot of people swiming in the lake and lounging around. There was a lot of cottages around that you can rent as well, so that's a great place you can spend your holiday, if you're not the beach, seaside resort type. 

We had only and hour there before we had to move due to our schedule. We were supposed to go to the highest peak of Niederöstereich, Ötcher, but as we were driving there it started raining and when we finally got there, the man from the cableway told us, that a storm is coming and it isn't safe to go up there, which really sucked, cause I was really looking forward to go hiking.

So intead, we had to go to the hotel, which sucked even more, because there was no wifi there, and nothing else to do either. Thank god I brought my Game of Thrones book. (and two other books, but since I started reading GOT I'm not able to tear myself away from it even though I should be reading one of the dozens of  books for my uni course)

The next day we went to the infamous Mariazell, a place of pilgrimage. We went to the church, which was really impressive. I don't know what it is about churches, but even though I'm an atheist I love to visit them. They have this strange energy around them. And I also love the architecture. The one in Mariazell wasn't any different and it has gorgeous organ. Well, it actually had two organs, one was the beautiful old one, and the other was modern, which looked very ill fitting in the baroque bazilica.

 

 

After visiting the church we went to Bürgeraple mountain, but because it was drizzling and heavily raining the day before, we couldn't really see anything for the thick fog there. So we just took a short hike to a lookout and went back down to the city, where we visited the traditional local gingerbread bakery, and of course bought some gifts for friends and family. I was also surprised to see the locals casually strolling around in the traditional costumes, which for about 300€ you could also buy. 

And of course I, the biggest foodie in the world, had to try the apfel strüdel, and mom tried the Mariazell cake. I have to say she made a better choice, cause the strüdel tasted just like the one we make, so I was kind of dissapointed with that.

On our way back we stopped by at the lake Erlaufsee near Mariazell. For some reason it reminded me of Swedish countryside a lot. But I love how all the Alpine lakes are so clear you can see the bottom. I was also surprised how warm the water was, because it was like 15°C outside, but the water felt a lot warmer.

Because we left Maraiazell quite early, we decided to try Ötcher again, the clouds cleared out, it was nice and sunny and we thought ehy not, what are we going to do at the hotel? But this time, the cableway wasn't running either. The man from the cableway decided to quit early that day or something, even though the cableway was supposed to be open for the next two hours. A lot of us were starting to get really frustrated about it, but there was nothing we could do. So we decided to walk back to the hotel, and I'm glad we did cause we saw beautiful goats and sheep and I (of course) had to feed them, and also fell in love with on of the sheep. They have such beautiful eyes!!

Back in the hotel we had dinner, and one thing I will say about this hotel is that they have delicious meals. I don't think I have ever been so full in my life. Aaand they have one of the best ice creams I have ever had in my life.

The third and also the last day in the morning, we finally went to Ötcher. Then we went to Hochkar, only to arrive there and find out, that the cableway is closed again!!! At this point we only laughed about it. Next we went to the Paulfauer Wasserlochklamm, or the Paulfauer defile if you will. And I have to say that for me, that was the best part of the whole trip. All those waterfalls and the river and the rocks, it was beautiful. And it was also the greatest hike. Like a really good cardio. And because of the humidity from the waterfalls and the scorching sun that finally decided to appear, there were certain points where I thought I'm going to die. :D On our way back we climbed down to the river and I tested the water. It was ice cold alright. 

Have you ever been to Lower Austria? If so, share your experiences with me in the comments.

Love you all,

¨

Kris xx

I can't believe another year is over. For me it has been pretty stressful and bittersweet year, with finals in high school, entrance exams to uni and then going to uni also wasn't the easiest thing. All this can be easily forgetten with the four month worth of holiday that followed the finals.  I took this time to travel and explore, as you can see in the photos below. The stress for me though does not end quite yet, because I now have semestral finals in uni, so wish me luck! I wish you all the best to the new year, hope it's gonna be an amazing one, and who know? Maybe some of your deepest, darkest secrets will come true this year.

Nemůžu uvěřit, že další rok je za náma. Pro mě to byl rok docela dost stresující a hořkosladký, protože jsem maturovala, dělala přímačky na vysokou, a nástup na ni taky nebyl zrovna nejklidnější. Tohle všechno ale vyvažují ty čtyřměsíční prázdniny, které jsem měla.  Ta hromada stresu mě ale nyní neopouští, jelikož mě čeká zkouškový, takže mi držte palce!  Přeju Vám všechno nejlepší do nového roku, ať se Vám daří, a třeba i splní nějaká ta tajná přání.

Kris xx

 Italy. Italy is one of those places I've always wanted to visit, so my mom, being the best mom in the whole universe, took me as a present for passing finals (aka maturita). We went to Rome, where we of course had to visit the basic sights like Coloseum, Forum Romanum, Vatican, and so on. Since I was little I have always loved history, so seeing the places where all that I've been learning about happend was just beyond. The only downside was that when we were there, it was like 60 degrees out, but a lot of their delicious ice cream got me over that. We also visited Vesuv and Pompeii, which also was...I can't even find words. After Pompeii we went to a little town nearby, which was also hit by the volcanic eruption. We went to a beach there, and the sand there, well, it's not even really a sand it's volcanic ashes and the beach is just black. Well, where the ash is dry it's more like grey, but whatever. On the last day, we went to Napoli, which is quite an interesting city, and the architecture there, when you know the stories it binds to, is really quite funny, but beautiful never the less. After that we went to Capri, and I think the pictures just speak for itself. 
 
 And here's one from Halloween. I absolutely love Halloween, it might just be my favourite holiday, even though we don't celebrate it in Czech Republic. I do.



This post would not be complete without pics from my favourite cafe's. The other one is from the first day I've been to Cafe la Fee in Olomouc. They have the best cakes! So if you're ever in Olomouc, definitely give it a go.