The wonders of Vienna

Part due is here! As mentioned in my previous post this one is about Vienna and all its glory!

To be honest I was quite impressed by the grandeur of this city! It is very chic and kinda reminded me of Paris.... Maybe not the best comparison but like Paris it had these beautiful buildings, and it has something royal about it....

So we rented an apartment via Wimdu, it was the first time for me to book something via this site so I was kinda nervous about it.... It turned out the apartment was fine, very spacious and all, but it was located in a very multicultural area so didn't really feel like we were in Vienna... It was a 40 minute walk from the apartment to the city center, which we did the first day. Then we bought a Vienna Card for only € 19.90 per person which gave us free use of public transport for 72 hours. So we did most of the traveling in Vienna by metro.

I am leaving out our trip to Schonbrunn because that was so awesome it deserves a post dedicated all to itself! But here is an overview of what we did the other 2 days!

So the picture in the right corner is it H&M, this is the most beautiful H&M I have ever seen! Doesn't this building looks amazing? P.s. I took this picture for my friend Amy from Amy's Fashion Scrapbook who loves H&M!

Feet in the grass!
And where is Lieke?!

We had a short stop at the Schmetterlingshaus at Hofburg. I thought it would be much bigger but it was pretty nice.

I easily could have been on an expedition somewhere exotic!

 Uhhmm the next thing we did might put me in your weirdo book.... we went to the Zentral Friedhof (Central Cemetery) in the afternoon. But I honestly must say that it was a really beautiful place! Probably helped that the sun was shinning!

Who doesn't want to burred in one of these gorgeous graves?

I do apologize for taking a picture with these 2 graves, but I had to! The left grave is the family Knorr of the food brand (I assume) and on the right the family Kovatz which I believe are my ancestors (Kovats looks and sounds like Koevoets). Hmmmm I do look way to happy in this picture....

We are also convinced we saw the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel! We came to this square and saw all these soldiers who were waiting for someone important (obviously, I mean they won't have 50 soldiers waiting for me now would they..). And then they started to play the German national anthem and a small blond women came walking out of the building in a black suite... and it had to be Angela Merkel! There was a friendly soccer match between Austria and Germany the evening before so fair chance it actually was her!

 The last day we went to the National Library, which was one of the most amazing things I have seen! It is a library which really looks like the old ones you see in movies of which you cannot believe they really exist! But guess what? They do exist here in Vienna!

 Österreichischen National Bibliothekt

 Pfff it sure looks amazing right? If you ever go to Vienna you should for sure buy the Vienna Card and visit the Zentral Friedhof, it is really a beautiful place! And also be sure to stop by at the National Library!

Ok, the next post is on the wonders of a place called Schonbrunn and her most famous resident, Elisabeth von Bayern the Austrian Empress a.k.a. Sissi.

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon for part tres!

The sounds of Salzburg!

I am back from my travel through Austria and Germany (I only was away for 10 days but this way it sounds like I was away for ages :))!!!! 

So I decided to make 4 separate posts so I can give you all an inpression of my vacation in 4 short stories instead of 1 long tedious story. It will be as follows:

- Part Uno: Salzburg

- Part Due: Vienna

- Part Tres: Schonbrunn (which is also in Vienna)

- Part Quatro: Germany

So part uno start here! I strongly recommend to start reading and enjoy the pics!

It all starts in a town situated in Austria along the river Salzach north of the Alps. We arrived there around 4 in the afternoon on a Friday. The drive to Salzburg was pretty awesome, it was about a 8 hour drive, so basically 1 working day :)

We stayed in Haus Arenberg, a small hotel located in a quite area of Salzburg. It was pretty difficult to find, but once we arrived and entered our room it was awesome! The beds were soooo good, we had a balcony and the shower was amazing! In the morning we had breakfast on the terrace in the lovely fresh mountain air and Austrian morning sun (which of course is the same as the Dutch morning sun but it felt much nicer....).

 We had 1 full day to discover Salzburg and here is an impression of what we did and saw:

Recognize this fountain?

The view from the fortress called: Festung Hohensalzburg

The start of the Alp Mountains

Mozarts Geburtshaus a.k.a. the house Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.

Doesn't this look amazing?!
p.s. this is the river Salzach

 

 

 

The gorgeous gardens of Schloss Mirabell

Behind the horse are the famous steps from the Sound of Music song "Do-Re-Mi"

How I love the feeling of the soft grass under my feet!

Since this holiday had a high girly factor (Salzburg = Sound of Music and Vienna = Sissi and Reutlingen = my old University), I thought it would be good to add something my boyfriend would for sure appreciate: the Biergarten of the Augustiner Brauerei (brewery)! Here is an impression how this looks like and how it is to visit a biergarten with me....

I wasn't really drunk it is just a bad picture! Below the actual picture at is was intended:

Pfff this looks much better!

Oh and in case you wonder, the small beer was for me, I asked for the smallest and I got 0,5 liter... which is normal in this region... The "glass" I am holding in this pic is 1 liter! 

So as you can see we had a lot of fun the Salzburg! And yes I did loads of swirling! And I can really recommend you to go here and enjoy this beautiful city and do some swirling of your own!

I ran this city!

So here is a quick update on my weekend! The highlight of my weekend was the Tilburg Ten Miles, which a running event in my hometown! I ran the 10 miles (16.6 KM) for the second time and it was a good one! The weather was nice, it was quite hot actually... And there were a lot people cheering for us, and for them selves while they were enjoying the sun and a nice cold beer..... I ran, waved to some people I didn't know, high-fived with some kids and enjoyed the cold water from the sponges that were handed out! I also made a old women smile by simply waving back, her whole face lit up when I did that! So cool!

During the run it felt like I was running really fast and good, but my time says otherwise..... I ran the 10 miles in 1h43m50s.... so much longer than I had hoped for.

In case you go running, here are a few things you have to take into account, because it could happen to you!

Never had this thank god!



So true!


Same goes for cycling!


Hate when this happens!

Luckily we don't have to many hills in Holland


Yes.... but it makes me feel tough!


Hmmmm nope do not recognize this....


Pfff this is scary then it happens!


Hasn't happend yet... (knock on wood)


Yep had this aswell!

Haha! This sucks!


Hate when this happens!


Thank god we have Aquarius!



But I also have good news! Just 4 more days and my summer holiday starts!!! Wooohooo!!! Finally! I will try to keep my blog up to date because I want to share with you my adventures and show you all the pictures that I will be taking.  The goals is to share my Sound of Music experience, we are not going to do a tour but I do hope I will be able to find some of the iconic spots and take a picture. I will also try to take pictures inside the Schonbrunn castle, I am hoping that me and my boyfriend can dress up as princess Sissi and  Franz-Joseph and take these really wrong but oh so fun pictures :)  

Well enjoy the rest of your week and don't forget to: