Discover Vienna with me! Part 1

You should probably know that my mom lives in Vienna so I am quite familiar with the city as I spend there a few weeks every summer (since I was five!). I have a lot of useful information for you so if you are planning a visit (and you definitely should!) feel free to ask me. I really love Vienna and its atmosphere and history, there are so many wonderful places to see - historic buildings, parks, churches, castles... The best thing is that I am actually here in Vienna right now! I am really pleased with how it turned out because it seemed like this would be my first year that I wouldn´t be able to get here and even though I can´t be here a week or two as I am used to, I am happy to be here at least for extended weekend.
I don´t even know where to begin, I have so many photos for you. Today I decided to hack around the city centre.





Thinking about it, everything exciting begins with the Opera, situated at the beginning of the pedestrian zone. You really cannot miss those sight-seeing buses for tourists...

The pedestrian zone is one of my favorite places to shop - there is everything, Mango, the biggest Zara, souvenir shops... If you know where to go you will also find the most luxurious shops like Hermes or Marc Jacobs.

And first tip that I am going to give you is actually stopping by Swarovski - seriously, check it out, it is always amazingly decorated. Pity that I don´t have a picture of their representation of Swan Lake, it was beautiful.

It´s always fun to wonder around the area, there are many narrow streets so it´s up to you which one you decide to explore. I did that today and I came across this fountain and church - never saw them before!

Those streets are also perfect if you want to find small, more specialised shops.

Say hi to my new friend Pinocchio! (Obviously this picture was taken a long time ago, different clothes and hair... :D )

Shop with gorgeous hand-made jewellery. Well, you can see me here too :D I don´t know how to snap decent photos while window shopping...

Here is one representation of traditional austrian folk costume

Before we get back to the main street I would like to show you this particular picture - don´t you think that contrast between this monk and modern city is interesting? 

This is how it really looks around here with all the people. Erste bezirk (fisrt district) is always crowded, especially during weekends.

Stephansdom is a must-see for all the visitors. If you want to know more information about this most important religious buliding in Vienna, click HERE. Once inside Stephansdom be sure to take part in catacombs tour, all information needed is listed HERE. Btw, it wasn´t always this nice, it´s newly renovated. Yesterday when I was looking at it I was wondering why it looked so different - it´s the colour! It used to be so much darker, almost black. Everytime I get a chance I stop by and admire this breathtaking piece of architecture.

And now we are getting closer to Hofburg, the former imperial residence. It´s still the place where crowning jewels are deposited - you can buy a ticket and see them with your own eyes. You also get to see imperial apartments which is great because I am sure you have already heart about Sissi and Franz Joseph. Plan your visit HERE.

The first thing you see is actually this fountain:

Hofburg in its beauty.

Hofburg (and Stephansdom) is the place where you can catch your own carriage.

From the inner courtyard of Hofburg you get to see Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History of Vienna) and the city hall.

This is already a very long post so next time I will show you where to find the most luxurious shops, where to rest (it´s important for your feet trust me :) ), where you can taste the best dessert ever, which museums to visit... and many more! 

Hope you enjoyed my pictures, have a nice day and see you soon :)

                                                                                                    xo, Aneta

P.S. All photos were taken by me and my very unprofessional digital camera :)

Fantastic four conquering Paris!

Sooooo.... right after our comeback home from the City of Lights I collected all the photos from all the cameras and started to think what I should post. We have more than 3000 photos (oh yes, we are crazy like that) so it was really difficult to choose. We decided that firstly we should inform you about what we did in Paris and what we saw. Each of us is very different and here is what we were doing most of the time. Can you guess what type of people are we from the following photos?

Táááááákže.... hneď po našom návrate z Mesta svetiel som pozbierala všetky fotky zo všetkých foťákov a začala rozmýšľať nad tým, čo postnúť. Máme viac než 3000 fotiek (áno, sme až také šibnuté), takže bolo veľmi ťažké vyberať. Rozhodli sme sa, že by sme vás najprv mali informovať o tom, čo sme robili v Paríži a čo sme videli. Sme veľmi odlišné a tu je to, čo sme robili väčšinu času. Dokážete uhádnuť z nasledujúcich fotiek, akými typmi ľudí sme?

But the most important thing is to introduce ourselves (I think the place doesn´t need more words :)). From the left it´s me (Borka), our friend Katka, Aneta and the other friend Dominika.

Ale najdôležitejšia vec je predstaviť sa (myslím, že miesto nepotrebuje ďalšie slová :)). Zľava som to ja (Borka), naša kamarátka Katka, Aneta a druhá kamoška Dominika.

Dominika was our photographer. She did almost all the photos we have from Paris (but we were bossing her around. Hardly! :D. Who can blame us? Everyone wants to have good photos. Especially from such a place as Paris.) The reason is simple - she had the single-lens reflex camera.

Who am I? - The artist.

Dominika bola naším fotografom. Urobila takmer všetky fotky, čo máme z Paríža (ale my sme ju kibicovali. Dosť! :D. Kto nás môže viniť? Každý chce mať dobré fotky. Hlavne z takého miesta, akým je Paríž.) Dôvod je jednoduchý - mala zrkadlovku.


Kto som? - Umelec.

And what did Aneta do? :D... veeeeeery difficult to guess. This was the process before almost every photo.

Who am I? - The model.

(Her reaction? - :DDDDDDDD)

A čo robila Aneta? :D... ťáááááááážké uhádnuť. Toto bol pravidelný proces pred takmer každou fotkou.

Kto som? - Modelka.

(Jej reakcia? - :DDDDDDDDD)

And this is me. I have spent all the trip looking into the map. But to be honest - sometimes it didn´t help at all.

Who am I? - The wiseman.

A toto som ja. Celý výlet som strávila čumením do mapy. Ale buďme úprimní - niekedy to vôbec nepomáhalo.

Kto som? - Mudrc.

The last participant, Katka. Oh, Katka... Always lost. Where did we find her every single time? Sitting on the nearest bench.

Who am I? - The buck-passer.

Posledný účastník, Katka. Ach, Katka... Vždy stratená. Ako sme ju našli každý jeden raz? Sediacu na najbližšej lavičke.

Kto som? - Lenivec.

We all ended like this:
(even the photographer - me) :D
This photo is worth a million dollars, right?



P.S. The model is very unhappy about this photo. :D

Všetky sme skončili takto (aj fotograf - ja) :D.
Táto fotka je hodná milióna dolárov, však?



P.S. Modelka je veľmi nešťastná ohľadom tejto fotky. :D

Bye, Borka
Ahojte, Borka

Oh la la, Paris!

I can´t believe it, I am going to the City of Light (and Love :D)! This time tomorrow I will be waiting at the airport with my friends. Beyond excited! We organised it all ourselves, so I really hope that everything will turn out great. Weather doesn´t seem to be in our favor but I am not the one to complain. After all, we will get to see probably the most beautiful city in the world... so grateful for that. We have been saving up for this so long and now one of our dreams came true. 

We´re gonna spend there 10 days (actually just 8 because we will arrive very late and leave very early) and you wouldn´t believe how long is our list of must-sees. I don´t know if I want to count it for you, but why not. Sooo... 40! *freaking out a little bit* 40 museums, galerries, parks, streets, chateau (how am I supposed to say it in plural? no idea) and what not. I know it sounds crazy, but we mastered our plan and it´s NOT gonna be one of those whistle-stop tours that you spend running and at the end of the day you realise that you didn´t have enough time for anything. I still get bad-tempered when I imagine guide´s voice calling "Come on, quickly please!" I have my experience with this kind ou tour and all I say is - never again. I need to take my time. If I want to stay in one particular museum 4 hours, then I will stay 4 hours. And our plan allows us that. I want to see as much as I can but at the end I don´t want to run BY all historical places (and that was London for me, unfortunately). 30 minutes for National Gallery is NOT enough. 

Anyways, now I can decide what I want to do, how long I want to stay here and there.... You get the idea. It´s first time I am going somwhere only with my friends so that´s the reason why I was super careful to make everything was all right and prepared. Expect lots of posts and photos of Paris :)

                                                                                                                         Love, Aneta

New suitcase

I just recently arrived back from Italy and realised that I am in a desperate need of  a new suitcase - one that would last me years and years and more importantly, that would be spacious enough that I could squeeze in it all my necessities. And that´s a hard task, believe me. It wouldn´t hurt if it would also look good, too. Sounds like mission impossible? Well, depends on where you are living. I was worried because place where I live is rather small - there´s 99,999999% and so on chance that you have never heard of it. So imagine my surprise when I found a perfect piece that I fell in love with - it´s big, it´s silver, it´s elegant and it´s mine!  *happy dance* (and as my family said it´s very resistible, probably should survive an explosion - and in my case never say never, I am epitome of bad luck) 

I know that a suitcase is an item worth of investing money, but still... I was asking myself - should I buy something cheaper but made in China (and that would mean worse quality) or should I get "higher-class" suitcase? Decisions, decisions... But sales were in my favor and I got a very well-made suitcase by an italian brand named Roncato that has been manufacturing bags for over 50 years. 

So, here´s the beauty (and yes, I was totally making photos on my balcony :D):

As you can already see on the photo, I did personalize this suitcase a little bit, adding a smiley sticker! Just to recognize it better at the airport :)

                                                                                                                           Bye, Aneta

Packing on a Holiday vol. 1

I can´t believe it!!! I´m going on a holiday with my best friend to Italy!!! But wait... what should I pack? This was me a couple weeks ago. My mum always taught me to write a list of things and while packing hold it in my hand :). So I wrote one and bought things I needed and didn´t have. Yesterday I put aaaaaaaall the stuff from the list on my bed. But this was only the beginning. And what does my list look like?? Let´s see:

                                   

• bag
• jeans
• hair dryer
• watch
• toothpaste
• toothbrush
• T-shirts
• shorts
• passport
• my little PC :)
• lip balm
• camera
• book
• pen & paper
• shampoo
• shower gel
• socks
• two pairs of bikini
• sun lotion
• batteries
• wet wipes
• deodorant
• cap
• towel
• nailfile
• blade
• cotton buds
• medicines
• charger
• flip-flops
• bandage
• plasters
• cotton wool
• handkerchiefs
• comb
• manicure scissors
• raincoat
• 2 bath towels
• shoes
• sport jacket
• underwear
• pocket torch

So that´s all... I hope it will help you while packing :). You can compare our posts and packing lists. Bye

Borka