It's a beautiful day in Salzburg

Luckily, I had my camera with me on the way to work today so I was able to take a couple of pictures on this oh so beautiful day.

Enjoy.

Weekend in the South of Austria. Part 2

We spent Saturday night at the small hotel/vineyard Gießauf-Nell in Klöch. After a long day of travelling and visiting a number of small towns, we were starving. So we indulged a little at the restaurant that was part of the vineyard. I chose a cheese platter because I wanted to try local kinds of cheese. It was delicious and so much I actually shared with my mom. Obviously, we couldn't stay in a vineyard and not try their wine so that's what we did. I had a tasty glass of Scheurebe.

Dinner

Scheurebe

On Sunday morning, after a huge breakfast and chocolate bunnies, we headed out to slowly make our way back to Graz. Our first stop was a castle ruin close to our hotel. While we were checking out the ruin, it actually started snowing! So soon I wore pretty much every piece of clothing I had brought along which resulted in me wearing around five layers. The castle was cool though and it must be awesome to be there in the summer when there are concerts and parties going on.

The emblem of Klöch

And the surroundings...

Klöch

Vineyards

And we're back on the road.

And one more stop before we're heading back to Graz: we saw on our map that there were Roman burial mounds close by in Tieschen so we decided to check them out and stretch our legs a little more.

It felt kind of surreal being there but it was definitely a beautiful place.

Last stop: Graz. My little brother's football game. Even though I am usually not big on watching football games, I do enjoy them when my brother is playing and I can scream and support and embarrass him.

My brother's the number 35 of the JCL Giants Graz. 

My brother's team won :)

Weekend in the South of Austria. Part 1

Last weekend, I went with my parents to Styria in the south of Austria . Two reasons: One, it's always nice to get away for a few days. Two, my younger brother had a football match (yes, American football) on Sunday in Graz and we really wanted to embarrass him by being his biggest fans there ;)

We left on Saturday morning and drove down south for about three hours, made a quick stop in Graz to say hi to my brother, and then continued our trip to the village of Löch.

On the way there are a lot of tunnels and I was bored so I played a little with my camera.

We didn't go straight to Löch but stopped a few times on a way to check out small towns and to stretch our legs. We made our first stop in Straden, a quaint town in the south east of Graz. There, we saw some of the first "Easter fires" that day. Those fires are a typical tradition of the region and usually take place on Holy Saturday. Up until this weekend, it had been very dry in Styria so in many places it was prohibited to have fires because of the risk of forest fires.

© Freiwillige Feuerwehr Hainsdorf-Brunnsee

It was great to see these fires in many places throughout the day, though. It rained most of that day so I guess most people considered it to be safe to light them.

Another fire in the distance

Before we stopped in Klöch, where we planned to stay, we headed further south to Bad Radkersburg. Bad Radkersburg is another beautiful, small town and it's right on the border to Slovenia. We walked around for a bit and were completely charmed.

Some seriously creative tea pots. Plus me in.

I'd seriously reconsider the name of this establishment.

Say hello to Slovenia!

Plague column

By the time we left Bad Radkersburg, it was early evening so we decided to head back to Klöch to check out our accommodation.

Klöch

Our home for the night

tbc...

Fair Gardens

Last weekend, there was a garden fair in Wels, Upper Austria. My mom and aunts had decided to go and since I really needed some time away from my computer, I tagged along. Also, I figured it would be a great way to find some inspiration for spring and take pictures.

Going anywhere with my mom and aunts, especially by train, is always bound to be awesome. Only problem was, we forgot the obligatory champagne at home (nobody cares that we actually left at 9.30 AM). Still, we managed to entertain basically the whole train...

The weather was so so. Luckily, it hadn't started raining yet by the time we got to the fair because part of the fair was outside.

There were a lot of visitors so it was wise to go in the morning to escape the big afternoon crowd.

And now I'll leave it up to the pictures to do most of the talking:

The motto of the fair: "Blooming Austria"

"The art of gardening is an art of peace."

Outside I saw a lot of amazing stuff I would LOVE to have in my own (pretend) garden:

Obviously I'd want a sauna

Getting ready for Easter

Awesome and unique chairs

Oh, to be a child again...

And inside, there was even so much more:

ARCHE NOAH is an organization whose aim it is to bring back endangered and forgotten crops. It was interesting to check out their selection of almost-forgotten varieties of apples, chilis, salads, and spices, to name but a few.
Arche Noah is also going to be in Salzburg for the opening of the botanical garden of the University of Salzburg if anybody wants to check them out.

The Siedlerverband reminded me of the fact that the simplest things are often the best (and most beautiful).

It was also inspiring to see all the garden arrangements:

And some more creative floral arrangements...

Can you spot the bottles?

4 July, maybe?

I like that this is so simple yet effective.

To end this little tour through the garden fair 2012 in Wels, this sign really made me laugh :o)

A very original "Please do not touch" sign