Outlandish

Busy busy and lovin' it! This weekend we directed our noses towards Czech Republic and the Lednice-Valtice cultural landscape just few kilometres away from the Slovak border. Lednice-Valtice is a castle complex and 283 square kilometres of parks, human-made lakes and forest tracks. Everything there is there because of and used to belong to the Liechtenstein aristocrat family. These days the area belongs to the Czech state and is  protected by UNESCO. But this family, I tell you, had way too much time and money in their hands!  Nonetheless we took a 20-kilometre-hike to see most of the extraordinary buildings and areas that the family had built there. Apollo Temple Our first stop was at the Apollo temple. It used to be a fancy pancy hunting lodge with living areas behind it and a nice view over the artificial pond. The family had a habit a planting trees and bushes around these monuments so that you don't really know what you're approaching. And then ...

Danube is a big river and it runs through several countries, including Slovakia and Austria. Ever since moving to Bratislava I've wanted to go on a cruise from here to Vienna or Budapest, but haven't found the time or the company to go with. So, now that my parents were coming to Vienna I decided to book a cruise as a late Mothers' Day gift. I booked the tickets beforehand since it is summer and Vienna is a popular tourist attraction. So, on Saturday we ordered a taxi to the harbour an hour before but didn't take into account the traffic. By the time we arrived to the ticket office I had already almost given up hope of catching the boat on time. Eventually we got to the counter where people were being told that the boat was already full-booked. When it was my turn the guy behind the counter was clearly prepared to sell me a don't-have. So, when I put the reservation paper in front of him his face made it clear that he was disappointed. It's "lovely...

This was my 3rd visit to Vienna. I suggested to my parents to book the same hotel in the Mariahilf area where I've stayed before with my friends, because from there I knew how to navigate to certain places. The shopping street Mariahilferstrasse was right next to the hotel and the Schönbrunn castle a short walk away. I was checking the weather reports for Vienna every day for a week and the closer we got to the weekend, the worse the weather looked. But despite all the promises of rain we hardly had any. I went to meet my parents and my godmother and her husband to the Vienna airport. While I was waiting for them I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching people arriving and how their faces spread into wide smiles when they saw the people waiting for them. You can't help but smile yourself while watching these happy encounters. I hate flying but I do like airports. Because my parents had had to start their journey from Turku at 2am, the first day was a rather l...