man versus kit kat

Jan

Long Service Leave 2023: Czechia

18/09/23 – 21/09/23

The first in my catch up posts of our epic Long Service Leave travels back at the end of 2023.

From Vienna we travelled in Czechia. First an overnighter in Cesky Krumlov, a stunning old town on a river with an EPIC castle in the middle I had been told how gorgeous this was, but it really was.

Then it was my first trip to Prague! While I really dug it, I maybe wasn’t as enamoured with it as much as some others. Yeah, I am a tourist, but I found just how much the old town was aimed at tourists to be a bit too much. Still a pretty remarkable place though filled with great things to explore (old towns, parks, museums).

Jan

Playing Catch Up on Blog Posts (yep, you read right)

By: muttler

Oh my!

I realised recently I kind of just stopped my blogging of my travels in 2023 and when I thought about doing them for our recent trip to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong I realised it was never finished. Whoops. That Europe trip back in 2023 did get pretty crazy there… with some dramas and getting quite remote where I couldn’t blog.

I must also admit that most people get a sense of what I am up to on travels via Instagram, so keeping the blog up to date seemed like a lot of work late at night while travelling, for not much return. However I do love having at as a reference for what travel I have done!

So I finding a compromise…

As much for my own records as anything, I am going to go back and do some high level posts of the last bits of the Europe trip (mainly Chechia, Helsinki, Tallin, Stockholm, Norway and Copenhagen… probably one picture-laden post for each) so that I can capture it. Then some posts for the recent travels to Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong.

So if you happen to get email alerts for posts, then expect that you might get some completely out of the blue as I work my way through these posts. Don’t get too excited as it is nothing new! But you might see some new photos.

If you still read these, thanks for doing so. And sorry it has taken so long to get back to it.

Sep

Austrian Adventures Part Two… Back in Vienna

By: muttler

austria

Vienna

15/09/2023 – 18/09/2023

Back in Vienna! We had a long driving day from the Tatras back to Vienna. We dropped the car off and then settled into our hotel on the ring road.

I had not been in Vienna since 2000 so this was quite exciting. And it is quite a special place. I know I have said this about a bunch of cities, but there is no where like it. Yes, a lot of tourists. But the city, its layout and the architecture are quite something.

The few days were spent with a combination of wandering and visiting museums. Highlights were:

More Invaders!
A Yoshitomo Nara exhibition (that was so good I went twice)
The Kunsthistoriches Museum
The Belvedere (Klimt!)
Eating a schnitzel as big as my head

It was then time to say goodbye and head to my final new country for this trip, Czechia!

Sep

Slovakia… Tatra Mountains

By: muttler

slovakia

12/09/2023 – 15/09/2023

We headed from Bratislava way east into Slovakia, destination, the High Tatras.

On the way, we did some detours into Banska Stiavnica and Bankska Bystrica, the latter being a nice town with a well-renovated town square and castle. We made it into Stary Smokovec late afternoon and soaked up the glorious mountains at our doorstep.

The next day while Kate opted to visit nearby Spis Castle, I decided to go on a crazy hike. Not too crazy, but a 7 hour hike to nearby Slokovsky Stit, a 2400m peak in the mountains. With Stary Smokovec at a paltry 1000m, it was quite the elevation gain! It was pretty tough for someone not at peak fitness, but I made it fairly easily and enjoyed the incredible views from up high. Down as a different challenge, with the path incredibly rocky. Some well earned time in the hotel saunas that night!

Sadly the next day’s plans went awry, with rain having settled in. Booo. Out first day of rain, so we had been pretty fortunate, but it meant we couldn’t really get out and hike much given some of the paths were slippery. Oh well. It meant that a forced rest day was not the worst, and we could still get out and about a little.

Now off to Vienna!

Sep

Slovakia… Bratislava

By: muttler

bratislava

slovakia

11/09/2023

One full day in Bratislava. Mostly acting as a rest day, but still lots to see. A wander up to the castle on the hill (aren’t they all on a steep hill?), wandering the old town, and finding funky buildings. Oh, and of course, eating local fare!