Innsbruck and more…

Hello my dear, wonderful, amazing, great P-E-O-P-L-E !!!! Unfortunately, I have a writing crisis. For some reason it started to be really hard to force myself to write (I think that there is not enough time for the blog, but as they say: if a person sincerely desires with all his heart, he will find the time for anything). Well, maybe I have been procrastinating for a long time. Finally my hands reached the keyboard, and the eyes reached the screen, and the bum made it to the chair. In other words, all parts of the body gathered together in the right place and therefore I can write an article about such a wonderful town as Innsbruck, that is in Austria.

As I mentioned in my previous article I am writing in the opposite direction which means that before Innsbruck I was in Verona&Venice and after that I went to Vienna (that I have already written about). I was traveling to Austria from Italy (Verona) with the bus company called Hello. I want to say that I was very happy with the service. Firstly, I like the design of the bus (pretty simple, stylish, black and white). Obviously design of the bus is the most important thing for me, haha. The bus itself was big, comfortable, with a socket (so I could charge my American “Mr. Apple Jobs”). In addition to that we were traveling almost in an empty bus so it was very comfortable. No complaints at all!

(The photo was taken from the internet)

(My own photoshoot, going with the wind 🙂 )

I do not know how interesting and useful it will be for you to know about my relationship with couchsurfing, but I still want to share it. For those who have never heard of this strange word I will explain: couchsurfing is one of the largest guest networks, existing as an online service. It unites more than 7 million people in 246 countries. Unfortunately, I’m not an advanced user of this service. It has been just 2 times when I found (and, eventually, stopped) at the place of one  lovely Italian woman in Verona. It was an excellent experience and I am very grateful for her hospitality. In Innsbruck I decided to stay with a guy. In fact I was really surprised about this moment: it is extremely unlikely that I can get into a car with a stranger, agree to enter his house and stay there for a night or even a few, and at the same time it’s not a problem to do all these things if I do it through the site. I find it quite strange. And it’s all despite the fact that the company cannot check everyone and will not do this, so I get all the information about my potential host from his/her profile (what the person wants to share with the rest), from the photos and reviews of those who have already stayed at this user of the site. Anyway I found my “victim”.  I was sure everything was going to be great, but I made a big mistake as I did not ask for the address of the young man, and the day before my arrival he didn’t have the opportunity to get in touch. In the end, I was afraid that I would remain without a roof over my head (even though it had moved many years ago))). Therefore, I had to look for another option with the use of airbnb (and it’s not some kind of advert, I just really like to help my readers while sharing my experience). Again, I made a mistake. I wanted to tell you about it my friends so that you don’t fall in the same trap. I booked an apartment from someone called Jonathan (it was a small one-room apartment, rather even a studio, but in the very center of the city, 2 minutes walk from the railway station and with a magnificent view of the mountains). I kind of looked at the address and understood how I could find the house BUT on the way I got lost 1000 and once times, asked almost everyone on my way where this notorious house number 3 was, then the Austrians called Jonathan at my request, and he did not pick up the phone. In general, everything was at the right time as they say! haha) What was extremely pleasant is that the Austrians welcomed me in such a great way. I even met an old lady who could not actually help me so we parted ways with her and in a few minutes she RUN (caught up with me) and told me where the house was. She really went the extra mile for me! Finally when I found the house I realized that there were about a hundred apartments and there were surnames written on the opposite of each flat-number and in order to call I needed to know the surname of the apartments owner. However, I only knew his name (Jonathan). Then I went to the neighboring Kebab, I spent quite a while explaining my problem to the local cook and telling him that I needed him to call to the phone number (to Jonathan) and say “Natasha is here.” And the Turkish man spoke English very badly (and I couldn’t speak German). Anyway it all worked out, Jonathan came and after some minutes I was at the desired studio, enjoying the view with the mountains and thinking about such a beautiful life! I was glad I had all these little problems because what didn’t kill me made me stronger 🙂 and also it was good to know how much friendly and hospitable the Austrians were.

And here, by the way, the photo that welcomes you at the railway station

And there was a great view from my window  not XP)

For one and a half day that I was in Innsbruck I managed to walk around the city, visit Swarovski Museum in Wattens and Ambras Castle. And, probably I also managed to blind the city with my unbelievable beauty))). In fact, I don’t think so but I felt that way in Innsbruck. Almost every passer-by man looked at me fascinated. For a moment I even thought that something was wrong with me: “Why do all these people look at me like that? Maybe I’m dirty and I am walking with a dirty face?”))) But then they told me that I was really beautiful. As I said earlier – the Austrians are really good people! Have no complaints at all)))

As about the city itself – I really liked it! How compact it is, fabulous and toy. The houses are all neat, colorful and unusual. At the same time, it is located among the mountains, which gives it an even greater fairy-tale character. And, of course, there is an important component of any city which is the river. In my opinion, it has everything it needs. Innsbruck reminded me of Andorra which is also really pretty and surrounded by mountains.

The only thing that bothered me very much and left some kind of sediment was my evening walking when I saw how much rubbish was there, on the streets of the city. In addition, that evening (as well as during the rest of my time in the city) there was a strong wind so most of the garbage flew in the air, and at that moment I realized that I would hardly call Innsbruck a fairy tale. However, it should be noted that everything was clean and washed in the morning so Oscar goes to Leonardo DiCaprio, and Respect goes to the street sweepers of Innsbruck. Well done guys! And still it seems very unpleasant that some citizens and tourists there don’t appreciate its beauty and allow themselves to clog the city.

(The photo was taken from the internet)

(These 2 photos were also taken from the internet)

(The rubbish I was talking about)

(The wind did it work – all the bikes were scattered).

(I think it’s an interesting name of the shop)

(And this photo is dedicated to my close Czech friend, whose name is Milan)

Found them (road signs) being interesting)

(And here are some creative teapots)

The next day early morning I went to the Swarovski Museum. I strongly advise you to visit this place if you like magic, miracles, creativity and, of course, crystal and glass. To make it easier for you to do this and not to make my mistakes I’ll tell you how to get there ( it’s obvious that I prepared all the instructions for the trip, BUT somehow I managed to wait at the wrong station for the wrong bus and therefore I lost an hour). Everything was the way I like: clearly, correctly, thought out))). So, my dears, you need to go to the central station of Innsbruck and look for the big bus of greenish color with the image of the museum. It is very important!

For some reason (although I had all the necessary instructions), I decided that I could go to the museum with an ordinary bus and I saw that one was going to the right place for me which was Wattens. (See photo below: bus 4123 goes to Wattens).

Just so you know what exactly you need: a bus like on the photo below. Here is this beauty (and it’s not the bus number 4123):

I advise you to come a few minutes before your departure. The stop is right next to the entrance to the central station. I bought my ticket from the driver, it cost me 9 euros (round-trip, this price is for March 2017). There is another option to get there by car or teleport, but I have no idea about it (for now))).

The entrance-ticket I bought at the ticket office of the museum, which you will see straight after coming to Wattens with the bus. It was very surprising for me as the cashier spoke Russian, so unfortunately I could not show her that the Russians could also speak the language of Shakespeare pretty well.

I was even given a brochure with a museum (how rich I was, haha) so I can share some interesting information with you, my dears. Since I try to respect all copyrights, I’ll make the information brazenly taken from the brochure by crystal birds, with the quotation marks.

I like this phrase that greets you at the entrance to the museum’s territory. As for me, it’s really nice and positive 🙂 and I do like such things! “Yes” is the word we should use more often (though at some particular cases I can take my words back, haha)

(When the Siberian Giantess meets with the Austrian Giant. When he saw me he opened his eyes widely and his mouth with the shock and fright, and I said to him: “Oh, come on, Austrian people think that I am beautiful! Don’t be nasty!”)))

(The photo was taken from the internet)

“The world of crystal art was created by the artist André Hiller in 1995, on the occasion of the centenary of Swarovski brand and it was supplemented by another amazing land of crystal nature. Where previously there were arable and virgin lands stretched, an amazing garden, a new miracle, was added as a supplement to the Giant’s treasuries in 2015 (in the year of the company’s 120th anniversary). The Giant’s Garden is the place where you see the reflection of your own soul in the mirror, or you simply cannot resist of the crystals’ charm.” (c)

For some unknown to me reason I missed this text in the catalog and went straight away to the museum (building itself), I could not wait to look at the luminous art objects. I think that this was my mistake as I spent a lot of time observing all the internal expositions and, therefore I practically ran in the garden while putting a tick (=must see) in order to catch the bus that was leaving the museum at certain hours.

The first thing that you should know is that during your stay at the museum you can download all the information about the Giant’s treasures (the Swarovski Museum) that fascinate you with the first words and sounds… Or you can do the way I did while not downloading anything but simply connect to their wi-fi there and find on the official museum website all the stories that mentioned above. I must say that it undoubtedly strengthened my impressions of what I saw there.

“Swarovski Crystal Worlds” are divided into several rooms or as they are called “Wonder Rooms”: Blue Hall, Mechanical Theater, Crystal Cathedral, Silent Night, In Lattice Sun, Crystallocaligraphy, Ice Corridor, Transparent Opacity, Wonder Studio, Diva, Eden, Fame, 55 million Crystals, Reflections, Crystalline Forest, Timeless.

It is difficult for me to select the most interesting Wonder Room since every single one impressed me to some extent, so I will simply share photos with you my friends and add a few comments (I am not such a good photographer so I’ll try to conquer the world with my text))).

(There is a “Great wall” (not of China this time) which is made out of Swarovski crystals.) How many of them are there!) An immeasurable amount!)

And here is the close-up of the wall, in case if you didn’t look properly on the previous photo or if you simply want to count all the crystals)

The mechanical theater. There were shirts flying, the mannequin walking without a head (which often happens in the world nowadays))), okay, I’m joking). In general, there was everything so mechanical, so theatrical (I am the best at explaining, haha). Well, in fact, it’s better to see than to talk about it.

And this is just a masterpiece (The Crystal Cathedral). When you enter the room, you forget who you are, what you are, where you are … everything is sparkling, shimmering, changing lights and colours, and sometimes the Cave (Cathedral) transformes so that  you can see some more Art objects inside the wall at certain time. I spent there quite a while and now I am complaining that I never have enough time for everything I do)))

And this is such a Winter Fairy Tale with a very beautiful Christmas tree, created from Swarovski crystals, and also there are very interestingly decorated walls and lighting which unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of.  You seem to fall into the winter there, whatever season is out in the yard. That time Cinderella remembered her Siberian home and she thought: “Perhaps I’d rather go to this room in the Austrian museum than in Siberia.” Actually I am a kind person and patriot of my country, but at the same time somehow I do like to live abroad. It’s such a paradox of my life.

I found a nice chandelier for my place, hahah. Well, actually I would prefer to live in a place decorated in minimalism. Anyway, first of all I need to decide which country to live in, that is the question (after “to be or not to be” because I cannot compete with Shakespeare).

I am not sure what is the connection with Swarovski here (maybe he was just passing by when it was made)), but this is a very interesting art object, especially for such a little 27-year-old girl like me))). There are no images on the floor and once you step on the path of good and beauty (floor I mean)), then there are different patterns (instead of traces) appeared behind you . As for me it is fun!

And here are the photos of the hall with a very beautiful art object which are consists of well-known (and not only) architectural structures, as well as the railway and the train goes (on the wings of love just like I do) the train … And the hall itself is painted beautifully (look at the photo, behind my back). Actually it gives the impression of a kindergarten and something too bright and childish maybe, but in life, however, it looks quite interesting! And as I said earlier for a 27-year-old kid like me, the kindergarten is the right place to be at))

As far as I remember it was a room with geometric figures with some projections on telling the history of different countries and eras. My memory may cheet on me so I am not sure, especially this little lady (memory) doesn’t like history that much…

Here is the reflection of Medusa Swarovskić in the mirror))

If only euro cost much less I  would probably buy that for my ordinary walk to the shop…or maybe not?)))

And here is the highlight of the programme (which according to the internet costs smth like 2250 dollars)! Why is it such an important part of my article?? Because it’s that special crystal slipper from the film “Cinderella”, which was released in Russia and the whole world in 2015. I remember how I went to watch this movie with my close friend, while being in Omsk. And now myself being a fictional-real character (Cinderella from Westminster), found her shoe!! Well, where are you, my Prince? I have already found the shoe myself. I’ve done all the work for you! :)))

And here is a shot from the film (a photo was taken from the Internet because for some good reason I could not attend the shooting of the film at that time even though they tried their best to make me coming to the USA)) But we are Siberians – to be taken very hard, haha

Finally, I  managed to get out after a very impressive internal exhibit (it was not easy because the crystals beckoned me as if they knew that I was a crow)).

And what did I see outside? Another fairy tale…

“The crystal cloud consists of more than 600,000 crystals. What’s more there are three different sizes of the crystals, so that the cloud is more sparkling in the light! It (the cloud) majestically floats above the water surface and invites you to dream. The light of the crystals on the water reflects like stars in the sky, even on a very sunny day ” (which was not the case on my visit, haha)

“The 20 meter high gaming tower is the world’s highest indoor playground, where really diverse games are offered” (didn’t take the photo of it though).

“More than 10 football fields could fit the territory of the Crystal Worlds of Swarovski”.

“There were 72 445 bulbs of flowers planted in the Giant’s garden”

Many thanks to the museum for birch trees. It was such a pleasure to see them for the Russian soul staying in Austria!

And here are a couple of photos of Swarovski windows in Innsbruck:

I still had some time to fly by bus to the castle-museum Ambras (after Swarovski), which was (and still is) one of the main attractions of Innsbruck. The cultural and historical significance is closely connected with the name of Archduke Ferdinand II. (I will probably forget this name right after I post this article…that’s a shame really).

And lets discuss again “how to get there”. This is what I found on the internet:

I completely forgot I am writing in English and it’s in Russian. So it says that you can get to the castle for 9 min only with the bus number 4134 and all the stopts/directions written in German there. And I asked Jonathan (not the seagull Jonathan Livingston though I wish I could talk with such a great bird))) to help me with the scedule of the buses and he was so kind (my landloard) to send me all the times. Have a look here:

The castle contains magnificent collections of armor, weapons, jewelry, paintings, sculptures and so on. In truth, this museum was not an easy thing for me. Firstly, I already felt a bit tired after the Swarovski museum, and secondly it was hard to look at ancient things, behind which there were a lot of real stories and legends, when you are still somewhere in the clouds of crystals. I wanted something light, airy and magical and there were armor of knights and weapons in front of me. I felt like quoting Stanislavsky “I don’t believe!”))).

Anyway I took the most I could from my visit to the museum. First of all there was a truly marvelous view of the city observed from the hill where the museum was located. Secondly, I really liked the cashier and the museum administrator (it was one person). He was very friendly, kind and cheerful. When I asked for an audio guide, he said that in that case I needed to leave my passport as a deposit. I was confused because tomorrow I was already going to Vienna and I kind of needed my little friend (passport) in any case. I asked a stupid question (I am the best at asking stupid questions))) if they return my passport or something like that. The man answered me that we should have hoped, especially if it was found among the other passports. It’s nice to meet people who are ready to joke easily and without embarrassment during working hours. Well, at least I like it.

(The entrence of the castel’s park territory)

(Here is the Scaring Achtung))). I felt really helpless! I know almost 4 languages! Well maybe I know just  2.5 if being precisely. In any case it’s not so pleasant to understand that it is written “Warning!” in red there. And then you have no idea what it’s all about))) I simply tried my best not to smoke, not to leave rubbish, not to offend anyone, steal anything or kill anyone while I was at the museum territory. Maybe one of the points I meantioned above was actually in this mystical for me “Achtung”))) Anyway I had been a good girl 🙂

At the museum…

So here I was leaving one of the museum’s halls when I saw this birdie. We greeted each other, discussed the cost of euro and how it it is to live in Austria and then I left her…I can say it’s an interesting museum))

And here the birdie lost her head because of my incredible beauty and I did the same because of her pure beauty too…)))

Being a true artist and a little bit abnormal person I can see lots of interests and beauty in the wall texture…and unfortunatelly not that much interest in the knightly armor)))

And here’s another birdie but maybe less cute (I hope she doesn’t read my blog as I am afraid of her). By the way, I know that I have to call the bird “it” but I simply cannot)). Anyway I also approached her and decided to talk about the euro exchange rate but, apparently, I stepped on her sore spot. The birdie turned into an angry bird and went after me and I started to run along the street. I know it’s strange and funny but I was frightened of this predatory animal)))

And I like this shop’s name which reminded me an idiom. “The early bird catches the worm”

Once I was walking somewhere in the centre of the city and found some writings on the wall and I was disappointed with it. Why do people write such unpositive things? I should have changed the writing because some people may believe it’s true when it is actually not! 😉 Have a look at the photo above and remember it’s nothing but lie!))

I am not sure what else to share with you my dears. Two days passed unnoticed and were very busy and lively. Thank you dear Innsbruck that you welcomed me in such a lovely way! I have no complaints!

And here is to you, my dear friends, my sunny friends! I really wanted to share stories about the carnival in Venice, about the visit I paid to Romeo and Juliet in Verona, about my living in the province of Milan and the capital of Italy – Rome…there is so much to share BUT it turned out that I have a plenty of work and responsibilities of all kinds therefore I’m inclined to believe that all these stories will remain mysteries covered in darkness. By saying this I mean I do not have time to share these stories. I wish you all as much free time as possible, so that you always have enough of it! And if for some reason you do have a lot of it – be nice, share with me, eh?)))

I love you all, I kiss you all!

When you went to Vienna by a chance and…

Hello my dearest friends! I haven’t been here for such a long time and it’s all because my life has been really busy for the last couple of months. Life brought me some travel, work, volunteering and much more (but somehow it didn’t bring me the blog, alas).

There were diverse things that has happened during my absence here which undoubtedly I want to share. This time I decided to update the blog in the opposite way. By saying this I mean that I’ll be starting with the events that happened just recently and if I manage I will reach the point with my volunteering and work in Italy. And today I am going to tell you about the magic country called Austria.

I was only two days in Vienna (the capital of Austria) but they were such stunning days! On the first day of my stay I managed to walk around the city and see the main touristic sights of it. I want to mention that Vienna impressed me a lot with its beauty and grandeur. I visited mainly the center and maybe that’s why it seemed to me so fabulous! Quite possibly many of you have been in this city or have seen pictures of its buildings. However I will post some photos of this Austrian tale in reality, especially for those who do not have even the slightest idea of what I’m talking about.

(I took all these photos from the internet because I believe Vienna deserves to be presented in the best way possible and when I had my walk around the city it was a bit cloudy so my photos don’t look as good as these ones. Hopefully not many people will understand that it’s a beautiful excuse of untallanted photographer as I am, haha).

Most of my time there I spent with the friends of my family and one of them, for example, took me to Wiener Rathaus (the city hall of Vienna) and bought me a cup of mulled wine. By the way, he really didn’t like the name of this drink in Russian language. He asked me not to call “Glühwein” the Russian word. It was funny because I always used to call this drink as “Глинтвейн” (Gleentwain) and for me it sounded quite natural. The drink was too strong so it wasn’t that easy to finish it (I’m a strange Russian because I am not fond of alcohol), but surely it gave some flavor to already incredible atmosphere of Vienna. And during our enjoyable drinking of mulled wine we observed the young and not so young skate-lovers on the ice-rink. Some of them looked like professional hockey-players or figure skaters while others could hardly stay on the rink.

Then we went to an Indian restaurant and in truth I didn’t expect that the food would be so spicy. Well, of course I knew about their cuisine but the thing is that when I lived and worked for a couple of months in India, I always ate in the restaurant and the waiters and cooks were almost like relatives to me, so the phrase “No spicy please” worked amazingly well!! They probably wanted to do really good for me so I am not even sure if they put any spice there. And here I tried a real hot soup with shrimps in Vienna. Thus, my favourite thing in this restaurant was water! Fortunately, my water was without pepper, curry and salt)))

(photo was taken from the internet becauce believe me you don’t want to see my face during the time I was eating that hot soup, hahaha)

I also had a lovely present which was a ticket to the Vienna State Opera and I was in a hurry to go there as if I were Cinderella and I was sitting in a restaurant (the ball did not work that day) and the clock was almost beating 12 and I was about to run… it was very similar to the truth. At first I even put on someone else’s coat. Our Indian restaurant (where we were sitting that time) was just opened and imagine that although there were just a few people, there was a girl with a similar red coat just like mine. I was glad to realize on time that the shoe oh, I mean the coat wasn’t mine. We also had some adventures on the way: at first we could not find the needed underground-line, then we chose the wrong exit. I can probably say that we collected all the possible “obstacles” on our way and exactly at 7.30pm I was at the ball, I mean at the ballet, in the most famous Vienna State Opera! Here I already felt like Julia Roberts from the movie “Pretty Woman”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in terms of my pure beauty or in the presence of the young Richard Gere nearby, but because I was in the opera for the first time and I had a very good ticket for the box near the stage. In general everything was just wonderful!

(photo was taken from the internet because again believe me you do not want to see me after running to the Opera House even if I was wearing a dress and high heel shoes)

The ballet was called “Eugene Onegin”. Unfortunately (and maybe to my shame) I read this novel a long time ago, so there was confusion about the plot in my head. It all happened despite the fact that I know Tatyana’s letter to Onegin by heart and I love it very much. But there were characters of “War and Peace” coming to my mind all the time: like Bolkonsky and others. I was sitting, getting the greatest pleasure from the ballet, music was piercing through, I was overwhelmed by the feelings. And at the same time I tried to remember the story in detail. But Bolkonsky did not want to leave me)))) Anyway I got better understanding and remembering by the end of the story. The ballet was superb and I’m very glad that I had such an opportunity to visit the Vienna State Opera! Many thanks to my family’s friends for such a gift!

The following day somewhere early in the morning I went to the Albertina Art Museum.

I had a great impression of the museum and I spent around 3,5 hours there and lets consider the fact that I simply ran through the last hall, as I was in a hurry to have some time for my following program (basycally my life became something similar to “Run, Forrest, Run!“))). Otherwise I would spend even more time there. I really liked the hall with the sculptures of the 12 Muses and I enjoyed a large number of beautiful paintings by such artists as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Henri Lebasque, René Magritte, and others. Surprisingly there was no work by Natasha Barantseva this time. Maybe it was on restoration)))

After the museum we went to Schönbrunn (Schloß Schönbrunn). As I was told, “Schön” meant “beautiful” in German, and “brunn” was something like a fountain or a stream. Schönbrunn was the main summer residence of the Austrian emperors of the Habsburg dynasty, it is also one of the largest buildings of the Austrian Baroque.

Alas, I cannot say much about the castle itself but can give you some interesting facts about Maria Theresa biography. I got them from a brief and easy talk with my family’s friend who has lived in Austria for about 2 decades. He also did tell me a little bit about Elisabeth of Austria (known as Sisi), but, alas, I vaguely remember something outstanding about her. The only thing I remember now is that she had an incredibly small waist. And I kept it in mind because of the vivid image, when my personal “guide” linked his fingers and palms forming a circle and said to me that Sisi’s waist was a little bit bigger than this circle. Perhaps it was so bright, to some extent even shocking and that’s why I didn’t get any other information about the empress because I was thinking of her body. What a waist!

(the photo was taken from Wikipedia because my time machine was out of order so I could not go in the past and take a photo of this lady)

Maria Theresa (1717-1780) was the only female head of the Habsburg Dynasty. She became the Empress in 1740. As I was told she was very cunning and clever. The Empress had 16 children and many of them got married in the way that was beneficial and good for her government, in order to strengthen the power of the Austrian state. In addition (this fact amused me very much even though I am not sure if it’s truth but I trust my guide on the question) Maria Theresa often took away other people’s territory. While seeing that the land was unoccupied and not being used (even if it was rightfully belongs to the neighboring state) Maria Theresa gave the order to occupy the territory and appropriate. It could be a few tens of kilometers at once. When it was too much and neighboring rulers could no longer stand her arrogance, they sent the army which drove people of Maria Theresa away. She calmed down but after some time she repeated the story again by giving the order to occupy neighboring lands…Thus, she greatly expanded the land of Austria. And also according to many sources Maria Theresa herself was not really good at military and governmental subjects, but she had the talent to surround herself with people capable in different areas and this talent helped her to transform the Austrian state.

(the photo was taken from Wikipedia)

If you walk from the castle deep into the park and up to the hill there you will discover a beautiful view that will take you to the Wonderland of dreams and flights of fancy. I spent not much time there but the image of what I saw is still with me, in my mind.

After such a lovely walk I went to the Mozarthaus which was the residence of the great composer (and now the face of the chocolate products, umbrellas, plates, towels, notebooks…) from 1784 to 1787.

(the photo was taken from the internet)

It was a special event that included not only a tour in the Museum with an Austrian guide, but also a small concert after. At first I really tried to understand at least something from the presentation. I stood there telling myself: “Natasha, you know Russian, English, a little bit of French and Italian! Come on, tu peux capire эту презентацию”, but, actually, it was not easy and after a while I gave it up and just started to read the explanation-signs of each exhibit and portrait presented in the museum (in English). I remember one of the interesting facts that nobody knew how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart looked like and that’s why there were a large number of his portraits (some kind of guess I suppose).

After this “interesting” excursions in German, we were lucky enough to be spectators or let’s say listeners of the magical music played by Richard Ilya Tauber. You can see more information about the concert on the picture.

And at the end of my Viennesse trip me and my friend went to the legendary Café Landtmann. This is a typical Viennese coffee house which is often visited by politicians, actors, artists and others. In the old days the guests of the café were such people like Sigmund Freud, Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper and many others, and now myself)))

It’s great that a cup of tea and a dessert can put you in the same line with such geniouses, hahah.

(the photo was taken from the internet)

Our main goal was to try that famous Austrian Apple Strudel but we also ordered one Maroni Blüte and dessert of scrambled eggs, plus coffee and Indian tea Masala.

Firstly we tried Maroni Blüte. It was a very interesting dessert (by its look and also taste), which consists of chestnut puree, mixed with cherry. It tasted very light and fresh.

Our apple strudel was excellent, although my friend said that apples were a bit overdone. I couldn’t say that since I wasn’t an expert. The only thing that surprised me was that the same dessert with the same excellent vanilla cream we had in the hotel’s restaurant in Sicily, where I worked in the summer of 2016. I was surprised that much because strudel is an Austrian dessert and I tried it in the legendary cafe of Vienna, and realized that the one in Sicily was as perfect as in the capital of Austria. Well done, my dear Italians!

And lastly we tried an omelet in the Emperor style or simply Kaiserschmarrn as it’s called in German language. There are several legends associated with the origin of this dessert, which all connected with Franz Joseph. According to one version (which seems to me most truthful and interesting), the Emperor’s chef cooked an omelet that he broke accidently and presented this failed dish as the new one for Franz Joseph and he did like it. That’s why this meal got its name, where “Kaiser” means “imperator”.

The dish is traditionally served with plum jam, but we were also given some applesauce. (Maybe the waiter looked at my cheeks and decided I loved eating but come on! I was given them by nature, I was born like this! hahah)) I must say it was quite an unusual dessert and of course delicious and heavy. I also thought it was kind of weird to call an omelet with jam as an Imperial dish.

The way home (I am talking about the house I stayed in Vienna) laid through night, shimmering central streets with lights of lamps and chandeliers. At that time Vienna became even more fabulous. Especially, I had a very strong impression of the Vienna City Hall in its night appearance. Indeed, looking at it was like Alice, I mean Natasha  in Wonderland. It was like “and let the whole world wait…”.

(Rathaus Wien at night, the photo was also taken from the internet)

To sum up, my two days in Austria were interesting, cultural and truly fabulous! Of course, it could not have been like that without my family’s friends and I am really grateful for them!

P.S. My plan was to also write about Innsbruck, Venice, Verona, Milan, Bergamo, Como lake, Turate, different museums and living the life of Italians in general, but this post took me about a week to write (as I did the same in Russian and had to work and so on) so I am already not sure I will have enough time to write at least half of what I have planned, what a pity…