On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
If it’s Friday, it must be otmar!
Today, pictures from valued commenter otmar.
As promised last week: I now interrupt the stream of pictures of old buildings to bring you some nature.
Some context: the Austrian school year is divided into two semesters, one runs from September to the end of January and the other one from February to June. Back in 1973, during the oil shock, the country decided to add a week of vacation (“Energieferien”) between those two semesters: part of the motivation was to save some money by not having to heat the schools for a week in winter, but certainly another part was to boost the winter skiing season.
Since then, a good part of all Austrian families with kids in school head for the Alps during this week and go skiing. So did we. Here are some of the pictures I took over the last week.
The weather was initially rather cold, clear skies on the mountains, but a layer of clouds below the peaks.
View from the Gerlitzen in western direction. The mountains on the left are the “Karawanken” which form the border between Austria and Slovenia/Italy.
Direction north: Nockberge.
Winter impressions.
Direction south, towards Slovenia.
Afternoon light.
On Wednesday we got fresh snow, so we skipped skiing and had some fun in grandma’s garden.
Say hello to “Frederick”!
‘allo Fredi
Thank you so much otmar, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
rikyrah
Those are some beautiful winter scenes?
ThresherK
Lovely stuff, and now I know where the Alpine skiiers get their skillz.
We didn’t get much snow here, so it’s great to see it in a place where there’s guaranteed skiing (until climate change destroys it all).
?BillinGlendaleCA
Nice pics, looks cold.
JPL
It was 78 here yesterday, so no snowmen in the future. Thank you for sharing your photos.
otmar
It was cold.
And we’re supposed to get another cold spell for the next few days. Right now, even Vienna got a bit of snow.
Himahamma
Hey otmar, my family will be in Vienna for a couple weeks in June & July. I have two girls, 5&7. Any recommendations? If there is a good public pool or swimming hole in particular that would be great. Thanks.
Amir Khalid
I last played in snow during my toddlerhood in London, well over half a century ago. (Sigh.) Deine Fotos sind wunderschön wie üblich, Otmar.
MomSense
@otmar:
Love the winter scenes. I love the many shades of snow on sunny days.
Quinerly
?
otmar
@Himahamma: Phew, where to start?
Ad pools, the generic URL for that is https://www.wien.gv.at/english/leisure/bath/bathlist.htm Where to go definitely depends on where they are staying. The pools are sometimes very authentic Viennese which might be quite an experience. (e.g. compared to the US, nudity is not that big of a taboo. Toddlers can run around naked, some baths have nudity zones for adults and topless bathing will not raise many eye-brows. ) The ones at Alte Donau is worth visiting, well knows is the Gänsehäufel. If you’re snobbish or just want a good view, go to Krapfenwaldlbad. There is even one in the park of Schönbrunn palace. And then there are a few playgrounds with lots of water: https://www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/parks/anlagen/wasserspielplaetze.html
Do some research: the large expat community here has written up lots of guide to Vienna in English. start e.g. here: http://www.viennawurstelstand.com/article/the-vienna-expat-survival-guide-13-ultimate-tips-for-internationals-moving-to-or-living-in-vienna/
http://www.expatsblog.com/contests/717/parents-survival-guide-vienna-austria-top-8-reasons-to-be-an-expat-with-kids
There is a lot of possible activity for kids, some links (mostly German): http://www.wienxtra.at/kinderaktiv/ https://kinderuni.at/ http://kind-in-wien.at/
otmar
Ok, there were too many links in my reply to Himahamma. Someone please approve my comment.
Montanareddog
@Amir Khalid: I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago for work when it snowed heavily. There were some Bangalore-based IT staff there who had never seen snow before. Their sheer delight was heart-warming.
MelissaM
Years (ahem) ago I did a study abroad in Austria at a teacher’s school (not that we ‘murcens were to be teachers, but that was originally how the program was started.) Our year there included a week of skiing, and now I understand why. For the Austrians at this school, it was also a course in teaching skiing to us (mostly) novice Americans. In the evenings the leader would show videos of the teaching (including random out of control Americans sliding past, screaming) and would critique them. We were in a hotel at the top of a 1800m mountain. There were some locals who would tow-rope up, sit at the bar until midnight, then ski down in the dark – crazy! The day we had to leave, there had been snow, and the only way to get down was to ski (our luggage was sent on some tank-like craft that would also bring supplies to the hotel.) A complete experience!
And now I’m reliving it all thanks to your gorgeous photos!
Himahamma
@otmar: thank you! Will check all that out for sure.
otmar
@MelissaM: you we’re an exchange Student at a Pädak? My mom and uncle taught sport at these.
MelissaM
@otmar: Yes, at the one in Baden bei Wien. Lovely town, full of Heurigen, but by that time, being at a teaching school was pointless as none of us were going to become teachers of any sort. After our year, the program did more courses in Vienna and now it’s fully in Vienna. Austria is such a beautiful country! I was very fortunate to be there.