October recap

On the first day of October (yep, we’re still talking 2015 here) I left Bregenz and crossed Austria to my next placement in Linz:

I moved into my new service apartment only to find out that, due to some mysterious hospital bureaucracy problems (which, to this day, are still unclear to me)  I can’t start working until November. So in a two-hour time span I 1) took a job and had it postponed 2) moved in and out of this room. I should have taken this as a warning sign, turn on my heels and run, never looking back – this would have saved me nine months of misery. Too bad I’m not good at listening to my gut feelings, haha.

Anyway. I had a month to pass, so I took my stuff to a friend’s place and left Linz for Budapest, just on the same day I arrived, to spend the following two weeks at home with my family:

We went on a lot of adventures (properly geared up, of course)…

…and even the rain could not hold us back…

…from meeting crocodiles with sharp teeth…

…and watching sharks being fed:

Most of the time, we had fun…

…until it got to the point of making important decisions, like who gets to drive the car:

Fortunately all we had to do for peace was to bring Halloween a few weeks forward:

Our hard work resulted in this:

In the second half of October I took on a short assignment in Mariazell…

…the home of gingerbread…

…and Our Lady of Hungary:

It is really the best place to spend autumn time:

I was living in a hotel for two weeks – a welcome change to all those service apartments of the past few years. This is what I saw from my balcony:

When I wasn’t leaving for work so early the moon was still up…

…I spent my days eating heart-shaped food…

…collecting autumn paraphernalia…

…and exploring the kingdom of the Ötscher…

…which is a fun place to be both during the day…

…and night:

I got to know this road leading into town…

…and this one, leading out of it, really well:

They took me to the top of mountains…

…and under ground:

Deep into forests…

…over waters…

…to my dream house where I want to spend my life…

…in good company:

I saw the first snow…

and the first snowman of the season:

I took the Stairways To Heaven…

…and some questionable forms of transportation…

…to leave Lower Austria…

…for Styria:

The final conclusion of the month? The same road leads to both heaven and hell. Where you finally end up depends on sheer luck and on that alone.

when summertime is done

Erlaufstausee

Ötschergräben – part 2

Ötschergräben – part 1

Mariazell – Bürgeralpe

on the road

I grow old, I grow old, the garden says

Esztergom – the pre-exam visit

rage, rage against the dying of the light

things that make me happy

This mini snail I met on my way to work one morning.

This plaque, which I, after having passed it five times a week for the last six months, have finally noticed. It marks the house the Hungarian poet József Attila had once lived in.

The rainbow I saw from our balcony the other day.

These pressed flowers I found in a book. They must have been there for the past twenty years.

These fox earrings (I am slowly but irreversibly turning into a Crazy Cat Lady; a spinster of a certain age, with wild hair, weird clothes and age-inappropriate jewellery).

Autumn. It’s almost gone now so let these pictures stand for All Things Awesome That I Missed Out On This Year.

you are going to ask: and where are the lilacs?

Wien – autumn walk in Prater

where are the songs of spring? ay where are they?

Eisenstadt – Schlosspark Esterházy

Salzburg – Mülln

lo, ’tis autumn

summer’s last will and testament

Budapest – the ground beneath my feet

the Prague memories – fog on the Charles Bridge

365/329+bonus

I had free today, which meant that I spent my afternoon at the station teaching my coworker about how to use the nursing program on the computer. I’m definitely gifted with some teaching skills, more, at the university I was famous of being born to be a teacher but today I was just in no mood for spending one and a half hour with something I could accomplish in 30 minutes if doing it alone. I’m out of practice, I guess.

And some obligatory autumn leaves.

the colours of November

Yellow!

Brown!

Green!

Blue!

White!

Lilac!

Silver!

Red!

More red!

Rainbow!

as summer into autumn slips

Maria Plain

snow falls and then disappears

365/302

The first snow.

Salzburg – a sunny stroll

Liechtensteinklamm – getting there

365/289+3 bonuses!

The last two days were all about Felix Baumgartner. Does he jump or does he not, does he survive or does he not. Well, he did jump and he did survive and we are all happy and proud. Salzburg people have a new god now, beside Mozart.

My adrenaline threshold is obviously somewhat lower than that of Felix Baumgartner. The sight of some raindrops on a fallen leaf made me excited enough for the day.

something much better than words