Austria

Guten Tag!

And welcome to today's post on Austria. Austria is a beautiful country filled with things to do and places to see. If you read my previous post on Germany, you will know that I went there quite a lot in 2010-2012, when I lived in the Czech Republic. The same thing applies to Austria. I went to Austria several times with my family, mostly to ski, because Austria has some amazing places to ski in. We also went to Salzburg and Vienna, and really liked both of those cities. The drive from Prague to Vienna was only around 4h and to Salzburg around 5h. This blog post will hopefully give you an idea on what you can do in each of these places. Like I said in my previous post on Germany, travelling in Austria would be a lot easier if you rented a car. 

Obviously when you're in Austria, you have to go skiing. Skiing in the Alps in Austria is absolutely amazing and the views are gorgeous. The slopes are usually good from around November to March and the lift-ticket prices and renting prices aren't that high either. Austria is personally one of my favourite places to ski. Also the accommodation in Austria is not that pricey, especially when you compare it to places like Italy, France and Switzerland.  I will let the pictures talk for themselves on this one, but as always, it is even more gorgeous when you see the views in person. I have gone skiing in Austria three times and enjoyed every time. I also love that it is not that cold (-5 ish), where as if you go skiing in a place like Finland, it is extremely cold (-30 ish).

My family and I went skiing in a place called Kitzbuhel located near Salzburg. The views were absolutely gorgeous and the had skiing slopes suitable for both beginners and more advanced skiers/snowboarders. Kitzbuhel also had a lot of other winter sports/activities, like tobogganing, hiking, cross-country skiing, ice-skating and curling. For example, my mum doesn't ski, but she still really enjoyed the trip there, because of all the different alternative activities that you could choose from.

Another place I would definitely recommend going to in Austria is Salzburg. Salzburg is such a gorgeous city with a lot of old architecture and delicious food. Salzburg might not be the most exciting town to visit for small children, but if your kids are older (13 or above) they might appreciate the historical building etc more. A particular place in Salzburg I would recommend going, is Mozart's birth-house. The ticket to go in costs 17e but the museum is very interesting and you learn a lot about Mozart's roots. If you are a music enthusiast, you will definitely like this place, since Mozart was such a big influence to music. 

Front of Mozart's house 

Another thing to try in Salzburg is Sacher cake. This definitely overpriced cake can be bought in the Hotel Sacher located in downtown Salzburg. The cake is actually originally from Vienna, and was created by a man called Franz Sacher in 1832. 

Sacher cake 

That is all I have for you today on Austria, hopefully this post helped some of you to figure out things to do. 

As always, leave your comments in the comment section below!

Thank you for reading,

Karoliina 

Florida

Hey everyone,

And welcome today's post on Florida! Florida is known as the sunshine state of the US and is always been a popular holiday destination among people all around the world. Florida, especially Orlando, is of course known as the 'home' of all things fun and exciting, for younger people and even older people. Disney World, Universal Studios and so many more amusement parks are located in Florida, making it the dream holiday destination for people with a love for rollercoasters and magic. I have been to Florida three times, with one of the reasons for that being that my little brother’s godparents live in Georgia, making it easy for us to meet them in Florida. I really enjoyed each time I went and even after being to Disney so many times, it never gets boring. The first time we went to America in 2007, we spent most of our time in Georgia, and we only went to Orlando for a few days to go to Disney World. The second time we went in 2010, we spent most of our time around the Orlando and Tampa area, going to many different amusement parks. The third and most recent time I went in 2013, we spent most of our time in Miami, but also visiting Orlando. As you can tell, I spent most of my time in America in Orlando, so a lot of the places I will be writing about will be located there. But without further ado, let’s get to what you can actually do in Florida?

Sunrise in Miami

As you all probably already know, the number one thing you have to do in Florida is go to Disney World and Universal Studios. I completely agree with the statement that you have to go to Disney at least once in your life. Disney is one of my absolute favourite places in the world, because it is such a happy place and everyone is so friendly (cliché, I know). Going to Disney is such an experience and it is suitable for people any age. There are rides and shows that are for all ages and the show especially are very fascinating no matter your age. However, whereas Disney is more for the ‘younger’ people, Universal Studios is the place to go if you’re looking for exciting roller coasters and amazing stage sets. As you can already tell from my previous post on London, I am a diehard Harry Potter fan. The Universal Studios in Orlando have a Harry Potter Land, which is full of gadgets and buildings from the Harry Potter movies. They even built a full size model of the Hogwarts castle and a small version of Hogsmeade (the village next to Hogwarts).  In the Harry Potter Land, you can taste butterbeer, buy a wand, go to Honeydukes to buy candy and take pictures with students from the French witchcraft school. The only downside to these amazing theme parks is that they are pretty expensive. But as long as you pick a good day to go, I can guarantee that it will be completely worth it. For ticketing prices on Disney click here and for Universal Studios click here.

Disney Hollywood Studios

Hogwarts Castle in Universal Studios

Hogsmeade in Universal Studios

The Hulk ride at Universal Studios

Another thing I would definitely recommend doing in Florida is going to a national park/an alligator park. These parks give you the amazing experience of getting to go very close to alligators and other animals that live in wild in Florida, like some gorgeous birds. My family and I went to a park called Everglades National Park, which has both an alligator farm and obviously a national park. In the alligator park you could go to an air-boat ride that takes you through the park in the water with the alligators. They also offer an alligator show where they let you hold baby alligators and show the basic structure of an alligator. They also have a segment where they feed the alligators and it's really cool and scary to see the way these animals feed and how fast they can swallow huge things. The Everglades park was also very beautiful, and there it was even scarier to see the alligators actually in the wild, whereas in the alligator farm the alligators were behind fence. Overall the experience was really cool and I would definitely recommend going. The tickets and more information on the park can be found here. Of course there are other national parks and alligator farms, but this is the one I went to and I can tell from personal experience that it was really good. 

Alligators 

More alligators waiting for their lunch 

Alligators at the national park; the look very fake but when you watch them closely you can see them blinking.

Because I've talked about things in Orlando, now onto things you can do in Miami. Miami is obviously famous for all their spring break parties, but assuming that most of the people reading this blog are families who have children, you wouldn't be interested in that. Of course, you can check out beaches like Miami Beach during the day and  the road next to the beach and you can feel like your are in CSI: Miami ;) But I would definitely suggest staying extra careful especially around night time, because Miami can be very dangerous. Also the Miami skyline is definitely something to see. 

Miami skyline at night

The view from our hotel

South Beach

Ocean drive next to the South Beach

So this is what I consider as must sees in Florida. Of course, there are so many more things to do in Florida than just this, but this is what I personally did and it was really fun. Florida is a perfect holiday location for anyone looking for a mixture of fun activities and relaxation.

Thank you so much for reading and remember to leave your comments below in the comment section. 

Have a lovely day,

Karoliina