September 2020 – Kelsi's Travel Times

Since being back in Austria I’ve taken 2 different day trips. Since it would take a really long time to write all the details about each one, I’ll just share photos from each of the days that will give you an accurate picture of what each day was all about!

Adventure #1 : Day in Hallstatt, Austria

Hallstatt is a small picturesque town about an hours drive from Tauernhof. I went there for a day with my friend Johann on one of our days off and it was super fun!

This is probably the most famous view of Hallstatt, it’s where all the tourist (us included) stop and take pictures and it’s the picture that’s on like every post card

Something that I found was really cool in the town is that most of the houses are painted bright colours and they nearly all have really great flower gardens in the front or huge garden boxes on the sides of their balconies which makes everything look so beautiful

Of course we have to goof off a bit so we tried on some funny hats and sunglasses at a little tourist shop off a side street

This is the main square of the town. We were really fortunate to be there on a day where there were really minimal tourists so it was really nice and quiet on the streets, even right in the middle of the town.

Being typical tourists at the popular viewpoint overlooking the town

This picture shows really well how the town is really built into the side of the mountain. So there are actually very few streets where you can drive in this part of the town because it is built so narrowly into the side of the mountain

So we spent the first part of the day until about 2:00 in Hallstatt, just walking through the streets and enjoying the view. By the time the afternoon came we had pretty much been through the town, (it isn’t very big) so we decided that we would use the rest of the day to find a lake within driving distance where we could go swimming.

The picture below is a lake about 20 minutes away from Hallstatt and we literally just searched for lakes on google maps until we found the closest one. We decided not to swim in the lake in Hallstatt because there were a lot of boats there and though there weren’t a ton of tourists there were still some so we wanted to find somewhere a bit quieter and more chill.

This lake was near the town of Bad Aussee, I’m not sure exactly sure where but it was in such a beautiful place. The picture absolutely does not do it justice because the whole area surrounding the lake was really beautiful. We swam out to the little dock that you can see in the bottom right side of the picture. The water was really really cold but luckily it was a warm day so you warmed up pretty much as soon as you got out of the water.

After a few hours of hanging out at that little beach we drove back to the school which was also a really nice drive through the Austrian mountains which are so green at this time of the year.

A picture taken from the car window which is why you can kinda see my reflection. But just focus on the beautiful mountain behind it 🙂

Adventure #2: Day trip to Venice

So this was probably our craziest idea because we literally planned it the day before. Venice is about a 4 hour drive from where we live so it was a really long day but totally worth it I think. I’ve wanted to go to Venice for a really long time. If you’d asked me for the last few years “what’s one place you’ve always wanted to go?” My answer would have been Venice. Now I guess I have to find a new answer to that question. I drove there with 4 of my co-workers and though it was really hot in Italy we had a good time there!

My co-workers that I went with: Crystal, Simon , Johann, Me and Hanna

This photo is from a little bit later in the day. The light got quite soft and pink and made for some really good pictures of the bigger, more open canals.

Of course there are no cars in Venice which leads me to wonder if there is gas stations for filling up your boat?

We passed this Canal on our way to find St. Marks square in the middle of the city.

Right as I was taking this picture there was a boat passing under the bridge that had a wedding party in it so everyone on the bridge was yelling and cheering.

Me, Crystal and Hanna right before we left the city in the evening

The Sunset light was so beautiful and makes all the buildings just glow in the craziest way because of the reflection off the water. It’s the coolest thing.

We left the city around 8:00 because we still had a 40 minute walk back to our car and then a 4 hour drive home. It was so cool to finally get to see Venice even if it was only for a day, I definitely want to go back there sometime when I can spend a few days there and see more of the city at a more relaxed pace. It’s a really unique place.

So those are a few pictures from my most recent day trips. Some thing that I LOVE about living in Europe is how close you are to so many cool different places. It gives such a unique option so see a lot of places even if you don’t have so much time or like me are fitting it into days off around a specific schedule. I’m excited to see where the next few months will take me!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and as always feel free to send me a text on Facebook or whatsapp or send me an email if you want to know more about my time here in Austria.

Our fall staff here at Tauernhof. Such a fun group!

It’s now almost a month since I’ve been back in Austria and so far it’s been really great! We are now pretty much at the end of the summer season here which means that this week is the last of the week long camps and we are now moving into the fall Bible School season. This group of people that have just arrived at Tauernhof will be here until December so it will be an interesting change in dynamic to go from having different guests every week to having long term guests here. I’m really looking forward to it!

The last month has definitely been really busy as I’ve been adjusting to life here again with different people, a different schedule and some different rules which had to be changed due to Covid. But this last week was really good as I finally felt more comfortable and less overwhelmed by so many new things that had changed since I was last here.

But now with students here it will be great to get to know them and have a more consistent family feel with people outside of the staff here. We also have new volunteers here now than we did in the summer. They’ve been here 2 weeks and I’m really glad that we are getting along super well so far, I’m really happy that I get along especially well with my 3 new housemates.

Housemates picture! Gwen, Mia, Rebecca and I

These next few weeks are all about learning new things for everyone here. For me it will be learning to work with a different team than I worked with for the last 8 months, for the new staff it will be learning their new roles and for the students it will be learning the new routines and the way we do things here. Some of the students who came from Canada (and a few other non European Countries) have had to be quarantined for the last few days here while waiting for the results of a Covid test that they took upon arrival. Thankfully today we found out that they all tested negative so they can join the rest of the students for regular activities which simplifies a lot of things.

This week the students will do a variety of outdoor kind of sporty activities such as hiking and climbing to bond them as a group before they start lectures and family groups and that sort of thing next week. For the staff this week its all about getting to know the students and making adjustments to our routine to prepare for this new season. So far its going really really well and I’m so excited for what these next twelve weeks will bring!

Stay tuned for some photos of recent adventures that I’ve had while here in Austria!

Month: September 2020

Adventure Photos

Beginning of a New Season!