Tag Archives: german

Weekend Tip – Grüner See

Vienna is a wonderful city but sometimes we just need to get rid of all the people and go out in the nature. Austria is an especially beautiful country with well preserved and clean nature and breathtaking mountains. Well, let’s combine the natural treasures and the mountains – let’s go to Grüner See!

It is a small lake in Styria, surrounded by gorgeous mountains and lust forests. The name originated because of its vivid emerald-green color. The crystal clear water comes from the snow melt from the karst mountains and it’s really cold, only 6-7 °C. During the winter, the lake shrinks (it already starts in July), and the surrounding are is used as a county park.
It reaches it’s utmost beauty in May – June, when it is the deepest, about 12 meters.

It was very popular amongst divers but now, to protect the sensitive environment, it is not allowed anymore. For swimming it would be too cold anyway.

It is a 2.5 hours drive from Vienna. There is a short walk from the parking spot, then you can go around the lake on a well maintained path. It is also called as „the Caribbean in Austria“, because of the stunning green color of the water. A lot of Americans visit it, because some say that this lake is even nicer than Lake Tahoe, in Nevada. (Well, my husband told it and he is from Styria 🙂 ).
But judge it on your own, it really worth to visit 🙂

 

 

My Favorite Places in Vienna – Donauinsel

I’ve been running regularly for more than 6 years now. When we moved to Vienna, one of my first things was to find a great place for running. I checked on-line, and three beautiful places were recommended. First was the Prater, which is wonderful, but too far from my home. The second was the Schönbrunn, but it is always packed with tourists. (Don’t misunderstand me, I like tourists, but running around them can be a bit tiring). The third place was the Donauinsel. It’s a very narrow (only 70-120 m), 21 km long island. At the first time I fall in love with it. (And I also started to run on an island on the Danube).

The Donauinsel is not a natural island, it is the part of the city’s flood protection system. The works started in 1972 and finished in 1988. The Neue Donau is practically a long swimming lake, not a river. If you are on the island, you see the difference between the color of the water on the left and the right side. It can also be seen on Google Maps. It is a recreational area with a lot of restaurants, a water park and various activities on the water (windsurfing and boat rentals are also available).
You can lay under the Sun and tan from late spring till early autumn or just have a drink in the grass while watching the water. You won’t be alone, don’t worry 🙂 There are always a lot of people.

For running, it can offer different distances, remember, it’s 21 km long so it’s only up to you! I usually start at the Neue Donau station at U6, then head to the south. I’ve already met rabbits, baby swans and ducks.

This weekend there is a huge, famous and FREE festival, don’t miss it! I will be there 🙂 www.donauinselfest.at

This Danube is really „blue“

 

Swans with their babies

Shout-out to DeutschAkademie

This Thursday was the final day of my B2.1 course here in Deutschakademie. In total, I’ve spent 2 months studying here, and one more is just around the corner, so hopefully I’ll reach the B2 level soon.

So, how can I sum up my experience here? In one word: just awesome. To be fair, I couldn’t imagine that my German would improve so much over these 2 months: I’ve learned tons of new grammar, trained my listening and reading skills, became more confident at speaking, and, of course, learned a huge amount of new vocabulary. It’s amazing how much information and knowledge has been given to me and my classmates during the courses, and even more fascinating was the way we were taught: fun, easy and informal. All this combined led to great productivity and awesome language improvement results for all of us.

Sounds like a cool environment to skyrocket your German skills? Then DeutschAkademie is the right place for you. Check out the next course dates and register now! Don’t believe the rumors, life is not too short to learn German.

I’m wishing every one of you a great time in Vienna and a lot of success in mastering German. Choose DeutschAkademie and very soon you’ll nail your coffee house orders or you’ll even be able to see the best theatre shows in German. Hope I managed to share some ideas about Viennese activities through my tips and observations, which I’ve posted during the last month. Anyway, the best way to learn Vienna (as well as any other place) is just to go out and explore. In Vienna you can do it endlessly.

Best wishes and good luck,

Viktoriia