Der Grand Canyon Europas

Vorbei an Lavendelfeldern und kleinen Dörfchen ging es am ersten 'richtigen' Tag in Frankreich zur tiefsten Schlucht Europas. Nach den Küstenstraßen, siehe den Blogpost zu unserer Anreise hier, ist die Verdonschlucht, Gorges du Verdon, ein definitives Must-See in der Provence. Obwohl wir die Bilder aus dem Lonely Planet kannten, waren wir dennoch überwältigt, dass die Schlucht so hoch und felsig, aber auch so atemberaubend schön ist. Vom Südwesten kommend offenbart sich die Verdonschlucht wie eine Perle in einer Auster. Bereits das smaragdgrüne Wasser des Lac de Ste-Croix lässt Großes erahnen. Sobald man die Route de Crêtes erreicht hat, möchte man am liebsten in jeder Nische stehen bleiben und Fotos machen. Juni ist für die Provence bestimmt die beste Reisezeit, da die Temperaturen zwar sommerlich, aber noch ertragbar sind, und weil sich die Anzahl der Touristen in Grenzen hält und man auf allen Aussichtsstraßen freie Fahrt hat. Ich hoffe euch mit den Bildern einen kleinen Einblick in die Einzigartigkeit dieser Landschaft gewähren zu können.

Riviera Views

Wenn jemand verrückt genug ist, um mehr als 1300 km mit dem Auto zurückzulegen, dann wir. Ob ich es bereue? Kein bisschen! Diese Autofahrten haben uns belehrt und um einiges bereichert. Außerdem hätten wir bei einer Anreise mit dem Metallvogel folgende Küstenimpressionen verpasst. Ich möchte die Küstenstraßen, die sich an der französischen Riviera entlang schlängeln, keinesfalls missen.

Plan B, C and D

the first things i've learnt in 2014:

always have a plan b! maybe also c and d.

if you are not a skier you are definitely a second-rate winter tourist.

the weather in the mountains gives a shit about you.

my best buddy and i spent the first days of the new year in tyrol. as my boyfriend is still not allowed to ski due to his injury we had a ski-free program planned that still included visiting non-ski-free areas. you might know that i'm kind of obsessed with drinking coffee and finding new coffee places. so when i heard about austria's highest café, café 3.440, i couldn't resist going there. café 3.440 is located, duh, 3.440 m above sea level. it turned out the café itself isn't very special... i mean the cakes are awesome and the prices ok but apart from that this place could be anywhere. from this point of view the cappuccino i ordered there was probably the most expensive coffee i've had so far. xD if, however, you look on the bright sight of things, i went up the mountain, enjoyed the most incredible view over the alps AND got to drink coffee. this experience has shown me that i need to spend more time in the mountains. in summer, as well as in winter. i didn't know how breathtakingly beautiful a glacier with its light turquoise perpetual ice could be. paying 35 euros to go up the hintere brunnenkogel was so worth it.

photo credit goes, by the way, to my boy.

Take me to... Radisson Blu

for weeks we were in two minds about where to stay in milan. as hotels in italy's fashion capital are utterly overprized we had a hard time finding the right accommodation. i've used airbnb for my last holidays and i was quite satisfied with the places we've slept at. unfortunately, in milan even the chic airbnb apartments are kind of expensive. for short trips i like to spend more money on accommodation because i want to enjoy the few days abroad to the fullest. since we were able to save money on our flight (ryan air, hello!) we decided to book a room from a well-known hotel chain.

 i've known radisson blu for a few years but i haven't stayed at a radisson blu before travelling milan. however, my boyfriend and i dined at the le siècle, the radisson blu restaurant in vienna, about two years ago. the food was amazing, the atmosphere felt elitist and the live piano player blew our minds away. i like reminiscing about this dinner.

even though the radisson blu hotel milan is not in milan's city center, the public transport connection is okay. you have to take the metro and the train to reach the hotel. nevertheless, the train ride is short and the time intervals between trains are only slightly longer compared to the subway. what's more, the service offered at radisson blu hotels is outstanding.

when we arrived at the hotel in milan late at night we were greeted warmely by the receptionist bruno. we were asked where our home town was and how our flight had been. as soon as bruno noticed that we were austrian he switched from english to german in a second. things like these might seem trivial at first but these moments linger in your memory. when he told us about our free room upgrade we knew that bruno and the radisson blu had us wrapped around their little fingers. it was our first time staying in a suite and hopefully not our last.

what we particularly liked about our hotel room:

- the extra toilet

- the living room with the couch

- the free nespresso coffee

- the rain shower and the bathtub

- the radisson blu bathrobe

- and the complimentary anna semonin toiletries

sadly, we didn't have enough time to visit the spa area. we would have loved to go swimming and to check out sauna and steam bath. moreover, we would have liked to watch an on demand movie. movie prices are reasonable (4 euros). oh and if you are wondering about the breakfast: we never ate breakfast at the radisson blu because it was too expensive in our opinion (25 hours per person/day).

all in all it can be said that we can highly recommend the radisson blu hotel milan as well as any other radisson blu hotel. i'm also a club carlson member now. i have a soft spot for reward programs and member cards. haha.

and now: scroll down and let the visual room tour begin!

(in case you are interested in my other milan posts: sightseeing in milan and outfit post no. 1. some pictures were taken by my sister because i was using a 50 mm fixed focal length lens.)

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Postcards from Milan

what i love about italy so much: the stunning architectural buildings that are so characteristic for each city. the pantheon or the colosseum in rome. the st. peter's basilica in vatican city. the duomo in milan. largest cathedral in italy and fifth largest cathedral worldwide. it is made out of bricks and white marble that changes its color in sunlight. a gothic masterpiece. one could spend hours there only looking at all the structures, statues, pinnacles, flying buttresses and gargoyles. another milan must-see: the galleria vittorio emanuele II. it's enough to walk through, in my opinion. no luxury shopping required to be amazed. during our short trip we also went to the sforza castle, which is a nice contrast to the hectic milan inner city life. on our first day in italy's fashion capital we realized that we could have done sightseeing and shopping there for at least a week (i for my part am particularly sad that we didn't make it to navigli district...). apart from the city itself we were quite overwhelmed by our beautiful hotel suite. pictures to come soon!

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Days like these

travelling is our passion. this time we also tried to travel in style and comfort: flat shoes, bags that can carry an slr and cozy sweaters.

i was wearing:

harvard sweater

h&m skirt

converse shoes

longchamp bag

patricia was wearing:

h&m shirt

mango sweater

h&m jeans

michael kors bag
eden shoes via zalando

[all pictures and videos of triptozion.blogspot.com are protected by copyright. using pictures and/or videos from this blog without visibly naming the source fall under copyright infringement. when pictures and/or videos from this blog are used in incorrect ways, legal steps will be taken.]