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Průhonice castle and park
The day before yesterday we moved the hands on our clocks one hour forward to enjoy longer evenings with more light, and it’s that time of the year when I begin to anticipate seeing colours returning to nature. In freshly growing grass, new lush leaves, delicate flowers, bushes in blossom, and in the bright sunny sky… But it’s always wise not to expect too much too soon. Until mid-May, we can still experience frosty days. Last year spring began warmly, but then the frost arrived mercilessly, burning the buds, flowers, and leaves – much was lost. This year the forecast suggests that April will be a cold month, which I…
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Kokořín castle and surroundings
In January, my husband came up with an idea to make a trip to Kokořín castle. He found a nice circuit path, and when the forecast was promising nice weather one Saturday, we set off. We parked in a small lot near the castle and began our hike through the forest. I can imagine that in summer the area is visited by quite a lot of tourists but at this time of the year we did not come across many people. Just a few pairs and families and one bigger group, which actually was not bad at all. Kokořín castle is situated in a protected landscape area with sandstone rocks…
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Krahbergzinken view
Austria – day 6 – tour to Krahbergzinken (2134 m). Directly from Schladming, you can take a cable car up to the Planai area, where you can either take quite an easy walk around, including visiting the peak Planai (1906 m), or you can choose a bit more challenging tour reaching the peak Krahbergzinken (2134 m). Notice the cheerful hare character watching you from the cable car windows? It refers to “Hopsiland” attractions for kids and I found myself smiling back at that funny-looking cute face whenever we encountered it in the Schladming area. Not far from the upper cable car station, three majestic peaks stand side by side, gracefully adorning the…
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Three-peak hike
Austria – day 5 – three-peak hike to Gasselhöhe (2001 m), Rippetegg (2126 m) and Schober (2133 m). From all the hiking and walking we did in the Schladming area, this hike to three peaks was and remains my absolute favourite. The combination of breathtaking vistas and just the right amount of physical challenge made the day truly special. Let me take you through the journey. After getting off the Reiteralm cable car, our first destination was the Gasselhöhe peak. You can reach it either by climbing a shorter but steeper track with rewarding backward views or by following a slightly longer though gentler path. When you finally reach the ridge, the…
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Shapes and shadows
The February assignment in my still-life photo project for this year focused on capturing “Shapes and Shadows”. When the sun shines, you can find countless interesting shadows outside. I was fortunate to discover one on our terrace, just in front of the doors. We have several pots decorating the terrace in winter, and in some of them stand rusty metal plates depicting trees, a mushroom and a hedgehog. I love watching the shadows they cast. While incorporating shadows into still life photography may sound simple, the opposite is true. You can take a photo with a shadow in it and it can be both nice and interesting but creating one that…
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Winter warmth
When planning my still-life photo project for this year, I chose “Winter warmth” as January theme. My goal was to capture the feeling of being warm and comfortable despite winter chill. I even unwrapped the light chain I bought several years ago to use it one day in my photographs! As I imagined warmth, my mind filled with a cup of good tea to enjoy, an absorbing book to read, soft glow of candle light to admire, and comfortable layers of warm clothing to wear, such as sweaters, scarves, hats, and gloves. A bunch of Muscari flowers helped to add a pleasant touch of winter’s quiet beauty to my composition.…
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My photo project for 2025
For 2024 I decided to get back to still life photography and now at the end of the year I am quite disappointed by what effort I made or rather didn’t make. Just a few posts with just a few shooting sessions, not much time and effort devoted. When starting that project, I decided not to limit myself by planning any topics or assignments. I thought it would be easier then, but I am afraid the contrary was true. The free arrangement did not motivate me enough. I always struggle to come up with interesting ideas for photos, I find it difficult to start, and it supported postponing and avoiding…
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Embrace, my word for 2025
A few days ago I found myself reflecting on how I’ve grown more willing to embrace the imperfections in objects, actions, people and circumstances. Accepting flaws has been my life-long struggle but as I am getting older, I find it a little bit easier to accept the faulty side of things. As I need to deepen this practice of acceptance and the word EMBRACE speaks to me loudly these days, I nominated it to become my word for the year 2025. I chose this word once before, back in 2017, but then it was about embracing myself – who I am and who I’m not. This time it’s directed outward, toward the…
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Tour of three lakes
Austria – day 4 – tour of Styrian Bodensee, Hüttensee and Obersee. Not far from Schladming, there is another popular destination, a lake in the woods called Styrian Bodensee, from which you can continue up to the lake Hüttensee and even further up to the lake Obersee. The Bodensee is a place where you can stay and relax, eat in the restaurant, stroll around the lake, paddle on a boat… Or you can climb up the hills and visit the other lake(s), which is challenging but definitely worth the effort. The only drawback is that you may have to go the same way back, and I never like that. We arrived…
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Up to Dachstein massif
Austria – day 3 – Dachstein massif adventure. Who would not want to see the world from the bird’s perspective? And if you can let a cable car take you as high as possible in the Dachstein massif so that you can see its awesome views from above, you may even experience that perspective for a while. Well, let me pause here… as to get up there is just a part of the success. The other one is having luck regarding weather because on a cloudy and misty day, you cannot see much, and unfortunately that was our case. The trip was planned, the tickets were reserved and that gave…
