Your TOP 5 Spring Destinations

Are you waiting until summer to pack your bags and take some vacation ?

In every season and in very month there is a lot to see and do around the world.

Our CzechAut team has prepared a quick list with some fabulous tips for your spring trip.

1 Zagreb, Croatia

Spring months are the best time to visit the Croatian coast and islands.

In Zagreb, we recommend renting a bike and going for a ride around the city or go hiking while enjoying the nature and the fresh air.

An advantage is that at this time the hotel facilities are not yet so busy.

2 Sevilla, Spain

The atmosphere in Sevilla during spring months is very special. In April the fiesta season starts, which means parties, local folklore and colourful parades. Live music is never missing. If you want to experience this magical city, do it in spring!

3 Copenhagen, Denmark

Are you ready for days filled with fun, sunrays and surprises? The capital of Denmark is the home of the oldest amusement park for thrill seekers.

Fashion lovers can visit the Copenhagen Spring Fashion Shows or explore the city by boat. Especially in May is this city full of life because it is the time of various celebrations.

4 Budapest, Hungary

This city has its charm and not only in spring. A pleasant climate will follow you while exploring the history of Budapest. You can relax in one of the thermal baths and later enjoy your drink in a rooftop bar. Don’t forget to try some traditional Hungarian food and true food lovers should not miss the Gourmet Festival.

 5 Lisbon, Portugal

If you want a mix of ancient and modern, Lisbon might me the perfect choice.

The must-see sights are definitely the Lisbon Ocenarium, which is one of the largest in the world and the Belem Tower, a symbol of the age of discovery.

Czech words in German

Austria and Czech Republic are very close. But the languages in each country are completely different. Around 30 000 Czechs are living in Austria. The number was much higher in the past. The obvious reason of the influence on the German language is that in the late 19th century 

400 000 of the 6 million Viennese inhabitants were Czechs.

There are many Czech words in German language that Austrians use on a daily basis and they don’t even know that the words come from the Czech language.

Here are some examples of the  words:

Peitsche - bič

Buchtel - buchta

Heisl - záchod

Hatschek - háček

Haubitze - houfnice

Kolatsche – koláč

Pilsner, Pilsener, Pils - světlé pivo

Pistole - pistole

Polka - polka

Powidel, Powidl - povidla

Roboter - robot

Slibowitz, Sliwowitz - slivovice

Zwetschke – švestka

Kren - křen

The following are particullary used from the old generation :

Auf Lepschi gehen – leňošit

Strizzi – strýc

Schetzkojedno – všechno jedno

Pomali – pomalu

Feschak – fešák

The ,,exchange´´ of the words and phrases works in reverse as well.

Here is a short list of words that originate from the German language and are used by Czech people only with some tiny differences:

Biflovat-Büffeln 
cimra-das Zimmer 
cejch-das Zeichen 
filc-der Filz 
flaška-die Flasche 
haxna- die Haxen 
knedlík-der Knödel 
trefit-treffen
štos-der Stoß
špička-die Spitze 
ruksak-der Rucksack
sáček-der Sack
kýbl-der Kübel

Time to Detox

TIME TO

Hey everyone!

The Christmas time is already over and the year 2016 has just arrived.

After overeating and drinking it is high time to clean our body of toxins and make it work healthily again. In the following article you can find some very useful tips how to re-start your organism. Let´s refresh ourselves!

Tips for New Year´s Detox:

   

• Make a break from all those sweets and try to eat more vegetables and fruits

• Drink a lot of water and a cup of green tea. For better results you try drinking lemon water in the morning. It will boost your metabolism  

• Start to exercise- at least you can go for a walk. Try to do something new, for example Zumba, Aerobic, Yoga, or Pilates. Do a lot of cardio exercises as well for example running, cycling, rope skipping etc. 

• When your stomach is upset, try eating crispbread or zwieback and drink herbal tea

• It may help you to get you back to your everyday routine, normal sleeping and eating habits

 

A lot of you know the Hangover symptoms, which  typically begin when your blood alcohol drops significantly and is at or near zero. Depending on what and how much you drank, you may notice:

 

·         Fatigue and weakness

·         Thirst

·         Headaches and muscle aches

·         Nausea, vomiting or stomach pain

·         Increased sensitivity to light and sound

·         Dizziness or a sense of the room spinning

·         Shakiness

A hangover is your body’s response to being poisoned by all those alcohol toxins. It’s telling you that you’ve drunk more booze than you can handle. You probably exacerbated it by drinking on an empty stomach, drinking dark liquors and/or drinking too quickly.


 

A guide to voting in Vienna

Because of the upcoming elections for the state parliament and the city council of Vienna, and also for the district council of each of Vienna’s 23 districts we collected some information to guide you through the election process. As for those people who don’t have an Austrian citizenship we found out what, where and under which circumstances you are allowed vote in Vienna.

The parliament of Vienna passes the state laws, which are also the laws for the city of Vienna and is being elected every five years. You’re allowed to vote for the city and the state if you have an Austrian Citizenship, are living in Vienna and have reached the age of 16. If you live in Vienna but you just have an EU-citizenship you can only vote for district councils. An exception is if you lost your right to vote as a part of the punishment of having committed a crime against the state.

By the end of September you should have gotten official information about the polling station nearest to your main residence by mail. On election day you have the right to cast your vote in one of 1500 polling stations, which isn’t mandatory. It can happen that you will be out of town at the time of the elections and you want to cast your vote, you can send your vote by mail with the official votecard.

 For more information about how the austrian system works you find here and if you need to know where you can vote click here.

Why you should vote for the district council ?

The elections for the district councils in Vienna will be on the 11^th of October, 2015.

But the question is, what are the tasks of the district council?

The district council decides about stuff that has something to do with the environment of the city, planning new buildings, streets and where the new pedestrians zone needs to be build. They also make important decisions about finances.

So don´t hesitate and VOTE. 

Pass Egal Wahl

The ‘‘Pass Egal Wahl“ is an opportunity to elect for people living in Austria without Austrian citizenship.

•              When ? : Tuesday, 6th of October, 2015 from 15:00 till 20:00 o'clock

•              Where ? : Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz 1 (near the U2-Station Rathaus), 1010 Vienna

•              Who ? : Everyone who is older than 16 and their main place of residence is in Vienna

•              Bring : passport or any id card

The more people vote in this symbolic election, the stronger their statement against the exclusion from the democratic process will be.

Finally! Kofola in Vienna!

Darling readers!

A while back we did a desperate search for our favourite cola drink - Kofola. Alas, it was nowhere to be found in the VIE. The last deli selling it had taken it out of stock months before, so it was back to bothering your friends and family in SK and CZ to bring our beloved elixir by the bottle.

But there has come the day when we can all rejoice and drink our caffeine soda while sitting down in a really nice place too. Vit Dvorak, dentist and chef, has opened his lovely coffee bar called GARAGE 01 in a former garage (what else?) underneath the light rail tracks on Radetzkyplatz in the heart of the 3rd district.

He and his staff serve up a fusion of Czech and South American food. 
You heard right: Czechozuelan! And that is also the name of his signature drink: Kofola and rum!

image: Garage 01

https://www.facebook.com/garage01

http://www.garage01.com/garage01/

5 tips for clubbing under 18 in Vienna!

So this time we decided to write more about nightlife in Vienna. Vienna is not the metropolis for parties, but there are certain positive aspects of partying in Austria that you might enjoy.
For example, it´s likely that you are not going to be asked for your ID card!
If you follow these easy steps, you are going to be able to enter a Viennese clubbing for sure, even if you´re underage! 

Go with a big crowd

This is probably the most important point of all!
When you go with a big crowd, the security guys will most likely only check the first three or four people!
After that they´ll realize that a crowd of 15 people means they´ll earn lots of money :P.
Also, ask some people where they go to school/university  and try to keep in mind the easiest name for if a security guy asks you (It doesn´t happen often, but it does occur every now and then).

Don´t be nervous

I think I don´t need to explain this one much. Just don´t look afraid or shy. There are cases where it´s not  enough to “go with the crowd”. This point shouldn´t be a problem if you follow the two next points, though!

Make up a new identity

This you will obviously need for if someone asks you how old you are.
You might think this question is easily answered, but in a stress situation you will freak out, really!
Therefore you need to think about it before you go to the club and really believe you are over eighteen.
It´s going to be too late when a security guy asks you.  You won´t have enough time to spontaneously say what year you were born.
Remember that you might come across more convincingly if you say you are 19.

Dress  up sexy and intimidatingly

If you are a girl and afraid that you look too infantine, you´ll probably want to find someone who´s skilled at applying make-up to make you look more adult. There are also some cool web sites with tutorials about this.
Next, find your favourite push-up  bra  and  get some sexy clothes.
But please be careful not to look like a slut ;).
If you are male, just  try to look like a swag  dude and give your best!

Only in case you´ll need it…

This is something I would only do in special cases and only if you really want to go to that one clubbing so badly that you are willing to take a risk.
It´s not like I´ve ever done that, but it did work for many people I know ;p
Scan your pass port and edit your birth date with Photoshop.
When you enter the club and they ask you to prove you are 18, pretend you are a tourist from Germany and say that therefore you´ve only got a copy of your pass port.
But as I said, don´t do this on a regular basis. Because if you do, you will likely be down on your luck some day!

Street art in Vienna – Part II.

Second part of our little urban adventure.

→ First part  ← 

“Puber came into the city „

Who is Puber? No one knows! What Vienna knows is, that he wrote his name everywhere within two weeks, and that he has made many enemies. He not only wrote his name on empty walls, but also on the wall of a Kindergarten where kids had made a mural (this caused a little war between him and Thomas Blimlinger, see here) and on a beautiful piece of street artist ROA. His aim is, and now I’m quoting him, to ‘see mine name everywhere’.  (He gave an interview to a Swiss magazine, which you can read here)
He could be compared to Taki 182 or Darryl McCray aka Cornbread – both were known for spraying their nicknames all around the streets and were mimicked by hundreds. Though nobody is really impressed by Puber’s work and we’re all happy, that he left the city.

Street art in Vienna – Part I.

Vienna is believed to be a very ‘classy’ city. Vienna means Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, the Opera ball, Wiener Symphonikern, Klimt’s ‘ The Kiss’ and Princess Sissi. But the city also has a ‘wild side’. 

This week we decided to find out more about the Viennese street art.

First, we went out to the streets and looked for some famous works and took pictures, which you can find below, and then researched about them a bit more. Though I’m a laic and I don’t know a lot about this kind of art, I find it interesting – and hope that so will you.

The BLK river festival

The BLK river festival is in a different place every year. 2011/12 it took place in Vienna. The BLK festival invites artists from all continents and then the artists make different street art and projects.

They create street art across the city on the highest international level. The result: beautiful art, such as in Vienna.

You can still see some of the pieces for instance

Vienna´s cemeteries in autumn

Autumn feeling            
(Adele Kellner, 2013) When the sky is clear, the crows croak like they would be glad that it’s finally autumn,
it is as if they express exactly what you think. It’s warm and you smell the aroma of the dewy leaves which slide down from the tree. You close your eyes, the wind roughs up your hair and you have the feeling like you have no worries anymore, you are free and your mind is clear. It is a feeling for a few seconds, but you will always remember.

It is autumn and we were thinking about things to write, so we went out to take pictures of the nature and the most beautiful cemeteries of Vienna. 

This reminds me of a poem I read ages ago of about autumn being nature´s great painter. The warm colours nicely frame the cold blue of the city.

This view over the citie´s vineyards is simply fascinating!: