burgas.

V.

            H I!  I' M  B A C K!

Hey there everyone! How you're all doing? :) As I had already mentioned in the latest blogpost, me and boyfriend were able to spend the past week in a wonderful 5-star resort in Burgas, Bulgaria. I've never been to Bulgaria before as I am used to visit countries like Italy or Greece for beach vacations. However, I must say, I don't think I've ever been in such a marvellous hotel before, except maybe once, in Greece. However, I didn't pay for it at that time and never thought that I'd be able to ever afford this kind of luxury by myself. Bulgaria's probably not the first holiday choice for many people, but I'm telling you - this place is really beautiful! Surely, I felt bad being surrounded by so much opulence and realizing every single night how much poverty there's going on in this country as well. In fact, we got to know this really nice girl at the beach, who works at a hot dog stand, who told us a little bit of her life, her wishes and plans. Her greatest desire is to move to another country like Germany, find work there and earn more than just 10€ a day. It makes me sad to realize how little chances she might get in life to turn everything around and make her dreams come true. It is a priviledge to be able to find work that you really love and care about, to travel, to see the world, to enjoy life. I realized that once again.

Alright, but now I'm losing track of the original plans I had with this blogpost ... Let's look at some pictures, shall we? You'll see a ton of photos I took of our hotel, the pool area, the beach, the restaurant food and much more. Enjoy! :)

Thank you for this incredible week, Burgas.

Not enough? - Watch the video as well: 

(Warning! You're gonna see a lot of scary toes, men in speedos and other threats to the eye - besides pretty things such as the beach). Just sayin'. 

Apple/Ipad users click here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeyNIKlLUwg

off to the ocean.

V.

            H  E  Y    T H E R E!

Summer is officially here! It has been such a long time since I've last seen the ocean, therefore I was absolutely thrilled when my boyfriend and I booked a hotel room in Bulgaria two months ago. I personally cannot wait to spend my time at the Black Sea, sit in the sand, listen to the sound of ocean waves, swim and most importantly think of  N O T H I N G   E L S E. Our trip will start tomorrow morning and I will of course take some pictures to share with you guys when I come back!
If you're intrigued, you can also check my instagram account to get some holiday updates: VCTRA

See you in one week! :)

picture sources:
pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4, pic 5, pic 6, pic 7, pic 8, pic 9

the perfect dinner.

V.

                  H  E  L  L  O     B  O  Y  S     A  N  D     G  I  R  L  S! 

Long time, no see,- I guess. I am really sorry for my/our long absence these days, there's simply a lot going lately. To give you a quick update: I've been working on a huge photography project these past weeks,- (I had the honour to be the wedding photographer of a lovely young couple), that's why I've been some sort of m.i.a. the last couple of days. Also, I've been researching and preparing for a presentation at university, which turned out to be a little more time-consuming than I had thought. But now the holidays are here and I have plenty of time to finish up the wedding photo project without any stressful thoughts on my mind! :) To kind of celebrate the beginning of summer, my boyfriend and I had decided to go to a fantastic little restaurant last Saturday that is situated in the patio of the hotel where my sister and her husband got married last year. The restaurant's name is   C O L L I O  and truly is a marvellous place to escape to from the hustle of the city. Even though it is quite expensive, the food is absolutely worth it! But see for yourselves ... 

Lovely, huh? :) P.S.: The dessert up there a.k.a. the meal that made Mike weep and ecstasiate was cherries filled with nougat topped by lemon sorbet. Do I need to say more? :)

like a toddler.

E.

The last couple of days have been extremely hot in Austria and because no one wanted to go to a swimming bath with me, I had to improvise. In other words: I bought a paddling pool. It's quite nice actually, to flounder about in the cold water while the sun shines on your back, providing you with one of the worst sunburns you've ever had. But I digress. 

Other than playing toddler in the paddling pool, I've been eating lots of salads and fruit, reading nice books and listening to some great summery music. 

staying in.

V.

Hello guys! :) First of all - sorry for not posting much in the last couple of days, there was a lot going on in the past week, I'm telling you! I'm pretty sure you guys are waiting for a breathtakingly interesting post today, however, I must dissapoint you. This post is going to be about my day that I spent sick in my apartment. Alone. With my new best friend Aspirin. Lovely. Let's get started:

Today I woke up with the manliest voice I've ever had. I honestly didn't know if I should laugh or cry when I first opened my mouth and heard my voice for the first time. And how do I know that, you ask, since I'm living alone? I talk to myself sometimes, that's why. What a proud thing to share with the world, I must say. Well, and today was one of those days where I woke up with this penetrating pain in my throat, followed by my first spoken sentence: "Oh my god. My throat hurts." As soon as I had said it, I was like: "Was that just me? Or am I a man again?" (Explanation: I once dreamt that I was a man, it was utterly disturbing). Since I didn't seem to be dreaming though, I repeated the sentence and immediately realized  - I am sick. Darn it, I thought, I never get sick! Seriously, never! It is such a rare occasion to see me coughing or with a nose redder than Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer's, but somehow, I seemed to have caught a cold the day before at work. So first thing I did was take Aspirin and and drink some tea. Then I was staring at the wall for a couple of hours and went: "You gotta go to the library today. You simply must!" Yeah, well, that didn't happen. I managed to get myself on the street though, since I needed some groceries. But that was it. 

When I came back, I immediately lay down again and tried to decipher the italian literature I have to translate for my seminar course. Well, I didn't get very far there either. So I started making me some food: 

Inspired by Esther's lovely food fotos (that I pinned to my kitchen wall) I started making me some pasta. (There's no pasta picture up there, I know, but those food fotos simply inspire me to cook anything)!

For dessert I noshed on some cherries and apricots.

By the way- I once told you that I would show you my presents that I got as a graduation gift - so here is one of them:

A fantastic artpiece by Peter Ledolter, an Austrian conservator and painter, whose abstracts I absolutely adore. This piece is from the series "Red", which I particularly love, even though I'm more the blue/black/white kind of person. The other piece which is also from that series, hangs on the other part of the wall, however, I just realized, I forget to take a picture of it! But it is quite similar to this one and I truly enjoy my present! Thanks again to my parents, especially my Dad, who accompanied me to Mr. Ledolter's atelier!

The rest of the day consisted of me watching Friends and eating one of my favourite desserts in the entire world: Zott Monte! I've no idea if there's a similar version in England or America, since this product originated in Germany, but whatever - I'm telling you - it is lovely! I prefer eating only the white chemical vanilla-ish substance on top, and the chocolate-y thing on the bottom I pretty much ignore. But oh, Monte! ♥

To now quote Ross's T-Shirt: Frankie say RELAX! Which is exactly what I'm gonna do now! Have a lovely evening you guys! :)