Museum of Natural History

Today we visited the Museum of Natural History in Vienna.
It was my third or fourth visit already but the last one was some years (I guess about 12) ago.

The historic building itself is very impressive and has a wonderfull architecture.


We started at the geological section. The museum has a huge collection of minerals. I am not much into ‘stones’ but it’s fascinating how colorful they come. In the first halls you can see minerals, in hall IV beautiful gems and in hall V there you can see metoerites.

In hall V there is also a model of our planet resized to a diameter of two meters where different information is depicted. (for example: Earth by day and at night, sommer and winter, ozone concentration, sea temperatures,...)

Next we went to the anthropological section. Here you can see tools, potteries and jewelry from the beginning of mankind. It is interesting to see how people lived in early times.


In the following halls was the palaeontological department. I guess it’s one of the most interesting parts for the children who come to the museum. It’s just impressing how huge the dinosaurs were and what creatures roamed our planet. The Museum has a lot of skeletons and fossils.


After that we had a little lunch at the museum’s restaurant. Well, t’s a bit high priced but as the earnings are used for the preservation of the museum I would say it’s okay.

Then we went on to the zooligical section – the biggest part of the museum. Starting under the sea you see a lot of animals as you walk through the halls. First you see corals and deep sea animals,...


...then you come tho the insects and spiders followed by fish.


Afterwards come the amphibians and reptiles, birds,...


...and finally mammals and primates.


At the end we had a look at the new vivarium next to the entrance hall. A lot of living exotic animals like lionfish and colorful poisonous frogs and many other fascinating creatures can be seen there.


It was a wonderfull day!

When you go to vienna the ‘Museum of Natural History’ is really worth a visit! But you should plan a long stay inside to have enough time to see everything!

The museum also offers guided tours.

Website: Museum of Natural History

Crete 7 - Sunrise, Elafonissi, Agia Sofia's Cave, Chania

A sunrise is always wonderfull, especially when you can watch it on a beach. You will never regret having gotten up early to catch it on time!
When it starts you first can see the horizon becomming reddish and then the sun emerges out of the water - visually spoken - and grows from the little disk up to the big fireball that gives us all light, warmth and a lot of energy.
So we got up early - actually to early - and it was just perfect.



After sunrise we went to breakfast and started afterwards for todays tour.
We had planned to go to the beach of Elafonissi. We were told that it is one of the most wonderfull sand beaches on crete so we just had to check that.

On the way we stopped at Kissamos at the archeological museum. Very interesting and new. Must have opened just a few weeks ago. There was no entrance fee - we guess it will come when the museum is known better. It is built on an excavation site direct on old walls that were buried again to keep them save after examination.

Not far away from Kissamos we found a little chapel built into a cave. Really fascinating!



On the way over the mountains we once more had contact with a herd, this time not sheep but goats. Some of these animals are kind of stupid and selfish. They walk on the road directly towards the car and look at you just like asking 'What are you doing on MY road?'. Very funny!

After a long ride through the mountains we reached Elafonissi Beach.
There are no hotels and - as far as planned - never will be due to environmental protection.
Just sunbeds and umbrellas, one taverna at the beach, one near the parking place, a little shop and showers and toilettes. As we could see this way of regulation really works out. The flora is beautifull and there are a lot of different birds.



It was wonderfull allthough we caught a not so pleasing day, it was a bit stormy all the time with just a few pauses and sometimes it felt like you were sandblasted.
The beach is absolutely clean, the water is refreshing and clear. In the water there are some big rocks - just like little islands - and the water was shallow enough so you could just walk over to these rocks.



Like always I just had to go for a walk to see what's around. In the beginning the sand wasn't too warm so I left my sandals at the sunbeds. Big mistake! When I was at the other end I felt the sand heaten up more and more with every step. Although me feet were burning like hell when I reached the water again I really enjoyed the trip.

I also snorkeld a bit and took some underwater photos too.
The fish at this place are very curious and let you come really close.

*Pics will follow*


On the way back to Chania we stopped at another church and later at the archeological cave Agia Sofia's. It's a long way up, fortunately it's a stairway but it's still not too comfortable.
To be honest the cave is nothing special. It's very smelly and their is a lot of bird dung from the pigeons. There is a tiny chapel build in but there is nothing that makes the way up really worth it.



After the cave we went on to Chania.
In Chania we parked near the old harbor next to a monument built in memory of a ship accident in which many people died most of them from Crete.
The old harbor looks magnificent in the evening sunlight.



We went to one of the many tavernas for dinner. First we ordered Tzatziki as starter and then Julia had Pastitsio and I ordered Giouvetsi. Everything was excelent.

When we finnished dinner we continued along the harbor and Julia bought a new sd-card for her camera. Yep, she filled 1 gb within only seven days. Photography is a real passion of her. She also found a beautifull dress in another shop.

Finally we went to the same bar we visited on the booked trip around Chania and had watermelon juices and fruit salad with ice cream again.
Chania is very alive at night, the strets are crowded and the tavernas and bars are full with people.



Due to the plan to go to the lagoon of Gramvoussa tomorrow we decided to go back to the hotel to get some sleep. When we arrived at the car we were a bit shocked. Some Idiots had completely blocked us; no way to move out.
So, what do we do now?
Julia said we should call the police, but there was no public phone and we didn't have a telephonenumber and there were only tourists all around.
Suddenly - like a ray of light on a rainy day - a police car drove by and I stopped them. I explained them that we were blocked and they were very nice but they couldn't help us because they didn't have a crane that day.
Yes, he said: 'I am very sorry but we don't have a crane today.'
They don't have one 'today'?
I really had to keep myself back not to ask them: 'Does the crane have a day off??? Is it lying on the beach and relaxing???'
But it wasn't their fault so why argue with police in a foreign country.
All we could do was to wait and hope one of those a**holes who blocked us would come back soon.
Fortunately a father with his family came and drove away with a car that was parked next to one of the idiot's cars and there was than just enough space to get out.

If that parking problem wasn't enough we took the long way home.
Still filled with a little anger I left Chania in the wrong direction. When I noticed that mistake I thought it wouldn't be much of a problem - just stay on the old road until you can change to the new national road again.
Near to Kissamos I was fed up and took the next turn in direction to the island's inner side in faith of hitting the new road but we ended up in the mountains in totaly black night. It was nearly midnight and I was very tired and the stress level got higher by every minute.
After a long time out in nowhere we finally reached the new national road and got back to the hotel by about 01:30 am.

Even with that hell of a finish the day was wonderfull and we saw a lot!