As I was saying previously, this Fall needs to be enjoyed. And enjoy we did, every single year since we’ve been here. Time is short and precious as we don’t usually take any time off in the Fall, so we are left at the mercy of the weather on the weekends. There are some years when we barely get a couple of weekends before the foliage is completely ravaged by the cold November rains, and then there are others when the long Indian Summers just melt into October and the shift is barely noticeable except for those couple of days in between when it rains hard and the temperature drops from 80s to 50s literally overnight. Those, as I say, are MY Autumns.

I’ve mentioned this before: Vienna is 50% green, woods, parks, gardens, just green. One of the most impressive parks is the Lainzer Tiergarten. It’s a 6000 acre wild life preserve just on the city outskirts, bordering on the Wienerwald. However, it is not the wildlife that draws us here every season, it is the ancient woods of that park. It is true that you can occasionally see a boar or a deer crossing your path, but those are rare occurrences, especially on the weekends. Far more fascinating for me are these ancient oaks and beech trees. I have always loved the woods and felt at home in them. Straying off the beaten paths and finding a place to rest between these ancient living pillars is one of the best stress relief methods I have tried. And since we are a bunch of gatherers in my family, we always look for little treasures, depending on the season: berries, mushrooms, colored leaves, empty snail houses, rocks, lichen, anything really that will draw our attention.

But most of all, we gather memories. Here are some of the best pictures from the Lainzer Tiergarten.