I have been extremely fortunate to spend the last few days at Margret’s lake house in Attersee. The Attersee is the largest inland lake in Austria,  measuring around 20km long, 4km wide and up to 170m deep. The water is pure and clear and in places has visibility up to 20m. It is a spectacularly beautiful vista to behold and I was sad to leave it today. The two and half hour drive down to the lake on Monday  was done in the pouring rain. Today we left it basking in sunshine and under clear blue skies. I so wished I could’ve stayed longer!

I have felt as if I have spent the last few days inside an Impressionists painting! There are pockets of little villages beside the lake filled with chocolate box houses and stone and pebble roads. There are rolling green hills in the foreground and rising mountains fading mistly in the background. The lake’s waters sparkle all shades of blue and light. It’s perimeters are dotted with wooden boat houses, small jettys and landings and large marinas filled with all kinds of sailing boats. Some houses sit right at the waters edge their front lawn a sunbathers dream. Manicured hedgerows rise along the road giving them privacy.

Margret’s house sits some way back from the lake in a cul de sac of other houses all backed by the local golf course. The golf course gives way to rolling green hills littered with Poplar and Pine trees. There are deer roaming in nearby fields. When the weather finely cleared yesterday I sat outside in the sun all afternoon with all of that vista as my view! I spent hours doing some drawing and I couldn’t have felt happier or more at peace!

Margret cooked us lake fish for dinner and it was delicious. Actually I have to say that everything  Margret cooks is delicious!  She is also wonderful company! We have talked endlessly and watched movies late at night on the computer and slept soundly in the silence of the dark. Well Margret  did anyway – I had an inexplicable bout of insomnia a couple of the nights!

Today on our way back to Vienna we stopped in at the “Gustav Klimt Zentrum am Attersee”.  Klimt spent many summers at Attersee with his lover and muse Emile Fluge. He was heartily inspired by this environment and his many landscapes were painted here. In this gallery , were some of his works and historical photos of his time in Attersee. We also watched a video that beautifully showed his paintings superimposed by photos of the places he had depicted. It was magical to see how he had captured the light and colours with such passion and accuracy. At a glance, Klimt’s paintings can almost  seem abstract but seeing them with these superimposed photos showed how accurate they actually were. It was brilliant and inspiring! I was  mostly familiar with Klimt’s  gold and patterned works so it has been a real treat to be introduced to his landscape works.

The last few days in this lovely place have been a restful interlude and a welcome breather from the city. Whilst I am always in awe of man’s creations which dominate the wonderful city of Vienna, it is the wonders of the natural world that really make my heart swell with appreciation!