Series

“The City in the Sea” -Kai Michlmayr 03/30/2025

I took a nice little hike in Dingle along the coast and with all of the moody fog it made me think of the Edgar Allen Poe poem titled The City in the Sea. I thought that the fog would clear up as I continued the hike but it actually got thicker. It was really pretty and peaceful feeling though and the hike had me walking by lots of pastures and I enjoyed looking at the cute cows grazing. The hike brought me to Hussey’s Folly, which looked quite pretty hidden within the fog. There was also a birds nest inside the tower which was quite cool. On the hike back I took a seat on some rocks by the trail to take a break and drink some water. While I was sitting there I just watched the herd of cows grazing and one ended up walking right up in front of me and was probably 4 or 5 feet away. Once I made it back to town I went to Murphy’s for some more ice cream which was delicious!

“A Rainy Day in Dingle” -Kai Michlmayr 03/29/2025

Next stop in Ireland is Dingle! I was actually here before just shy of ten years ago. I really enjoyed it and it’s a cute town, so I wanted to come back on this trip. It ended up being pretty rainy and foggy this morning but it made for some nice and moody pictures. I also went to the aquarium to get out of the rain a bit which was a lot of fun. I got to see them feed the otters and they were adorable. Other than that I just wandered all over the town without any specific plans and just enjoying the scenery. I had a nice Irish Breakfast in town as well. There was also this really pretty garden by a church that I walked through. It’s such a peaceful feeling town and I love it. This is from my second day here since I got in yesterday afternoon, but I took it a bit easier and didn’t bring my equipment with me. I went back to this really good ice cream place called Murphy’s that I went to last time, and it was still really tasty. I had the coffee and chocolate whiskey and I don’t normally like chocolate ice cream, but it was really good. Gonna have to head back once more before I leave to have some of the other flavors. Ireland is really beautiful and I love spending time here!

“The Cliffs of Moher” -Kai Michlmayr 03/26/2025

I took a bus out to the Cliffs of Moher for the day and it was beautiful! We didn’t get out to any of the cliffs last time I was in Ireland, so I’m glad I took the time to do so this time around. Sadly both trails were closed after a certain point for maintenance, so I walked as far as I could either way before needing to turn back. It was still enough time to see plenty of beautiful sights! The water had a beautiful coloration to it. It was also really cool seeing how the birds used the cliffside as a home and hung out around the ledges and rivets along the cliffside. It also just showed more of the beautiful green rolling hills of Ireland, as well as some sheep grazing and sleeping! It was a really cool area to visit and I’m glad I took the time to do so!

“The City of Rhymes” -Kai Michlmayr 03/25/2025

I had a nice time back in Austria with my family after the Scandinavia portion of my travels, but now I’m back on the move and in Limerick! After a somewhat annoying travel day I finally made it here and took the first night easy. The next day I headed out and wandered around the city. I found lots of fun street art and cool buildings. I went to King John’s Castle, which was a really interesting exhibit and very interesting to check out. After that I continued to just wander around the town wherever seemed to be interesting. It’s a really cute city and I enjoyed being in the lovely Irish weather, which most people probably don’t like but I actually do. However, it’s not the best weather for photography. I still had a great time and I think I got some nice pictures out of it!

“A Swedish Medley” -Kai Michlmayr 03/11/2025

We’re all pretty beat and tired by the end of this trip so we mostly did a lot of city walking and checking out cool shops we passed, so I didn’t do as much photography these days. Instead I just compiled the pictures from the last three days or so into this one series. We went to the Nordic Museum which was pretty interesting and the Culture House which had an exhibit on Scandinavian metal music. Otherwise we found a lot of cute shops and bought little trinkets and gifts for people, as well as getting some new clothes. I got some new shirts and socks, but I’m still on the look out for new pants since I ripped a pair. I also got some nice pins for my backpack and a very cool Elder Futhark Runic Deck that also came with a cool metal coin. My friend and I also got some art books by Johan Egerkrans that we picked up for our coffee table. We went to a cool Viking bar on our last night in Stockholm. They had really good mead that we all enjoyed as well as some tasty food. We also had live music that went between a violin and a hurdy-gurdy which was really fun. I really enjoyed my time in Sweden. Stockholm is a pretty cool city and the art we found here is very much so in the style I enjoy a lot. It would be fun to come back at some point in the Summer as well to see how different it is!

“A Day Out in Stockholm” -Kai Michlmayr 03/07/2025

Sadly one of our friends had to go back home before the Sweden part, and at the time of writing this another friend had to leave this morning after a day in Sweden. It was really fun hanging out with them and I’ll continue to have fun with my other friends that I’m still traveling with! We still have a group of four which is a solid group. We spent a long day walking around Stockholm and checking out a bunch of different areas and shops. We also went to the Vasa Museum which was quite interesting. We did find a lot of really cute shops with fun little trinkets and silly little guys. We also checked out the Science Fiction Bokhandeln store that we were told about, which is just a cool nerdy store that seems pretty well known. Stockholm is a really cool city and I like it a lot. It has a really good amount of beautiful old buildings that are fun to look at. We also had a nice dinner at this delicious Vietnamese place and split a bunch of food. It continues to be a great time traveling and spending time with friends!

“Wander in the Park” -Kai Michlmayr 03/04/2025

I woke up and decided to take a short walk around the park near where I was staying, while my friends continued to get ready before our day. It was a nice and short walk around the area. I went there the night before to clear my head a bit and saw this bridge pictured below. At night time it had this really cool look of a mysterious and inviting dark woods as the bridge stretched across the waters in the wooded void. I didn’t have my camera with me at the moment and it would’ve been far too dark anyways, but I wanted to take a walk around the area the next day. It didn’t have that same feeling during the day but it was still pretty. After I got back from this walk we went out into the city to check out the Museum of Design which was really cool. There is only one picture in this series that wasn’t from the park but it was from the museum. After that we wandered around the city some more and checked out some cool little shops and what not. We ended the night with all you can eat sushi and watching Twilight back at our place. It was a really fun day again!

“Copenhagen Sights” -Kai Michlmayr 03/03/2025

After a short break back in Austria with my relatives I’ve made it to Copenhagen! The nice thing about this part of the trip is that I’m traveling with friends! Traveling solo and figuring stuff out has been fun but it’s also fun going around and doing things with people. We took the first couple days to just do small things and relax while people got in and adjusted to the time. Then we took a big day where we wandered a lot around the city to check it out. It’s a very cute and nice city but also incredibly windy. We looked around the canal with all of the brightly colored houses, took some pit stops in fun shops, walked around the Kastellet fortress, and ended the night with a very authentic dinner of American BBQ. It was a recommended food place called Warpigs that was really good and I definitely ate too much food. Good times and more to come!

“Die Berge von Innsbruck” -Kai Michlmayr 02/24/2025

(The Mountains of Innsbruck)

It feels good to be back in Austria! Especially since I’m in Innsbruck, which is a place I haven’t been to before in Austria. My sister and her fiancé have been here a couple of times, so I wanted to check it out as well and they gave me some suggestions of things to do or places to eat. I took a nice train from Venice that took us through the mountains and it was gorgeous. My train arrived around 5 o’clock so I didn’t do much the first night besides going out to eat. One of the first things that stands out in Innsbruck are all of the amazing mountains that surround everything. However, the next day I did a lot of exploring. First, I headed to Berg Isel which is an Olympic ski jump. I went up to the top of the tower for a nice view as well as a delicious lunch. After spending time there I headed over to take a cable car up Nordkette, which is a mountain range. There were a couple stops along the way up where I got out to explore a little before continuing up. One of the stops was a ski slope that I took some pictures of and enjoyed watching the skiers and snowboarders doing cool tricks. There were also a lot of birds hanging around waiting for people to drop food that I enjoyed watching and photographing. The next stop was the top of the mountain range. I did have to hike up the last bit to the peak but it was a stunning view of the town below and the other mountains in the area. At the top I also met a fellow solo traveler from China and we took pictures for each other at the top. After we talked for a while we headed back down the mountain and went to have dinner together! It was some more delicious food and some great beer. All in all it was a really fun time with all of the beautiful views and hanging out with Tao!

“Carneval de Venèsia” -Kai Michlmayr 02/21/2025

I did not plan this but it turns out that the Carnival of Venice is happening while I’m here! It does mean it’s a bit crowded but it has made it extra fun here. I thought I would split my Venice pictures into two separate series so I could have one to just focus on the pictures I took of the people dressed up for the Carnival. There were so many amazing outfits with such beautiful designs. It was a new photography experience of trying to take pictures of people that were surrounded by a lot of people and changing their poses for everyone to get a picture. I enjoyed it though and I was happy to get more practice of taking portraits! I’m really happy it worked out that I was here for this and got to see and experience it! I’m going to head back into the city again tomorrow on the look for my own mask, but I probably will leave my camera at home to just enjoy myself and also give my shoulders a break.

“A Walk Along the Canals” -Kai Michlmayr 02/21/2025

I’ve now arrived in Venice which is a really cool city! I love walking along all of the canals and through all of the alleys. That being said it is like a maze with how the walkways wind depending on the canals. There might have been a couple times where I ended up in a spot I already had been in because I had to take detours and ended up going in a big circle. It was still a really cool time and a very unique place to visit. The water was also such a vibrant greenish blue color which was pretty. I did watch a seagull catch a fish in the canals but the pictures didn’t come out good sadly. I ended the night with a delicious meal of spaghetti with clams and an Aperol spritz!

“My Time in Bologna” -Kai Michlmayr 02/19/2025

I didn’t end up taking that many pictures in Bologna so I just combined all of them into one series instead of making multiple small ones. Bologna was a pretty cool city and I headed up to the San Luca church which was quite pretty! A lot of my time in Bologna was spent just enjoying the city and just relaxing with some nice food instead of doing a lot of photography. I also wasn’t there very long so I didn’t have a lot of time there.

“A Walk Through Florence” -Kai Michlmayr 02/15/2025

Well, it ended up being rainy or even some thunderstorms for most of my time in Florence so I didn’t get out as much. There was one really nice clear day that I went out to walk around the city. I ended up walking along a river and took a quick break at a cafe for a drink and some food. I had a delicious pistachio Frappuccino and a sandwich. While I was sitting at my table outside I saw an Italian Sparrow eating some food that fell on the ground. I brought out to take some pictures of it, but the hard part about small birds like this is that they are very mobile. I was still able to get some nice pictures of it but it took a while and some patience as it hopped around. Then I stood next to the river for a bit and watched some of the birds hanging out, that seem to be Great Cormorants. There was one that was close to where I was so I brought out my camera to take a picture of it but it dove under the water. I waited around and watched for where it was going to resurface and when it finally did it had a fish in its mouth! Another bird kept trying to steal the fish from it. After that eventful moment I continued walking and crossed the river on this bridge that had a bunch of shops lining it. Then I found myself at Palazzo Pitti and decided to go in and check it out. I didn’t take pictures here, except for the courtyard area, since it was mostly galleries. There was one really cool room that was full of paintings depicting different parts of Heracles’ story. It was crazy just how many pictures were collected there. After that it was getting late so I started to make my way back to my place!

“Statuesque Romans” -Kai Michlmayr 02/10/2025

I’m really struggling with coming up with the names for these… I went to walk around the Colosseum area to check it out. I didn’t enter to try and save some money as well as the fact that it was incredibly packed and I don’t like big crowds. It was still incredible to see from the outside and the fact that it still stands after all this time is impressive. I then walked up towards the Pantheon and a beautiful fountain near it. There were so many incredible statues in these areas that take up a lot of the pictures in this series. The fountain, Fontana di Trevi, was absolutely stunning with all of the statues that made it up and the story it seemed to tell. After walking around I got some gelato finally, pistachio flavored naturally, and it was absolutely delicious! Sadly it was fairly rainy in Rome and I was exhausted so I didn’t get out as much as I thought I would. As I’m writing this I have gone off to Florence and hopefully I can get some nice pictures while I’m here as well!

“A Stroll Through a Roman Park” -Kai Michlmayr 02/07/2025

I saw there was a beautiful looking park near where I was staying, so I went there and had a lovely walk around. But first I had a delicious pizza for lunch. There were lots of gorgeous statues, birds, and a nice pond. There was a really cool amphitheater turned dog park and it was fun watching the cute dogs run around. You could rent a boat to row around the pond and get up close to the Temple of Aesculapius, a God of medicine and son of Apollo, that stood on its bank. Lots of couples seemed to do this and it did seem quite romantic. I then find myself in front of an old temple for Diana, the Goddess of the Hunt and the Roman counterpoint to Artemis, and I sat around there for a while and watched these people shoot a video for a music video. It was fun to watch! Then a lovely couple from Iraq came up to me and asked if I could take a picture of them. Naturally I did and we chatted for a bit. Hi Rafal if you are reading this! After that I headed on back to my hostel and it was a really nice and relaxing day!

“The Ashen City” -Kai Michlmayr 02/04/2025

Well I guess it’s not really ashen anymore but it makes for a good title! It was really cool visiting Pompei and see how well it has been conserved, which I’m sure is a combination of the city being buried and held together after the volcanic activity and the work of the Italian conservationists. Either way it was fascinating to see how much of the buildings were intact despite being over 2000 years old. There were even frescoes, which were most likely restored, but even still it is impressive that there was a base left behind to restore them with. I really like the fact that you could enter a lot of the old houses and buildings. I got to walk along some of the old amphitheaters and it was crazy to imagine the shows that were put on thousands of years ago where I was currently standing. What a surreal and fascinating experience! Also more cats!! I took a break from walking around and ended up petting the cat pictured in this series for a while, which was great for me since I miss my cat back home! Thankfully he is very happy and being loved by my parents while I’m gone.

“A Mythical Island Experience” -Kai Michlmayr 01/31/2025

I hadn’t realized how tired I was from all of the traveling until I no longer was in a shared living space and had a private place to myself. Unsurprisingly being on the island of Naxos was very relaxing and a good recuperation. I did go on a long walk, longer than intended, and took a lot of pictures. I ended up going to an old temple of Apollo and also the old temple of Dionysus. I also saw a statue of Ariadne who helped Theseus through the Labyrinth but was then abandoned by him on Naxos. She caught Dionysus’ eye and they fell in love. Or at least this is my understanding of the story from the Naxos website. I walked along the coast for a while as well. As I mentioned earlier I ended up walking a lot more than I intended and ended up being an hours walk from my place at 6 in the evening. Feeling blisters forming on my feet, which I was surprised took this long, and not wanting to walk an hour back in the dark I was helped by my AirBnB host. She was very sweet and called a cab to pick me up and bring me back. I might’ve overdone it a bit and already counteracted the relaxation that I was enjoying. At least I got some great pictures! Oh yeah I also accidentally started a gang of cats and had around 5 or 6 just following me for quite a while. It was pretty amazing!

“Unexpected Friends in Athens” -Kai Michlmayr 01/25/2025

As I was heading out of my hostel, ready to explore the city some more, I bumped into a guy who recognized my camera as a FujiFilm. Turns out he has one as well and also does some photography. We ended up chatting a bit and decided to head out into the city together. He’s from Belgium and was a super fun and chill guy to explore with and take photos with. While we were out and about we ended up chatting with a guy from Norway and the three of us spent the day exploring. We ended the night with a delicious dinner together where we talked and made friends with the people at the table next to ours. They were older gentleman and a young female and they were very nice with plenty of stories to tell. A lot of the guys spoke multiple languages and I was able to practice a little of my German with them. All in all it was a really fun day with nice pictures along the way and great happenstance to run into those guys!

“Acropolis Atop Athens” -Kai Michlmayr 01/23/2025

I wandered around Athens as I slowly made my way to the Acropolis. Athens is such a cool city and I really like it here. It was really cool being at the Acropolis, although it’s a shame so much of the details have faded due to time and the area is covered in construction. Definitely took away from the majestic nature of such an old and amazing structure, but it was still cool to be there. After the Acropolis I wandered a bit and found this park that I explored. I ended up getting a nice view of the Acropolis from a distance and the city in general. I also found some cool crows and flowers as well which was great!

“Majestic Monasteries of Meteora” -Kai Michlmayr 01/19/2025

Hiked up from the town to the Monasteries sat in the mountains above. It was an intense hike but really beautiful. It’s amazing how these monasteries were built on these spire-like mountains. I was able to enter the Holy Trinity Monastery, but wasn’t allowed to take pictures to help preserve the beautiful artwork on the walls. Now all of this was beautiful but you know what the best part was? That’s right, I found more cats! I also found some dogs! All in all I spent around six and a half hours hiking and walking around. I stayed up top hoping for some nice sunset pictures, but sadly there wasn’t great cloud coverage so it wasn’t that great of a sunset. The problem then lied in hiking back down in the dark. Thankfully I made it and had another delicious dinner!

“The View from Kalabaka” -Kai Michlmayr 01/18/2025

Made it to my next stop of Kalabaka today! Please let me know if I have the name of the town wrong. It looks like there is a Kalabaka and Kalambaka but I also saw someone call it Kalampaka so I’m slightly confused. Either way it’s a gorgeous little town surrounded by these beautiful mountains that are topped with monasteries. I took these pictures from the town as I was walking to dinner. Tomorrow I hike up the mountains and to the monasteries. I’m very excited because I think I’ll be able to get some amazing pictures and hopefully some pretty sunset pictures as well!

“Thessaloniki” -Kai Michlmayr 01/16/2025

It took me a while to finally get here due to flight cancellations and the only flights I could find last minute took up two days. Not the best time and especially because it was also my birthday! But I finally got here very tired and went on a short walk. I didn’t take too many pictures and I don’t totally love the ones I’ve chosen to put on here, but I figured I should still post them especially because I can be pretty hard and critical of my own work!

“The Walls of the Old City” -Kai Michlmayr 01/11/2025

My next excursion in Dubrovnik was walking along the walls of the Old City! I also went up to the top of the hill that looks over the city for a better birds eye view. I was hoping to get some beautiful sunset shots over the city but it was far too cloudy so it didn’t work out. It was cool having that vantage point on top of the walls and looking down onto the city. My nerdy self came out and thought about the old days of being a soldier with armor and a bow and arrow patrolling the walls. Also yes another cat picture because I can’t help myself when I see a cute kitty!

“Lap Around Lapad” -Kai Michlmayr 01/09/2025

I arrived in Dubrovnik and after talking with my hostel owner I took a walk around Lapad at her suggestion. It was a really nice trail along the water’s edge of this really nice section of Lapad. Turns out my dislike of the heat got in the way in Croatia since a lot of activities and stores are closed during the Winter time. Still a really gorgeous country with some great photo opportunities. I guess I’ll have to come back some other time when it’s a bit warmer so I can check out Mljet and Lokrum! Also another cat because they are everywhere and I love it. I had another one come up to me and just circle my legs and rubbing there face on them. It was so sweet!

“The Falls of Krka” -Kai Michlmayr 01/07/2025

I took a daytrip to the town of Skradin and the Krka National Park. It was absolutely stunning. Gorgeous waterfalls, rivers, lakes, plants, and animals to look at. The highlight was finding a grey heron and being pretty close to it! I also found a bunch of more cats along the trail and even had one following me around for a while. Animal friends are the best. Today was a lovely day!

“The Animals of Split” -Kai Michlmayr 01/06/2025

I went on a long walk along the coast of Split today and came across a lot of beautiful animals! I saw this one place on the map called Cat Point so I naturally had to head there, since I absolutely love cats. It turned out to be a cliffside that a lot of cats call home, and it was as amazing as it sounds. It was a lovely walk with plenty of great views.

“Croatian Sunset” -Kai Michlmayr 01/04/2025

After spending the holidays and new years in Austria with my relatives I’ve gone off on my next part of my adventure! This next part is beginning in Split, Croatia. So far I’ve enjoyed walking around the city and managed to catch this beautiful sunset while walking along the coast.

“The Town of Kutná Hora” -Kai Michlmayr 12/18/2024

I spent my third day by taking a day trip to the nearby town of Kutná Hora to visit the Sedlec Ossuary, which is decorated with human bones forming all sorts of designs. I couldn’t take pictures there since it is a resting place and would be disrespectful. It was an incredible experience. It was around 50 degrees out but when I went down into the ossuary I could immediately see my breath in the air. It was as if I stepped into the cold domain of Death itself. The rest of the day was spent wandering the town and exploring anything that seemed interesting. After all the exploring over these days my feet and legs started to struggle by the end of the day…

“Wanderlust in Prague” -Kai Michlmayr 12/17/2024

My second day in Prague involved me walking to the castle! However, whenever I found something interesting I’d deviate my path to take pictures and explore so it was a very roundabout path. Such a gorgeous city with so much to do and see. I also stumbled across a medieval tavern that was super atmospheric and immersive. The walls were decorated with skulls and the only light sources were from candles. Sadly that made taking photos there difficult but I did get a picture of the receipt that they stabbed into my table. I definitely recommend eating at Medieval Tavern "U Krále Brabantského" before heading up to the castle if you are ever in Prague! The castle was beautiful and fun to explore as well since it included a lot of different buildings to enter.

“The Christmas Market Hop” -Kai Michlmayr 12/16/2024

I took a train to Prague and after I checked into my hostel I went Christmas Market hopping. I just wandered the streets stopping at each Christmas Market I found and just enjoying the sights the city offered! Prague is a beautiful city so far and I’m thoroughly enjoying my time here!

“Der Turm im Nebel (The Tower in the Fog)” -Kai Michlmayr 11/16/2024

I’ve started my European travels and unsurprisingly spent the first week or so sick. I went on a hike to a tower last weekend and have been trying to sort through the pictures when I had time between working and doing my German language course. I hope you enjoy these photos and the adventure as we hike to the tower and then climbing up it!

“Austria” -Kai Michlmayr 07/16/2022

Some shots from my recent trip to Austria, visiting family and having a nice vacation

“Love Warms All” -Kai Michlmayr 02/11/2022

A series I made to display and decorate at my work for Valentine’s Day

“Cooped Up N’ Crazy” -Kai Michlmayr 03/18/2020

A series showcasing myself as I go crazy from my self-imposed isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Take a peak into my weird self as the quarantine gets to me.