Hello lovelies,

this 4th of July we went to a Burlesque ball with the theme "summernight" or "Sommernacht" in German at Palais Auersperg. Too bad the picture is AI as I would not have joined had I not promised my sister at the last ball to go. (If you use AI for an event, I usually won't go.)

When I saw the woman on the picture it reminded me of a dress I made years ago, the Hannah Alexander Ariel dress (see here). I thought it would be perfect to wear it again for that occasion. The reason for this was that it could be only worn with a corset underneath. Perfect for a Burlesque evening!

Hias was at a Regency ball which started earlier which left me a bit in a pickle as he is usually the one helping me dress. So I asked my sister and together we managed to squeeze me into the dress. I had gained some weight compared to when I made the dress. Oops. But it fit! 

We arrived just at the opening and stumbled into a Seitenblicke camera team which made videos of me and an influencer we did not know. We later found out she was an Austrian Influencer called Mimis world. But sadly the episode of Seitenblicke - a small segment at the end of the news with art, culture and gossip - was never shown. Or at least, I did not find it. 

My sister and I strolled through the rooms and there was no programm yet so we went to the make-up booth of Karin van Vliet and she made our eyes sparkle. Literally. The mua put so much glitter on our eyelids, it was a pain to get it off afterwards. My sister then noticed that she did not clean the brushes after our eyes and we were very happy that we went there early and not after the brush had touched up countless eyes. 

 

There was no plan of the room nor of the programm, so we had to kind of listen to where the music started to play and people flock to to see the programm. So we almost missed the first session. I didn't have a good view at all and even though I brought my opera glasses there were just too many heads in the way. I just saw some bunny women hoping into a huge cylinder.

We had more luck with the next show and this time stood in the room and it was hilarious and spicy. At one point the moderator got rid of his king outfit and just for a kind of tanga codpiece.

 For the next show we went to the wintergarden. I like this egg burlesque, it reminded me of a children's tv series called calimero.

It was hot and sticky, the air felt bad and I got really sick. I felt faint and left my sister to go outside. There I tried to kneel down, not an easy task in a tight-laced corset and an unforgiving dress, and controll my breathing. The group next to me was so kind and gave me a soda with lemon and that helped a bit. They also got a security and she adviced me lay down at the airvent. And as soon as I laid down and staired into the air, I felt my body regenerate. Another nice woman came by and asked if I was ok and she would stay with me until my sister came. I was asked two times if I took drugs, which I thought was interesting. My sister came outside and we three sat/laid there and chatted a bit until a fire show on an elephant (very moulin rouge like) started. We didn't sit close to the woman at all but we still felt the wamth of the fire and flames. 

It was after 11pm and we decided to watch a last show in the main room and then go home as we both wanted to take the last tram home.  

Hias was already home and he had a wonderful Regency ball. And I also had a wonderful evening but with a short medical break and a new friend.  

Here is a shorts I made about the evening on youtube but can also be found on my instagram account.  

 

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Thank you so much! 

All the best, 

Auris Lothol

 

Hello lovelies, 

I pushed all my other video projects aside to quickly finish my baroquedays festival video in Solothurn. 

After watching it one last time before uploading it, I realized that it sounds very negative which was not my intention. We enjoyed our time there, there were just minor buts. 

Nevertheless, have fun with the video, a written post about our experience in Switzerland will follow.

  

 

 

If you enjoy this blog and want to support it, consider leaving a small donation via PayPal. Every bit helps keep things running and lets me keep creating more content just for you. You can donate by clicking the link below:

Thank you so much! 

All the best, 

Auris Lothol

 

Hello lovelies, 

this took me almost a year to write all of these because I have been very lazy. Mostly lazy but also a bit busy. But I was let go from my job so I suddenly have the urge to write again, sew, and do some lace. But that is another story. 

Day 5 

But the day we were waiting for in Italy finally came, the Uffizi day and Hias birthday. I started the day with a cup of hot, creamy and thick chocolate. We had passed the shop every day and that was my start into the birthday celebrations.  I had the constant fear of getting some chocolate on my pink Jesus Diamante jacket and handled the chocolate like it was a raw egg. I probably looked like a madwoman.

And then we walked and walked some more and I took even more pictures. While the Renaissance is definitely not my time, I find the clothing absolutely fascinating. So many pleats, so much fabric, so many details! 

View from the window, by then we were already quite far. November doesn't look that bleak in Italy. 

After almost four hours we left the gallery and went over the ponte vecchio because we were starving. We almost went to the restaurant were we had amazing food the day before but decided to try out something else. The something else was not as good as the other restaurant and we kind of regretted that decision. 

That was so much meat for me alone. I was already stuffed after this one dish. 

 But of course my eyes were bigger and I had ordered a pizza with that. Derp.

Afterwards we strolled through the city and I got ice-cream from grom. Look at that honey drip on the left side, it was absolutely delicious. 

 

We were a bit cold after of roaming the city, and my ice-cream, and decided to go to Cafe Gilli, the oldest cafe in Florence. I had a very good cocktail. It was a bit pricey though but worth it. Definitely worth it. 

We walked north to the Ricamo & Cucito shop (not sponsored), an embroidery supply shop and got myself a stash of silk and yarn for needle lace . I could have spent hours in there but they were having a needle-lace class and I felt silly tip-toeing around the class.

Near our hotel was a k-beauty shop and they had minus -30% on most of their products so I also got some goodies from there. I got so many good items, it almost felt like my birthday! My haul for that day. 

Day 6

We had to say goodbye to our beautiful hotel. I left with our two big suitcases for the train station as Hias wanted to go to a bag shop near Ricamo. When we passed the shop yesterday he decided against the bag but slept over this decision and decided, he wanted the bag. We would meet up at the train station again and by then I was super sweaty and hot. Travelling with two big suitcases with all the pot holes was not great. But guess who decided against an Uber because she was stingy? Yeah, me. I could have avoided all of it but I was rather sweaty and stingy than comfortable but poor. 

The train tickets were super expensive and we had to wait for a train, so as it was Thursday and Burger day, I got myself a small burger at mcdonalds. The train had a 5min delayed which turned into a 20min delay when we arrived in Rome but that was okay as we had no big plans for that day.  

During the ride I crafted my needle-lace piece. I was pretty proud how far I had come.

In Rome we had a hotel that was near the main station, it was small and located at the second floor but the owner of the hotel was so kind and carried our luggage up the narrow stairs. Compared to the hotel in Florence it was so small. Plus, they had no kettle at all, so my evening tea would have to wait until I got back to Vienna again.
We grabbed our stuff and stumbled over a church, Maria Maggiore, we had not seen yet and decided to go in. It was a good idea because when we returned and the day after the queue was really long and there were tons of people. As for us, there was no queue at all. 

In the church we found out that this was where Pope Francis was burried. There were people queuing to see and pray over his grave. The church was so magnificent that it didn't feel like a church but rather like a palazzo. Just look at that amazing cealing and all the gold decorations!  

Day 7

This was our last day in Italy but our flight was in the late afternoon and we still had all day in Rome. We first went to the Galleria Doria Pamphilj. We also had been there in 2020 but we liked it so much that we also revisited it and it was as beautiful as we remembered.

This time we chose to go around with an audioguide and some stations were spoken bei the heir of the family who this gallery and palazzo belongs to and he seemed quite insufferable. But who wouldn't? If this was my palace I'd be very proud and high and mighty too.

I still didn't feel my best and we decided to visit a tea house so I could warm up with a cup of tea. But before that we popped into the Disney store. There is no Disney store in Vienna so we always go to one in other countries. Too bad the Disney store in Florence closed, I distinctly remember there was one when we visited in 2020.

 Cute big stitch. I know at least one person who would loved to have one for their room. 

 The teahouse was located just to the side of the spanish steps. There was quite a crowd but that's normal for this part of the city. 

The teahouse, Babingtons, was full and we had to wait for a few minutes for our table. We both ordered tea and I ordered cake which were all about 13,50€ per item. An absolute expensive experience. When something is so expensive I always expect it to be absolutely divine. But in this case, it was not. My tea was very good, but I didn't like the cake too much. It was dry. And Hias also didn't like his tea. And all in all we paid 41€ for a mediocre experience as the owner also shouted at his staff next to us. Not a recommendation from us.

 

We rode the metro back to the hotel and went for a super late lunch before getting our luggage. I liked my food but Hias was once again not happy with his food. It just tasted like bread with tomato sauce. As vegan he also didn't have more options so this was very sad. The woes of a vegan, I guess.

 

We grabbed a few items from the supermarket and then took the train to the airport. By that time I really felt sick and just wanted some quiet time but not at the Roma airport. There was some kind of party and they played loud music and told people to dance with them. Ugh. I popped in my headphone but the music was much louder.  

I worked on my needle-lace piece and Hias was doing some occhi/tatting. 

But a last cup of ice-cream was a must and I thought it was really decent for airport ice-cream. 

After a bumpy flight I had the second smoothest landing by a female airpilot. And that was our trip to Italy in November 2025. 

If you enjoy this blog and want to support it, consider leaving a small donation via PayPal. Every bit helps keep things running and lets me keep creating more content just for you. You can donate by clicking the link below:

Thank you so much! 

All the best, 

Auris Lothol