Slazburg!

From Berlin, we took 2 busses and 2 trains to Salzburg, Austria. We stayed in hostel with TINY rooms, but it was actually nice because we were all in the same hall... it made me feel like I was in Page! The hostel was for youth and families, so it was clean, with a cafe downstairs. I got a chance to do laundry (yay!) and get back on top of my homework. Reading on busses and trains is not my forte, but I'm doing my best! And I finally found notecards in Interlocken (yay!). 

We snuck into the huge castle in Salzburg on our first night there, and got to explore. It's on a huge hill, so it was a hike up, but it was for that reason that the castle was never invaded. Slightly misleading though - because when Napoleon almost invaded, they surrendered :) The view of the city was INCREDIBLE! Sadly, pictures didn't work out too well there.... 

Our second day after class, we took the Rick Steve's tour of the city. He's ridiculously corny (aka - we had "stretching breaks" on our tour), but it was fun seeing the city!

Mozart statue in the middle of the city. (He lived here until his early twenties when he decided he didn't want to be treated like a servant and left to live in Vienna)

Emily, Kelsey, Me, Corrine, and Jess outside the sound of music gardens

Kelsey looking angelic :)

Water fountain where people would take their horses to bathe. 

Salzburg garden 

some boy I picked off the street ;)

Beautiful room where we went to a classical music concert! I was too scared to take a picture of the actually people performing because I'm pretty sure it was frowned upon. 

Corrine and me at the concert 

Emily and Christian dancing during intermission :)

The next day after class, we went to Eagle's Nest (aka- Hitler's Austrian bunker). Hitler was from Austria, and for his 50th birthday, the SS built his house on the top of a hill. Unfortunately, it was cloudy the day we went, so we missed out on what is apparently a beautiful view, but it was still fun to be somewhere where Hitler was, and to see the bunker itself!

Hall to the elevator to get up to the house. 

Corrine and me on the top

awesome view ;)

Inside the bunker... again pictures were frowned upon. But, the place was HUGE. Now, a lot of it is filled with info and artifacts because it's next to the museum, but parts of the bunker are still the empty concrete walkways that they originally were. 

View from outside the bunker entrance. 

Museum above the bunker. 

It's been interesting over the last two weeks to learn so much about WWII...The most significant conclusion I've come to is that the war wasn't that long ago. When you learn about it in history, it kind of gets clumped with everything else that's taught about America. But being here and visiting museums, the concentration camp, and just observing how impacted the cities still are by the history here makes it real. I woke up to an email this morning from my Oma, who immigrated from Holland and saw my pictures from the concentration camp, about how her friends were sent off to those concentration camps in WWII. 

I promised Brad that I wouldn't be that over-dramatic blogging girl, but being here does make me think... Instead of living through that kind of a traumatic experience, I'm traveling with my friends across Europe. Not only is it a reminder of the blessed life I lead, but its a reminder that things can change fast... that could have been me, and there is only so much control you have over the circumstances of your life. I think like my Oma has shown me, happiness and fulfillment are more about your attitude and faith in whatever circumstances you are than living through a certain time or experience.