"The Hills are alive with the Sound of Music"

At this exact moment, I can look out the window in front of me and enjoy a full view of the Austrian Alps. The mountains closest to me are fir covered, mostly green but interspersed with fall colors. At the base of the nearby mountains lies a small town, spread through the valley. Farther in the distance, but still very near to me, are snow capped mountains. Rising above the rest and covered in jagged rocks and cliffs, today these peaks are hidden by clouds which seem to slowly creep farther down the mountains and nearer to my retreat.

My retreat is a thing of beauty itself. Perched on the top of a mountain, it has looked down over the valley since 1150. Named Schloss Mittersill, it is indeed a castle, and it is my home for almost a week. This castle has seen quite a bit in its lifetime. Like many castles, it has burned (more than once) and been rebuilt. Its past is not entirely a pleasant one: during the witch trials in the area, the dungeon held those suspected of witchcraft--probably upwards of 200 people. Then, during World War II, the castle was used as Nazi headquarters and is thought to have been used for human experimentation, although not the experimentation itself but the paperwork end of it. After the war the castle became a hunting lodge (it had been this prior to the war as well), and in 1968 was sold and become a vital conference center. Because of the Iron Curtain, there were few places where Christians could meet from both the east and west. After the curtain came up, the castle was not as essential, but has continued to be a Christian conference center for people from all over the world. (Like me!!)

We're here until Sunday morning, and it's the one point in the trip where we are forced to relax and take a step backward, simply because there is absolutely nothing to do in the area except enjoy the amazing views. Well.... I should rephrase that last sentence... It's the one point in the trip where we are supposed to be able to relax. In actuality, we have something called a "creative project" (i know, the creativeness of the title really inspires....), an accompanying short paper, a newspaper article, preparation for an 8 page paper, narrative journal entries, 3 days of classes, and preparation for another 7 page paper. Delightful, isn't it?

As you've all been so patient reading through this... I'll finally show pictures. ...Although, knowing most of you the way I do, you probably skipped right through everything I said and looked only at the pictures. :-)
Also, I'm not entirely sure what happened since I haven't had this problem up until now, but the pictures don't seem to be showing up completely. The entire right side may be cut off, but if you click on the picture, you'll be able to see the entire thing.


This first picture is the deck outside my room..... about half the girls are on the top floor of this particular wing, and we all share the deck. Despite it's location in the Alps, the weather has been rather warm and a good number of us sun-bathed yesterday. (Supposedly the forecast predicts snow tomorrow)



This next picture is kind of low quality because it's taken from a coach window on our way to the castle. Still, gives you an idea of the views we have from here.


A shot from the garden directly below the castle. Hopefully I'll remember to post a view pics of the castle itself.... but don't hold your breath--I still never finished that other post.



And this is the view from the deck in the first picture. Well, at least one angle.

It's 2am

That's right. It's 2am in Krakow, Poland. I must be awake at 7am.
But, because I feel so guilty about not keeping up-to-date on this thing, and because I love you all so much, here's a very short entry. Actually, this is a bunch of crap because i'm too tired and rambling.

If anyone has made the connection already, Krakow is located near arguably the most well known Nazi concentration and extermination camp: Auschwitz. So, that's where we spent our entire day. The first half was spent at one of the camps, then we ate lunch, then went to another one. Then ate dinner. More on Auschwitz later. And some pictures.

Oh and i forgot to say, the reason we have to be up early (which really is not an unusual thing) is because we're driving all the way to Vienna tomorrow. Yeah, pull out a map and look up the 2 places. Then, if you're really feeling brave, look up the Czech Republic and find a small town called Olomouc. That's where we're stopping halfway through tomorrow for lunch and a tour of the town.

Did i mention that we had an almost identical trip just 3 days ago?? Yep, drove from Prague, through Olomouc where we stopped and half the group did the tour, then here to Krakow. As you can imagine, I hate coach buses with a passion at this point in time. There's this odd phenomenon that happens on long bus rides. The first part of the trip (usually in the morning) is mellow, with most people awake, talking quietly, journaling, and reading. After a rest stop or lunch break, the group then falls asleep, with less than 5% staying awake. This phase lasts at least an hour, sometimes much longer, depending on various factors. And then, after the next rest stop/dinner, the entire group gets a little stir crazy. This is when card games, loud music, laughter, games of toss, practical jokes, and dance parties in the aisles break out. So there you have it, the 3 Stages of Long Drives with Lots of College-aged Students. (and yes, that is the technical name for this particular theory.)

Umm.... looking back at the intro to this entry.... i apparently suck at "very short" entries.

lame

sorry again, I had no internet in Germany and very limited internet here in the Czech Republic.

Here's hoping Poland has good cheap internet!

Remembering D-Day

Mmk, so I've now finished this post..... weeks after I should have. As a result, I forgot probably half of the commentary I was going to write along with the photos. Nonetheless, the images are pretty amazing and really don't need me to explain them.



In a single day trip from Caen, France, our group stopped at a German cemetery, Pointe du Hoc, and Omaha Beach... All three famous as being directly connected to D-Day.This first picture is from the German Cemetery (I unfortunately cannot remember the name of it right now and don't feel like rooting around for the pamphlet with the name on it). We only stopped for half an hour because we had a lot on our schedule for the day, but even the half hour was worth it. It's a little strange to see flowers on some of the graves and know that even today, family members travel to France to remember German relatives who died during WWII.

From there we traveled to Pointe du Hoc, located on the coast. It's the cliff in between Omaha and another D-Day beach. Kevin is standing in the crater left by a shell... the entire area is littered by these huge holes in the ground.



This cliff is also part of the Pointe du Hoc area; it's the location where a specialized unit was trained to scale the cliff walls during the night in an attempt to take over the area.

Both this and the picture below were taken on Omaha beach, one faces the coastline directly, while the other is a long shot down the beach.


This is the entrance to the cemetery portion of the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. The cemetery sits on top of the hill, overlooking the actual beach.


Just a small portion of the crosses.