Munich and Salzburg

1.  Salz Castle in Salzburg, Austria

2.  View of the city of Salzburg from one side of the castle

3.  View of outskirts of Salzburg from the other side of the castle

4.  Pi Phis at the top of the Castle, with the Alps in the background (some Florence and HD Pi Phis)

5.  More of the Alps

6.  Oktoberfest!

7.  Ride @ Oktoberfest

8.  Awesome swings hundreds (thousands?) of feet in the air, w/ a church in the background

9.  Lederhosen!

10.  At the Sound of Music gardens!

This last weekend was a blast!  Oktoberfest is the biggest festival in the world, attracting almost 7 million people in three weeks!  This last weekend, Friday, September 26, I went to Munich, to experience Oktoberfest in it's last few days. I traveled over there with three girl friends from here.    Basically all 50 of us in Moore Haus went to Munich, as did almost everyone from the other Pepperdine International Programs, including Switzerland and Florence.  Because of this, I was able to see a number of friends whom I hadn't seen for a while!  Much to many people's surprise, Oktoberfest isn't just a beerfest.  It is actually family-oriented, and during the day time, there are just as many kids under the age of five as there are adults.  There are tons of rides there, and lots to do.  If someone didn't know what Lederhosen were before Oktoberfest, you definitely knew what they were after leaving.  Definitely half of the men there were dressed in the traditional garb.   I stayed at Oktoberfest until about 8:30pm that night. 

I took a train that night to Salzburg, Austria.  Nestled next to the Alps, Salzburg is a breathtaking city with so much history.  People may recognize Salzburg as the place where "The Sound of Music" was filmed.  I spent my time in Salzburg with eight others, and we definitely hit up the sights!  We went through the gardens from the movie where all the children were running around and singing in their clothes that Maria made from curtains.  We also saw the cemetery where Rolf was hiding, and from a distance saw the Von Trapp residence.  We also visited this enormous castle that overlooks the entire city...it was breathtaking!  In total, we walked around the city from 11:00am-11:00pm.  

School is going well.  I am definitely doing more homework than I did last year.  My professors are really incredible...I have five of them!  The classes are also a lot more interesting than the ones I took last year.  I am learning a lot about the history of Germany.  

All of us received flu shots yesterday at the doctor's office that Pepperdine students go to.  It was optional, and it was free!  It is really a nice thing that they offer, because with 52 students living in one haus, sickness spreads quickly!  Since the day we arrived in HD, at least someone has been sick, mostly with a cold.  

The weather here is not too bad, yet.  It is always about a high of 62, but today was one of the coldest we've had.  Low 50's with wind!  I actually don't mind it at all...I like the fresh air!  It is a lot like the weather back in Sequim.  

I hope everyone is doing well.  It is always so good hearing from you all!  

P.S.  I forgot to say that I got a "new" leather coat!  Now, I say "new" because there is a story that goes along with it.  Saturday morning in Salzburg, I'm eating breakfast with Laura (my roommate) in our hotel, and Ross (a boy in HD with us) came up to me and said, "Here's your coat, Cortney."  I looked at it and was like, "That is definitely not my coat."  It happens that he accidentally took some Austrian girl's coat from a club and brought it back with him.  There was no way he'd ever see her again in his life, so I thought, "Well, hey, I'll have it!"  It's an amazing tannish-colored leather coat...for free!  And it fits PERFECTLY (you can see it in these pictures)!  Wow!  Laura and I had just been talking the day before about how we really wanted leather coats because everyone wears them here!  Man, Europe is great!

  

Baden Baden

This weekend I travelled with my roommates to Baden Baden, a beautiful city approximately one hour south of here.  It is a very ritzy, upscale retirement community that is most known for it's baths (spas).  

We started out by going on the train from Heidelberg to Karlsruhe, and from Karlsruhe to Baden Baden.  Everything was going perfectly until they came around to check our tickets. on the train from Karlsruhe to Baden Baden.  We showed them our ticket that we had bough a few days earlier and poor Amanda was the one who had to handle it (which she did very well :)).  I guess what had happened is that we had gotten on the wrong train to Baden Baden, a faster train that actually gets you there in a fraction of the time.  Our penalty was to pay a fine, unfortuantely.  I guess it could be worse, but maybe that's typical for people's first time haha.  

Our first day there we went to our first Spa, Caracalla Therme.  It was more of a go-at-your-own-pace type of deal.  There were all different types of pools, spas, eucalyptus-filled steam rooms, infrared lights to sleep under, etc...needless to say we were soooo relaxed!  We spent the rest of the evening walking around the picturesque city and seeing all that the city has to offer.  

The second day we hopped on a bus at 11am to go to the  station to double check our departure schedule for that evening.  However, we got on a bus that was going to a different Bahnhof (trainstation) in the opposite direction, and we ended up being on that bus for almost an hour and a half and made a huge circle back to where we had gotten on the bus originally.  It ended up being a really good mistake because it was basically like taking a bus tour of the area, which is absolutely breathtaking.  After that we mozied (sp??) around Baden Baden some more, going inside many different cafes, bakeries, chocolate shops, and clothing stores.  Finally, we made our way to Friedrichsbad!  This was an amazing experience.  We were there for about 4.5 hours and had the most wonderful time!  There are 17 different stages of the spa experience and it's in an old Roman building/structure that is, once again, breathtaking.  I cannot believe how amazing it was! 

Finally, we headed back to Heidelberg.  

Pictures of Heidelberg

Above: Moore Haus

Above:  Roomie Cassie and I on Old Bridge with the Schloss (castle) in the backgroud

L:  View of Heidelberg from Moore Haus

Below:  Street in Old Town

 

Far Left:  My first schnitzel!  Yum!

Left:  View of Neckar River from the Schloss

Left:  @ Castle in nearby town Schriesheim

Above:  Elizabeth, Amanda (roomie), me and Cassie (roomie) in Schriesheim