Salzburg at last

I made it to Salzburg! This town in so cute. It looks as though it were made for little dolls who wear wooden clogs. Unfortunately its been raining practically since we got here, but I'm hoping it won't stop me from exploring.

The past two days have been about getting situated. My dorm room is tiny, but nice and its perfect for one person. I have my own bathroom, which is fantastic!

We had our first class with Justice Kennedy this morning and I actually enjoyed it. I don't know why I was so surprised, but he was funny and engaging and interesting to listen to. This is such an amazing opportunity to be taught by someone with so much experience and knowledge...although, he could assign a little less reading.

I've been running twice since I've been here. Austria is a very walker/runner friendly town. There's a path that goes along the river and there are a ton of cyclists and walkers/runners that use it.

I may get to go to a soccer (actually football) match on Wednesday. We just have to figure out how to get tickets and where the game is being held. We're also going to try and go to one of the open-air Mozart concerts soon, probably once it stops raining. We have a planned trip to vienna with the group this weekend and we're going to tour the parliament there.

Not much else to report yet...should get back to my reading.

Ciao italy

Greg and I spent the last couple of days in italy just relaxing and eating gelato. We slept and ate mostly. On thursday I was dying for television. The only thing that I could find was some movie with Ben affleckm Paul Giamatti and Uma Thurman. Unfortunately they were all speaking italian, so I had no clue what they were saying, but it was sorta comforting to see something relatively familiar.

We left Residence le Ferriera early this morning. We drove down a one-way road in florence and finally found the car rental place. Afterwards we stopped at two paticerriere (however you spell that). We stocked up on plenty of carbs for the road...greg had two croissants and we each had what looked like a mini-bearclaw-shaped-chalah with raisins. It was tasty! I also got us each a pizza for the road. I don't know what kind of food they'll have in Salzburg.

At the trainstation I spent 17.50 euro for two american magazines and we waited for them to announce our bin number...about 8 minutes before we are supposed to depart they finally listed the number and everyone then starts running...

The weather in salzburg looks shitty. 60 something degrees with 88 percent humidity and the rest of the week its supposed to rain. I hope this class is interesting.

Ciao!

Florence by bike and the David...finally

Wednesday we went on a bike tour. We met our group by some car dealership and then followed them to the garage. There were two other families, both were from California. For the most part everyone was in decent shape. I hadn't been on a bike since I was a kid (not counting the cruiser I coasted down a mountain in jamaica on). The ride was a total of 15 miles, but it was all up hill, or at least it felt like it.

Our guides name was Per, like the fruit, he was from sweden. He led us through the hills and gave us little snipits about the things we were seeing. We rode past the house where the filmed the movie "Room with a View.". We kept riding and had lunch at a restaurant that overlooked all of florence. It was beautiful. We ate a ton of pasta and had cappucinos and then hopped back on our bikes to a family run farm/winery.

Per gave us a tour of how they make wine and olive oil and then we got to hike around a bit. The weather was very strange...cold and windy and almost about to storm. It cleared up for the ride home though.

After the ride we all stopped at a fruit stand and each got a slice of "cocomorro" which is watermelon. It was like going to a bar, except instead of serving alcohol they seved watermelon. It was one of my favorite things!

After the bike tour and the cocomorro greg and I finally the saw the David! He was beautiful, and much taller than I expected. Definitely worth the hype. The detail was really impressive.

All in all, I think the bike tour and the watermelon was one of my favorite things that we did on this trip.

If you're interested, the group is called I bike italy. www.ibikeitaly.it, I think. Or google florence by bike.

Colds

Yestersay we went to cinque terre. I think it maybe one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! We hiked three of the trails between the towns. Italians really have a way with stairs...cheese and rice those things are rough.

I have developed a cold which I'm none too pleased with, but there will be time to relax later...today we are off to do a bike tour in florence/tuscany and then finally to see the david.

*cheese and rice=jesus ch--st

Bryan Adams

So, part of our apartment overlooks the restaurant. I think they only have one CD. Everynight around 7:00 we start hearing Bryan Adams "Everything I do, I do it for you" blasting into our apartment. Then Madonna starts going...its funny. We think its on repeat.

I look like a doofus!

Greg felt that his hair made him look like a doofus, so he insisted on chopping it off. The only scissors we had were kitchen shears, but they worked just fine. We were going to give him a mullet, but decided against it. He know has short hair again and feels much better.

The Italian Stars Hollow

Greg and I are staying in a small town about 1/2 hour outside of florence. The place is beautiful! Our apartment overlooks a warerfall and is situated on a lake. I don't particularly care for the girl that runs the place...she always looks at me like I'm a retarded person or like I'm bothering her. Greg thinks its a language thing, I think she's annoying.

When we arrived she was eating lunch and wouldn't tell me where the bathroom was, we arrived around 1:30 and this is siesta time. They take siesta's very seriously! The whole town shuts down from 1:00-4:30...

Last night we made dinner and then walked down to the center of town to watch a band play. Everyone from the town gahtered to watch this band, which is somewhat famous and from lorro ciuffena. Greg said it was like we were staying an italian stars hollow (from gilmore girls).