A Postcard from Salzburg

My son’s good friend Natalie (from college) is spending the spring semester of her junior year in Salzburg, Austria.....
IN A CASTLE! Great gig if you can get it, yes?

I adore Natalie and love to receive the email glimpses she sends our way. It’s that old vicarious thing, ya know!

A portion of her latest ‘postcard’......

Forgive me for the lateness of this email. I haven’t gotten the chance to get on the internet in a while (we don’t have it at the house, and if I want to get online I have to pay for an expensive drink at a bar/café, unless it’s during happy hour).

Salzy is still as amazing as ever. I just finished watching The Sound of Music and it’s so cool to spot scenes in the movie and to know I was actually there (or rather that I actually live here). FYI-The scene where the children
and Maria pass the fountain on the way to their picnic (Do-Ray-Mi), I pass the same fountain on my way into
town EVERY DAY!

Since my last email, I have traveled to many places. The second complete weekend at the house (January 22-24), our class took a trip to Vienna with our professors. I’ve already been to Vienna, but it’s just as beautiful as I remember it. We saw many things including the Belvedere, Stephansdom (huge church), the Museum of Art History, in addition to going on a walking tour of the city and seeing other sites. Saturday the class headed back to Salzburg while Morgan (a friend of mine here) and I took a train from Vienna to Munich, Germany. We were there less than 24 hours but saw SO much. We went to the Hofbräuhaus (twice!...it’s a HUGE beer hall that can hold 8,000 people, supposedly). There are busty women who serve you pretzels and beer (only in liter form). You make friends there quite easily as you just sit down at a table with free space (others may already be sitting there with extra room). Our hostel called Wombat’s was cool, and offered a free three hour tour. We saw many sites, got lost a few times, walked MANY a mile, but made it home safely at around 8pm Sunday night.

The next weekend (January 29-February 1) I went to Prague (the capital of the Czech Republic). I was definitely out of my comfort zone there, as I didn’t even know the simplest words like “thank you” and “hello”. Austria and Germany are a breeze because at least I can get around with the little German I do know; but we had to speak English the entire time we were in Prague (it was rather discouraging). In addition, it was FREEZING. The weather forecast turned out to be incredibly wrong and I nearly froze to death the first day we walked around town. The second day I doubled up on shirts and it snowed. However, we got to see many sites like the Astronomical clock, this tower-like structure modeled after the Eiffel tower that looks out over ALL of Prague, Prague castle, a Salvador Dali/Alfonse Mucha exhibit, an Andy Warhol exhibit (that was interesting…), the Museum of Communism, Charles Bridge (which is GORGEOUS), and many others.......

This Thursday I am headed to Greece for 10 days!!!! We are going to be in Athens, Delphi, Nafplion, and Olympia. I am super excited and canNOT wait to tell you all about it.

For those of you who receive postcards within the next couple weeks, they might be a little outdated (as in, three weeks old) just because I haven’t gotten the opportunity to buy postage for a while, so bear with me please!

Liebe (Love),
Natalie

P.S. It snowed here this past week and everything looked gorgeous. I’m positive we got over half a foot of snow! But we had a “heat wave” the past couple days and it’s in the 40s, sometimes 50s and all of the snow is nearly gone. I’m hoping it snows again so that I can go sledding.

P.P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures. It takes FOREVER to upload one picture.

P.P.S. Dad, can you send this to anyone else on your email that would enjoy this? i.e. C and C, the Harris Family, Terri and Jodi, Auntie Cher. Thanks Dad! :D

P.P.P.S. The one picture I have attached to this email was when I was on a sleigh ride through the Austrian Alps on January 11th.

Yes. Thanks, Natalie (and Dad too;)
Can't wait to hear about Greece.....