Sontag

Today was Sunday of course, and so it was a good time to go to church, which I and a couple others did. Unfortunately, instead of going to the Dom Platz, one of the main big catholic churches in the center of the old city, as we intended, we rode the bus a few stops too far, and as the service began in a few minutes, we stopped at a church called St. Andrew's which was across the street from a bus stop. It was an interesting service, though I knew almost none of what was going on. I recongnized a few songs, though we sang them in German, I recognized the Apostles' Creed, and sometimes I figured out when there was a prayer. Apart from that I didn't understand any of the words, though it was kind of neat to sing hymns in German.

After that we returned to the EHH, as I will abbreviate the Eduard Heinrich Haus. It was about noon when we got back and lunch was served here at the house at 1. We get two meals even on the weekends if we have classes on those days. Both yesterday and today we did, and so that was nice. I fell asleep while waiting the hour til lunch, and then went and ate.

We got to go on a hike with Nicola, the assistant director (also from UK, though a graduate student, I believe) who likes to hike. We went up the Gaisberg mountain. All the way. I didn't really know what I was getting into, but the hike was pretty much at a 45 degree angle or steeper the entire way. There were about two stretches of more flat space and they added up to about 40 yards total. Out of the approximate 4 mile track, it wasn't too much. Needless to say, out of the 20 people that started out, about 10 made it to the top. It was a wonderful view, for sure. At the top it was not snowcapped, as it was not quite high enough. However, that's on the list for the future.

The signage stated that it should take 2.75 hours or so. The group of 5 of us at the front of the group (it turned to four by the end, still somehow including me) reached the top in 1 hour and 20 minutes. We were exhausted. It was such a fast pace, and already my legs are super sore. I also sweated my shirt all the way down to the bellybutton on the front, if that's not too much information. We brought water and wore sunscreen, though much of the path was shaded, and I did not get either sunburnt or dehydrated.

At the top of the mountain, very happily, there was a good restaurant and I got some rye bread and goulash. It was so good. Then we went to take pictures after the food, and headed back down the steep path the way down. At first it was better than the way up, but it soon became just as difficult, though it was much faster because we ran much of the way to catch a bus to get us back in time for our classes beginning at 7:15. Some people had to be back by 6. Most of them turned back by the halfway point or before and others reached the top and rode the bus down. But we ran back and returned in plenty of time.

Classes went as usual, and that was the day. I am ready to sleep for a while after that roundtrip of 8+ miles at such a steep angle up then down. Plus, we went on the hike yesterday, so that was an added factor. Anyway, I'm looking forward to tomorrow and having a class-filled week. Thanks for reading and for your prayers!

 This is the view down off the side of the mountain. This looks over Salzburg and you can see the river too. It's the line in the distance.

This is taken further off to the left. You can see some of the snowcapped mountains, and we were looking at which one to tackle. We plan to take it significantly slower, and take an entire day. That might be smarter.

This one is looking over the same area. I also took some panoramas, but those don't post too well.