Spring Travels Part Three: Austria

Seeing Catherine in Salzburg.

I arrived in Salzburg Wednesday evening around 9 p.m. I hadn't seen Catherine in two years. She was waiting for me on the train tracks with open arms, and her beautiful sunshine-filled smile. After jumping up and down for a while, she and I headed to a bus back to her place. Catherine's place in Salzburg was as cozy as I would have dreamed up her place to be. She lived with three Austrian roommates in a spacious apartment with beautiful light wood everywhere you turned. Her room was big and open, with windows that overlooked her nice neighborhood, and calm street. We spent the first night catching up and hearing years of stories, changes, and adventures.

While I was in Austria, Catherine and I saw all of the big sights - the Mirabella gardens, Mozart statue, famous streets downtown, the mansion where the Sound of Music was filmed, and climbed the mountains up and around the city. My favorite parts of my trip were the parts that were not so traditional and acutely part of the unique life Catherine had developed there, which included: a trip to the organic food market, visiting her friend's magical store next to her house, taking a break dancing class at the local university outside the city (basically in the country, which was INCREDIBLY beautiful), going to her fancy gym and taking a yoga class, eating at her favorite indian and vegan restaurants, and hanging out in her room - getting extra sleep, doing a bit of yoga, and late night talks... And of course the silly parts of the trip were some of my favorite times as well, the all time best being a posing session with various statues in the Mirabella gardens.

To see pictures of this lovely séjour in Austria, go to the following website. Catherine posted up my pictures online:

http://www.pbase.com/bergwiese/caitlinsvisit&page=all

And to get a taste of our breakdancing experience, check out this video Catherine made of her teaching her Catholic high school students one day after school!

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=upGxvLLycPc