Fall

Odd little running man on the street by my apartment

Fall in Salzburg was unusually beautiful this year.  We had 40 straight days of sunshine. Forty.  This meant we spent a lot of time outside, simply enjoying the weather.  I went for hikes, sat along the river, and did my lesson planning at as many outdoor cafes as possible.  In October I went to the Oktoberfest in Mondsee (a town near Salzburg) with a teacher friend, Claudia, and Emily.  Claudia wasn't feeling great, so mostly we sat at one of the many long tables and watched the debauchery happen around us.  The next day we saw a little bit of Mondsee and admired the view of the Schafberg, the mountain that we would hike later in the fall. 

Later, at the end of our stretch of beautiful weather, the Fulbright program organized a trip to the government buildings here in Salzburg, where we met the Landeshauptfrau (essentially the Governer) Gabi Burgstaller and another member of the government whose name I cannot remember for the life of me.  It's interesting that Salzburg, one of the more conservative parts of a conservative Catholic country, has multiple prominent female members of government.  They talked mostly about how good it was that we were doing this program, and shared a few tidbits about the Salzburg government such as the fact that there is a flag on the castle that is raised when Gabi is in town, and lowered when she is away.  I'd bet a lot of Salzburgers don't even know that!

More to come soon.  Really soon, if the forecast for tomorrow (rain, rain, rain) is correct!

My apartment is the yellow one

My apartment from above

With Emily at the Mondsee Oktoberfest

Emily and I ran into Katie, another assistant, at the Mondsee Oktoberfest

The scene.

Fall in full swing

With Claudia in Mondsee.  That's the Schafberg in the background, which we climbed climbed later in the fall

Cupcakes at Cafe Diva

Cafe Diva

Salzburg

The tree in my yard

*Sigh* Salzburg in the fall

Nora pretending to be part of the Austrian government

Gabi, the Landeshauptfrau, and the other lady whose name and title I cannot remember.