The Not-So-New Neustadt

Not sure why the blog is posting this as Thursday; it's actually Friday as I write this.

It's really hard to believe we're already nearing the end of Week 5 around here. But then again, I think we're all feeling pretty comfortable here. The weather is finally really beautiful; it's laying out weather and in a few hours, Laura, Shireen, and I are planning to take a bus over to Salzkammergut, a lake that's about 30 minutes away. Not exactly sure what we'll find there, but everyone says it's gorgeous. I'll take lots of pictures.

On Wednesday we had our weekly Stadttour and saw a new part of the city that most of us haven't seen much of before. The Neustadt sits on the opposite side of the river from the Altstadt and holds just as many pretty churches and amazing views from high up. While it's called the "New City," it's definitely at least 400 years old. We took a tour up to another abbey, and ended up in Sebastians Friedhof, a very serene cemetery/garden where several notable people are buried, including Mozart's parents and Wolf Dietrich, the first archbishop of Salzbug. Afterwards, we headed back to Die Weisse, where we went the first week with Travis. Of course, their beer is spectacular, but that night, it was a little bit crowded and I never ended up getting my food, so a few of us headed back before it was dark.

Yesterday I got up early (8:00) for a really nice run along the Ginzkeyplatz bike path. The weather's really warm now and it was nice to get my day started early. I thought I was getting up at the crack of dawn, but it's crazy to see how early a lot of the people in Salzburg are up and moving about. We're always surprised at how early the other students in the dorm are awake, even on weekends. Definitely a change of pace from OU. The path was full of joggers and bike riders. Makes me really wish I had a bike...but it's not like I can fly it home. Hopefully we can rent one for the day before we leave Salzburg.

I guess I should go get ready to leave for the lake. There's a lot going on this weekend, so I'll be sure to write more tomorrow!