Well, my trip is almost over, but I want to share some photos of a beautiful town I visited on my day off from school. From about halfway between Linz and Salzburg, some of us took a local train for an hour and a half, and then a boat across the lake.

Hallstatt is built into the side of mountain on a pristine Alpine lake. Early settlements here mined for salt and there are numerous natural caverns. Currently the town relies on tourism - and it's easy to see why people go out of their way to visit. It is quaint and quiet, and numerous outdoor cafes and restaurants afford nice views of the surrounding scenery.

Good thing it was hot because the water is glacier fed and it takes your breath away. check out the pictures.

More soon ~ Ciao!

Greetings family and friends! It's been quite a while since my first entry. Although I've been in Linz attending classes for over a week now, I spent some time in Berlin before the whirlwind of activity here at the residency.

The weather was still rainy, but at least it was a pleasant temperature. Berlin is a nice city. Even though it's quite spread out, there is a good train and underground public transportation system that makes it easy to get around. A lot of the tourist points of interest are in the city center. Most of the historic buildings and busy neighborhoods are in former East Berlin. First I walked around quite a bit and took some pictures, but later I hooked up with an old friend and his wife and we biked all around town. They were great guides and it was fun hanging out with them.

Berlin is a very international city - I recognized languages from all around Europe and the world. That lent itself to some great restaurants! It's not very expensive, either. I hear rents are cheap, so a lot of artists have flocked there. Construction is going on all over place, so who knows how long the good deals will last. You can check out my pictures.

More soon ~ Ciao!

Hallo family and friends! I've been in Germany for a few days now. I landed in Frankfurt on July 3rd, rented a car, and drove south to a village called Lindenfels where I spent a quite a bit of time when I lived in Europe in the '70's.

The weather was rainy, but I wasn't disappointed because I found a few friends that still live in the area, and it was a lot of fun reconnecting with them. My friend Heidi and her husband have a very successful photo studio in town. Gret and his wife are in the progress of building their house in a beautiful location in a nearby village. We went out with our friend Erwin for a couple of pitchers of apple wine - a local specialty. I was too shy to ask them all to pose for pictures, but I have one of Gret standing in front of his house.

The pictures don't totally capture the beauty of the area, but I did my best given the weather conditions. More later from Berlin, Tschuss!