Train Ride through the Austrian Alps

We chose to travel through the Austrian Alps from Salzburg to the Bodensee. It was a lovely journey and we were thrilled to have such picture postcard views. The water was so clear and a green-blue that did not show up so well in the photo. It looked amazingly fresh. In a few crevasses of the mountains, we think we saw a bit of snow.

Salzburg

We visited Saint Peter's Abbey and took time for prayer and meditation. I had visited this church almost 30 years ago. At first, I am struck by it's fullness, too fancy and busy for my personal tastes. Yet...in quite and silence the energy in the church is amazing. And the prayer very moving.

The older "Roman" part of the city..Salzburg was once the northern Roman Empire City North of the Alps. Even Mozart is shown in Roman style!

I love Salzburg. There's a crisp cleanness to the city and it's full of history and music events. We enjoyed watching the evening's opera from the famous Salzburg Music Festival http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/ outside at the open air kino.

Mozart's Cossi fan Tutti and a 2nd to be named opera were dramatically acted in modern settings, providing a new twist to the old and ever popular operas. We enthusicastically watched the 1st hour of these operas and then sadly walked to our hotel in order to be in bed by 12 midnight. (which is 00:00 on the European clocks!)

During the day we enjoyed the city sites.....and enjoyed an amazing marionette show of The Magic Flute.

Glockenspiel in Munchen

The magic of mechanical music boxes is a love of our family. We went to the center of Munich to see the Glockenspiel - which played for almost 15 minutes the day we arrived. Read the story about Munchen's Glockenspiel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathaus-Glockenspiel

die Weiße Rose

We visited Munchen (Munich) to honor the White Rose members at their memorial and exhibition.

The White Rose (die Weiße Rose) was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to German dictator Adolf Hitler's regime.

Six years ago, Emily Rose was in a World Premier music about the White Rose at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Since the performance she has studied the compassionate work of the White Rose members and has a special place in her heart for them.

Mainau Island

Mainau Island on the Bodensee/Lake Konstance is a botanical pleasure. The Island also host conferences for UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

A ferrie ride to the island, a visit to the Palace, Palace Church, Gardens and Butterfly House were a delight, even in the rain! Tammy enjoyed this trip while visiting one of her friends.

Camp Hill - Lehenhod

CampHill Lehenhod is one of many intentional communities created to meet the needs of individuals with special needs/abilities. A friend drove me to the top of a mountain in the Southern part of Baden Wurttenberg to take a peek at this special community. It was mid-afternoon and it appeared to be "nap time" as almost no one, except the cows and their milk-maid seemed to be out. The websites above will share more photos, if you'd like!

The road is blocked off with ropes while the cows "stroll" from the grassy meadow back to the barn, with it's impressive pile of "black gold". Demeter sign above the door way....bio dynamics is here!

The Bakery, the Main Building for special events, looking over the tops of the greenhouses with a view of the Alps and Lake Konstanz.

Sunday with Andreas and Family

A few weeks ago ,Andreas (Tammy met Andreas in the English class she visited) offered to drive our family on a tour of the Reutlingen area. He took us to the lovely and intimate Lichtenstein Castle . Andreas recently performed was one of the non speaking actors in a new movie about one of our favorite Fairy Tails "Thorn Rosa." The movie has not yet been released, and we hope it is before we depart, so we can watch it!

Then we visited the Mist Caves in the area and had lunch in the forest above the cave. We then met Andreas' wife and two daughters in town and walked along visiting a small Renaissance Fair, a mini-zoo, a very old mill wheel, and the town's history museum. Rain came and we headed back to their house instead of the beer garden we had planned to visit in. Here are a few photos from the castle...