Schloss Mittersill Retreat

 Like promised, here are some of the photos of the church retreat from last weekend. We stayed at Schloss Mittersill, a beautiful castle in the Austrian Alps. The views were incredible, the activities were a blast, and I met so many amazing people. The second day we took a hike up the mountain to the Krimml Waterfalls, the fifth highest waterfalls in the world. We took a break at a little mountain hut before descending, where I tried Germknoedel, an Austrian specialty, for the first time. It's basically a sweet dumpling filled with plum jam and covered in a mixture of poppy seeds and vanilla sauce. On the drive back to Munich we stopped at Hintersee, a beautiful lake in a valley surrounded by mountains. How peaceful would it be to live here?

A Day in the Alps

 A few weeks ago, a few German friends and I decided to go hiking in the Alps for a day. We got up early, drove out to the mountains and began the trek to the first Alm (a mountain hut that serves Bavarian food and beverages) but were dissapointed to see that they were closed for the week. Instead we hiked on to the second Alm, pictured above (which hadn't yet opened for the year). Still, the view from the Tegernseer Huette was absolutely beautiful, and the the fact that it wasn't open just meant that we had the mountain almost to ourselves.
The path up the steepest I've ever hiked. We ignored the signs the read "Dangerous Path" and continued up the cliffs, holding on to steel cables wherever there the a chance. Surprisingly we made it up to the Rossstein Gipfel, the very peak of the mountain where we had a chance to sign the Gipfelbuch, a type of Summit book that most people sign after reaching the top of the mountain. The weather was beautiful, the view was incredible, and it was well worth the nine hours of hiking. I can't wait to return when the Almen are open!
On a different note, the reason it's been so long between posts is that every time I try to upload pictures, they either appear with an x in the place of the photo, or they're distorted beyond recognition. I have to delete the selections and re-upload each photo individually, which is so time consuming! Does anyone know how to fix this?

When in Rome (Part II)

Some more photos of Rome last weekend. Highlights: St Angel's castle, the Forum, the Spanish steps at night, ordering Grappa (which we mistakenly thought was something similar to wine), paging through Italian Vogue, and making homemade Gnocchi and tomato sauce for a perfect Italian dinner.