České Budějovice and the Bus Trip to Prague

So one of our big excursions related to the Seminar course (that everyone takes) is a trip to Prague.  It is very exciting to see places that we have been reading about in class and to actually experience a medieval Bohemian city or to actually see where a historic event like the defenestration of Prague took place.

We travelled to Prague by bus. I always think it is nice to take a few shots from the window, so I can remember what the landscape was like, especially since we see so much of it as we travel.



Of course some of us sleep instead. I was amazed at how small this student could fold up. Her entire body was folded double on her own seat with only a portion of her legs extending onto the other seat.

 

On our way to Prague we stopped at a fairly large city named České Budějovice. České Budějovice is a city that was founded by Ottokar II (whom we had read a lot about in class) and which was a Catholic stronghold for Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II during the 30 Years War when the Catholics and Protestants were fighting all over Europe.  It is also famous as the source for the original Budweiser beer.

 

It was great to get out of the bus and stretch our legs. We each chose our own lunch and activities here.

 

 

The old town square is quite colorful and nicely restored.

The students headed out to climb the black tower  seen in the background of the picture below.

 
All around the square were interesting buildings.

This is the City Hall.

I decided to visit the monastery and the local baroque church.

 

Here is the fountain in the center of the town square.

There was also this very interesting medieval tower which they called the Eiserne Frau. The iron lady.

And then it was back to the bus to continue on our way to Prague (as you can see by the road sign below).

The leaves were beginning to change and you could see colors in the Bohemian woods.

And then after a bit of a drive.....we saw it!!  There was Prague! (Both a modern city....

 

...but also the romantic old one that we were dreaming of.

Schnitzel with Bea and Agata

One of the activities in the German classes is cooking a genuine Austrian meal.  For this we gathered at one of the teacher's homes to learn how to make schnitzel,  pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes with nutmeg.  It was delicious!

Here are just a couple of pictures of one of the classes (we had to divide into two groups in order to fit into the apartment. Since I would take up space I only attended one of the sessions.)

Doesn't that food look tasty!!?

New Dirndls

Students went to the Tracht outlet for their German class and bought beautiful traditional Austrian clothing.

Don't they look like they belong right there with all those beautiful mountains?

We also got to visit the Rupertitag festival. St Rupert is the patron saint of Salzburg and thus his day is celebrated as a city holiday.  We got to watch fireworks from the river.

Our Time on the Mountain

After arriving Friday afternoon at Tappenkarsee, we got a chance to swim in the lake and rest at the lodge.  Here is our Hütte up the hill from the lake.

We got to sit and watch the sun go down over the lake from the balcony of our lodge.

 

We also had a great dinner of authentic Austrian schnitzel prepared for us by the Innkeepers. 

It was a festive place and we all enjoyed playing games and cards during the evenings.

 

The next day we had a little fog for a while. We watched it creep across the valley, engulf the mountains and then dissipate.

 

On Saturday, most of us started off by climbing the mountain behind the lodge.  Once again we had to make way for cows as we headed towards the ridge.

Here you can see the valley that they will end up in (before being taken down to the flat lands even farther below this lake.)

 As we climbed higher, the lodge got smaller and smaller.

In the afternoon students set off on different trails, some seeking out the tallest peaks, some taking lower roads. I of course took the flattest, easiest road across the heath. The heath was actually quite colorful and beautiful and full of berries.

I encountered some students coming back from the really tall peaks.

Here are some of us on the deck of the lodge.

The owners made special Austrian dessert for us for our meals.

 

And of course there was beer.

These were my card partners on Saturday night.

 One of the students braided my hair for me. This may be the only close up you see of me on the blog.

 

Here's the gang all together as we got ready to hike back down the mountain and head for home.

 

So we headed back down the trail...

 ...went back by the beautiful scenery....

and followd the  water.

Once agan the fog rose breifly, but subsided.

It had been a wonderful excursion!  We hopped back in the bus and headed for home, ready to see what adventure we would get to have next.

Our Hike to Tappenkarsee - The Way Up

It is impossible to take a bad picture of the Austrian mountains, so I will try to refrain from filling the blog with endless pictures of scenery.  The bus met us at the dorms early.

The weather was fabulous and we got good views out the bus window of the Austrian landscape.

At one point we ran into a little fog, but it eventually lifted.

The bus let us off at a beautiful little lake, that would be the start of our trek up the mountain.

I don't have many pictures of the students on the way up, because they were so much more fit than this older woman, whom they pretty much left in the dust! ;-)

So you will have to make do with pictures of the  scenery.

Everywhere we looked were beautiful sights.

Woods, streams, waterfalls. We got to see it all.

 

We followed the stream up the mountain and had quite a rigorous climb.

It was the time of year when they were bringing the cows down the mountain, so they could spend the winter in a warmer place, so we would occasionally hear the cow bells and know that we needed to get out of the way.

The cows were certainly more sure-footed than I.

 

 Gradually the lake we started at receded into the distance and the view got higher.  Assistant director Pia kept me company at the back of the  group.

 

As we neared the top, the stream descended at a sharper angle forming a lovely waterfall.

 

In the back (center)  of the next picture you can see the lake we started off at. It seemed much larger when we were there!

 

Before we knew it, we had arrived at our goal, another lake - Tappenkarsee.

 

We hiked around the lake and up a little path to get to our Hütte (Hut - really more of a lodge) where we would spend the next few nights. 

Here we are just about to arrive at our destination.

The weather was beautiful, the air was fresh and we were  happy to have made it.