My Future Home

I visited my future home of Linz on my way back to Vienna from Salzburg. It's the 3rd largest city in Austria, with only about 160,000 people but it's lovely.  Located in the state of Oberösterreich (Upper Austria) on the Danube River, Linz is a little over an hour train ride east of Salzburg and an hour west of Vienna.

One of the most well-known landmarks of Linz is Pöstlingberg, a small "mountain" overlooking the Danube and city with a church at the very top:

Church at the top of Pöstlingberg:

Main Square of Linz:

Couldn't be more excited to be able to stay in Austria long term, it feels like my second home.

Salzburg and Surroundings

I've visited my Austrian friend, Viktoria, in Salzburg a few times and we've gone to some of the most beautiful areas outside of the city center. We walked around a lake - Bluntausee - and hiked around the mountain - Bluntautal.  Another time we went to another lake in the small village of Kuchl that overlooked other Alpine Mountains.

Bluntautal:

In my next life I want to be a cow in Bluntautal:

The water is so clear and pure, you can see right down to the bottom of the lake and even drink it, too. It's ice cold glacier water.

Viktoria on the left and her friend, Christina, on the right (Christina is definitely one of the most popular names here.)

Inner city Salzburg: Mirabell Garden and the river that runs through the city

Kuchl:

Tennengau lake

You can never capture the pure beauty, size or color of the Alpine landscapes in a photo, but there was a big gorgeous full moon rising over the Alps in her town of Hallein:

International Opera Academy (Schwerte, Germany)

First concert was in a light gallery museum. (There was a beautiful stage/performance space but I didn't get a picture of it.)

Newspaper articles about the first performance:

Article about IOA, the teachers and singers attending:

The beautiful campus:

Lieder and folk song concert: a Belgian friend I made last summer at an opera program also attended IOA this summer  (pictured left) and a German soprano friend on the right

All the singers at the final concert:

Review of final concert:

Vienna

Seegrotte: an underground lake

Vienna Opera house:

The stage backstage:

Stephansdom:

Schloss Schönbrunn palace:

Wiener Schnitzel, at the famous Figlmüller restaurant. My friend Eugenia and I split it, so good!

2014 Vienna Film Festival in front of the Rathaus (city hall.) The opera Tosca was being screened.