Friday, June 23

On Friday, instead of having class, we took an all-day excursion to a castle and a lake near Klagenfurt. Here are some of the students that we met at the Hauptplatz (main square) in Graz before heading on to our meeting point for the bus. 

On the way to the lake, we stopped at Burg Hochosterwitz. Here's picture of the castle through the bus window:

As you can see, the castle or fortress is quite impressive. There are 14 gates that you have to go through in order to reach the castle.

Of course, the students hoped that we would ride the inclined railway.

However, we all had to walk to the top.  It was a steep and strenuous journey, but we made it and felt quite accomplished when we reached the top.  Here are a couple pictures at the starting point:

And here we are at the top:

We took an informative tour of the inside rooms.  On the tour, we learned that the castle was built around the year 860 and is an excellent example of medieval architecture. The castle also continues to remain in the original builder's family's possession.  This castle was not a place where people lived but a fortification that offered protection to people if they needed to flee attackers.

After our tour, we spent some time enjoying the view, and students could purchase snacks.

Then, we headed back down the mountain and stopped at the gift shop before boarding the bus.

These two students just happened to buy the same cap and were calling each other "Kopiekatze," the literal translation of "copy cat." :)

Once in the bus, we headed for the Wörthersee or Lake Wörth.  Our plan was to swim and take a boat ride on the lake.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating, so we had to skip the swimming.  We were able to take the boat ride, though.  The Wörthersee or Lake Wörth is especially beautiful because the water is such a beautiful turquoise color. The lake stretches 10 miles from east to west, but measures less than a mile from north to south. 

The students were excited about the boat trip and quickly headed to the top deck. You can see in the pictures that the sky was getting dark.

We had hoped that we could beat the rain, but we were only able to enjoy the top deck for a little while before the rain caught up with us, and we had to head downstairs.  Thankfully, the bottom floor of the boat (which had three levels) was an enclosed room. 

We're thankful that we were able to continue to enjoy the 90-minute boat ride inside. The boat took us the 10-mile length of the lake from the town of Velden to Klagenfurt. 

Once in Klagenfurt, we headed to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

After we finished eating, we returned to the bus for the 90-minute ride back to Graz.  This trip was a great way to usher in the weekend.