Four-day weekends are pretty much what life is all about...

I knew a weekend trip would do the trick!
Paradise is where it's at! Find it wherever you can! Closed youth hostels add to the adventure. Good job; now, do it again!

Great pictures!
Glad you're having a great time. Uncle John turned in his thesis yesterday and will defend it November 9. Hooray!!

Wa wa wa Wa
hey! been there, done that got the teeshirt!

OMG! Those pictures are amazing! I am so jealous! Oh, and by the way, you and Dan definitely look like knomes in that awesome hat, lol. But none the less I'm way jealous and definitely wanna be in Europe, not fair. But much love, Jen

Hallstatt is where it's at!
Thanks again for this glorious entry, Alia. I felt as though I were back in this special place with all its pure beauty. I am so happy you went there and made such great memories with your friends. Hooray for side trips!

Just reread your story and noticed something!
Alia, the first time I read this blog, I was so focused on the fantastic pictures that I just sort of skimmed over your narrative. This morning I went back and read it more carefully, and noticed two interesting details that I didn't see the first time. One was about the "rocks to climb" beside a stream, and the other was all the stairs you climbed up to a church. You've been eagerly and skillfully CLIMBING things all your life, ever since you could even crawl! In those days, you were quite oblivious to the idea that climbing something MIGHT mean falling off of it! Hmm, that idea is still alive, it seems! Remember that, um, little building (!) in the nighborhood playground that you and Yukino climbed into, our Richfield house's garage roof, the weeping willow tree behind our back yard, the hills beside Mt. Rushmore, the rocks by Bear Lake, that really tall evergreen in front of the Whites' house in Richfield, the mountainside behind cousin David's home in Loveland, CO. Heck, you and Yukino literally climbed the WALLS in our Chiba Newtown apartment. So, it seems that Austria is a perfect place for you to get in some more climbing! You are your greatgrandmother's greatgranddaughter. Here's to some more exciting climbing wherever you go! (P.S. I used to do a lot of climbing myself -- for example, the ancient pyramids outside of Mexico City! These days, the basement stairs are the most I climb, for the most part. So I'm really glad you're climbing to some really cool places for me! I buy the camera, you climb. How's that for a deal?) I'll be waiting for your next climbing story, OK? Love, Mom

Mountains, Music, Mozart -- Marvelous!
Hi, Alia! All of your far flung family who see them, are loving your blogs and photos, I'm sure. Keep 'em coming! Aunt Martha is right -- you'd be a fine travel writer/photographer. And that is something you can do, free lance -- whatever else you do -- all your life!. (Yes, you'd sent an earlier one from Salsburg but the one that came today covered some things the first one didn't, so it's good you wrote more.) Besides the mountains, every new picture of YOU makes me happy!!!! Love as always, G-mama