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| Gina and Susie on the river bank just outside Gina's dormitory. | A view of the main street, Mariatheresienstrasse, from the hotel-room balcony. |
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| Gina and Susie on the river bank just outside Gina's dormitory. | A view of the main street, Mariatheresienstrasse, from the hotel-room balcony. |
Today we're driving on to Austria to check out Gina's new home-away-from-home, the University in Innsbruck, where she'll be going in September for a Notre Dame campus abroad program. We find the dorm she'll be living in as well as other campus buildings. Gina asks if she can see what the rooms look like, and the desk people oblige, so we get a look at the kind of accommodations they have (John checks out the phone wiring...). The University is a mix of old European buildings and postwar industrial concrete structures with little character, but the town is enchanting and feels very good.
Our hotel is on Maria Theresia Strasse, which is in the old city and a pedestrian-only zone. From our balcony we can see all the shops, the incredibly high mountains surrounding the city, the clouds rolling in for a summer storm.
In the evening everyone decides to eat at Wiener Wald, comparable to Lyon's or Carrow's back home, but they do have good desserts. Then we stroll around, catching part of a concert and window-shopping.