Making friends and not uploading photos...

Today, I finally reached the church--Wallfahrtskirche St. Leonhard bei Tamsweg. The church is incredibly beautiful, although I couldn't quite glimpse the wooden carving of St. Leonhard, which in the 15th-century continuously vanished from the church (even if stowed or locked away) only to appear later up in a tree on the hill. This eventually led to the church becoming a pilgrimage destination.

The church sets a weight upon your shoulders right upon entering the outer courtyard (or perhaps that was my lack of oxygen after the steep climb with unfit lungs). Glancing to the left before pushing open the large wooden door to enter the church itself, one can see a flaking, decomposing fresco. Upon further inspection, I saw tiny signatures, mostly dated around the mid 1800s or so. My history is failing me at the moment as to why, but I'll try to look into it.

After my hike, I introduced myself to a woman by inquiring about some berries she had picked--she eventually noticed I wasn't Austrian and asked me where I was from. We chatted a bit about her gymnastics group and the next pilgrimage day to the church (where she made a bit advertisement about the importance of donations to the church). Her name is Maria.

Class today took me to my third and final school, the Multiaugustinum in St. Margarethen. I met some very welcoming and kind colleagues, including Wolfgang, Zsuszi, and Reini, and can't wait to go back to the school again next week. I also hope to get a bike sometime either this weekend or next week--it is apparently not all too far to bike to St. Margarethen.

Reini also told me that I could ride with her as she drives back almost every day to Bischofshofen--I would simply need to get to St. Margarethen and then we can take off. This would end up cutting about an hour off of my travel time, not to mention the fact that I would be able to leave much earlier than the earliest bus. Travel will also change as winter sets in--apparently there are more buses in the winter to accommodate the influx of eager ski enthusiasts mobbing the area.

Pictures of Tamsweg and surrounding area will be posted this weekend when I'm back in Salzburg. (I have limited Internet and have already eaten up too much of my limit in just a few days.)