the hills were alive?

Welcome back to zACHhARROD.com! Sorry for my silence this past week. I had a short week, so I attempted to pack a full week into three days. With that said, it was a little quite around these parts, but no fear you can always follow me on twitter and I also have a whole bunch of new pics for you to check out over at my flickr page – click here or on the pics to the right!

One the things I love about living here, is that I can travel for relatively cheap! On top of that, I live in the middle of Europe, which means there is a lot at my finger tips within a few hour train ride. For example, Cesky Krumlov or Salzburg! Both of these cities have a magicalness to them that was so, so, so good for my soul. I got a good mix of sight seeing and processing/prayer/reading time. Thank you for your prayers, that I requested in a previous post. So here is a photo recap of my fav pics, mixed with some others to give you a run down of my quick holiday.

After hoping on the train and heading south, my first stop was in Cesky Krumlov, in South Bohemia, for one night. As I spent about 20 hours there, I realized once again, that I could always spend more time in this city. I was excited to be there for the Kouzelny Krumlov (Magical Krumlov) Festival, which consisted of many traditional Czech customs. So fun.

Maj Dej (May Day) in Krumlov.

Loved crashing at the Krumlov House. If you are heading to Krumlov you need to crash here. This was my room and the view from my window!

Next stop! Salzburg, Austria. Which is a mix of Lord of the Rings and Disney world. I loved wandering the streets and then catch a few of Hohensalzburg fortress with the Alps in the background! So cool.

Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart and you can’t escape him nor his image! Hundreds of years after his death, he has become the icon of this city! Sadly, I didn’t get to check out a classical music concert. I guess I’ll have to make a trip back!

I was also very blessed to get some great time with my dear friend, Jason McFarland, for a bit as he came down for a short holiday as well. It was even more special, because this dear friend is, sadly, leaving Prague in now less than a month. So getting some time to chat and hang was great. We headed into the Alps and checked out the World’s Largest Ice Cave – Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves.

Three Zachs! I know a scary thought. While I was away, I took much time to play with my camera (thanks Mom, Dad, Wayne, Jo and Amber for helping me out with it! You guys rock!) and here is one my experiments.

I think this may be my favorite pic from the whole time. I was blessed to catch the clouds, sun, mountains and etc. at the right moment. It was good for me to get up in the Alps, even if it was just for a few hours. Oh Mountains. I love you Mountains.

Well there you have it. I quick run down of my few days away. It was a huge blessing to get away and very, very refreshing!