Off to Germany!

Hello everyone! I thought I would tell you all about my next adventure abroad...

As many of you know, I am leaving tomorrow to go to Germany for 6 months as part of a gap year! I will be attending a school called Bodenseehof Bible School during that time. Bodenseehof is located on the banks of Lake Constance. The really amazing thing about that area is that the lake borders both Austria and Switzerland too! Thus, I'm really looking forward to visiting those countries more as well.

Bodenseehof Bible School

© bodenseehof.de/en

Lake Constance (the Bodensee)

© cntraveler.com

A video about Bodenseehof

I am excited to be leaving tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to growing in my faith and exploring the region during my time! I'm very grateful to have this opportunity to study abroad. Hopefully, I will be able to keep you updated on what things I am doing! I would love to hear from you while I'm at Bodenseehof, so if you'd like to write to me, here's my address: 

Hannah Weber

Bodenseehof

Ziegelstrasse 15

88048 Friedrichshafen

Germany

If you do decide to send me a package (which I would not recommend because of the expense) please make sure to write NCV (no commercial value) on it! It's very important to do this because otherwise I will have to pay a large fee to receive it. 😅

Visiting Three Different Castles

Oriane's family was on holiday for Easter, and so we went to visit their grandparents as well as some nearby castles. They were very kind to give me the opportunity to visit so many amazing places with them!

This is Chateau de Chenonceau. The way that the castle is built over the water is just gorgeous. Something interesting about this place is that during one of the world wars, half of the castle was Free France and the other Occupied France! This is because the Loire river was used as the border between the two. Thus, sometimes people would escape through the castle to get to the part of France that was still free. 

Chateau de Chambord-probably the most impressive castle we visited. It was ginormous and over 200 years older than Versailles! 

The view from one of the balconies

The grounds of the castle are enormous. It was originally a hunting lodge and so the men would go hunting in the nearby woods. Gradually, the building was added on to until it was a full-sized castle.

The central tower is very interesting-the architecture is much different than other castles, I guess because it's so much older.

This view of the castle with its reflection is simply breathtaking!

Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte; my favorite castle that we saw! It has a beautiful moat around it.

This is from the other end of the castle, the view is very awe-inspiring! I honestly felt like a princess just walking around the grounds... ;)

This huge statue of Hercules is at the end

I loved the windows in the castle, so pretty!

Oriane's grandmother had some costumes which we wore around the castle, it was a lot of fun!

This is the castle lit-up by candles in the evening. The pictures do not do it justice at all; it was magnificent. We also got to see some fireworks which was very neat!

Day Trip in Lyon

I know that it has been a long time since I last posted (and since I left France), but I thought that I would finish posting some of the pictures before I start school in Germany. I hope that you will enjoy seeing these pictures from Lyon....

At the beginning of our visit, we went to an indoor market. It was so fun to see all of the yummy and interesting things! I thought these animal-shaped candies were so beautiful.

I'm sorry for the awful picture quality, but I wanted to include it because this is the most iconic Lyonnaise pastry: the Tarte aux Pralines! I got to try this for breakfast and it was yummy. It's a bit like thin shortbread with a layer of red jam/frosting (the pralines).

Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, a beautiful church atop a hill that looks over Lyon.

The detail on every part of the churches in Europe is just amazing. Even the door is a work of art! 

The interior of the basilica was very lovely. I'd never seen a church with this interior style so it was really nice to see something different.

This is a view of the church from the city. I always think that the golden statues of Mary are so striking.

The city courthouse

Oriane and I standing outside of the beautiful theater

This plaza with the fountain was gorgeous. If I remember correctly, each of the men depicted were important craftsmen who lived in Lyon.

Near the end of the day, we took a lovely boat ride along the river