Day #2 in Innsbruck

We had our second day of the Supreme Court class with Chief Justice John Roberts and Professor Lazarus. They are long time friends who went to law school together and were roommates after law school. The Chief Justice teaches the first half of the class and Professor Lazarus the second half. Today, we had a discussion about the Dred Scott decision and the Chief Justice posed questions to our comments. It was an interesting discussion. I hate silence, so after a particularly long silence I raised my hand to answer Professor Lazarus’ question. After I had given my response the Chief Justice asked me a question about why the Supreme Court didn’t decide the case based on a Federal Question and I responded, incorrectly, that because the parties were diverse the Federal Court had jurisdiction over the case because of diversity and the Court did not have to determine if the issue was a Federal Question. The Chief Justice asked me a second question about Federal Question jurisdiction to which I answered incorrectly. I should have said that the statute for Federal Question jurisdiction wasn’t enacted until many years after the decision. Oopps!


The rain finally stopped today and the clouds left so we can see the mountains! It's absolutely beautiful.






We wandered around town and found a small church. The next couple of pictures are of both the inside and outside of the church.












Charles and Blake, this church is just down the street from the Safari Bar. We didn't go there last night because the Hofgarten had beer specials, but will go there soon enough. It looked like a cute little bar.


After looking inside this church, we continued our meandersing of the city to the Old Town. Apparently this is the big tourist stop in Innsbruck. It's a cute part of town with tons of shops, cafes and restaurants.



We happened upon St. Jacob church and went inside there too! It was beautiful with a huge pipe organ. And me...ever knowledgeable of other religions pointed out the 'cute little doors' to Lauren. Of course she laughed hysterically at me and told me they weren't for midgets, but were the confessionals! ha!


























This is my favorite...the pipe organ. Can you get over how large it is?

After eating supper in Old Town with some girls in the program from Texas Tech, Lauren and I headed to Hoftgarten for beer. Apparently it's the place to be in the summer time. The undergraduates from the various universities that are also studying in Innsbruck were there along with locals. Lauren and I 'met' some locals. They approached us and asked if they could sit with us. Y'all know I make faces that give away what I'm thinking and I'm sure this was an especially riduculous face, especially after they motioned for their five friends to come sit with us. Seriously? It was fine and most of them spoke English. They asked Lauren and I what we thought of O'Bama's chances in the election and one of the girls went on and on about how upset she was Hilary won't get the nomination. Interesting to say the least. That's all for today!