MOTHER'S DAY IN VIENNA

   Sign at the very old train station

I knew that Mother's Day in Vienna was going to be rather lonesome with no kids or grandkids.  So, we had to find something interesting to do to occupy our time.  We attended our house church in the morning then met our friends Jake & Christine (Bruce wasn't feeling well so he and Barbara couldn't make it) to ride the train to the country to attend the Schmid Family Hof Fest.  

 
This family sells homemade jams, relishes, wines out of their shops in Vienna. They invited their customers to a festival at their home in order to "wine & dine" them.  There was a big barn (I have always loved barns!) from which they served the food (feast.) 

     


There were various breads, meats, cheeses, spreads, salads, and oh yes, desserts,  wine & coffee.




 The four of us ate for around 20 Euros total.  We tried many foods for the first time.  We had some amazing wine that they produce themselves. 


We were given a tour of the vineyards.
There's been a lot of rain this year so there was tall grass between the rows when ordinarily there is not.






They have state of the art equipment to process the grapes and bottle the wine. 

  The drum workshop

Donkey rides for the kinder

Even though there were about 100 people there, it seemed much like one big family.  We all sat in beautiful warm sunshine on long tables between the barn and the house.

Anxious to return home in order to talk (Skype) to the kids and grands, we embarked on our train ride back to Vienna.  Due to the 8 hour time difference we could still be home in time to receive and make our mother's day calls.

Stay tuned for the upcoming blogs on Italy with the girls and Greg's & my holiday in Hallstat, Austria.   

LICHENSTEIN CASTLE, THE ZOO, SCHMETTERLING HAUS

In April Jeff, Erin, Sam, Silas, and Selah visited.  We had a great time.  One day Jeff, Greg, and Sam went to visit a castle while the rest of us went to an Easter market.

The zoo was a big hit!  I took the kids while Jeff and Erin were in Italy.  I was a little apprehensive about taking all three kids on public transportation with no help, but they were troopers and did well.  The day was the first really nice warm, sunny day of Spring and record crowds were at the zoo on that day.  We met my friend, Kim, and her three kids.  It was a very stressful day trying to keep up with all six kids in the hoards of people.  We did lose Sam for a brief time, but he assured us he really knew where he was and wasn't lost at all.  Of course, I was worried out of my gourd until we found him.  I look forward to going back to the zoo when there a few less people. 

Carli, Cotter, Caleb, Sam, Silas

We actually spent more time on the playground in the zoo than seeing the animals.  We could keep up with the kids a little easier.

Carli was a great help with Selah

Sam, Silas, Selah in front of the Butterfly House

Feeding on fruit

Lots of cocoons of all sizes

WACHAU VALLEY OF AUSTRIA

 Last Saturday we rode the train with our friends, Jake & Christine, to Spitz, Austria, located in the Wachau valley.  The day was warm and sunny.  We meandered down the streets, marveled at the amazing vineyards, explored the ruins of an old castle, went to a boat and train museum, and ate some great Austrian food.  The landscape on the  train ride (3 hrs. total) there and back was lush and green with signs of gorgeous Spring blossoms everywhere.

                            Vineyards as far up the hills as the eye could see

                           Looking down on Spitz from the tower of the castle

                                                        The castle

                                       Apricot trees in full blossom

                              Restaurant where we ate lunch outdoors in the

                                     courtyard-lots of old world charm

                           

                              View from cafe where we took a coffee break.

            

SOPRON, HUNGARY

Train to Sopron

The countryside along the way was lush and green.

The entire city appeared to be under construction.

The Hensal kids and their mom (from church)

joined  us in Sopron.

We found an Italian restaurant and braved the cooler temps to eat outside.  The woman in the red jacket is my friend, Barbara, who also went with us.

The buildings along the narrow cobblestone streets 

were colorful and ornate.

QUIET HOUSE ONCE AGAIN

Our house is quiet once again and I have mixed feelings about that.
Erin, Jeff, Sam, Silas, and Selah left a week ago following a two week visit. We visited museums, the zoo, castles, Prague, and Hungary. We walked (a lot), rode the ubahn, bus, strassenbaum, and train, drank coffee and ate pastries, had church at our apartment followed by a potluck, and Easter egg scavenger hunt......

Below are pictures of our train trip to Prague. We enjoyed the trip, but concluded that the city felt a little oppressive and dirty compared to Vienna. The architecture was amazing and the transportation very efficient but just not as gentle as Vienna's.

The first thing the kids (both little & big) wanted to do was hike up to the castle. We decided to ride the bus to the castle after we walked across the Charles River.

We were excited to find that one of the museums had a Viet Nam exhibit. Selah was very interested in the food and clothing from her country.

Our visit to Prague would not be complete without a ride up the mountain on the funicular railway.

This is one of the sights after we got to the top. The tall spiked roof buildings in back are part of the castle.

Since it was such a beautiful afternoon we walked back down and had to stop to take a few pictures.

VIEW FROM GREG'S OFFICE

Greg has a fantastic view of the Danube from his 13th floor office window. Just a month ago it was an ice skating rink. Now there are trees budding all along the river. You can also see the entrance to the UN with flags from every country. Last week as I was walking into the Vienna International Center the wind was blowing and the flags were all wildly flapping. It is a beautiful area and I enjoy the privilege of being able to take classes there and have lunch with Greg several times a week.

One thing I failed to mention is that I actually get to go to Greg's office. The entire 23 years he worked at LANL I only got to see his office a few times during special open houses (or is it open offices?!)

MY US TRIP

Blake's and my creative date: dinner at Subway, popcorn & orange Texas fleece blanket to wrap in from HEB, movie in car parked under an Oak tree, and potty break at Starbucks where we enjoyed some good hot chocolate.

An afternoon "in Africa" with Brady & Max. This Zebra put on quite a show for us!

Anderson, the Warrior!

A sunny 70 degree day with Brady & Max at the Safari Park.

I know it's been a while since I blogged. I've been in the States for three weeks visiting family and friends. Greg was in UK for two of those weeks on business so I took advantage of the time to be gone too. It's been a great time with eight of the grandkids, their parents, my brother and sister-in-law, Mom & Euel, my aunt & uncle, my cousin & family and our friends who live in our house in Bulverde. Greg's parents even drove from Abilene to visit for a few days. Of course, as can always be predicted, there were a few hitches: Amy & Sydney came down with strep, Blake developed fluid on his hip joint and had to go to TX Children's Hospital for tests, my stepdad was hospitalized, among a few other little mishaps. I felt needed, though, and was glad to be there for everyone (I don't get to do that too often!) I also got to spend more "alone" time with some of the grandkids.

So, I should be on a plane to Vienna at this moment, but after spending the afternoon and part of the evening at the DC airport I was offered a voucher of $1200 to take the same flight tomorrow so I opted to do so. It was the craziest I've seen Austrian airlines. They had overbooked this flight by 30 people and there were even some who had trip confirmations who got bumped. Needless to say, there were a lot of unhappy campers, actually some who were very irrate and even yelling. I did meet a very nice couple (about my age) who live in Hungary and were in DC visiting their kids. I will look forward to seeing them again tomorrow since they also took the voucher.

Included are a few pictures from my trip. I'm pretty sure you find them delightful!

My brother (Brian "B") playing and singing at a cafe in Fredericksburg.

Sydney at our Bulverde house dressing up and moving gracefully.

We had lots of fun playtime: puzzles, big bubbles, wedgits, games, and schoolwork.