The girls flew back home for a delightful but exhausting two week catch up trip. AC got to spend lots of time with special friend Taylor and got to practice driving with brave friends John Barrett and Matt Willis! They celebrated Sophia's 3rd birthday all in pink, played with Buddy and got to swim with the Eldridges. They loved being back at church - a true place of 'home' for them. Julieanne was able to go the EDGE youth camp which was a real highlight. They returned to England with the Westergreen family on the 14th.
While the girls were back in Augusta, Dennis and I were able to meet Matt and Pam in Vienna! When we moved two years ago, Matt asked us if he qualified for the State Farm trip to Vienna in 2009 would we meet them there? We both had quite a few challenges to make it a reality but we made it! 
We always enjoy time with them as we share a love of the Lord, good food, laughing, exploring, adventure and encouragement. 
Not speaking German and trying to figure how to pronounce words gave us much to laugh about. Here was a particularly funny one we thought our kids would get a laugh out of.
Vienna, of course was home to many famous composers for some period in their life; Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms and Schubert but Mozart and Strauss seemed to be the city's featured composers during our stay. 
We did sample some of the musical heritage at a Mozart concert in the stunning Statsopper Opera House. Even though we were in the nose bleed section, we could still appreciate the gorgeous music and setting. It opened in 1869 with Mozart's, Don Giovanni. We also had a folk night with traditional songs and dances of Austria. Our last day, we rode bikes through the city down the Danube, mostly in the rain but it didn't stop us from laughing and enjoying the ride. I think Strauss must have had a romanticised view of the 'Blue Danube' because the part of the river we saw was mostly ugly mud colored not blue and lined with graffiti/ art style. 
The historic part of the city is wonderfully preserved and surprisingly free of lots of traffic. There are mostly
trolleys, bikes, horse and carriages, pedestrians and buses. We were able to see the famous Lipizzaner Stallions at the Hapsburg Palace. Actually the stallions were on 'holiday' but the 'wild boys' and some fouls were in action as you can see.
We did sample some of the musical heritage at a Mozart concert in the stunning Statsopper Opera House. Even though we were in the nose bleed section, we could still appreciate the gorgeous music and setting. It opened in 1869 with Mozart's, Don Giovanni. We also had a folk night with traditional songs and dances of Austria. Our last day, we rode bikes through the city down the Danube, mostly in the rain but it didn't stop us from laughing and enjoying the ride. I think Strauss must have had a romanticised view of the 'Blue Danube' because the part of the river we saw was mostly ugly mud colored not blue and lined with graffiti/ art style. 
The historic part of the city is wonderfully preserved and surprisingly free of lots of traffic. There are mostly
trolleys, bikes, horse and carriages, pedestrians and buses. We were able to see the famous Lipizzaner Stallions at the Hapsburg Palace. Actually the stallions were on 'holiday' but the 'wild boys' and some fouls were in action as you can see.
Vienna Woods offered us a local experience of hiking through the forest for the day. The real kicker though was Dennis' 15 hour driving tour through Austria!! As he often does he looked at the map and found a few places that looked promising...never mind that they were hours away, a minor detail. It's kind of like people over here telling me they've been to America and when I ask where they've been they say Orlando and Las Vegas to which I reply, 'Oh, well you haven't really seen America - you need to go back and do the small towns'. So we took our own advice and didn't just 'do Vienna'
- we did Austria. We climbed this mountainous walk through 14 gates to get to the medieval castle on top. Hochosterwitz Castle - somebody was thinking big when they chose this naturally fortified location. The castle is said to have been the inspiration of Disney's animated Snow White.
- we did Austria. We climbed this mountainous walk through 14 gates to get to the medieval castle on top. Hochosterwitz Castle - somebody was thinking big when they chose this naturally fortified location. The castle is said to have been the inspiration of Disney's animated Snow White. We then drove through pretty little villages -all with their standard 
catholic church steeple announcing the church's presence. We even drove through the scenic lake spot where our landlord currently lives.
(I had tried for two days to find their little town on a map but had failed until we found ourselves driving right 
through it admiring it's pretty 
lake/mountain setting. I called them and asked them what was for supper but they were in Croatia.) The destination had been to reach the Hohe Tauern National Park which meanders through the Alps - complete with sno
w. The journey really was the destination.
catholic church steeple announcing the church's presence. We even drove through the scenic lake spot where our landlord currently lives.
(I had tried for two days to find their little town on a map but had failed until we found ourselves driving right 
through it admiring it's pretty 
lake/mountain setting. I called them and asked them what was for supper but they were in Croatia.) The destination had been to reach the Hohe Tauern National Park which meanders through the Alps - complete with sno
w. The journey really was the destination. Vienna was beautiful but the fellowship was the best part of the trip.
"Within the wider fellowship emerges the special circle of a few on whom, for each of us, a particular emphasis of nearness has fallen." Thomas Kelly twentieth century Quaker missionary, scholar and speaker.
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