One of the great blessings of spending a long time in another culture is to be able to observe over time how others live.  Seeing that, our family can make some more intentional choices about how we would like to live; being able to take the things from the culture here that we will take home along with our physical souvenirs.

For me, that would include a slower pace of life, taking time to enjoy food, wine, chocolate, coffee.  Living outside more.  Emphasizing quality over quantity.  The metric system. Clothing sizes that are an actual measurement.

Forget 24-hour time, though. I just can't adjust to it.

We've had an early spring, with lovely weather and lots of sunshine.

Both kitchen windows wide open, looking onto the street.

We've also had strange weather:

Hailing on the cars out the window

For Palm Sunday, we were able to see the Vienna Boys choir at the Augustinian Chapel.  Carissa and I dressed in our Austrian best.

Even though we were gone for Easter weekend, friends loaned us a few decorations for the season:

 





We've been on vacation a lot the last month.  I'm fully aware that no one really wants to see very many of others people's vacation photos, especially cruise photos, so I will (try to) limit my comments to interesting tidbits and anecdotes.

Before leaving for our Easter cruise, we spent a few days in Munich.  We saw the traditional sites, and some unusual ones.  The weather was cool, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Carissa with a busker in the Marian Platz, in front of the city hall

A Ferrari Store in the Plaza.  No test drives, I figure.

You will never guess what store this is....answer at the end

We took a day trip to see some special castles - Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle and the area.  This is the castle that inspired the Disney logo.  The whole area was amazing.

We jumped on a bus from Munich with other 'cruisers'.  We drove south about 8 hours and spent the first night in a lovely town in Italy before getting on the ship the next day.  We enjoyed exploring the town and beach and had classic Italian pizza!

I never thought I'd be a 'cruise person' but I loved the small ship and friendly staff.  We began in Nice, France.  After leaving our baggage on the boat, we explored the town.  It had its share of markets and castles and beaches.

Coute de Azure

I have never seen tomatoes like this.

Of course, the first order of business is safety, so we ran through the drill.

Matthew with two of our company - Lennart and Justin - his roomates

We docked in a small, poor town in Tunisia, which is a Muslim country so Easter was a bit of non-event. The Mediterranean coast is gorgeous, as you would expect.
    The staff outdid themselves for Carissa:

     Next, we docked at the island of Sardinia, where the beach was lovely.

Of course, the highlight was the day in Rome.  The port town, Cadeviccia, is a main transport for passengers to get to the famous sites.

the Collesium

A bird on the head is worth...

Monument to Fallen Soldiers

Pantheum - the oldest complete Roman building; has the original brass doors!

St. Peter's Square - they were setting up for the dual beatification the following week

'Before Alex' picture

'After Alex' picture

The island of Corsica was next; again beauty and sun and sand. This is the birthplace of Bonaparte.

 

Yup, that's our kids down there.

The next day, Carissa participated in a Scavenger Hunt on the ship.  At one point she needed to find the weight of one of the rescue boats.  She saw the captain and asked him.  He didn't know and had to call the bridge to find out.  She landed an alcohol-free cocktail for her efforts!

Waiting for the fruity concoction at the bar

We were sad to leave the ship after so many fun days, but the next round of passengers were arriving. We got back into the buses and were on our way by mid-morning.  Unfortunately, a huge accident on the highway stopped traffic for several hours on our bus ride back to Munich.  We pulled off and got dinner at a McDonald's in Switzerland.  It was the most expensive meal of the entire trip - about $60 for a family of four!  It's the priciest place in Europe.

The public service announcements for this month are a few personal comments.  

    The "American Women's Association"  (not really American anymore since only about 40% are from the states; it's open to any internationally minded woman who speaks English) has been a salvation for me this year.  They organize tours and events and host my English conversation class.

Jessica helping a new member in the office

My advanced German conversation group

I've tried to be stricter about staying gluten-free.

Some products make it easier!

The Viennese don't seem too concerned about keeping their grass trimmed.  Long after I thought it was time to cut lawns and boulevards, they began to cut some areas.  Perhaps their love of growing flowers extends to all living things.

After we returned to Vienna and got resettled and got the kids caught up at school, it was time for Craig and me to get away to meet my brother and his wife to watch tennis at the Madrid Open.  We rented a small apartment and got to see some good players.  Unfortunately, Federer and Djokavich both pulled out before the beginning.  We did get to see Serena Williams for one match and she retired after that.  But we saw some great tennis (including Nadal, Sharapova, Li, Bryan brothers), including all the finals.  We also had some time to explore the town and have some great ethnic food.  One highlight was having paella with my sisters boyfriends parents at their lovely home!

We were lucky enough to be in the shade the whole time; fortunate because is was sunny and in the 80's!

Play got intense!

Oh yes, they had a bakery with gluten-free treats.  Cheesecake!

We saw most of the action in the main stadium

Plaza Major

After a long hike uphill, the view was worth it.

In the beautiful Retiro Park, we laid on the grass and enjoyed these two performing.  Delightful!

The biggest rose garden I have ever seen!  Originally built for the royal family

Elizabeth and David White, Sr. (and Robby) with Craig and me, Greg and Alice.
With Paella to die for!

With the kids having little interest in tennis, or in exploring yet another city, they found friends to stay with. Carissa stayed with two different classmates and got to go swimming and to the movies.  Matthew was able to see the Faberge eggs at the Kuntshistorisches Museum.  Unfortunately, he also got to see the ground up-close-and-personal when his scooter hit a crack and he went down.  That heavy school backpack then landed on the back of his head, breaking his nose.  His foster family took him to the ER to get an x-ray, confirming the break but, fortunately, no further damage.  The swelling and yellow/green colors were impressive.  All has mostly returned to normal by now, with no structural or breathing damage so surgery will not be necessary.  This is definitely his year to visit all the hospitals in our local area.  Might as well be this year since all these visits don't cost us anything!

After all this adventure, we are ready to stay home for awhile!  Craig's parents have arrived for a two week visit, delayed for a few days in Detroit because of strong storms.  We are very much looking forward to spending time with them! And of course, more of sunny Vienna.

We are also looking toward the end of July, planning the last two months before our return.  But, there will be another post before our return so stayed tuned.

Maria

Answer to the above photo:  it's Abercrombie & Fitch!  Fitting right in by locating on the main plaza in original Gothic architecture!