Arrival in Vienna --- Eventually

I'm a little behind on the blog because so much has happened in a short time, so I'll catch up incrementally!!  :-)  I'll pick things up on Saturday morning......

I baked up a batch of cookies in the morning, while Tim left to pick up a GPS from our pastor, who thought we should have it for our travels in the van he arranged for us to rent.  (BTW that was a good call - it was a Garmin just like ours at home - and it worked great!)  Well, Tim didn't return for a LONG time, and with only 1 phone he couldn't contact me, so I tried not to let my mind run to all the crazy things that could have happened to him.  HAHA!  As it turned out, the van wouldn't start, so he never left.  He called the pastor, who called the owner, and eventually they brought a new battery for it.  (All with the pastor's son translating!)  Well, what a blessing that it happened here instead of in Bratislava or Vienna on Christmas Eve, when we might not have been able to solve the problem over the holiday!  

So then we went shopping for groceries for holiday meals, since stores won't be open again until the 26th.  And finally, we packed and headed for Bratislava in the van.  It was a beautiful drive through the mountains!  

All the trees in the mountains looked like they were frosted with snow!

Every curve held new beauty!

The trees were all heavily frosted, so it truly looked like a Winter Wonderland on our drive.  

In Bratislava, Katie and Jeremy (the Bratislava pastor's husband) helped us park the van in a courtyard to keep it safe.  Then we took Katie out to eat at a fun Slovak restaurant.

These signs were in the restaurant -- crazy!!  I guess it must have been a pretty "tourist-y" place!  
Our valuables were all safe and sound!!  

Katie and Tim at the restaurant entrance.  It was really a fun place, and the food was delicious.  

Sunday morning it was snowing!  No problems driving though, thank goodness!

The view from the "guest room" at Katie, Alice, and Sue's "penthouse" in Bratislava!  

The courtyard of the church in Bratislava, all covered in fresh snow!

The kids left us a message in the middle of the night that their flight out of Chicago was delayed and they'd be missing their connecting flight in Amsterdam.  That was only the beginning of their travel troubles!!   They ended up going from Amsterdam to Zurich to Vienna, and we finally greeted them 11 hours after their scheduled arrival.  Worse, all their checked bags were lost.  And we missed the Christmas Market completely.  Bummer!!  But we are thankful that they are here safe and sound, and we're all together for Christmas!!  :-)  

We waited so long to hold up our sign!!  :-)   

And FINALLY, the Olsons exited the baggage claim area, with only their carry-on bags!!   

The first photo missed Alana!!  

Greeting the family in Vienna!!  

 Even though it was late, we rehearsed our song for the Christmas Eve service around midnight in the hotel lobby.  The place was quite empty, and the acoustics were great!!  :-)

Breakfast at the hotel was wonderful - there were hardly any guests at the hotel - and we were the only ones
eating at the 6:30 a.m. early shift!  It was so fun to celebrate being all together!!  

Ready to head back to the airport to see if any luggage was found or arrived overnight.  Alas, no luck!!  

We headed straight back to LIptovsky Mikuláš so we could be back in time for the 3:00 Christmas Eve service.  The kids did some sleeping in the van, needless to say!  

Unfortunately there was thick fog for most of the drive back from Vienna, but the trees were still pretty!

It was hard to see the mountains through the clouds and fog.  

After lunch........A very small first sampling of the amazing and yummy treats from our IV class of students!!  

We got to the church an hour early to practice there, and the pastor then asked Tim to read some scripture in English.  The kids were embarrassed to be singing in church in their travel clothes, but the good news is that everyone leaves their coats on during the service because the sanctuary isn't heated, so people couldn't see their sweatshirts - HA!!  The sermon included a children's program, and it was really neat!  Zuzka, our school colleague, had asked the pastor for a sermon transcript which she translated for us, so we were thrilled to actually be able to understand everything!!  

Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus.

The shepherds talking by the fire after being amazed by the angels proclamation!!  

After flying across the Atlantic, driving from Vienna, and singing at the Christmas Eve service!  

With Zuzka and her son Timko after church!!  :-) 

After church, there was some serious "Phase 10" action while I started dinner.  Then they all came in and helped
prepare our Christmas Eve meal.  And the kids didn't even have to change out of their church clothes, since they
were still wearing the same clothes they wore when they left Ankeny --- LOL!!  

In class, our students had told us many Slovak Christmas traditions, so we tried to replicate some....

Garlic (with bread to help get it down) for good health in the coming year
Walnut halves (they look like a brain) to be clever
The star in the apple slice is for good luck
Honey on the oblatky (wafer cookie) to be sweet
And money (unseen) under the bread for wealth

We all survived the garlic and moved on to the traditional sauerkraut soup, kapusnice, which everyone
really liked.  Even those who claimed to not like sauerkraut enjoyed the soup!!  I reheated leftovers that
were sent home with us after the school party.  Delicious!!  

Walking through the fog to our Christmas Eve dessert at Patka's grandmother's flat.

They baked us a special Christmas cake.  If it's half as good as all the delicious treats we were served, it will be amazing!  

The whole family with our yummy cake!  

Patka and her friend John have composed some beautiful songs -- we very much enjoyed their music! 

The Olson kids entertained with a song as well.

Then there was some serious jamming going on - such amazing musicians!!  

Four generations!!  

Alana loves the elevator in our building!!  :-)

More photos tomorrow of the cottage where the kids are staying, and of Christmas Day in Slovakia!!  :-)   Whew - what a wonderful time it has been so far!!