Bon Voyage!

December 31 was departure day for the kids.  Because the van broke down, we planned to travel by subway and then airport train instead of our own vehicle.  Well, their flight was at 7:00 a.m., so they had to be there at 5:00 a.m., so we had to leave the hotel around 4:00 a.m......UGH!!  We knew the trains had been running 24 hours a day, but Sunday night we found out that's only true on weekends, not on Monday morning!!  So the hotel arranged for two taxis in the morning.  Tim and I went along to help with the luggage, since they needed two taxis for 4 people plus all the bags anyway.  

One last good-bye to our travelers before they checked through security at the airport.  What great kids!!  They blessed us so much by coming to Slovakia for Christmas.  We love them so much and will miss them lots!!!

One story..... when Tim's mom's package FINALLY arrived right before Christmas,  one of the Slovak teachers asked me if the box was from my "mother-in-love".  I don't know if she just got the phrase wrong, or if she mispronounced "law" as "love", since the v/w reversal is a common mistake with English for native Slovak speakers.  But I smiled and said, "Yes, it is indeed from my mother-in-love!"   How beautiful!!  It really struck me how much better a term that is!!  And from then on, we also refer to Alana as our "daughter-in-love", which is so much nicer and truer than "daughter-in-law"!!  That will be the new, more appropriate terminology in our family, thanks to a wonderful Slovak adjustment!!

After our final hugs and waves, Tim and I went to figure out how to get back to Vienna by the airport train, so we could catch the subway back to our hotel.  We arrived around 6:30 a.m. and went back to sleep for 3 more hours, which did us a lot of good!!  We went down for breakfast, and since the kids left too early to eat, I didn't feel guilty making sandwiches and grabbing a couple apples for us to eat for lunch on the train later!  After quick showers, packing and checking out, we headed for the train station to negotiate our trip back to Liptovsky Mikuláš, which we hadn't planned on, but worked fine in the absence of the rental vehicle!  It all worked fairly smoothly, with no more than 1/2 hour wait between connections.  We left our hotel in Vienna at 11:00 a.m. and got back to our flat around 6:00 p.m. - not too bad.  In all honesty, it was really nice NOT having to drive the van back, and just relaxing the whole way on the train rides!!  :-)  We just felt really badly about the van breaking down, and inconveniencing the owner with such a big hassle.  

Interesting sights on the way out of Vienna - the buildings in the middle were actually crooked to look like they were leaning sideways - very disconcerting!!  HA!  

Crossing the Danube on the train - neat bridge a little farther down.

Passing by a random castle on the way back to L.M.  - it's a fairly common sight!  

Back in L.M., we walked uptown to have a pizza, and it wasn't crowded at all anywhere.  In fact, the town seemed really quiet, which surprised us for New Year's Eve. Lenka, the landlady's daughter, came up to visit after supper, and she said most of the craziness happens around midnight, outside at the town square, so everybody stays home and keeps warm for the early hours of the evening.  Otherwise, many restaurants and hotels charge a fee for private parties where many people go to enjoy the whole evening - dinner, drinks, and dancing - so again, nobody is out and about earlier.  

There were loud fireworks noises going off with increasing frequency as the night progressed, and after Lenka left, we went out to see the action.  Oh my goodness - it was literally like a war zone, with explosions going off everywhere.  Everywhere!!  All around us!!  It reminded me of the 4th of July at Lindens' when we can see so many different places with fireworks all around, except here, the fireworks were all very close by, within about an 8-10 block radius around us.  It was absolutely crazy.  The air was thick with smoke, and we had to be really careful to avoid fireworks being shot into the air or firecrackers being thrown in the very near vicinity.  We've never seen anything like it!  The big city fireworks were very impressive, but it seemed dangerous to have it right over the square which was crowded with people!  After the fireworks, there was a band playing on a big stage in the square, and people were dancing.  There was a kiosk set up with food and drink, and many people were carrying around bottles of champagne, beer, and other various alcohol.  There were groups of police standing around calmly observing the action, but there obviously aren't any "open container", "public intoxication", or fireworks laws being enforced!!  We thought the combination of excessive alcohol and excessive fireworks was a little dangerous, so we headed back to our flat by a different route that avoided the groups of partiers all over!  Oh - there were also many people lighting and releasing luminaries, which were really beautiful floating up into the night sky!

We finally got to bed around 1:30 a.m., so that completed our day of crazy sleep patterns - HA!  We slept late on New Year's Day, so we both feel rested. Of course January 1st  was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day with blue skies and perfect views of the mountains.  We wish it had been like this the whole time the kids were here, instead of having such heavy fog every day.  SIGH!  

This is for Paul, Alana, Beth, and Lute...... the view out our kitchen window today.  At least now you can picture the kitchen and know what it looks like most every day as we eat our meals right where you joined us for Christmas meals!  

We can even see the very tip-top of Kriván today, right from our window.  WOW!!  We're so glad P/A/B/L  finally got to see this famous peak in the High Tatras on their last ride out of Liptovsky Mikuláš!!   :-)  

The journey back to Ankeny was uneventful for Paul, Alana, Beth, and Lute, and all their luggage arrived with them.   :-)   They spent New Year's Eve together playing board games in front of the fireplace - a little quieter evening than ours here!

Šťastný nový rok from Slovakia to you all!!  

(That's "Happy New Year" to those of you who don't know how to use Google Translate!)   

Have a wonderful 2013!! 

Melk Abbey and Schönbrunn Palace

For our last day together, we tried to pack in a couple of more "biggies" - and we were not disappointed!  Since it was Sunday, we had hoped to get tickets to hear the Vienna Boys Choir sing at mass, but despite the best efforts of our hotel concierge, we struck out on that option.  So we decided to listen to a podcast of the service at Lute's church at Hope for our worship time, in the van on the drive to Melk, about 50 km west of our hotel.  Early in the trip, we heard a loud bang, so we thought it was a tire blow-out.  We stopped and checked out the tires, but they were all O.K., and when we started up again, everything sounded O.K.  When we got close to Melk, we started hearing more strange sounds from the van, which kept getting worse.  But we made it to the Abbey!

Beth heading into the Abbey courtyard.

The guest wing of the abbey is huge - the Benedictine monks valued hospitality, so provided lodging
for travelers for centuries!

This is the oldest artifact in the Abbey - an ivory box to hold religious relics.

Paintings of stories depicting the life of Christ.

The abbey is absolutely incredible - this is a scale model.

The abbey sits high on a hill overlooking the Danube.

This is a grand dining hall for the guests of the Abbey.  The monks never used the guest wing or the fancy halls for themselves -- they were only for the guests of their hospitality.

A view of the Danube valley from Melk Abbey.

This is the front of the abbey cathedral, which overlooks the river.

The other direction down the Danube

A spiral staircase in the abbey - so ornate!

The interior of the cathedral is decorated in high Baroque style and is gilded in gold everywhere!

Another staircase which we got to descend.

The back of the cathedral and the organ

A side altar

Another example of the Baroque decorations and gold gilding

Our tour guide said that there were only about 8 pounds of gold used - it's an incredibly thin
layer, but it is really beautiful!!

Beth at Melk Abbey

Ready to head out after our tour

It was a beautiful day to tour the abbey.

We decided to take the van to a service station we had noticed while driving through the town of Melk (as Lute says, so you pronounce it the way you're NOT supposed to say "milk"??  Yep!) before trying to drive it back to Vienna.  Luckily, the mechanic was there at the time having coffee with a couple of guys, one of whom spoke pretty fair English.  Everyone had gotten out of the van except Beth, when the mechanic jumped in and gave it a little test drive to try and diagnose the problem.  He gunned it and slammed on the brakes right before getting to the parked cars ahead --- this is Beth giving us the "what's going on here" look out the window!!  LOL!!

And you guys all left me alone in here with this crazy driver????

Alana helped us out a lot the whole time in Vienna with her German, but here she is
checking out some specifics about car repairs!!  

Paul holding Alana's purse - Lute looking worried about the van - HAHA!!

Tim with the mechanic --- and not hearing good news.  The van needed repairs which couldn't be
done then, so we had to abandon it and return to Vienna by train.  The guys at the gas station were
worried that we wouldn't make it on time for the next train, so two of them jumped in their cars and
gave all six of us a ride to the train station.  So nice of them!!  

A beautiful old house on the way to the train station in Melk.

In the Melk train station

Tickets back to Vienna, and a hot game of Scrabble the three guys were playing on the I-touch!

Bye-bye Melk - it was an awesome side trip!

A train ride through the Austrian countryside!

Approaching Schönbrunn Palace - one of the finest palaces of Europe - comparable to Versailles

The sun was starting to set as we arrived to get our tickets for the palace tour.

We finally took our "Ankeny Register" photo to send in to the paper!!  :-)

There was a live band playing in the New Year's Market on the palace grounds.  We knew we had
missed the Christmas Markets because of the travel delays when the kids arrived, but we didn't know
there are also New Year's Markets which are basically the same thing!!  YAY!!!  

The grand ballroom in the palace was magnificent!!  Kruschev and Kennedy met here.  We had a wonderful tour of the palace with our individual choice of a recorded or a written description/explanation of each room.  I originally chose the written one, but the font was too small to read, so I had to switch to the recording, which I actually really enjoyed so I could look around as I was hearing the narration instead of trying to read/look/read/look.  

The palace all lit up at night, with the Christmas tree in front.  

Every time our train ride back to our hotel passed this station, Tim would mention that it was .........
the Viennese version of Margaritaville!!  But we never stopped there to "waste away"  LOL!!  

We had to take one more trip down to the 1st District in downtown Vienna at night to experience the lights of the city all decorated in holiday style.  There were loads of people, I'm sure anticipating New Year's Eve the next night!  

The huge light displays were amazing!

Our last night in Vienna - having supper at a pub - schnitzels, brats - good food and good times!!  

The Olson kids on the way back to the subway station.  We still hadn't tried Viennese Sachertorte yet, so we stopped for a sampling along with gelato at a shop on our walk.  (To be honest, we all liked the Slovak desserts better, but maybe we didn't get a very good example of Sachertorte - a rich chocolate cake - because ours was too dry.)

These authentic Slovak traditional shirts were Christmas gifts for the kids.  Such intricate embroidery!!  

The boys looking stern!

The girls wanted a way to show off the embroidery on the shoulders, so they are looking tough too!!  LOL!! 

I brought along containers of Christmas goodies (given to us by students and friends), so each night we'd convene in our hotel room to enjoy cookies and sweets again.  Such a fun memory, and such delicious Slovak treats!!  There was a lot of packing to do for the kids, and we had to set the alarm clocks WAY too early for the morning.   :-(

Cathedrals and Stallions and Towers, Oh My!!

Vienna is an amazing and beautiful city, that's for sure!!  We got going bright and early on the 29th with a bountiful breakfast at the hotel.  The dining area was very elegant with white tablecloths and china.  Our hotel had a parking area, and we got 48-hour tickets for the Vienna subways, which is definitely the way to get around in the big city.  

Karls Kirke was our first sight after getting off the subway at Karlsplatz.

This wasn't even on our official itinerary -- we're so glad we walked over to check it out!

This was the reserved seat box for royalty inside the church - Beth looks right at home!

The Vienna Opera house was very impressive.

The walk along "The Ring" was full of impressive sights.

It's impossible and expensive to get tickets to see the Spanish Riding School performances , but our hotel
concierge encouraged us to go see a morning exercise session of the Lipizzaner stallions - very cool!!  

The stallions and riders were very impressive!

We heard a recorded announcement that there was absolutely no flash photography allowed, which
made sense, so the horses wouldn't be distracted.  After I had taken a bunch of pictures without my flash,
a nice employee came up and said there were no photos permitted at all.  Whoops!!  

For the morning exercise, the stable hands would bring out one group of horses, then the riders would work on different maneuvers.  The routine would repeat with different horses and riders during the session.  

This is the royal palace where the Spanish Riding School / Lipizzaners are housed.  

Photo op by this big statue on the corner of the palace.

The palace gates.  Everything was so BIG and so ornate!!  

The city was full of horse-drawn carriages - I loved the sound of the hooves clip-clopping on the cobblestones!  

Not sure the name of this church, but just one of many on our walking tour.

The Olsons on the move, heading to The Ring again to see more sights after the Lipizzaner exercise session. 

We happened onto the Minoritenkirche which originally dates back to the 12th century.

Beautiful gothic interior, all decorated for Christmas!

One of the side altars

It was another cold day, but hey, we were in VIENNA!!!!   WOW!!!

This is the Austrian Parliament building - very impressive!

Tim and Beth at Parliament!

Vienna's city hall - the Rathaus - such beautiful architecture!

More beautiful Viennese architecture on The Ring - across from the Rathaus

I'll bet the park in front of the Rathaus is beautiful in the spring and summertime!

Oh, goofy kids!  "Gute Fahrt" actually means to have a good trip in German, but Paul and Beth suggest another meaning!!   They giggled every time they would see that expression anywhere.  

The Olsons checking out Vienna University.

Another BIG cathedral - not even sure which one - we didn't go any closer because we were on the way
to St. Stephens, which is even more magnificent (and which did NOT have a giant ugly billboard on the
scaffolding in front of it like this one did - ugh!!)

This picture is for my parents, who love to tease Tim about going to the pub with the locals
after basketball every Friday night.  Here is a Viennese pub!!  :-)  

More impressive architecture.  Vienna is a lot like New York or any American big city, except
for all the old, ornate buildings everywhere!!  

Statue on the way to Stephensplatz

Our first view of St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is certainly one of the most impressive
sights in Europe!!  WOW!!  

The tiled roof of St. Stephen's is amazing in the sunlight - so colorful!

I couldn't even get a good picture of the facade of St. Stephen's because it sits right in the city center.

The interior is equally impressive and so tall!!

The organ and stained glass window at the back were impressive too.

Alana really wanted to climb the tower at St. Stephen's, so we waited in line for tickets.

Paul and Alana at 1 Stephensplatz, ready to ascend the tower!

Getting warmed up for the climb!

Gargoyles out the window on the way up the tight spiral staircase.

On the staircase.....

And finally, the view from high up in the tower.  We were only allowed to go up about half way, but we still had great views of Vienna!

The roof and spires from above...

The square below, which later in the evening was absolutely packed with people!

The rooster atop the roof.

Postcards of St. Stephen's in the shop at the top, and these postcards as well!  
(Especially photographed for Daniel Murton in Australia!!)    :-)  

Another view of the roof's intricate tile patterns and the city skyline!

On the way down the tower - Beth and Paul in the bell tower level below me! 

A view out one of the small decorative windows on the tower.

A view back at one section of St. Stephen's roof, down a side street.  Lute in his Hope cap!

There were Christmas decorations everywhere!

Waiting for someone who had to go to the restroom.  Again.  ;-)  (No names mentioned!)

We stopped to warm up with hot tea, coffee, and a steamed milk for Lute!  (I was checking emails to make contact
with Katie, the teacher in Bratislava, who was also in Vienna with her family!)

Alana with her tiny espresso, and Lute with his BIG steamed milk! 

The streets above the pedestrian area were spectacularly decorated with lights!

We finally met up with Katie, Jeannie and Chuck for supper.  It was so fun for our families to meet after we've shared so many experiences with Katie in Slovakia!  Katie's birthday is New Year's Eve, so we brought a marlenka cake (typical Slovak dessert) to celebrate!  The restaurant staff was really nice about serving it after dinner as a surprise for Katie!