Birthday Roadtrip

Mathilde turned 28, Tomoko (a dear friend of ours and an unbelievably talented violinist and mother of two adorable daughters) turned 39 and on Sunday, although we initially had other plans (cough. the largest chocolate factory in Austria that is of course closed on Sundays. what was I thinking. cough), we celebrated by a roadtrip to Mayerling, Heiligenkreuz and Baden, three famous towns not too far out of the city. 


Mayerling is the place of an old hunting lodge that belonged to the Habsburgs in the time of Franz Josef I and Sisi. Due to a rather macabre story, the hunting lodge was half demolished and half-revamped into a Carmelite Cloister where Franz Josef invited the Carmelite's to take residence. Why? Its myth and heresay because the facts of such things were meaningfully muddled by whoever was at risk, but the most believed story is that their son, Crown Prince Rudolf, committed suicide after killing his mistress (or maybe she killed herself too?) while on a trip to the hunting lodge. Due to an unhappy marriage and possibly some other problems, he decided it was better to end his life, and the story ended tragically. Of course distraught, his parents decided to tear down where his room was situated in the lodge and in its place build a chapel (as part of the cloister) and exactly where his bed stood, in its place erect an altar where to this day mass is daily said for the sake of his soul and that of his mistress and the Carmelites have promised to intercede for his soul. 

picking up Tomoko and Keiko and Reiko

can i just tell you...this girl is ma fav. her name is keiko. shes 11. she became my little sister on the first day we met. i want to keep her. forever. 

walking to Mayerling

Reiko, Tomoko, and Alina

speaking french

Heiligenkreuz is the site of a 12th century monastery and home to Benedictine Monks, a famous Theological and Philosophical Institute, and a true relic of the Most Holy Cross at it's heart. 

Baden is a town not far outside of Vienna and the home to many wealthy people who do not want to live in Vienna, but near enough to enjoy its benefits. The houses are gorgeous and just driving through was enough, but we also visited an adventmarkt in the town's castle and stopped for some coffee and cake. (to my family: please check out the pictures of the cellar in the castle--I felt like I was walking into another Batesville) 

the joy of cracking walnuts--which were actually the table decorations

oh children...

young at heart

keiko spilt her water all over the table, 10 minutes later P. Clemens spilled it all over Monika. from cracking and burning walnuts to spilling water, I think Keiko and P. Clemens are kindred spirits! 

after returning from the day's adventure, our friend Gabriella wanted to meet up, so Monika and I met her at the Spittelberg Weihnachtsmarkt, my favorite in Vienna! We closed the wonderful day with hot punch and glühwein, and Kartoffelpuffers (potato puffs). 

sick. again. now really. i mean, come on.

so the past couple of days have had me hyped up on austrian medication (thanks Mutti Monika) and my mind and heart trying to do all the things I need to be doing and be all the places with all the people I need to be, but my aching, sometimes feverish body has had me curled up in bed most of the time, with my computer (I mean, come on, i can't really afford to be sick and idle in bed right now). 

so I have about 5 blogposts, all of which are halfway done, one of which somehow crept onto my live blog without me wanting it to (hence the half done, but posted status)

but in the mean time we were especially busy with celebrating the (28th) birthday of my newest sister in community (Mathilde). considering it took all I could to be present and somewhat active to celebrate this birthday and try not to let the homesickness creep in on her after only two months of being here and still having a huge language barrier, I didn't manage to take ONE photo. how is that possible. no idea. especially considering I made New York Cheesecake (her favorite) for the first time in my life (yes I am a real American now) and it turned out just like these pictures below. and no. that is not a joke. now i am regretting not taking a photo of mine because I was so proud :) go ahead, ask her if you want proof. and my dear was it tasty! 

tomorrow we will be celebrating Gaudete Sunday with an early morning mass and then heading off to the Steiermark (another region in Austria where Monika is from) to visit the famous chocolate factory in Austria-Zotter-with the community and Tomoko and her two daughters to celebrate all together the birthdays of Mathilde and Tomoko (both on Dec 9th). So Ill be sure to take pictures tomorrow! 

and ill try to get those blogposts finished. so many good things to tell you about.