Austria Trip - All American Grill Out

Today, Taigen and I got up early and took off for the Stephansplatz for one, quick, last attempt to find souvenirs to bring home. Grace had given us directions and we did our best to navigate the transportation into the heart of Vienna from the opposite direction. It's funny to be doing Christmas shopping in July, but I had seen so many things while there on my own a couple of days ago, that the more I thought about it, the more I figured the gifts would be more meaningful if coming from Vienna. So with a mental list of what I wanted to get, we set off.

Once there, I took Taigen to go and see where Mozart lived. We didn't take the tour, but I wanted to show it to him just the same. Again, I was struck with the view from Mozart's house. The view would have been relatively unchanged. The buildings, cobblestone streets, arches and large doorways are mostly unchanged since the late 1700's. It is so beautiful.

By the time we were done in Mozart's neighborhood, we knew a certain porcelain shop would be open. Very few things are actually made in Austria, and this certain type of porcelain is. Sarah Hudson and Grace Shelton had pointed it out to me the other day after lunch and I had seen some ornaments hanging in the shop. I thought they would make nice thank-you gifts for Janelle & Jon and the Coopers for watching Marshall and Shaylen while we were gone. They were priced reasonably and they would be something uniquely Austrian. We made our purchases and quickly navigated the transportation system back to the Shelton's house. We were back before 11am.

Once back, I started in with dishes and making brownies. Tonight was the All American Grill Out. Grace had asked that I make a cake and while we were getting out the ingredients, we realized we didn't have any sour rahm. (That's sour cream.) So, I walked to the store (by myself) and grabbed it and quickly came back. I made the cake and put it in the oven. It looked really good.

I cleaned up my mess in the kitchen and then went to rehearse some more for our sacred concert tomorrow. Guests were to start arriving at 3. It's good to go over the German again and again and make little notes in the music so we could pronounce thing accurately.

I grabbed a rag and dusted the main living area of the house and then spruced up the bathroom. Taigen was able to help Stan outside. There were bushes to trim and weeds to pull and patio furniture to clean off. To some, the help we provided while with Stan and Grace was pretty insignificant, but it allowed them to focus on other things.

Elizabeth, Margit, Sabina, Grace, Kirsten and Me

Sabina was the first guest to arrive. She is a lady that lives just down the road a ways. Grace got to know her just from walking to school or to the store. Sabina built a beautiful terrace off of her front walk and Grace would comment on it as she passed by each day. Soon, they got to know each other and a friendship has been formed. I liked Sabina right away. She is very personable! Margit arrived shortly after. She knows the Sheltons through school. She apparently serves on the PTA board with Stan. Lastly, Elizabeth arrived with her son Jaan. She brought creme schnitte which was amazing. She used filo dough, pudding and whipping cream and some sort of lemon glaze. It was delicious. The Sheltons also know Elizabeth from the PTA at school and she has started coming to their church every Sunday. Unfortunately, all of the husbands had other obligations, so Stan and Taigen took up the chore of "serving" us ladies. It was hilarious. They donned aprons and waited on us hand and foot.

Our "waiters"

We had a wonderful time just sitting. I listened a lot because the majority of the conversation was in German. I watched facial expressions. Grace would lean over every once in a while to tell me what they were talking about. The guys served kaffe and kuchen before dinner (coffee and coffee cake). While we were munching and talking about that, the guys got the grill going. We had burgers, brats, salad, French fries, Kraft macaroni and cheese (from the box...Grace LOVES this and you cannot buy it there. We had brought her some from the US). We also had something called almdudler. It's basically Viennese ginger ale and is delicious.

After a while, Elizabeth's husband, Stephen, joined us. He had worked late, but had wanted to join us as soon as he could. At the end of our evening, Stan and Grace mentioned that we sing. Elizabeth asked if we could sing something in English as well as in German. She loves to listen to music in English because she said it is much more pleasant to the ear. She said German is a harsh language. We found this very interesting.

After song time, folks started leaving. Do you know what I did? I tackled the insurmountable task of...you guessed it...dishes! I really enjoyed doing this menial task for Grace so that she wouldn't have to face a filthy kitchen when she came down the stairs from getting the kids in bed. It also gave me time to pray for these folks and for Stan and Grace as they serve here in Vienna.

I had an opportunity to look over my songs for tomorrow and then eventually took my shower and fell into bed. It was an exhausting but wonderful day.

Sunday awaits!