Austria Trip - Good Ol' Terra Firma

The flight from Finland to Vienna went just as smoothly as the first Finnair flight. The leg room on these planes is to be commended. When taking off from Finland I viewed the beautiful landscape. Lots of trees, lots of water. It is the "Land of a Thousand Lakes." It's beautiful. I'd love to come back to Finland some day (other than our return trip...in which we have an overnight layover) and view it all.

We had a wonderful meal on this flight. It was a curry chicken salad sandwich on dense bread. Delicious! I was able to sleep on this flight as well and woke up to us descending into Austria. It was a beautiful, drizzly day, and cool. We got off the plane and wove through the airport. We didn't have to go through customs or anything. My only disappointment in that was that I wouldn't get another stamp in my passport (trivial, I know).

Candie & Crystal

We walked out of the main terminal and found Todd waiting for us. He was a welcome sight to these two weary travelers. By now the adrenaline had kicked in and we were ready & excited for what awaited us. Todd & Sarah had informed us before we left that they had a Bible study/Prayer meeting on Friday nights. We would be whisked away from the airport and ushered into the church service. I dressed accordingly in a comfortable linen skirt. We told Todd that we hoped we wouldn't make him late for church! He said that the service had been cancelled. Hopefully he didn't do that on our account! He assured us that after a busy week of Kids' Club (their equivalent of VBS), some had notified them that they weren't going to be attending, some were out of town and others were attending some other event that night. So, they didn't feel guilty in cancelling.

Todd drove us home and I took in the scenery. It seemed industrial at first but once we got to the heart of Vienna, I was in awe of the beauty. Todd deliberately drove us by many landmarks and told us what they were (Mozart's memorial, Habsburg Palace, cathedrals). It was amazing.

Meg, Crystal & Tammy

When we arrived home, we were met by Sarah, Nate (the oldest son), Benny (the youngest in the family) and family friends Meg, Tammy and Candie. Meg and Tammy have both served here in Vienna as short-term missionaries. Tammy is going to be headed back to the states here soon to raise support so she can come back full-time (Anyone needing to take on another missionary for support? She's your girl!). Meg and Tammy, I was to learn, are tremendous helpers to Todd & Sarah, both in the church and in the home. Dishes, laundry and cleaning just magically get done when they are around. Candie is a friend visiting from South Africa. She and her husband (they are U.S. citizens) had been in Vienna for a term on business and just loved the Hudsons and their ministry. His work then took them to South Africa, but she was up for a visit. It was a joy to meet her. I instantly fell in love with these three ladies. I knew Tammy from college, but this would be the most concentrated amount of time that I've ever had with her.

The table was set for dinner. It was now pushing 8:30, but they had all waited to eat until we got there. Sarah had made some hearty, delicious stew and the warm meal felt comforting and nourishing. The laughter around the table was contagious and we fit right in. Todd and Taigen have similar senses of humor so I now have my work cut out for me. I could see they would be a bad influence on each other. Ha ha!

During the discussion around dinner, Todd and Sarah expressed an interest in showing us some of Vienna. They had just finished up with an exhausting week and needed a little break from work themselves. What should we do? Well, it came out that Otto van Habsburg had died (July 4th) and his funeral was going to be Saturday (the 16th). Traffic would be crazy around the inner circle of Vienna so it was determined that we would avoid it. Apparently, Otto was the last of the remaining heads of the royal Habsburg family. His body was going to be buried in Vienna, but (get this) his heart would be buried in Hungary. Odd tradition, hmmm?

We let the Hudsons decide what to do and they sent us off upstairs to our bedroom. It really is Kathryn and Claire's bedroom (they were over at friends' houses), and they graciously gave it up so we could use it. We were very comfortable! We finally got access to wi-fi. We downloaded all of our emails, sent off news to various and sundry family members, and updated our Facebook statuses so that all knew we were safe and sound. After a busy two days, we were ready for a good night's rest. It was good to be in Vienna.

Note: These pictures that I'm adding aren't necessarily from this day, but I took SO many that I thought I would add them here.