We have been trying to enjoy the spring weather this year. Saturday we went out to further explore our beautiful city.
In New Town, we took a lot longer than we should have to climb the tower at the Three Magi Church. It was a bit scary to climb and some of us had to try three times before making the top.

The view was worth it. Across the river to Old Town:

Looking below to Albertplatz:

Here are the kids at one of the fountains at Albertplatz:

New Town has a historic "Dairy" It is really a milk store and it is touted as the most beautiful milk store in the world. Imagine the smell of lots of cheese for the full effect.

We had some ice cream and fed a few sparrows.

Took a trip down to Vienna this month to meet and evaluate the past few months since language ended. Passed through Slovakia on the way...

...and caught a glimpse of Bratislava.


Vienna. A monument to the victims of the National Socialists.

A monument to Vienna's most famous composer.

Appropriate to his pose, there is a nice arrangement of Pansies in front of him.

Karlskirche


A ways up the river from Vienna is Dürnstein, a little village with some castle ruins where Richard the Lionhearted was held for ransom.

Happy Birthday, Jonah and Cheryl!
The above picture has nothing to do with any of the rest of these, just Logan being cute.
Jonah had a good day with four friends from school. We all went to see "Horton" and came back for cake and presents.
Jonah choose German Chocolate Cake this year which was interesting because no one in Germany has ever heard of this cake, and half of the German kids wouldn't eat it. I wonder how it got its name? Maybe the Chocolate is German and not the cake...

After 2 years of thinking, wishing and asking, we went to Berlin and got "Jack" a 9 week old Yorkshire Terrier. He is pretty cute... but manly, thus the name "Jack" as in Bauer. Caedon says he is the best dog in the world.

I finally have a funny language mix-up. I am sure I have had some in the past but this is the first that I was made aware of. The ironic thing about this conversation is half of it was in English!

I was relaying to my next door neighbor (and giving a little of a warning) that Saturday we were going to get a dog. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: Saturday we are going to Berlin to get a dog. (in German)
Her: How are you doing that?
Me: I called the Landlord and asked. He said we could get one if it is small.
Her: Where are you going to keep it?
Me: In the house but when we let it out we will keep it on a leash (we have adjoining yards and wanted to reassure her the dog wouldn't bother her.)
Misc. talk while walking home. Talk turned to meals , what the kids would eat, etc.

It may sound fairly normal although I did wonder a little at the slightly hesitant reaction she had (she is not an animal person) and the unusual questions and statements she used. But the whole time she had misunderstood my pronunciation (maybe it had to do with the wrong article) of dog, "HUND" for chicken "HUHN"!!!

So you can just imagine the conversation she had with her husband later that evening:
"Well, those crazy Americans next door are getting a pet chicken!"
"What?"
"Yeah, they said the landlord was OK with them having it in the house. And get this, they plan on keeping it on a leash when they bring it outside!"

It would explain why she said something about eating our pet at Christmas!

We took a couple of days after our annual meeting (see pictures 2 posts down) and stayed near the Italian-Slovenian border. We took a train into Venice and enjoyed the sights. (See the next post too, for a favorite sight.)

If you are a fan of the Indiana Jones movies, go pop in your copy of The Last Crusade. The church in Venice that was converted into a library is fiction, but the actual church they used exists. It is off the tourist path, but if your priorities are right you have to find these sorts of things. What is history, when there is pop-culture to be seen? There is only one manhole in the courtyard, and it doesn't look like the one in the movie, so they must have changed it since then. The bridge you see behind me is the one they cross on their way to the church at the beginning of the scene. Check it out.