Mark Kalpaikakgan (sp?) and his son Ari. Our tour guide and the director of the Austria program
Caitlan and Liz take in the secenery
This was inside Minoritenkirche. We had Mass here. The painting of our Lady within a painting I thought was interesting. Fr. Ron explained that when emporer Josef closed so many monasteries, the monks secretly kept this painting (the inner one).
Another magnificent organ in Minoritenkirche
A mosiac reproduction of Da Vinci's Last Supper. It weighs 20 tons.
Caitlan, Liz B. and Christy outside Minoritenkirche
Behind Ari and Mark is the palace, the third largest building in the world. Vatican has number 1, followed by something in Spain, and then this. From that balcony on the far right, Hitler announced his rule in 194-something, Pope John Paul spoke from it about Human Rights in the 80's and in 2005 Franciscan University Students spoke from it as well.
Mary, do you know what this is? The Spanish Riding School, home of the Lippazanners. When the American troops came to Vienna in World War II, we aided the Austrians in smuggling the magnificent animals to the mountains to protect them from invading Russians. Mary, you would love this city. You know, it doesn't smell like a city. It smells like horses. The whole downtown. And everywhere you go you see them. You hear them clip-clopping down the street as you pray in St. Stephen's.
A chapel in the palace where many Hapsbourgs were married. Mark was telling us that most kings acquired new land by making war. Hapsbourgs had a different strategy: make love. A slightly ackward way of putting it, but that is what they did: they acquired the largest rule in Europe by marrying off their children to Royalty far and wide.
Maria Teresa had this tomb in the chapel made for her favorite daughter. But her favorite daughter didn't die then and she was actually never buried here. The tomb stands empty.
ANOTHER beautiful organ
And another
An altar for St. Rita. All those marble placards say Danke, Rita. They were placed there by people who had miracles performed for them which they attributed to the saint.
A cappuchin monastery in Vienna. Mark told us that the Catacombs beneath the church are full of the tombs of nearly the entire Hapsbourg dynasty. When the funeral procession reached the door, they would knock on the locked door. The monks within reply Who knocks? And the funeral procession tells them it is the King and proceed to list all his greatest titles and conquests. Then the monks reply: "We do not know you." The funeral procession knocks again, and tells of the Emporer's lesser conquests and titles. Again the monks turn them away with "We do not know you." The third knock, they say "This is Holy Roman Emporer ____, a poor sinner." Finally, the doors swing open.
A chapel in the palace where many Hapsbourgs were married. Mark was telling us that most kings acquired new land by making war. Hapsbourgs had a different strategy: make love. A slightly ackward way of putting it, but that is what they did: they acquired the largest rule in Europe by marrying off their children to Royalty far and wide.
Maria Teresa had this tomb in the chapel made for her favorite daughter. But her favorite daughter didn't die then and she was actually never buried here. The tomb stands empty.
ANOTHER beautiful organ
And another
An altar for St. Rita. All those marble placards say Danke, Rita. They were placed there by people who had miracles performed for them which they attributed to the saint.
A cappuchin monastery in Vienna. Mark told us that the Catacombs beneath the church are full of the tombs of nearly the entire Hapsbourg dynasty. When the funeral procession reached the door, they would knock on the locked door. The monks within reply Who knocks? And the funeral procession tells them it is the King and proceed to list all his greatest titles and conquests. Then the monks reply: "We do not know you." The funeral procession knocks again, and tells of the Emporer's lesser conquests and titles. Again the monks turn them away with "We do not know you." The third knock, they say "This is Holy Roman Emporer ____, a poor sinner." Finally, the doors swing open. The last Hapsbourg would-be-current emporer by blood, Otto is still alive, and he has been invited to speak to us at the Kartause this semester. He has done so a few times in the past. He is quite old, a good holy great man like his beatified father. He will probably die soon. The big question is, will he be buried here in this way as well, with his father, Bl. Francis I, and grandfather and the rest of his royal family?
Liz and Caitlan
St. Stephen's
Look for the turkish cannonball lodged in the side of the pillar, a little to the right of the center of the picture.
Liz, me, Christi, and Caitlan. We ate lunch in the cellar at the Zwolf Apostelkeller. Now a restaraunt, it has had many uses in times of war and peace since it was built in 1100.
Some very special Romanian bread.
We were in St. Stephensplatz when this procession came out of a chapel door. We figured out it was a Romanian Catholic Church holding some kind of festival. They remained the whole afternoon dancing and playing instruments and singing and doing baton performances and what not. It was so captivating. We kept coming back. The people were just so into it, and just having a ball. All ages...old ladies and little girls and young men and women and old men. Singing and dancing and laughing. The joy was infectious and I was dying to dance too. It looked like so much fun. There is more pictures below as we wandered away and came back throughout the day
A metal dancing dude
Flowers of Austria. Sunflowers are everywhere.
Caitlan and Christy and a long-nosed friend
Me and Pinocchio and Liz B.
The crown of Josef II, if memory serves me correctly....although after musing through that entire museum, I doubt much of it is very clear
Caitlan looking at a painting of the Coronation of a king in the National Treasury museum. A museum crammed with paintings, royal and priestly vestments, armor, relics, and religious art. It really made me wish I knew German, though. We could figure out some of it, but being able to read the information plaques would have been handy.
This was an incredible piece. It looked like a rose bush King Midas crossed paths with.
A real narwhal horn
Yep. A family tree of Jesus. How cool is that?
A stunning cape vestment of some kind
A really interesting depiction of the Trinity, Father Son and Spirit.
Romanian old ladies mixing with the tourist crowd
Romanian old ladies dancing
Watching the old Romanian guys watching the old Romanian ladies dancing. These guys were great. They were singing at the tops of their voices to the slow waltzes of the ladies and clapping and occiasonally grabbing one and spinning her wildly. They got so into it.
singing and dancing
I just missed the heel-click in the air by half a second. Whenever the guys would swing the girls really fast, the girls would shriek with this ear-peircing scream at a pitch you never thought was possible.
These guys were having so much fun
St. Stephen's tiled roof as the sun sets. The roof was destroyed in WWII, but rebuilt in ten years to match exactly the way it was before.
Caitlan and her man. We were walking by shops with posters like this one and commenting. But Caitlan's comments on this one were hysterical. She walked past this fella and said something like, "He is not the guy for me...he looks like the type who will work late nights, come home and kiss the wife and then sit down with his laptop. Look at him, he is full of himself. He thinks he is so cute, and he is kinda right...but just wait: he'll ask you how was your day and he'll be checking his watch"!
Liz and Caitlan
St. Stephen's
Look for the turkish cannonball lodged in the side of the pillar, a little to the right of the center of the picture.
Liz, me, Christi, and Caitlan. We ate lunch in the cellar at the Zwolf Apostelkeller. Now a restaraunt, it has had many uses in times of war and peace since it was built in 1100.
Some very special Romanian bread.
We were in St. Stephensplatz when this procession came out of a chapel door. We figured out it was a Romanian Catholic Church holding some kind of festival. They remained the whole afternoon dancing and playing instruments and singing and doing baton performances and what not. It was so captivating. We kept coming back. The people were just so into it, and just having a ball. All ages...old ladies and little girls and young men and women and old men. Singing and dancing and laughing. The joy was infectious and I was dying to dance too. It looked like so much fun. There is more pictures below as we wandered away and came back throughout the day
A metal dancing dude
Flowers of Austria. Sunflowers are everywhere.
Caitlan and Christy and a long-nosed friend
Me and Pinocchio and Liz B.
The crown of Josef II, if memory serves me correctly....although after musing through that entire museum, I doubt much of it is very clear
Caitlan looking at a painting of the Coronation of a king in the National Treasury museum. A museum crammed with paintings, royal and priestly vestments, armor, relics, and religious art. It really made me wish I knew German, though. We could figure out some of it, but being able to read the information plaques would have been handy.
This was an incredible piece. It looked like a rose bush King Midas crossed paths with.
A real narwhal horn
Yep. A family tree of Jesus. How cool is that?
A stunning cape vestment of some kind
A really interesting depiction of the Trinity, Father Son and Spirit.
Romanian old ladies mixing with the tourist crowd
Romanian old ladies dancing
Watching the old Romanian guys watching the old Romanian ladies dancing. These guys were great. They were singing at the tops of their voices to the slow waltzes of the ladies and clapping and occiasonally grabbing one and spinning her wildly. They got so into it.
singing and dancing
I just missed the heel-click in the air by half a second. Whenever the guys would swing the girls really fast, the girls would shriek with this ear-peircing scream at a pitch you never thought was possible.
These guys were having so much fun
St. Stephen's tiled roof as the sun sets. The roof was destroyed in WWII, but rebuilt in ten years to match exactly the way it was before.
Caitlan and her man. We were walking by shops with posters like this one and commenting. But Caitlan's comments on this one were hysterical. She walked past this fella and said something like, "He is not the guy for me...he looks like the type who will work late nights, come home and kiss the wife and then sit down with his laptop. Look at him, he is full of himself. He thinks he is so cute, and he is kinda right...but just wait: he'll ask you how was your day and he'll be checking his watch"!All the time I was in Vienna, though i was thinking of everyone gathering at my Oklahoma home. Here's hello to Mom, Dad, Samantha, Andrew, Mary, Jacob, John Paul, Kateri, Joey, Donovan, Avery, Erika, Sara, Dane, Daniel, Aunt Karla, Uncle Ray, Grandma, Grandpa, and whoever else who may have shown up. Wish I could be there! Good luck finding a piece or a peace to sleep.....
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