On The Art Of Eating Popovers

William Wordsworth - My Heart Leaps Up

2010-10-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

"Memory doesn't pass, it accumulates. In this way, time is a gift." - Prof. Braun, commenting on this poem.

Smattering of pictures on a long-neglected blog

2010-10-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't posted a picture in a long time. Here's some recent pictures.
DDM grows....Emily was added since this picture, as well.
A group of us went to the Harvest Moon Ball, as it was called, last weekend. My favorite part, aside from dancing, was watching the crowd of, shall I say "classic folks", who came out for the swing band. One of them celebrated the eve of his 86th birthday dancing with his cute little wife, who matched his 4'2" stature.

SPRING BREAK 2009

2009-04-02T06:50:00.001-07:00

Recipe for the best week of the year:
5 girls who know how to have fun
Cracker Barrel signs
9 days
little red car
Ohio, Alabama, Florida, every state in between
Vegan food
Junk food
wholesale food
farm fresh roadside stand food
White sand
Ice cream
seashells
My nephew, sister, brother-in-law
Tizides cousins, aunt and uncle
ipod full of music
Shooter
Coffee
gasoline
Dolphins, alligators, lizards, sting-rays, jelly-fish, funky fish
glue gun
chocolate cake
Strawberries
Ave Maria college
No schoolwork
palm trees
flirtatious dunkin donuts guy
sunglasses

CRACKER BARREL!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't know a simple travel game could breed so much hatred and contempt.
Theresa bought her Aveo only the week before. By the time we got home it was already 1000 miles overdue for an oil change. Theresa did all of the driving, since it was a manual. Which means you should have bought stock in Starbucks.
A little stiff. But everybody feels better after some stretching

The pecan farms in GA made me homesick. But that Jazz and Banjo and little Rebel aren't out there, I would swear this was home.
Alligator hunting. It involves driving to the nearest water-filled ditch, and looking in. Francis points at any puddle of water and says: "wa-wa. Awigawo." while making a jaw snapping motion with his hands.
There it is, our alligator. A real live alligator. In addition, we saw all kinds of other exotic wildlife: Dolphins swam by, a 2 foot baby shark only a moment later (only a few feet away), huge extinct looking birds, some tiger-striped fish, jellyfish, and a stingray.

The almost-finished Ave Maria Chapel.

Ready, set, swim....see the video at the bottom for the live action shot.
Auntie Jamie was very happy to have a couple of days to relish her aunthood.
Francis is redefining 'baby-sitting"
Christine almost sold her soul to the vegan cult. But when she enjoys a raw turnip this much, it might be allowable.
Ice cream, white sand, sunset, salt in my hair, sand in my toes. Spring break. Sounds like a song.
We got a pint a piece, ate it all. Our lips were blue, the sun was down and the water was cold. But that didn't deter us from one more swim in the sea
One of Christine's life goals is to marry a native tree-shimmying boy. She practiced every chance she got, so that when she does find the monkey man, she will be prepared to pick coconuts and live happily ever after in the palm trees.

We all collected shells and stayed up late making shell picture frames to commemorate this glorious week forever.
Yvonne, Regina, myself and Christine

California girl looks like she belongs on the beach.

The whole group of us: Yvonne, Theresa, Christine, Regina, and yours truly

Every once in a while, the windows would go down, the sunglasses on, the hair flew and we cranked it up for a round of Every Time We Touch.

Look at this kid. Doesn't get any better.

Pensacola beach. It actually had waves.

Darlings of Divine Mercy

2009-01-29T17:26:00.000-08:00

I am so glad to be back with my household sisters! We are going to have a great semester!

March For Life XXXVI

2009-01-29T16:47:00.000-08:00

Kristine getting a I'll-keep-you-warm-if-you-keep-me-warm hug

Joshua got a lollypop for good behavior

Haggard post-marchers, waiting for the bus (that won't be coming because it broke down!!)

Christine and Regina

Sleepy Yvonne

Kyle and Peter looking epic at the Lincoln Memorial

Me and my roomies and Kristine, whom we wish was a roomie

Sleepy,dreamy people....are you noticing a trend?

A really cool picture of Peter Lee

Our Favorite Minnesotan

Our favorite Guamian (?)

Two great PA People

Elizabeth is the only one NOT making a face!

And our favorite Michiganders

Hmm....where should we go?

Back in America

2008-12-22T17:41:00.002-08:00

So, I have been back in the US for nine days. I honestly haven't had much time to really think about my Osterreich semester or even share it with my family and friends, since i have been at work almost every waking moment.
Today I went to K-mart. From the moment pulled into the parking lot, I got major I-miss-Europa pains. Let me explain:
1. I was driving (my new van, by the way). I was driving. No walking 30 minutes to a train station, no waiting for trains, no bus, no tickets. Just me behind the wheel.
2. It was a gigantic parking lot. It struck me that i don't remember ever seeing a parking lot of considerable size except a coupls somwhat small ones in Ireland.
3. Fat people. I know that sounds horrible. But it is true. Supposedly Osterreich is one of the heaviest countries in Europe, but I still don't remember seeing that many overweight people.
4. Annoying intercom systems.
5. People sprechend Englisch.
6. Signs in English. Loud signs, big signs, bright signs. Advertisement overkill.
7. The toy aisle was scary. I am afraid of what little boys are playing with these days in America - where are the innocent playmobiles and blocks and books that they had in the Gaming toy store? Oh, and Barbie dolls and an overabundance of pink in the little girl aisle.
8. It is HUGE! Everything is big. And there is so much of everything on the shelvee. I felt lost in it.
9. Messy. Messy shelves, half-opened packages, messy floors, disorganization.

I know, I am kind of being ridiculous, I was only in Europe 4 months. I have been in America for 20 years. I shouldn't have been that shocked. But, it really was just really weird.

Some other things that have shocked me/I miss about Austria/reasons I am glad to be back in America:

Wind. I forgot about Oklahoma wind. I only remember there being any kind of wind once, and that was on top of book mountain the night we climbed it in the wee hours just before flying home.

American currency. The first time I checked somebody out at work, I didn't even think about it. And then the next person I checked out asked for change for a five, and I automatically started digging in the change...and then I realized that I was back in America, where there are 1 dollar bills!

The roads are really wide. And, yes, Katie Hess: YELLOW LINES!

Cowboys. Men that dress like men, alleluia. I was getting really tired of the men of my own generation in Europe who all dressed like girls.

Pick-up trucks. I saw exactly one in all of Europe. I am glad to see dirty farm trucks with rubber boots and tool boxes in the back.

American cheeses don't count as cheese.

11x14 paper.

Still get a little jumbled when I say excuse me: pardon moi, scuzzi, and entschuldigen all try to come out.

Lack of acoustics. I miss high ceilings. I miss being able to hear myself sing. I miss being able to play my violin in a room that resonated. It sounds so much worse in carpeted rooms.

I miss the little Austrian roadside shrines.

Semmels. Do I miss them?

I had nuttella without Caitlin and Liz. It almost seemed wrong to eat it without them.

My Austrian bed. Feather pillow, duvet.

I feel like I have just woken up from a dream. A really sweet dream. And now I am back to reality. Things look strange, yet strangely familiar.

Honestly, I am a little frustrated at a) my utter inability to convey my experience to people interested in hearing about it, and b) people being rather disinterested. I mean, everyone seems interested at first, and demands that i tell them all about Austria, but soon they change the subject. I understand that they get bored, and I am not a good story teller anyway, but still, I want to share.

I am really really glad to be home again, home home, home in Ameria. I missed my family a whole lot while I was there. There was far too much growing up and changing without my seeing it.

My semester in Austria is continuing to unfold, and i realize now that I will continue to reap the benefits for years to come. Although, no doubt, my family and friends are going to be real sick and tired of hearing me say "Oh, I was there." and starting every other sentence with "In Austria.....".

Back in America

2008-12-22T17:41:00.001-08:00

Beware the Krampus!

2008-11-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

The full cultural experience. Advent in Gaming. Our entire quiet, sleepy Kartause has been transformed today. Every nook and cranny is filled with booths of local Austrians selling their wine, bread, cheese, honey, pottery, glass-work, wood-work, candles, flowers, ornaments, needle-work, art, and crafts of every kind. They have taken over our class-rooms and court yard. They will be here until right before we leave.

The highlight of the day, however, was just after dark. The courtyard filled with expectant people, me included. The Krampuses are coming.
I had been warned about the Krampuses. Fr. Seraphim showed us a video he made about them the other day in history class. So I had worked up some excitement.
I was not to be disappointed. They puffed smoke into the courtyard. Creepy music began. They knocked at the courtyard gate. They busted through the gate and spilled into the courtyard to the most epic music ever, if not exactly what I would have picked: theme music from Chariots of Fire. I was dying laughing.
No one that speaks English can tell me exactly what the Krampus is. They have been around since ancient times, of that much is certain (and by the smell of them, the costumes, made of real fur, are aparently originals) Apparently a Krampus is some kind of evil spirit that whips the people and eats the bad kids just before Santa Klaus comes. That way, I guess, Santa doesn't have to bother with making a list. Saves him some trouble with procuring the lumps of coal, too, I guess.
They are hideous to look at. A real feast for the eyes.
Tolkien might have had this in mind when he first started writing about orcs

Why is the baby not screaming in terror? A few children did get afraid, but most Austrian children just don't have a healthy amount of fear. American kids cry when they see the Easter bunny. But this ain't no Easter bunny.

This one demonstrating his whipping procedure. He had a horsetail and he wasn't afraid to use it. He was the one who got me three times. And by 'got' I mean singled me out in the crowd, and chased me down with steady assuredness. No amount of hinding behind guys or slipping through the crowd helps. You think you've lost him and then suddenly you feel his furry grip with the bear-like claws and he drags you away like an ogre. They have this really good tactic of completely enveloping you in this big bear hug, lifting you off the groud so you don't know which way is up and your autonomic nervous system begins to kick in. You dare not scream because that only gets you a mouth full of the beast's hair, which is probably from some yak 50 years since eaten. So you laugh. There is nothing else to do and everyone else is laughing at you. You laugh until you are let go and then you run, during which you are picked up by another Krampus.

I have to admit, it must be enormously fun to be a Krampus.

Caitlin getting mauled

This was the only one who wasn't terrifying. Kinda cute in fact. And he had no arms to beat you with or pick you up with.

Three smiling faces: conceals the slight terror that is gripping our hearts. Everyone else is smiling, so it must be okay. We keep smiling till we turn around, and then we gulp hard.

They are completely silent, as in no roaring, except for all these massive cow bells and gourds filled with beans to make noise-makers. It is actually a slightly creepier effect.

At the end, someone lights a torch and they all congregate in the middle of the courtyard, after about 15 minutes of harrassing the crowd. They all settle down and kneel down and remove their masks. And the show is over. What exactly the last part means....speculation on the part of Fr. Seraphim that it is the light of Christ?? Would research it, but they just don't have that kind of information readily available, or Fr. Seraphim would have found it out.

Christy tried on a sweaty smelly Krampus mask

This is what happened to the bad little girl

Book Mountain

2008-11-25T10:57:00.002-08:00

This snow-ball fight got a little out of hand

Pfarrkirche Gaming

How green is my valley

Laura and Brendan

Caitlin, Rob, Paul, Jon

Paul, Rob, and Jon having an 'epic' moment

That is my home down there. I can see my bedroom window.

Liz taking it all in

Check out the aquaduct

Caitlin having one of those moments....

I am really happy

Diana left snow-angels like Gretl leaving breadcrumbs

Laura, Liz and Brendan take a little break.

Whiskey to warm the heart. And because it is cool.

Diana signing the Book Mountian Book. Look for my signature on November 23rd, 2008, if you ever go there.

That is a cell phone tower. Now zoom in to the top. That is two boys near the top. I started climbing and got about 1/3 of the way up, and I had enough of the view that I wanted. It doesn't look so bad, but then you get up there and realize it is icy and the wind is blowing like the dickens because it is completely unprotected, and I realized the only joy I would get from this is the ability to say that I could do it, which is not exactly worth it to me.

At the top of every peak, there is Cross.

Somewhere up there are Jon and Rob.

sliding down is always more fun than climbing up

What does snow inspire you to do?

2008-11-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

Pray...preferably in old Carthusian Monasteries?

Make a snowman?

This one was built by the Cassidy boys before Mass. Quite apropriate that the mural on the wall behind reminds us of the time passing away. Remember your death, o man of snow. Life is short, and eternity long.

Pick Misteltoe?

All that for this little weed? You should have seen what we went through to get this little thing down from the tree.

Cook? Something like Chili, corn-bread, apple-cake, fried apples and onions, and home-made hard egg-nog?

Our Spar run: going down the recipe list to make sure we got it all.

Liz and Caitlin trying to figure out which one of these packets contains chili powder. If only one of us knew German.

Fight? A little case of cabin fever? already?

Study?

Swim? Okay, enough of that studying business...time for a jump in the creek.

A display and proof of manliness and super-hero powers, so I am told. I still have a lot to learn, I guess. To me it looks like a like a bunch of idiots running around in shorts in the snow. But amusing, of that I agree.

Winter Wonderland

2008-11-22T00:29:00.000-08:00

Last night was one of those perfect nights. It started with everyone in the kitchen playing games and instruments and making cookies. It progressed into a wild snow-ball fight with the first snow of the year, and ended with a movie in the audi max on the big screen, snuggled up in blankets. Rob making his superhero cookies

John Paul trying to teach Paul the flutist's pout

Caitlin, Liz and I made Rob some cookies, and cookie dough. We normally wouldn't be so eager to do so, but this once Rob deserved it. We mentioned we wanted chocolate. Spar closed in 15 minutes. Rob up and sprinted, in the freezing falling snow, all the way to Spar and returned with a giant Milka bar. That is an unprecedented act of chivalry unknown to mankind thus far. He has earned himself a place in a history book as far as we are concerned

Liz repairs Rob's pants. Rob plays in the snow. Rob returns pants with a big hole. Liz fixes Rob's pants again.

Rob's cookies....noticing a theme?

Last night was the first snow of the year. We got some 3 inches. A glorious and quite vicious snow-ball fight naturally ensued.

Getting in the holiday mood

The creek that some boys have jumped in every single day that they have been here, and you can bet they will again today.

This is my HOUSE! My window is the third from the right on the roof.

The Professor kids playing in the snow....might have to borrow some sleds from them later.

FUS Austira has got Talent!

2008-11-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

My whole body hurts from laughing so hard. The talent show just got over. I was to the point of tears almost at times. You woouldn't get most of it. But trust me, hilarious.
Sorry, the pictures are pretty dark I didn't want to use my flash. Sr. Monica, Dr. Cassidy, Sr. Grace Ann and Sr. Faustina

Some of the Cassidy kids

Cassidy boys

My violin has talent...in Eva's talented hands.

Bob, John Hummel, and Horatio in an eat-off competition

Tierney and Danny and Grace doing a really funny original compostion/skit

Bethany and Katie probably were the funniest of all. A catholic spoof on that girl your hair is ridiculous youtube clip that went around last semester.

Josh, Mitch doing a yoda-ling song of their own

a well-studied Prof. Asci, played by Willie. Brain and Braun.

Vince and Dr. Minto

Fr. Ron, Mark, and Prof. Siefert

Cory and Doug, MC's

Laura, getting lost while trying to put her duvet cover back on her bed.....

Ellie did an incredibly good impression of Fr. Ron

This was cheating a little. Kalpakgians shouldn't be allowed to do impressions of other Kalpakgians....it is too perfect.

RD's Vince the ever fashionable man of many scarves, Diana as joyful Katie Hess, and JP as coffee slurping cynical Dr. Minto. Bravo.

Running around Rome like we own the place

2008-11-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

Castel San Angelo

The most beautiful mosaic I have ever seen. I think. That might be just because I am so in love with the Pieta of which it is a copy.

I freaking love the pantheon.

Does that strike anyone else as just a little ironic? Pantheon, McDonalds: 50 meters.

This was one of life's finest moments. I was standing in front of the Pantheon, eating a huge italian sandwhich that I got for a euro and a half, enjoying the music of a three-generation band (don't know where the other two generations got to in this picture) playing some of my favorite classical peices, enjoying the day with 3 of the best girls in the world, and knowing I have a place to sleep and dinner tonight (not always a given when travelling). Caitlin and I looked at each other and heaved a big sigh...we were both realizing how golden the moment was.

No comment necessary.

And just in case that nutella was making you hungry...

St. Peter's Basilica

2008-11-19T21:39:00.000-08:00

Benedict XVI's Papal coat of arms in the private papal gardens below. The explanation of it is really cool . I will save it for some other time.

That's me....400ft above Rome, enjoying the early morning sunshine of a Sunday morning on the Dome of St. Peter's.

Caitlin and Andrea and I

This was really funny. There was some 60 or so FUS students that got up early and headed into Rome. I got off the metro and looked behind me to see this endless stream of them....all of them girls. As we went past this open gate to the west of the Vatican, every girl at once, as if on a cue whipped out their camera and took a picture of these 3 Swiss Guards. I was laughing hysterically at the sight, and even the well-practiced Swiss Guard's shoulders were shaking a bit.

The Jubilee Doors

I think there ought to be a sign like this outside every church in the world. What a cute way to get the point across! Modesty for dummies.

Caitlin getting a glimse at the world from the Vatican

Ahh. Rome.

Step over step, step over step, about 500 of them, all the way to the top of the highest dome in Rome. Not for the weak-hearted or claustrophobic

The Sistine chapel that I am saving for the next trip to Rome. I can't believe I spent 6 days in Rome and never saw Michelangelo's ceiling! That's just how much there is to do in Rome!

That is masses of angels painted on that dome.

For all the Saints.... Some of the 140 some saints that look over the square. These things are massive, though they don't look so big from the square.

I went to Mass, actually two, in the very front row in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday morning.

Bernini's Bronze Baldaccino (sp?)

The Chair of St. Peter!

Three guesses. Was my favorite hunk of marble in the world before I saw it...after seeing it, my opinion still stands

There have been only two saints with glasses, it seems, and every time I see a statue of them it cracks me up. Josemaria Escriva and Maxmillian Kolbe. Something about marble glasses on a statue just 'tickles my fancy' as Prof. Cassidy says.

When in Rome......

2008-11-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Drink abrosial hot chocolate for breakfast. Climb 500 steps up to the cupola on St. Peter's just after sunrise and see the city. Michelangelo's Pieta. Mass in St. Peter's. See the Pope. Run into your brother-in-law's sister. Gelati. Wandering in ancient ruins. Bernini's great sculptures. very big very old churches. Outdoor Bocelli concert. Pizza by the Kilo.

All in a day's work in the Eternal City.

I stuck out my bottom lip when I saw this on a phone booth. Wishing I could.........

Frescoes in San Clemente

Bernini's Moses is pretty cool.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Streets of Rome at night

Also in San Clemente, which happens to also be one of the 25 house-churches of Rome, where it all started. Catacombs of saints beneath the house, a church built on top of the house, and this church built on top of that church! Churches have onion layers in Rome.

The ceiling of St. Mary Major, gilded with the first shipment of gold from the New World.

Bernadette told me about this free concert in piazza popola. I had to skip a free dinner at the hotel but really, now: free Andrea Bocelli conert or free dinner?

It was so cool. Thousands and thousands of Italians, crammed into an this ancient piazza, everyone belting out national Italian songs (it was celebrating Fallen Day, November 4th, a national holiday celebrating the 1918 armistice that ended WWI) with their own blind Bocelli, of whom they are not a little proud. It was not only a great concert, but a great cultural experience. A real "when in Rome do as the Romans..." moment, you know?

We pushed forward in the massive massive crowd as far up as you could go; just behind the seats reserved for military officials.

That is Andrea Bocelli, folks!

Eva, Cate, Lexi and me eating pizza on the Spanish steps after the concert; Horatio i think is taking the picture...we lost Emily and Jeff somewhere in the massive crowd.

At the end of the concert, they threw red, green and white confetti on us.

Liz

My roomie Laura and I chillin' in St. Peter's square

Laura....the diligent student....but really, what better place to study theology of Christ?

Gelati and two very happy girls

Two happy girls trying to eat each other's gelati

His toes were so warn away by so many kisses that they were gilded in bronze

Bernini's The Ecstasy of St. Theresa of Avila (one of those many "hey, we talked about that in art class" moments). The picture is not at all doing it justice...I don't know why I am even putting it up on here.

I love light. I like it even better when it appears on camera the way it looks to the eye. Look at the way the single slender beam seems to come from the rose window right to Christ's head.

I like marble too.

Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome. It was really pretty. St. Catherine of Siena's tomb was there.

Ancient Rome

2008-11-17T05:16:00.000-08:00

You can see on the facade of this temple-turned-church were the dirt level used to be (see how high the door is?) back when this used to be a caw pasture, before they excavated it out to reveal the tomb of ceasar and temples and courtyards and such.

I am not quite tall enough to pull off being a goddess. I have no neck.

Mark and the Colloseum. While I am singing the praises of our RD's, our Res Life Director deserves as much. Mark is just amazing. He gives the best tours, too, although you have to keep up with his long stride. I cannot say enough good about him really, so I shall just leave it at that. I am just so thankful for him and his energy and genuine concern and interest in all of the students.

Arch of Triumph. It is so sad to see it and realize all that is means. Jews to this day will not pass beneath it. It commemorates the Romans conquering Jerusalem and making off with the holy objects.

The Jewish built the Pyramids, they built the Colloseum.

The one thingy, that we learned about in art class that I really like but can't think of it's name. I think emporer Trajan built it, maybe, but it has a whole history bas relief etched round and round it.

Mother-house church of the Franciscan TORs in Rome: Sts. Cosmas and Damian, right on the Roman forum in an old temple. It was before this mosaic of Christ and his sheep that Thomas Merton experienced his conversion.

The Tarpeian rock. Lots of bad people, and some not so bad people, got thrown off of this tower.

Olives. I have a new love for olive trees after these ten days in Italy. Like my Austrian love of Sunflowers.

Ruins of Ceasar's private little circus

Vestal Virgins (private joke, I think)

Caitlin's fresh-olive face.

My room-mate Amanda and I sneaked away Tuesday mornign from the bustling city of Rome to a smaller port town on the outskirts, where St. Maria Goretti lived. We didn't get to her actual house, because it was a bit out in the country, but we saw her tomb and a little museum and enjoyed the beach and searched for crabs.

Basilica where St. Maria Goretti's tomb is.

Me, wishing I had brought a change of clothes so that I could go swimming in that deep blue sea. It was warm water, comparatively

Liz and self overlooking the Roman Forum

A shot of Amanda Keena and Jackie Roesler and our awesome RD Katie Hess. They were trying to do a serious picture, and Katie just couldn't do it. I know that feeling.

Just a quick tribute: Katie and Vince have been the most incredible RD's possible and have made this semester so much better than it already was. They have gone way above and beyond and I have so much respect for them. If only all RD's were just like them!

The sacred stairs Jesus walked during his passion that St. Helen had moved from Jerusalem.

St. John Lateran, home parish of the Pope.

The picture is really bad, some guy took it for us and didn't steady the camera enough. It is a pity, because those three girls are some of the prettiest girls I know. My childhood best friend, Kristine, Bernadette (my borther-in-law's sister) , and Caitlin's childhood best friend Shelagh. Bernie and I found each other at Sunday Mass in St. Peters, then Caitlin and I went over to Christendom's campus to chat for a bit on Tuesday night, and we all went out for coffee/champagne on Wednesday night. Some of the best couple hours of my trip, really. It felt almost like talking to family (well, Bernadette could almost be considered family anyway). After going all semester without being able to talk to any family or old friends, it was just what i needed.

St. Paul's outside the walls.

Dinner in an authentic Italian restaraunt, it was fantastic. Clockwise from left are Phil, Alley, Brendan, Liz, Caitlin, Paul, John Paul, and Rob making the funny face. Late night Gelati followed, and some aimless wandering in the streets of Rome.

I see my Papa Benedict

2008-11-17T04:48:00.000-08:00

We ambitious Franciscans got up at 5 am to make sure we were the first in line to see the Holy Father for the Wednesday audience. Completely unnessasarily. But Franciscans can have fun even when standing in a line for 6 hours at 7 degrees Celsius. Caitlin and I cuddling to stay warm.

It was still dark when we arrived.

A few hard core couples seeking to have their marriage blessed got there almost as early as we did.

Willie leading the crowd in some good old Steubie praise songs in St. Peter's as we await the Pope. The nuns up front we immensly enjoying it and were cheering us on.

Not zoomed in. This was my view of the pope as he approached in his pope-mobile.

JP being obnoxious, as I am trying to listen to the Holy Father. Actually most of the boys were getting obnoxious, so that I was on the verge of spontaneous combustion into laughter at any time. Fr. Brad was setting the example, 'translating" his own own version of the Pope's message for us, which had more to do with sausages than anything.

This picture was not zoomed in either. This was actually how close I was to the man. A second before this, he blessed us and looked right at us but I wasn't thinking of my camera right then. I can't say that I really made direct eye contact or anything, but I did see him, the direct successor of saint Peter, up close enough to see the wrinkles in his face.

Some of the FUS grad students who live in Rome joined us

ASSISI

2008-11-16T12:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, Assisi may possibly rival even Austria. It was so nice after the crazy rush and bustle and graffiti and scandal of big city Rome. The perfect climax to a semester's travels. A place of beauty and peace all around. Cass and John warned that I would fall in love with Assisi, but I was skeptical...of course you fall in love with the town in which you were engaged. But no, truly Assisi stands on its own merit as one of the loveliest places on Earth.
Cobblestoned streets, happy, quiet, friendly Italians. Churches everywhere. Adoration everywhere. Franciscans everywhere.
Olive trees and Pomegrantes. And perhaps the best part: three square Italian meals a day with sumptuous amount of bread soaked in fresh dark olive oil, endless pasta paired with endless wine. The best I have eaten all semester no doubt! It makes one appreciate St. Francis' austere fasting even more, with food like that available!

Garments of St. Clare and Francis

Enjoying the sunrise over Italy, in perfect peace and solitude, up near the Castle Rocca Maggiore above Assisi. Cannot be beat for a good way to start the day.

Look at that Perugian countryside. It looks like this nearly all the way from Rome. I drove in the van with just Fr. Ron and Jill and we took the back roads all the way, which afforded better views of castles on hills and such.

Flying Butresses!!!!!!!!!!! I love those!!! And its not even Gothic.

Hitchhiker maddonna

The original San Damiano Crucifix of St. Francis. Saw the original Port, too.

I wandered for a while in the olive groves on the hills around Assisi. I watched the farmers harvesting the olives for awhile, shaking the olives into these big burlap sheets, and stacking up crates full of them. I decided I want to grow olives when I grow up.

My favorite street in all Assisi. It was tough decided because every one looks picturesesque.

Basilica San Francesco

The whole town is full of little shops that are so much fun to look through. Cheeses and wines and hams, like this one, or olive-woodworkers, artists, potters, toy shops, hat shops, embroidery shops, cooking shops, little lead soldier and chess set shops. And way too many souvenier shops making lots of money paradoxically, off of Il Poverello.

Assisi at sunset

The woods near the hermitage. I saw evidence of wildboar everywhere there, but never actually one, but I was hoping. If I were I wild pig I would want to live there too. However, as a person, St. Francis' monks had it kinda hard in the cold hard little caves there.

Who needs St. Francis when you have Fr. Brad? Oh, Fr. Brad......

Cory helping Paul Hess out with his (AWESOME) new hat y favorite image of Santa Chiara in all Assisi

On the last night in Assisi, Liz and I went back up to the castle for one last look at Italy. The lights down below were gorgeous, the wind was blowing, it is was so beautiful and peac

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Even in Assisi, the same as in Rome: Take an old Roman temple, put a statue of Mary where once a statue of a god/ess, and voila: instant church at half the price and work!

Caitlin and Liz and I walked past this portrait in a window, then did a double take and rewind, and each of us looked at each other and said: Look, it is an Icon of prof. Asci when he is not happy with your mid-term results! I walked into S M Maggiore and a bunch of Assisian school kids were practicing Christmas Carols with the parish priest!
The rest of these were from the bus on the way home, just snapshots of the Alps, you know....

And the knee-deep sea of the Venetian lowlands

The Saints Go Marching....

2008-11-05T02:41:00.000-08:00

The Kartause kids had their All Saints Day Party Yesterday, and I intruded for the sake of nostalgia. I wanted to put a skirt on my head and pretend I was some obsure holy virgin martyr too: only propriety held me back. I hate being grown-up. I am not even a big kid anymore! The All Saints day party used to be the highlight of my fall as a kid. I remember laboring for weeks and weeks on the perfect saint and costume. Do you girls remember the year we were sick in Oregon and we missed the homeschool party? I was so bummed! And then we had our own party, and Dad even dressed up in a bathrobe and had cornflakes falling from his eyes? I have a picture up in my room of all of us (except dad, who took the picture apparently), in very holy postures, Katherine trying not to laugh and failing and me not even trying. Caitlin and Kika Asci

Francesca (Kika) Asci as St. Elizabeth

A blurry Mrs. Asci doing the Limbo

trick-or-treating in the dorm

My buddy, Aris Kalpagkian, (I think he is dressed as a saint-eating-colloseum-tiger). Aris calls me 'suitcase', with a lisp. I feel privileged - any girl in my position would be.

Paul Hess and Vince dropping the limbo stick

Prof. Healy (Art), having a chat over some cheerios with with one of the Cassidy boys in a markered beard and one of the Asci boys dressed as Pier Giorgio.

Ave's Barbara enjoying two saintly little girls

Elijah, or just Eli. Probably one of the cutest kids on the face of the earth.

And now, more pictures of my Kartause. I know, ya'll are probably getting sick of my same old view out my bedroom window, but it still gets to me every day that I am here, and sometimes I just can't help but grab my camera and immortalize the moment in some way.

Monday morning, I opened my eyes at twenty past six, and thought I woke up in a perfect dream for a moment, then realized that no, this dream was real life. I really do live here! I really am a princess in this castle! I grabbed my camera to capture the moment. It doesn't, but you get the idea. The air itself I swear was a golden pink and is utterly indescribable - a color like the ones Elizabeth's Eger's sister describes, but is rarely if ever seen.

And these while I was reading philosophy in my bedroom, sitting on the windowsill- enjoying the still warm November air, smelling the smoke from the woodstove that heats the water in the building, and just soaking up the sunshine. Ahh, life is good.

The leaves are almost entirely fallen. Book mountain in the background, is nearly barren of the stunning color of three weeks ago.

Napoli * Sorrento * Pompeii

2008-11-02T07:15:00.000-08:00

Headed down south for the weekend. It was a toss-up between Swizterland and S. Italy. I didn't make up my mind till the last minute. I shall have to save the mountains and snow some later date, because I boarded a train for Napoli. And what a train ride: what was scheduled to be 18 hours ended up being 24+. The Italiano Treini are deplorable. Always late and unreliable and poorly maintained. But it was an interesting trip: we rode half of it talking to Jan, a Romanian bouncer who warned us that we would most certainly be mugged, possibly wake up in an ice-bath without half our organs in the morning, and possibly be murdered in the city of Napoli, based on the fact that we were blondes and American. He also said some things about O'Bama that are not safe enough to be repeated online. But he was amusing, and he liked us, and gave us each a few lei as a souveneir to remember him by.
Contrary to the warnings, we had a wonderful time in Naples, although we spent little time actually in Naples. We stayed at a great Australian hostel, ate some incredible margherita pizza which was fired right in front of us, went to Mass friday morning at the Carmina Cathedral, made our way to Pompeii, found Phil, went to Sorrento and had a fabulous afternoon and evening in that Mediteranean city, ate some more incredible food, and made it safely out of the city with all our members and money. Pompeii was absolutely incredible and so worth it. We spent almost 4 hours there, still didn't see everything. It was so cool.

Ancient crosswalk, with wagon weel rut marks in the stone street.

That is me, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background, sitting on a wall that was built over two thousand years ago.

Workers at the excavation site

A Pompeiian fastfood stall

An orange tree that provided us with our lunch

Mars

A rather sloppy but still very striking and well preserved Venus that has survived an earthquake, a volcano, millions of tourists, and 1939 years

These British boys were so funny. They had the stongest accents and we were imitating them all weekend afterwards (Hey, that's not fair - he got one and I didn't!). The one kid was posing like a gladiator, or so he thinks, for his friend.

the Ampitheater

Sorrento waterfront - kind of out of place...pictures got out of order.

A rather unfortunate sombody who was in the wrong place at the wrong time August 24th, 79 A.D. It is incredible. Michelangelo sculpted a statue of a man out of raw Marble. Mt. Vesuvius made a raw man into a statue.

I will always remember Napoli for its homeless dogs. They are everywhere. 9 of them kept us company and entertained us the whole night in the Napoli train station.

But my favorite dog was not wild, but a German shepherd at Phil's hostel. She wanted people to throw large rocks for her like Mindy used to. She was quite smart too - by the time I left, after playing with her for half an hour while Phil and Jon laid in the hammocks on the lawn, she had learned three words in English: come, and down and sit. Thats more than I can say I learned in that amount of time in Italian.

Phil eating tentacle! But wait, where did Phil come from? We knew Phil was going to be in Capri and Naples for the weekend. He had set out the night before us. But I didn't really think there was any hope of seeing him. Napoli is gigantic, and we had no plans to meet him. Boarding a train from Pompeii, there he was. The poor guy had been through the ringer: he had left his passport and Eurail and other important stuff on a train, and had quite a time of it for the past 24 hours when we found him. But at that point, things were starting to look up for him and he was getting things ironed out. After the afternoon and evening with us, he went on to Capri and had a wonderful time, for which I was very glad. And I was very happy to have bumped into him - it was quite fun.

My first taste of authentic Neapolitan seafood: a calamari pasta dish at a little private restarant in Sorrento. Clams and squid and tomatoes and herbs and pasta drenched in olive oil. Very strong local red wine, served from the tap in a flask. Italian music. A little old man waiter, Luigi, who was like an Italian version of Chuck, who tried to trick me into drinking balsamic vinegar.

Roma: a stolen glance

2008-11-02T05:21:00.000-08:00

So, here we are, arriving in Roma on the morning of Saturday, November 1st. We have Napoli behind us, that is a start. We intended to take the first treni toward home when we got there. Turns out we are stuck there until 17:00, the earliest we can get a connection to Wien.
Stuck in Roma! Are you kidding me? Bring it On! We first stopped for a little refreshment - a coffee and pastry shop. While we were there some 8 or 9 nuns came in for a shot of bean juice to jumpstart their day. That was the first thing I noticed about Rome: it is infested with nuns. I should have kept a tally.
Then we started walking - walked all day - saw a huge amount of Rome on foot. Later we traced our routes and we snaked all over the city.
It was a great preview: we are going there as a school next Friday anyway - spending 4 days there, so we felt like we were sneaking a look at a Christmas present early. Walking out of Roma termini, we agreed that we would at very least save the Coloseum and St. Peter's for when we all go together. We just had to save that much as a suprise. There ought to be plenty in Rome to look at without going there.

Caesar

Art booths in Piazza Nuova, what used to be the site of Chariot races

Castel Sant' Angelo

All Saint's Day Mass in the Gesu. My favorite church in all of Europa this far, and that is saying a lot.

They had a mirror set up so you could look at the magificent ceiling for as long as you liked without getting a crook in your neck.

Noon, November 1st, 2008 - Feast of All the Holy Saints in Heaven. This is my view: the Holy Father Benedict XVI, direct sucessor of St. Peter. I tried to stay away from the Vatican until Thursday, but St. Peter's pulls you like a magnet (or attracts like a bug-light) and there is no resisting. We realized afterwards that without intending to we walked almost straight to it from the Roma Termini.

We got there at ten minutes till the angelus. They were just throwing the rug out the window: could it really be? Is the Holy Father really about to meet us here? Yeah, on a morning that I had planned to be on a train going home, I was standing in St. Peter's square looking up at Papa Benedict!

(I did not zoom in with this picture, so this is how close we actually were.)

The crowd of some 140 saints, the church tirumphant, in marble, all unique, crowded around the church militant in the square below on their collective feast day.

A 5 kilo jar of Nutella. That is 11 pounds. But I wouldn't put it past Andrea and Liz.

Coming out of Mass at the Gesu, there was a marathon being run, and one of the older guys was singing Italian love songs as he ran and stopping to dance with pretty women!

The Egyptian Obelisk is Vatican Square

The view from Ponte St. Angelo

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II

St. Peter

Yep, that's the Pantheon!!!! It was locked at the moment- I will go to Mass there next week though - Mass in what was built to be Roman temple to all the gods!!!

Trevi fountain

A candid shot of a metal man street performer taking a cigarette break and counting his change. (Kyle, he has a water bottle just like the one you used to have)

Santa Maria degli Angeli. Michelangelo's last work. It is in the Ruins of Diocletian's public Bathhouse.

In the Bath/Santa Maria degli Angeli, there was this cool calendar of the constellations that stretched diagonally across the whole floor.

There was a free organ concert on this thing that we just missed.

Piazza della Republica as the sun was setting.

MMMMmmm!!!!!!!

The picture is dark, but we saw a little baby girl being baptized in Santa Maria degli Angeli

Probably one of the most beautiful Icons I have ever laid eyes on.

This morning, we checked off the last day on our Eurail pass. I am a little glad of it, although also saddened. I walked back in the gorgeous November beauty the 3 km. from the Kienberg-gaming trainstation, comparing stories with other students about their weekend adventures and watching them stick out their thumbs and get picked up a couple at a time. I wanted to walk this one last time, taking it all in: the feeling of a shrunken stomach, three days without a shower, two without a bed, sun on my face, blisters on my feet, camera full of pictures, my little bag that I thought I packed so lightly and yet at this moment feeling so ridiculously heavy, and a heart full of memories: walking back to this beautiful Kartause that I call home.

Costume Partay

2008-10-27T12:55:00.001-07:00

With a sunrise like this, it was easy to wake up this morning. Just had to throw this one on here too.

And now, our crazy costume party. A few questionables and unmentionables are not pictured. Below are only some of the honorable mentions. I am sad I missed Paul Hess though - he was some Monstors Inc., female monstor whose costume involved a very cool mask and some 5 pillows and lipstick and a special monster voice. But he took it off before the party even started because he had music ministry practice.

Hippie after a successful bob

Rob dressing up in a normal-guy costume as he often does to disguise his normal super-hero self.

Me (Alice or Heidi or something), Oebb train-conductor Phil, Hippie Jon and Vampire? Christy

Phil bobbing...and about to get dunked

Most of the LCI students dressed up like smurfs

Cate Donovon and Jerome share a moment

Amanda Keena as Snow White

Eva Piras and Liz de St. Auben

Katie and Mitch as Profs Siefert and Asci

Mary Manion and Annie Jacobs as Mensa workers - complete with simmels in the pocket!

Fr. Ron as Fr. Ron - monks don't need to dress up - and Mark Kalpakgian

Me and 'Prof. Siefert'

Cowabunga dudes - Breeanne Walsh as a very cool ninja turtle

Opera & Operation: Budapest

2008-10-26T04:37:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and I went up to Vienna Friday night to see an opera. La Nozze di Figaro, the Marriage of Figaro! One of the best comedies, I am sure. Only 4 euros - FOUR EUROS - if you queue up hours ahead of time, and don't mind a nosebleed. Old and new meet in Vienna

Caitlin and I, waiting in line with the rest of the lowerclass opera-lovers.

I went outside to take pictures, Caitlin saving me a spot.

The beautiful Staatoperhause

When I came back in, the little old man would under no circumstances allow me to go back up to Caitlin....who was not hopelessly far up in line and worrying what the heck happened to me. But where there is a will, there is a way - if you are sneaky enough.

the two of us, or the reflections thereof.

That's me - at the VIENNA OPERA!!!!!

Opera boxes soon to be filled with upper class viennese peering down with their opera glasses.

Me, looking blurry and disheveled.

Caitlin, looking fabulous just in her element as always.

A magnificent operahouse. Just gorgeous. But they don't have the long metal window-shades that you can play with like NYC.

The cast was superb. Figaro was my favorite. Susanna was a great actress, although the Countess had arguably the better voice.

The standing room only - aka Nose-bleed section, for good reason - area. So long as you don't pass out (Caitlin!) from the heat of so many packed in like cattle, and from standing still for 4 hours, and being dehydrated, it is quite nice. No, really, it was brilliant, however built that in.

I think this a a great candid moment of one of the violinists. Carmen, I was reminded of your dad in the joviality of this violinist, even though I have never met him. It was awesome to think that your dad played here! Do you know which operas your dad played in? Carmen, someday I hope you get to tie your handkercheif to the rail to claim your spot at the Vienna opera too. It is not fair that I get to before you.

After the opera, it being after eleven, we cannot go home, no that would be too simple. Of course the last train to Gaming leaves Vienna as the opera is starting. So Caitlin and I planned to go to Estzergom, Hungary, arriving there in the morning. The third largest church, after Hagia Sophia and St. Peter's is there - some Marian basilica with a ridiculously long name. It also boasts the 3rd largest organ, Cardinal Mindzenty, a personal favorite, and THE largest one-piece painting in the world. After, we were intending to go to Budapest and explore for some 4 hours or so. Nice plan on paper. Everything looked smooth and easy. And practically free: theoretically our expenses would be less than 10 euros, food included.

So, we burned some time waiting for our 3 am train out of Wein Sudbahnhof. There was a wild concert going on in the Rathause, which, I believe, is the city hall. It looked pretty all lit up.

We happened upon soldiers keeping guard over a massive military fair that filled all of the museumsplatz. This little jet, called the Eurofighter typhoon, was a little confusing: it had flags from 6 not necessarily friendly countries. I guess the Brits made it and sold it to all the others.

e EYE. Viennese, I have decided, are just plain off their rockers when it comes to what constitutes a great piece of art sometimes. I am so sick of seeing Gustav Klimt's the Kiss plastered everywhere. At least with the Mona, it is a likeable eye-pleasing portrait, if disproportionate fame to actual artistic worth, in my lowly opinion, anyway.
This was really really topping them all though. It hung in the Wein Sudbahnhof, as you go up the uphill moving sidewalk that kept Caitlin and I amused from 1:30 to 2:45 am. It is straight out of starwars. I don't really know what it does. Actually, there are two of them. They look across each other into the other eye, so that you are afraid (or at least I was) that there might be a laser beam between them they sear through human flesh, or perhaps, like in the Never Ending story's Sphynx statue, and laser will come out and get you if you don't believe enough in yourself. They blink. They make a creepy rattlesnake noise. They hum so lightly you think it is all in your head. They send a shiver up your spine if you let it get to you.

We get off the train from Bratislava and step into Hungary. Where is Hungary? no-where. Literally, no where. We got off, and saw nothing but darkness all around, and Caitlin turned to me and said "Where are we?" a disconcerted tone. The train became to roar away, and I shouted back "Don't worry - I am sure the trainstation is just on the other side of the track." At that moment, the train came to and end, and left us, our scarves still blowing, taking all of our optimism with it. There was nothing there. Nothing. Stairs going to the other side. Blackness. A dilapidated dark roofless building that looks like it hasn't been used since world war two. Nothing at all. Not even signs. Not that signs woud've helped any.

The only three words I know in Hugarian, taught me by Lucy, a Hungarian student here at the LCI: the words for shoe, time, and nightingale. And it is not like German, where i can understand the gist of what is written, and about every 7th word spoken. I am completely clueless when it comes to Hungarian.

So here we are. 4 am. Darkness. Cold. Waiting for a train to take us to Estzergom that never came. We ended up getting on another train going back to the previous station, and then riding it back again just so we could keep warm and safe.

We didn't get to Esztergom, but we did make it to Budapest, by a sort of round-about way.

When all else fails, play rummy. We were sitting against what I thought was a wall, on these piles of newspapers that we intended later to wad up and make a huge mountainoud bed out of. So I had my back against the wall later, falling asleep, thinking about the EYES. And suddenly, I woke up, or mostly woke up, to feel the wall suddenly shoving itself into me. I felt like screaming, but instead, turned to Caitlin and said, in a matter-of-fact voice that surprised myself, "I think there is someone in the wall, and he is coming out." Then I jumped up and saw the man, for man it was indeed, emerge.

Caitlin catching some shut-eye on das zug.

Nuttella a la' Hungary: mogyoro'kre'm. Tradition! Tradition!

Skyline of Buda. St. Istvan's Basilika. Contains, I am told, the fist of St. Stephen...but we didn't go there.

A Byz Church in Budapest

That is all the pictures I took during a whole day in Hungary. There was just not that much that was pleasing to my eye, and I don't take National Geographic pictures. I take pictures that I like to look at; things that I want to remember. All the Churches were locked or charged you or turned into shady Italian mafia restaurants. All of the streets were dirty. They buildings looked like Vienna - indeed it used to be called the Vienna of the East, when the Hapsbourgs were still in power. It seemed to me like a cross between Vienna and Istanbul or some other Turkish city. There seemed to be a war of religions going on, and I don't think the Catholics are winning. Transportation system is messy...and scary....I will leave it at that for now - some stories are best left untold until the proper time. It has seen better days, I am sure. Several different internet reviews described it as a sleepy city - I would describe it as more an apathetic city. It didn't seem friendly at all. Granted, it is still shaking off the communism that reigned there until only a dozen years ago or so.

Perhaps, on a warm sunny day, with a friend who could speak Hungarian, and after a night's rest, I might have a different opinion of the city. But I will never know, because I never want to go back. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the day - I had a great travelling companion, nutella, and a Father in Heaven taking care of us, so you could have put me down on just about any place on earth and I could have enjoyed the day. I am just saying that my impression of the city was generally not favorable.

I have decided this is one bit of modern technology that I really like. Windpower what-you-may-call-ems. They are actually beautiful, to me. Slowly spinning, catching the wind and turning it into light in someone's home. They stand like watchmen across the fields.

Hungary is flying by. Europe is flying by. The semester is flying by. And I am just trying hard to take it all in.

Sunset on the 'winged watchmen' of modern times.

The infinity of mirrors: a phenomenon in every train car.

Gather round the Piano

2008-10-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Parents week social: good food, good music, good company. Andrea playing beautifully
Enjoying cider and scones and good company.

Liz, Christy and Caitlin.
Laura, my roomie, and her parents.
Vince, always the star of the show

Piano Man!
Christi, if you take my picture, I am going to beat you with my stick!

Paul Hess showcasing his mad piano skills.

Ten-day break part II

2008-10-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

This is as much for my own recollection as for anyone's benefit.

I don't want to forget. We started walking on Thursday night around 6. We four directed ourselves toward Ireland, via France. We had some things planned out, but generally that which we planned fell through due to the ridiculous French train system which not even the French understand. We intended to spend the first night on the train, which we did, though in the bike rack for most of it, rather than the cars (and still charges reservation fees, of course!) where we played MASH and Rummy and talked. Saturday morning we were in Paris, and held there for a while as we tried to figure out the best alternatives to previously planned routes. We ended up in Cherbourg, a coastal town in Normandy by evening, said a memorare before leaving the trainstation that we would be taken care of - without a reservation and knowing there to be no hostels in the town, we fully expected to be spending the night under a bridge. We walked out the door, across the street, into the first hotel we saw, Hotel de la Gare, and walked in to find the owner just waiting for us, the only room in the hotel left being a four bedroom at hostel prices.

The next day, a saturday, we explored Cherbourg. ("Good morning, beautiful girls") Andrea and I hid our back packs in the eaves of the Ferryport station, because we didn't want to carry them around. We wandered and visited churches and tasted some french food, saw an Art museum and the local library. Mass at St. Trintite. And by evening we boarded the Ferry, The Oscar Wilde. It was much more like the Titanic, to me. Sunday afternoon we landed in Rosslare. Played on the beach. Sneaked four of us into quite nice hotel, and watched a chick-flick. They sang our theme-song for the whole trip: Living on A Prayer.

Monday, on a train to Kilkenny. Castles like weeds in the countryside out the window. Changed trains in Waterford (Jacob I kept seeing you singing Born to be Bachelor - I've come from the county Waterford, near the village of Tramore...), where we stopped a few hours and explored churches and bookstores (encounter with The Man in the Purple suit). In Kilkenny later that day we shopped, looked at castles and watched goldsmiths and met our Motor-mouth-O'Malley three times. Stayed that night in a real Castle in Jenkinstown. Pretty sweet.

Tuesday Headed for New Ross via train. Raining, hard (for the only time that we were in Ireland, which is a miracle in and of itself) Stopped again a bit in Waterford and revisited the bookstore. Arrived in New Ross, ate scones at a cafe, and was picked up by Brian, the owner of the hostel, who drove us the 3 km or so. Lovely little hostel. Fell in love with it and the area. Stayed there three days, soaking it up. Cooking, reading, doing laundry by hand, playing games, and going for walks in the country. Wednesday: toured New Ross's streets churches and church ruins, as well as the Dunbrody Famine ship.

Thursday took a bus ("A Bus!" .... I need to watch Anastasia, apparently) to the coastal town of Duncannon. Aimed to get to the famous Hook head lighthouse, but, though we could see it from there, 13 km away, there was no available transportation, so we were content to stay in Duncannon. Apparently it is one of the oldest lighthouses in the world, back when a lighthouse was a new idea. Started as a bonfire kept alive by monks on the point.

Friday, down to Rosslare again, to meet our ship and play on the beaches all day, since there is nothing else to do there. Sunset was one of the best I have ever seen.

Saturday, on the Ferry until 6:30 pm. Returned to our Hotel de la Gare, and the owner teased us, lent us the same room, and even threw is some ball-point pens to thank us for returning. HOT shower!

Sunday, Mass at St. Trinite again. On the train for home. Passed through Lisieux, just as the Beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin was ending. I was very dissapointed to have missed it by so small a margin. The French train system sucks. We remained on trains or in trainstations for the next 24 hours, missing class because trains ran late. But we made it back safe and sound and with a great and unforgetable experience to ponder for a lifetime.

So impressions of Ireland: 1) It is very small. I guess because everyone knows someone who is of Irish decent, it seems that Ireland should be bigger. It is not. It is about the same size as Austria, which is the same size as Maine, roughly. The towns are very small and village-like. Granted, we never left the counties of Waterford and Wexford, but towns that look like they ought to be very big on the map are not. Irish people are awesome, and very outgoing, very communal, and very Irish looking. I never saw any Irish dancing or much live music, unfortunately, because it is the off-tourist season, but I noticed in many church bulletins ceili dances and live music groups. Also, all the schools are private and parochial, with all the kids wearing uniforms. France is nice if you avoid touristy areas. The French people are much more friendly than I had been warned - maybe I had good luck. The French language is easy enough to understand when read, and completely hopeless to understand when spoken. Impossible. French bread is good but I honestly preferred the Irish buttermilk whole wheat soda bread. French people like ugly dogs.

These pictures are in reverse order, starting from the end of the trip. Still smiling after 22 hours of trains: Caitlin, Liz, and Whitney and Oscar - the backpacks who had a little French romance.
Lisieux basilica, from the zug. Just as the Beatification Mass was ending. So close and yet so far.
Nuttella Nutts.

A fort that looked like a giant sandcastle. Many naval battles have been fought in Cherbourg over time.

Liz finally had her Irish guiness, half a pint, although not exactly in Ireland (it was an Irish bar on the Ferry) and although the bar-tender had something against her. I don't like Guiness, so I had hard cider, which I love.

My main sustainence for ten days. I figured it out to e

I am sorry there are excessive amounts of picutres that are mostly the same, of this sunset. I was trying to immortalize a million-dollar sunset, and was getting frusrated at the results reflected by my camera, which just couldn't capture the spelndor.

Getting in a quick nap at the ferry station. Caitlin decided to be naughty at take a picture of me. I am probably drooling if you look close enough.

So, this was cool. Rocks in the making, i suppose. Some of the rocks on this part of the beach were rocks, and some of them looked just like rocks, but your feet sank into them - soft clay rolled up by the sea into balls. It was really confusing, and felt at first like something out of Narnia or Through the ooking glass or the Wixard of Oz or such.

A very large (dead) crustacean. That is no small rock he perches on.
Our ship coming into port - returning to fetch four Americans from Ireland.

Caitlin should know better to think that my armpit is going to smell any better than the fish when I have been depraved of a shower for three days!

I saw these starfish out on the rocks during the low tide, and waded out to get them. Later, I replaced them, and later Caitlin reported how she saw them being torn limb from limb by two seagulls. It made me very sad.

another picture of me feet.
lunch on the beach in Rosslare.

The ingedients for stuffed mushrooms was magically left by the Silent Germans Boys. I opened the fridge, saw cheese and bread and mushrooms and garlic and onions, and then started jumping up and down because I knew what could be done with that. We found that stuffed mushrooms do complement Irish Cream quite well.

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for the wanderer, pray for me!

Me. Yes, I took a picture of my shadow. I know, I am a dork.
low tide waters and the cliffs.
This is what happens when you drive your car out on the beach at low tide, then busy yourself with fishing or swimming or what not.
My feet in some mud I found myself in. It actually I think was seagull crap, mostly, but I didn't realize I was in it until it was too late.
I realized in review that I took a lot of pictures of my feet. These were on barnacle-covered rocks it hurt a bit.

The tide is out.
This reminded me of our S. Pottawatomie Rd.

I think we need to make a sign like this to put over Andrew's door, huh, Mary?
It is documented that there are several hundred wrecked ships lying in the harbour at Duncannon. They either wrecked in storms or ran aground in the shallows or were captured and sunk by pirates who were pretty thick in the area.

Ten-day Break, Part I

2008-10-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

At the Fort at Duncannon.
Stumbled onto a filming site for the Count of Monte Christo. Did you know part of it was filmed in Duncannon, Ireland? Now I have to watch it and look out for places I have been.
A friend I made, who lived on a cliff above the sea.

Playing a rowdy game of Jenga, and scaring the two German guys, sharing our hostel, into silence.

Three details you may not notice but tells a lot about our stay in the cottage: the (empty) nutella jar, the half-eaten milka bar, and the blazing fire in the woodstove. My evident impatience is also noticable, and probably as much a trademark of our trip. I don't know how the girls put up with me so charitably all the time.
Reading by the fire. Doesn't get much better. I read about as much as i was able to read all sumer: Chesterton's Orthodoxy, and Man's Search for Mmeaning, we read most of Northanger Abbey aloud, and might have finished except that it is still traveling on a train along with Liz's shoes. We spent a good bit of time in libraries and bookstores (where I encountered The Man in the Purple Suit - a story I shall tell on request). And I even had time to re-memorize Mythopoeia, which had slipped beyond recollection. It was so good.
The view out the bedroom window.

the driveway up to the hostel.

Sun setting on Ireland.
One of the parish churches of New Ross.

Andrew, check this out. I was on a ship! The Dunbrody Famine Ship. Okay, a lifesize replica. She carried many of the ancestors of Irish Americans across to New York during the potatoe famine. It was pretty harsh conditions below deck for the passengers. But the ship was a beauty.

Caitlin, about to take command. Caitlin sails a similar vessel with her dad and a whole crew in her spare time back home in New England.

Ruins of a Gothic Church in New Ross.

Caitlin stopping for a look at the creek as we walked to town one fine morning.
A view from our hostel.
Our lovely little cottage hostel, about a 3 km walk from town, owned by a pampering little old couple, Brian and Jenny. No hot water, but a fireplace made up for it by a hundred fold.

The hostel alarm cock.

A collection of the books that kept us company in front of the roaring fireplace. Made Irish Potatoe stew!
Our Castle Hostel
Caitlin about to pulverize me, and likewise me Caitlin. We weren't sure who was going to come out on top after the ten days together. We were sure we were going to kill each other by the end of ten days in such tight quarters, but we all came home probably even better friends than before!

A self-portrait of the man who owned the Castle hostel in Jenkinstown. I really liked the guy. He was a painter, a musician, and a sailor. And for goodness sake he owned a castle. He also had really good taste in music - I kept hearing bits of my favorite music of all time coming down from his tower that he lived in.
Pasta in the feast-hall, where previously had dined nobles on legs of mutton. Cheers.
Making Pasta in the Castle Kitchen.
A very old Gothic facade of a Church in Kilkenny.
Heartstrings.

I wanted to get this pipe for John, but it was sold.
Castle tops through the apple trees.
Rothe House in Kilkenny. I loved the Virginia creeper all over the tudor house.

I think there are like 28 windows on this magnificent tudor home! I am glad I don't have to wash them, but it sure is pretty.

A really cool chair.
Eating lunch under some fir trees. This is where we first encountered Motor-Mouth O'Malley, where he interupted our lunch for some 40 minutes of incessant talk about why Irishmen really are all drunkards like they say, and about the girls he met in bars, and how on earth could we like Gaming if it has only one bar and no gym? Quite a sweet-talker, to be sure! My favorite was when, in a tone of frusration, he asked us whether we were intending to be nuns, after thrice asking us out in a sly sort of way.
Castles are quite commonplace part of the scenery, we found. Any field might have the maginificent remains of a castle!
A rainbow! It was much more brilliant in real life.
Another castle, seen from the train.

Andrea and I, aka Emily and Jane. We decided we needed undercover names after our repeated stalking-like run-ins with a certain ' Motor-Mouth O' Malley'
Caitlin and Liz, aka Susan and Mary.

The sea at Roslare

My feet meet the Atlantic for the first time...and from the other side of the puddle, too!
I was so excited to see one of these train turn-tables. Like right out of Thomas the Tank Engine and Shining Time Station!

The room we had on the Ferry. It was quite an interesting experience. It was like this big theater room with no theatre, and extra space along the walls where people layed down and slept. We discovered blankets on the return journey - on the way out we froze.

The Oscar Wilde ferried us across the atlantic ocean from Cherbourg, in Northern France to the Southern tip of Ireland, Roslare Harbour. It was much closer to the Titanic, to me, than to my idea of a ferry. And it was cheaper than flying.
Sunrise from the tenth deck of a ferry, with nothing but the sea as far as I could see. I was in heaven!
Me, Liz and Caitlin watching the sailboats in the Cherbourg harbor
St. Trinite. We went to Mass twice there. It was built in 1480, if memory serves, after the inhabitants credited

I love it! I have completely lost myself to Gothic Architecture. I before found it hard and crude and course and cold. Now, I love it. The very stones cry out! I have a special weakness for Flying Butresses.
' She looks like Christine Tizides' I exclaimed when I saw this marble girl. Okay, so maybe not an exact likeness, but you see the resemblance?
A really cool Annunciation. I like it.
This one was especially intriguing. I think it may be from the Niebelengenlied. It was so so cool, the picture can in no way do it justice. It was huge and just drew you in. And it is not every day you see paintings of vikings.
I loved this piece, the lovely Margeurite from Faust. She was exquisite.

Liz and Andrea contemplating a mysterious painting.
Napoleon. Of course. He had a big nose. About the size of my head.
Again, Liz and Andrea contemplating beauty. The scultped beauty in the foreground was a sarcophagus for the artist's daughter, and so full of emotion, I was quite spellbound
St. Clemente, I think, in Cherbourg, France

We got this meringue at a little Festival de la Pain shoppe. We really had no idea what to do with it once we had it. But it was 90 euro cents, and all part of the French experience.

oops

2008-10-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

I just accidentally posted my day in melk on our family blog rather than on my own. I have done that once before, but I am blonde, so it takes a while for me to learn. If you want to see it go to www.boogfamilyblog.blogspot.com.

Group Photo of my Gaming family!

2008-10-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

This is everybody. All of the FUS students and faculty, and even the LCI students too.
I think if you click on the picture it gets bigger. It is kind of like a where's waldo, huh?
A few honorable mentions: Start with me, but only as a landmark. Next to me is our very cool - in more ways than one - RD Vince. To the Right of me are Liz Boylan and next to her Liz Conte. Dr. and Mrs. Minto (Intro to Scripture) are standing above me, and right above me is Fr. Seraphim (Civ I). The three nuns near me are Sr. Monica, Sr. Bonita, and Sr. Grace Anne. To her right, holding the little tikes are Dr. Cassidy (CMP) and Dr. and Mrs. Asci (Px Marriage). Our other very cool RD, Katie Hess is in the white vest. Okay, next locate Jerome. He is not hard to spot. Laying in front with all the Knights. Above his shoulder is my room-mate Laura, and going right from her are Christy, Andrea and Caitlin. Skip two people (not that anyone deserves skipping, but I can't name them all, for sake of time and space. You can see the Kalpakgian family, Mark & Nicki and Dominic and I don't know where my chum Aris got to. Going up from Mark's head, are Jake (dating my room-mate Amanda), and Lucy from Hungary. Next find the nun, and around her you can see my room-mate Amanda second to the left of her. Above Sr's head are Prof. Siefert (My favorite prof, for Philosphy of the Human Person), and Sr. Faustina and Fr. Brad. Prof. Herrera in the Yellow Jacket, Fr. Ron is the only other obvious priest on that side. Just a few more: Rob and Paul and Jon and Brendan and John Paul are in the back row on the right side. I could go on zig-zagging around the photo until I have pointed everyone out, but I better stop there.

Climb every mountain

2008-09-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was originally planning to go over to Melk abbey for the afternoon, just an hour train ride away, with Liz Conte. But at the last second, as we were headed out the door, Metod asked us if we wanted to climb the Ostcher. The highest mountain in Lower Austria. Melk is an abbey. It can wait for a rainy day. And so, about twenty minutes later we (Metod, Tomash, and Dominique, three LCI students from Eastern Europe, and two IHI guys, John and Nick, Jon Haines, Liz Conte and I) climbed in Metod's old nine passenger and headed for the base of the mountain, about half an hour's drive away. Liz after the first ascent.

This part of the hike was pretty hard. It was really really steep. See those little people down there?
IHI John on the rock.

moi en ze mountainz

The view from the Ski Lodge view, still a ways from the top, but quite nice.
That guy was making me jealous. He came so close to us we could hear him shouting to us. I am in the process of designing a parachute from my bed linens. I found a nice piece of rope. Shh, don't tell, we aren't supposed to take them out of our rooms.
dangling feet over cliffs is awful fun.
The mountains proclaim the glory of God.
A kind of random awkward photo. Liz taking a picture, Metod leaning against the cabin, Nick I think, taking off his sweater, IHI John, and Dominique.

Taking in the view. This was about halfway up, perhaps a little more. You can't tell from the picture but there was about a hundred foot drop below me. You proably can's see the really really big snow-covered Alps in the distance, either, because well, they were white like the clouds. But it was gorgeous.
Our path we trudged across to the summit. Pictures don't tell depth very well, but trust me it was no walk in the park. Going back down was so much fun. It was like skiing/sliding/rolling/falling/sinking/head-over-heels/start-and-you-can't-stop through drifts of snow that were up to my thigh. I was completely soaked in snow and muddy by the time I reached the bottom, and feeling like I could eat an entire hindquarter of beef alone. And now I need a massage.

At the very summit, the only picture I got before my camera decided to go on strike. It works when it wants to, and then turns off. And it isn't even of the view. It is of people taking pictures of the view! But I will get pictures from Liz and Jon later. You sould see the twin spires of Mariazell way down in the valley. You could see mountains bordering Switzerland. It was pretty sweet.

We got a picuture of us all in a pyramid, when a group of Hungarians came by and asked us to take a group picture. We took one of them with their beer and Milka at the summit, and then they reciprocated and did the same for us.
The whole mountain took about 5 hours, 4 up and one down. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday! But oh, I am going to feel it tomorrow!

Vince, our RD's door this morning. A brilliant prank. Someone put name tags all over it with everything from things like sleeping beauty to Peter Pan to Santa Claus to Pete Parker to Bourne: saints and superheros. And he has earned every one of his titles.

Halstatt

2008-09-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

This morning Liz Cante and Christy Colcolough and Yours Truly found ourselves in a little bit of Eden that God forgot to lock away. Halstatt, a tiny little salt mining town way up in the the mountains on the edge of a deep deep lake, a little bit south of Salzburg. In fact, this is what makes Salzburg Salzburg. This is where that corrupt Bishop dude got all his white gold with which he built Salzburg.
The town is archeologically proven to be the oldest inhabited town in Europe. Its mountains full of salt have been exploited by Anciets, Barbarians, Celts, and Germans 7000 years and counting, and it is said there is a good 7000 more years worth of salt to be mined. Mountains peeked out from swirling fog only momentarily as we snaked out way up the railroad tracks early in the morning.

Mountains + Sunflowers = Ostereich!

The town of Halstett, from across the lake. You can't tell from this, but the water was incredibly clear and extremely deep. It reminded me of Crater Lake in Oregon. Deep deep dark still cold water. Like glass. I wouldn't have been at all surprised to see the Lockness monster make an appearance, it was so surreal.

What a perfect way to wake up, especcialy if you never got a chance to go to sleep.
The roof tops of the town, including a guy repairing own.

An hourglass in the cemetary that is bigger than me. I guess it is supposed to remind you that time runs out on your life. And it uses salt from the salt mines to depict this. I thought it was cool.

St. Barbara is the patroness of the town. I think because she is the patroness of sailors. Here she marks a Rudolf grave.
Elizabeth, do you have Bad (Austrian play on words...= salt-mining) relatives from Halstatt?
The graveyard and the see (Austrian word for lake).

Inspiration # 1256: I want to grow a pear tree like this someday.

Taking in a fresh cold draught of the pure Austrian Alp mountain spring water, coming down from the waterfall.

A very random kitchen table, floating on the lake, with a pair of yellow rubber boots sitting on it, along with a couple of live ducks. Austrians are funny about what constitutes art, sometimes.
The lift that took us way up into the fog - up to the mines.

We got up to the top of the mountain, and: took pictures of snails. There were hoards of them, all shapes and sizes. We stopped to ponder their incommunicability for a while (PHL 113 has possessed us).
Yep. Surrounded by Alpine peaks, Liz is photographing snails.
So, we passed a field of sheep. A very steep field, I might add. The fence was not difficult to get over. And the sheep were much more friendly than I expected. Within seconds of being in the field, I was surrounded by the things. One in particular, a big brown ram, was quite friendly with me and Liz, and showed his affection by trying to see if he could shove me off the mountain.

Liz and I had fun, but people on the trains the rest of the day probably would have prefered that we didn't smell like sheep schmuck (interesting side note: schmuck = jewelery in german)
Inside the mines, they made us get dressed up in overalls. Here, Liz is about to slide down to the next level. Apparently, there are some 12 levels to the mine, with only three used for tourism, the others still active salt mines. The tour was really cool, way better than we anticipated. It took a couple of hours, and we got to go down slides and watch lazer shows and movies and be lectured to by a creepy German robot, and rode a train on the way out that was like a long long log that everyone straddled.
A rather creepy ancient salt miner. Creepy mostly for his irregular body hair growth....

Some nicely illuminated salt. It is tinted red from tarce amounts of iron. It looks awful pretty with just some light shining through it.
One of the mining slides we went down. On one of them, there were cameras that took your picture like you were on a six flags ride. And, they recorded your speed. There apparently is some technique to it. I don't know, I was just holding my hands up and yelling. I don't know how fast I went, but our tour guide lady definitely won: she clocked at 49 kph!
The town Obertraun across the lake, as seen from the mountain top. We were hoping to get to the Ice caves located there, but we ran out of time.
A guy with a gondola-type-boat on the water.

All in all, a very nice relaxing trip, just taking in a bit of this gorgeous country we live in.

It was funny, we sat next to a couple of Austrian highschool girls on the way there. We told them we were going to Halstatt, which, we were advised by Mrs. Minto, was one of the most beautiful places in all Austria. They laughed and said Halstatt? No! They were of the opinion that Paris was much more beautiful.

I say, after now having been to both, they were way off. Paris was nice but, Paris can really not even be compared. Not at all. I would take Halstatt any day.

Stopped over for a bit in Bad Ishcl between trains this afternoon. Stopped by this lovely Kirche. They are almost without exception lovely here. Afterwards we did a little window shopping, and happened upon a thrift store, the first i have seen since coming here. We entered and then spent the next half hour playing dress up. They had traditional Austrain clothing for real cheap. Most of it was home-made. I had given up hope of getting a durndle because they are so expensive, but this time we found a deal. I couldn't resist. None of us could. We all came away with a durndle and apron, feeling like real Austrians. I will take a picture of it tomorrow perhaps. If Liz wears hers to Melk I will too. (That is one of many favorite things about Austria: Austrians here really do wear traditional Austrain clothing for everyday clothes. I love it!)

Our Byzantine Chapel and a few other randoms

2008-09-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

A really nice mountain that is really near Gaming but we can's see it because the little mountains are in the way. If only I could ski.
Melk abbey from the train on the way to St. Polten. I hope to actually go there on Sunday.
These ones are especcialy for you, Nathan. Our Byzantine chapel. Or, technically, LCI's. It was just a storage closet 4 years ago. It is very small, but so ornate and beautiful. Two LCI students spent several summers working on it, and they have only one blank wall left...Nathan?
There are tentative plans for a huge Byzantine Chapel to be built above the Kartause Maria Thron Chapel, in the 20ft. between the baroque ceiling and the Gothic ceiling. East and West would meet under one roof. It is still in the very early stages of planning, and may never happen, but I hope I hope I hope it does.

Left to Right: Salvation History.
And, of course, it has an icon of St. Francis, along with like 25 other saints, seated along the walls where the congregation sits, most of them of the Eastern tradition and unbeknownst to me.
A student found this icon in someone's trash in Gaming, and brought it back here to be properly venerated.

This is my painting for art class of the Kartause Chapel facade.

Just kidding. I am not putting my sketch up here - but it did look just like this.

J'aime Paris....and....Berlin?

2008-09-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

I just got home from about a 100 hour trip. I started walking from Gaming at 16:45 on Thursday and just got back at 20:15. Of that time I was exactly 81/2 hours in a bed.
Four of us; Andrea, Liz, Jon and myself. We were textbook clueless travelers, and therefore had a lot to learn in those four days. We started off with sort of vague plans - go to Paris, spend a day or two there, go to Lisieux/Normandy, then finally go to either Lourdes or Paray-le-monial/Ars or Chartres. Well, how does that saying go about the plans of mice and men?
The night started great. We had some time to enjoy St. Polten at night, and found Benediction going on by some magic from heaven. So we began our trip in the absolute best way: singing hymns in German with a bunch of nuns and priests before the monstrance.
We actually did make it to our first destination: Paris. After spending a rather interesting night with in a train compartment with Muhammed, a friendly Iraqi with a couple of gold teeth, who spoke not a word of english (except "George Bush!!!!????", upon learning that we were Americans), worked for a plastic company, and thought that we were Jon's wives (he himself had two). There were several unforgettable moments of hilarity, needless to say. Moments where I would start laughing so uncontrollably I was wondering how I would ever stop. He was kicked off the train by the police before he reached Paris - either an unfortunate discrimination or our lives were saved, I don't know which. But, I mean, he couldn't have been that bad - he gave me a coke, and it wasn't even poisoned.
We arrived in Paris rather bleary eyed around 900, and, after figuring the city transportation system (there isn't anything that can be rightly be called a "system" in Paris), we made it to our hostel before 1100. Only to have the lady at the counter laugh heartily at us and say: Are you crazy? No reservation? We are booked for 5 days! You can't come to Paris and expect to find a hostel to stay in you don't book in advance. Uh oh.
We did what all Catholics do when they don't know what else to: we went to church. St. Antoine's. We asked for the priest. He wasn't home. We found out he'd be back at three. So we went and ate baguettes and cheese. And came back at three. I went inside the church and begged, and Jon went to the cure and begged. With a little persusian on both accounts, we found ourselves being let into the church basement. Praise God.
We dropped off our bags, and began walking the length of Paris. Saw the famous sights; Eiffiel tower, Notre Dame, etc. At 18:30 we were back at St. Antoine's for Mass. Went out to eat - I don't know what I ate but it was good (Brendan, after going to Spar earlier in the week: "I don't know whether i just bought white chocolate or soap!"). Let ourselves back into the basement and started watching a movie. I may have lasted five minutes, and, despite lack of blankets or pillow and cold hard floor, I was out.
That brings us to Saturday. Mass in the morning. Gave Father some chocolat for his trouble, and set out for the Louvre. We were detained for a while at a nice little cafe where we got croissants and coffee, while a ragtime piano and base played in the street, with the silouette of Notre Dame in the background. Ahh.
The Louvre took us the rest of the better part of the day. I could have spent three there. But the Mona is highly over-rated. There are like a thousand people taking pictures of this one little 2ft by 18 inch frame. I didn't even fight through to get up-close and personal, so maybe i shouldn't judge. But the rest of the Louvre was amazing. And, thanks to Prof. Healy, we actually were quite familiar with many of the pieces already.
Then we four stupid Americans headed back to the trainstation, expecting to get from there to Lisieux. It was around 16:30 when we arrived at the train station. When we left, almost 4 hours later, we had gone through about 24 different failed itineraries, routes all over western Europe, but only one would get us back home, inexpensively, by monday night: Berlin. Yeah. Lesson learned: In Paris (and London, we are told) RESERVATION is a very important word. Once you get to Paris, there is no leaving it. You are trapped.
But we did get that night train to Berlin, a city none of us had planned to ever visit, but okay. We will have fun wherever we are. Another night on the train is always fun. At one point, Andrea got up to go to the bathroom - always an adventure on a train - and came back with her hands on her cheeks a moment later. "I just walked in on this guy in the bathroom! He didn't lock the door and didn't answer. But we was fully clothed except his shoes! So embrassing, still!". Within minutes, this discalced man came and hunted Andrea down. "You opened the door on me!". And so opened our conversation for the night. Now, at the mention of our Turkish Delight, the four of us are reeling in laughter. The man was insane, and slighltly inebrieated, and incredibly amusing while at the same time terrifying. Througout the course of the night, the Turk alternately sang love songs to Andrea, and finding out that I was a nursing student, implored me for a shot of penicillin for his rheumatic knee, and insulted Jon repeatedly. Meanwhile, inside our compartment, we had a lovely converation with two Chileans on vacation, mother and daughter. Between the four of us, we got along with a pretty decent conversation with me and Jon, who could understand but not speak it, translating into English what they said for Andrea who could speak it but not understand it. It was great fun. It makes me wish I had studied Spanish harder. Everywhere I go i wish I had studied harder - history, languages, geography, and common sense.
We got to Berlin at 0800, found a Mass (much more difficult than in other European cities thus far - not so many Catholics in Berlin) - after wandering onto the set of a filming of a car chase for who knows what movie. We found a great little cheap hostel and took the first shower since the trip started, got some rather interesting sandwhiches and pastries, and then took an hour nap.
Our intention then was to find the Wall, and the other important things that you are expected to see when you are in Berlin. But really we only found out that we cannot read maps all that well. Okay, so not at all. We ended up having a nice little walking tour of Berlin. Our impression: the parks were nice, with lots of people out playing and training their German Sheperds. But generally, the city is depressed. The after effects of the war still seemed to reverberate.
We ate dinner: Focaccia and cheese and squeezable french nutella - our sustanainance the whole weekend. Then we went in search (only minor devations from the actual route) of the mommesnecker: haus der 100 biers. I had a half liter of Berlin beir. And we were back to the hostel. This morning we hopped on a train to Vienna, and saw Chzech republic by train while singing for a good portion of the way.
Altogether, the weekend was amazing. We came back all four still good friends, alive but smelly, healthy (albeit exhausted - little sleep and walking for hours every day), still with money in our pockets and shirts on our backs, and with a great store of memories and knowledge. We didn't exacly have the weekend we planned because, well, we didn't plan much at all. And, for where we were intending, that was rather important. It was quite an experience.
I am sorry, no pictures, my camera took exactly two before the batteries died. I realized the power outlet burned my battery charger. About that, hmm... but i will get pictures from the other three eventually.
I am literally reeling. Must go to bed. Auf Weidersen!

Once upon a weekend in Gaming

2008-09-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Besides walking to Mariazell, 16 miles away, I didn't leave Gaming this weekend. I wouldn't have thought that would already be wanting to stay back at Gaming already over the weekends when all of Europe is at my door. But I didn't know Gaming. I am quite happy I stayed back, and just enjoyed good secenery and company.
Liz and John and I set out in search of the waterfall, with only a vague idea of its direction. After walking up small mountains, and then crashing down the steep sides of them, we finally found it, about two hours later. (It took us only about a 25 minute walk to get back). But we had a grand old time. So much fun we intended to return later in the evening fortified with semmels, a laptop and scary movie, and sleeping bags. That never happened, but still it is an idea we may yet utilize.
After coming home, we went to the Kartause Keller, and had two things I have been craving since I left home: pizza and ice cream...and a little Bailey's just to top it all off. And, boy oh boy, you can bet it was good.
Ice cold crystal alpine water. Absolutely the most refeshing best tasting. You can keep your Aquafina.
Just hoping there are no mountain goats upstream...

John taking the plunge. I don't know how he managed that, because it isn't as deep as it looks. I am amazed he didn't smash his face.

John, pushing down a tree. Again. I think he sees trees the way a little boy sees a tower of blocks: something made just to be knocked over.

yummy chocolate chip cookies that disappeared soon after their creation. It is a little bit of a challenge cooking in Austria, because they don't have a lot of the same things that we do, for example, brown sugar. Their flour is different. Everything is in a different language. And you have to convert everything to metrics and centigrade. Not that I am complaining!

Andrea making scrumptious Banana bread...what else can you do with 13 bananas?
Liz and self planning our weekend's excursion.

Stay tuned for the French Expidition!

Hiking to Mariazell

2008-09-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, but first, last night. We wanted to watch Casa Blanca. We meaning John Paul, Brendan, Caitlain, Andrea, John, Liz and I. Well, try as they might, the boys just couldn't figure out the mess of cords and plugs. They tried valiantly for some twenty minutes. Finally, Sr. Celina, sitting on the couch working on her laptop, just up and says, "In Poland, we have a proverb: that when Man can't get the job done, God sends a woman!". Rolling up her sleeves, she had our movie going in no time!

So, early this morning, we set out for Mariazell, the official Marian shrine of Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia. It was about a 15 mile hike over the river and through the woods and marching right past mountains and waterfalls and all the beauty the earth can muster. We started walking at about a quarter to seven, and reached Mariazell twenty to one. Not too bad a time, I think.
Andrea fashioning an umbrella for herself in the early morning

A little bit of Austrian beauty expressed in an arachnoid way

Andrea and Angela
The backside of my awesome RD, Katie Hess

little tiny people, big rock.
I was trying to convey an idea of the clearness of the water with my camera and ended up getting a hobbit shot of my feet.
A cave, which after perilously reaching, was not accesible without a rope due to a twenty foot drop immediately inside. It had great acoustics, though.
Katie Hess trying not to get completely wet.
The backside of Prof. Siefert. Unfortunately, that is mostly what you see of people on a hike - their backs.

Just like Oregon...except....better!

Prof. Maria Siefert, my awsome Philosophy professor, philosophizing.

Across the canyon, Fr. Brad, Mindy, Ashley, Megan, Sr. Bonita, and Laura

Dominic was zonked after an exhausting hike. Daddy Mark carried him all 15 miles.
Luca and Rutka and some other LCI students on the fence.

I found this patriotic petal on the pavement. Look - it is the Austrain flag!

Jersey Cattle in an Austrian field....next month's milka!

Some funky Dexter cattle

In Mariazell
A really interesting Tabernacle. The world, with the serpent finding no entrance. I also loved the Crucifix, with God the Father holding His Son's hand!
I was sitting there praying and This Polezei brass band came in and practiced for, I later realized, the Mass with the Cardinal.

hey, mom, remember how I was telling you that you that your mention of Cardinal Josef Mindszenty jogged my memory of some new knowlege concerning him? It was this - he was buried in this chapel 15 miles from where I live. Although his exiled body was recently moved back to his own Hungary.

The story goes, a monk was in the wilderness forging his way to somewhere....I don't remember. There was this big boulder that completely blocked his way. He carved a statue of our Lady with the child Jesus and placed it on the rock, and the rock split. He later built a hermit cell near the boulder, and placed the statue in it (thus , Maria-zell - our lady of the cell). The statue soon became reknowned for the many miracles associated with it. Now it is dressed in clothing. Thousands and thousands of pilgrims journey here daily.

We celebrated a Mass for the pro-life cause here.

We were loading up on the bus and some Cardinal walked by in an official procession to the church. He looked just like the pope. The Pope came last year on this day, the 850th anniversary of Maraizell, and I think for just a second some people thought he made a surprise return visit. Our whole bus was madly waving and cheering, just as if it was the pope, anyway. He was pretty tickled pink....no pun intended.
My first taste of fresh fig. Prof. Cassidy, my awesome Scotch CMP professor (in front of me) offered it to me. I am not really sure I have made up my mind whether or not I liked it. I think I prefer a fig newton, you know - processed and preserved, with just a touch of figginess to the actual fruit, but I still enjoyed it.
When I got home, I decided it was time. Time for the big jump. Everyone has to do it at least a few times during the semester. It is part of the Austria experience.
I came home to find Caitlan and Liz in the kitchen making an enormous apple pie for the boys (the bequeathing of which was my evening's entertainment) and some pasta for dinner. I couldn't resist a picture, they are so cute in their aprons.
Okay, so I did it. I jumped. Into Alpine water at around 2 degrees Centigrade. It causes real shock to your lungs, first of all.

Then, in a reflexive action you thrash wildly for the shore, and you are not sure if you will make it. Then, you think, hey, this is not so bad...but get out before you die!
Then, you come out and what seconds ago seemed like a cool 16 degrees Centigrade suddenly feels like a searing sauna.
Psyching herself out.
Trying to describe what just occured to me, and nothing is coming out but awkward shreiks.
Christy taking the plunge! Geronimo!

I know, it looks pretty wussy for all the hype. It is becuase there is no snow on the ground or icicles hanging from the trees. But believe me, that would actually make it better, becuase you wouldn't have the fever-like sauna shock when you came out, nor would the actual plunge be quite so suicidally shocking.

You know, after I jumped in for nearly a whole hour my knees didn't hurt. And boy did they ever after that long hike. But then I started to get the feeling back in them, and joints are back to themselves. So I guess, if I jump in every hour, all pain will subside.

SALZBURG: DAY ONE

2008-09-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

The first thing you notice about the city is the castle towering above it, which we were later to explore.

A little peice of Italy

A really annoying compeletly pointless and out-of-place peice of artwork. It just totally detracts. It was commissioned a few decades ago to be something to characterize the city of Salzburg by - a good use of tax money, right? The dude on the top is a nobody, the thing means nothing, and the whole thing is either a bad joke or should be imploded.
The Salburg Cathedral, erected in 774, allowed to burn by the corrupt prince-bishop in 1628, and reconstructed after WWII in 1959.
Through a key-hole in the cemetery chapel
The Salzburg Cathedral
The chapel built into the side of the cliff over the cemetery.

St. Joseph's platz.
Legend is, this was a loaf of bread that turned to stone when a woman decided to stay home and bake her day's bread rather than go to Mass on Sunday.
I was trying to capture the beauty of these sunflowers. I have completely fallen in love with sunflowers since coming here. Orchids and roses are great, but sunflowers are supieror for me now. They are just so trademark of Austria. Every church has a vase of sunflowers somewhere. Fields are full of them. These particular ones had little piles of pollen at their feet, with continual shower of the golden stuff glimmering down ever so lightly and faintly.
This was the Franciscan Church of Our Lady. There is a series of ten altars in a semisircle behind the main altar, making it a rosary church. A cool concept, I think.
Mary, again, one for you: The city and farms around it are full of Halflinger Ponies!

Caitlain and I got excited over this on one of the buildings at the University of Salzburg. Cosmos and Damien at center, and St. Thomas, I believe to the left. Who the philosopher is we are still debating. We decided that we were going to do graduate work at this university together, in any case.

Amen, sister!
Everyone else took a picture of Mozart's birth-house, so i did too.
Austrians are proud of their beer, their milka, their redbull, and Croc shoes. This waitress is showing off her Austrianess.

Me, Liz, Caitlain, Christy, and Laura
Caitlain taking it in

The Imperial Gardens

Me and the grinning unicorn. Look familiar? It is if you have seen Sound of Music.

Again, a classic Sound of Music pose. What is funny is that most of the locals have no idea what the Sound of Music is, except that it is some movie that all the Americans that visit Salzburg buzz about.
And, yes, also in the famous musical.
The Gardens were amazing. We spent a long time just strolling.

We went to a Piano Concert. I don't remember the name of the dude who played - some famous old guy with amazingly expressionative eyebrows - that was about all I could see of him over the head of the person in front of me but that was all that needed seeing. He played Mozart and Beethoven peices. The Moonlight Sonata (!) and others. It was absolutely amazing. Just amazing. But afterwards everyone was talking music and i had no idea what they were talking about. Apparently it is some rare performance piano worth millions that has two extra keys just to show off. I am sure Elizabeth would know.

Afterwards we went to a gelati chop where I realized I should stay away from Italians. It is far to easy to fall in love with them. Two brothers greet you with a grin and a "Buon Giorno, Principessa" just like in my favorite movie Life is Beautiful and then they proceed to sing to you an Italian love song while scooping up the most amzing ice-cream you ever did taste in your life and handing it over to you. I mean, can you blame me? Gelato+Italian+singing=I love you. It can't be helped.

Just a bleary look out the bus window. Nothing special. It all looks like that.