Vienna Visit: Final Snapshots

A beautiful city....

 with a surprising snowfall...

with fun people....

....who did take a selfie or two...!

...with some of the strangest colored cheese I've ever seen...

 
with sweet girls....

and spectacular markets....

....and time to ice skate....

...and a good travel buddy....

and a wonderful girl to celebrate! Happy early birthday, Sweet E!

I love you and could not be more proud of you!

Vienna Visit Part 5

We had just a few hours Sunday morning before we needed to get to the airport. Miss Middler and I went for a walk down the street and looked at the beautiful snow which remained, the tall spires of churches, and the unique shops. We stopped in one place that was open and had a frothy coffee together. We talked about college and the upcoming SAT and other random topics. Mostly we just enjoyed being together.

Soon it was time to head back home. It was a beautiful 3 day weekend in a beautiful place. I was so thankful we got to go!

Vienna Visit Part 4

We had such a short time in Vienna before we needed to hop back to home, but one thing I knew the girls wanted to do was ice skate. We went to the biggest Christmas market in the city, which had an ice rink. They skated and skated while we walked around looking at the beautiful booths with Christmas cheer.

The city was beautiful. I would have loved to take in even more...museums, sightseeing, etc. but we just came to get a taste of Christmas and celebrate our sweet girl.

For dinner that night, we found a little local Austrian restaurant and had a cozy meal inside.

Vienna Visit Part 3

That cold wind that froze us to death the day before dropped a bucket of snow on us that night. It was beautiful to wake up and see the snow on the ground in Vienna!

The hotel got a two thumbs up from the Spice Girls for having such a delightful breakfast included. It was all locally and organically grown. The taste of each thing on the simple buffet was delicious. We loved looking out of our little glass room to the snow outside.

We enjoyed our breakfast and multiple cups of coffee, then we set out for the day!

It was not quite as cold as the day before. We noticed the wind had died down. Still, a hot cup of the only non-alcoholic drink in the city was just what we wanted! I've found at these little European Christmas fairs, you buy the drink, then keep the mug (unless you want to get back a small deposit). We decided the santas were cute enough to keep.

My sweet middle daughter. She thanked me over and over, but the joy was all mine!

Vienna Visit Part 2

When I went to bed that night, for the first time ever, the Campbells were on four different continents. Firstborn was studying for exams in North America.

Sweet Cheeks and Big Ben were back in Turkey with Aunt B, who was keeping them for the weekend.

The big girls and I were in Europe.

And CC, whose screen reads, "Location Not Available" was in the heart of Africa, having been sent there by ACSI to inspect a school for accreditation. It was a weird feeling, but I kept thinking how we were all in God's hands.

That first day we enjoyed a brisk hike. And I am just going to use the word "brisk" here to mean that I am certain I have never been more cold in my entire life. A cold wind blew through that day, and as we walked and walked it felt like a knife. We just ducked our heads and kept hiking to get back to our warm hotel room.

The city was beautiful and I loved spoiling Miss Middler being there!

We would take off our mittens just long enough for little bits of deliciousness.