Hello, Vienna!

We really wanted our family to experience Christmas in Europe, and there didn’t seem a better place to do that than Austria, especially since we loved Salzburg so much on our last visit.  We decided to start in Vienna, though, since we have several friends who love it and we didn’t get a chance to visit it last time.

The architecture here in Vienna is amazing, from the Opera House to St. Stephen’s cathedral to the Hofsburg, beautiful buildings abound.  We spent most of our first day here getting our bearings and gawking at the gorgeous buildings.

We were also really excited about exploring the Christmas markets — and there seems to be one on every corner.  The first evening, we visited the largest on in front of the town hall (the Rathaus).  We wandered around looking at all the lights, letting the girls ride the ponies and the carousel, and trying different foods, but we were really disappointed by the stalls.  We had hoped for handcrafted items, but almost everything seemed to be mass produced.  After a couple of hours, we grabbed bratwurst and some warm punsch and headed back to the apartment.

Our destination the next day was Schloss Schönbrunn, a 17th-century Hapsburg Palace.  The palace complex is huge, but we were able to tour the imperial rooms, explore the gardens and visit the zoo.  In the palace courtyard, though, was another Christmas market.  This market was smaller and much less flashy, but it had what we were hoping for: booth after booth of handmade wares — wooden ornaments and toys, olive oils, candles and soaps, crystal, and, of course, food.  We had a blast picking up some gifts and souvenirs (and getting some snacks and punsch).

The palace was full of baroque extravagance — so much gilding — and we’d opted out of the audio tour, so the girls and I had great fun making up explanations for the rooms as we moved through them.  Far more fun than the audioguide, I’m sure! (Seriously, what 8-year-old moves at that pace? Actually, who am I kidding, this 39-year-old thinks they move too slow!)

Afterward, we hiked over to the zoo — the oldest Baroque zoo still in existence —  and visited a few of the animals before deciding we were too tired and too cold and needed to go back to the flat.  It was quite a lovely zoo, though.

Sunday morning we surprised the girls with an early Christmas present: tickets to a performance at the Spanish Riding School, home of the waltzing Lippizaner Stallions.  The show was fantastic; my favorite was the quadrille eight horses performed to end the show.

On Monday, JA requested we visit the exhibit at the Belvedere showcasing Monet and Austrian artists that Monet inspired.  The exhibit was fascinating, showcasing different styles of Monet and some breathtaking Klimts.

Afterward, we wandered the gorgeous grounds at the Belvedere and found ourselves in, you guessed it, another Christmas market.

 

 

We loved our time in Vienna and feel like there is so much we left undone.  I would love to come back sometime when the gardens and park are in bloom and explore more outside.  What a lovely place!

This morning, we boarded a train rode through gorgeous Alpine countryside to Salzburg where we’ll stay through Saturday.  We have a couple more surprises for the girls while we’re here, and then we’ll train to Munich to start our journey HOME!

Goodbye to all that

We’ve been in Austria for a few days now, so here’s my last post on Oxford.  I’m not quite sure what to say, except that I love this city: I love the architecture and how much green there is.  I love it’s focus on learning and the place where we get to worship.  I love University Park and the Natural History Museum and the Ashmolean.  Mainly, I love how this city plays an important part in our little family’s story.  It’s a good place.

For the past few weeks, there have been a series of lasts.  The students leaving (but hooray! we get to see most of them back in Abilene), the last time to church, the last visit to our favorite museums, the last walk through the park, the last time to eat/drink our favorite things, the last time to schlep groceries home from the store.  (Of course, at the same time, we’re imagining all the things we miss about home in Abilene!)  My #oxfordalphabet has been an homage to some of these things and a way to say goodbye.

Yet, as much as writing about Oxford makes me a bit sentimental, I’m really not sad.  As much as there are many, many things we’ll miss, we are ready for a change of scenery (yea! Austria!) and we are longing for home: seeing friends and family, loving on our little menagerie of pets, and trying out our new house (and offices and car…).

Nonetheless, we’ve even managed to do a few NEW things in our last weeks here, so here’s a quick rundown:

The Story Museum — a museum (a bit pricy or we would have gone more often) dedicated to stories!  Their 26 Characters exhibit asked famous British authors — Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaimen, Michael Morpurgo — about their favorite characters.  We got to visit Wonderland, the world of the Borrowers, Narnia, and Badgers den, among others.  Of course, they had a dress up area.  With a talking throne.

One sunny, but cold afternoon we headed across Port Meadow to the village of Wovercote to eat at The Trout.  Along the way, we stopped at the ruins of Godstow Abbey and visited with a herd of cows there.  We enjoyed a lovely meal at The Trout, sitting next to a fire and sipping warm drinks.

And, finally, one afternoon we walked down to Magdalen College to explore Addison’s Walk, frequented to C.S. Lewis, when he taught there.  We enjoyed the sunshine and the gorgeous campus of Magdalen.

So there it is, goodbye to the city that still takes my breath away.  No worries, we’ll be back.

One last trip to London

One of the girls’ surprises this month was a girls’ day in London.  We started the day at the Natural History Museum, something that had been on Jane Anne’s London list for a while, and having just seen Paddington, we were especially keen on going there.  We spent most of the time in the Hall of Mammals (luckily there was no case for Paddington!), particularly enjoying the Blue Whale skeleton and replica.

We also enjoyed seeing a dinosaur fossil discovered by Mary Anning and fascinating hands-on geological activities.

Of course, one can easily work up a hunger in a museum, so we headed over to Fortnam and Mason for a spot of tea.

And, finally, we ended the day, by seeing Matilda, Roald Dahl’s classic made into a musical.  We’d read read the book earlier in the semester and loved seeing it come to life.  Trunchbull was particularly fun!

Then it was back on a late train to Oxford.  Such a fun day with my favorite girlies!

Christmas time in Oxford

One of the things we were most excited about coming to Oxford during the fall semester was getting to be in Europe during Christmas time, and it’s been wonderful.  I have missed some of our traditions from home, but we’ve managed to carry on a few of them in Oxford.

Since the Brits don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations in the stores go up right after Halloween.  While I might complain about that at home, it did bring a nice cheer to the city, especially as things got darker and colder.

The festivities really got started, though, after the Oxford City Lights in late November, where the city streets were full of lights and trees appeared all over the city.  There were fun activities at all the museums — we made Christmas crackers at the Story Museum, a moon dial at the Museum of the History of Science and masquerade masks at the Natural History Museum.  It was a great way to start the holidays!

Then as December approached, we headed to the Covered Market to pick up a little tree and a few decorations.

I made the girls’ favorite meal, and we listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree.

Once December 1 rolled around, we started our advent calendar tradition: each day the girls opened an activity or small gift to ring in the season.  There was a new Christmas book to read together, a surprise girls trip to London, trips to get hot chocolate, Christmas crackers, a visit to a fun museum, a trip to the game cafe, a candlelight concert, and other fun surprises.

Of course, on our trip to London, Christmas was all about.  Here’s a window at Selfridges.

We’ve also loved getting to celebrate Advent at our church.  Each Sunday reminded us of the light in the darkness (particularly poignant living in a place that gets dark around 4:15).  This Advent has been particularly meaningful for me as I have tried to embrace the waiting: loving our time abroad, but longing for home.  The now and the not yet.

Molly also got asked to participate in the reading from Isaiah at St. Aldate’s Christmas service, which was such a sweet treat.

And now we’ve packed up and left Oxford to celebrate Christmas in Austria.  We’re looking forward to Christmas markets and have some fun surprises planned along the way.

I think this Christmas will be one to remember.

The Magical World of Harry Potter

Just outside of London is the Warner Brothers Studio, where much of the Harry Potter film series was filmed.  The Paunans suggested we go, and my Harry Potter-loving girls were thrilled.  The studio has maintained much of the original set — the Gryffindor commons room, Dumbledore’s office, the potions classroom, the Great Hall, wardrobes, and much, much more.  We loved getting to wander around the set areas and see where some of the magic took place.

 

 

The girls even got some wand lessons.  They’re ready to fend off the Death Eaters.

In addition, much of the set was decorated for Christmas, which added to the enchantment.  In fact, when we went outside to get our butterbeer and see some more sets, it started “snowing.”

 

At the end of the tour was a complete model of Hogwarts, used for many of the outdoor scenes.  It really was breathtaking.

We ended the day with a quick trip back in London to Platform 9 3/4.  The girls were ready to head to school.

I am so glad that we went, and it was even better with good friends!

 

 

Catching Up

Since we’ve been back from Paris (a month ago!), we’ve had visitors, gone to London a couple of times, and settled back into our “Oxford normal” routine, which is really not normal at all.  Now that the last of our guests have left and the students leave tomorrow, so we’re settling in for the last days here.  It’s bittersweet.  On one hand it’s been lovely and magical and quite the adventure, and I don’t want to wish any moment of it away.  We have lots of fun things planned in the next three weeks and many more things that we won’t get to do, but would love to.  On the other hand, it’s dark and damp and a time for family, and I want nothing more than to be home.  But it’s Advent, so I’m working hard to lean into the waiting.

But here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to:

My dear friend Susan came.  We headed to London to see the poppies one last time, visit the German history exhibit at the British Museum, wander Selfridges, and even see the Columbia beat the US in a football (soccer) match at Craven Cottage.  We toured the Bodleian, went on a literary walking tour of Oxford, and spent an afternoon at Blenheim Palace.  Mainly, though, we wandered the streets of Oxford catching up on our lives over the past four months.  I’m looking forward to much more of that when I get home to Abilene. On her last day here, we were treated to an amazing sunset.  Granted it was at 3:45, but the sky was glowing.

The girls and I started an Oxford Alphabet to help countdown our days here and revisit some favorite places.  We’re quickly moving through the days and letters. (C was for Christ Church.)

 

The Paunans came to visit from Chicago over Thanksgiving.  The girls LOVED having friends their age and it was such a blessing to spend Thanksgiving with friends who are like family.  We went to the Harry Potter Tour at Warner Bros Studios (post forthcoming on that day), had a posh afternoon tea at the Randolph, saw the (very cute) Padddington movie, and wandered Blenheim Palace on a perfect autumn afternoon.  I loved getting to share Oxford with their family.

 

Meanwhile we continue our waiting — saying sad goodbyes to people and places while gladly anticipating the hellos (and hugs!) that are coming soon — trying our best to savor the now.