VIENNA!!!!!

So Saturday morning at 7:30 we departed on buses for the beautiful city of Vienna. It was about a two hour ride. We arrived around 10:15 a.m. and went right to Mass at Kapuzinerkloster. This is the Church where the skeletons of the Hapsburgs (the former ruling family of Austria) are buried. (Their hearts are in another Church and their organs in another.) When the funeral procession would come to Kapuzinerkloster the person at the head of the procession would knock at the door and one of the monks from inside would say "Who demands entrance?" and the funeral procession guy would say, for example, "Empress Maria Theresia, Empress of Austria, Queen of Prussia, etc." listing all her titles and the monk would say "We do not know her." Then the funeral procession guy would knock again and the monk would say "Who demands entrance?" and the funeral procession guy would say "Empress Maria Theresia, Empress of Austria, Queen of Prussia" just listing her two most important titles and the monk would say "We do not know her." So then the funeral procession guy would knock again and the monk would say "Who demands entrance?" and the guy would say "Empress Maria Theresia, a poor sinner" and then the monk would open the door.

After Mass we began a walking tour of Vienna. We visited several churches, including the beautiful, Gothic, St. Stephen's. There are two towers on St. Stephen's one of which is shorter than the other. The legend is that the man building the towers wanted to marry the architect's daughter. So the architect said he could marry her once he finished building the towers. So then the builder met this man who said that he could help him finish the towers really quickly but he couldn't say the names of any of the saints or of the Blessed Mother until the towers were finished. So the builder said ok and he built the first tower and then he started building the second one and then one day he was up working on the tower and he saw the woman he loved down below and so he yelled out her name: "Maria!" And the devil (the mysterious man) struck him dead. So that's why one tower is shorter than the other. St. Stephen's is really cool for several other reasons, first of all it has a perpetual adoration chapel, and secondly it was a meeting place for the Austrian resistance during World War II. The resistance would mark buildings where they could meet with the numbers 05 because the name of Austria in German is Osterreich and 05 kind of looks like OS, which, obviously, are the first two letters of their country's name.

We also saw a statue of Josef II the King who closed the Kartause and all the monasteries in Europe because he didn't understand the importance of contemplative prayer and so he took the money that would have been going to contemplative religious orders and gave it to orders that were "doing things" like taking care of the poor and stuff, which, obviously, is really important, but you can't succeed in those efforts if you don't have prayer backing you up. We then visited the church where the hearts of the Hapsburgs are entombed and across the street we saw the famous Viennese show horses (actually I think they're Spanish but they do the show in Vienna). Also in Vienna are some ancient Roman ruins, I think they're of the aqueducts, and the cafe, Cafe Greinsteidl, where the original Bambi was written and where many famous writers used to visit. I thought the most interesting sight we saw was the balcony that Hitler spoke from when Germany annexed Austria and where, many years later, JPII spoke!

After the tour we headed to the Melker Stiftskeller for lunch. It was a beautiful restaurant! It was actually underground which was kinda cool and the food was delicious! They gave us soup, salad, a main course (weinerschnitzel! which is apparently kind of like fried chicken only with pork? unless my friend was lying to me), and dessert!

After lunch we had free time to do whatever we wanted. I really wanted to go to Schonbrunn Palace but none of my friends wanted to go there so I decided to be independent and strike out on my own. But, apparently Jesus didn't want me to go to Schonbrunn cuz I could not find a metro to save my life! I thought I found one and then it turned out to be an underground bathroom! What the heck?! So I finally gave up and decided to wander until I found something interesting to do. So eventually I came upon the royal treasury which is basically a museum with all the royal jewels and stuff. It was really cool. They were selling those little electronic tour guide things but I didn't buy one cuz they're usually a waste of money. But then I realized that everything was written in German so I had no idea what anything was. However, I met up with one of the Sisters from our group and she had one of the electronic tour guides. And she grabbed me and was like "Clare, come here you have to listen to this!" So she pulled me over to this big crown that was on display and handed me the device and it explained that the king designed the crown so that there were diamonds to represent Christ, rubies to represent the fire of the Holy Spirit, and a big sapphire on top to represent God the Father, and the diamonds and sapphire are connected by the rubies! I think that is just the coolest ever!!!! And then there was another crown that had a painting of King David on one side and King Solomon on the other. It was really cool cuz most of the stuff in the museum were either religious items or secular items that incorporated religion. And that's when I decided that I am not visiting Europe - I'm visiting CHRISTENDOM! And it's not study abroad - it's a PILGRIMAGE!

When I finished in the museum I walked outside and there was no one in the courtyard and it was just dusk and the air was cool and I was in VIENNA!!! It was just such a movie moment, I can't even explain it, but I just had to stand there and take it all in. It was so wonderful!

All day I had noticed the horse and carriage rides throughout the city. I've seen those before in New York and I always wanted to take one but my parents would never pay for it. But I was in Vienna with my own money and I decided to take a carriage ride. It was soooo cool! It was actually kinda bumpy cuz Vienna still has some cobblestone streets but once we got on regular roads it was fine.

After my carriage ride I had a half hour before I was supposed to meet my friend Amy at the Albertina. Since I had no idea where I was I figured I should pull out my map and start heading to where I thought the Albertina was. I found out later that I was kind of on the right track but at the time I definitely felt lost. But, as always, Jesus took care of me, and I found three of my household sisters outside of St. Stephen's along with one of our r.a.'s. When I showed up they immediately pulled me into the group and we sang Dona Nobis Pacem in three rounds. It was really cool cuz we were just standing in front of St. Stephen's, in Vienna, singing! Then we learned that St. Stephen's has perpetual adoration so we headed in to say hi to Jesus.

When we finished talking to Jesus I had them direct me to the Albertina. Apparently I just had to go straight down the street and ask people along the way how to get to the opera house. So I headed off and about halfway I was freezing so I stopped in the Mostly Mozart chocolate shop to warm up. Then I asked the guy at the counter how to get to the opera house and I was told to just keep going straight. Then I turned around and there was Amy! Apparently she had gotten tired of waiting for me. So we spent the rest of our time checking out the shops and then, I hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we stopped in a cafe and I got an apple strudel. Then we got on the busses and headed back to the Kartause!