My Pilgrimage: June 20

Long story short: I really like Vienna so far.  I think I’m not an honorary Hapsburg.

It was an early day for me, because I wanted to get to the Schönbrunn Palace, the huge palace of the von Hapsburgs just outside of Vienna.  But first, I have to mention the hotel breakfast buffet.  I have never seen anything like it!  Five long tables full of food, anything you can think of.  All kinds of cereals and fruits, yogurt, pre-made smoothies, omelet stations, meats, eggs, French toast, one side full of different pastries, juices, milk, etc.  I could have gone crazy, but I held back.  I grabbed a yogurt and smoothie (the yogurt was the most bland part of the breakfast, not really chilled), and of course a couple of pastries.  One was an amazing croissant filled with chocolate and drizzled with chocolate.  The other was a cake donut with chocolate glaze, it looked like the kind you can get in bags that taste nasty but this was fantastic.  I really wanted to eat more, but I also really wanted to not get sick.

It took about an hour to get to the palace, since I had to first figure out how to get tickets, then take a train to the city center, then get on the U-bahn to the palace, then actually walk to the palace.  Whew.  But believe me, it was worth it, and I knew it as soon as I saw it!  Wow!  The palace has something like 1400 rooms, but the tour takes you through about 40 of them.  Unfortunately you cannot take photos inside (which is why I bought a book about it afterwards), but I can say the real WOW was the main ballroom.  It’s hard to describe, but I imagine it’s something like the mirror room in Versailles (which I’m now extra bummed I didn’t see while in Paris). 

Now THAT'S Money!

My only picture inside, before the No Photo signs

After the tour, which took about an hour, I was well ahead of my schedule so I took my time walking through the gardens and the grounds.  Then I came up to the zoo, the oldest in the world.  I debated with myself for a few minutes.  In the end, my love of zoos, and especially historical ones, won over my concern for the cost.  I took about an hour to walk through most of it.  The highlight for me was the close up with hippos, but I also liked seeing the arctic wolves and lions.  Unfortunately, the tigers were nowhere to be found.  While walk through, I splurged for a strawberry gelato (a whole 1.50 Euros), which was good since it was starting to get hot.

There is glass there, but those kids were still too close

Hungry Hungry Hippo

King Penguin

A couple of arctic wolves

Check out that view!

I finished my walk through the grounds, including some great views of the palace with Vienna behind it, and made my way back to the metro.  I was still about an hour ahead of schedule, which worked out well.  I went directly to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, getting there around 11:30.  As I walked in, the guard said the nave was closed for Mass.  I asked what time Mass was; “12:00 everyday.”  I then asked if I could go to Mass, he said “surely” and I was in.  So that’s the trick to skip pay the 4 Euro to get into the main nave.  It was an interesting Mass, my first in German (add that to English, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, and Arabic).  They had four hymns, including a post-Communion, but no Alleluia and no homily.  Oh, and they used the communion rail.  I was able to take a few pictures, then made my way out of the cathedral.  Before leaving, I wanted to see the treasury, but unfortunately it’s closed for renovations and will reopen “next week.”  Sigh.

A lot of construction inside and out made some pictures difficult

Vanquishing the Turk

So then I decided to wander through the streets of Vienna, take it in, and make my way down to the Opera.  Their tours were on the hour, so when I got there around 12:15, I had some time to spare.  What to do?  To the Socher Hotel for the famous Socher Torte!  It didn’t take too long to be seated, and I ordered green tea and a torte for my lunch.  What can I say?  It is very good (and hot tea on a day like today is a dumb idea).  The cake by itself would be a bit dry, but the apricot jam and whipped cream really work well with the chocolate.

Next up was the Opera tour.  To put it bluntly, it puts the Houston Symphony hall to shame.  The tour guide said we were lucky because today we were able to see the stage from the side of the stage, so a little of the backstage.  What’s amazing is that they run for 10 months (September through June), and each season they have about 50 operas or ballets.  At any one time there are usually five rotating, so every day they have to dismantle one set and put up the next.  They have to store the sets at a nearby museum and truck them in every day.  Seems like a bit much, but they make it work.  The building itself was pretty remarkable, especially the parts that served the bombing in 1945 (the main staircase and a couple of intermission salons, including the royal one).

The Royal Intermission room, spared from bombing

It was about 2:00 and I was starting to drag, but I still had one more big stop to go: the Imperial Apartments.  They were a bit difficult to find, but I finally did and started the tour through the “kitchen collection” as I’m calling it: silverware, serving sets, plates, etc. (the only part of the tour you could take pictures).  The first few rooms were cool, but it got old fast.  That part finally ended and I walked upstairs to the apartments.  Or at least that’s what I thought it was, but they started with a long tour of the life of “Sisi,” Queen Elizabeth, wife of Franz Joseph.  She had a “tragic” life, I suppose, marrying him reluctantly at the age of 15, hating the spotlight and doing everything to avoid it, having her only son commit suicide, and finally being assassinated at a young age by an Italian anarchist.  They really played her up as tragic, but I kind of thought she was a bit overdramatic.  That part of the tour could have lasted 30 minutes if I listened to the whole audio guide, but I wasn’t really interested in her life so I kind of fast forwarded until I got to what I want to see: the actual apartments.  While they were good, they were somewhat of a letdown after the Palace in the morning.  Or maybe I was just tired.

Royal Chamber Pots!

Just part of a HUGE centerpiece

After finishing that tour, I was pretty bushwhacked, but I didn’t want to call it a day at 4:30.  So, I decided to check out a couple more churches in the area.  First up was St. Michael’s, directly across the street from the apartments.  WOW!  This church is some kind of beautiful.  The sculptures behind the altar are breathtaking, and the eight (I think) side altars are pretty great too.  As slightly underwhelmed as I was by the cathedral, this blew me away.

Close up on Michael

15th Century Pieta

I then made my way up to St. Peter’s, only to find out they were about to have Mass.  No bother, I will try to return for Mass tomorrow (I noted the times) for a better look.  By that time I really was tired, not to mention hot and smelly, so I made my way back to the metro, train, and hotel.  I’m pretty happy with myself, after I was nervous this morning, that I navigated with no real problems both the transportation and the city.  I’m looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Finishing May

On Monday I was able to meet with my friend for lunch at the Hobbit Cafe.  Good conversation as always.

Tuesday and Wednesday were my days to finish packing and start getting this moved to the new address.

Thursday I drove down to Brownsville, actually Lyford.  It was a long drive, but not too bad.  On the way I got a text about a tornado near my brother's house in Bryan.  Lots of flooding as well.  Please pray for all those affected by the storms in Texas.  I was able to stay at the house of a friend from seminary, right in the middle of farming country.  It was actually greener than I expected.  It was not too bad. 

On Friday we went to see X-Men: Apocalypse.  It was ok, with some good action scenes, but overall most of the characters were underused.  Perhaps I've been spoiled by Captain America: Civil War.  Then we headed down to McAllen for the ordination at the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.  The basilica itself was a bit too modern for me.  I was expected more of a Spanish mission feel.  The ordination was beautiful with lots of Spanish.  After the ordination myself and a few other seminarians met for a late dinner (dessert) at a local Italian restaurant.  We got back to the house late for some sleep before I had to drive back on Saturday.

I drove back early on Saturday because we were trying to get the family together one more time before the move.  Unfortunately because of the flooding one family could not make it, but we had a good time regardless.  Sunday was my day of rest.

I set out for Wisconsin on Monday.  The stop overnight was in Springfield, Missouri.  The drive was basically uneventful.  I spent the night at a Route 66 Best Western.  It was ok, though not as unique as the reviews made it sound.  The desk manager recommended I go to lunch at a diner next door, which gives a 10% discount.  The food was alright, and fairly cheap.

Tuesday started with a stop at a local parish for Mass on the feast of the Visitation.  After a quick breakfast, I was on the road to Wisconsin.  The scenery was much better this day heading through the hills of Missouri and the farms of Illinois and Wisconsin.  9 hours later, I arrived at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Madison.  The pastor and religious education coordinator were kind enough to help me move stuff out of my car up to my room.  Then it was time for dinner.  After a check online, I headed over to a local sandwich joint (Crostini Sandwiches).  Fresh squeezed lemonade, California chicken panini, and a free chocolate chip cookie after I mentioned I just moved in.  It was all good, I will definitely be returning.  I spent the rest of the night moving in my stuff before I got too worn out and called it a night.  Apparently I slept through a strong thunderstorm.

Now, I'm sitting in my new room after the first Mass at the parish (with the windows open, something unthinkable in Houston).  I am looking forward to a good summer getting to know Madison.

A Very Busy Month

May has been and will continue to be quite the busy month for me.  Here is a little look at the place I've been and the things I've done.

Let's start at the very beginning.  (A very good place to start.)  Our last day of class was Thursday, May 5, which ended with a final Mass where the Schola sang the Franz Biebl Ave Maria which we had been preparing since at least Spring Break.  After Mass those of us who were completing Pre Theology were given a certificate of completion. 

Two guys I will miss the most, we survived two years together

The next day was cleaning and move out day.  Instead, I went to see Captain America: Civil War with my good friend from UNT.  My brief review: it's the best movie of the MCU.  That night I was given two tickets to the Mariners/Astros game.  I could not pass up free tickets, especially since they were in the Club Level and I had never been there before.  It was a pretty exciting experience.  Outside of a bases loaded triple in the seventh, Fister pitched well to even his record at 3-3.  Correa went 3-3 with a home run, and we got to see Marwin Gonzalez's first non-solo home run.

I was back at the stadium the next day.  I had planned for a while to bring my dad as his birthday present, plus I wanted to get the Dallas Keuchel bobblehead.  Keuchel actually pitched decently, though he gave up solo home runs in the first two innings to Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager (both lefties).  The Astros tied it when Valbuena (finally) hit his first home run of the year in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings.  Cano ended it with his second home run of the game in the tenth.  It was another in a long line of losses the Astros should have won.

Pictured: losing pitcher

The next week was full of packing for the move.  I also got rid of a bunch of stuff, including all of my notes from graduate school and my dissertation.  It was surprising how easy that was.  I able to have dinner with some good friends Monday night.  Then on Friday I went down to Clear Lake to hang out with my friend again and go back to Space Center Houston one last time.  Of course it's different now, especially with that giant (fake) space shuttle on the 747.  It was a cool tour, and it's always great to be reminded of how large/small the shuttle was.  (Large overall, tiny in the living space.)

The early part of the next week included a fair amount of packing again.  Then, my first big adventure.  On Thursday, I headed up to Bryan/College Station to see my brother and family.  After lunch with him, I headed over to Texas A&M for one last look around.  Unforunately it was raining fairly hard, so I pretty much cut it down to the Memorial Student Center, the Academic Building, and Kyle Field.  I even snuck into the 12th Man Foundation part of the Zone of Kyle Field.  I walked around like I knew what was doing, and found a door open to a hallway that looked like it headed somewhere near the field but was too chicken to find out more.

That night, we were able to go to Blue Bell Park to see the #2 Aggies take on the #6 Rebels in the final homestand of the season.  It was my first trip to the recently renovated field, and we all had a good time.  The Ags scored in the bottom of the first and the Rebels tied it in the second, then it was solid pitching and a horrible strike zone by the ump.  But the Aggies prevailed, scoring 5 runs in the 6th inning.  There just might be some young Aggies here yet.

Friday I had a good day beginning with taking my niece and nephew to get donuts before school.  After a little down time with my brother, I drove up to Dallas where I was staying the night at Holy Trinity Seminary.  The power was out when I got there, but that allowed me to spend some time talking with a couple of seminarians from Galveston-Houston, reading, and a little nap.  I grabbed a quick dinner at Smashburger (my first time, it was ok), then back to the seminary to watch the Astros lose to the Rangers in their spacious TV lounge.  Saturday was the big day: going to the Fort Worth Priestly Ordination.  St. Patrick's Cathedral is quite beautiful.  While vesting in the sacristy, I was amazed to look up and see a stained glass window of my favorite saint Maximilian Kolbe.  What a treat!  The ordination was a moving experience (actually my first priest ordination).  I knew I was going to have to drive down to Houston after it, so I was hoping to see my friend and get his first blessing quickly at the reception.  I was worried by the number of people, but I realized they were all waiting in line for food, so I went right up to his table.  I was greatly blessed when he stopped everything to bless me first!  Again, it was a great experience.

I came back on Saturday so that I could go to the Astros game on Sunday with my sister and nephew, probably our last chance to do so together in Houston.  The final score was terrible (9-2 and another sweep), but we had a good time together, even if he got all jacked up on cotton candy.

Now I'm starting off another very busy week, with a trip to Brownsville in store before I move up to Madison for good.  I'll have to give an update as everything progresses.