Familial Adventures

Sunday the 9th, after 11pm my parents FINALLY arrived. They were flying standby and missed several connections so they got here a day later than we had hoped, so I was waiting with “grosse Schmertz” (much pain) for them the whole time. It was so great to get to hang out, talk, hug, and travel together. We did so much but here are some of the highlights; One stand out memory from:

Landeck, Austria (my town): Dad’s excitement at the Metzgerei (deli) where everything is homemade and fresh, asking questions about the smoking process, trying to tell them stories of his meat experiences, fishing, and smoking despite the language barrier.
Venice, Italy: Wandering the back streets at night in the dark, when it’s quieter, stopping and taking artsy pictures, running to catch up with M+D and squishing my hand under one or both of their arms and walking arm in arm, stopping for gelato, looking down little old alleys at crumbly old houses that are beautiful and real. “I’ve reached the time of life where my idea of a fabulous time is to sit around for half a day with a cup of coffee and a newspaper…” –Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There
Vienna, Austria: Standing outside in the cold on the cobble stoned shopping street at the door of our Pension at 10:30 pm the first night with mom, trying to convince the doorman that we really did have a reservation and having him hang up on us repeatedly. “Vienna is certainly the grandest city I have ever seen… a Martian coming to earth would unhesitatingly land at Vienna, thinking it the capital of the planet.” -Bill Bryson, “Neither Here Nor There. And on Viennese waiters, “I didn’t feel precisely like excrement, but the waiters certainly did have that studied are of superiority that you find among a certain class of European waiter. “

Bratislava, Slovakia: Our evening meal at Prašná Bašta a cozy cellar of a restaurant with thick arching walls, fitting non-English music, and the most delicious and authentic food. The highlight was thick potato pancakes with tender meat and mushroom sauce and two different delicious soups.
Mannheim, Germany: Getting to see mom interacting with her cousins and relatives, speaking German, telling stories, looking at old pictures of their parents and home town. Also, the amusement of being the translator for dad and getting confused and speaking to him in German.
Most thought provoking: having a quarrel with my dad about which way we should go to the train station and noticing that I become frustrated and snappier far more easily with my family than anyone else in my life. Sitting on a train for 7 hours after that reminding my self:
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:19
“Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins…if anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” 2 Peter 4:7-8, 11

Really satisfying: joking with mom about her fascination with Rick Steves, a travel author that she quotes like my brother does lines from movies.
Best Idea for future travel: Don’t do it with my parents. Just kidding. Read a book related to when you’ve been or where you are going. When I was in Prague, Czech Republic, I bought the book, “Summer Meditations” by Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and the first president of Czechoslovakia (right after the breakup of the Soviet Union). He writes about the Velvet Revolution that helped Czechoslovakia break free from communism and what it’s like to try and guide a new (and old) country into a new birth. It was super interesting to learn about the not so distant past and his views on politics, moral responsibility, and transforming society. We get to visit Bratislava, Slovakia and look down at the city from the castle and see row after row of huge concrete communist housing units (see background of picture below) and I rode through the still transforming countries-Czech Republic and Slovakia (the two countries were together Czechoslovakia and split shortly after the book was written in 1992). It is a great book for people who are apathetic, frustrated, or uninterested in politics because he shows how, “politicians have duty to awaken this slumbering potential, to offer it direction and ease its passage, to encourage it and give it room, or simply hope. They say a nation gets the politicians it deserves…Those who find themselves in politics therefore bear a heightened responsibility for the moral state of society, and it is their responsibility to seek out the best in that society, and to develop and strengthen it.”

Best addiction: I like coffee but limit my coffee shop stops for budget reasons when I travel normally but Dad is a big coffee drinker, so we would sneak off several times a day for cup of joe. The best (and cheapest) was a stand up coffee bar in Venice with huge cloth bags of whole beans piled up in the front of the store. Mmm.

That’s all for now!

“If you’re having a good time- stay. If you’ve met someone you fancy and who fancies you-stay. If you’re too beggared to move- stay. If the police are closing in on you- go.” -Peter Moore, travel Author