It is the eve of our next vacation adventure and I realized I have not written a thing in over a month! To be perfectly honest, March just passed us right by. It was a very busy and very emotional month for the Beard family.
At the tail end of February, we knew things were declining pretty rapidly for Spencer's mom, so we started the month with lots of worries and many decisions and plans to be made to get everyone to Mississippi. I had booked a trip to Vienna with the COP spouses group months earlier, so it was decided I should, indeed take the weekend trip and then immediately upon my return, Spencer would head to the states, so that is what we did.
Despite the other stresses, the ladies trip to Vienna was absolutely fantastic - well planned, great group of ladies (15 total,) and lots to see and do! We also scored big with amazing weather - lots of sun and mild temperatures! The organizer arranged for our group to have private tours with an excellent guide named Lisa. She took us on a couple walking tours and also spent a morning at Schonbrunn Palace. Among the many places we visited, some of the highlights for me were St. Stephens Cathedral, Schonnbrun Palace, Spanish Riding School (home of the famous Lippizaner stallions,) and of course, any restaurant serving schnitzel!!!
Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
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| Inside the Franciscan Church |
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| The large pedestrian mall area - tons of shopping! |
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| This old carriage was in one of the small courtyards our guide led us through |
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| Statue in the palace area downtown |
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| View in Heroes Square |
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This statue was built as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the plague
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And that was just the first afternoon! We also visited Mozart's home, enjoyed a lovely concert of classical pieces from famous composers of Vienna, and many other things over the weekend.
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| St. Stephen's Cathedral |
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| Albertina Square |
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| Inside the Anglican Church - loved this one! |
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| Crown jewels in the Treasury Museum |
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| Just thought this one was absolutely fantastic - all those big stones! |
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Some of the ladies shared my love of schnitzel...yes, we shared - they were huge and best I have ever had!
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| My fellow horse rider and I toured the Spanish Riding School. This is the tack room. |
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| This is where they perform daily. Unfortunately, we could not see the show, but the tour was very interesting! |
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The organ in St. Stephen's
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The following day we spent the morning at Schonbrunn Palace and then had the afternoon to wander. I spent this afternoon with Celine where we hit the famous Saturday market and then took the subway over to the famous ferris wheel in Prater. And, yes, we rode it too!
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| Schonnbrun Palace - the royal summer home |
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| The view from the back of the palace - gardens and the huge memorial in the distance |
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| The Wiener Riesenrad |
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| In the ferris wheel car |
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| One view from up high. It was a bit hazy, but lovely view |
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| The view of the rest of the amusement park |
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Street performers were all along the pedestrian mall
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So, the trip was wonderful...
Upon my return, Spencer got on a plane the following morning to be with his family. The kids and I held out for most of the week waiting to see what we needed to do and ended up flying out on Friday morning. Mom/MawMaw was waiting for us and once she had her entire family there with her, she said her goodbyes and passed away early Wednesday morning. We are so blessed that we could be there with her and Dad/Pop. It was a very difficult couple weeks for everyone...The visitation was on Thursday and so many people came by to express their condolences. Joyce was a very special lady and loved by many. We celebrated her life on Friday and laid her to rest at Harmony Cemetery near her parents.
We then made our trek back to Stavanger and tried to get back to the business of life here. Spencer headed back to work, Kyla to school, and Brendan...well, sweet Brendan was quickly re-packed and sent off on his week-long 5th grade trip to Gullingen in the mountains. There, he was introduced to cross-country skiing and had plenty to distract him, which was a good thing for him. As much as he wasn't so sure about going, he ended up having a great time. I spent the week trying to get back into the swing of things too!
We ended up having some wonderful weather last weekend and hiked up Manafossen all the way to the waterfall this time. I will have to post some pictures of that next time around...but let me say, breathtaking!
Now, it is the end of March and we are off to Poland tomorrow for our much anticipated Easter vacation. I am sure I will have much to blog about from our trip, so hopefully I will be a little better about my blogging next month. :) We can always hope anyway...!
