Our First Company

For the last 9 days, we have had the privilege of having my Grammy Tuley, cousin Jennifer and her boyfriend Anthony visit! They are the first visitors we have had since our move to Vienna. It was so much fun to have them in our home, and show them around our "hometown."

They flew in on Friday morning, and in order to keep them awake until bedtime, we headed downtown to walk around for a while and eat lunch. Saturday morning we got up and drove to Prague, Czech Republic. Prague is by far our favorite city we have visited in Europe (not that we have been to many!). It is an amazing, beautiful city with over 150 church spires rising up over the city. We walked our legs off all day Saturday and Sunday, ate a lot of delicious food, and thoroughly enjoyed the city. The picture on the left is of Grammy in front of the famous Charles Bridge. The one below this is of the palace Cathedral. It was purely amazing.

Tuesday through Friday we spent touring Vienna, in the rain. We were able to see a lot of places, and again, do a lot of walking and eating!

On Saturday, with my friends Becca and Sally and her boyfriend Tyler who was visiting from the States, we visited a few places about an hour drive from Vienna. First we went to see Durnstein which are castle ruins. This is the castle where they held Richard the Lionheart, King of England, in 1193. It was quite the hike to the top, and I am proud to say my Grammy made it the whole way! Check out the hike on the right! Up above is a picture of Grammy at the top!

After Durnstein we drove over to Melk Abbey, one of the worlds most famous. Today it serves

as a school as well as an abbey, and is most well known for its baroque chapel and library containing countless medieval manuscripts. Although we did not pay to take the tour, we were still able to see the chapel and walk around the grounds a bit. Its a really pretty abbey, or "stift" in German. Our question of debate "What is the difference between an abbey and a monastary?

Finally, we ended our trip with a visit to Aggstein, another famous castle in the area. Although this castle is also ruins, you are still able to walk around parts of it and see the basic foundations. It was really cool and had a spectacular view of the Danube river valley.