First stop

The first thing we did in Vienna was get on the bus to Bratislava, Slovakia! Bratislava is only about 50 km from the Vienna airport and we decided that since we were so close we would take advantage of visiting another country.
A memorial to the fallen Jews of the city.
Mozart played one of his first concerts in Bratislava. He was only 6.
We enjoyed our short time in Bratislava, however, we didn't get much of a sense of the pulse of it. We stayed only in the old city and that was probably why.

A market was set up selling all kinds of Easter eggs. They were absolutely beautiful and not very expensive either - only 2 Euro for a handpainted egg. I bought a few....


The opera house.

Fortunately our bus did not look like this one!
Row upon row of communist apartment buildings.

A long time coming

Twenty-six years ago Howard was based in Vienna with a summer mission. When we were married two years later, he told me that one day he wanted to take me to Vienna. He had loved the city and wanted me to see it too. After living in Germany for almost 11 years we finally made it to Vienna last week, with the help of a very generous gift.
I took tons of pictures so it will take a few posts to share just a few of them with you. Featured today are the Swiss Alps. As we were leaving Zurich the pilot said we would have a glorious view of the alps. We looked out the window at the overcast conditions and then at each other. Ya right. Quite a view. Well, the pilot was right and we were very wrong. He even confirmed with us all that he was indeed right... "See what I mean? Didn't I tell you the view would be spectacular?" And it was...

India #3

Some of the young teachers at the conference where Howard and others taught. Many of them traveled several days to get to the centre where the conference was held.
The whole group. Howard is in the back row just to the left of center.
A few more impressions...
The milk carrier...
...and his helpers.
This woman is wrapped literally from head to toe...
And we thought the trucks in Brazil were colourful!

India #2

Yes it's true - it's not hard to see cows wandering everywhere at will.
Howard was able to meet up with Dave and Beth who were on staff with us here for one year.
They now teach in India at an International Christian school which has a rich mission heritage going back 160 years
A market in Delhi.
Inside the train he traveled in for 7 hours.
Imagine that. Eating curry!
The Himalayan foothills.
Howard found someone (who actually latched onto him!) who gave him a tour of a Hindu temple.

India

On Monday Howard returned from an 11 day trip to India. He was there to teach at a conference for missionary teachers, many of whom are posted at schools in some incredibly remote parts of the country. On the way to and from the conference he was able to get a bit of a taste of India.
There are monkeys everywhere and are "protected" as they are one of India's sacred animals. Howard said he was fortunate to get this picture because as soon as they would see a camera they would run for cover!




Inside a "tuk tuk" which is a three-wheeled taxi.