Days in June

 

All the days in June are going by quickly.  We started the month with a new class of Peace Corps Trainees coming to Moldova on June 5th.  Here you see part of the welcome committee at the Chisinau airport waving from the observation roof.  I'm wearing my Stefan cel Mare t-shirt. The new volunteers are bused to a welcome site and given the traditional Moldovan welcome of bread and salt.  We've had our share of storms come through the village this month.  Plenty of thunder and lightning.  Here are the two calves born this Spring to our herd at the Leca household.  They seem to be growing well.  Yes, chocolate and white milk.  Next you see my friend Robyn in the green sweater fixing some lunch for a group gathering at her house to celebrate our first year in Moldova.  Her porch has this million dollar Moldovan view.

And June 16th was a birthday for our nephew, Marius.  He was 11 years old.  Here you see his mom, Lilia holding his little brother Liviu. and both his grandmas and me.   That next picture is family too.  That's my son, Amos, who lives in Hawaii.  He just started a new job in the grocery business this month.  Congratulations, Amos!  Weather has been summery here.  High 70's and 80's.   I went for a Saturday stroll along the riverside.  Saw some horses, cows in the river and by the river.  The picture after the cows, look below the river bank, center to see if you can pick our the blue heron I saw.  Then there was this guard goose that honked me past his drive way.  A good day for a goose group swimming party.   Ah, a country style picnic table.  What can I say, the flowers were photogenic and the corn is coming along fine.   It was a perfect day in June.

Vacation = Part 10. Vienna the End

Well this is it.  This is the big wrap up of my vacation in Europe and our final thoughts on Vienna.  We begin of course with a concert evening of Mostly Mozart.  The performance is given in the Musikverein building which is the place they broadcast the New Year's Day Vienna Waltz Classic from every year.  (Public Radio Fans, you know what I'm talking about).  And if I'm not mistaken, Mozart played here too.  Next I cover a church I discovered on a little walk around Vienna that reminded me of so many of the red brick gothic's in the Midwest US that were built by our German priests.  It's the pfarre of St. Elizabeth.  Just a neighborhood parish church.  As I walked down the street from the church I noticed wall art along the street.  I note two of the paintings.  One is two dachshunds stopping to chat (in German no doubt) and the other a truly modern art original.  Next we have an Ear sculpture that was outside the RadioKulturhaus.  It's a music performance place with many different venues.  It was ranked No.949 on TripAdvisor among 1,114 attractions in Austria.  The fountain and column in the next picture is a monument to soldiers and warriors of the past.  And I came across this humble white church sporting Polish flags and a stature of John Paul II.  Now its off to Vienna's shopping pedestrian mall.  I couldn't help notice the sign for the OOSTMEER Chinese Restaurant that featured Pepsi Cola.  Of course, I had to have a wiener (hot dog) since I was in Vienna and those beer steins aren't just decorations.  All that called for a Gute Fahrt.  Next we come to the City Gate to the Heiden Platz.  It's there we attended our Sunday Mass in the Hofburgkapelle enhanced by the singing of the Vienna Boys Choir.  And we end this fabulous stay in Vienna with a visit to the Domkirche St Stephan zu Wien.   It has the tallest tower in the city.  And I took a lift up the north tower which is smaller than the main tower to catch a view of the city.   It has the largest bell in Austria hanging there.  As you can see, the view was pretty good.  Well thanks for sharing my vacation.   Looking at these pictures just brings it all back to me.