Moving on

Vienna, Austria – Monday, November 2, 2009 - 8:56pm local time

It’s Monday night, and I’m now in one of my favorite places in the world—Vienna!  Austria was the first place I ever traveled overseas—on my honeymoon—and I love being here.  There is something so special to me about Austria and Vienna that I can’t really explain.

 

I arrived earlier tonight from Minsk and determinedly took the train into the city center.  Then, I stealthily checked my map, got my bearings, and did my very best don’t-look-like-a-tourist tourist walk…a mile in the wrong direction.  I finally righted myself and made my way back to my room for the night.  I’m staying in the most interesting place.  The Deutscher Orden Guesthouse is attached to a Catholic order/convent a literal stone’s throw from Stephansdom, the huge cathedral that marks the center of old Vienna.  The cathedral is the heart of Vienna is many ways, not just geographically, and I can hear the bells from my room. The room is great, even better than the hotel I just checked out of in Minsk, with a private bath and full breakfast included.  I can’t wait to do some exploring and picture-taking tomorrow.  That is, if it stops raining.  The forecast is for rain tonight and snow tomorrow.  Great for touristing.

 

We finished our time in Minsk with with some great experiences.  Our team visited Smargon, a small city near the Lithuanian border on Sunday morning.  There is a Calvinist church there dating from the 16th century.   It was a Calvinist Protestant church, then a Catholic church, then an Orthodox church, then a warehouse during the Soviet times.  Now it’s a Catholic church once more.  The exterior architecture was fairly standard, very simple Calvinist style with hardly any decorations and simple curves and lines.  Inside, though, it was completely different.  The church is a functioning Catholic church, so there was an altar and stations of the cross.  However, the most incredible thing was the ceiling.  From the outside the building disguised a huge interior rotunda that rose approximately 75 feet to its peak.  There were a variety of paintings around the circumference that depicted the life of Christ.  The style was unlike anything I had eve seen!  The type of art and the colors reminded me so much of American southwestern or American Indian artwork.  It was fascinating, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it in eastern Europe, certainly not in Belarus!  I only wish I could have taken pictures inside.

 

From Smargon, we drove the Zalesse to visit Auginsky’s palace.  Auginsky was an early 19th century Belarusian composer who did much to try and restore the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Belarus’ historical boundaries and political alliances.  Auginsky was a personal friend of Napoleon and Tsar Alexander, so his property was quite the impressive place in his time.   It is fairly well preserved now with a the main palace, stables, chapel, and summer theater building still intact.  A river and woods run through the property, and it was beautiful.  We had an enjoyable visit and a great narrative from our friend A, a professional historian.

 

We closed our Sunday and our time in Belarus as we usually do.  Security reasons keep me from giving any details, but those of you who have supported me these years know what I’m referring to.  If not, please ask me.  I’d love to tell you about it privately.  It’s a powerful story!

 

I’m eager to tell you about one of the reasons I chose to spend a day in Vienna on the way home.  Pray for me and the Lord’s direction for my family, would you?

 

More to come…