Freitag - Reise nach Wien (Friday - Trip to Vienna)

Friday we are off for the day and a trip to Vienna was enjoyed by all. We were dropped off at a large shopping mall anchored by Ikea. They run a bus to the Opera House in Vienna for a nominal fee. I contacted my daughter Carrie who is living in Bratislava, Slovakia which is not far from Vienna. She took a train and was at the Opera House to meet us. She helped everyone to buy an all day pass for the trams, u-bahn, buses and we headed to the Zentralfriedhof which is a huge cemetery. Carrie directed us to the correct tram/bus connections to get us to the proper entrance where we could see the graves of famous musicians such as Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Schoenberg, and others. It was an amazing site. Carrie then go us to the Belvedere, which is a huge palace with a large English garden that slopes towards the city. It was beautiful. Carrie then had to catch a train back to Bratislava to make a connection to go on a weekend mission trip. Everyone was very happy to meet her and to have her knowledge to get us around. We then went to a neat restaurant near St. Stephens Cathedral where we had a great weiner schnitzel lunch. The rest of the afternoon we walked around the streets around old town. Back to haus Edelweiss for dinner and dishwashing. Everyone was tired.

Donnerstag - Warmes Wetter (Thurs - Warm Weather)

Well another day of serving at Haus Edelweiss. Had to check of few more of the downspouts for clogs as more rain is forecasted for the coming week. After completing my ladder climbing chores I returned again to de-leafing the rocky waterfall area to allow the vines and ferns to spread and to help complete the beautiful effect it adds to the fishpond. Ron and another worker named Gene cleaning out the swimming pool the day before and it is now being filled with water. When we arrived here there was some nasty looking water in the bottom of the pool and they removed over 10 frogs and a salamander. By the way, I haven't come across and snakes yet working on the rocky waterfall area... thank God! They were hoping to get the waterfall running today, but Kevin who supervises our work said that the concrete & stone chase towards the top of the hill side where the water is pumped to start it on its way down to the pond has deteriorated. They are afraid too much water will runoff and never make it back to the pond. I have been asked to see if I could come up with some concrete repairs to fix some of the worst sections. That will have to wait until Monday. Friday we have the day off to go to Vienna. Everyone is looking forward to a break from the work routine and to be a tourist for awhile. After dinner and doing my dishwashing job we had a Vienna meeting. Later I Skyped Carrie, my daughter, and she is going to meet us in Vienna to help us find the huge Central Graveyard where famous people like Beethoven, Shubert, Brahms, Strauss, etc are buried. I'll let you know how the Vienna trip went in my next post.