2 MORE Days in Bavaria

We were very fortunate to spend the last two days in Bavaria with a group of students. This was our third time crossing the border from Austria into the south-eastern state of Germany.  (The first time was to Berchtesgaden and the second was to Dachau and Munich.) This time our route took us from Augsburg to Munich to Altötting.  It was our first time traveling on a double-decker bus and we loved it!  (We rode downstairs where we had a table for the four of us). 

The nine days leading up to our trip we prayed the Novena to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots in preparation for visiting the church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg, which houses the painting of Mary's image.  The painting has been venerated at St. Peter's since 1700.  It was originally inspired by a meditation of St. Irenaeus (Bishop of Lyon and martyred in 202) based on the parallel made by St. Paul of Adam and Christ.  St. Irenaeus, in turn, made a comparison between Eve and Mary, saying: "Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by her obedience, undid it."

In Augsburg, we also visited the Basilica of St. Ulrich and St. Afra and saw the tombs of these two saints in the crypt. 

It took about four and a half hours to get to Augsburg and we watched the movie Sophie Scholl: The Final Days on the way.  It is a German film (with English subtitles) about the last days in the life of Sophie Scholl, a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi non-violent student resistance group The White Rose.  She was found guilty of high treason by the so-called "People's Court" and executed the same day, February 22, 1943.  The movie is excellent, we highly recommend watching it (and you may even pick up some German as you do!)  

In Munich we all had Friday night and most of Saturday to do whatever we wanted. Our family visited the University of Munich where Sophie and her brother Hans distributed the anti-war leaflets that cost them their lives. 

Outside the University building you can see replicas of the leaflets permanently positioned on the ground. 

After visiting the University we walked through part of the huge English Garden. We stopped to play at a playground before seeing the wave that people surf on all year round (it was in the low 30s and snowing shortly after we saw the two men surfing). 

We then walked to the Residenz, which we visited last time, and Brian and Ellie posed for some photos at the monument nearby. 

Here's a closeup view so you can see Brian holding Rainbow Dash more clearly. 

From there we went into Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan. Of note in this church, as pointed out by a friend who used to live in Munich, is the one thousand cherubs - all bearing the same face of the newly-born prince at the time. 

We met up with all the students that afternoon and headed to Altötting.  Altötting is called the "Lourdes of Germany" due to the thousands of pilgrims who visit every year in search of healing.  The shrine's reputation began in 1489 when a three-year-old child drowned in the nearby pond. His mother rushed his dead body to the altar where the statue of Our Lady, the Black Madonna, stood.  As she pleaded for his life to be returned to him, he opened his eyes and was restored to life. Another similar miraculous healing occurred a few years later when a distraught mother brought her child who has been crushed by a cart to the chapel and again the child's life was restored. Today the shrine attracts over one million pilgrims each year. 

No pictures are allowed of the statue inside. However, outside you can see the many paintings of those who have been healed as well as the crutches and other devices left behind by those who have been miraculously healed by Our Lady of Altötting. 

We had Mass at the church right next to the chapel, followed by dinner, and then made the three hour trip back to Gaming. 

Many prayers were said for those in need of healing and a miracle! May God bless you all!

Ellie turns 3!!!

Our baby girl turned 3 today!  Happy birthday, Elliana Thérèse!  And Happy Ash Wednesday, All!

Ash Wednesday isn't exactly the most lively day to celebrate one's birthday.  But Ellie thought it was pretty neat that everyone got dirt put on their heads because God loves us and made us - on her birthday!

She had to part with her ashes during her first swimming lesson in Austria!  Some of the University students are taking Ellie and three of the other kids for a weekly swimming lesson at the local elementary school pool.  Ellie was sooooooo excited to go swimming on her birthday, and even more excited to wear her new bathing suit all morning long (the swimming lesson wasn't until 4pm).  Francis was super excited for this photo op, which allowed him just enough time to gnaw on the dustpan brush....he heard it was Ash Wednesday and wanted all the dust and ash he could get ;)



Luckily, in Austria the day before Ash Wednesday - called Carnival - is a festive celebration!  People in Austria, Germany, etc. dress up (much like we do for Halloween) and have parades and parties before the Lenten Season begins.  One of our student helpers this semester is originally from Germany and she dressed up as Snow White for Carnival - and stopped by to surprised us!  Ellie was so excited to meet this beautiful princess - who speaks English AND German, like Ellie will someday :)  Ellie was going to start pre-school this month at the local school, where they all speak German, but the section with all of the other University children in it is full right now.  So she will begin school in September instead.  I'm glad she'll have the opportunity to learn German and make more friends, but for now I'm happy she's still at home!

Continuing on with the birthday celebrations, we had some of our neighbors/friends over with their children for a little party!  Ellie helped me decorate the cake earlier in the day -- upon her request: a cake with blue frosting and a rainbow.

You can see some of the other children were still in their Carnival costumes from dressing up for school earlier in the day.  (And you can see Francis really partying hard despite the fact he didn't get any cake or ice cream!)

The kids were so sweet bringing her gifts - and opening them for her :)

In Ellie's opinion, the party was definitely a success.  It might have had something to do with the fact she finally got to have some of the "wine" we bought at Spar.

After partying hard yesterday, she got to open her new toy kitchen today.  She was pretty excited because she's been missing the one we left at the "white house" (that's what she calls the apartment we used to live in, which is only slightly confusing when we tell people we're from D.C. and Ellie adds - "from the White House".)  The toy kitchen is definitely a step up from her old one, and is totally European with it's Celsius oven dials and fridge temps.  

The real purpose for including this picture though, is her hair!  Look how long and curly it is in back!  It only took three years - but our little baldy finally has hair :)

See what I mean about her hair...here's Ellie at just over a year ago (she's always been one for wearing her bathing suit to play in -- and as evidenced above with Francis, my kids love to clean!)

Still focusing on the lack of hair - this is age 1 on Ash Wednesday.

And check out this little baldy at 3 months!  (Don't worry, now that we live in Austria we've told her she has to keep that arm down).

Ellie says danke for all the sweet birthday wishes!

Have a great Lent!  

The Students are Here & A Trip to the ER

The students have all arrived for the Spring Semester!  

It's great to see the church packed again for daily Mass - and exciting to see all the new people that we'll get to meet this semester.  We were looking forward to joining them yesterday for their first trip during Orientation - to Admont Abbey about 2 hours away. The monastery's library is the one Disney's Beauty & the Beast's library is modeled after.  

This is what we were looking forward to seeing:

Instead we saw something that looked more like this:

That's Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood where Daniel goes to the doctor -- for those of you who don't have a toddler obsessed with the show (it's a spin-off of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood).  We spent a LOT of time watching this show on the computer this week as Ellie was sick.

Ex. of good parenting: toddler screen-time while baby eats tissue

She had a super high fever for 6 days (102 to 104.7 -- scary!!)  We kept thinking it'd go away after a couple of days, because Francis had the same symptoms the week before - high fever for a few days, along with a stuffy nose and ending with a cough.  (I'm not sure which is worse -- having to use the nasal aspirator to unclog the baby's nose and having him throw up milk all over me while nursing because he couldn't breathe -- or constantly trying to help Ellie use a tissue as she yells "tissue! tissue! tissue, please!" at me 500 times a day).  But on the 6th day of her high fever, and after googling things like "how high of a temperature causes brain damage," we decided it was time to take her in to see the professionals.  

Doctor offices aren't open on the weekend, so we took her to the ER at the hospital about 20 minutes away.  Going anywhere new over here always intimidates me.....I just pray when we utter "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" - that the other person will respond "yes!"  In this case, the people helping us did - or found other personnel who did.  I am so thankful that most people we meet in Austria do speak English - and I really wish I could learn enough German to communicate with them.  I can't imagine what it would have been like to be at the hospital and have no one understand me.  How scary.  Even with the slight language barrier (and Fahrenheit v. Celsius and Pounds v. Kilograms issues) I was worried they wouldn't fully understand as I explained what Ellie had been going through.  I definitely hope I'm more empathetic and patient with those I can't understand in the future.

After we checked in, we were waiting outside the ER.  It was really quiet and clean; only a few other people were waiting.  At one point the paramedics rolled a man on a stretcher by -- I tried to keep Ellie focused on the "cool red uniforms" the paramedics were wearing, similar to uniforms we'd seen on Daniel Tiger.  Shortly after they passed by, Ellie was on the ground playing with Francis - when I noticed she was standing in a puddle.  At first I thought it was from the stretcher's wet wheels -- then I realized it was from her diaper.  Fun times.

When the doctor called us in, she asked who the patient was and we pointed to Ellie.  She then explained that this was an "ER for adults" and children should go to the pediatrician during the week.  We were a bit in shock as we explained we didn't think she needed a doctor until now (and because the patient before us was a child).  But then she proceeded with the examination, and was very kind - great with Ellie - and spoke English very well.

So after an examination and blood work it was concluded that it was just a virus - very likely the same one Francis had - and it would hopefully pass by the end of the week.  Ellie hated the finger prick but loved the new toy car they gave her!  The doctor told us to keep giving her the fever reducer -- they don't have children's Tylenol but they do have a children's ibuprofen that you can get without a prescription.  Stores aren't open on Sundays - so she called around for us and found out which Pharmacy was open.  (Luckily it was the one next to J's American Burgers - a locations we're familiar with).  We were surprised to find even the Pharmacy wasn't fully open - instead people were standing in a line outside (in the rain) and waiting to hand their prescription over to the Pharmacist.  It is nice stores aren't open on the Lord's Day - just something to get used to compared to back in the U.S.

Finally today - or sometime after I put her to bed last night - the fever broke!  Today I learned of all the people praying for Ellie.  All of the buses that the students were riding on to Admont prayed a Rosary with her intention.  What a beautiful gift!

I knew Ellie was feeling better today when she was watching an episode of Daniel Tiger while I tended to the baby -- and I heard her say, "Oh Daniel, you're not my neighbor."  Then she asked for an Oreo.  Definitely.Feeling.Better.