For the last three and half years, a friend of mine and her family have lived in Slovakia, serving with JV. All this time we've been saying, "We should get together in Vienna".
But you know how life goes sometimes. Husband, kids, ministry, laundry...it's hard to get away.
But we finally managed to find a 24 hour period where we could meet up. I got on a train in Ostrava and she took a train from Bratislava, and we met up on Platform 12 in the Vienna hauptbahnhof.
What a delightful 24 hours we enjoyed together, walking, talking...and eating!
While Amy is much more versed in getting around Vienna since she lives just an hour away, there is a restaurant called "Neni" that I love so we set off to find it.
We found Viennese Austrians to be very kind at giving directions. But not very accurate! :) In all we walked nearly 4 miles to get there after asking at least 5 people how to get to the Naschmarkt, where the restaurant was located!
We didn't mind though as it was a beautiful fall day and we saw lots of beautiful buildings and architecture along the way.
The Naschmarkt is a must if you're ever going to Vienna. It's a combination of a fruit/vegetable market, fresh meat and fish, organic items, hundreds of spices and a little bit of clothing and scarves. All beautifully displayed and sold in a friendly Austrian environment.
Though it's not a huge market, you can wander for a long time as they pack a lot into those stalls.
We sat down outside at Neni since it was such a pretty day. Talking a mile a minute with each other, we were fairly oblivious to everyone else surrounding us.
It was a bit of a shock/surprise when someone came up to our table and said hello.
This is Agnes, the first person to give us
She was also the woman who we rented an Air BnB apartment from in a completely other district of the city! And yet, there she was in the market, stopping to say hi. What are the chances of that happening in a city of 1.74 million people?? It made our day! We have a new friend in Vienna.
Amy and I spent nine hours talking one day, and nearly six the next. With such a long friendship history, we always have a lot to talk about...and especially now that we share children!
Those two children, and all our others, would've been proud of us for the very cool coffee shop we found the next morning. Another two hours passed in a flash as we enjoyed breakfast there.
Way too soon we were back on Platform 12, talking right up until the minute Amy caught her train back to Bratislava. And just seven minutes later, I was on mine to Ostrava.
But oh how nourishing it was to spend those 24 hours with each other! It's good to have time with friends.
"Thanks for the sweetest time together Amy! See you there next September for another 24 hours!"
Such an amazing 24 hours with you, my friend, and I love that this might be a yearly tradition!!!
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