Innsbruck, Austria

On Sunday, October 18th, we left Chiavari a little later than planned--after leaving the apartment, and locking the keys inside as instructed, I remembered we didn't have a key to raise the security gate in the parking lot. As a result, we sat at the gate for about ten minutes waiting for someone to come along with a key. Eventually, there was a lovely old couple headed to church who graciously discerned my predicament and called their daughter in the neighboring apartment. She came down five minutes later with a key, and with no animosity or frustration--only good cheer--waved us through the gate and on our way. I told the kids we were lucky to be the opportunity for someone else to earn a blessing.

This did contribute significantly, however, to our being late for church in Genoa. I don't know how much it mattered, though, because I never could find the church building. I found the address, but there wasn't any trace of the church. So we turned on a session of the recent General Conference for awhile, then sang Primary songs and hymns all the way to the Milan airport--about two hours. It was Spirit-filled and peaceful and happy, and I was overwhelmed with the blessings of my family and the gospel. 

We were supposed to meet Ed at the airport pick-up curb, but due to missing church, we arrived early enough to go inside, eat our sandwiches and fruit and wait for him at the customs gate. It was fun to surprise him, and wonderful to have him back with us. Joe kept saying "now we get to live with Daddy again!" I'm grateful there will be no more days and nights apart for the foreseeable future--we've had our share of being apart this year.

From Milan we were headed to Innsbruck for two days, because Ed had been invited by his Old Assyrian colleague, Cinzia Pappi, to give an address at the University of Innsbruck. It was another 4 1/2 hour drive, but like the drive southward through Switzerland, the drive north through the Dolomites and the Tyrollean valley were stunning. The rain and mist increased as we got closer, as did the darkness, so we didn't a good view of Innsbruck as we came in. We checked in to our hotel (two great rooms with plenty of space for everyone, but no wifi), then tried to find some dinner. As much as we have tried not to travel on Sunday, we knew we'd have to go out for dinner when we arrived in Innsbruck, but we had a hard time finding anything until after 8 pm. By then the kids were exhausted and Ed, whose stomach had been a little unhappy before, was starting to look pretty peaked. Due to the fact that he had his colon removed at age 20, he is especially susceptible to dehydration when sick, and he was worried that he had caught another stomach bacteria while in Turkey. (Did I mention that he got sick in August during a conference at Kultepe, Turkey, passed out in front of his colleagues, and ended up in the hospital for a day? Gratefully, they hydrated him well, a pharmacist gave him an antibiotic, and he was back to normal in a couple days.) This time he was starting to feel dehydrated again and worried that he wouldn't be able to give his talk the next afternoon. We took the kids back to the hotel and put them in bed, then drove to a "Klinik," which happened to be the ER. They gave Ed a bag of saline and subjected him to a blood test, a stool sample, and even an EKG. (He didn't need it; it's just standard procedure at this hospital. Ed thought it was a little excessive.) They gave him an a prescription for an antibiotic and told him to come back if it got worse. 

We got to sleep around 1:00, and I woke up at 3:30 to the sound of Ed vomiting in the bathroom. I was pretty worried after that, but it was gratefully the only episode, and he began to get better after that. In the morning, I took the kids to breakfast, picked up juice and the prescription for Ed, and met briefly with Cinzia to give her the update and cancel the tour of Innsbruck she was going to give us. I gave the kids carte blanche with the screen time and fell in bed until lunchtime. (I was also fighting a cold, on top of the lack of sleep and long drive.) By the time I woke up, Ed was weak but feeling better and confident he would be able to give his talk at 5:00. I took the kids out for pizza (which I can no longer eat--I'm so tired of pizza) and to play at the park for an hour, then back to the hotel for more screen time while Ed and I went to the University for his talk. I wasn't about to let him go alone and have him faint again. He gave a great talk and had a decent turnout, and afterward we were able to go to dinner with Cinzia and some other colleagues and students. Ed and I both had duck and potatoes, which tasted excellent.

In the meantime, our children fed each other dinner (Linda made everyone sandwiches), took their showers, and went to bed on time so that when Ed and I got home about 9:45, they were all in bed sleeping. I was so proud, and so grateful, both that they have learned to take good care of themselves and each other, and that we have taught them to do so. 

The next morning we had to leave Innsbruck, but we managed to see the Hofkirke, which contains the tombs of Maximilian I and Archduke Ferdinand, and go to lunch at a Chinese buffet with Cinzia. I think Cinzia had invited Ed to her university in some measure because she really wanted to meet all his kids, and Ed and I felt bad that his illness had made that impossible so far. We had a fun lunch with her, and the kids were decently-behaved. Ed was pretty tired when we finally got on the road, but we were grateful that he was on the mend, grateful for Cinzia's kindness, and grateful for our good kids. Also, the clouds and rain had cleared away and we had beautiful views of the mountains as we drove north into Germany. 

The Hofkirke is now also the home of the Innsbruck Art Museum, so it has some interesting elements, including the crying eyes on the face of the facade outside. Also, there was a really fun multi-media presentation about Maximillian himself--the first powerful king of the Hapsburg dynasty. 

Maximillian wanted to be buried in an ornate tomb in this church, surrounded by iron sculptures of his forebearers. Ironically, his remains are elsewhere, since he died decades before the church and its decorations were finally finished.

Just one of the many sculptures, whose beautiful craftsmanship is unfortunately not very visible from this photo.

This elbow plate from a knight's armor gives you an idea of the intricacy and decoration each statue exhibits.