"If it's not Baroque, don't fix it!"

This past week has been a blast. On Monday we went to Schönbrunn Palace which was so beautiful! We had lunch in a charming park before having our tour. The palace is a former imperial summer residence which was property of the Habsburgs. It has 1,441 rooms which are largely in original condition. The Baroque palace has so much architectural, cultural and historical aspects to it and the tour was so interesting. After our tour was over we headed over to the maze and labyrinth and spent time playing at the park at Schönbrunn. We then had a group dinner at the Gloriette which was just up the hill from the palace.

On Tuesday, our art and architecture class went to the Jesuitsenkirche where I have my organ lessons. I was able to play a concert for them which was so fun. I played a few Baroque pieces and then afterwards we learned about the Baroque church. Let me tell you, Baroque art and architecture is both crazy and beautiful. Afterwards some of us went out for pizza before we had our German class. That evening while working in the library we celebrated James Horner's life and musical compositions. He wrote some amazing film scores for the Titanic, Star Trek, Avatar and many more.

Wednesday was when I had my Hungarian lesson last week which went really well. Reading is becoming easier and we are continuing with the lessons. Following Hungarian, I had German class so I had to quick switch languages and try not to get them confused. That evening I went to Institute where we had a great lesson taught. I also got the chance to meet a girl named Reneta who is from Hungary. She just moved to Austria earlier this year and she is the sweetest.

On Thursday I was able to catch up on some homework and get a lot done. Friday was a really fun day! We all took a bus to Melk where we went to an Abbey and had a tour. The Abbey is still in use for Monks today and we saw another beautiful Baroque church. The little book that I have a picture of is a Trevel Breviary for the monks. It
contains texts for the monks hourly prayers so that even on journeys they could carry out the prayers required in their practices. After that, we went on a 25 mile bike ride from Melk to Krems. The scenery was incredible and it was a blast. When we got back to Vienna, some of us went to Waffle Night, which is a YSA activity they have on Fridays. It was fun to socialize and play games with the members here.

I went to a wedding on Saturday! We have some family friends who live in Germany and Austria and they invited me to spend some time with them on Saturday. We went out to lunch at a cute garden restaurant beforehand where I had liver for the first time. The wedding afterwards was delightful and the bride and groom looked so happy. They had an awesome band that played as everyone walked out of the modern church. Saturday night some of us went to Donauinselfest which is a huge music festival right on the Danube River. It was really fun!

Sunday at church I was able to help out with the music a lot. I played piano in Relief Society and then played the organ for Sacrament meeting. It was really fun and I was so happy that I was able to share my talents with the ward. I have never been in a more diverse ward where there are people from all over the world but I love it so much. It is so interesting to hear the member's history of where they've come from.