aren't austrians the best?

i certainly think so.

i have a long-standing love affair with the country of austria,

in case you didn't know

and i love the people, too.

my friend erin and i went to vienna a few weeks ago.

{she is also an american living in germany, teaching english.}

when my old supervisor heard that i was coming back into town,

he insisted on picking me and erin up from the train station.

it was so, so good to see him

i hadn't seen him since the end of august.

(my last day at the embassy was very sad...

...saying goodbye to him was the worst!)

of course, just picking us up from the station

did not seem hospitable enough for dear, sweet manfred

so he took us to lunch

at a traditional, viennese restaurant

(since erin had never been to vienna before)

and of course he and the owner are old friends

(who in vienna is not old friends with manfred?...

...i would like to know)

now, where did we stay?

well, i still have a friend or two left in that city

so when erin and i were planning our trip,

i made my facebook status as follows:

dear vienna, who wants to house me & another girl next weekend?

i've said it before and i'll say it again -

the hospitality of europeans will never cease to amaze and humble me.

sometimes in america, i feel like we just don't trust each other....

maybe it's for good reason, maybe not.

i could tell story after story, though, about european friends taking me in

and never expecting anything in return.

i've found that austrians are especially awesome at this.

this story is no different.

eva's best friend teresa (whom i've met twice in my life)

not only offered her place to me and erin

but stocked it with groceries,

gave us our own key,

made up a bed with the softest, smelly-good sheets

and left haribo gummy bear packages on the pillows.

is she cute or what?

this apartment was nice.

and i mean niiiiiiiice.

like, i-don't-even-want-to-know-how-much-it-costs-per-month nice

and in such an awesome location, too.

and just outside of it?

a polish cafe.

i took a photo, naturally.

you have no idea how good it was to be back in vienna.

i've missed this city more than i realized.

i'm so grateful i could once call it home.

(more photos to come, obviously)