May 27, Thursday - Austria

We slept about one hour in our hotel in Jerusalem, got up at midnight, for our 1:00 am bus departure to the Tel Aviv airport. At 3:00 am we could check in. It took one hour and 40 minutes to go through 3 different security points and customs. When we finally got to our gate we both slept for a bit, got on the plane, and were both able to rest during the flight. During the flight we saw islands in the Mediterranean Sea. As we flew into Vienna, Austria we saw a stark contrast to the barrenness of the Holy Lands. There are lots of trees and everything is green and lush. We also saw lots of wind turbines like the ones we have in South Dakota.

Our multiple transfers continued at the Vienna airport. When we got off the plane we got on a bus to take us to the terminal. From the terminal we got on another bus to take us to the train station. We had a 2 hour wait to get on the train to take us to Innsbrook. At Innsbrook we had to find the train that would take us to Seefeld in Tirol. In Seefeld we found a taxi to take us to our apartment. We are thankful for picture signs and bilingual employees to guide us from one station to the next.

We had only been in bed for 1 hour in the past 38 hours (although we had both rested on the plane and the train) so we were both exhausted when we arrived at our apartment. But not too tired to appreciate the majestic, snow-capped mountains around us. It was raining lightly when we got here. Before we went to bed we saw the most brilliant double rainbow we have ever seen, right over the mountain outside our patio. It was so close we felt like we could walk right up to it and touch it! What a reminder of God’s promises as we begin our time of rest and relaxation in Austria.