Yes, you read that right–today’s post includes someone I don’t normally run into on a daily basis. But our European Honeymoon tour was a trip of a lifetime, so I shouldn’t have been surprised at some of the amazing things that happened!

Today, I’m sharing some of the great things we noshed on (and saw!) while venturing through Vienna, Austria:

As you know, the Vienna Boys Choir is from (drumroll please)–Vienna! But…we couldn’t get tickets. So we decided to go church at the the beautiful Stephensdom (Cathedral) instead. But before that, we stopped for a quick bite at a food stand outside. I couldn’t find any pastries (sad day for me!) so we stopped here.

I was reeeally proud of myself at first for knowing a teeny bit of German so I could ask the lady serving what some stuff being fried up in a big pot was. Then I remembered I don’t know enough German to actually UNDERSTAND her answer.

I ate the ham sandwich. It was super salty and not the greatest way to start the day. My hubby got to eat the “stuff” I asked the lady about (sorry Honey!).

The church was beautiful and we got there early enough that we managed to find two seats toward the back. Which was really nice because…

…apparently the Dalai Lama was visiting that day. He stopped right behind our pew!!!

Yeah. Pretty incredible. I think we’ll get over not being able to see the Boys Choir!! We never in our lives expected him to be in a Catholic Church in Vienna the same day and time that we were there!

The rest of the day didn’t include any more holy figures, but it did have some pretty good eats and some spectacular sights! We stopped at the Schonbrun Palace next.

It had a beautiful view from the “Gloriette” overlook across from it.

We also stopped at the cafe for some sweets. Ironically enough, this photo was taken by some “friends” we kept running into while in Austria–two couples who actually were from the same hometown as us! After talking to them for awhile my husband found out that he had actually been to a conference with the men about two months before we left for our trip.

The sweets were delicious–a cheesecake and a coffee cream dessert.

Yep–YUM.

Later, we met our new friends for dinner at a local brewery and restaurant. The hubby had some sausage and kraut. The kraut is actually a lot sweeter there than what we’re used to; I think they put apple cider in it.

I had to try some schnitzel–I got chicken, although pork (wienerschnitzel) is more common. I thought I’d ordered a garden salad, but what I actually ordered (the “mixed salad”) was all of their cold salads, stirred together–coleslaw, cucumber salad, potato salad, etc.

The chicken was great and the salad was okay, but to be honest I ended up feeding it to the hubby.

Dessert was my favorite part. I got the biggest piece of apple strudel (“apfelstrudel” in German) I have ever had.

It. Was. Incredible. I had been thinking about it since before I even ordered my entree, and I was not disappointed. I did share a bite with each other person, but it hurt just a little bit.

Vienna was awesome. Fun food, great friends, and I will never forget seeing the Dalai Lama! The hubby and I really are so blessed to have some of these experiences. It just goes to show that you can’t plan for great things to happen; you just have to live your life as best you can, have some faith, and know that great things will inevitably come your way.

Have you ever been to Austria? Have you ever unexpectedly run into someone famous?

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