An Immaculate Congregation

Thursday, April 03, 2025

Vienna, Vienna, Austria

It took Renatka, Andreas, Elenka and I just over nine hours to train it from Luzern to Vienna, where the familial get together was scheduled.

Eating Vietnamese food. From left to right…

Elenka and I would be staying at the middle daughter, Ninka’s, flat in the heart of Vienna. The eldest daughter, Simonka, came by train from München, and the youngest, Julska, drove from Erding, where Erdinger beer is brewed. Mommy and Daddy Schoenbach had a room in a hotel just around the corner.

For five days, we enjoyed the architecture on the streets of Vienna, ate Viennese food, and drank Viennese cocktails. Dinner parties were generally held in Ninka’s flat, where her significant other, Sven, a wonderful young born in Bosnia lad, would join us each evening.

Over the years, Elenka and I have travelled extensively with Renatka and her daughters. We’ve grown so close to them that I assigned each of them Slovak names along the way. Hence the ka ending with each name. During a quiet time, the youngest one came to me and said she didn’t want to be Julska anymore. I looked at her sadly. She then told me she wanted to be known as Číslo. I pondered this for just a split second before smiling. The Slovak word Číslo translates to rebellious trickster — a perfect new fit for Julska.

Číslo wants Elenka and I to go African safariing with her and her husband Gleb next year. Meanwhile, I’m trying to sell all three gals on the Togian Islands of Indonesia. We’ll see where this all goes.