Wien, Wien, nur du allein.

Last Thursday, I returned to the United States after a bit more than a month in Austria. Though it's good to be home, I do miss Vienna - as I knew I would, even before I left. Until I go back there - and I'm quite sure that I will - I'll have to content myself with memories and images like the above photograph, taken from a scenic overlook called the Kahlenberg on my second-to-last evening in Vienna.

In the hope that you'll forgive me a little old-fashioned sentimentality, I'm posting late German tenor Fritz Wunderlich's rendition of a classic Wienerlied, Rudolf Sieczyński's Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume, also known as Wien, Wien, nur du allein, a title taken from the song's wistful, almost lullaby-like refrain. For complete lyrics in German as well as an English translation, click here.



Though I've barely started to unpack from my last trip, I'll be on the road again tomorrow; I'll be spending most of this week vacationing in central Wisconsin with other Jesuits, after which I'll be heading to St. Paul, Minnesota to watch the second-year novices of the Chicago-Detroit and Wisconsin Provinces of the Society pronounce First Vows.

I doubt that I'll have much access to the Internet over the next week, but I have scheduled a couple of posts to publish automatically while I'm away. Prayers and good wishes to all in the interim. AMDG.