Spring-Time in Vienna

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I moved to Vienna in the fall. I enjoyed the colors of the leaves as they changed as I walked in parks and along the river. Fall has always been my favorite season-the cooler temperatures, the changing leaves, the festivities of evening camp fires and Trick-or-Treating at Halloween with my children and walking the woods at Thanksgiving. I never thought I could love a season more than fall. But I have fallen in love with spring-time in Vienna.

 

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Perhaps it is the combination of adjusting to a new place and new culture alongside of winter that made me so hungry for spring. The winter was gray and dark and cold. I did get the pleasure of enjoying the later sun-rise (which I now miss even when I am up at 5:40) but besides that there was a great absence of color in the winter. When I lived in Minnesota the winters were long (and truly cold), but we would get a fresh new layer of snow quite often which dazzled in the sun for the few hours of day that it shone. By the end of this winter I felt like I needed all things to be new, and Vienna’s spring has fed my soul. Never before have I rejoiced so in the buds of the trees and the new leaves of tulips poking their points out of the earth. The daily walks to the U-bahn and bus stops have been full of glory as I watched those buds unfurl and new leaves and flowers burst forth. I altered my route so I could walk right alongside of the tulip beds and drink in the reds and oranges and yellows and pinks. The intermingled days of cooler weather have only made me appreciate the warm days all the more.

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I have to say I am missing the seas of tulips that have now passed, but I am waiting with anticipation to see what flowers are coming next as we move out of spring and into summer. Perhaps summer will surprise me even more.