People say that it is a huge honor to be invited into someone's home for dinner here in Vienna, and that it doesn't happen often. I'm not sure how we got so lucky, but we've already had one of these special invitations. The man who owns the apartment we are currently renting, Peter, invited our whole family to his home for dinner. We obliged, and looked forward to the experience.

I had read somewhere in a book, that when invited to an Austrian's home for dinner, you should arrive with flowers, wine, and/or chocoalates as gifts for the hosts. I confirmed this fact with a few other Austrian friends that I've made (namely our realtor, Noemi and a couple from our ward). They all agreed, that it is almost imperative that you arrive with such gifts when invited to dinner. This is very different than what I am used to in Texas where, if invited to dinner, I would usually would say something like "Alrighty! BBQ sounds great! We'll bring the potato salad and chips!" But after learning about the formalities of these special occasions, I realized that the Texan way of doing things wasn't going to fly here.

Apparently Austrians, being the formal traditional people that they are, do not vary much from wine, flowers, and chocolates for this type of engagment. In fact, Noemi explained that traditionally, when the guest couple arrives at the host couple's home, the woman should present the male host with the wine, and the man should present the female hostess with the flowers and/or chocolates. However, since we don't drink alcohol at all, and therefore have no idea how to choose a decent wine, I decided that we would forego the wine altogether, but go ahead and get both flowers and chocolates.

The chocolate aisle at the little grocery stores here are amazing. Europe knows how to make dang good chocolate. (Not to mention the wonderful chocolate shops that entice you from the streets with their wonderfully chocolatey aromas...) I had a hard time choosing which chocolates looked the best - but I went with the ones that said "Thank you" on the box because we are truly grateful for this wonderful family and how generous they have been to us during our stay here.

We arrived at their home promptly at 6pm. (It's really important to Austrians to be prompt for appointments and meetings, and extremely rude to be late.) When Peter invited us into his home, my children gave him the chocolates and flowers. He took them, thanked us, and set them aside. (He's obviously seen a lot of chocolate and flowers in his day). We went on into the living room, and immediately discovered something about Peter that we didn't know before. He is a geologist, a rock and gem collector, and owns the largest personal collection of petrified wood in the world. His collection that was displayed in the living room was enormous! So many awesome geodes, rocks, fossils, and all kinds of cool things that you would only see in a science museum otherwise. They kids were immediately enthrhalled and wanted to touch everything. Peter handed a large heavy speicmen to Cooper and asked, "Do you know what that is?" Cooper responded very inteligently with, "Um... a rock?" and Peter laughed and exclaimed, "No! It's petrified dinosaur poop!" Cooper wasn't sure if he should think it was totally cool or totally gross. We all laughed.
After asking him a little bit about it, he told us that this was only a small part of his collection. He owns two other apartments that are completely full with more specimens. He travels the world presenting parts of his collection at Geology conventions, writes books, photographs his collections for other books, and publishes his photography in magazines like National Geographic. And this is only one of his many hobbies.

Dinner was served. Peter cooked spaghetti, becuase he knew that the kids would eat it, and he was right. We all ate spagetti, salad, and fresh baked bread, until we were full. For dessert they brought out a large bowl of fresh plums that they had just picked at their cottage in lower Austria. The kids devoured them - they were so sweet and yummy! It turns out that Peter loves to cook, and he always cooks in very large quantities (which is not typical Austrian style) because he often has guests coming to his home unexpectedly. He also bakes, and cans fresh fruits and vegtables from his orchards and gardens out in the countryside. He even sent us home with a jar of plum jam to try that he had just cooked up that day. Did I mention this guy has cool hobbies?
(I failed to snap a photo of Peter's plum jam, but it looked a lot like this.)

At dinner time, we learned about another of Peter's hobbies. He is an avid musician! He plays many instruments including the piano, guitar, flute, drums, and the Handharmonika - or diotonic button accordian. I had never seen such a thing! His wife rolled her eyes when he got it out, and mumbled something under her breath (I could tell it wasn't her favorite instrument) - but we all were very excited to hear it. He gave us a lovely rendition of a series of Austrian folk songs. We danced and swayed in our seats. It was rather awesome. I want a hobby like this!

Later he showed the kids that you can really make music with anything - Even a watering can! They were throughly impressed. After he played a song on the watering can, he brought out his very own hand-made Devil's Fiddle, which is basically a giant noise maker made up of various trinkets attached to a broomstick. You really can make music with anything! Devil Fiddle hobby.

Speaking of hobbies, this is the same man that, when I found the apartment online and emailed an inquiry, instead of emailing back, he called me... from the middle of the Swiss Alps. He was in the middle of a four week long bicycle trek. A pilgrimage through Switzerland and across several other countries following the ancient paths of Saint Jacob, to the destination of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Just another hobby.

To say the very least, it was a wonderful oppurtunity to get to know this man and his family. He was full of stories, experiences, world travels, talents, and well - awesome hobbies. We were truly honored to be in his home and share and evening with them. He even invited Cooper back to come and polish his very own geode with his professional rock polisher. Cooper has already begun a new rock collection.

When I grow up, I want to have cool hobbies.