Saturday evening

Yesterday afternoon's rain turned to sleet then to snow, but there wasn't much accumulation overnight. Late in the evening there were fierce winds, but turned out to be all sound and little snow. Cloudy today.

This morning I went exploring some other parts of the village, and found another grocery store, which of course I explored carefully. I was out looking for an Einsiedeln t-shirt, but none werre to be found. The tourist office had one, but it was very plain and I wasn't gonna pay the money.

This afternoon I got a special tour of the church with Father Wolfgang. He's in his 80's now, and was Guestmaster here for over 34 years ... he is well known to any monks of Saint Meinrad who ever passed through Einsiedeln in the last 50 years. I had asked him if he'd walk through the church with me, since I had some questions about things, and he was pleased to oblige. We made an appointment for 3:15, so I made sure to be there by 3:12 ...he was waiting. (StM Monks will understand the significance of that.) His memory is sharp, his English fluent, and he spits out pieces of history with ease. It was a very enjoyable time. He told me the other day that he's been undergoing treatment for bone cancer, but seems to be holding his own for now.

Supper last night was interesting ...at first I thought it was gonna be something like french toast ... not quite. It was toasted slices of bread soaked in warmed, spiced red wine. It was accompanied by a very nice rice pudding. Supper is the light meal here anyway, and Friday is traditionally a pentitential day, but this was ... well ... an interesting take on both. The midday meal was somewhat puttanesca (chunks of tuna with tomatoes, onions and olives) without the pasta ... quite tasty.

They eat alot of bread and cheese here ... brown breads with wodnerful crust, and a variety of hard cheeses. It will be hard to find bread like this at home, and the Cathedral Rectory food budget can't afford the cheeses (at least regularly) so I'm enjoying it while I got it.