Dear Diego,

Thank you for your letter. I’m glad you would like to play the guitar. There are many beautiful songs for the guitar. You can play it solo, or sing along. I hope you get the chance to learn it.

You said you would like to visit Spain. I would, too. Some day I hope to visit Spain and France and Italy. I studied French in school, but I’ve never visited France. I have visited Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. I travel to conferences as part of my job, which is why I made those trips.

I can tell you about Vienna. I’ll include some photos. It’s the capital city of Austria. I went there for a linguistics conference. Austria is in Europe. I had to fly there in an airplane, and it took many hours. It takes so long to fly across an ocean that you should plan to stay for a week or more and see as much as you can while you’re there.

There are many beautiful old buildings. The museums are amazing. My favorite one had a collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt. There’s a mansion called Schönbrunn, which was the emperor’s palace before Austria became a democracy. It has big gardens, and a maze of shrubs that you can get lost in, and find your way back out.

Vienna is famous for music, too. Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven are famous composers from long ago who lived there. I got to see a concert in a hall where Mozart once performed.

I tried the food and drinks. I hiked in the famous Vienna Woods. I learned some German, which is their language. I made some friends.

When we study the New Testament, we learn about how Paul the Apostle traveled. There were no airplanes or trains back then. He had to travel by boat, and it was dangerous. He made friends all over southern Europe, and got to see so many different places. Sometimes he got in trouble because he told people things that they didn’t want to hear. Luckily, Paul and his friend Luke wrote about their travels, so we can learn from them centuries later.

All the best,
— Garrett Mitchener

Link to all my pictures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZSzHxftxeYj8jV692