You're invited...

...to go on pilgrimage with us!

Mar 03, 2026

Welcome! Whether you’re a longtime friend or a new kindred spirit here (I recommend visiting the Village Green to get your bearings), I’m delighted to be a companion to you through the liturgical year.

Pax+bonum, Kristin.

As you probably know, one of my biggest goals as I write, create, and host in this space is to help equip us all to take these ideas into our own lives + landscapes. I want these explorations of history & theology to reinvigorate the way we approach sacred time in our varied places, with all our different life circumstances.

So, I’m absolutely thrilled to further embody this mission as I join forces with Dixie Dillon Lane and Select International Tours to co-host a pilgrimage! As pilgrims, we’ll all be coming together to take our conversation off the screen and into our gathering - and then take those shared pilgrimage experiences and refreshed perspectives back to our diverse homes!

The special beauty in this invitation is that it so perfectly encapsulates our pilgrimage through both sacred space (as we walk our way through some of the most glorious settings of Old Europe) and through sacred time (as Adventide companions, we’ll be journeying toward Christmas together!)

Dixie, my incredible co-host, has been a longtime friend via Substack - and, as we chat about pilgrimage details on the phone, I can tell you that we’re both quite giddy about the locations we’ll be visiting together. (Friends, we will likely need help pulling us out of those stacks of books in these enormous libraries!)

If you’re able, we’d be delighted to have you join us for this remarkable pilgrimage experience in December 2026. Here’s a glimpse of what we’ll be up to, as well as all the links you need for more details…

Our Advent Journey

(an abridged itinerary)

December 5 - 13, 2026

DAY 1 (Saturday, December 5): DEPART NEWARK, USA TO MUNICH, GERMANY
DAY 2 (Sunday, December 6): MUNICH
We’ll head to our hotel in the city center, surrounded by Christmas markets. Let’s walk to the Christkindlmarkt at Marienplatz - a market dating back to the 14th century, and possibly the original Christmas market! We’ll close with dinner and overnight in Munich.
DAY 3 (Monday, December 7): MUNICH - CHRISTMAS MARKETS
After breakfast, we’ll enjoy a 2-hour guided tour of the city center, visit the National Law Library, and then depart for the Christmas Village in the Kaiserhof of the Residenz (inside the city palace!) We’ll have a free afternoon of exploration (maybe head to the Munich Reader, an English used-bookstore), with dinner at leisure.
DAY 4 (Tuesday, December 8): MUNICH - NEUSCHWANSTEIN - ETTAL BREWERY
We’ll wake up and head to Neuschwanstein-Castle (the inspiration for Disney World’s Cinderella castle) and its local village, then go to the incredible Ettal Monastery and brewery. After lunch, we’re off to the woodcarvers’ village of Oberammergau, then Salzburg for dinner.
DAY 5 (Wednesday, December 9): SALZBURG
After breakfast, we’ll have time to explore the city at our own pace. Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart, as well as the location where The Sound of Music was filmed…and it’s filled with incredible sights at Christmastime! In the evening, we’ll enjoy a classical music concert.
Stift Admont Library (Photo by Josef Hueber, Austrian architect 1715-1787)
DAY 6 (Thursday, December 10): SALZBURG - STIFT ADMONT LIBRARY
We’re off to Admont, where we’ll visit the Stift Admont Library: the world’s largest monastic library hall, a Baroque beauty covered in frescoes and holding over 200,000 books. We’ll enjoy a guided tour of the library, as well as a visit to the art museum in the monastery and lunch in the Abbey restaurant.
Library at Melk Abbey
DAY 7 (Friday, December 11): MELK - VIENNA
After an overnight in Salzburg, we’ll head to Melk in the morning - a small town along the Danube. We’ll visit the Melk Abbey (setting of Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose) and view treasured art dated to the 9th through 15th centuries. Later in the afternoon, we’ll arrive in Vienna at our hotel (and maybe visit some more Christmas markets?)
DAY 8 (Saturday, December 12): VIENNA - CITY CENTER
We’ll tour the Ringstrasse area of Vienna, stroll over to St. Stephen Cathedral, and enjoy a tour of the city center (Donners’ Fountain, Belvedere Palace Gardens, and Hofburg Palace). We’ll also head to the Austrian State National Library, and that night, we’ll dine in Grinzing - famous for its vineyards - and enjoy a wine tasting.
DAY 9 (Sunday, December 13): VIENNA - USA
After an incredible pilgrimage, we’ll go to the airport and get ready to take our experiences back home with us.