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Sunday, December 28, 2014
The Breakers - Newport Christmas Spirit
So here is another update to write about today's adventures in Rhode Island. Didn't want to squash it all into one post so here is a second one for everyone to enjoy. :)
Worked Friday 26th and Saturday 27th which means I now have a floating holiday/comp day to enjoy later on. Same goes for this coming week as I will be working Friday and Saturday as well. Not a huge deal since we will get Thursday (Jan. 1st) off.
Saturday we managed to get out in the afternoon and were able to take advantage of the mild weather and were able to check out a rail-to-rail trail close to us before the sun set. The weather has been about the same here as it has been in southern CA which means it's been very mild for us but cold for them.
Today, Sunday, we decided to head to Newport, Rhode Island, to tour The Breakers, a Vanderbilt mansion. Such an opulent place. In today's money it would have cost 175 million dollars to build. And they built it in 2 years. Crazy.
We have been there before but I wanted to see all the holiday decorations which were truly amazing. Was a lot of fun to see everything. It's crazy to imagine people actually lived there and celebrated the holidays there once.
After our visit to the Breakers we headed back towards CT and stopped in Westerly which is right at the Rhode Island/Connecticut border for lunch at the Twisted Vine. Very neat place. Updating from here now and heading back home after finishing our wine. Tomorrow it's back to work and every day craziness.
Mail Update. A letter is going out tomorrow to Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 04:07 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Christmas Post
Merry belated Christmas everyone. Been meaning to update but just haven't gotten around to it.
We were busy at work right up until Christmas. Christmas Eve I managed to get most of my staff out by 2-3pm and then finished up myself. After work we had some food and then went to the movies to see "The Imitation Game". Well that was the plan anyway. The projector in our theater broke so we ended up seeing "Into the Woods" instead. We had planned on seeing that anyway as well so no big harm done.
When we got home we watched "Grumpy Cat's Christmas" and eventually headed to bed. Christmas Day morning we opened our gifts with Mike's sister, niece and newphew. Lots of lovely gifts. Mike got me a cool cat print by Matt Inman (the guy who does The Oatmeal) plus some DVDs. A bunch of cat themed gifts plus tea, chocolates and other stuff.
Went to see "The Imitation Game" Christmas Day and afterwards headed to a neat pub in Norwalk (B.J. Ryan's) for a bit before heading back home. Definitely a lovely Christmas.
My dad was released from the hospital on the 25th and my mom was able to go home from the rehab on the 24th. She is now back there again until the 20th of January but at least had some nice days at home.
Mail Update. A letter is going out tomorrow to Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 03:36 PM in Austria , Food and Drink, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Almost Christmas
And just a few days until Christmas now. I am starting to really get into the spirit now while Mike is his usual Grinch self hating the fact that crowds are everwhere and people are just generally acting in a manic fashion. I don't like crowds either (at all!) or crazy people but during the holidays, especially just a few days before Christmas, I can make an exception.
This past week at work was definitely busy and nuts but not much different than any other year all in all. Next few days will be about the same but I will do my best to power through.
This past week was also busy for personal stuff as my dad was admitted to the hospital to run a bunch more tests. So far so good. He has one more big test coming up tomorrow and will then be released Tuesday to wait for the results to come back. So far none of the other tests have found anything too bad so hopefully all will be well with some meds. My mom gets to come home from rehab on Wednesday for the holidays (until Sunday night, then back to rehab till January 11th) so that should be good timing anyway.
Mike and I had both Saturday and Sunday off and mostly took it easy. Slept in both days and relaxed. Yesterday we had lunch at Chevy's (Mexican) and today we went to the movies to see the new "Night at the Museum" movie. Ran some errands earlier and going grocery shopping in a bit.
Tomorrow I am having lunch with my friend Sharon which should be fun. Will be a nice break from the work craziness.
In other news I earlier today discovered on FB that Udo Juergens died which made me really sad. For my non German speaking friends he was a big Austrian entertainer/singer/composer/musician who became big in the 1960's and has been going strong ever since. I always wanted to see him live and despite him being 80 he always seemed in great health (he just performed some shows in Austria 3 weeks ago and had a full tour schedule ahead of him) so I never acted on it. Wish I had seen him while I still had the chance. So sad.
Mail Update: All caught up on my mail for once. Except the letter from Nina/WA is still in US postal mail purgatory somewhere. :(
Posted by Hanna at 04:37 PM in Family, Food and Drink, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 14, 2014
It's beginning to look a bit like ...
And here we are .. back in the US and back to the daily grind. Christmas Eve is only ten days away. Time is definitely racing by. So much left to do at work still. Sort of getting ready with the holiday prep at home. A lot of the gifts were already mailed before we left, some were delivered in Austria and a few more I have ready to go here for people. I still need to get things for a few people, gift cards and such, but all in all I am getting there.
Today I spent the afternoon decorating the apartment. Not going crazy with decorations this year but did want to make it look somewhat festive at least. So we went out today and braved the crowds for a bit to pick up a Christmas tree. It's just a small, cheaper one but it will do for this year. I am happy to have it in the window so you can see it from the outside. It fits with our Victorian style house. :)
Yesterday we had to work but were able to get in a nice 5 mile walk along a trail after work in the afternoon before it got too dark anyway. So that was nice. Always nice to be able to be out and about and get some fresh air.
My mom started her new rehab session this past Tuesday and so far things seem to be going well. She will be there until January 11th but gets to go home for the holidays at least so that's nice. My dad is feeling a bit under the weather at the moment too so he has some tests scheduled to check everything out to make him feel better as quickly as possible again. Never fun to be feeling crappy but especially not fun at this time of the year.
Mail Update: Letters were mailed on Tuesday to: Charles/TN, Katie and Jessica/DE,Tiffany/OK and Celia/MA. The letter from Nina/WA is still in US postal mail purgatory somewhere.
Posted by Hanna at 05:04 PM in Austria , Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, December 08, 2014
Bye bye Europe .. till we meet again :)
And here we are .. already on our way back to the US. Where have the last 10 days gone?
Had a nice time but of course as expected the days just flew by. Makes sense when you are constantly on the move. :) Our last day in Prague was nice and even saw the sun for a bit, one of the very few times of our trip. The train ride back to Vienna went smooth as well. Once we arrived in Vienna we checked in at our hotel (the Ramada Encore, which just opened - great hotel and very convenient location for public transit) and then headed downtown to have dinner at Maredo.
Friday we walked over to Schoenbrunn Castle and spent some time at the Christmas market there and tried a bunch of the foods. Afterwards we headed back into downtown for some lunch. Then eventually back to St. Poelten with a stop at a Billa (local grocery store) to stock up on chocolates and my usual staples like soup mixes etc.
Saturday and Sunday we spent with my parents and family, visiting with relatives. My mom is starting another rehab session tomorrow until January 4. So there was some preparation to be done for that too.
Now we are in Istanbul after having gotten up a bit past 3am (ugh) and connecting back to JFK in a bit. Not looking forward to the 11 hour flight. But oh well.
Mail Update: Letters went out on Friday to: Carmen/Malta and Laura/Spain. Have letters written to Charles/TN, Katie and Jessica/DE that need to be mailed once we get back to the US. Owe replies to: Tiffany/OK and Celia/MA. The letter from Nina/WA is still in US postal mail purgatory somewhere.
Posted by Hanna at 05:09 AM in Austria , Family, Food and Drink, Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Prague Update
Hello from Prague. Truly a lovely city. We took the train from Vienna on Tuesday morning. Normally should be about a 5 hour trip but it ended up being more like 8 as our travel troubles continued. Seems like transportation related things aren't quite meant to work out on this trip.
The problem this time was an engine issue combined with an ice storm that caused issues with the tracks. We ended up having to switch trains about halfway through and were going really slow for the rest of the way. Oh well, we made it here eventually. All that matters. :)
After we got here we walked to the hotel which is conveniently located, both to the train station and the old town. Checked in and then walked around the old town for a bit, had dinner, etc.
Today we spent the whole day sightseeing which meant a lot of walking but we covered a lot of ground. Went to the top of the clock tower in the old town square where you have really nice views of the city. Also went to Prague Castle and walked over the Charles Bridge among a bunch of other things.
After our sightseeing we went to the hotel for a bit and then headed out to dinner. Found a neat place called Butcher's where we are now.
Tomorrow our train leaves at 2.30pm so we have the morning for more exploring. Will see what we end up doing.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Katie/Germany, Tiffany/OK, Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Carmen/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 12:30 PM in Austria , Food and Drink, Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, December 01, 2014
Europe Trip Update
Finally getting around to updating my blog. Hello from Europe. Right now I am sitting in the Hard Rock in Vienna making use of their wi-fi. The weather is absolutely miserable today. Cold, windy and raining but oh well.
So let's get a quick recap put together before I have to run again. We left on Thanksgiving which was Thursday last week and the days have just been flying by. On Thursday we flew from NY to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines and had a 12 hour layover there. Took the subway and tram into downtown Istanbul and explored the old city for a bit (Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, etc) and then headed to a shopping area where the Hard Rock Cafe was located. Yes, we are touring all Hard Rocks on our trip this time. :)
Anyway had a nice stay in Istanbul. We were really tired from being jetlagged but it was still fun. Would like to go back and explore for real some day. After our layover we flew to Vienna.
That's where our rental car troubles started. Turns out we booked the rental car for the wrong date (departure instead of arrival date) so they had given the car away since our reservations e for the previous day. Ended up renting a really expensive car for just one day and made a new online reservation for the next day. So Saturday afternoon we headed back to the airport to return the first car and pick up a different car.
Also had my hair appointment Saturday plus lunch with my mom. Saturday night we headed to the Christmas market in St. Poelten and had dinner at a Greek restaurant. Then Sunday morning we discovered that our front left tire was really low and had tire pressure warnings. Tons of phone calls back and forth with Avid and the Mercedes road call people really resulted in absolutely nothing. Since it was Sunday the local Mercedes dealer couldn't find the correct tire as all stores were closed. So we ended up driving with the low tire anyway.
Today, Monday, we headed into Vienna by train. My dad will try and get tire fixed/mended for us at a local shop rather than having it replaced. Mike and I are now in Vienna for the day, then tomorrow we head to Prague for two nights before spending one more night in Vienna. Then back to St. Portland for a few more nights. It's definitely been a very busy trip.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Katie/Germany, Tiffany/OK, Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Carmen/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 07:29 AM in Austria , Family, Food and Drink, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack