Updates!
So much stuff has happened since our last update, I'm not really sure where to start. I could do Tarantino style and jump around. Let's do that.
We're currently nicely settled into our new Vienna home. It's a sunday night, Bob Dylan is on the radio and we're hanging out in our living room for the pure novelty of having a living room again. Becca is putting some finishing touches on some Christmas decorations while I sit typing this and researching Quentin Tarantino.
Paris in December
We took the channel tunnel from the UK to Paris last weekend. It was fun, but mostly just dark and lots of ear popping. The train leaving London goes through a whole bunch of tunnels to get out of the city, so we didn't actually know we were going under the channel until we exited the tunnel and realized that all the signs were now in French. Oops.
We spent Saturday in Paris seeing some sights, mostly visiting spots we remember. We went to Notre Dame, ate at a pizza place that we're pretty sure we've eaten at every time we visit Paris (not 100% sure, there are a bunch of pizza places there).
We visited the spot in front of the Louvre where I proposed to Becca almost two years ago. Turns out I did good and picked a spot famous enough to probably not change for a while. From there we went to Montmartre, which always has great views of the city. This time of year there is a Christmas market there, and some pretty talented street performers.
After that we hit the main event. Becca had done her research and learned that, not surprisingly, they claim to do a pretty good job decorating up Champs-Elysees, so we headed there as the sun was setting. Turns out they weren't lying. Most of the bottom half of the street, probably the better part of a mile, was taken up with crazy Christmas decorations and stalls selling everything Christmas. They make sure to end with a bang. At the end of the street, there was a ginormous Ferris wheel and a giant (we could see it from the Louvre) Christmas tree with spotlights.
Thanksgiving, Concerts, and Car Rides
Becca and I spent our first husband and wifey Thanksgiving abroad in a quirky restaurant called The Breakfast Club that had a Thanksgiving dinner celebration. They did a surprisingly good job getting a traditional Thanksgiving meal, there was turkey and dressing, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and corn and other usuals.
The weekend after Thanksgiving we had tickets to see Crystal Castles in concert. Even though we initially went to the wrong venue, we ended up getting a spot really close to the stage, which we promptly deserted as the show started (muttering things about crazy kids and the music being too loud) and found a much more comfortable place to the side. As far as shows go, it ranked pretty high up on my list of favorite shows I've been to.
On Wednesday of the next week, we took the train out of London to Slough to meet up with our friend Shep, who was there with wheels. We had an amazing day, probably hitting up more places than Shep had originally intended. We hit up the real Stonehenge, which was a really cool experience, then went to an even better 'henge at Avebury. From there we continued our journey to Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, which is a really cool little town. We both had a really great time.
Letting Go of London
November 27th happened, which marked six whole months of married life. We're both still pretty sure it was a good decision. At this point, we've spent more time married abroad than we have at home.
We woke up one morning and both of us had a kind of realization that we were leaving London in two weeks. Kind of a startling realization. London was our first stop, and we both really ended up loving it.
We left London on December 1st, setting out in search of adventure in the south of England in a town called Frome (think broom) near Bath. It was a nice little English town. By chance, we arrived the day that they lit their Christmas lights, and so the whole town was out in the town square. There was singing and general merriment, and then a countdown to a mechanical glitch. Eventually, they got the lights on. It was a lot of fun. The next day was market day, which was also a good time. The tiny main street was absolutely packed with stalls and customers.
We stayed there for a week in a house that was built in the 1600's that had chickens and two cats. We visited Bath by bus a couple of times. The bus took the long route through a couple other small towns, and it was fun to see more of the countryside.
The Brother and Sister Visitation Situation
We arrived in Vienna on a train from Paris. It was a beautiful (long) train ride that took us north to Cologne, Germany, then across Germany and a fair chunk of Austria. It snowed the whole way. We arrived about 15 minutes late and missed the person we were supposed to be meeting to get the keys to our apartment. We both still had our UK phones, which were running out of credit, and knowing we would probably have to use our phones to meet Levi and Emily in a few days we were trying not to use them. Incredibly, we paused outside in the snow in front of a cafe on our street (looking confused and trying to figure out where we might find some WiFi or a hotel to stay in) when the cafe owner poked her head out and asked if we needed help. Turns out the apartment owner sometimes leaves the keys in this cafe, and the owner knew where we could find them. Crazy, amiright?
Levi and Emily arrived on Tuesday. It was really great to see them. Becca and I got to hang out and pretend to be tourists in Vienna for a few days with two of our favorite people. I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted with them because I had to try and work, but we had a great time visiting some of the Christmas markets around here and having Levi show us around and teach us some German. Becca and Emily got to do some shopping on the main street here while Levi enjoyed some time in a few of his old coffee shop haunts. We were going to try and start hating each other before they had to leave so their visit wouldn't seem so short, but it didn't work, and Friday morning came too soon for all of us.
Epilogue (kind of)
The last two days Becca and I have been taking it easy. I know our life is a vacation and all, but the last couple of weeks have been very very busy. Friday, I tried out what I hope turns out to be an insanely cool co-working situation,
Sektor 5, which will hopefully give me a desk to work at since our apartment appears to have frustratingly bad WiFi. Yesterday, we did a little Christmas shopping before turning in early to watch "The Cabin in the Woods", which turned out to be not what I thought it was.
So, Becca and I are feeling pretty settled in to our new digs. We're feeling slightly more optimistic about being able to make it in a country where we're really bad (trying to improve) at the language. Here's to a good holiday season.
