Catch up: Vienna, Christmas and January's trip home

I've had a hard time, for some reason, getting to the log-in page of blogger, so I have a few things to catch up on.

First, Vienna. Ralph and I popped up to Vienna the week of 12 December to help get me in the Christmas mood. I have to say that even growing up in the Bay Area where we don't have traditional weather season, Cyprus and it's lack of holiday spirit leave a lot to be desired. Americans say it's the weather, I disagree. It's the awful re-recordings of White Christmas in to Greek, the pushy locals grabbing whatever is on the shelf, the self-centered driving and the tasteless decorations (which, by the way, are still up a week after Valentine's Day).

Now that you know how I really feel about Christmas here, you know why we had to go to Vienna. It was AMAZING!!! What a city, just beautiful to start with. The Stefan Dom and Platz, the walking streets, the art -ah! the art, the food. It would be such a delight to live in a city with such history and culture. The weather was nippy, we even had a some snow flurries. Needless to say, Scrooge was rightfully kicked out of my body and replaced with something else. It wasn't Mrs. Clause, but it was at least more cheerful. One thing which is super cool, should you ever get there in December with children, is that at the Ratzhaus they have workshops for children under about 10-12 years old. They learn to make Christmas cookies, they make all kinds of tree ornaments and gifts. It's sponsored by the City of Vienna and a really amazing way of passing on some Austrian or Viennese traditions. Christmas was a little lonely, if I may say. And that is why I say I wasn't Mrs. Clause. I missed my family, which is a funny thing. It seems like when family (and NOT just mine!) get together at special occasions, they have a tendency to fight, bicker whatever you want to call it. But then when we can't get together we miss each other. Guess the grass is always greener. I hope because all of my family was apart this year, we can learn to appreciate more the holidays when we are together.

We went to Jess and the First Sergeant's for Christmas dinner with them and the Marine detachment. THEY ARE SO YOUNG! Amazing really. It was nice to get to know them more and since Jess and Sergeant and Ralph and I have been able get together a bit more. They are very nice people. Ralph and I didn't exchange big gifts, the travel in 2005 were our gifts. We did pretty well: I got to 4 countries alone, Ralph to 1 and we got to 6 countries together. Not bad in 12 months. He DID get a 4-gig nano (spoilt!) and I got a cool National Geographic atlas, but all it does is remind me where I haven't been yet!! Then in January I had to take a quick trip home for work. And it flew by. I didn't see nearly as many people as I had wanted. It's quite hard to balance work, family and friends over just 7 days. I have to remind myself (and others) that I AM there for work, they DID pay and that is #1 reason I'm there. Having said that, it was good to be home. I've always wanted to live in Europe as an adult, and Cyprus doesn't count. It's made me appreciate the US and all our comforts more, which is not a bad thing. I still look forward to someday living in a real European city.

For Valentine's Day I got beautiful roses and Ralph got a nice dinner. It was a quiet evening, but after 9 years, what else could we want? ;)

It's President's Weekend and tonight we're off to Cairo for a few days. Will let you know what that's like, and our first new country of the year!!! Thrilled to be going. I know we won't see everything we want, like Paris or London, there is too much to see the first time in just a few days. But we will see the Pyramids. We'll just have to get back again sometime.

Also, you may want to check back to this post again soon.... I have something else to tell you about Vienna... in a couple weeks. And it's interesting news!