Planning Thanksgiving - Part One

What I should be doing right now is working on my comprehensive exam. I'm lucky in that my exam is a take home exam which I have two weeks to complete (now one week). However, this allows me to procrastinate, which is something I am skilled at. I also have a great thing to be distracted by: planning my parent's trip in November.

As usual, I offered my parents numerous options for what we could do when they were here. We suggested a cruise, or an Ireland/Scotland loop, or another loop through Germany. As usual, I also suggested my parents do some research to decide what they want to see/do. I was slightly surprised when they decided they wanted to see more of Germany. Not that there is anything wrong with this, I guess I was just surprised by it. I had thought the suggestion of the Guinness factory and a scotch tour would have swayed my dad in another direction, but I guess not.

The last time my parents were here, we did a loop through Germany which did many highlights, but was focused more on Bavaria. I thought this time we would look more towards northern Germany and Berlin. Josh and I went to Berlin once, and have said many times we need/want to go back. Based on that idea I started searching.

My parents arrive the day before Thanksgiving. Originally I was thinking we would have Thanksgiving at our house, and then taking off the next morning for our adventure. However, I found a killer hotel deal, but to have enough time in Berlin and still get the great price, we'd have to check-in on Thanksgiving. Everyone was okay with that idea, so I booked the hotel. But I felt like I needed to find something special to do for dinner to honor Thanksgiving. I wasn't sure if we should try to do a dinner show (I didn't realize Berlin had a LOT of dinner shows) or find a really nice restaurant. What I settled on was reservations at the Berlin TV Tower. At the top of the TV Tower there is a restaurant which offers 360 degree rotating views of Berlin. This reminds me of the Space Needle. Although it is kind of touristy, I think it will be fun. The pictures I have seen online are beautiful, and I think it will be a memorable Thanksgiving Dinner.

For our first full day in Berlin, I booked a walking tour. Although Josh and I tried to cram a bunch of things into the last trip we took to Berlin, I think this tour will help us all get an understanding of the layout of Berlin as well as information and history. I've left our Saturday open with no set plans. Berlin has 30+ Christmas markets, most of which will be open by the time we arrive. I'm sure we will have no problems finding things to fill our time. Sunday I have booked a tour for the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. I'm excited for this tour, and I believe having a tour guide will help provide more information.

On Monday we will check out of our hotel and move on. I'm not 100% sure where we will go just yet. I'm thinking the next stop will be Dresden - this is something that has been on my list. I have heard it is beautiful, and I hear the Christmas Markets and Christmas decorations are amazing

From there, I am not sure where we will go. This is the time where my parents have to voice their opinions on what they want. I've thrown out the option of going to Poland to go shopping for Polish Pottery (something I could see my mom enjoying).

Or, we are in closer proximity to go to Prague. Or... there are more stops in Germany we could explore. It all kind of depends on what I can find for hotel deals and what my parents decide they want to do/see. But I think it's shaping up to be a pretty good Thanksgiving holiday.

Massive Update

So many things to recap in one post. Part is from me being gone, part is that I have been lazy recently. I went home to the states to see family, be a part of my best friend's wedding, and then had one day at home to do laundry and re-coop before I left to travel with my office to Sweden.

Going home was wonderful. I haven't been home to Montana in the summer time since I moved. I also haven't had a chance to do any Montana summer activities since 2010 as when I left it hadn't gotten nice weather-wise and I hadn't had time. It was amazing to have a chance to go swimming in the lake and go boating. The first weekend I was in town I spent up at my parents house. We went out on the lake and the weather was absolutely perfect. We also went for one night to see a play at one of my favorite summer theaters. It was a great start to my trip home.

The rest of the week I spent in Missoula spending time with my brother and niece and helping with wedding things as needed. In all honesty, there wasn't anything to be done. Instead I go to do fun wedding things like manicure/pedicures and a bachlorette party. Tough stuff, ha ha, but a lot of fun. The wedding itself went off without a hitch (or, I think it did, but maybe I need to ask the bride about that...). I thought the wedding was beautiful, the reception was a ton of fun, and I had a chance to spend time with a lot of friends I haven't seen in years. I'm so glad I had a chance to go home and be there for this.

As I said, I got home and had a day and a half to do laundry and attempt to get ready for my next trip. The owner of the office (also my boss) is originally from Sweden, so as a "thank-you" he took the office to Stockholm for Labor Day weekend. Some of the people I work with have been to Stockholm before, but this was a first time for me. As another first for me, I didn't do any research whatsoever for this trip. I didn't look up a single thing about Stockholm. I was going into the trip completely blind and just figured I'd be along for the ride for whatever anyone wanted to do. It was an amazing trip - full of things I normally don't do. My boss was a wonderful tour guide. He took us for lunch one day to an open fish market as well as taking us to see the changing of the guard. One afternoon he also took us for a private boat ride out to an island to do some shopping. Stockholm is absolutely beautiful - the whole time I was there I was thinking I couldn't wait to come back with Josh. Now, what was different for me on this trip (aside from being unprepared) was I spent a lot of time clothes shopping (not actually buying anything, but going along with other girls who wanted to shop) and we went out clubbing. I don't know if I have ever been out "clubbing" as there weren't much for clubs in Spokane or Misosula... and I wasn't really sure what to expect. However. Going out clubbing turned out to be a ton of fun. On two different nights we got dressed up (something I don't do often) and went out dancing.

Another huge difference with this trip was I really didn't see/do anything historical. Normally I research things, and I know exactly what there is to see. Josh and I usually try to cram in as much a possible in a trip. I did get a chance to see some of Old Town, we saw the changing of the guard, and a friend and I went to see the Vasa Museum (more on those in a second). But that was it. Part of me felt like I had kind of missed out or wasted time by not seeing things, but I suppose that's what happens when you are traveling with a group of people. It is more motivation to have a chance to go back.

Back to the changing of the guard. My boss explained this happens every Saturday. The military band marches and plays while parading through the main street up to the palace. We followed along with the band to the palace and then watching the ceremonial changing of the guard. I don't have any pictures of this as it started to pour down rain - to the point where everything: my shoes, jacket, jeans - were completely soaked. That part was a touch miserable. Later that same day a friend and I went to the Vasa Museum, which could have been one of my favorite parts of my trip. The Vasa was a Swedish war ship which was too top heavy, and on the maiden voyage it sank. The Vasa remained on the bottom of the sea for 300 years before it was raised up in the 1960s. It is amazing, yet eerie to see.

Since my whirl-wind ended, I've been trying to catch up on house work, laundry, and prepping for a comprehensive exam I have to take as a final step in school. Those things have made my time and desire to blog a bit low. But, I'm hoping to have more fun things to report as I prep for our Greek cruise and for my parents' trip in November.