Things are finally starting to return to normal here in Chicago for us as we start 2014. Obviously, the last quarter of 2013 was kind of a rush with our wedding, the holidays, and lots of travel. Immediately after the wedding, we took a brief trip to Wisconsin for a couple nights to ourselves. Then Katie needed to return to work and Andrew to school for the rest of the semester. We were able to make it to see a good number of people in Kansas over the Thanksgiving holiday. Andrew finished up his school work with his last final on the 11th of December and Katie worked through Thursday the 19th. On the morning of the 20th, Katie officially became Katherine Van Cleave Shook with a trip to the social security office. After dropping off the cat with our friends, we headed up to her parents house to be taken to the airport. On the way, we avoided potential catastrophe when a stationary car that we were about to turn in front of took off and proceeded to leave the roadway hitting a building and tree while shearing off his front axle. We had to stick around and give a statement to the police, but were fine otherwise.
Upon making it to the airport, we checked in and made it to our flight to D.C. with a solid hour and a half to spare. Neither the United flight nor the following Lufthansa flight to Munich was eventful, which is what we'd hoped for. The train to the city center is very easy and we were in our hotel room before lunch. So we explored the city and it's substantial collection of Christmas Markets...
The afternoon of day 2 was spent at the Duetsches Museum, which is an enormous museum of science and industry, and happens to have a pretty fantastic view from the top.
Day 3 was a day trip to the Neuschwanstein Castle, just into the Alps in southern Germany. The castle is surprisingly young, at around 125 years old. It's a hike up from the base where the bus drops you off, but it's well worth the visit.
On Christmas Eve, we made the trip from Munich to Vienna. Andrew was excited as the train we took traveled at a top speed of 140 mph. It was extremely comfortable and the scenery was gorgeous as we paralleled the northern edge of the Alps for a large portion of the trip. Upon arriving, we had an expansive Christmas Eve dinner buffet. Christmas Day was spent together mostly at the hotel because no one was open, although we were able to admire the room's view of Saint Stephens all day and watch Christmas worshipers file in and out. On the 26th, we spent the day at Schonbrunn Palace, which was the summer home of the Habsburgs. The next day moved us to their winter residence in the city at the Royal Apartments. We also toured Saint Stephens cathedral in the morning. Finally, on the morning of the 28th, we saw the Lipizzaner Stallions at the Spanish Riding School before heading to catch our train to Prague.
Prague was equally historically stimulating as it sat as the capital of the Habsburg Dynasty before it was moved to Vienna. Prague Castle is an impressive fortification with the royal residence, administrative offices, an enormous basilica and several other religious institutions, as well as other residences all inside. It remains the seat of government for the Czech Republic to this day. It took two full days to visit. Beyond that, we walked across the Charles Bridge, saw the astronomical clock ring a few times, toured the Jewish Quarter and Museum. For New Year's Eve, we again had reservations for a large buffet and stayed until the clock struck midnight. Interestingly, fireworks are a HUGE thing for New Year's. As soon as 2014 arrived, the city felt like a war zone. It felt like Hutch on 4th of July but in a much tighter space.
On New Year's, we traveled back to Munich for two nights. We visited Dachau on the 2nd before flying out on the 3rd. There was some concern about making our connection on time in Dusseldorf but it worked out and we arrived home with no travel problems. However, we arrived with some weather problems, as we landed in between two 11-inch snowstorms before the deep freeze everyone is so familiar with. We realized at Dachau it was about 35 degrees and we were complaining about being cold. Not a week later, it was a full 50 degrees colder as we tried to dig out Katie's car on Monday morning.
Now, we get to look forward to normalcy as Andrew starts school this week and Katie returns for week 2 of work. We're excited to be doing nothing for a few months before big changes approach again in the summer. Here's to a calmer, but just as wonderful 2014!
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