Happy New Year!!!

Hello! I hope this finds everyone well and enjoying the new year. Sam and I have finally settled back into our life in Germany after all our holiday travels. It was great to see everyone and do everything that we did, but at the same time we got pretty run down and it’s nice to be home after all that running around.

We took off from Germany to see the Trnka family in Fargo on December 20th. The airports were all crazy with holiday travel of course, but we managed to make it into the Minneapolis airport without too much trouble except for some lost baggage, which thankfully (as it contained all my clothes and our Christmas gifts for everyone!) found its way to us the next day. We were fortunate enough to make the drive from Minneapolis to Fargo in near-blizzard conditions, which resulted in the normally 3 ½ hour trip taking five hours. We finally reached our destination around midnight safe and sound, and Sam and I enjoyed a quick and busy couple days in Fargo with my family. It was so awesome to see them even though it sucked to only be home for three days and it made me more homesick than ever—just when I was almost getting used to being away from them! As always there is never enough time to do all you want to do or see everyone you want to see, but I did manage to catch up with a couple friends and drink Luna coffee every day so that was good. Other highlights included dinner with my “favorite” aunt, Cathy, and my grandparents on both sides, cookie decorating with my mom and sisters, and of course our traditional “family” Christmas on the 23rd, which was celebrated by going out for a wonderful dinner at Monte’s and then singing carols on the way home to gift opening. We were spoiled with gifts again this year, but I the greatest gift for me was definitely being able to spend Christmas with my entire family and to have Sam there was well.

After opening gifts on the 23rd, Sam hopped into bed for a quick power nap while I packed our bags, because it was off to the airport again at 1:00 am to catch our covert flight to Seattle where we were headed to surprise the Holmes family (Sam had told them all he couldn’t get leave and would be spending Christmas in Eurpoe). We arrived in Seattle and got our funny little rental car (a Toyota Matrix hatchback which we ended up really liking) without mishap and drove to JJ and Stormey’s house in Tacoma. It was still pretty early when we knocked on the door and got JJ out of bed; I think he was still half asleep when he answered the door, because all he did was look at Sam and me and say, “Good one.” Pretty funny. That was the first of many fun surprises for Sam’s family. Next we got to surprise Rob and Diane when they showed up at JJ’s; Rob’s response was something to the effect of, “You asshole!” (He meant it in a good way, I think.) Sam’s parents were next; Sam and I hid in the bedroom and then popped out to say hello. Jim and Elizabeth were both speechless for a second, but if I’m not mistaken I’d say they were as happy and excited to see us as we were to see them. We also got to surprise Delphine and James and Terry over the phone on Christmas day, and Sam’s grandparents and extended family when we showed up at his grandparents’ house for Christmas dinner. I think it was a pretty good holiday gift for everyone, especially Sam and me.

We were lucky enough to hang out with Sam’s family for a couple days and we even managed to make it out towards Spokane to spend time with Del and her family, but once again it didn’t seem nearly long enough and we did miss getting to see Terry by a day (sad!). It was hard to leave our country and families behind, but it had to be done, and so we headed back overseas once again on the 28th. We got home to Echzell the next day, worn down from the travel and weary from the nine hour time change, but Sam trooped off to work for half a day (on the 30th ) and I did laundry and got us packed up again before we took off to our next destination—Paris!

We did the drive to Paris in a little over six hours, which isn’t too bad, and arrived at our hotel around 11:00 pm. Let me mention something about the drive…I know we all complain about how bad the gas prices are in the states, but to fill your tank in Europe it costs about 70 Euro, which is equal to about a hundred dollars. As if the price of gas wasn’t outrageous enough, in France they have tolls on all the highways—expensive and frequent tolls—and I think we figured out that it cost us another 70 Euro in tolls just one way! So yes, it was an expensive drive, but I guess it was worth it to get to Paris for New Years, and Sam is happy that the Jeep has another city under its belt. Anyway, by this time we were pretty damn tired and worn down and hadn’t had a good, full night’s sleep in almost two weeks. The idea was to get up early the next day and go check out Paris, but we ended up sleeping most of the day. We did make it our of our room and down to the hotel restaurant for lunch, so we weren’t totally lazy, and we needed to catch up on our sleep or there was no way we’d have been able to go out for a night on the town that evening—New Years Eve.

We got showered up and down to the hotel bar around 9:00 pm, where we waited for a shuttle to take us the nearby airport, from which we’d take the metro (subway) into downtown Paris. The metro was freakin’ CRAZY! I have never been anywhere that was so packed. I’m sure it’s because it was late on New Years Eve and because the metro was offering free rides, but holy cow were there a lot of people cramming into those subway cars. Seriously, people were getting shut in the doors and Sam and I were jammed in so tight that I swear I could’ve picked my feet up off the floor and just been held up in place by the bodies squishing up around me. There were some tense moments as people competed to shove each other in an effort to get on or off at different stops, but it was all good-natured (slightly inebriated) fun and—except for the infamous European B.O. we had to endure—we made it took our destination safely.

If I thought the metro itself was packed, then I don’t know how describe what it was like trying to get out of the station (which is underground) up onto the street. It was even more crowded and the crowd was even more rowdy; it was pretty much total chaos. When exiting the subway, the crowd has to go up stairs to the street; these stairs created a bottleneck as the crowd trying to get up and out was larger than the number of people that could actually fit on the stairs at one time. We were at a (mashed, noisy) standstill down there when I think someone must’ve realized what time it was—about 11:15—because a loud cheer went up from somewhere near the back of the crowd and all of the sudden the whole huge mass of people began to push forward toward the stairs. I don’t know how, but I just held onto Sam for dear life and we made it up the stairs and miraculously ended up (unscathed)on the street—which was very spacious and uncrowded and presented no apparent reason for causing the mayhem below. I don’t know if that description did it justice; maybe you had to be there. Maybe it’s sufficient to tell you what Sam said about the whole ordeal—“It was definitely an experience.”

Anyway, we were where we wanted to be—on the beautiful Champs Elysees—and we made our way to where the action was, near the famous Farris wheel where the avenue ends. There were thousands of people, young and old and from all around the world assembled there to bring in the New Year; we didn’t have to wait long. Soon after we established our spot, the clock struck midnight and the Farris wheel lit up with “2005” and an enormous fireworks show started. I will never forget sharing that New Year’s kiss with the man I love, there in Paris under the fireworks, with so many people making merry around us. I think we both realized how lucky we were and just how much we have to be thankful for.

After the fireworks show ended, we headed off with another military couple we’d met back at the hotel to find a place that served drinks and—just as important—food, as none of us had eaten anything since lunch. The first place we ended up served drinks only; Sam and I each had one beer and one glass of Champagne, and I think our bill was 50 Euro. We’d heard that Paris was an expensive city, but sixty dollars for four drinks seemed a little excessive and we promptly headed off to the next spot which—thankfully—was still serving food. Here we all drank a couple beers—once we got mugs that were honestly as big as our heads—and Sam had a sandwich and fries, and I ordered a cheese platter. Not that it’s really interesting to hear what we ate, but I just find it astounding that the aforementioned meal cost us about a hundred dollars. I mean, really! Anyway, we stayed at that bar until they kicked us out at about 3:30 am (had to get our money’s worth, you know) and then we headed out to find a metro station that was open so we could go home to bed. I think it must’ve been partly because Paris can be a confusing city and partly because there weren’t many metro stations open at that hour (ok and maybe partly because we were slightly tipsy) but we didn’t end up getting back to our hotel until 6:30 am. In a valiant effort we set the alarm for 11:00 am, determined to get out and see the city by day, but—alas—we were content to sleep the day away again. We almost felt guilty, but then we realized we were on vacation and we should do what we wanted to do—which was sleep and be lazy and watch movies and order omelets to our room—so that’s what we did, and it was lovely.

Don’t worry—we did get up early the next day and head out to take on the town. We saw and did a ton of awesome things including touring Notre Dame, visiting the Eiffel Tower, going to the top of the Arc de Triumph, walking along the Seine river, stopping at a stand to eat some delicious crepes, and seeing the outside of the Louvre—the line to get in was seriously over a mile long. After that we rested our feet at the movies—we saw National Treasure (in English)—and had dinner and ice cream before heading back to the hotel for the night. It was a great day, and the next day—January 3rd, our last day of vacation—we packed our bags and were on the road once again, this time back to our home in Echzell.
Whew!

And so it’s back to the grind…Sam is back to work and has been busy training his replacement as he (Sam) will be starting his new job at the clinic in a couple weeks. As for me, I will keep applying for jobs and hope that I find something soon. My military paperwork has finally arrived and I will be swearing in with the reserves tomorrow, so I should begin drills with my new unit this month. Other than that not much has changed…our place is coming along nicely and Sam and I both continue to really enjoy it, the weather is still cool but definitely tolerable, Germany is still beautiful, and I’m still crazy happy to be over here sharing life with Sam. We’re contemplating Prague, Czech Republic for the MLK weekend coming up, but to even think of traveling again right now makes me want to take a nap.

We miss all of you so much and really do want as many people to come visit us as possible, so please give it some serious thought and let us know! Other than that please take care and stay in touch. Hope to hear from you soon!

Love,

Sam & Jenna