Packed and Ready to Go!

Sarah's packing

Michal's packing

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Yesterday was Tuesday, and also, unbeknownst to me, my anniversary. I was surprised as anyone else, since we got married in November. Our anniversary does fall on a Tuesday this year, but two weeks from yesterday. Michal surprised me with a candlelight dinner and best of all, presents when I got home last night. The dinner alone would have been plenty, since Tuesdays are my long days. I got off a little after 6, home around 6:30, and had to leave again at 7:10 for my harp lessons, which left me no time to find or make dinner. When I walked in the door, Michal had everything ready, candles lit and all. 

But as icing on my orange cake, he had my present. That's amazing enough because Michal rarely has presents two weeks in advance. The present itself is even better. It's an Amazon Kindle, which is a magic electronic book. Michal wanted me to have it before Friday so I could charge it and browse through more books to take with me. Or perhaps he just didn't want to lug the suitcase full of books around Europe with us. Either way, I'm ecstatic and he's the best husband ever.

I spent last night playing with it, and will probably spend another portion of today doing the same.

Rocket's New Bed

Rocket loves the blankets that Kasia made us for engagement presents. Normally we keep one out on the couch, where it matches both the couch and the cat so well it seems like Kasia knew exactly what colors both were even thought she'd never seen either before. Recently, we put both blankets in a basket under the table beside the loveseat. Apparently Rocket likes the blankets enough she's willing to follow them.

Michal in his new green sweater

My mom bought Michal a new sweater during her August visit. He had his first opportunity to wear it a few weeks ago when the weather turned cold, so I snapped a few shots to share.

Europe Itinerary #2: We Hope It's Final

Saturday, Nov. 1st Arrive in Frankfurt
Sunday, Nov. 2nd Arrive Berlin
Monday, Nov. 3rd Berlin
Tuesday, Nov. 4th Arrive Warsaw
Wednesday, Nov. 5th Warsaw
Thursday, Nov. 6th Warsaw
Friday, Nov. 7th Arrive Lublin
Saturday, Nov. 8th Lublin
Sunday, Nov. 9th Lublin
Monday, Nov. 10th Arrive Rzeszow
Tuesday, Nov. 11th Rzeszow, Arrive Krakow
Wednesday, Nov. 12th Arrive Prague
Thursday, Nov. 13th Prague
Friday, Nov. 14th Arrive Frankfurt
Saturday, Nov. 15th Arrive Seattle

Europe Distances and Driving Times

Frankfurt to Berlin: 553km / 5:06
Berlin to Gdansk: 506km / 6:51
Gdansk to Warsawa: 344km / 5:07
Warsawa to Lublin: 166km / 2:35
Lublin to Rzeszow: 166km / 2:33
Rzeszow to Krakow: 162km / 2:36
Krakow to Praha: 547km / 6:14
Praha to Frankfurt: 528km / 4:58

Google Maps Link

Train Schedules

Wow! Too many options to sort through. Some travel times:

Berlin -> Gdansk is 8.5 hours and has 3 connections.
Berlin -> Warsaw is 7 hours and is direct.
Warsaw -> Gdansk is 4.5 hours and is direct.
Warsaw -> Lublin is 2 hours and is direct.
Lublin -> Rzeszow is 4-6 hours and has 2-3 connections.
Krakow -> Prague is 7 hours and is direct.
Prague -> Frankfurt is 7.5 hours and has 1 connection.

Europe Tentative Itinerary #1

Completely not sanity-checked yet, but this is what we're currently guessing we might be able to do.