A little R&R

It might be a little quiet on the blog these next few weeks.  Tom and I will be in the states enjoying our first trip back from Warsaw!  We are super excited to see our family and friends and to spend some quality time with them.  We are interested to see what it will feel like being back in the good ole U.S.A.  I am sure we will have lots to report back on in January! 

Til then, Have a very happy Holiday Season!

Love,

Sarah, Tom and Charlie

Warsaw in the Holiday Spirit!

As much as I love the holiday season, I could not wait to celebrate the holidays in Europe.  We have heard from a ton of Europeans about how great the Christams market are here so we were eager to check them out.  We had the chance to check out two different markets in Warsaw.  The first one is right by our house near the Palace of Science and Culture.  This was a small but fun market and we even got to bring Charlie with us.  I wasn't sure how interested Tom would be in the markets but when he got word that there were booths of Polish delicacies he was sold.

This weekend we headed to the main Christmas market in the Old Town Square.  This weekend was also the lighting of the large Christmas Tree  in the Old Town so we got to see it all!  It was really fun to take part in this event and to celebrate the holiday season.  We wandered through the market sipping our hot beer and mulled wine, a given at European Christmas markets and totally delicious!  There were quite a large number of vendors.  The food booths included: polish sausages, hot beer and wine, gingerbread cookies (a Polish Christmas specialty) and more.  And, there were plenty of wonderful handmade gift items for sale; like Polish Pottery, ornaments, fur and shearling hats and slippers, and amber jewelry.  We had a great time and enjoyed celebrating a bit of Christmas in Warsaw!

Tom and Charlie at the Grill booth...surprise surprise?

One Happy dog...

And one happy Tom!

The road leading into Old Town

Our favorite treat....Smoked Highlanders Cheese with cranberries

Enjoying the market with friends

Chimney Cake - a tradition that started in Transylvania

Polish Pottery

The lighting of the Christmas Tree



THANKFUL

Although, of course, today is not a holiday in Poland.  We are reminded of how thankful we are in life. 

Today, Tom, Charlie and I have so much to be thankful for.....

A family that loves us and supports our decision to live abroad

The adventure and experiences of living in a new country

The ability to travel all over Europe and the wonderful memories we are creating

Th joy that Charlie brings into our life every time he greets us at the door

The perspective that our move has brought both of us

The first snowfall of the season

Getting into a bed with fresh clean sheets

Lazy Saturday mornings

The view of the Palace of Culture from our apartment lit up at night

Tom's 5 minute commute to work

Laughing at ourselves when we have had yet another crazy Polish experience

Polish unpasterized beer, pierogis, and Polish Sausage

All of these things and so many more!

Wishing all of our loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!  Sending lots of love from Poland. 

Love  Always,

Sarah, Tom and Charlie

P.S. Even though Poland does not celebrate Thanksgiving we will be celebrating here this weekend with friends!  I am even attempting to make a pumpkin pie from scratch...no canned pumpkin here in Warsaw.  I picked up a big pumpkin at the farmer's market and roasted it up.



Awesome Thing About Living in Europe # 17

Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #17: NFL Gamepass

One of the hardest things for Tom to leave behind in Chicago were his Chicago Bears season tickets that he shared with friends.  While we still miss the games we are super thankful for NFL Gamepass. This is a subscription based service for NFL fans outside of the US that allows someone to watch any and all NFL games.  You can watch them live or start them whenever you want once the game has started.  The picture clarity is great and you can even choose if you want the game broadcast from the Bears sportscasters or the opposing teams.  This all makes Tom a very happy man!  Our only issue now is that the Bears are doing really well this season so the time of the Bears games keeps getting pushed back so that the games are shown Nationally in the states.  This is bad news for us with the time change.  Those noon Chicago games are perfect - giving us a 7:00pm start time in Warsaw.  Last night's game started at 10:15 pm Warsaw time which made for a late night.  We'll take it though for the opportunitiy to cheer on the Bears all the way in Poland!

A-H-H-H-H!

We spent the long weekend last week at a nice little spa outside of Warsaw.  It was a perfect weekend of relaxing and we were even able to bring Charlie.  We stayed at a small little hotel in the countryside and had a blast.  We spent the weekend taking nature walks with Charlie, relaxing at the spa and reading by the fireplace.  It was a great little getaway.  We were so relaxed that its taken us a bit to put the photos from our trip on the blog. 

Our cute little hotel

Heading on an early morning walk

Charlie was quite happy without his leash on

Morning Frost

One HAPPY Puppy!

Charlie was happy play catch outside.  It reminded him of Michigan!

An old castle near our hotel

The view from the castle