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Wednesday, July 28, 2010
What an annoying end to a really nice trip
Instead I ended up missing my connection at London Heathrow airport and nobody wanted to be responsible of course which ended up in lots of back and forth, running around between terminals (if you know Heathrow you can imagine how much fun that was), finally getting a standby flight on United through Washington DC. Made it back to CT around 1am. Of course WITHOUT my bags. They were still trying to locate those.
At least when I called United this afternoon they told me they did locate my bags, still in London with Virgin Atlantic. So now trying to get them signed over to United so they can get on a plane and come to NY. Hopefully all that actually happens and I see my bags again soon, hopefully in a decent condition.
I am jetlagged, tired and cranky at this point after not getting to bed till 1am and waking up again around 3:30am. Should be better tomorrow after getting some decent sleep tonight.
Short mail update for today. Letters went out on Monday to: Celia/MA, Caroline/Scotland, Sarah/Canada and David/IN.. Received letters from/still owe replies to: none.Posted by Hanna at 04:56 PM in Austria , Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Friday, July 23, 2010
Time flies when you are having fun
Time definitely flies faster when you are on vacation. I am convinced of that. Already Friday again. On Wednesday we ran a lot of errands, I was able to pick up my new passport (I renewed it while I was here) and found two new pairs of shoes. I was especially excited about a pair of sandals since they are almost the same ones as the ones I had.
Thursday we took a nice ride through the mountains. It was super hot that day so it was great to get away from the extreme heat for a little while. We saw a lot of nice scenery and had a great lunch. Then even stopped for some yummy dessert in the afternoon. In the evening I went out with my friend Anneliese, went to downtown St. Pölten, City Hall Square, where they have a bunch of stands with different foods and drinks.
Pretty much did the same thing today in Vienna with my friend Andrea. They have a fun festival in front of City Hall all summer, lots of international food stands and drinks. Was also able to take a bunch of touristy pictures which was fun. And when I got back out to our house I cooled off in the pool from the heat and humidity of the day. The next few days it's supposed to be quite a bit cooler so I figured I should get my swimming in while I still can. I am sure the last three days will fly by just as quickly.
Short mail update for today. Letters going out soon to: Tiffany/OK and Nina/WA. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Sarah/Canada and David/IN.
Posted by Hanna at 01:40 PM in Austria , Food and Drink, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Relaxing vacation
Still enjoying my stay here. The first two days were super hot, then it cooled down and was a little cloudy as you can see in the picture. But today it's sunny again and supposed to be pretty warm again too. Supposed to get pretty hot as the week goes on again.
On Sunday we took a nice drive through some nice scenic areas which provided some good opportunies for photo shots. Then yesterday I met up with my friend Anneliese. Nice to catch up. Today we are meeting up with some friends of my parents. All in all a very relaxing vacation so far. I am getting as much reading and letter writing in as I can.
Short mail update for today. Letters went out yesterday to: Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Lotte/Denmark. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Sarah/Canada, Tiffany/OK and Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 04:51 AM in Austria , Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Hello from Austria
So here's a quick post. Wanted to say hello from Austria and let you all know that I arrived safely and am enjoying myself a lot. My flight on LOT via Warsaw seemed to take forever but I finally made it here Thursday night. On Friday I had a hairdresser appointment and in the afternoon I just relaxed, spent an hour in the pool, etc.
Today I went into Vienna and met up with my friend Lydia. Always nice to catch up with friends. We had a good time walking around, had lunch at Crossfield's, then stopped at an ice cream place where I had the most delicious blueberry gelato. After that we walked around some more and had another snack at another place. Then I took the train back out to my parent's house in Lower Austria where I had another swim in the pool to cool off.
Still another week and a few days left. So nice to not have to worry about work or anything at all really.
Short mail update for today. So far have written a letter to: Charles/TN. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Sarah/Canada, Jessica/DE, Lotte/Denmark, Tiffany/OK and Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 04:15 PM in Austria , Food and Drink, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Monday, July 12, 2010
Busy, busy, busy
Finally getting around to a quick update. It's just been so hectic I haven't even had a minute to sit and breathe it feels like. Last week Monday and Tuesday was just busy. Then Wednesday it was a tad calmer but that's when I found out that I need to learn/train on another position in our company so I can cover that person's vacation. All in all I don't really mind. It's never a bad thing to know more things, be more valuable, and know how to do things, see the other side of things and understand better why we do things etc. But in the short term it means a lot of crazy running around. I tried to cram in as much training as I could before I leave for Austria. Then I will have 5 more days of training when I get back before the person I am going to cover for goes on vacation for close to three weeks. Doing all that while training a new person in my own department of course. Nothing ever runs quite as smooth as you would want of course.
On the bright side I only have two more days at work left before I am on the plane to Austria. Definitely two crazy days I am sure but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. :) I already started packing yesterday (as you can see in the picture Oliver was being very helpful) and now just have the odds and ends of things to throw in. Can't wait to be on that plane. :)
Short mail update for today. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Jessica/DE. Lotte/Denmark, Tiffany/OK, Nina/WA and Charles/TN.
Posted by Hanna at 11:23 PM in Austria , Travel, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Happy 4th of July
Happy 4th of July to all my American friends. :) We aren't really doing anything too special for it. Was good to just kind of relax and veg out after a really busy and stressful week. We will go out for a nice dinner in a little while, at Rizzuto's, Maybe we will sit outside, depends on how hot it still is. It's been really hot this weekend so far.
Still missing Dinah of course. Lots of habits that still exist, looking for her when I walk out of the bedroom or into the kitchen. It's an automatic thing I do I guess. I know she is in a better place now but I do still miss her.
Work was very busy this past week. Interviewing, trying to find a replacement for the girl who is leaving. Trying to set everything up so things run halfway smooth while I am gone. Let's see what this week brings. I only have about a week and a half to go before I leave for Austria. Time flies.
Short mail update for today. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Nina/WA and Charles/TN.
Posted by Hanna at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Friday, July 02, 2010
Dinah - In Loving Memory
This week has definitely not been a good week. Our cat Dinah had not been doing so well for quite some time. All started about a year and a half ago, a type of skin cancer that also resulted in seizures and loss of balance and other things. She had been losing weight steadily. But all in all she was still her happy self, eating, purring, wanting attention. And every time she had a bad spell and we thought she wouldn't recover she bounced back the next day.
But unfortunately over the weekend she started to get worse rapidly and by Tuesday morning she was in really bad shape . She could barely stand up, was being incontinent and just not in any good shape at all. So we had to take her to the vet where they put her to sleep. I am really sad but of course it was the right thing to do. She would have
just continued to suffer. Poor little Din ah sweetie fluff.
When God made the world, He chose to put animals in it, and decided to give each whatever it wanted. All the animals formed a long line before His throne, and the cat quietly went to the end of the line.
To the elephant and the bear He gave strength, to the rabbit and the deer, swiftness; to the owl, the ability to see at night, to the birds and the butterflies, great beauty; to the fox, cunning; to the monkey, intelligence; to the dog, loyalty; to the lion, courage; to the otter, playfulness. And all these were things the animals begged of God. At last he came to the end of the line, and there sat the little cat, waiting patiently. "What will YOU have?" God asked the cat.
The cat shrugged modestly. "Oh, whatever scraps you have left over. I don't mind."
"But I'm God. I have everything left over."
"Then I'll have a little of everything, please," said the cat.
Posted by Hanna at 05:58 PM in Cats | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack