Just kidding about the good-bye but tonight concludes the blogging challenge- to match Ryan's goal of a daily entry until the end of the year. I think I made it because the couple of times I missed a day I wrote an extra blog on another day. And unlike Ryan, I experienced no technical difficulties. The challenge wasn't as stressful as I thought it might be although I did receive some teasing about some of my less interesting topics (road construction anyone?!) and I did manage to get the kids to do a few days. But overall, I enjoyed the experience and I think that now that I'm in the habit, I'll continue blogging several times per week.
Tonight we had our usual New Year's Eve tradition fiasco. Our goal is to eat in a restaurant we have never been to before. In the US this is generally not a problem. The second year in Greece we drove around for nearly two hours looking first, for a restaurant that was open (most don't open until 9 or later) and second, one we hadn't been to before (difficult in the country area we lived in). We ended up doing pizza take-out.
This year we thought, hey, no problem. We live in a European capital, the biggest city in Poland. Just in case, this afternoon Tim had one of his Polish co-workers call a steak house to confirm that if we came in early enough that we could get a reservation. The co-worker laughed at our naivete but dialed the restaurant. Turns out that the few Polish restaurants remaining open on New Year's Eve have limited reservations, limited menus, and jacked up holiday prices. Determined to stick to tradition, we set out at 4:30 thinking surely this was early enough to beat any dinner and party crowds. Wrong. We drove around for an hour but every restaurant was closed. We found one pizza place that was open but closed to walk-ins. They were willing to throw two pizzas into the oven for us to take home.
Turns out the pizza was great. We had Breyers mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert and now we are listening to all the fireworks go off around the city. Tim and I have some lovely prosecco to drink and at midnight we'll look out the skylight above the stairs to watch the big fireworks display downtown.
We wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you in 2009!
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1 comment:
Personally...I loved the walk through the "under construction" street and the travelog through a Polish neighborhood.
I remember celebrating New Year's Eve in Berlin, Germany...2000 before Debbie was born. The church bells were chiming and fireworks was blasting off everywhere. Somewhere your dad or I have a picture of us wearing silly hats to welcome in the new year.
Regardless of the dinner fiasco...enjoy your own personal celebration.
Love to all...
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