Our European Vacation

Chris and I left Hawaii in the middle of October, but before we came to Japan, we had several places to go first!  We were in San Diego for three weeks because Chris had to be trained as a legal aide officer. After he graduated at the top of his class :) we had a two week break before we wanted to be in Louisiana for Thanksgiving.  So during those two weeks we decided to go to Europe!  We knew flying there would be expensive, so we (well mainly Chris) decided that we should take "Space A" flights to get there.  These are free flights that the military offers on military aircraft.  It is great because it's free, but they don't have a schedule, planes break frequently, you may or may not have a seat, and if you are lucky enough to get a seat, it's usually an uncomfortable one!  For the organized and scheduled person like me, it drove me crazy, but of course Chris loved every minute of the "adventure!" That's what he called it every time I complained! (I should also mention that our only luggage for the entire two weeks was a backpack. I am normally I very heavy packer, so this was quite a feat for me!) So we left San Diego on Monday (November 9th), arrived in Jacksonville late that night, got up early Tuesday morning to sit in the terminal for 9 hours, then we caught a flight to Norfolk, waited there for three hours, then took an overnight flight to Rota, Spain, where we arrived on Wednesday afternoon.

Our goal was to make it to London to visit our wonderful friends, the Rays, so we stayed the night in Rota, and left Thursday night for London.  We finally made it!  We spent the next few days sightseeing with our friends... it was super fun! We rode the London Eye and saw Big Ben, Parliament, Stonehenge, and two plays: "Wicked" and "Phantom of the Opera."

After saying "good-bye" to our sweet friends, our second adventure began! We took a train to catch a flight to Munich, then took a bus and a train to our hotel.  (You may want to take note of all the forms of transportation we utilized during our trip.) Once we got settled in, we went to the center of the town called Marienplatz. We wanted to see the famous cuckoo clock strike and tell the town's story, but we got there to late, so we just walked around the town. 

We got up early the next morning and took a train to Salzburg.  This train ride was quite memorable because it took us past breathtaking sights in the country and we watched "Sound of Music" because it was filmed in Salzburg.  Once we arrived in this enchanting town, we took a bus to our hotel, then set out to explore the town.  We saw Mozart's birthplace and the house in "Sound of Music," then we ate dinner at the fortress and listened to a Mozart concert.  

The next morning we took a bus to Berchtesgaden.  We originally went there to see the "Eagle's Nest," but we quickly learned it was already closed for the winter. So we regrouped and took a bus to a nearby town and then took a boat ride through the snow-covered country side.  It was quite cold, but they gave us hot chocolate, so I was happy! Here we also traveled around with a young man named Jack, he was from China. It was great to get to know him and also to have someone take pictures of us! We then took a bus to our hotel, grabbed our stuff, and walked to the train station.  We were taking a sleeper train to Paris.  This was the part of the trip I was most nervous about.  We walked into our six-sleeper cabin which already had three men in it and Chris and I got on our beds. They were directly across from each other.  Once Chris' bed was made, he walked down to the bathroom and noticed along the way that there were several empty cabins. So my wonderful question-asking husband asked if we could relocate and I was thrilled to move to a private cabin and we had a great night's sleep!  We woke up the next morning in Paris!! The first thing we did was climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower! This was my favorite, especially at night because it sparkles every hour on the hour! We also toured Versailles and the Louvre, and went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame.  

Even though we were exhausted by the end of our trip around Europe we had an amazing time and made some unforgettable memories!  I'm so thankful for this time Chris and I had together especially because Chris will be gone on the ship the majority of the time we are in Japan!  And, we made it home just in time for Thanksgiving!!