Merry Christmas!

So the big day is almost here! I hope you have all at least started your Christmas shopping by now! I love Christmas time—not because of all the shopping and buying of all these things we don’t need, but because of the fact that it is one of the few times of the year where families make that extra effort to be together. It is sad that we need an event like Christmas to do that, but if that’s the way it is, I am glad Christmas comes every year.

Well, not much has happened since my last blog post. I have managed to get out on a few snowshoe hikes and still have my feet intact, so I am pretty happy about that. It has been well below freezing here for the past week or so, and it has been pretty cold up on tops of the mountains where I have been hiking. At least that means that I have had the mountains all to myself lately. It has been incredibly peaceful hiking and snowshoeing these past few days. It has snowed almost nonstop for the past 5 days or so, with just periods of a few hours here and there when it let up. The mountains have been hit really hard, and therefore, I haven’t had much luck tracking lately. When I went hiking today, even my snowshoe tracks from yesterday could not be seen, and yesterday I was sinking into the snow a good 6 inches or more! It seems that all the tracks are being covered in a few hours after they are left, making my job difficult. However, it has been great getting up in the mountains and breathing the fresh air. The valleys are full of smoke from all the furnaces and heaters running in the houses down there, so up high is an escape from all that junk. It has been so silent hiking lately. It seems that the only sound I can hear is the snow crunching under the weight of my boots or snowshoes, and the occasional tree unloading the snow off its branches. It has been great and I have enjoyed every minute of these last few hikes, and even the moments when I was totally lost because of the poor visibility, or because of my decision to take some random path through the mountains that I had never taken before, but felt like exploring:) I have been trying to do this much more lately, since I see my time in Poland soon coming to an end. I have been choosing ways up the mountains that I have never taken before, just to see what’s there. It has been kind of fun and has added a little more adventure to each day.

I have also been running each morning in the dark and snow. It has been incredible too and a great way to get the day started. The first few minutes are very cold, but then it becomes tolerable after that and actually rather enjoyable toward the end. The other day, as I was waiting for a car to go by before crossing the street, a perfectly-shaped snowflake fell on my shirt! It was the first “perfect” snowflake I have ever seen, just like all the ornaments and decorations. It only lasted about ten seconds before it started to melt. I guess that means that perfection never lasts, but we all have our moments of perfection. It is funny how sometimes we are more aware of small things like this than at other times.

As for my Christmas, it will be spent in Torino, Italy. I am flying to Milan in a few days and will then travel to Torino by train for Christmas, and then over to a region called Aosta, which borders France and Switzerland, in the Alps. It should be fun and I am looking forward to seeing some parts of Italy that I have never seen.

So here is what I want to say about Christmas. Let us remember two important things this holiday season: (1) Remember the less fortunate and the people that need a little love and friendship this holiday season, and (2) let's be extremely grateful for having each other and let's realize how truly lucky we are. We should really treasure the moments we have together and not take them for granted.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to attend to another Christmas tradition, courtesy of Clark W. Griswold. Merry Christmas everyone!

Taking in a few more sights

Hello everyone! I have been trying to work hard lately, but it seems to be a little difficult for me at the moment. I managed to fit in a few weekend trips to two cities that I have wanted to visit for a long time—Prague and Vienna. I traveled by train to Prague, where I stayed for three days. I met up with an American kid I actually met in Norway and we met a few other people there too, so it was a lot of fun to have a group of us there to hang out and see some sights. It was a little cold and we did see some snow, but we managed to get out and see the sights anyway. Among the sites we saw were Prague Castle, which is the largest castle in the world and took over 600 years to complete, as well as the oldest synagogue in the world. Prague is a really cool city and reminded me a lot of Krakow, particularly Old Town Square. There was a huge church called Tyn Church that served as the landmark for the Old Town, just as Mariacki Church serves as the landmark in Market Square in Krakow. The castle was incredible and the cathedral built within the castle complex, called St. Vitus Cathedral, is one of the most amazing cathedrals I have seen anywhere. I took some pictures inside, hoping to be able to give you an idea of how spectacular it was, but I know that my pictures will not do the beauty of the cathedral justice. We also walked across the famous Charles Bridge at night. It is pretty cool, walking along the bridge and being surrounded by two rows of saints hovering above you, almost like they are leading you on to something better. Another unique thing that we were able to see was the largest book in the world, called the “Devil’s Bible.” When they say that it is large, they are definitely not kidding. The book weighs 165 pounds and is approximately 1 meter long. The book includes writings on everything you could possibly imagine, such as philosophy, religion, morality, law, medicine, nature, physics, etc. Legend has it that it was written by a Benedictine monk in the early 13^th century who had agreed to write the world’s largest book glorifying the Benedictine monastery, as a way of avoiding being imprisoned for life for breaking his monastic duties. However, around midnight, he realized that he was not going to be able to accomplish this feat, and sold his soul to the Devil, who helped him finish the book in one night. The book was opened up to its two most well-known pages, one page showing the City of God, while the facing page is a drawing of the Devil. The fact that these two pages were facing one another is supposedly to represent the duality and constant battles between good and evil, between God and the Devil. The “Devil’s Bible” is normally only displayed in Sweden, since the Swedish army stole the book from Prague Castle just before the treaty ending the Thirty Years’ War was signed. It was pretty amazing to see and I can’t believe that one person wrote that entire thing! He must have had a seriously sore hand after all that!

Prague was great and I made some new friends there that I hope to see again during my travels. Once I got back to Poland, I only had a few days there before leaving for a few days to Vienna. Unfortunately, I came down with a pretty nasty cold just after arriving back in Poland. Just my luck! I took it easy and basically didn’t do anything except relax for the few days I had there, hoping to recover enough to be able to enjoy Vienna.

I did end up going to Vienna and stayed with this sweet girl that lives in the outskirts of the city. The airlines actually did not lose my checked bag this time, which was kind of a pleasant surprise for me, since that now makes 7 out of the last 10 times I have flown that my bags have been lost. I guess the ratio is starting to even out a bit. Vienna was great and since it was the beginning of December, all of the Christmas markets were going. They are pretty awesome and I wish we had something similar to these back in the States. Maybe we do, but I don’t know of any and definitely not to the scale over in Europe. In Vienna, Lija (the girl I stayed with) took me to at least three different Christmas markets, each with its own little character. They were beautiful and definitely helped remind me that Christmas is around the corner. We sampled all kinds of punch and other drinks, and I ate some Austrian-famous weiner schnitzel. It was a great time.

Vienna itself is also a beautiful city. Sights are a little bit more spread out than in cities like Prague or Krakow, but they have a metro system that is really efficient and makes getting around pretty easy. I did manage to get lost a few times, but that was just part of the fun. I did see the graves of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Strauss, which were all really cool. It was even raining when I saw them, so I was the only person there. There seemed to be a beautiful, soft melody playing in the background, or maybe it was just inside my head, as I sat there and paid my respects. Other sights I saw in Vienna included St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which was pretty magnificent also, the Hofsburg (Imperial Palace), and the Schonnbrunn (summer palace of the Habsburgs). The state opera house is an amazing building, displaying the elaborate architecture that makes Vienna famous. The Rathaus, or City Hall building, is also incredible, particularly at night when it is lit up, towering over the Christmas market in the square below, the purple and gold lights radiating through the crowds and casting a magical glow over the market. Vienna definitely has many sights that should be seen, and I only managed to see a few of them. I had hoped to make it to a performance of a Beethoven symphony, but ran out of time and figured my time would be better spent getting to know Lija (this was a good decision, because she is awesome), just relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere, and wondering around aimlessly (which I now consider myself an expert at!). There is a pretty good possibility that I may return to Vienna for New Year’s. There are some concerts of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as a Viennese tradition of dancing the waltz! I have never actually danced the waltz, but have always wanted to try, and I think that it would be incredible to try it in Vienna, after seeing a heart-pumping performance of “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s own hometown (well, kind of his hometown). I’ll see what I can do, but it sounds exciting to me!

I must say that although seeing these new places is absolutely incredible, even more incredible are the people that I have met along the way. From Magnus in Oslo, to Andrew on the train from Bergen to Oslo, to Slaven in Prague, and then Lija in Vienna, I have definitely been lucky to find new friends everywhere I have traveled. I thank all of you guys for enriching my experiences and giving me memories that I will never forget. As far as I am concerned, just meeting you has made these trips worthwhile, and I thank you for being the people and the friends that you are.

So now I am back in Poland, trying to fit in some hard work before leaving for Italy for Christmas. I still have this damn cold that won’t seem to go away. It is more annoying than anything, but I do hope I can finally shake it in the next few days. I am really in the Christmas mood after wondering through all those Christmas markets, and my thoughts always turn to family and friends when I think about the holidays. I don’t want to write so much about that now because I want to write another blog post before Christmas, but I am so thankful for all of you and I just want you to know that. Okay, work is calling, so I best answer, at least for a little while. I hope this finds you all well, and I look forward to talking to you as the holidays draw nearer. Oh, before I end this, I want to send out a quick congratulations to my buddies Stephen and Kylie, who both passed their master’s defenses these last few weeks—way to go! I am jealous of both of you. Also, I want to point out that my brother, Dan, passed a major physical exam in the San Francisco Police Academy that would have left most of us crying out for mercy. He is one bad dude and it is always nice to have someone like him in the family! Good job bro! Okay, I do need to get to work now. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and wish you all an even better few weeks leading up to Christmas. This is Nate the Skate signing off for now. Ciao!

Pictures from Prague and Vienna can be seen at: http://www.photoworks.com/members/Nathan_Owens

That sounds like a commercial, doesn't it?