Happy New Year

Admittedly, December didn't make my "Top 10 Best Months Ever" list that I publish fortnightly, but the new year has already proved to be a happier time.

For New Year's Eve this year I went to Krakow, Poland. The original plans were to go to London, but that fell through and last minute prices of London hotels made it cheaper for me to go to Krakow by myself. The city itself was one of the few places in Europe to not get destroyed during the war, so there was some really interesting architecture throughout the city. I especially liked Wawel Castle.

Since I had never been to Poland before, I decided to spend New Year's Eve day at one of their most famous sites: the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camps. As you might imagine, spending 7 hours learning about the Holocaust doesn't exactly put you in the mood for celebration.

Something that struck me about the whole set-up was that it was so impersonal. Everything was number based. It was a couple of weeks ago now, but some of the numbers that I remember:

- Up to 1.5M people were murdered there

- The incinerators could burn 8000 bodies per day

- 70% of the people were sent straight to the gas chambers from the trains

- Of the remaining 30%, there was a 2-3 month life expectancy at that point from either being killed outright or starving to death

- There was 22 tons of hair found on site (human hair was collected and used to makes things such as socks for U-boat sailors)

- Over 90% of the people killed were Jews

- Only 144 people successfully escaped the camps (about 1 in 100,000)

There was very little in the way of individual stories. I suppose, most all of the personal histories were destroyed, but I thought focusing on a few individuals would help to bring the numbers into perspective. Maybe that's just me. Either way, it was an interesting and informative museum, but I don't recommend it as a pre-New Year's Eve event.

After getting home that evening, I drank some Polish vodka and went out for the bringing in of the new year. There was a pop concert going on in the square. The costumes, sounds, dance moves, and attitudes of pop are the same in every language, apparently. My first act of the new year was to eat a plate of sausages and potatoes, which was well received after the vodka. I ate a lot of street bread, pirogies, and sauerkraut on that trip. All good stuff.

After Poland, I had a few days before heading back to Wisconsin. The first order of business once I got there was to buy some land. I had never actually seen it in person before, but it had all of the things I was looking for: about an hour outside of Madison, waterfront, large acreage, few restrictions, in the Driftless Area, and, perhaps most importantly when it comes to pulling the trigger and buying something, it was in my price range.

The flight to the US was an adventure. I had used my bonus miles to purchase my ticket, which meant more legs of the flight than usual. My second leg was delayed 11 hours due to mechanical issues. Needless to say, I didn't make it back to the US as scheduled. On the bright side, I was upgraded to first class on my transatlantic flight and it was a fully recline-able bed. I was able to sleep like a human being. It's amazing how much of a difference a comfortable seat and a few hours of sleep can make the next day.

After closing on the land, the next big event was meeting up with high school friends. Mike and Sheila were kind enough to host again this year and it was a really good time. The kids were noticeably bigger and adults pretty much unchanged (except for Justin's haircut). I'm slowly whittling down everyone to get them out to Europe.

The main purpose for the trip home was my sister's wedding. We all went to Milwaukee on Friday for rehearsal. The entire wedding weekend was a blast. It was great to have a chance to visit with family and friends that I hadn't seen in years, as well as to meet Andrew's side. Congrats to Kathryn and Andrew!

Lastly, I was able to meet up with some college friends in Chicago. Josh, Mike, and I went to dinner and saw Tron in 3D at the IMAX at Navy Pier. Oddly, I think the last time I went to a movie at the theater it was with Mike and in 3D (and over a year ago). It's kind of our thing. We had a lot of fun reminiscing about rowing, college parties, and life events since then. As for Tron, I'm not sure it was worth the $17 price tag, but maybe if I saw the original I would have a better appreciation. I like Sci-Fi, but Tron really didn't have any "Sci," and the "Fi" was a bit too out there for me.

After a busy week at home, I made my way to the airport to find out that mechanical problems on my plane (again) and weather problems in the south were causing more issues. Originally, it looked like I was going to have to stay an extra day in Philadelphia because I was going to miss my flight to Manchester, but I was able to work with the customer service folks from a couple of airlines to get out on the right day and back to the UK only a few hours after my original arrival time.

And, of course, standing in customer service lines for 2 hours gives you an appreciation for how difficult life is for some people. From the guy talking loudly on his phone behind me about how he was suffering through "hell" (6 hour delay) to the woman who dressed and talked like a man who was losing her mind (also on a cell phone...) and went straight to the counter because the agent there said something different than the agent on the phone. Getting blamed for the weather has to get old. I never want to be in customer service.

I am back in the UK and ready to pass out after spending the night in the air last night (I didn't get spoiled with any upgrades on the return). It was a great trip back and I am so happy that I was able to spend time with family and friends.