Homecoming

On Wednesday, November 22 at around noon, Matt and I arrived in beautiful Newark, New Jersey for the first homecoming for both of us since we arrived in Amsterdam. We had been planning this trip since June, and were very excited to see everyone. And to eat cheeseburgers.

Mr. and Mrs. Sgrizzi definitely made it a comfortable arrival for us, by promptly feeding us chicken wings and eggplant and chicken parm and turning on the big-screen and handing us blankets on the couch. After brief naps, we headed out to Basil's, a nice restaurant in Red Bank, to meet a bunch of our friends for Big Wednesday. It was really great to see everyone, and Ryan (aka Elf) gave us some beautiful pictures he had taken during his visit to see us in Amsterdam. It was also nice having full-size beers to drink, though a bit daunting. The cheeseburgers were delicious, and such a great welcome home! The fact that we had been up for pretty much 24 hours, aside from very brief naps, became apparent at around midnight, so we headed home care of Chauffeur Chima.

We spent Thanksgiving day at the Sgrizzi's , and it was a very fun and food-filled time. It was a good way to stretch our stomachs for the food fest that would become the rest of the week. The next evening we took the train to my parent's house in Long Island.

The weather was spectacular while we were home. On Saturday, it was sunny and about 65 degrees, so Matt and I decided to go for a long walk on the beaches along Dune Road in Westhampton. It was so nice to see the ocean again.

On Sunday we had planned a late lunch with my parents and Matt's parents at the Brazilian Churrascaria Plataforma in NYC. Matt and I hopped on the train on Sunday morning to do some walking around the city, see the tree at Rockerfeller Center, and of course to SHOP! And shop we did - we went on a bona fide shopping spree on 5th Avenue. It's nice earning in euros :-). After we arrived at Plataforma carrying our various shopping bags, we filled up on caipirinhas and meats served on skewers.

The rest of our time at home was spent relaxing and catching up with our families. Six days is definitely too short, but hopefully everyone can make it out here to visit us soon. Next year we hope to make it home for Christmas, but this year we'll be staying at a ski house in the St. Anton resort in the Austrian Alps with some friends.