The Weekend Before Christmas

'Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. That's because we weren't home!! This past weekend (December 21st-23rd) we went to Copenhagen, Denmark and Berlin, Germany. The trip was completely organized and booked by Ag and I must say, my travel agent did a fantastic job! Our basic itinary was as follows:
Fly into Copenhagen on Friday morning, tour around the city all day and fly to Berlin that evening. Once in Berlin, relax Friday night, all day city tour on Saturday, Sunday, relax and do whatever, then head back to Zurich around 7pm that night.

We left early Friday morning and caught a flight from Zurich to Copenhagen (CPH). Once we arrived in CPH we jumped on a train that took not even 15 minutes to get to the main city center. At the center train station, we left our bags in a locker and we were off to explore!

Oh, yes. One thing I forgot to note, on our flight was a couple around our age with a newborn baby. Long story short we switched them seats so that they could have some extra room for the baby (there was no one next to us, originally). Well, about 2/3rd into our flight, the husband (a native from CPH) saw us looking at our CPH map and showed us where to go and what to be sure to do. Very helpful information!

Once our bags were secure in the locker, we started out by passing the large Tivoli Gardens (where the X-Mas markets were) and then to the main pedistrian strip. From there we walked into a few shops and just took in our surroundings. We got a Danish pastry (you have to have a Danish in Denmark!) and also some warm fresh bread from a local bakery.


We wandered over to the canel area and up to the Little Mermaid statue. One suprising thing to us about our walk from the main street area to the statue is that there was no "life" along the river.. there were not many buildings near the shore and really no activity on the water.

Then, we headed back to the center area and on the way, stopped to grab a bit to eat/drink at a restaurant. Once we got to the center area, it was going on 2pm and we decided to spend the remainder of our time at the Tivoli X-Mas Markets (we had to head to the airport around 5pm).

The market was like a mini-Kings Island in the wintertime. There were tons of shops, restaurants, rides, etc. I must say, it was rather chilly that day too (around 20 degrees). What was so key is they had charcoal grill type stands all over to warm yourself at. We got lots of fun pictures at the market and one of the best is the babystroller "parking lot". There was even a valet guy directing parents as to where to park their baby stoller so that the families could go on some rides. Crazy!


So, we left the markets and headed out to the airport. We sat down at a bar in the airport and while we were finishing up our beers, a random dude asked me to arm wrestle. This was someone about 55+ years of age and just drunk off his bootie! Long story short, I didn't arm wrestle him. He asked me 5 times if I was "with" Aggie and every time I said, "Yes". Then he would say I was a lucky man, and I would agreed. Randomly, after telling me that I was a "happy guy" for the N'th time, he started crying! He kept saying "Sorry" and "It's okay". Nuts! Who was this dude?! The whole time, Agnes was kicking me under the table and mouthing the words "be careful"...it was really a strange situation.

The time had come for us to go and we had to leave Crazy Man and catch our flight. We hope he is okay and made it home that evening and didn't cause any problems...

We got to Berlin around 8:30pm and caught a bus to the city center area. Instead of booking a hotel, Aggie did some research and booked us in a mini-apartment. Long story short, this girl has a studio and rents it out pretty cheap. It was in the dead center of the city (and the X-Mas Markets), well furnished, had a kitchen area, etc. We walked in and the first thing I said to Ag is, "This totally makes up for Paris!" (Please read previous blog about Thanksgiving and Paris to see what I'm refering to.)

Anyway, we asked her for recommendations on places to go out for drinks and dinner and she sent us to an area called Hachkescher Markt. We found an awesome bar that had some amazing food and good night life so we were pretty happy when we finally crashed that night.

The next day we went on a all day walking tour of the city. It was AWESOME. Our tourguide was from Oregen and around our age. There were 2 other couples on the tour with us as well. We saw everything possible in the city area from homes with bullet shots, memorials for those killed by the Nazis, various spots where Hitler gave speeches, burned books, and finally killed himself, the Berlin Wall, the Brandenberg Gate, etc. It was amazing to see how much of the city was lost during WWII and how much new construction was going up. Learning more about the Wall, how poor the city is and the reasons why there are still very vivid signs of bombing and fighting, and the differences between the East and West was really cool too. Apparently the new saying/motto in the city is: Berlin, Poor but Sexy. It's a city that is trying to rebuild its image and self.


Our tour ended around 6pm and we asked the guide for recommendations on dinner. He sent us to a pretty cool area...We grabbed a bite to eat at a pretty local bar and then on our walk back to the apartment, we stopped for a night cap and dessert at this swank bar. We got one of the best cheese plates ever! I have to say, the food in Berlin was outstanding. We didn't have one bad meal there (not that we are picky eaters) and we were very satisified.

Sunday morning we slept in and then went to the musem center area. We checked out one huge church in the center and then we went to the Christmas markets. We left later that day and got in, safe and sound to our apartment by 10pm Sunday night.

Now it is Christmas! Josh just got in today and so far it has been a solid day. We picked him up from the airport around 8am, had a big breakfast, walked around town and are now just relaxing. The next few days are going to be super fun and busy so stay tuned to see what we do....

December happenings

So, last time I wrote, things were going pretty well. We had just gone to London for Thanksgiving and we were looking forward to a trip to Luxembourg at the beginning of December (8th-9th). Unfortunately, I was unable to go to Lux due to having so much work to do...story of my life recently but that is a whole other blog for a rainy day!

Anyway, I still encouraged Aggie to go to Lux even though I wasn't going and she definitely had a good time! She arrived on Friday evening and met up with Laura in the city center. From there, the two of them went to meet Brendan and Eoin who were already at the X-Mas markets. They all hung out for a bit and then Ag and Laura headed back to Robbie and Laura's place. Around 9pm Robbie, Laura and Ag went to pick up Darren and Nicole from the train station (they came in from London). The group went out to eat and then into the Grund area to meet up with all the other friends who were in town.

On Saturday morning, the three girls and Darren set out to catch the train to Trier, Germany to do some shopping. (Robbie had to study for his certification exams, similar to a CPA, and couldn't go.) I don't know all that went on that day, but I did get a text message from Darren to Robbie and I stating, "You two owe me big time. I just spent over an hour boot shopping!" Needless to say I sent a text back and told him to tell Aggie not to spend too much, but Darren said, "It was too late!".


They shopped all day and then went back to Laura and Robbie's, stayed in and just relaxed. The next day Aggie came back on the train and we hung out that evening. All in all, I was really sad I didn't go!

The work week went by with no major news. Then on Thursday (the 15th), our friends from Lux, Robert and Alexandra, came to visit. Aggie showed them around on Friday and then on Friday evening we made raclette at our place. It was super fun and delicious! Here is a good explaination of what raclette is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette

Saturday we went skiing with a group of friends. We went to a moutain town not too far from Zurich and basically from door to door, train to train, it took two hours. Aggie, Alexandra and Robert skiied together most of the day, while I went off with some of the better skiers we were with (Loren, Helen and John). From what I have been told, my snow bunny was more like a snow plow, but at least she tried!


Saturday night we went to a X-Mas party at our friends' Helen and John's apartment. (They had snowboarded all day with us as well.) The party was fun but I have to say, after a day long of skiing, I was excited to sleep that night.

Other things, Aggie's daycare and babysitting jobs have been keeping her on the go. One thing that we laugh about is our singing ability....and let me explain. The kids have "circle time" each day and for the past few weeks, they have been singing X-Mas songs during the circle time....singing in both English and German! Well, Ag brought home some of the music and we have tried to sing the songs. It was pretty funny! You can try with "Jingle Bells",

In English:
Dashing through the snow, on a one-horse open sleigh, over the fields we go, lauging all the way; Bells on bob-tails ring, making spirits bright, what fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight.....

In German:
Ein kleiner weisser Schneeball, liegt heute vor der Tur. Ein kleiner weisser Schneeball stand gestern noch nicht hier. Da kommt ein kleiner Schlitten, Der Ladt uns alle ein; Auf eine kleine Schlitten fahrt, Das wird wahrscheinlich fein!

Good times!

Work was really busy for me this past week, but I have managed. I had this past Friday off (the 21st) as we went to Copenhagen and Berlin. I'll write about that trip next! Stay tuned...

Gobble, Gobble

Who can believe it's December already?! Time is just flashing by as it always seems to do this time of year. Any-who, Thanksgiving was a complete blast. As we wrote in the last post, it all started with dinner at Dave and Kevin's on the weekend of November 17 (that's me above carving the turkey with Dave's mom!), and it continued on Thankgiving-proper in London with Darren and Nicole Ludwig. And since we were "out", we decided to throw a little jaunt to Paris in for good measure! This blog will be mostly all about that trip. Let's discuss, shall we?

We left Wednesday, Nov 21st for London and arrived in London City airport around 8pm. We went straight to Darren and Nicole's, had a few drinks and snacks, and called it a night. To note: Darren and Nicole live in Clapham Common in South London, and their location is prime! They've got just about anything you could want/need right at their finger tips. Hate to say we were jealous, but yeah, we kind of are!

The next morning (Thanksgiving Day), Darren and I went out and grabbed coffees at Starbucks (Ag loves the Gingerbread Lattes!) and then fresh bagels and juice at the nearby grocery store. Then we made a stop at the video store and picked up 3 DVDs (they haven't gotten their cable set up, and we figured we'd want something to watch as we cooked, ate, and then veg'd out. Meanwhile Aggie and Nicole were busy prepping and cooking our big meal. Nicole gets the credit here as she woke up at 6am to put the bird into the oven!

We ate around 1pm or so and all I have to say is this was one of the most "casual" Thanksgiving's ever! Aggie and Nicole kept their sweats on the whole time and now think this should become a new tradition....who needs to dress up and wear nice jeans, slacks, dresses, etc? It's all about being comfortable! Anyway, the dinner was delicious and afterwards we all migrated to the living room area and watched 2 of the 3 DVDs!



After the movies, the girls got ready and the four of us went to a nearby pub to watch American football. Really, Thanksgiving would not have been the same without it! After we watched Green Bay whoop up on whoever it was they played, we called it a night.

Friday we got up, had breakfast and then headed out to explore. We walked around their area a bit and, like I said above, it's super nice! They have some good restaurants around, a huge park, a huge grocery store about a 30 second walk away, etc. Then we went to the Borough Market in downtown London. It was awesome as they had fresh cheese, sandwiches, olives, hummus, bread, nuts...you name it they had it! From there, we walked down to the London Bridge city area, showed Aggie the E&Y office (which is really close to Tower Bridge). We walked accross Tower Bridge, saw the Castle, grabbed lunch, went to Harrod's (a huge department store)....we did it all!

We got back to their place around 6pm and Aggie and I ran to the grocery store to get some "snack foods" to hold us over before we went out. Well, we got back and ate, then popped in our last movie we rented. Around 7:30pm, Ag went to take a shower and I figured I would just lay in bed and take a quick nap, then get ready too. Ag was supposed to wake me up if we did anything, but we didn't! I pulled a "Barcelona" (see our Barcelona blog from June 2006) and slept until 9am the next morning...ha! (It felt incredible!) I was a total party pooper, but the good thing is that I don't think anyone cared.

I will say that on Saturday when I woke up, I was well rested (as I should have been!). We were taking the Eurostar chunnel train to Paris, which I think is one of the coolest things ever.

The chunnel basically takes you from the heart of London to the center of Paris in a matter of 2 hours or so...plus it goes under the English Channel. It's pretty amazing! One funny thing is we didn't even know when we went under the water. There were a few times throughout the trip that you were going through tunnels so you didn't really know if you were going through the main pass or not. Plus, they didn't announce anything. About an hour and fifteen minutes into the trip I saw a highway sign outside my window pointing the way to Brussels, noticed that people were driving on the right side of the road, and knew we were back on the continent!

Anyway, we left Darren and Nicole's around 9:30am for the St. Pancreas station and got through security with no problems. Within 30 minutes of our arrival, we started to board the train. Within 2 hours or so we were in Paris Nord's train station and off exploring Parie!

We got to our hotel and checked in. The location of the place was pretty good and the area seemed great. Well, I must say, the room was quite a different story.

From the reviews we read, this was supposed to be a decent hotel (it was one of the more reasonably priced ones we could find in the city). Plus, we didn't have huge expectations since we have experienced most European hotel rooms - no air conditioning, no towels or wash cloths, some bathrooms have a tub and shower head but no shower doors, the rooms are usually pretty small, no elevators, etc. (Believe me, there are many things we take for granted in the States)

Anyway, we checked in and climbed the three flights of stairs to our room. We opened the door and were greeted by a very small space. We had a double bed pushed up into the corner. There was about a foot and a half of walking space on either side of the bed.

Then, we checked out the bathroom. The whole thing was tiled and about the size of a 3-foot-wide bathtub. There was a mirror, a sink, and a toilet. Um, where was the shower? Was it some communal one in the hallway? Then Aggie looked up and saw a shower head in the ceiling; we were in the shower! Then we realized that the door to the bathroom was actually a shower door. Seriously. We just started laughing and couldn't believe that the bathroom was also the shower...the shower was also the bathroom! My comment to Ag: "Welp, at least I can't get in trouble for peeing in the shower."



We dropped off our things, changed and headed out to explore. Our first goal was to hit this designer tailor made shirt store that we read about in GQ magazine. I was pretty excited to check it out and of course, ended up ordering a shirt! The guy in the shop, while taking my measurements, told me that I had a "model body". I told him to watch where he was putting that measuring tape! Not something you really want to hear from a French guy!

After the shopping, we stopped and grabbed a glass of wine, continuted to walk and grabbed dinner at a really nice resturant we stumbled upon. Then, we met up with our friends from Zurich, Dave and Ali, for a late night drink as they were there that weekend as well.

Sunday we walked around some more and saw some of the great sights again....Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, Arc de Triumphe, Ave des Champs Elysees, and of course my favorite, the Eiffel Tower! (Again, I took tons of pictures of it!) As we were walking, I was talking to big Fred on the phone and took a picture of exactly where I was and the view we had. See below:



We left that evening around 6pm on the high speed train back to Zurich. The trip was about 4 hours and 20 minutes long and we slept and read on the way....an easy and relaxing way to end a great weekend!

This week has been crazy busy with work. Meeting after meeting after meeting. Last night (Saturday night), we went to a great dinner party at our friends' apartment (Helen and John). Back to the work week tomorrow and then we are leaving on Friday for Luxembourg. We are having an "Irish reunion" so it should be a good time. Brenden is coming in from Dublin and Sorcha is coming in from London. (Eoin, Laura and Robbie all live there.) Darren and Nicole are coming in from London too. Fun times!

Horsin' Around

So the last time we wrote, it was all about tennis and togas. This time it's all about wine and horses....interesting combination we know! Other than wine and horses, we have basically been hanging out in Zurich just having fun with friends and each other.

Three Saturdays ago (Nov 3rd-4th) we went to the Zurich Wine Expo down at Lake Zurich harbor with our friends, John and Helen. It was a very cool set up. There were a total of 12 large boats docked, and each boat was connected to the next (which made walking from boat to boat really easy). On each boat they had a number of mini bars/stands for different wine regions of the world. For CHF 20 per person, you could taste all the wine you wanted until the end of the night. We tried many types and ended up buying a few bottles!



After the tasting, we grabbed a late dinner at a Thai restaurant in the old town area of the city. Then we went to a bar nearby (Casa Bar) that was playing live jazz music. The atmosphere was great and we ended up having a few beers there before calling it a night.

Back to the normal work week we went, and then came along the weekend of Nov 10-11. Actually, let me back track...at work that week, one of my co-workers (actually, my "office mate") was talking about how she was going to take care of her horse this weekend. Long story short, she invited us (well, after I asked!) out to the stables to help her and have a look around.

We left early on Saturday morning and drove about 1.5 hrs out to Bern, Switzerland. It was chilly out and actually was snowing. Side note: it's been FREEZING here and has been snowing a few days here and there. No snow is really sticking to the ground in the city area, but the mountains are recording record snow fall. Christmas come early....horray for ski season!!

Any-who, back to the horses....So we drove through Bern and ended up about 10 minutes outside of it in the Bernese countryside. We pulled down a side lane and, voila - we were there! The lane led us to a large home (Hof Äbnet) with several horse stables surrounding the area and the mountains in the background. It was really beautiful!

We helped Anke (my co-worker) move the horses from the stables to the pastures and then we started cleaning the stables...and by cleaning, I mean getting shovels, pitchforks, wheelbarrels, shoveling manuere and laying down fresh hay. We took a break from the cold and Aggie whipped up some omlettes and potatoes. We enjoyed some coffee and tea, bread, etc and then went back to work.



We left around 1 or so and ended up stopping at an electronics store on the way home. Yeah, we bought a new TV! It's a big, flat screen do-hickey with HD and the whole works. We are very excited about it and Aggie is super excited because now when she watches E!News, it seems that Ryan Seacrest is in our apartment. Perfect right?! (Whatever)

This past week has been really brutal with work. I have been clocking in some ridiculous hours but what can you do...Aggie has been busy with the preschool and babysitting. Oh, I forgot to say last blog that I got to meet the family with the 4 girls she sits for. They all were very interested in showing me their toys, rooms, etc. The best part is they always ask Ag about me and give her things to give me. For instance, I got a lovely red pen with a feather on top from Levia (the second oldest - see the pic below) and then a pack of raisins and a picture with hearts and flowers from Thalia (the oldest). Ceela (the second youngest) told me that she loved me. Smart girl!



Yesterday we went to a huge Thanksgiving Day party at our friends' Kevin and Dave's apartment (the Toga party host). It was a great time and we will be sure to blog about it next time along with our London/Paris trip. We leave this Wednesday night to go and visit with Darren and Nicole Ludwig in London (Thursday and Friday) and on the way home we are going to stop in Paris (Saturday and Sunday). Should be fun!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We wish we could be there to run a certain 10k and feast with you.

Toga! Toga! Toga!

First, this is the second of two simultaneously posted blogs, so make sure to go back and read the one before this...things will just make more sense and you'll also get to hear about two things very dear to our hearts: beer and champagne.

So as I mentioned in the last blog, last weekend we went to a toga party to celebrate our four friends' birthdays. All of their birthdays were around the same time, so why not have one party to knock them all out right?! Of course, it couldn't be just any party, it was a toga party! I must admit, I've never been to a toga party (I was in Cumberland for Renners' that one year), so I was a little bit excited!

Any-who, we were not going to be "those" people who were not in the spirit of the event so I gave Ag the task of finding togas for us....when I told her her mission (should she choose to accept it), she looked at me like I was crazy. "You know there is no Hobby Lobby or Michael's here right?" Say what? What-chew talkin' 'bout, Willis?! Obviously, I am not up to scratch on my US craft stores.....

Of course, she took on the mission. First thing was first, we had to read up on the proper ways to make a toga. Contrary to popular opinion, you don't just make a toga with a bedsheet. Basically, to make a proper toga, you need about 3-4 yards of material, some cool accessories, and vines wrapped around your head....then you got the Greek god look down. Well, yeah, you also need stunning good looks and heavenly bodies, too, but we weren't worried about that (ah hem)...

Agnes went to several stores throughout the city looking for materials. Or should I say "textials" as they like to call fabric stores here. She found a few places that had material, but were super expensive and opted to talk to the mom of the family she babysits for clues and ideas. The thought of explaining to Aviva (the mom) that she was looking for cloth for a toga party was kind of funny! Anyway, Aviva had the best spot ever for her to check out and in the end, we had our material!

We wore our "normal" clothes to Dave and Kevin's apartment that Saturday night and when we got there, everyone was in costume. We immediately put on our outfits and were set for the night. The best part about our hosts is that they bought extra material for guests who showed up "togaless" (....if that's a word?!). There was NO excuse for anyone not to get into costume!

The night flew by and we all just hung out, enjoyed each others company, drank and ate. We had a super fun night and can't wait for the next toga party!

On Sunday, we got up and went to the Zurich Open (pro tennis tournament). The women's finals were that day and we were watching Justine Henin and Tatiana Golovin play. It was really fun as we had never been to a professional match before. Some random highlights:

- People were dressed pretty nice, some ladies had dresses on, lots of men with suits on, and people were drinking champagne everywhere; we were the common folks in our jeans and the thought of a drop of alcohol touching our lips made us both shudder.

- The crowd gets COMPLETELY slient at the serve. Obviously we have seen this on TV but didn't realize the intensity of it. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

- They had "cheerleaders" that were awful! The median age for the cheerleaders was probably 12 yrs old. There were 10 girls total and they placed 5 girls in two different areas on the bleacher steps, totally blocking the walk-way. Then, when there was a TV time-out, music would play and these cheerleaders would stand and do different dances. They would move their arms all around, turn and shake it! We were lucky and were sitting above the madness. The best part was watching people try to get through them during a break (e.g., after coming back from going to the bathroom or having a glass of bubbly). They didn't stop their routine for anyone and if you weren't careful, you would be bopped in the head (we actually saw this occur more times than we could count)!

Henin won in 2 sets and afterwards, we just headed home to relax and prepare for the work week. Unfortunately, the weather took a major turn last Sunday too. We had beautiful weather in the 60's and 70's for the longest time and now it's highs in the 40's and lows in the 30's. Due to the extreme turn, we both got pretty bad colds. So, on top of working late and having major partners in from NY to review our work, I have been trying to get over a nasty cold. The good thing about it is that my office mate didn't want to get sick and kicked me out of our office...and into an empty one that I had all to myself! That was pretty nice and I'm not sure I want to go back!

This weekend we are taking it very easy! We are going to dinner tonight in Uetliberg. Basically it's a very small mountain that has a restaurant on top that overlooks Zurich. Then on Sunday, we are going to brunch at one of my co-workers' house in Zug (about 30 minutes southwest of Zurich).

Other fun upcoming events:

-Thanksgiving will be here soon! We are flying to London to visit Darren and Nicole Ludwig, who just moved there on the EY Global Exchange, as well as Matt and Brandi Render. After a couple of days in London, we are jumping on the "chunnel" train to Paris for a couple of days. Our Zurich friends Dave and Ali will be in Paris at the same time so it will be fun to hang out on a little road trip with them. To get home we are taking the TGV (high-speed French train) direct from Paris to Zurich...fun fun!

- In December we are going to Luxembourg and Trier, Germany for the X-Mas markets. We, again, are going to see Darren and Nicole Ludwig (who will be visiting Lux as well), as well as Brendan FitzGerald (flying in from Dublin) and of course Eoin, Sorcha and Robbie and Laura all there. It's going to be a great weekend and a big reunion!

- Also in December we are flying up to Copenhagen, Denmark for a day and from there to Berlin, Germany for a couple more days. Aggie has been busy working on our travel arrangements there. The day after we get back from there, the real fun begins...

- Josh comes on December 25th! We are busy trying to book up some rooms in St. Moritz, Saas Fee and Zermatt for the week he'll be here in Zurich. We are also planning to go to Gruyere for a cheese tour, a chocolate tour, and some cheese fondue. For New Years' we're going to book up a nice restaurant for dinner and all hang out. Should be a great time!

And...I'm spent! That's all we got for now, but we'll see you soon. One last thought that Aggie and I keep kicking around is.....time is FLYING BY! Better make the most of it!

Been a long time....

Hey there folks. Sorry for the long delay since our last post. Last time we wrote, I mentioned we had a few upcoming trips. Well, I went to Oktoberfest with the boyz (that's right, with a 'z') and it was a blast! Plus, Aggie and I visited Reims, France a couple of weekends ago, and we ended up coming homewith 8 bottles of champagne! Then last weekend we attended our first toga party. It was COLD outside, but did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? NO! And neither did Agnes or I.

Our adventures began a few weeks ago when I went to Oktoberfest with 3 guys from work (Oct 5-7). Dave, Kevin, Jeff and I left Zurich on Friday after work and drove up to Munich...about a 4 hour drive. The details of the weekend are basically as follows: drink, eat, drink, drink, eat, drink, etc. We got to our tent on Saturday morning around 11am. The three yay-hoos I was with were in complete lederhosen gear. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get my outfit as we arrived too late on Friday night and all the stores were closed (they bought theirs the weekend before). Don't you worry though, I'll be back next year in full get-up. Anyway, we took our seats at the table and started with a round of steins and basically....we drank several liters of beer, enjoyed the music and the atmosphere, talked to people, ate some delicious pretzels, brats, sauerkraut, drank some more, etc.

The music was very lively and set an awesome mood for the day! About 14 hours later my head hit the pillow back in the hotel room...the time in between somewhat of a blur. Needless to say it was a long drive back on Sunday. The rest of the day I was a waste of space and just hung out on the couch with Ag. Her one question to me was "Did you get a rotisserie style chicken or duck!?" (Please read about our last trip to Oktoberfest in the "Munich....Beer we come" post to understand why she would ask such a thing) To answer her question (and to her disappointment), I did not. Anyways, I worked in Zurich on Monday and turned around and drove up to Luxembourg that night.

I worked in Lux all that next week (Oct 9-12th) on one of my old clients that I never could quite get away from. One night I had a chance to meet up with Laura and Robbie, and then another evening I had dinner with my old "possy": Luc, Robert and Nicolas (see the posting, "Au Revoir, Luxembourg"). After hanging out, I realize that I totally miss working with those guys but I don't miss the struggles and frustrations they are still dealing with in that office.

Anyway, Aggie took the train up to meet me on Friday evening in Lux. We went to Laura and Robbie's for a bit, then we went to Robert and Alexandra's apartment (Robert is part of the old "possy"). Robert and Alexandra actually moved into our old place, so it was kind of a weird/familiar feeling staying with them.

We ordered Chinese from our old place on the corner and I swear the lady recognized my handsome face as soon as we walked in! It was pretty comical...she asked me how come I haven't been there in so long. Ha!

The next morning, Ag and I went for a run in the forest....it was my old, favorite running route. It was beautiful...and I'm not just talking about Aggie here, I'm talking about the forest! We got back, showered up and hit the road. But not before stopping at the grocery store for a beer and a metwurst.

The one thing we loved about going to the grocery store on Saturday mornings in Lux is that they would always be making fresh waffles, grilling brats and mets, selling beer, etc, right at the entrance. It always made going to the grocery store more enjoyable. At least for me anyway! For some reason, Agnes LIKES going to the store even when you can't get beer and mets. Any-who, the food was delicious! So we grabbed lunch and then headed out to Reims. Just in case you don't know, Reims is the capital of the Champagne region of France.

The drive to Reims was very uneventful, but the weather was prefect and it was very pretty. Once we got to the city, we were really lucky to find our hotel right away. It was smack dab in the middle of the pedestrian shopping area and surrounded by bars, restaurants and shops. We checked in right away and began to explore.

We found the tourist office, got a map (it's all about the map!) and went into the Notre Dame Cathedral. Then we continued to explore the city...went to a few champagne shops, bought a few bottles of champagne...stopped to drink some champagne...shopped some more, took a few more pictures, etc. Needless to say, we had a very fun afternoon of sightseeing, drinking and shopping!!

We grabbed an early dinner and then crashed at the hotel for about an hour. Then we rallied and went to find a place to watch the Rugby World Cup. It was the quarter finals and France was playing England, so this was going to be a great game! We found seats at this swank, loungy restaurant just a few doors down from our hotel. (There was an Irish pub right next door where we had dinner but it was way too crowded and and way too smoky for our liking)

It was a really close game till the very end and unfortunately (for our lounge mates) France lost. When we walked out of the restaurant, the pub where we were earlier for dinner had about 100 or 200 people outside, standing in the street watching the pub's tv. Crazy!

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then went to the Pommery Estate for a champagne tour and tasting. It was pretty cool and interesting to learn about how champagne is made. Then we jumped on the road and headed back to Zurich. We loved Reims and are trying to figure out when we can go back again in the future....

So...last weekend, our friends had a huge toga party to celebrate four birthdays. It was interesting!! Sunday, we went to the Zurich Open, the women's pro tennis tournament. Serena and Maria got knocked out early, so we saw Justine Henin (current world #1) vs. Tatiana Golovin (a relatively young newcomer). We've put the pictures up from those two events already, and we'll be writing about them soon (like, this weekend).

In the meantime, take care and we will be in touch soon!

Grindelwald and Alpine Procession

Hi Folks. Today is Sunday, September 30. Can you believe that tomorrow it's going to be October? Crazy. Anyways, here's what's been happening with us lately.

Last weekend we had our friends, Matt and Brandi, in visiting from London. We have been to see them and travel with them, so we knew this was going to be another fun weekend (refer back to the "London Calling", November 2005 and "Czech, please!", June 2006 blogs). They arrived late Friday evening at the Zurich airport and we picked them up and came back to our apartment. We had some wine, beer, snacks, rubbery cheese, etc. (We had a few cheese selections laid out and one cheese tasted like sweaty socks and felt like rubber to me...Ag and Brandi enjoyed it though!)

Saturday morning we got up early and drove to the small ski town about 2 hours away from our apartment, just outside of Interlaken. The town is called Grindelwald, and it was awesome (and not just because it sort of sounds like Lindenwald, either!). It was a really small, quaint mountain town....brown houses with the huge overhanging roofs and flower boxes on the window sills, situated all over the mountains and the landscape. Cows and sheep were grazing here and there...it was beautiful.

We went right to where our tour guide, Ms. Aggie T. Marcum, said we needed to be in order to begin our hike. We took a 6-seater cable car up from Grindelwald to the top of First Mountain (that's actually it's name, not just the order in which we climbed it). From there we took a path that leads between two lakes, then climbs up and across two more mountain peaks.

Matt, the navigator, just got a new GPS running watch that offers you the longitude, latitude, temperature, altitude, etc, of wherever you are on the planet. Well, of course we were informed of our "location" (Longitude N 46 degrees 39.743; Latitude E 008 degrees 03.086, Elevation 7242 ft) at the start of our hike and the distance we had walked from that point (a total of 6.35 miles) at several points throughout the journey!

The views from up above were pretty awesome as we looked down on Grindelwald and across to the glaciers of the Bernese Alps and their 7 peaks, including the Jungfrau. The lakes were beautiful and the cows were in full force just roaming around everywhere. We finally descended and grabbed a beer at a little restaurant near the end of the path. Then we returned to the valley (and the comforts of our hotel) by bus.

We headed back to our car and went to our hotel, checked in, showered and then went out for fondue. It was delicious! Despite the fact that we were as full as could be, we decided that we just couldn't go on without a good night-cap. So, we went to another restaurant for ice cream, apple strudel and coffee with Bailey's.

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and headed back to Zurich. We walked Matt and Brandi around the city, went to Hooters for a late lunch (they were craving wings since you can't really get the "good kind" in London, and I love the Hooters chicken sandwich, so...) and went to an Irish pub to watch soccer and rugby. Our visitors took off around 6:30pm and we headed back to the apartment to get ready for the work week.

Speaking of work, congrats are in order for Aggie!! She just got a job at a kindergarten/pre-school in the city. The teachers speak and teach the lessons in English and German so she is learning German right along with the kids which is really funny (yet really helpful!). It's a part-time job, so she does that a few days a week now and continues to babysit for the family with 4 girls who live down the street. She also babysits me, so her hands are very full!!

And now it's Sunday (as mentioned above), which leads us to the extremely random day we had yesterday. One thing the Swiss do here is "rotate" their cows between the lower plains and the mountains. Basically, when all the snow melts in the late spring/summer, they put the cows up in the mountains to graze on the lush, fresh grass. In the fall, before it really starts to snow again, they bring them down from the mountains to the lower elevations to graze for the winter.

In bringing them down, the Swiss throw parties and ceremonies galore. We have heard about this and found a festival about 45 minutes from here in Weggis (pronounced "Vegas", but that's about all the two cities have in common!). Weggis is a really small village/town on the Lake of Luzern. The town was really nice and the views of the lake and mountains were amazing.

As you will see from the pictures and videos, there were definitely a lot of cows! Basically, each farmer had a group of 8-12 cows "present" in the center. Each farmer would take a turn to put hats, flowers, large bells, flags, etc on their cows (bovine beauty!). Then, the farmer and a few others would put a temporary pen (e.g., a flimsy rope) around the cows and start leading them down the street. They would then walk the cows home to their farm!

Cars were stopped, the cows walked down major roads, crowds cheered, patties were left in a few too many places...at one point, a stray cow ran into the crowd, but was quickly corralled by one of the farmers' helpers. It was interesting to say the least! We stayed for a few "rounds" of the procession and then decided to head to Luzern for dinner.

We had gone to Luzern with big Ferd and Andrea back in September of 2006 and, while there, saw a restaurant we thought would be really cool to go to. Unfortunately, at the time they didn't have any openings (you needed reservations to be seated for dinner and, sadly, we didn't have any). So, Aggie and I thought we would see if we could find that restaurant again and make reservations.

Well, we got to Luzern with no problems, parked and walked around. We walked across the famous covered bridge and at the end was a mini-firemen's convention that was open to the public. They had old and new fire trucks on display, along with other fireman paraphernalia. More importantly, they had beer stands and brats grilling! We walked through that area and then wondered across another bridge and onto the cobblestone pedestrian roads to find a place for dinner.

We ended up finding our restaurant, the Stadtkeller! We went in and they had a few openings...dinner was to start at 7pm and live entertainment at 8pm. Perfect! It was almost 6pm, so we decided to head to a pub for a pint and watch some rugby to pass the time (the rugby World Cup is going on, so we have been keeping up with the tourney). After watching Fiji pull a huge upset on Wales, we headed out for our "real Swiss" dinner.

We were seated at the Statdtkeller with no problems, got our drinks and started eating our fondue, etc. The place started to get really crowded around 7:30pm when basically an entire tour bus full of US retirees exploded into the restaurant! The passengers were, literally, all American travelers aged 60+. We just looked at each other, realizing what we were in for. The rest of the seats around us filled up and everyone was speaking English. It was tourist land! (Not that this is a bad thing, but since we live here, we kind of feel like we should avoid these types of places)

Then, the music and entertainment began. We enjoyed alphorns, yodeling, cowbells, and other folk music. It was interesting and actually it wasn't that bad. It was kind of fun but after one too many yodels, we were ready to go! Oh, and I do have to say the food was delicious!

Now it's the end of the weekend and we are just getting ready for another busy week.

Some things going on:

- I'm heading to Oktoberfest next weekend with a few guys from work. We have reservations for a tent so I'm pretty pumped. All I have to do is go buy some lederhosen and I'll be all set. Aggie opted not to go so that we could have a "boy's weekend". What kind of woman did I marry…opting out of the biggest beer festival in the world?? This situation is currently under review…

- I have to go back to Luxembourg in a week or two for work. The plan is for Ag to meet me there and then we are going to head to Reims (the capital of the champagne region) for a weekend trip.

- Josh is coming to visit for Christmas! He gets in on Christmas morning (what a present!) and leaves on New Year's Day. We are busy bouncing around ideas on where we should go and what we should do.

Went to the chapel....

Our wedding pictures are up! We combined lots of pictures together for your viewing pleasure, and just to warn you, there are many of them. Thanks to everyone for taking pictures for us and who sent us links to pictures as well(see below). One of the CD’s in the professional set was copied incorrectly so a few pictures shown are cut off. We are getting a new CD sent to us to correct the issue. In the meantime, click on "check out our pics" and the links below. Enjoy!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IcN2bVy0cMJ0&emid=sharview&linkid=link5

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZsnLFu3cNWL0Y&emid=sharview&linkid=link5

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=15tyjv3x.byr69sap&Uy=t0vbhk&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1&UV=544621159326_431115195505

We're Married! Let's honeymoon in Detroit!!

So folks, the wedding was a blast. Thanks to everyone who made it into such a wonderful, fun day and night. The day flew by! Actually, the whole time we were home was a whirlwind. Let me begin....

The whole wedding/home trip began August 22nd when Agnes flew home to Cincy to finalize wedding plans and arrangements. She flew right into Cincy which worked out great and she was able to get lots of things done. In the meantime, I was in London for work, finishing up some things.

On Saturday, August 24th, Aggie and I met up in Chicago. I had to work at the E&Y office on Monday and Tuesday, plus our friends from Ireland (Laura and Robbie) who were coming in for the wedding were meeting us there. All worked out really well except for the fact that it took Aggie about 2-3 hours to get to the O'Hare airport that morning to meet me because of all the construction on the "L" that weekend. I ended up waiting for her (instead of the anticipated vice versa)! Once she finally got there, we jumped in a cab and headed to our hotel in Lincoln Park.

We got settledin and I went for a jog along the lake. Aggie went for a long walk with Kelly (one of her old roommates) around the neighborhood. Then that evening, we went to the airport to get Laura and Robbie. It took them 2 hours to get through passport control! Our evening plans changed a bit due to this delay, but we did get to meet up with our good friends Darren and Nicole and Pete and Liz. The other great thing about the delay was that it gave us a reason to rationalize getting late night Pequod's pizza....one of my favorite pizza joints in the city!

On Sunday we and the Irish went to breakfast and walked all around the city. That evening, Aggie went to Nicole's for a "trial" wedding hair practice thing (Nicole was Ag's hairdresser for the wedding). Me and the boys, in the meantime, went to Fogo. For those of you who don't know, Fogo is the all you can eat Brazilian meat house. We filled our bellies and basically ROLLED out of the place. We met up with the girls at a bar later that evening for a quick drink and then to bed we went.

Aggie and the Irish went shopping and hung out most of the day on Monday when I went into work. That evening we went to Emily and Nimesh's for Indian food and a few fun games of Nintendo Wii. Talk about a good time and working up a sweat! Bowling, tennis, golf...you name it, we played it.

Ag and I left Chicago on Tuesday for home. While we were home we just relaxed and did a few more wedding things....Ag had her last wedding dress fitting, we finished some arrangements for the reception, etc.

Friday morning was when all the fun began! We went to Dayton to pick up our good friends Steph and Pete, who flew in from Seattle. The car ride on the way back from the airport was far from quiet as Pete and I sat in front and discussed all of ND's football issues. Ag and Steph kept jabbering about the wedding, friends who were coming, etc, etc. We got back to my house and we boys went to get our tuxes. The girls went on to Ag's house. She was suprised with 2 dozen roses waiting for her there! From me of course!

Later that evening we all met up at the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. My parents did a wonderful job putting things together for the evening. We did a "wine" theme to the whole thing, so the center pieces were empty wine bottles with cork candles on top. There was also fruit around the bases of the bottles. Thanks you's and favors to most of our wedding party were wine pourers, wine bottle openers, bottles of wine from France and Italy, etc. Everything went very smoothly and the there was even a slide show of Aggie and I growing up which was great! (Thanks go out to Mike and Kelli!!)

The wedding day came and went....Ag and her sisters were all getting ready at her house and I headed out there for some pre-wedding photos (yes, we saw each other beforehand). She was waiting for me in her dress and veil outside and she looked amazing. Once I refocused, our photographer started getting to work. (We have actually seen the pictures already and they look awesome! We should have them up for your viewing pleasure soon!)

After our "couple shots", we went to the church and took some of the wedding party shots there before mass. Then we had the mass and Fr. Tim did an excellent job for us! After mass, the wedding party and parents all piled into a limo bus and off we went to get a few more pictures at the Fitton Center in Hamilton. Once those pictures were finalized, we dropped the parents back at their cars at St. Pete's and onward we went to the reception!

We were a bit early to our own reception, so we hung out in the hospitality room, had some appetizers and drinks and watched the horrible ND game....just until halftime. We decided to mingle a bit with our guests and so out of the room we went and into the atrium where the cocktail hour was being held. We tried to speak with everyone, but it was tough to make complete rounds!

Everyone was finally seated and we got announced into the ballroom. We did the cake cutting and first dance and then we sat to eat. The food was gggggooooooodddd.....we were very pleased with the service that that Marriott offered. They did an excellent job.

The toast followed and, maybe I am being biased, but Ann (Agnes' sister), Zach and Josh gave some of the best speeches I have heard at a wedding. Both were very touching and funny. All I have to say, is "It must be love!".

The rest of the night was a blur as we walked around saying hello to people and catching up with friends and family. It was such an amazing thing seeing everyone you love and are close to in one room!

After the ballroom was shut down, we all headed to the hotel bar. There were about 20 of us there just chilling out. Then, the Irish began to sing some songs! All 5 of them starting singing some of the old Irish tunes and for some reason, Ryan Larkin was singing along with them (he knew the words)! It was a great time. Aggie and I retired to the honeymoon suite after we shut the bar down, but the rest of the group headed across the street to Mesh and BW3 for late night treats.

The next morning we held a brunch at the hotel for all the overnight guests. That was a huge success, the amount of food was perfect and the coffee was refreshing (and necessary). That day we just headed back to my parent's house to hang out and chill. Later that evening we all went to Aggie's for a BBQ. We made a big fire in their fire pit and roasted marshmallows and made smores. This was a first for the Irish and they LOVED the smores.

All five of the Irish left on Monday and we all just relaxed. Monday night Aggie and I made arrangements to stay till Friday, the 7th. Both Aggie and I were so tired and just on a high from the wedding that leaving the next morning didn't seem right. We were originally supposed to leave on Tuesday, Sept 4th to head back to Zurich. Long story short, we made some calls, transfered a few thousand miles and completed a few online surveys to get more miles (even after the miles transfer, we needed a few more...), etc to make it happen. Our new arrangements were to leave on Friday, Sept 7th and arrive in Zurich on Saturday, Sept 8th (today).

Not only did we want to stay to chill, go through gifts, have Skyline, etc. but I wanted to be around to support my dad. Unfortunately, my grandpa hadn't been in the best health and he actually passed away on Thursday. I was happy to be there to help and support my family as much as I could.

So, we then left yesterday for our 24 hour quest for Zurich. Because we changed our flights at the last minute, we only had so many flight options for our return back to Europe. We had to fly out of Chicago, there was nothing they could do to switch us to Cincinnati. Fine. Aggie's mom took us to Indy and we flew on a cheap flight from Indy to Chicago on Friday morning at 10:30am. We got in and landed at Midway. Well, we now had to get to O'Hare....which is about 45minutes -1 hour from Midway.

Our remaining flight schedule was as follow:
Chicago to Detroit; leave at 6pm and arrive around 7:30pm
Detroit to Amsterdam; leave at 10pm and arrive at 11am today, Saturday, Aug 8th
Amsterdam to Zurich; arrive in Zurich around 1pm

We landed in Midway with no problems and signed up for a shuttle to O'Hare. Well, it's a miracle we didn't die on the way to O'Hare! It ended up that we were in the jive and gettho van. One of the passagners whips out his rap CD (actually, HIS...he was a "performer") and the driver was all about playing it. Then the driver managed to weave in and out of traffic like it was nothing, leaving us feeling like bobble head dolls just bouncing around in the back seat. We finally got ot O'Hare about an hour later and were so happy to be on solid ground.

We got ourselves and our bags checked through all the way from Chicago to Zurich and we were set to go. We went to the Chili's at the airport and had some food and drinks. Finally, it was getting close to 6pm so we headed to our gate for our flight to Detroit. Of course, we didn't board till 7pm for our flight and then sat on the runway for 20-30 minutes due to bad weather in Detroit. An announcement came on the plane and said that because Detroit was so backed up and delayed, no one should have issues with connecting flights. Everything was behind schedule. Well, long story short, we finally land at 10:10pm and our flight was set to leave at 9:50pm. We literally sprinted to our gate, hoping for the best. When we got there, we see the ticket lady walking away and the plane backing out of the gate. We were crushed! We were so close yet so far away....

Of course, there were about 10 other people on our flight trying to catch that plane too, so why they didn't radio Detroit and ask them to hold the plane is beyond us. Talk about a mess. We went to the customer service area and there were additional 5-6 people trying to rebook flights too. Long story short, we were put up in the Best Western Hotel and given $60 bucks worth of airport/meal voltures that work with many resturants in the area.

We got to the hotel and went to the over priced and limited selection giftshop. We bought underware and deodorant. (The front desk gave us toothbrushes and toothpaste; very generous of them I must say.) We then went to the hotel bar, the Palm's Lounge. Talk about a bad movie! The waitresses were so bad and you could tell they hated their jobs...and each other! The decor was struggling in the place too. The only good thing was we could get a few beers and take them to our rooms. We then ordered some food from a nearby pizza place and chilled for the night. The best part was that as we were laying on the bed, you could see (and hear) the planes coming in for landings. I thought one was going to come through the window! The highway and the view of the large parking lot outside our room made our honeymoon suite top notch!

Today we went down to the contential breakfast and we had our selection of a few pieces of bruised apples and bread. The coffee was average too. The oranges were delicious though! We are now sitting in the Detroit airport once again. We hope to never return here as we feel our time in Detroit is done and done! We leave in a few hours for Zurich and keep your fingers crossed all goes well....

Our trips to the Zoo(s)

Yes. Agnes, Ali (the girlfriend of one of my co-workers and Ag's new best friend) and Sebastian went to what most of us consider a real "zoo". Lions and tigers and bears...oh my! They had a nice time and it was relaxing. The other "zoo" we went to is known in Zurich as Street Parade. It was pretty much an insane, crowded and CRAZY party in the center of Zurich. Taken from the website, myswitzerland.com, here is what the event is all about:

"The Street Parade is one of the biggest and most attractive techno events in the world, and entices hundreds of thousands dance enthusiasts to Zürich every year. Top DJs from all over the world, as well as a kaleidoscopic mixture of party-goers, create an atmosphere of pure joie de vivre.

The Street Parade is a colorful combination of a procession featuring lovemobiles, digital art and live performances, and showcases the latest trends from the world of electronic music. The procession passes from the Utoquai across Bellevue, the Quaibrücke and Bürkliplatz to the harbor in the Enge quarter. After the parade, parties are given in over 100 clubs in Zürich and the greater Zürich area, and party-goers dance into the small hours."

No need to rub your eyes...you are viewing the picture above correctly. That is me with some one's butt cheeks...a picture is worth a thousand words right??

Long story short, we went to witness this nonsense and actually had a great time. Laura Rapin (friend of Aggie's family) came to visit us for part of the weekend. She came in on Friday and left on Saturday for Paris. After we dropped her off at the HauptBahnhof, we meet up with friends and walked around, enjoyed the music and just took in the views of the thongs, tights, mini-skirts, etc (most of which were on men). It was CRAZY! Check out the pictures and enjoy. I also included a link to the official Street Parade website in case my pictures aren't enough (look for the "pictures/videos" link on the left hand side).

Other than that, this past weekend has been relatively quiet. We have lots to get done before heading home for the wedding. We've been looking forward to our wedding so much, and we are just really excited and can't wait to see everyone soon! Ag leaves on Tuesday, then I will follow next Saturday (I have to go to London for work on Weds through Friday).

Bis demnächste!

Gute Nationalfeiertag

Gruezi mittenand! Happy Swiss National Day to all of you not in Switzerland...check out this article about the event and the tradition. Agnes and I are celebrating by sleeping in in the morning, working out in the afternoon, and attending a bbq this evening.

Make sure to read up on our last post. It's a little long but (hopefully) funny and the pictures are somethin else.

Auf Wiedersehen for now...

What Do You Mean, We're Not In Bavaria?!

So last time we wrote (which was about 2+ weeks ago...our sincerest apologies go out to all our dedicated fans and faithful readers out there)....anyway, the last blog was all about our time being home in the States. I also mentioned that we were dog sitting for our friends. Well, we finished up the dog sitting gig last Sunday afternoon. The dogs seemed very confused when we left as we had bags of laundry (towels and sheets), clothing, food, etc. The owners (one of my co-workers from the Zurich office and her husband) said that when they walked into the door of their apartment, the dogs just kind of looked at them with that same confused look. Within a few hours though, they realized that their owners were home after a long vacation and all was back to normal!

While dog sitting, we obviously couldn't travel anywhere. Therefore, we took advantage of the fact that we had to stay in Zurich and explored some restaurants and shops. Our adventures were a success! We discovered a really cool area along the Limmat River (which flows into the Zurichsee - Lake Zurich to the lay person). There are bars and places to "lay out" up and down both sides of the river, diving boards into the water, dj's playing funky music, and sand volleyball courts. The river has a strong flow (think of a massive lazy susan) so that you can just sort of float down. And, the water is deep enough so that people can jump in from the bridge above (about 30 feet above!!).

Also, my birthday was a few weeks ago (I'm finally 25). So not only did I get a few gifts from Ag (who is much older than me), but we went out for dinner and stumbled upon a great Turkish restaurant as well.

Also, we had a "second date" with the couple Agnes met online, Gary and Nicole. (Please see the previous blog "Lugano and other random happenings" to hear how we were "set up" and how the "first date" went!) This couple is from Ann Arbor, MI and will be here for the next 2 years because Gary is in a Chemistry work study at the university in town. Gary's school had a sand volleyball tournament this past Saturday, it consisted of 12 teams of 4 and was in a round robin format. The day started at 11a and went till about 5p. We didn't win the tournament, but we had a great time playing, chatting, having a few beers, etc. The weather was nice and it was a great day!

That evening, our "dates" had a dinner to get to and we had to get back to take care of the dogs. After a rousing walk and a number one and a number two by the pooches, Aggie and I went out for fondue. Then it was back to our busy "weekday" lives of working and babysitting.

This past weekend we went to Interlaken. We had been one time last September with my parents for a day trip when we did the "Beer and Brat Tour of Europe". It was a little different this time around! It was still the same small Swiss town we remembered, but instead of being complete tourists, we did what the Swiss do and went for a 6+ hour hike in the mountains! (Note, the pictures are amazing).

The day started off when we left the Bhanhof Enge train station where we picked up my co-worker, Loren, and his girlfriend Kaeti. We debated on taking the train but since we haven't drove the car for so long, we opted to drive. Our other friends who came were all coming at different times so some took the train to join us for the hike and others just came later for the fun evening out.

We all met in a small town just outside of Interlaken to start the hike. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! The weather was prefect too. The trip was like climbing a stair master slowly for 3 hours straight. I'm not kidding either. My legs are still sore from all the walking! However, we did stop quite a bit to take some awesome pictures. There were quite a few waterfalls and bridges that we had to cross, and parts of the path were through actual cow fields. Needless to say, we were definitely one with nature on this hike.

Once we got to the top of this one main mountain, there was a small lake. It was so crazy to see this body of crystal clear water on top of this mountain surrounded by glaciers and several other mountain peaks. We all relaxed and took a long lunch break at this point.

When it was time to head back, instead of opting to go back the way we came (which was 2hrs and 40 mins) we chose to go back the other way for a change of view (This path was 3hrs and 10 mins long.). Okay, it might be hard to believe, but this way was so much harder! Going down was really rough on this side of the mountain because it was even steeper than the other side. We finally made it down though, carefully....

About 30 minutes left on the hiking path was a small cafe/bar. We all felt we deserved a cold brew and sat down to cheer our success and accomplishment. I asked the waitress if they had any weiss beer (e.g., Erdinger, Paulaner, etc...a kind of Southern German wheat beer). She looked at me with all seriousness and said "We do not have that. You are not in Bavaria you know." I, being Fred Marcum's son, retorted with "We're not?" then looking around to all of my hike mates, continued with "We must have taken a wrong turn on the trail, guys!!"

Well, anyway, the beer went down smooth to say the least. The bar also had milkshakes for 3CHFs. Our buddy Kevin ordered one and of course we all tasted it. It was fresh from the cow that was standing about 20 feet from us! (That is not a joke, either)

We got back to our car and everyone piled in. Off we went to our hostel to shower and get ready for the evening. On the way, we ran into what most would call a traffic jam. However, in Switzerland, you have a "cow jam". I sh*%t you not! There were about 10 cows being herded down the road and we had to wait for about 5 minutes for all of them to pass us before we could get through. NUTS! Unfortunately, all our cameras were in the trunk of the car so no one got any pics. (Sorry, I know you were all wanting to see up close and personal shots of these cows' arses)

We got to the hostel, the Funny Farm, and checked in. Seven people in a room and 2 in a double room. Perfect....and perfect it was! The room was huge, the bathroom was fine, etc. We all showered and got ready to go out and grab dinner. Of course, where did we go? HOOTERS! Apparently, the first Hooters to open in Switzerland was in Interlaken. Armed with that knowledge, how could we resist? So resist we did not...we left no wing unturned. The food was actually really good (unfortunately the talent was not), and the beer, as always, went down like water.

After dinner we went to a bar called Balmers and it was a flop! (Just check out the last picture from the Stecheberg Hike "roll") Some of the guys had been there before and said it was great. Well, that night was awful and needless to say, we stayed for a drink or two and then hit it. The only thing that Ag and I could compare it to was the Backer in South Bend, IN. One of the worst, crowded, sweaty bars I have ever been in. You walk in and just feel the body heat coming out of the place. Sort of fun in college....sort of not in your late 20's.

Sunday we drove back and Aggie babysat and I got caught up on some "life" things. Wednesday is a holiday here so we are going to Kaeti's apartment for a BBQ. Should be a good group and a really fun time. Other than that, who knows what next weekend will hold....

Ag's Return to Zurich and Other Random Happenings

Wedding cake: The only food proven to decrease a man's libido!

Grüetzi! We hope everyone had a very enjoyable 4th of July. Things here are great...now that Agnes is back! Funny how the world just seems to be a bit brighter for me when she is here (Agnes wrote that)....

If you remember from the last blog, Aggie and I went home together June 8-17th. We had lots of wedding things to do together, a few wedding showers to attend, my bachelor party, Brent's wedding, etc. Things were crazy but fun!! I ended up leaving to come back to Zurich from DC (where Brent's wedding was) since I had that "work thing" to get back to. Aggie on the other hand had to finish up wedding things. Plus, she wanted to take the chance to visit and see more of her friends and family. From what it sounds like, the rest of her time home was a helluva lot of fun! Check out the pictures...I'll just warn you there are tons.

One weekend, she went to Chicago to visit some friends (Note: I stayed in and cried because I missed her so much). In Chicago, Aggie went out to a few of our favorite bars and restaurants (without me, hence the crying). Plus, she did a little shopping in some trendy boutiques. On Saturday night, a big group of girls got together for a small party at her good friend, Stephanie Krebs', condo. They then went out to a new bar in the Lakeview area where boyfriends, husbands and lovers met them (except for me...unless Ag has a lover in Chicago I'm not aware of). On Sunday, Ag's cousin Kristin threw her a Mexican themed shower with Margaritas, fajitas, etc, etc (maybe Ag's lover is Hispanic?). Ag said she was very full of yummy food and loved the great gifts!

Then over the next weekend, Ag went to Steamboat, CO. In Steamboat she had a very relaxing girls weekend. Her girlfriend, Patti, organized the whole thing and did an excellent job. They shopped, rented a pontoon boat, had a fun little "girl's" party, went out to dinner, had a few drinks, etc. Again, she was so happy and excited when I talked to her later that weekend after the trip. She seemed to have loved every minute of her time there (without me).

While Aggie was visiting people and organizing things for the wedding back at home, I was doing my thing in Zurich. I have been working a lot (in between all of the crying) which kind of stinks, but I have also been hanging out a bit with a few of my co-workers. The people that I work with all seem very nice and decently cool, which is great. Plus, they know some really good restaurants and clubs to go to in Zurich which is a definite perk!

Ag got back last Tuesday and there were some slight adventures involved (e.g., a lost (but later found) suitcase, etc). But all in all her flights back here were fine. This past weekend we went to "Zuri Fascht", a city festival that takes place once every three years. There were food and drink booths set up down both sides of the lake, carnival rides all over, and fireworks over the lake at night. On Friday we were sitting in a restaurant with a great view of them...it was impressive!

Other goings-on: We are dog-sitting for one of my co-workers. Two Westies. Again, a couple of slight adventures (e.g., eating grass and then puking, sleeping in bed with us, etc), but all in all that's going okay too.

So, that is all for now. We are in the process of planning out a couple more vacation weekends, so rest assured that we will be back soon to write more about more European adventures!

Geneva, Switzerland

Hi everybody...

Saw most of you this past weekend in either Hamilton or DC or both. It was great to hang out with everyone! This blog will be about the weekend before we came home, and then once Agnes gets back here to Zurich, we'll blog on our week home and post those pictures (technical difficulties in getting them up on the website without Ag's computer here).

So, anyways, the weekend before last, we were planning to go to Kandersteg, Switzerland. It's a very small town that is close to one of our favorite places, Interlaken. Unfortunately it was supposed to rain in the mountains on Saturday, and the whole reason we were going was to hike (only a 3 hour hike this time...not like the last one). So, instead of getting muddy and wet, we opted to head to Geneva, Switzerland and check out that city for the day.

We got on the train around 8:45am on Saturday morning and were in Geneva by 11am or so. As always, the train ride offered beautiful scenery through the mountains and passing by lakes. When we got there we just shopped, ate, walked around, etc. To our disappointment, Geneva did not knock our socks off...it was just average for our standards and we were not "wowed" by anything. We did have a good time though and definitely enjoyed each other's company. Plus, I got to use my French again! I will say, I was really excited to speak it and know what was going on around me. I might even venture to say I am French savvy (but that would be giving myself too much credit, I think).

Anyway, one of the main attractions to the city is the Jet d'Eau which is located in Lake Geneva. The fountain shoots up 140 meters (about 420 feet) high! For some odd reason though, it wasn't "shooting" when we were there and we have yet to figure out why....the paperwork on the city said it operates 10am-10:30pm on Saturdays. Who knows...maybe it needed some Viagra or something. Either way, that was a disappointment. But, we did see the Reformation Wall, the Saint-Pierre Cathedral, Old Town and the Flower Clock.

Old Town was really (Agnes comment) quaint and lovely. The streets were all cobble stoned and lots of cafes were open and in full swing. The restaurants in this area looked really tasty too. The Flower Clock was impressive with all the different flowers used to create the numbers, the face, etc.

We left around 5pm and then, once back in Z-town, went to dinner with our good friend Jake Carter. Long story short, the family that Aggie babysat for in Lux is, ironically, moving to Zurich too! Jake got an outstanding job offer so Sally, Seb and crew will be here in just a few short weeks. (Jake is here now, and Sally and Seb are still up there in Lux finishing out Seb's school year.) We really enjoyed hanging out with them in Lux so we are pumped they are coming here too!

The rest of the weekend I had to get some work done for the Luxembourg office....yes, I am still "connected" to them and doing a few things which has been kind of tricky and if anything time consuming. Things will start to taper off here soon and I couldn't be happier about that.

Last Friday morning, bright and early, we left for the States and as most of you know, we made it safely and rocked out the rest of the week. The bachelor party that my brothers and dad set up went off without a hitch. I got a very similar report on the wedding shower for Agnes (set up by Kelli and my mom, along with various other family members and friends). Brent's wedding in DC was a blast as well (until the bottles of liquor started pouring themselves down certain family members' thoats!). I've got a ton of good pics from that and can't wait to post them up.

As for right now, I just got back home (with orders to finish this blog) and will just be working for the next couple of weeks. Agnes stayed back in the States and will return to Zurich in two weeks. Until then, she'll be the guest of honor at a few more wedding showers (in Chicago, Colorado, etc) and will be finalizing some things with our other wedding-related activities. I've been home about 5 hours now and can tell you I miss her already. The dishes have mysteriously piled up and for some reason there's no dinner made. What is going on here?!? ;-)

Lugano and other random happenings

Hallo! (As they say in German...) Grützi! (As they say in Swiss-German...)

This past week has been a relatively uneventful one, other than going out to a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner with my leading lady Wednesday night after work. We did have an exciting trip last weekend, though. We went to Lugano, Switzerland...a small city about 3 hours (by train) southeast of Zurich. The city is in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy (as a side note, a canton in Switzerland is what we would consider a state in the US). Lugano is actually not even 30 minutes from Lake Como which is another well known Italian destination (think George Clooney, Ocean's 12, etc). So here's the low down on Lugano...let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Friday morning was actually an early one for us because our couch was (finally) being delivered. We got a call at 6:50am from the delivery crew that they would be there in 10 minutes. Two minutes later our doorbell rang! In comes the couch, Aggie and I do a little "construction" and voila! We had our couch and promptly retired the camping chairs.

We didn't have much time to sit around and test the couch out, though, because we left on the 2pm train from Zurich to Lugano. We got into Lugano around 5pm. It was a super easy train ride through the mountains, which were amazing and gorgeous. Everytime I ride the trains here in Europe, it just amazes me that something like this can't be implemented in the States. The thought of how much energy, gas, pollution, etc that we could save is ridiculous. Also, it's just so easy to take the trains. You can read, listen to music, you can show up two minutes before the train leaves...it's such a great way to travel. Anyway, off my soap box and back to our trip!

We walked out of the train station, hopped on a bus, and in about 5 stops we were at our hotel. We checked in, dropped our things off and headed down to the lake.

The walk to the lake (Lago Lugano) was not even 5 minutes from our hotel. Once we got to the lake, we had the option of taking a water boat/taxi, taking a bus or walking for 15 minutes to get to the main center. We opted to walk along the boardwalk and just take in the view. The area was just like a picture book. The path along the lake was shaded with trees and benches were lined along the entire path. The hills and mountains really just seemed to just "hug" the lake. The lake water was crystal clear. The sun was setting. People were out strolling around, eating gellato, etc. It was just really nice.

We were pretty hungry and decided to stop to eat. You'd think we would have opted for an Italian restaurant but no, we went for Chinese! Whatever, it was good! After that we stumbled upon this courtyard of outdoor bars/clubs and decided to sit and have a few cold ones. It was excellent, excellent people watching. Saw more dudes sending out the vibe and getting shot down than we have seen in a long time. Very entertaining!

So the rest of the night we just walked around town and got a feel for the place. Then the next morning we got up relatively early and headed back out to explore, do some shopping, etc. In true Swiss style, everything was crazy expensive and so we didn't buy too much. But oh well, it was just nice to walk around and the weather was amazing. We spent the day exploring stores, an old church, parks around the lake and gelatto stands. There were so many people out and it was a great atmosphere. One thing that was cool: you can rent a paddleboat, paddle out to the middle of the lake and then jump out and go swimming. So many people were doing this and it looked like a blast. We promised that next time we came we'd make it a point to do that.

About 2pm we went out for a boat tour on the lake. It was really nice and we got to see a lot of Swiss and Italian lakeside villages. The two things I couldn't get over was 1. how secluded the place seemed, tucked away in the middle of all of these mountains, and also 2. how clean the water seemed. You could literally see to the bottom in certain places.

When we got back from the boat tour, we went back to the hotel, got fancied up and then headed out for some dinner. We ate in the center of the town and it was a decent meal. Again, good people watching. After dinner we went to the Lugano Casino.

The Casino was right on the lakeside and looked incredible from the outside. I was expecting this to be like a "Casino Royale" or "Monte Carlo" type of place...high rollers in suits, models walking around with martinis, $1,000 chips being strewn around the craps table, etc. This image was further bolstered by the Ferraris, Bentleys, Mercedes, Mazeratis, etc sitting out front of the place in valet spots. We walked in and were greeted by pretty Italian burds and huge bodyguard looking guys checking passports, etc, further living up to my expectations.

When we walked into the actual casino, my balloon quickly deflated. You couldn't get chips at the table...you had to go to the cages and change your money there, and the line to do so was enormous. It didn't matter anyway b/c the place only had a handful of tables and they were jam packed. There were no craps tables, no martinis, and no models. Just a bunch of depressed lookin dudes chain smoking and playing with $5 chips. We gave the place a cursory tour and then bolted back out into the warm evening. So long, suckers! We grabbed some gellato and strolled around a little more before heading home.

Sunday morning we kind of slept in and then took a cog train up to the top of San Salvatore mountain. At the top we walked around and took in the view. Again, the weather was great and the views were amazing. We tooled around a little while and then headed down to the hotel pool to catch some rays before hopping the train back to Zurich.

The train ride home was uneventful. Again the mountains, waterfalls, rolling green hills and bell cows were out in full effect. Unbelievably pretty.

This weekend has been good so far. Yesterday we took a train to Sihlbrugg and hiked back. It was such a nice, although long, hike. A good mixture of woods, mountains, hills and beautiful views. It took us about 5.5 hours to get to the end of the trail, which was in Uetiliburg. Once there, we jumped a tram back into the city and headed to an Irish pub to watch some rugby and soccer and have a couple frosty brewdogs.

Last night we met a couple (Nicole and Gary) for drinks. Long story short, before we left Luxembourg, Agnes looked on this website for American expats in Zurich just to see if there were jobs, etc, posted on there. Well, this site was actually more like a social networking site, and this couple had posted a profile of themselves that we thought pretty much sounded like us. We had arranged to meet up with them last night and it went well. They seem really nice and normal and fun, so hopefully it will work out. I was teasing Agnes, calling it our blind date and wondering on our way home if she thought they might call us back! :-)

Today we are grilling out with my co-worker, Jen, and her husband Bryan. Jen is the girl who semi-recruited me to come to Zurich after Luxembourg. Well, she just found out that she made partner in our firm (the highest level you could make). So, basically, she is going to be loaded now and we're throwing her a celebration bbq.

Next weekend we are going to take a day trip to a yet to be determined location. Basically, Jen gave me a "Tageskarte" for the Swiss trains which she kind of had lying around and didn't think she'd be able to use before it expires. A tageskarte is like a day pass where you can travel first class to and from anywhere in Switzerland for free for one day. The one Jen gave me expires on June 6, so we are going to try to go somewhere within 1.5 hours next weekend (we'll go early in the morning and then come home in the evening). Interlaken and Luzern are the top contenders at the moment, but we'll see. Agnes the travel agent is going to be hot on the case this week and we'll figure out where we want to go and what we want to see.

The weekend after next, we'll be heading home (Hamilton) for a week to do some wedding stuff and attend Brent and Erika's wedding in DC. We are really looking forward to that!

Anyways, ciao for now and make sure to check out the pictures via the link above...they are some good ones!