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!