The Helmers' take on Europe, Part 1

Well, we hope everyone has had fantastic holidays! I know we have....lots has been going on...Christmas, New Years, Aggie's birthday....oh, and yes the Helmers came to visit!!

As I mentioned in our previous blog, we had Aggie's sister, Ann, and her husband, Kurt, here for a visit. We went to Munich, Germany (they flew into Munich from Cincy); Salzburg, Austria; St. Anton, Austria and finally Zurich. Then, Ann and Kurt went on to Rome by themselves.

So, Saturday morning finally arrived (the 20th of Dec) and Aggie and I headed up to Munich. The directions said that it would only take 3.5 hours to get to the airport, but I had driven to Munich a few times before and managed to turn the trip into a 5 hour ordeal. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous about getting there on time!

Well, we ended up getting stuck in some traffic for about an hour which delayed us greatly and put us at the Munich Airport right around 3pm. (Their flight landed at 2:25pm.) To our surprise (and relief) we found parking very easily and ran up to the gate. They had literally just walked out of the security check area and were just starting to look for us....the timing was perfect!

We got to the car and the first challenge was to figure out how we were going to fit everything into the trunk. I was nervous, but we eventually got most things to fit. Unfortunately, Ann and Aggie had a few bags in between them in the back seat. Needless to say, we were all quite snug.

Since Ag retired to the back seat, Kurt was my navigator. He gave perfect directions from the airport to the hotel. For someone who had never been to Europe and who had never been faced with trying to pronounce German words correctly, this was a very impressive feat!

The hotel was in a great location as it was just outside the ritzy area of town and a close walk to the city center. After we checked in, we went right for the Hofbrauhaus, ordered a few beers, then cheered to the Hamiltonians' successful arrival in Europe! Then we went and walked around at the Christmas markets. Afterwards we went to another beer hall where we grabbed a very traditional German meal and headed back to the hotel.

We said good night to our weary travelers, and Ag gave her cell to her sister, just in case they would get up earlier than us, go for a walk, etc. Well, around 3am my phone starts ringing and it says that "Agnes is calling" on the front screen. Of course, I was half awake and roll over, asking Agnes "Why are you calling me?"  She sat right up and grabbed the phone from me, knowing something was up with her sister.

Well, long story short, Ann left her purse at the last beer hall we were in...she had only a few things in the purse, but a few very important items: a credit card, a new (expensive) camera and more importantly, their passports. We immediately called the credit card company and no purchases had been placed on the card, which was a great sign! Then, we called the US Embassy in Munich to see what we would have to do about a lost passport. (Kurt had copies of their original passports which was so smart...). The man on the phone said that due to the time (3:30am), I would have to call back in the morning.  That sounded reasonable.

So we all tried to go back to bed and sleep for a few more hours.  We knew the beer hall opened at 8am so we had planned to wake up and walk there straight away...which we did. When we arrived, we ask the servers if anyone had turned in a black purse from last night. The lady said that the managers were not in yet, and that we would have to come back at 9am to look into the safe. As we turned to walk out the door, very disappointed we would have to wait longer to see if our belongings were there, a lady in the back yelled at us to wait. Out she whipped the purse!! It had everything in it too! What a relief....there are still good, honest people in this world that is all I got to say! Ann was quite relieved as well.....



Excited we didn't have to contact the US Embassy again, we all went back to the hotel and went to bed for a few hours. We finally got up around 10:30am, checked out and headed back to the markets for lunch. There we grabbed a few brats and mets and Kurt's favorite, a soft pretzel.

After lunch we headed out and our next stop was Dachau. Dachau was a Nazi German concentration camp and was the first concentration camp that opened in Germany (in 1933). There was a museum set up in the main kitchen hall that you could walk though. Then, you could go into one of the few remaining bunkers where medical experiments were preformed on prisoners. Of course, this was a very moving and depressing place to see. (This was a view to the outside from the kitchen hall.)



After the tour of the concentration camp, we headed on to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is about 1.5 hours away from Munich, and the drive was easy enough. Once we arrived in Salzburg, we found our hotel pretty easily (we got lost for 5 minutes, but only because one of the roads was closed).  Again, the hotel was in an awesome location, right in the city center area.

After we checked in, we walked around the city and grabbed dinner. Aggie and I had been to Salzburg for a quick day trip with my parents a few summers ago. We were excited to see the city again, especially in the winter time as they had many Christmas shops! It's such a beautiful city and here's a little trivia for you: It's the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for parts of the movie, "The Sound of Music".

Anyway, after dinner, we went to the Christmas markets. While we were at the markets some carolers started singing Christmas songs. The group was awesome! Ironically enough, it was a group of singers from Seattle, Washington who were preforming in a show later that week.

We headed back toward our hotel and found a warm, cozy looking bar. Of course, we decided to go in and ended up having a fantastic time just talking and enjoying each others' company. Finally, we went to bed, tired and happy.

The next day we had a huge buffet breakfast. Then we walked around the town a bit more before finally heading out for St. Anton, a well-known ski town in Austria.  We stayed there for a couple of days to ski and have some fun, then came back to Zurich.  We celebrated Christmas here, and then they left to conquer Rome on their own. 

In part II of "The Helmer's take on Europe", we will be writing about our adventures in St. Anton and here in Zurich.  Stay tuned!!

Oh, and one other exciting thing to announce, for those of you who do not know, Aggie and I are an Aunt and Uncle! Ag's oldest sis, Angela, had a baby just a few weeks ago. They had a boy, Grant William. Here is a cute picture of him! Also, we included a picture of Ann and Kurt's dog, Dixie, just for fun.

 Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Nut cracker anyone??

Today is a very exciting day for us, especially Aggie.  Her sister, Ann, and her brother-in-law, Kurt, arrive this afternoon!  Our plans with them consist of the following: 

• We will be meeting them in Munich, Germany (they flew into Munich from Cincy), eating good German food, drinking good German beer, and soaking in the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) scene.  Then we are heading to Salzburg, Austria.  
• We will be in Salzburg for a day/night to check out the scene there, and then we are going to St. Anton, Austria.  
• St. Anton is a ski resort town, famous for the skiing and partying.  We have lots of fun outdoor activities planned....skiing, sledding, drinking, dancing, etc.  
• After a couple days in St. Anton, we come back to Zurich for a few days and then they head off to conquer Rome.  

We will be sure to report back and take lots of pictures as to how this roadtrip goes!

In the meantime, let me fill you in with what's been going on around here.  So, we have some great advertisments that have been up recently throughout the city.  Only in Europe right?  This one in particular has been causing some traffic jams.

And we went to Luxembourg a few weekends ago (Dec 6th weekend).  Luxembourg was a ton of fun.  We left on Friday morning and arrived in the late afternoon.  First things first, we went to the grocery store and I restocked my crates with tasty Belgium and German beers.  (It's hard to find really good refreshing brews in the grocery stores here...at least for a reasonable price!)  Once that was taken care of, we headed to our friends' apartment (Laura and Robbie), where we were staying.

The four of us went on into town where the Christmas market was in full swing.  There were tons of vendors and food stands and a group of carolers singing Chrismas tunes.  We meet up with some of our other friends, Brendan, Eoin, Sorcha,  etc, etc.   After the market we headed to a bar and hung out there the rest of the evening.  It was tons of fun and a great night for all!

Saturday, we all shook the cobwebs out of our heads and caught the train (45 min ride) to Trier, Germany for their Christmas markets.  We love going to Trier because it has that "college town" sort of feel to it, the bars and restaurants are really cool and the prices are cheaper in Germany than in Luxembourg!  

We walked the town and checked out the market, met up with some friends at a bar and then headed back to Luxembourg around 8pm.  Later that evening, we rallied for an hour or two and met up with everyone again at a local pub - Scott's - in the grund.  (The grund is the enormous valley that runs through the middle of Luxembourg, despite what Josh might think.)

Sunday we headed back to Zurich and on the way stopped in Colmar, France.  (Colmar is one of the towns in the Alsace region of France where many of the world's best white wines come from.)  Anyway, Colmar's old-town area is awesome.  Imagine a ginger bread house, now make 300 of them, build a little town and that's what Colmar is!  The whole setting was really quaint and (I hate to say it...) cute.

We got home that evening around 6pm and then prepared for the work week.  

Otherwise, what else has been going on...

The Zurich Christmas markets are in effect. They put up a gigantic tree in the middle of the Hauptbahnhof and cover it in Swarovski crystal - and no one touches / bothers / tries to steal  it...only in Switzerland.

And I have gone skiing a few times with my buddies and ran another race.  

The weather here has been crazy!  It just keeps snowing, and snowing, and snowing.  

So, that's all for now.  We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

November in a Nutshell

So, if you are a dedicated reader, you know that we are quite behind on our blogs. Have no fear! Now that we have our blogs of our trip back to the States done and done, we will basically sum all of November up into one blog. We will then be right where we should be with our post...

November was actually quite a busy month for us. We had plans almost every weekend, which was fantastic! The first weekend (Nov 1st) we went to the Zurich wine boats. We attended this event last year and had a great time.  This year's event was just as fun, if not better. Basically, at the lake front they have about 7 or 8 large boats docked.  Inside the boats are stands with wine vendors from all around the world. There are planks for you to walk across from one boat to the next. It's a pretty cool set up!


There was a large group of us that met up and went, and we did our fair share of tasting delicious wines. Afterwards, we headed to Bellevue (one of the main center areas of town) and grabbed some yummy pizza. Then we headed to a bar where there was live entertainment. It was a great night and of course, we ordered some wine from the boats! Oh, and one of the crazy things about this thing with ordering the wine: you pick what you want that evening by filling out a form at the vendor stand. The vendor then delivers the wine to your doorstep. About a week or so later, THEN you actually pay for the wine. Everyone is just so trustworthy...it's refreshing!

The work week came, and later that week Aggie and and our buddy, John, met myself and our other good friend, Danielle, for drinks at a cool Aussie bar. They have some of the best fries in town and Ag and Danielle were lovin' them!

That weekend (the 8th) we went on a weekend trip away to Lugano, Switzerland....also known as "Clean Italy". Lugano is the largest city in Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. It is also very close to Lake Como. This was our second time there - we went to Lugano one of the first weekends we had moved to Switzerland over a year and a 1/2 ago.

This trip was 110% fun and crazy! We went with two other couples, Dave and Ali and Carole and Kevin. Carole is Swiss and her family has an apartment in the city of Lugano, so accomodation was free. It was a great set up!

We left Friday after work and we all upgraded our train tickets to 1st class. Carole had packed wine, beer and snacks for all of us to enjoy on the way down (about 3.5 hours)!  We played cards and just chilled and enjoyed the company the whole way there.  Once we arrived, we jumped in a cab to her place, got settled in and started playing more card games. It was fun evening of eating, drinking and chillin' which is exactly what we all needed after a long work week.



On Saturday morning we headed to the grocery store and got some goods for the next few days. Dave whipped up some tasty omlettes and we all ate out on the patio that overlooked the city and the lake. Even though it was mid-November, the sun was shining and it was pleasently warm outside.

We then headed into town and took a nice hike through the woods to a church that overlooked the lake. The hike was a bit challenging and it was great to be out in the nice sunny weather. Oh, I must note, so Aggie must have dried my hiking pants in the dryer by accident...long story short, they were a bit tight on me. I decided to still wear them though as I became the "butt" of many jokes!!  It was too funny, and I had to keep them on....


Afterwards we walked around in town and grabbed some coffees and drinks at a cafe. Then, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. Carole took us to an awesome pizza place that the locals go to. It was delicious and we all left very full and happy! That evening we went back to the apartment and played some more cards (we couldn't get enough!). It was a great ending to a wonderful day.


On Sunday we all ate an amazing breakfast again and then cleaned the apartment. We headed to the train station and got back to Zurich later that evening. It was a great weekend!

The work week came and went....

Then, the weekend of the 22nd we had our good friend, Sarah, came into town. Sarah used to live here and Aggie became good friends with her. She moved back to the States this past February and I know Ag misses having her around...so, needless to say, she was excited Sarah was coming for a long weekend visit!

Ag met Sarah at the airport and helped her get things settled at her friend's place where she was staying.  Later that Thursday evening, Ag, Carole and Sarah were out catching up at a local watering hole.  Kevin, Danielle and myself met them a bit later after work.  It was a nice night out.

Friday Aggie went out for pizza with everyone (I got caught up at work...blah!).  Saturday, I "tried" to go skiing with John. It was going to be our first run of the year and we were really looking forward to it.  Unfortunately, we took the train out (2 hrs into the mountains) and the lifts were closed!  John had called earlier that week and they were supposed to be open. However, a snow storm had blown in and they weren't opening...So, we trekked back to Zurich all sad.

Saturday evening we had a party at our place to kick off the holiday season and the fact that Sarah was in town.  We had a great time and really enjoyed the night.  Aggie went over and beyond again with the food and such, which was great and obviously much appreciated!

Sunday was pretty chill and we said "Auf Wiedersehen" (aka, goodbye!) to Sarah.

The week of Thanksgiving came and we had plans the upcoming weekend (the 29th) to go to Dave and Ali's for a full-fledged ex-pat Thanksgiving day party.  On Wednesday night Aggie had made a pumpkin pie for us to have as dessert on Thursday evening.  (Even though we were going to be working on Thursday and not really celebrating our holiday, we thought we should do something traditional...and eating pumpkin pie seemed to be the ticket!)  Well, that pie didn't even have a chance...we sat and ate it for dinner on Wednesday evening!

On Friday, November 28th I went to the whiskey boats with John and our other Russian friend, Vlad.  It was a similar set up to how the wine boats were.  The only exception is you paid for your liquor on the spot.  There were bottles of whiskey over 1,000 dollars, so that seemed more appropriate.  It was crazy...there were definitely some high rollers present, and if you were a single lady in the city, this was the place to be to meet a dude!

Saturday we went to Dave and Ali's for the Thanksgiving Day feast. It was a great time and the food was awesome! Everyone brought a few dishes or drinks to share and no one left hungry.

The next day, John and I attempted another ski day. This time we succeeded!   It was a great day as the sun was shining, and we had a blast.  The plan is to go skiing again this weekend so we will see...

Last weekend (Dec 6th) we went to our old stomping grounds, Luxembourg. We also stopped in Trier, Germany and Colmar, France. We got to see lots of friends, and check out all the Christmas markets which definitely gets you in the holiday spirit!  The trip was awesome and we will blog about that next....Ciao for now!!

Back in the States, Part 3

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We obviously have so many things to be grateful for...we are so happy Aggie is in good health, and that our families and friends are doing well. Looks like W up there is pretty happy too...

So this is our last entry about our trip home in October (umm, and yes it's the end of November...can anyone say "slacker"?). As you have read from previous blogs, we got home at the beginning of October, went to a wedding, had a baby shower and family party, then headed out to DC. We had a blast in DC, and then we arrived back in Hamilton in the morning on Wednesday, Oct 8th. That evening we crashed at the Marriott in West Chester which was so awesome! For our one year anniversary, our contract with the Marriott (where we had our wedding reception) gave us a free night stay with dinner and drinks. The food was excellent and the champagne didn't stop flowing (because it was free...holla)! We definitely enjoyed ourselves and our stay....

Thursday we met up with the Renners family, Jenn, Stacey and my cousin, Kris. It was a nice evening and wonderful to see everyone. Also, Katie made an awesome cheese/chicken dip, and I'm excited to say Aggie got the recipe from her!

Friday we had a rehearsal dinner for Aggie's cousin, Teresa, who was getting married on Saturday. The dinner was at Montgomery Inn which, as all you from Cincy can attest, was an awesome venue to have the event as it's a one of kind, fantastic restaurant! The dinner was delicious, and we all left very happy and full.

The next day was Teresa's wedding and Aggie and her sister, Ann, were up early because they were both in the wedding. The weather was beautiful and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Plus, the bride looked gorgeous and the groom was looking sharp...and of course the bridesmaids (aka Aggie) were beautiful. Given the kind of day it was, Ann's husband Kurt wasn't looking too shabby either. The wedding ceremony was really nice and the reception didn't disappoint. The reception was at Paul Brown Stadium (where the Cincinnati Bengals' play), and it was a good set up. Me and Kurt even got to kick some field goals down on the field.




There were tours of the stadium going on, the dinner and music was great, and the Skyline Chili bar at 11pm was awesome! (Similar to Montgomery Inn, Skyline Chili is a traditional chili only found in Cincinnati/tri-state area.)

Sunday morning we woke up and headed up to Columbus to see some of my college buddies. It was a fun day of grilling, drinking and watching football. Honestly, what more could I want at this point!?



Monday, Aggie had family plans and on Tuesday night, we went to dinner with our good friend, Maggie, and her boyfriend, Mark. She took us downtown to a funky Mexican joint that was very tasty! I have to say - downtown Cincy has been revamped a bit and I was quite impressed. Wednesday we went to dinner with Ferd and Andrea then Thursday we hung out with Aggie's family. Friday we flew back to Zurich and arrived here on Saturday afternoon. WOW! That's everything about our whirlwind trip home....Now you know why we felt like this when we got back??

Back in the States, Part 2

The past few weekends have been a ton of fun. I ran a 1/2 marathon in Luzern, we went to the annual wine boat festival here in Zurich, and we went to Lugano (southern Switzerland, aka "clean Italy") with a group of friends. We have also had some pretty intense, yet positive and exciting discussions about whether we want to stay in Zurich for another year or move back to the States come May 09. We finally decided about a week ago...(drum roll please)...the States it is! We've LOVED our time living here, but moving home is the right move for us now. There were some talks of us moving to Boston, Cincy, Seattle, etc, but Chicago won out (at least for now!).

Speaking of the US, let me circle back to our time home in October. If we pick up where we left off, we basically need to write about our trip to DC and Aggie's cousin's wedding and then what happened in between.

We (Josh, Lauren, Ag and myself) drove the family minivan up to Dayton's Airport the evening of Zach's bbq and caught our flight with no problems or issues. Once we were in DC, Josh dropped us off at our hotel (we were crashing at a hotel for one night then staying with Steph and Pete the rest of the time). We dropped our bags in the room, then meet up with Steph and Pete for a few drinks. It was so great to see them!


On Monday, we all met in Dupont Circle for brunch. Josh actually took the day off and was our tour guide, which obviously worked out perfect for us! We grabbed a hardy breakfast then headed out to see all the sights. We hit up Arlington National Cemetery, then the National Mall and finally the White House. We gave a shout-out/send-off to GW and then headed out. We grabbed some wings and beers at a pub that had a happy hour goin' on, then made our way back to Steph and Pete's apartment. (Pete was doing a 6-week resident study in DC and his wife, Stephanie, came out from Seattle to meet him the same week we came to visit.)

That evening, we went to dinner in Chinatown to a pretty cool pizza resturant. At the restaurant we met up with our good friends, Jacob and Annette...who, you may remember, lived in Amsterdam when we lived in Luxembourg! Dinner was great and afterwards, the four of us (Pete, Steph, Ag and me) went bowling which was tons of fun.



On Tuesday we got up and headed to the Capitol Building and the museums. We went into two art museums and the Natural History museum. At the Natural History museum we went to the Omnimax theater and saw a 3D video about the ocean, which was pretty cool (plus we got to wear super cool glasses!).


That evening we went to dinner in Georgetown to a delicious fish restaurant. There we met up with Aggie's cousin, Jerry, Philip and Missy. Josh and his girlfriend also came which was nice. After dinner we went to a bar to watch the presidental debates. (Only in DC would this be a cool thing to do!) It was really funny because the whole bar was quiet and everyone was watching the TVs very intensely. A few times throughout the night, groups of people would come in to the bar, obviously just wanting to chill after a hard day of work. They'd come in kind of loud, and people watching the debate would go, "SSSSSHHHHHH!!" Needless to say, those groups pretty much looked around and then took off for a different drinking hole. For some reason we thought it would be a fun idea to make a drinking game out of the debates....we drank for everytime McCain said, "My friends" or Obama said, "Change". Needless to say, waking up the next morning was rough!


All four of us got up and moving around 5:30am the next day. Josh picked us up (he didn't go to the bar with us after dinner...) and dropped us off at the airport. We headed back to Cincy and Steph and Pete went on to NY for a few days. Fun times by all!

Back in the States, part 1

The next few blogs are going to be about our time at home.  Oh, where do I begin??   The joys of Hamilton...above is just an example of something we saw when we were home and said "I can't believe...take a picture of that!" I guess for starters I could basically give you a rough outline of our time at home and what we did:

- Thursday, Oct 2nd: We flew out from Zurich at 7am and arrived in Cincinnati, OH at 6:30pm.

- Josh arrived later that evening with his girlfriend, Lauren. They came into town for Kari Larkin's wedding that weekend.

- Friday, Oct 3rd: I had an eye appointment, Aggie had a dress fitting and dinner/mini bachelorette party.

- Saturday, Oct 4th: Kari Larkin's wedding.

- Sunday, Oct 5th: Graduation party at my house for Zach, Baby shower for Aggie's sister, Angela, at her house.  We then flew out to DC that night with Josh and Lauren (where they live).

- Sunday - Wednesday: In DC visiting friends and family.

- Wednesday, Oct 8th: Dentist appt for me and our Marriott night.

- Thursday, Oct 9th: "High School" friends night.

- Friday, Oct 10th: Rehearsal dinner for Teresa and Dave's wedding.

- Saturday, Oct 11th: Teresa and Dave's wedding.

- Sunday, Oct 12th: We went to Columbus to visit with my college buddies.

- Monday, Oct 13th: Dentist appt for Aggie and a family dinner and gathering for the Bill side of the family.

- Tuesday, Oct 14th: Dinner with Maggie and Mark in Cincy

- Wednesday, Oct 15th: Dinner with Ferd and Audrey in Hamilton

- Thursday, Oct 16th: Dinner with Aggie's family in Shandon

- Friday, Oct 17th: We flew back.

Whew!  Now you know why we were so tired from our holiday??  I'm tired just thinking about all that!

Before we get into the trip home, I should tell everyone that Aggie and I had a meeting with her surgeon this past week. Recently she has had some eye exams, an MRI, some blood work done, etc.  Basically, we were now meeting with the neurosurgeon to discuss how things were progressing and if she was still on par for a full, positive recovery.  From the way the discussion went and the reviews of the scans and blood tests, she seems to be doing well!  Unfortunately, a few of her hormone levels are still a bit out of whack, and we are unsure of why that is (but medicine can help get this in order).  However, the pitituary gland seems to be "stretching" out and starting to take shape so that's key.  Obviously it's just going to take time to see if all heals properly.  We are just really excited that things are looking up!

So, now we can go back to our time at home.  This blog will be dedicated to our first week home in Cincy.

We got in on Thursday evening and were just really tired after our long trip home.  We had to fly through Amsterdam and Detroit, so by the time we got to Cincy, we were dead from three flights.  My parents picked us up, and we dropped Aggie off at her house.  She hung out with her parents and crashed early.  I pretty much did the same at my place....and yes, we slept at seperate houses that night!

The next day, aside from an eye doctor appointment, I didn't have much on my agenda.  Josh and Lauren arrived late Thursday evening, but I didn't see them (somehow I thought I'd be able to drive up to Dayton to pick them up after effectively being awake for 25 hours straight; that did not happen) so Friday was a good day to see Josh, meet Lauren for the first time, and generally catch up.  Aggie was doin' her thang and hanging out with her sister Ann most of the afternoon.  Then they (Ag and Ann) went to dinner with their other sisters and cousins (Teresa and Susan) that night.  Aggie and Ann were in Teresa's wedding the following weekend. 


Saturday we all went to the Larkin wedding. The wedding was beautiful and the sun was shining!  The reception was awesome too as it was a casual, outdoor affair, complete with hayrides, a blue grass band, and a bonfire.  It was great seeing everyone and Aggie had quite the reunion...her old grade school principal was there, as well as a few of her grade school friends.


One unfortunate thing that happened toward the end of the wedding evening was that one of the guests' mini-vans rolled into the pond!  Let me circle back...the parking for the wedding was in a field near the party barn and pond on the property.  This parking "lot" was on a hill.  We don't have all the details, but long story short, one of the guests' vans parking break wasn't on/working right and away the van went, right into the pond!  The good thing is that the van floated on its own from one side of the pond to the other and 1/2 way up the bank, so pulling it out of the water wasn't aaaassss horrible as it could have been.  On the bright side, it didn't completely sink!


Sunday we had a very busy day!  Aggie and her younger sisters were hosting a baby shower for their oldest sister, Angela, who is expecting in December.  She had a great time seeing family and friends and entertaining.  Meanwhile, I was at my house, attending a graduation party for my brother Zach.  My cousin, Brent, and his baby, Sophia, made it in from Baltimore and it was great seeing them along with all my other family members.

Late in the afternoon on Sunday, Aggie came over and we, along with my brother Josh and his girlfriend Lauren, drove up to Dayton's airport for our flight to DC.  We were going to be in DC visiting friends and family until Wednesday (Oct 8th). Stay tuned to read about those fun times....

We're back, and we're tired.

(*Picture taken in DC's art museum.)

A picture speaks a 1000 words right?? Seriously, though this is how we feel. I'm going to be honest with you, Aggie and I haven't had time to update the blog because we have been go, go, go, and we are tired! Of course, our appologies because we feel we have let our Blogger fans down....(similar to how all you Bengals fans are feeling deprived). Anyway, we are finally back in Zurich after our fun, long trip to the US of A. We will fill you in on that trip in the next blog. In the meantime, lets circle back to September....

Last time we wrote, Aggie and I had the pleasure of hosting my Uncle Terry and Aunt Phyllis here in Zurich. We had also celebrated our one year anniversary, gone boating with friends and to a few parties and BBQs. We had plans to return to the US in October (2nd-18th) so the time between Friday, September 19th-Tuesday, September 30th needs to be noted now.

Over these two weekends (Sept 19 and Sept 26th) we had tossed around the idea of going to Octoberfest in Munich with a few friends, but opted out. We have been before (me twice, Aggie once) and loved the experience, but we didn't have the motivation to put our "drinking" hats on. (Are we getting old?!) Anyway, instead, I ran a 1/2 marathon and we went hiking!

The 1/2 marathon was on Saturday, September 20th, and the race was in a town called Uster which was about 20 minutes outside of Zurich. It worked out great as Aggie and I went to pick up the race information on Friday evening after work, and then went out to dinner to an Italian restaurant near our place that we really like. Saturday was race day and the event took place in the afternoon. We ran into a few other E&Y people at the event who were either running or there to support friends and family. It was a beautiful day and the race was a success!


One thing Aggie noted is throughout the town where the event was being held, people in the race just left backpacks, clothing, and bags all over the place, with the intentions of picking up their items afterwards. Only in Switzerland would one even consider doing such a thing! Anywhere else, those bags would be snatched up by bad men wanting to flush them down the toilet! (That's a bit of an inside joke, but I'll fill you in. The other day Ag woke one of her girls - Cila - up from a nap and Cila told her that she was having a bad dream about a "bad bad man who tried to take me and flush me down the toilet!"...Ag just laughed and told her "Alle ist okay, Cila. Wir ist keine schlecht manner."!!)

Cila at dinner

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. The evening after the race, we went to went to our gym and sat in the sauna and steam room which was nice. Sunday we went to our friends, Dave and Ali's, for a BBQ which was fun.

The work week came and went. Friday night (Sept 26th), Aggie and I chilled and had a fondue dinner, which was delicious! The next day we were up bright and early for a hike with John and Helen in Sottel. Sottel was about an hour away from Zurich, and the weather report was predicting sunny, warm skies. I'm not sure what "blew" in over our mountain, but the weather was not to be desired!

When we arrived in the town of Sottel, we found the trail and started to climb...and climb....and climb. It was quite a challenging first hour to say the least! The sun never came out during our climb up, and it was quite chilly. Once we got to the top, there was a nice little restaurant which served some awesome squash soup and apple cider. That warmed us right up and away we went to hike some more.

Well, the trail led us up the mountain a bit more and though some woods. Then, the fog set in.


We had a hard time finding the trail signs and all we could hear were cow bells around us, klinking and clanging. It was funny because we really were just waiting to have a run in with a bull. We finally made it down the mountain and to the train station. Off we went, back to Zurich. We grilled out at John and Helen's the next day and John served up some spicy, extremely tasty dishes.

We worked a few days and then left for the states on Thursday, October 2nd. The next blog will be about our adventures home...there were quite a few (including two very fun weddings)!


PS. Aggie is doing well health-wise. She had an MRI recently and a blood test and eye exam this past week. Her horomone levels are still not where they should be, but they are improving which is good. Her eye exam was great. We meet with her surgeon next week to discuss the MRI and her progress so lets all say a prayer the meeting goes well! Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Happy Anniversary!

I forgot to mention in our last blog that our one year anniversary was coming up. Yes folks, just over a year ago, I presented Mr. Bill with 20 boxes of mint tea, 14 camels, 25 swatches of oriental silk, 3 goats and 100 gold dabloons and that was that...Aggie was "signed" away to me, to become a Marcum! My how time flies when you are having fun! This past year has been absolutely amazing. Obviously, we have had some challenges (like when Ag doesn't have dinner ready when I get home), but we have also had some wonderful memories (like when she does). The best part is we have been able to share most of those challenges and memories with you! We had a nice time looking back at pictures, remembering our wedding day and being grateful all over again for the people who shared it with us.

Labor Day weekend we had Uncle Terry and Aunt Phyllis visiting us. They had an awesome itinerary planned - they were going to be in Zurich for 3 nights, then head to France and visit the Burgundy area, then the Provence area, and finally Paris. Since it was also our anniversary weekend, they took us out to a really nice dinner to celebrate our lllloooovvvveeeee.

The week leading up to their arrival was pretty normal aside, from the fact that I was in London for 2 nights for work. They got in on Friday morning (Aug 29th), and - other than their flight being a bit delayed - they had no issues. We took them right to their hotel to see if their room was available. It wasn't, but we got to leave their luggage there, and then we headed back to our house to relax. I went to work and Aggie and them chatted and chilled for a while. Around noon, they headed back into town. They stopped at the train station so that Ag could show them how the train system works, how to read the schedules, etc (the rest of their travels were on the trains).

Then they went to the hotel and checked in. Uncle Terry crashed for a bit while Aggie and Aunt Phyllis walked around town. They headed up Bahnhofstrasse (the main street) for a bit before turning into the Old Town area. They window shopped and weaved through the cobblestone streets before taking a break down by the lake on a bench. Later they caught up with Terry back at the hotel but not before Aggie introduced Phyllis to Spruengli (the famous delicious chocolate shop) and showed her one of the gourmet grocery stores.

Unfortunately, I got caught with a few last minute things at work and finally met them around 7:30pm or so at the cafe outside their hotel. From there we walked down Bahnhofstrasse and found a cool outdoor restaurant where we grabbed dinner.

On Saturday, we slept in for a bit, and then I went out for a jog. Uncle Terry and Aunt Phyllis were up early and out shopping when we talked to them around 10am that morning. They were our first visitors to NOT sleep in when they have come to visit us....my cousin and Aggie's whole family slept in so until around 11:30am on their first morning, so we felt kind of bad for not being ready. Everything worked out, though, and we were with them by noon.

We ended up taking them to Luzern that afternoon via the trains...Zurich was getting crowded with shoppers anyway. In Luzern we walked around the town a bit and then went to an outdoor cafe by the river for a late lunch. The sun was shinning and the weather was beautiful! Afterwards we walked around a bit more then headed back to Zurich. We had dinner plans that evening for our anniversary....


We all met up around 7pm and took a tram close to where the restaurant was. Then, we jumped into cab and away we went....up, and up and up a bit more until the driver finally stopped. The restaurant was an outdoor patio that overlooked a vineyard and the city of Zurich. It was really pretty and the weather was perfect. We had some champagne, ate and were merry. It was wonderful!


After dinner we headed to the Jules Verne Panorama Bar for a night cap. Aunt Phyllis had noticed the bar the night before and it looked really cool. The bar was basically at the top of this circular tower building that overlooked the city. We had a few drinks there before calling it a night. Fun times!!

Sunday was a 110% lazy day. Uncle Terry and Aunt Phyllis came over for an early dinner as I had to leave that evening for London (yet again!). We all sat around and chatted most of the afternoon and then ate around 4pm or so. For an anniversary/get well/thanks for being our tour guide, my aunt and uncle gave us a beautiful fondue pot. It's so cool and Aggie was (and still is) extremely, extremely excited about it.


I left for my flight, and a bit later, they left to go back to their hotel and get situated for thier upcoming adventures in France. They should have just gotten home by now, and we hope they had a blast!

The following week (wk of 1 to 5 Sept), I was in London, which obviously stunk. I got back on Friday, and Aggie and I had a great weekend! Friday evening we went out to the lake with her friend, Hannah, and Hannah's husband, Andy. The weather was so nice and the water was really calm. I tried to wakeboard, but of course with my luck (and fat-ness), the flippin' rope kept breaking just as I would try to get up and out of the water! Andy tried to fix it and tie a knot a few times but every time it snapped. Ah, well. Next year we will try again!


The sun was starting to set and Andy drove the boat back to this little cove area. There we set up a mini table and had a whole spread set up with wine, beer, cheese, nuts, bread, etc. It was a prefect little picnic! Later we docked and noticed a big tent set up along the shore. We walked over to check it out, and it was really cool. There was a Moroccan band playing and singing. The tables were pretty much at knee level and you sat on plush pillows. It was really cool... We got some delicious mint tea and called it a night.

Saturday we just chilled and went to the gym, justa' workin' on our fitness. That evening we went to our friend Hesham's new apartment for a BBQ. It was a nice time and good evening. Sunday was a work day for me and a domestic day for Ag. We actually had some Cincinnati chili for dinner, which was so good...once it hit your lips...it's so good! Only a few more weeks and we will be able to taste the real thing....

We don't have too much planned the rest of this month but that could easily change. I am running in a half-marathon the weekend of 20 Sept, and some friends are going to Oktoberfest the following weekend and we could tag along, so there are options...stay tuned to see what comes up next!