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!!