8.04.2009

Thailand: Part 3, the Island

My ankle is doing better people....I actually rode the bike at the gym today which was good. Then, I had a slight heart attack today watching the ND game. Hopefully the Bengals will seal the deal with the Browns tomorrow!

I went to London last week for work, and then Aggie and I met up in NY over the weekend. We hung out with some of our great friends that we have met while living in Europe (some live there, some were visiting). Needless to say, it was a wonderful weekend!


So, now back to Thailand....

As we wrote in our last post, we woke up in Chiang Mai on Saturday morning, had breakfast and then headed to the airport. We were flying from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Koh Samui. Everything went well and we arrived in Koh Samui with no problems. We were amazed as we went to the one small conveyor belt for our luggage, which was under a complete outdoor, open-air hut! That was the totality of this airport. The beach/party mood was starting to kick in!!

We met our driver and off we went. We drove about 20-30 minutes through the island - our resort was on the opposite side. The ride was pretty amazing in the sense of how poor the people were. Shacks (homes) were all over and trash and debris was everywhere.

What was nuts is that basically the side of the road where the sea was, there were resorts and beautiful restaurants and homes that had decks and ports out to the water. Literally, across the street from these wonderful places were shacks/homes. The road was the clear divide between rich and poor. It was crazy.

We checked in and took a tour of our resort. All I can say is, AWESOME! That is the best way to describe it. In our room, we had our own private pool (which was huge, considering it was just for our room) and patio area. Our room was beautiful and the whole resort was stunning. That evening we had dinner at the hotel and feasted on some amazing food, of course sitting beach side!

On Sunday it rained on and off most of the day, but we read, watched movies, walked down the strip, etc. It was actually so nice not to be go-go-go! The "strip" was basically where a bunch of restaurants, massage shops, stores, hotels, etc were.


Monday we soaked up the sun. Probably a bit too much! We both had SPF 45 on and got burnt! Oh, well. It was so nice to sit and hang out with each other and just chill. For dinner that night we enjoyed some Thai food and walked around. We were actually quite amazed with the amount of prostitution that was going on...it was very common to see a white dude with a Thai girl on his arm, walking around, dining together, etc. It was disturbing at first but then we just got used to it which was probably bad too!

Anyway, Monday came and went and Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much the same...we ended up hanging out at our room most of the time, in our pool, watching movies, ordering room service, enjoying what basically was paradise. It was awesome! We ended up leaving late Wednesday afternoon (5-ish) for the airport.

We were flying from Koh Samui to Bangkok and at 12:30am we were flying back from Bangkok to Zurich, Switzerland. The flight off the island was a bit rough as there was a bad wind storm that came in but we were okay. The flight from Bangkok to Zurich was smooth for the most part so that was a big relief.

We had 4-5 days in Zurich before we were taking off to Santorini, Greece to extend our holidays a little bit. During that time, we went hiking with a group of friends in Flims. Check back on a few blogs to read about that weekend.

We hope you enjoyed Thailand as much as we did!! Next up will be Santorini....

7.23.2009

September happenings and Thailand: Part 2, the North


Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! We had a very nice holiday with our friends, Steph and Pete, in Seattle. Seattle is just a cool city all around, and when you add some of your best friends to the mix, what more could you want?!

We got to Seattle on Thursday (Sept 3rd) and headed out to dinner. Then the rest of the weekend consisted of meeting up with more friends (Abby and Lindsey!), delicious meals, cooking, watching the ND game, playing Rockband, hiking, etc. It was awesome. We were sad to leave on Tuesday! (Sept 8th)

This week came and went. The weekend is here, and we were supposed to have a BBQ yesterday for the ND game. Well, I botched that up as I managed to severely injure myself on a run. Long story short, we were in the emergency room most of the day on Saturday, and I hobbled away with a left ankle fracture! I'm fine now but will be seeing an orthopedic doctor Monday morning to figure out specifically what damage has been done to my ankle. Keep your fingers crossed it's nothing major. (Denise, I now have kankles too!)

Now back to Thailand....

So, we left Bangkok for the northern part of Thailand around mid-day. The North is known as more of the jungle area of the country and borders Myanmar (Burma) and Laos. This part of Thailand sits a few hundred miles south China. We were flying to Chiang Rai and then going to Chiang Mai, but weren't sure how we were going to get from one to the other (we hadn't yet made any definite plans).

The flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai was just over an hour. The best part was that the plane was huge and that eased our minds as I had envisioned us on a small propeller plane.

Upon arrival, we had a driver from the hotel pick us up. We drove for about 40-45 minutes through a few towns and then on side/back roads. Eventually we reached our hotel.

It was 100% luxury, and honestly in the middle of nowhere! It was just us and maybe one or two other guests staying at the hotel, which made an even more secluded feeling. After checking in, we set up a few excursions for the next few days, went and got 90 minute massages, had dinner and chilled.
On Wednesday we woke up, had breakfast and then set out on our excursion. The best part of being in such a remote area and the fact that it was the "off-season" for tourists is that we got good deals on stuff and great one-on-one attention!

For instance, we had the driver at our hotel basically hired to take us around all day long. He spoke great English and took us to places we never would have gone had we been with a group.

Our first stop was to the Padaung hill tribe village. These are the women with the super long necks. It was pretty crazy seeing the girls and ladies with the rings around their necks, arms and legs. The tradition is that the girls start to wear the rings at the age of 5, and get one ring added each year on their birthdays.

After this village visit, Tik (pronounced "Teek"), our driver, took us to a tea shop where he knows the owners. We sat for about 20-30 mins talking with them and trying several different teas. It was really cool. We then went to an actual tea plantation which was cool to see too.

We made a stop for lunch at a local place Tik knew of. For the 3 of us, the total bill was about $3. The portions were huge and the food was ssssoooooo good!

Tik also took us to see the Golden Triangle: the river point where Thailand, Burma and Laos come together. This is apparently a huge opium and marijuana trafficking area.

Afterwards he drove us close to the Burma boarder and we also checked out a few other towns and villages. What was crazy was that, throughout the side roads in the jungle, there were random check points with military personnel, doing drug trafficking checks. Kind of nuts....

We then headed to the city of Chiang Rai and on the way, stopped at the Mae Kong Expo that was going on. The expo was definitely for locals only, and it was crazy! It had tons of booths displaying food, crafts, clothing, etc, etc. Tik escorted us around, explaining different things to us, etc...we kind of felt like we were celebrities! Honestly, little kids were staring and pointing at us....we don't think they had ever seen a white person in real life! It was kind of nuts.

Once we got to Chiang Rai, Tik took us around and gave us a mini-tour of the city. Again, we went to dinner at a local joint which was totally delicious. We checked out the night markets and then hit it. We were tired!

On Thursday, after a hearty breakfast, we went to take a steam bath and get massages (again). Then, we headed out for our 4 hour drive to Chiang Mai. Tik was our driver again, as we were asking the day before about the best way to get to Chiang Mai and he offered to drive us. We actually picked up his wife just as we left the hotel. She came along with us to keep him company on the trip back.

So, the drive was easy enough, and we stopped for lunch at a really cool outdoor restaurant on the way. Again, awesome, super cheap food! Once we arrived in Chiang Mai, we found our hotel. Now I have to say, the hotel was a bit sketchy...at least so we thought!

The hotel was called the Secret Garden, and it was located about 10 mins outside Chiang Mai. Tik insisted that he take us inside to be sure all was okay - he was even a bit worried by the looks of the place from the outside. Um, it ended up being AWESOME! It was a "campus" of these unbelievable looking homes surrounding a central area with a standalone kitchen building, a pond, and an "entertainment" area with bar, pool table, and dining patio.

The owners were Pai, a Thai lady, and Peter, a German dude. They had a daughter, Isabelle. Peter came over to greet us, offered us a beer and sat and chatted with us for a good 20-30 minutes. Basically, he bought the land about 20 years back when it was a rice farm. They did away with that and built up huts and mini-homes and opened their "Garden" for the public. (They had only been open for 1 year.)

We had a whole house to stay in called the Mandalay House. Huge porch, beautiful dark wood everything, very "open air" feeling. It was actually the house that Peter and Pai lived in until they built a new one as part of the construction of the Secret Garden. That afternoon/evening, it rained so we enjoyed the downpour while sitting on the porch. We also helped Pai make dinner in their huge open air kitchen. It was so neat.

The dinner was a buffet style and every morning you just told Peter and Pai whether you would like to have dinner with them. Everyone who said "yes" came to the patio area around 7pm and dinner was then served. The food was so fresh, authentic and delicious. Peter and Pai literally treat you like guests in their home - they sit and eat with you and everything. You just walk into their kitchen, grab what you want to drink, and mark it down on a piece of paper so they can keep track for the final bill. So cool. Oh, and the final bill for all this stuff? Around $120 total for two nights, two dinners, two breakfasts, and our fill of beer, coffee, water, Diet Coke, etc. Unbelievable.

Anyway, the next day we woke up, had an amazing breakfast, then headed out for our adventure: The Flight of the Gibbon. Basically we were going to zipline through the rain forest! A van picked us and a few others up and then drove for about 1 hour outside the city. We were then instructed on how the experience would be, got our harnesses on and were off!

For the next 2.5 hours we were "flying" through the jungle on cable ropes. It was really fun and a complete rush. Afterward, we had a great Thai lunch then went hiking to some waterfalls.

That afternoon we then went into the city of Chiang Mai. We checked out a few markets, buddhas and temples. Getting back to the "Garden" turned out to be more of a process then we thought. Looking back now, we could have made the "bus" no problem. However, we didn't know the schedule and ended up having to take a taxi there.

Okay, let me just say this, there are not taxi's the jungle. Taxi=old run down truck driven by some dude who just got off of work and gives people who need a ride a ride, as long as it's on his way home. I shiat you not. This is us riding to our hotel:

Seriously, hold on Ag!

We had another wonderful meal, enjoyed a few drinks, watched a movie and went to bed. The next morning, the Peter drove us to the airport. We were flying from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then from Bangkok to Koh Samui, a southern resort island.

All we have to say is that experience at this hotel place and the one in Chiang Rai were adventures we are never going to forget. We could have stayed in each place at least one more, maybe two more nights. The hospitality and people we met in those few days was amazing and the whole experience is really undescribable...I'm trying to explain it and it's hard to get the point across!

6.18.2009

Thailand: Part 1, Bangkok

Now we are really backtracking with our blogs, but hey, whatever. Here's the play by play of our trip to Thailand (a few blogs will be posted about the different areas of the country). Oh, and I have to say Happy 2 Year Anniversary to my lovely, beautiful, amazing wife!


So now, back to Thailand....

We left Zurich for Thailand on Friday, May 8th around 1:30pm. We flew on Thai Airways and were very pleased with their service overall. The flight was direct, from Zurich to Bangkok, 11 hours long, and we were to arrive around 5:30am Bangkok time. Bangkok was 5 hours ahead of Zurich and 11 hours ahead of Cincinnati. The flight was great, but had a lot of turbulence in one stretch that lasted for a good 20-30 minutes. It was kind of scary, and it didn't help that we were over Pakistan at the time. We made it though!

Upon arrival, we got our bags and found our driver. We got to our car and as we stepped outside, we were hit with a wave of 85 degree heat and 1,000% humidity...and it was only 6am! Of course, we both began to sweat.

The hotel had a room available for us upon arrival which was huge! The place was beautiful and the room was very nice. We took showers and napped for a bit then wandered down to the lobby and met with the concierge to plan a few excursions and ask about custom-made clothes shops to visit while we were in Bangkok.

By 11:30am we were in a suit shop, getting a few custom suits and shirts made to order. Then, we were whisked away in a car to the Grand Palace. At this point it was close to 1pm. Upon arrival at the Palace, we were told by a man outside that the temple was closed for prayer (it was a holiday) and that we needed to come back in an hour and that it was open till 5pm. So, one thing led to another and we were again, whisked away in a "tuk-tuk" to some other random temple.

Okay, one observation we made right away: we were really surprised by how poor the country was. We knew it was poor, but until you actually saw it, you don't really believe it. People literally live in shacks along the river, canals and roads. There's trash just scattered all over and people are everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Bangkok is NUTS! Everyone seemed very happy though, and nice, which was good. They get around by jam packing themselves on these huge buses and/or by taking a ride on these mini-golf cart cars called tuk-tuks. I loved riding in the tuk-tuks but they scared Ag a bit. Oh, and they drive on the other side of the road there too. In some instances, they just drove wherever in the hell they wanted.

So, back to the fact that we were in a random tuk-tuk and arriving at a temple. We went inside and our driver waited for us. Inside, we bought these random birds in a cage that apparently are suppose to grant you good luck once you let them go. Of course, we were suckered into buying them and released them! The temple was really beautiful though so we were happy we got to see it.
Then, we got back in our tuk-tuk and the driver took us to another suit shop and jewelry place. Finally he took us back to the Grand Palace (it was around 3:00pm at this point). Upon arrival, he said that the temple was closed for visitors now. WHAT?? We were told by that other dude it was open till 5:00pm. We didn't know what to think and he said, "No problem. I have an idea. I can take you to the boat and you can take a ride, see a temple, etc."

Again, away we went in the tuk-tuk, unsure of what the hell was going on...We got to the river dock, paid our driver 20BHT (equal to about 60 cents) for driving us around for a few hours and then jumped into a random boat. It was us and a driver and honestly, we had no clue what was going on. Apparently we were on the 1 hour private boat tour. They call Bangkok the Venice of the East. Well, it lived up to its name and ended up being an awesome 1 hour ride!

We weaved in and out of the canals and grabbed a few beers from a lady selling things in a boat (she literally floated up to our boat on her boat and sold us beers), saw some nasty fish floppin' around in the water, waved to the locals as we cruised on by, etc. The boat ride ended at another temple that was beautiful! The detail, colors, and tile work that was done to the building was amazing.

Afterward, we figured out how the water taxis worked and took the taxi to the skytrain. The skytrain is basically an elevated subway system that runs throughout certain parts of the city. It was so clean and air conditioned! We took that to the mall area which was on the way to our hotel. It was crazy going from the poor, slum area of the city to then the mall area which was beautiful and just screamed wealth and luxury.

So, we walked home from the mall and ate dinner that night at the hotel. It actually got dark pretty early at night (by 7:00pm it was getting dark) which surprised us. We were so tired and crashed after dinner.

Sunday, May 10th
We woke up early as we had an all day excursion to attend. We went to Bang Pa In and Ayutthaya, plus an elephant work camp. Bang Pa In is the summer palace of the kings of Thailand. Ayutthaya was the old capital city in Thailand before it was destroyed in a war with the Burmese and the Thai's relocated the capital to Bangkok.

The tour we did was on a big tour bus and our guide was great. Ayutthaya was roughly 1.5 hrs outside of Bangkok. We walked around, saw the sites and then saw the "reclining Buddha". Then we went to Bang Pa In which was beautiful! The grounds were lovely and again, the buildings were amazing.

We then took a 2-3 hour boat ride back to Bangkok. On the boat we had a buffet lunch and just got to relax. Once we docked, we jumped into a van and went back to the hotel. Later that afternoon, we went back to the suit shop for a fitting. Of course, the shop guy talked me into ordering 7 more dress shirts! Ag just laughed at me.

Aggie and I then went to a night market which was really cool and checked out the vendors and food. We got 45 minute foot massages for the equivalent of $3. It was great!

Monday, May 11th


We went with a small tour group to see the floating markets. The markets were about an hour or so outside of Bangkok. Along the way, our group stopped at a sort of rest stop area where they were making coconut milk and oil.

Then, we got to the canals that would take us to the floating markets. The boat ride was really cool, and we rode in a venetian style boat. (It was the driver and then us and 2 other couples in the boat.)

We weaved through the canals and saw homes and took in our surroundings. When we reached the market, we got out and walked around. As you will see from the pictures, the market boats had so many things for sale...hats, purses, food, etc, etc. We started to get tired of the pushy people and the "deals" people were trying to make with us. We finally sat down for a short bit and relaxed.

After the market, we headed back to the city of Bangkok and went to the Grand Palace and to see the big Buddha statues. The Palace was beautiful and extremely impressive. The colors, details, and craftsmanship was amazing.

Finally, we headed back to our hotel, ready to crash from a busy few days of "go, go, go!". My suits and shirts were delivered that evening, we went to the hotel's happy hour for a cocktail, then ordered room service and called it a night. It was time to pack up and leave Bangkok for the North...we were on our way to the cities of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai!

Sweet home Chicago! (Once again)

So, how have you all been? We are doing well and of course, we apologize for the delay of updating the blog of our adventures. Moving is hard work - that's all I got to say!

Anyway, last time we wrote we were just about to leave for Santorini, Greece. I'll follow up in a week or two about that trip. However, I can describe the trip to you now in one word: AMAZING. It was quite the package: delicious food (surprisingly so, in fact), great friends and breathtaking scenery all wrapped up with a nice big bow...that's what Santorini was for us.


We will also be posting about our trip to Thailand. We are so behind on things, people!

Now back to where we are and what has been going on....

We arrived back in Zurich (after Greece) on Wednesday, June 3rd, really late at night. Anyway, we ran around a bit on Thursday (June 4th) finishing things up and then attended a great BBQ hosted by our good friends, Hesh and Danielle. Here's a picture from that day with Ag and our old landlord Mara.


It was wonderful seeing everyone one last time before we finally said good-bye! We flew home on Friday, June 5th. The itinerary was Zurich to Amsterdam to Chicago. I have to say, we went out in style. When we landed in Amsterdam, we had a couple hours before our long flight. I went to the transfer desk in Schipol Airport and finagled an upgrade to 1st class using miles and it was sssssssooooooooo worth it! The plane was a double decker, and we sat up on the top level. It was basically us and 6 other passengers (all seats were not filled), 2 bathrooms, and then the cockpit. Champagne when we got on the plane, seats that lay down into a bed, 3 course meals...not to shabby!

We stayed with our friends Justin and Alison in Chicago on Friday and Saturday before flying out to Cincinnati on Sunday, June 7th. On Friday afternoon we checked out our new apartment and I went to the office to get my computer. On Friday night, our friends, Emily and Nimesh, hosted a small dinner party and on Saturday night we met up with our other good friends, Darren and Nicole. In Cincy on Sunday, my parents had a BBQ with our family and some friends, which was really nice. Plus, Josh and Lauren were in town so it was great to see them.

Then, the work week was really busy for us as we "worked" to organize our lives. Priority #1 was getting a car, which meant getting our drivers' licenses too. First off, apparently the US will only do a one-for-one swap with foreign drivers' licenses from Japan, Germany and France. Why not the neutral country of Switzerland!? What did they ever do to us Americans? Anyway, so we went to the BMV and retook the vision and written driving test. We both passed with no problems which was great! Unfortunately, they told us soonest we could do the actual driving test was June 25th. With luck, while we were taking the written test, someone called and canceled their driving test. So I took the golden opportunity to fill their spot that very day.

Now, I don't know if all of you can think back to when you were 16 and how you had to drive around the block with an instructor and then maneuver through some cones and back up into a parking spot? Well, I passed the street driving part with no problems, but I flippin' ran over a cone in the parallel parking part! Who does that? Apparently I do...the instructor said in a thick Hamiltucky accent: "Please pull over to the side sir. You have failed." Freddie was really disappointed in me, I could tell. The best part of the whole thing is that we jumped in the car after I failed, and I drove us away. (You can legally drive on an international license in the US for up to a year.) Seems kind of messed up but whatever.

So, Ag and I both went back to Cincy the weekend of June 26th to take our driving test...and this time we passed! Lovely.

So, we found a car, furniture for our apartment, went through our wedding gifts (it felt like Christmas), met up with friends, golfed, etc, etc. Ag's sister, Theresa, got married on the 4th of July so they celebrated her upcoming wedding with a bridal shower and bachelorette party. All in all, it was a great time to come back to the US!

We got back to Chicago on Sunday, June 14th, and we lived in a hotel for 2 weeks before moving into our apartment. The hotel was located right off Michigan Ave so we really enjoying the fact that we were right in the heart of the city. On Monday (June 15th) I started back to work at the Chicago office.

Now that we are in our place, we finally feel settled. It has taken us a few months to really get back into the swing of things and the "American" way of life. So far so good though....

I had a few buddies, Gil and Joel, in town to visit one weekend for the Cubs/Indians game. We had a great time hanging out! Plus, it was my first baseball game in a long time so I was pretty pumped for a bag of peanuts and a hotdog!

We have had a few other visitors come see us as well....Sarah and Ryan, Ferd and Andrea, Frigon, Ag's cousin Sarah, a few members of the Swiss crew....it has been fun!

We've sort of been on the move too. As I said, we had Ag's sister's wedding over the 4th of July (first pic below) and then recently we went to our friend, Dave and Ali's wedding (second pic below). Dave and Ali are our friends who live in Zurich, Switzerland, but got married in Indiana.



Our other great friends, Steph and Pete, were in town last weekend for a wedding. We also have plans to go out and visit them in Seattle over Labor Day weekend which will be awesome! Here's me and Pete getting ready for the inevitable...


Needless to say, we have been busy every weekend since we have been back!

During the week, we have been busy meeting up with all our other friends who still live here. It has been fun and kind of crazy....it feels like we never left!

5.27.2009

In between



So, we made it back from our two-week honeymoon in Thailand (about time I took Ag on a honeymoon, huh?). It was awesome, to say the least!

We will be sure to blog about the adventures there, but it will take us some time. Time is something that we just don't seem to have right now! Let me fill you in on what's been going on....

We left for Thailand on Friday, May 8 and got back on Thursday, May 21st around 7:45am. Our plane was quarantined at the gate, though, for about an hour because someone on the flight had a fever. So, we had to sit and wait while the medical team came in and checked the person's health. Long story short, we finally got back to Dave and Ali's (where we are staying this month) around 10am. We crashed and did some organizing and such around the apartment. That evening we went to dinner with our friends John and Helen, and Helen's friend, Masha, who was visiting from Kiev. It was a great evening catching up!

Friday was relaxing and we ran some errands. We also finalized our de-registration with the Swiss government, and then took a nice walk down by the lake and through some of the flower gardens.

Then on Saturday and Sunday, we went hiking in Flims with a group of our best friends.



We left early Saturday morning, dropped our bags off at the hotel and hiked all day. It was so much fun! The weather was awesome and the views were incredible. We found a beautiful lake that had crystal clear, aqua-colored water. Of course, a few of us stripped down to our skivvies and jumped in! Then that night we went to a nice micro-brewery in Laax (the town next to Flims) that one of our Swiss friends suggested we check out. It was a good night for all and we went to bed full and happy!

After a hearty breakfast and relaxing morning, we all met up and went hiking again on Sunday morning. The weather didn't disappoint and we all had a great afternoon. We got back to Zurich later Sunday evening and just chilled with Ali and Dave. This past Monday and Tuesday we have been relaxing and running around town, finalizing things for the move home, meeting up with friends, etc.

We leave for a week-long holiday in Santorini, Greece in about 5 hours. Both Ag and I are super excited for this trip as well.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day! See you all state-side in about 10 days...

5.02.2009

Our standards are just too high

For the past several years, Zurich has been named the best city in the world in which to live (source: Forbes). The rankings for this year are out, and Vienna, Austria has uprooted Zurich by 0.8 points to take over the top spot! Zero point 8. We are sssssssooooooo done here. Our standards are just way too high for this nonsense. We can't settle for second best.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7472659&page=1

We have decided to leave the country, forget all about this horrible ranking and escape to Thailand for a few weeks...where the cheap prices flow and the massages grow! Oh, and by the way, Chicago didn't even make the top 15 US cities to live in. We have lots to de-stress over.

No, seriously, things are going well. We finally finished up most of the big things for our move back to Chicago. We still need to finalize our de-registeration from Switzerland and turn in some more paperwork, but all is falling into place nicely.

Since we wrote, we had Ferd visiting us for about a week (April 17th-23rd). We had a great time, and the whole visit was really relaxing. He got in on Friday and I left work to pick him up at the airport. On Saturday we went to Bern, Switzerland where Aggie and I ran a 10 mile race (dubbed "The Most Beautiful 10 miles in the World"). My girl proved to be quite the athlete as she and I ran the whole thing together and finished in less than 9 minute miles. They weren't joking about the race course - it was beautiful, weaving in and out of the city, through the old town and on the cobble street roads, into the forest and along the river. Plus, the sun was shining the whole time, the temperature was perfect. It was awesome!

On Sunday we went to our friends, John and Helen's, for a delicious brunch celebrating the Russian Orthodox Easter (Helen is from the Ukraine) and then to the Rheine Falls with Ali, Dave and Dave's mother, Matilda (who was in town visiting as well). It was a great day as - again - the weather was perfect.

We (Ag, Ferd and I) headed to the southwestern part of Switzerland on Monday (20th). We visited the small ski town of Gstaad and then headed to the town of Gruyere. It was a really nice day and the old castle village of Gruyere was fantastic. Gruyere is one of our favorite cheeses, and it comes from this region. Needless to say, the fondue in Gruyere was probably the best we have ever had.

On Tuesday I had to work, and Aggie and Ferd went to Lugano, Switzerland (in Southern Switzerland, near Italy) for the day. We have been to Lugano before (check back for the post from May 2007), and it's a place you go to just chill. They walked around a bit and then plopped down at a pizzeria right by the lake. They sat, drank some beers, ate some pizza and watched people walk by. Talk about a really stressful day! I had a work party on Tuesday night, and it was actually a lot of fun. It was a going away party for myself and Jen, another co-worker. I was "roasted" a little bit, and everybody had many laughs.

Wednesday we all just hung out and, that evening, BBQ'd. I took Fred to the airport on Thursday morning and then headed into work. Aggie got things sorted for the move and the big going away bash we were thowing on Saturday...

So Saturday, I went skiing for the last time in Switzerland (pending any future visits) at Engelberg, near Luzern. It was me and John, just like old times, and it was a good day. The first part of the day we skiied on the glacier, which was basically a huge sheet of ice. We ditched that part of the mountain and headed to the Jochpass, where the snow was much softer and nicer. There were tons of little "lips" that we were jumping off of, trying to do tricks and such. The slopes were our playground b/c it wasn't crowded at all. At 12:30pm, there was a competition where people would ski down a slope and then across a long, skinny pool filled with water, trying to get across without falling in. It was warm, so most of the people were in bathing suits, some girls even in bikinis. It was entertaining, to say the least (I'll post pics and videos after we get back to the States) .

John and I got home around 5:00pm, and by 6:00pm people started to roll in for the big BBQ at our place - it was the last time we could host a party in Zurich! We kicked off the event with flutes of champagne and rocked it out until 2:00am or so. Cornhole was played, the beer was flowing like wine, whiskey was drank, pork chops, chicken and sausages were grilled, Apples to Apples came out, hot wings were served at 1:00am, dancing was going on till 2:00am...it was quality! Sunday was a bit rough, but that's okay. The whole event was a blast!

Sunday we moved some of our furniture that we had agreed to sell to various people the week before. Thanks again to Ali and Dave for their help! Then, Monday and Tuesday were insane days of organizing, cleaning, etc for the big move that was to take place on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning came and the movers were to arrive at 7:30am. Well, they came at 7:10am! It was an early morning...and they were very funny about how they worked. There were 4 dudes and we thought they would have had the place packed up and such by 10am. We had seriously organized everything into piles so that it would be cake for them. Another reason we thought this was because when we moved from Luxembourg to Zurich, we had 2 movers and a ton more shiat. These 4 guys took their time, took an hour coffee break at 9:30am, etc. It was so funny! Whatever though. The move was finished and we were happy. That evening we went out for drinks to celebrate the fact we were finished with the "big" part. Hooray!!

The rest of this week went well. We are staying with our good friends, Ali and Dave, which has been working out great so far! We'll see what happens when I start to get bad gas... We checked out an Irish Pub that recently opened near their place last night which was cool. Today we have a BBQ and then who knows what will come up tomorrow.

We will be around all next week then heading out the Thailand on Friday. The countdown is on my friends!!

Sorry there are no pics to accompany this blog...there are plenty of good ones but they are all loaded up on our "home" computer, which is packed up and in transit back to Chicago! You can see the ones from the party and the move here. As soon as we get back and get our stuff in our new apartment, we'll post the rest.

4.16.2009

Busy, busy....


So we have been busy! I can't believe it's mid-April already. We are moving out of our wonderful apartment in two weeks....ahahaaa!! Let me fill you in on what has been happening.

Well, the last time we wrote I went to Gstaad, Switzerland and Aggie was in Poland (the first weekend in March). Then the weekend of March 14th and March 21st I had E&Y skiing days. They had group team events and covered the cost for our hotels, lift tickets, etc. For one of the days, Aggie came along as she is friends with all the girls (and most the guys) on my team. The girls went sledding and we boys went skiing. As you can see, Ag is quite the sledder and a force to be reckoned with. It was tons of fun, and we all enjoyed ourselves!

Then the weekend of March 28th we went to Zermatt, Switzerland. Zermatt is a beautiful, car free ski village up in the mountains. It's located near France and Italy (in fact, I skiied to Italy for a cappucino and then back over into Switzerland for lunch one of the days we were there!). Zermatt is home to the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Pennine Alps that lies on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The weather was BEAUTIFUL on Friday, but only so-so on Saturday and Sunday.

Aggie and I booked this trip a few months back and our friends, Danielle and Nate, decided to join us. Then, Danielle's roommate, Helen, and her friends from London came, plus, our other friends John and Helen came down.

So, we booked a long weekend, Thursday to Sunday. All was perfect except the ride there. Danielle, Ag and I left together on Thursday and we were supposed to catch a train at 5pm. Well, for some reason there were massive train issues and delays (ssssoooo not Swiss; everything is clockwork here.), plus it was rush hour train traffic. It was quite entertaining if anything else and one Swiss guy was nice enough to help us and translate what was being said over the loud speakers. We joked this was the most action and chaos the city has seen in 20 years! Anyway, people were "stuffing" themselves onto the trains. Long story short, a trip that should have taken 3hrs and 15 mins took 5.5 hrs!

So, we finally arrived around 10-10:30pm, checked in to our hotel and went to bed. Our hotel was in a perfect location; it was right on the main strip and about a 50m walk to the train station and a short walk to the lifts. (Nice work Aggie!)

After a hearty breakfast on Friday morning, I set out for the slopes - just me and my iPod. As I tore it up on the slopes (it was fantastic), the ladies shopped in town and tore that up! Then, that afternoon they hiked and walked the countryside. They found a perfect spot to grab a late afternoon drink before making it back to the town.


The views were amazing and as I said above, I skied into Italy that day! Just a quick note: as I skiied back into Switzerland from Italy, I had "Good 'Ole Boys" by Waylan Jennings on the iPod...not too sure many people could say that they've skied from Italy into Switzerland with that music bumpin in their ears. Straight outta Lindenwald. Anyway, the top of the mountains was a total skier's paradise as there were just lifts and gondolas that went up and up and up and to new spots, new powder, etc. It was amazing.

Later that afternoon, the 3 of us met up with Nate who had just arrived, had a drink and then headed out to dinner that night.

The next morning, all of our other friends arrived (Sat-Sun stay). Everyone skied, hiked, etc and basically did their own thing. That evening, our group of 9 went to dinner at this awesome restaurant in town, Le Gitan, Grill Room. Aggie and Helen get props for scoring reservations for us!!

After dinner, we went dancing at a few different places. Of course, it started snowing that night, and I was cold. Well, when Ag and Danielle went shopping earlier in the day, Aggie got some fancy-schmancey jeans and Danielle got a fur headband. The jeans looked amazing on Ag, however the headband looked better on me than it did Danielle. Why do you ask?? Um, because it matched my beard. That's right people. I was one hairy beast!!


Needless to say, it was a wonderful crazy evening, and we all went to bed tired and happy from the day's events.


On Sunday, again everyone kind of did their own thing. Aggie, John and I went for a hike which was nice (we didn't ski b/c it was dumping snow and the visibility at the top was terrible). Then we grabbed some delicious pub food before heading back to Zurich that afternoon.


The work week came and went and Aggie actually went to Chicago the following weekend (April 4th). Her girlfriend from college, Trish, is having triplets and the whole ND/SMC crew came into town to celebrate at her baby shower. Ag only told a few friends she was coming, so most people were surprised to see her. Watching people's reactions was the best, she said!

She also went home to search for apartments for us. This was a very stressful task, however, she had a great support group (aka Emily and Alison went with her to look at places). Long story short, we have found a place and are super excited! We will be living in the Southport Corridor area and close to all the exciting things Chicago has to offer....great restaurants, bars, Wrigley Field, etc.

Last weekend, for Easter, we stayed in Zurich. Our friend, Dave, was confirmed into the Catholic church so we attended his confirmation, which just also happened to be Easter vigil mass. Aggie's nephew, Grant, and brother-in-law, Bob, were also baptized (although, in Cincy, not Zurich...don't get confused!). Congrats to all of them!

Ferd arrived today, and he will be here for a week. Hooray!! We have some events planned while he is here, but really, we just want to take it easy. We will be heading to Berne, Switzerland on Saturday for a 10 mile race Aggie and I are running in. Then Sunday we have brunch plans at Helen and John's. Monday we plan to go on a hike down in the Alps and who knows what else?? The weather has been in the 70's and just beautiful...crisp/brisk mornings, warm afternoons.....

So, that's all for now. We have just been trying to keep everything in order for our move back and all is working out okay. We will be in touch soon with more updates. Ciao for now!!

3.12.2009

Two different worlds in one weekend, March 6-8th

**We posted 2 blogs today; make sure to go back and read the one before this!**

So, Aggie and I had separate plans for the weekend of March 6-8th in two totally different areas of Europe. I'll begin with my weekend away with John, Helen and Loren. We went to Gstaad, Switzerland, which was awesome! It's a small car-free resort town in the mountains about 3 hours from Zurich (via train). John found a sweet place that had one apartment available for an overnight Saturday stay (which is hard to do in the winter in Switzerland...normally the mountain hotels require at least a week's stay at a time). So, we left early (6am!) Saturday morning and basically skied all day Saturday and Sunday.



This was probably one of the best ski weekends I have ever had. The off piste snow was fantastic! I was in snow up to my knees/mid thighs and my skis were just floating down the mountain though the puff. It was an unbelievable feeling! Plus, it didn't hurt that the weather was perfect too. Here are a few pics:







Saturday evening we had a nice dinner at the hotel and a few drinks. Our rooms were awesome and Sunday turned out to be just as good as Saturday (in terms of snow and weather). It was a great time and a huge success!

So while we were in sunny skies and crisp, clean mountain air, Ag and Danielle were in gray, blah weather in Poland.



Their plan was as follows:
Friday: tour Krakow
Saturday: tour Auschwitz and other sites in Krakow
Saturday evening: train back to Warsaw
Sunday morning/afternoon: check out Warsaw
Sunday afternoon: fly back to Zurich

They left early Friday morning and got into Warsaw around 9am or so. Apparently, upon arrival they encountered one of the most unfriendly passport control guards ever. That was the first impression and realization to them that they were in a really different world. It's one thing to travel from Switzerland to say France or Germany. Yes, different countries, etc. However, the girls said there was a definite feeling that they were foreigners and were in an Eastern European country. You could tell in the older workers that they encountered (verses the younger) that there was still this feeling of Communism in the air. It was quite interesting.

Anyway, after they got their luggage and such, the first thing they did was take out $$ and of course, Aggie's ATM card was snatched up by the ATM machine...she pressed the wrong pin in one too many times and "Poof!", the card was gone. No big deal, worse could happen; she had a backup and 5/3 is already mailing her a new one.

So they got Zloty's out, got bus tickets and were on their way. (Note: Poland is part of the EU, but the have their own currency, the Polish Zloty). They said the bus ride from the airport to the train station in the center of Warsaw was really depressing. No one seemed to smile and the buildings were all the same architecture and dark gray color (probably something to do with the Communist rule?).

Anyway, they got to the train station and the area around the station was busy, so they jumped right into the fray! The train station was quite old fashioned (at least to the Swiss standards we are used to now). Nothing was automatic and no one was in a hurry to help you. All worked out well, though. They were catching a 3 hr nonstop train to Krakow. Train tickets were around USD 30 one-way (which is really cheap) and they had lots of space on the train.

Once they arrived in Krakow, they jumped on a tram to the hotel. Again, the trams were really old. They stunk like BO and the doors were not user friendly. They (the doors) would just snap open and snap shut. The good thing is they were only on the tram for 3-4 stops before arriving to their destination.

Their hotel was near the old town area, on the border of the Jewish Quarter. The area around the hotel was a bit run down, but the receptionist ensured them it was a very safe area. Maybe it was the building next to the hotel concerned them??

No, the area was totally fine and once they were settled in, they went out to explore the city. After walking the Old Town area, checking out some shops, and grabbing some bread rolls, they finally retired to a bar for a break. Do note, the city had tons of vendors with covered blue carts selling these bread rolls that looked like bagels. Of course, the ladies tried one and although it wasn't exactly an Einstein's bagel, they were quite tasty; very authentic. And well, thanks to Wikipedia, we now know where the bagel comes from:

"It (the bagel) was invented much earlier in Krakow, Poland, as a competitor to the obwarzanek, a lean bread of wheat flour designed for Lent. In the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the bajgiel became a staple of the Polish national diet."

The next thing the girls discovered was how cheap everything was in Poland. Two delicious Zywiec's (local Polish brew) were ordered and the tab was just USD 3...oh, and each bottle was 9.5% proof. Needless to say, the girls only had one before heading to dinner.

On the way from the hotel to the Old Town, they had seen a local place that looked great for dinner. So, they headed back in that direction and found the restaurant with no problems.

The place was quite empty but got more crowded as the evening went on. The service was great and the food portions were right there with the US standards. HUGE amounts of food, and cheap. They got two appetizers, two full meals and then dessert for about USD 25-30. They had wine and a after dinner drink too, all included in the price. I would have been in heaven!

For the main meal they had pierogies (boiled dumplings stuffed with varying ingredients) which is a traditional Eastern European food. They also got a salad which they thought wouldn't be too big...um, they were wrong! The "salad" consisted of 4 different coleslaw type salads on egg bread rolls. The portions were enormous. (Also note: A lot of the time when you order a salad in Europe, it's probably not the same as our traditional salad we eat at home. What some consider salad is usually a mix of chopped up beets, carrots, cabbage, etc. The veggies aren't usually served on a bed of lettuce but rather side by side on a plate.)

The best part of the night was the entertainment (or lack thereof) at the table behind them. Apparently when they arrived this man at the next table had just sat down too and ordered. They then noticed he was quite drunk as he was falling asleep (aka, passing out!) at his table. His food came and he ate 1/2 the meal. Then he put his head down on the table and slept! When the Ag and Danielle got their dessert, movements from his end were seen...he was alive! After taking a 1-2 hour power nap, he sat up to finish the rest of his meal. Apparently the girls were just giggling.

So, on Saturday, the hotel had organized for the ladies to attend a tour of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. After a hardy breakfast, the van collected them and they were off. A video was shown on the way (1hr ride) of the camp and its former "operations". Again, Wikipedia gives a good overview of this horrible place.


Pictures were not allowed in the bunkers, but there are some you can see on this webpage. Also, toward the bottom of the page on the right you can see a picture of a pile of eye glasses that were taken from the prisoners. Throughout some of the bunkers, Ag said they had on display just thousands of shoes, piles of suitcases, stacks of clothing and toothbrushes, etc, etc. Another wall display (that was probably 30 feet long) was full of hair that had been shaved from the victims. The hair was then shipped to factories to make coats, blankets, etc. The camp was huge, roughly 450 acres worth of bunkers and other buildings. Who does this stuff? Ag said it was moving and emotional to see all these things first hand.

After the tour they headed back to the city of Krakow. They walked around the Jewish Quarter before heading to their hotel to collect their things and head back to Warsaw. When back in Warsaw, they jumped into a cab and were whisked away to their hotel in the Old Town area of Warsaw.

Now, Warsaw as completely leveled by the Nazis during WWII and the whole city has been rebuilt. The main downtown area was, therefore, quite modern. The Old Town, however, was built back up to be very similar to how it "used to be". They said it was super cute (Aggie's words btw) and very clean and quaint. The impression of the city was totally different and positive now, much more so than their initial views via the bus ride in from the airport.

They checked into their hotel and headed out for dinner. Their hotel lady gave them a wonderful recommendation and again, the girls ate well! Pierogies were on the menu again, as well as rye and beet soup. The ladies left full and happy and walked around the area a bit before retiring for the evening.

The next day the girls headed to a coffee shop, stumbled upon a grocery shop and took lots of great pics. After walking around for a while, they collected their things at the hotel and headed out to the airport. Despite the weather, the trip was a huge success and they had a blast!

Ag and I relaxed together that evening, sharing stories from our very different weekend adventures.

So, now we are already mid-March. Time is flying by and in just under three months, we'll be back home in the States for good! In the meantime, we will be in touch with more updates and news!

February was a blur...

It has been a few weeks since we have posted a blog, and therefore, we have lots to write about. The month of February was basically a blur do to the fact that I was working so much.

Anyway, so the last time we wrote a blog was about our adventures in Chamonix, France, which was a trip we took at the beginning of January. Since then, we have had nice weekends with friends and with each other. For Valentines Day weekend, I took Aggie to the Opera here in Zurich. We met up with our friends, Hannah and Andy, there as well.


The whole opera experience was really cool and we enjoyed ourselves. Plus, it's a fancy event so we got to dress up. The Opera was in Italian (which was beautiful) with German subtitles above the stage. We did know what was going on though as we had researched our show prior to going (thanks, Wikipedia). Obviously, that was key! After the show, we went for a few drinks at a local bar Andy knew of. It was a great evening and fun event!

Then, on Saturday, the 14th, we hung out together most of the day, and then we met up with our friends, John, Helen, Yulia and Vlad. We went ice skating and then to dinner. It was a fun time and of course, I fell a few times on the ice! My saving grace though were the big polar bears you can use to help you balance and skate. These are really for children, but I like to think of myself as a big kid at heart, so it was okay.

There was also a hockey game going on in the other rink, which was entertaining to watch. We would skate around a bit, watch the game, skate, fall, skate, watch the game, etc.

The following weekend we went to dinner at my co-worker's apartment. Jyotsna and her husband, Dave, are from northern India and made some of the best Indian cuisine we have ever had. They had recently gotten married in India and brought back tons of spices and food from their hometown. Our other friends, Helen and Danielle, came too. It was a fun evening of eating, chatting and catching up.

I got to ski a few days here and there this past month as well. The weather in the mountains wasn't that great in February though, so now I'm trying to make up for it and ski a ton in March. Skiing can be such a hit or miss.

The work weeks came and went. They mostly "came" as it was crunch time and I was logging in tons of hours. Finally, we signed off on all our work on March 6th. It was time to celebrate and relax (at least for a few days...).

Two weekends ago (March 6-8th) was a good weekend to celebrate. I went to Gstaad with John, Helen and our buddy, Loren, to ski. Aggie went to Poland with our friend, Danielle. We both had great trips and it was fantastic catching up and telling each other about our trips on Sunday evening. Our next blog will be about our different weekend adventures. This weekend (March 14-15th) I've been skiing it up in Davos (on EY's tab)!

2.06.2009

Chamonix, France


After our New Years celebration at John and Helen's place, we took the liberty to relax and enjoy the day together on the 1st day of 2009. We caught up on a few things around the apartment, watched a few movies, and then we packed and prepared for our trip to Chamonix, France: Home of Europe's tallest mountain, Mont Blanc.

John and Helen rode with us and Dave and Ali came as well, toting everyone's gear. It worked out well and by 5-6pm we were all settled in our hotel. We had left a bit earlier than Dave and Ali and walked around the town after getting our stuff into our rooms. Needless to say, me and John were pumped and ready for the mountains (we grew fu-man-chu's for the trip, and yes, that's a John Deere shirt)!!



The hotel was situated literally right in the middle of the town. We could not have asked for a better location. Restaurants, shops, bars and even a casino were all within a one minute walk from our hotel door!

Once Dave and Ali arrived and we were all situated, we hung out for a small bit in our room, had some appetizer foods and drank some wine. Then, we headed out for dinner. We wish we would have known finding a place to eat on a Friday night would be so difficult!?

Long story short, we walked the town from one end to the next, stopping in a few places and got rejected, and finally settled on this random coffee shop that pretty much took frozen pizzas and baked them in the microwave! Kind of gross, but what can you do at this point? It definitely wasn't the nice French meal we are used to getting in France.

So, after our cardboard pizzas and refreshing beers, we headed back to our hotel for a night cap and went to bed. We all had high expectations for good skiing days ahead and wanted to get our beauty rest!

Needless to say, we were not disappointed by the skiing. The weather was beautiful and the views were amazing. We really lucked out! Every day we met for breakfast and then headed out to the slopes. (There's me - the slope bandit!) We would head back to the hotel around 3-4pm, take a nap and unwind, maybe sit in the sauna, etc and then meet for dinner.

One night, we stayed in and had cheese fondue. Ali and Dave brought their set and Helen picked up a few rotisserie chickens from a near by restaurant. We sat around, had some chicken and fondue, and watched the NFL playoff games via John's computer/sling-box. It was a nice evening and needless to say we went to bed full and happy.

Oh, and the best part was the hotel had these two dogs that just kind of wondered around the place. The one was 13-14 yrs old and basically blind (so the reception lady said). Needless to say, it didn't bother us at all. On the other hand, the other dog present was this "thing" (??) that was just a bouncing machine of muscle. It would bark, run in circles, jump up and down, poop in the middle of the floor, etc. When the dog smelled the chicken, it went crazy! We were finally able to "trap" it outside the dining room which was good.

So while we all skied/snowboarded, Aggie actually took up cross country skiing! She took some lessons on the first day and then went out to the trails the other days, which was cool. On the last day, I skied in the morning and then met her in the afternoon to try it. All I have to say, it was really challenging and I fell so many times! We had such a fun time hanging out in the middle of such a beautiful, scenic place and just laughing...it was a great day.

The last evening were were there, we went to a really nice restaurant for John's birthday. The food was traditional French and it didn't disappoint. The wine kept flowing and we all had a ball.

After dinner, we headed to the casino to see what it was all about. Obviously it wasn't anything compared to the Venetian or Bellagio in Vegas, but let's remember where we are people? Anyway, I sat down with 60 Euros at the blackjack table while Ag and Helen got drinks. Within 5 minutes, (maybe even 4) I was down to 10 Euros. I told Aggie to go to the ATM and take some money out, and she, of course, looked at me like I was nuts! John was like "Dude, you have that crazy look in your eye!" Long story short, she never went to the ATM and I didn't need her to. I started winning my money back on the next hand and walked away with an additional 75 Euros in my pocket. John had a great birthday night and walked away with 175 Euros!

The next day we were supposed to meet downstairs for breakfast and Helen had plotted to surprise John with a cake. Unfortunately, I was a bit of a party pooper. We had some issues when we tried to check out (they tried to over-charge us) and of course, I got all worked up about it. I was also sort of worried about the drive back, since we had to go through the mountains on some curvy roads, which were already very snowy/icy on the way into Chamonix, and the weather was calling for a big snow storm to roll through before noon. Anyway, needless to say we got it sorted and I freaked for no reason. Sorry John! Although I missed the cake, I was able to smoke a Cuban with John while we waited for the girls to go to the bathroom one last time before we jumped in the cars and said goodbye to Mont Blanc.


The drive back went very smooth and on the way we stopped for lunch at this fantastic Middle Eastern restaurant in Montreaux. John had been to Montreaux for a concert and stumbled upon it. It didn't disappoint - the food was awesome! We got home later that afternoon, unpacked and prepared for the rest of the work week.

Now it's already mid-February....my how time flies when you are having fun! We have both been working a lot as I'm in busy season and Aggie has very full days with the kids. Ag's health is okay, but we still have some "glitches" (as we like to call them) that need to be sorted. But we'll also get that all worked out, we are confident.

What else is going on?

- Agnes and I went to the Opera in Zurich last night for Valentine's Day...was really fun and I actually stayed awake for the whole thing!!

- I'm running in the Bern 10 miler on April 18 (Josh's Birthday!), which should be pretty cool (Bern is the capital of Switzerland and is an extremely beautiful place). In fact, the race is called "The most beautiful 10 miles in the world".

- Our plans for moving back to Chicago are falling into place which is excellent. My last day at work here is May 8, and my first day of work back in Chicago is June 15. In between is going to be a whole lot of fun travelling and such. We are trying to plan a few more trips between now and May to a some places within a 3 to 5 hour radius of Zurich that we still want to visit and see. Then we are heading to Thailand and Greece for basically the rest of May for our belated honeymoon. Awe-suuum! Then we'll be home sometime that first week of June.

- I'm trying to take advantage of the fact that we live an hour from the mountains and ski every weekend. So far it's going really well :-)

One last thing to report: For those who attended our wedding, you will remember Robbie and Laura (Rob read the 1st reading at mass, and Laura,his girlfriend, was one of the beautiful bartenders at our rehearsal dinner and read a Celtic prayer for us). Well, we got the news this morning that Rob popped the question last night at a romantic dinner in London, and Laura accepted!!! We couldn't be happier for the two of them and their families - they are perfect for each other and some of the best friends we could have possibly met over here!!


That's all for now...have a fantastic week!