Mehr Kuhglocke

SUMMER SNAPSHOT V: South of France

2009-09-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

My longtime travel buddy and friend, Jona, came out spontaneously to visit this summer. As we have traveled much of Europe together it took a while for us to settle on a place that neither of us had explored too much, but that was also a nice summer beach destination. We decided on the South of France. Our plan was to stay at the hostel in Nice for 6 nights and do day trips to the neighboring villages from there. At first we were worried that 6 nights would be too long in one place, but once we got there we realized we could stay all summer and never get tired of the beautiful weather, beaches and FOOD! As I have yet to receive Jona's half of the pictures from this trip, most of the pictures are of the beautiful scenery.

Flying Swiss Air: ZURICH-NICE

The Beach in Nice

On our first day we took the train close to the Italian border to a little town called Menton and we hiked the coast from Menton to Monaco (approx 8.5 miles). After arriving in the South of France, you quickly become accustomed to seeing large yachts and paparazzi everywhere. It is a classic destination for the rich and famous to spend there summer in the lap of luxury.

One of the only pictures of us together. We were halfway to Monaco!

The gorgeous view on the hike.

Before we got to Monaco we stopped at one of the beautiful pebble beaches for a swim. For those of you who are not familiar, Monaco is the second smallest country in the world, second only to the Vatican City. It is French speaking, takes about an hour to walk accross it and it is a tax haven making it home to some of the wealthiest people in the world. In an effort to keep it Klassy, Jona and I did a quick "French Makeover" before walking into Monaco in our sweaty hiking clothes and tennis shoes. Basically before we crossed the border we changed on the trail into long dresses and sandals (convienently packed in our backpack, just in case), applied deodorant and the highlight of it all, Jona using our cheese knife (stolen from the hostel) as a mirror to apply red lipstick...Keep it KLASSY!

Monaco was unlike anything I have ever seen (not necessarily in a good way), but it in the way that I have never seen so much money just sitting around everywhere. The first thing we hit when we walked in was a health club where the parking lot went: Maserati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Bentley, Bentley, Maserati, Audi, maybe a BMW in there somewhere and a few more Lamborghini's to top it off. I am not even going to mention what it was like when we got to the yachts at the port of Monaco.

This is Jona and I, at the height of our tans, getting ready to eat a delicious pasta dinner with Nicoise Salad (a specialty of Nice, you know salad, tuna, boiled egg, etc...). We had just spent the day at our favourite beach, Villefranche sur Mer just 5 minutes north of Nice.

Some more boats

This was a beautiful litte beach nestled in the cliffs called Cap d' Ail, I think that translates to Garlic coast, but my French sucks so i am not sure) . It was about a 15 minute hike to get there, but well worth it.

After 6 gorgeous sunny days of beach, hiking, and of course culturally enriching events it was time for us to part ways. Jona went off to London and I went back to Zuri.

SUMMER SNAPSHOT IV: Camping in Locarno

2009-09-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

As 3 girls on a budget and a mission to push one Swiss Franc as far as it will go, we decided the perfect Summer activity would be camping in the beautiful Italian part of Switzerland, Ticino (southern Switzerland). It is only a 2 1/2 hour drive down there and as soon as you get out of The St. Gotthard Tunnel (the third longest road tunnel in the world 16.4 kilometres (10.5 miles) in length), you can feel the Italian culture in the air and a hint of tropical paradise.

As Sean and I had just gone to the open air music festival, I had a tent, sleeping bags etc... There was just one little issue, and it was a little issue, my tent is for 2 people and not 3. But, as aforementioned, we were 3 girls on a budget determined to make it work.

The camping platz we selected: Number 94

Tent construction time.
I think taking these pictures took longer than putting the tent together, nonetheless we got that outback feel.
Yoga, Me, Wilson and Tent Construction

Our little Mexican: Sabrina got the job of hammering

Mama Jacqui: Helping with the other side of the tent

As the tent construction proved to be so exhausting and laborous, our little worker entertained us by putting on all forms of entertainment we brought and dancing around the tent.

Mamma Jacqui a.k.a interior tent designer made this two person tent into a cozy little home for 3, look closely, those are chocolates on the pillows!

We accidentally used the children's bathroom and our happy birthday hats were sticking up out of the stalls. No, it was not anyone's birthday, but we needed paper plates and the cheapest ones at the gas station came in a Happy Birthday set. Needless to say, we ended up celebrating everyone's birthday!

It also happenned to be the Locarno International Film Festival that weekend. After raising our temporary home, we walked along the lake to check out the festival in the Piazza Grande. We didn't have tickets, but we managed to get in anyway and watch a movie on the huge screen they erect every year in the middle of the square.

This yellow cheetah below is the symbol for the Locarno Film Festival every year

The next morning after a very cozy sleeping experience and a rainstorm (what are the chances!) we drove up the the 007 dam which is nestled in one of the many valleys of this region. We actually saw people bungy jumping off of it. When you look out over the edge, your heart stops and your head spins!

I love how GREEN Switzerland is!

We drove further up the valley to a beautiful bathing area in the river. This river is straight glacial water runoff and in the height of summer it still only reaches about 10 C or 50 F. We all jumped in anyway! Also, see the bridge behind us in the picture? Jacqui (far right) broke her back jumping off of it last year. We laid out on the rocks for a while and soaked up the afternoon sun over yet another picnic of bread, cheese and tomatoes. Also, I had never heard of scuba diving in a river (with rapids close by), but there was a team of scuba divers getting out of the river just as we arrived.

The color of the water was magnificent. This is also the view from the bridge where Jacqui broke her back.

And after all the fun it was time for a good ol' fashion BBQ. It was really fun to do a BBQ with just girls because usually guys get all pumped up on their testostorone and proclaim themselves as Grillmeister refusing to let anyone else have a hand in the fun (god forbid their ego take a blow from a strong independent woman). Not here sister, this was a true TEAM effort: I started the grill, Sabs was the professional wafter and Jacqui was kebab prep and meat patrol.

And when I went to go wash some items at the shore, I proceeded to slip on some slippery rocks and fall in the lake (ha ha ha...sound familiar Dad?)!! At least I provided some fabulous entertainment at my own expense.

And the feast was just beginning....

We were still rockin' out on our last morning picnic...Sabrina played the air guitar for our breakfast entertainment. Can you guess what the picnic consisted of?... bread, cheese, and cherry tomatoes!

Arrivederci Locarno!

SUMMER SNAPSHOT III: I'm on a boat

2009-09-26T23:27:00.001-07:00

I'm on a Boat...

For the few weeks/month that there is an actual summer in Switzerland, you have to soak it up as much as you can. And, what a better way to do that than to spend the sunniest days on a speedboat on lake Zurich?

Luckily, one of my friends has a boat and all the toys to go with it: skis, wakeboard and a surfboard.

small print: we are all wearing the same sunglasses because Jacqui does promotion for a company that makes you wear those sunglasses, it became a theme on the boat that day.

The Zurich Girls

The Visitors

Jona is on the right visiting from New York and just in time to soak up some Zurich some fun. In the middle is Sabrina who came from Singapore to also enjoy summer in Zurich...who knew Zurich was a hot summer destination point?

Dogpile
we were bored waiting in line to fill up on gas and somehow this seemed like a fun way to pass the time, Sabrina wasn't too happy about that one, she is at the bottom!

That is me, SURFING on lake Zurich! I think it was by far one of the funnest things I have ever done. You have no bindings, it is just a regular surfboard and you have to stand up and surf the wake. At first it feels strange because you feel like you should be wakeboarding, but then you realize you are surfing and it is so much FUUUUNNNNNNN!!!

This is Sabrina, Jona and I on a day trip to a little German town called Konstanz on the Bodensee (lake). It is only a 40 minute train ride from Zurich and you are in Germany. We rented a paddle boat and explored the lake for hours, before we upgraded to a speedboat in Zurich the next day!

SUMMER SNAPSHOT II: Gurtenfest

2009-09-17T03:34:00.000-07:00

GURTENFEST 2009

Gurtenfest is an open air music festival that happens every year just outside of Bern (the capitol of Switzerland). Open air anything in Switzerland is always risky as the weather just has a mind of her own. In any case, thousands gather on this little Swiss hill to camp and listen to great music all weekend. We went because Kings of Leon were playing, but there were amazing bands on all weekend.

Our tent is packed, we're ready to go, we're leaving on a Swiss train.....

Sean walking to the campsite at Gurten. Thank god for our Gummistiefel (rainboots) because as you can see it decided to storm the entire first day of the festival, but we just imagined it was like what Woodstock would have been like!

Sean convienently put the tent on an incline which was not his best "Engineering" idea ever. Imagine a tarp floor, an incline and a sleeping bag. We were sliding to the bottom of the tent the entire night. At one point I woke up and Sean was just curled in a ball at the bottom of the tent!

The Main Stage

Sea of People
One band got the entire audience of thousands to jump up and down all together for an entire song. It looked like an undulating sea of people and was such a cool experience to be a part of. He brought the whole crowd together and reminded us that we were all there for the MUSIC.

One of the 2 side stages

The Day After

Spot the person below? Somebody passed out with their boots on in their tent and their tent collapsed on them...the best part was this tent was right next to the morning coffee stand so everyone was up and chatting over morning coffee and this person never moved!

The Swiss lad working at the coffee shop had struck up a conversation with me the day before and thought it was awesome that we were from California but living in Switzerland. When he Saw Sean and I stumble up to the coffee stand the next morning he yelled at the top of his lungs..."Heyyya is anyone here from California???" (he was still drunk from the night before). Then he proceeded to give us free "Swiss Coffee's " all morning. What is in a swiss coffee? Well, the irish do it with Bailey's and the Swiss do it with Schnapps! It was a fun morning, but I don't think I will be having another Swiss Coffee anytime soon.

Sunset on the last day after Kings of Leon played, they put on an incredible show and then it was finally time to pack up the tent and hike back down to the train station

SUMMER SNAPSHOT: A-Z Birthday BBQ Bash

2009-09-17T03:16:00.000-07:00

Now that you can officially smell fall in the air and whispers of roasted chesnuts, mulled wine and fondue can be heard, I felt it was time to take a snapshot of our amazing Summer 2009! (I will attempt to do the snapshot in order of actual events.)

A-Z Birthday BBQ Bash

The Occasion: Allie turned 25 and Zoe turned 26 so we had a BBQ to ring in the start of Summer in Zurich and our birthdays

The Invite that was sent out (created by A and Z)

Allie's Famous BBQ

Keep it Classy

The Birthday Cake

And of course a good 'ol game of American Football with a blow up volleyball afterwards

For Mom: The Trip

2009-07-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

This blog is dedicated to my Mom ( it is extremely delayed), however the trip was just too good not to pay homage to it on the blog. After the madness of the Christmas holiday, we went on a mother-daughter adventure through Switzerland: visiting the little Swiss Italian town (CURIO) where Grandpa Eddie's relatives were thought to have immigrated from, a full moon in St. Moritz and the spa hotel in Tarasp. Overall, it was a blast with tons of laughs, some questionable behavior and some pictures and stories that have to stay off this page!

Here is the blitz version of the adventure.

We managed to find the little little town of Curio just outside of Lugano. It was fun to imagine what our relatives would have been doing when they were living there. We were not there during the proper lunch time and there was only one restaurant in town anyway, but we were directed to a cafe on the side of the road where they might serve us food. Unfortunately there was no camera to document this moment, but all of a sudden we look up and ALL the men from the entire town of Curio (all wearing flannel) were at the bar!!! Apparently it was quite an exciting event to have to chicks from California in their town, and I am pretty sure we inadvertantly started one domestic fight....ooops.

Morning on Lake Lugano where we stayed

BEFORE
MIDDLE
artistic representation of what happenned next.....

AFTER

THE CAUSE
The next day we woke up in a little fairy tale spa hotel at the base of a castle in a small mountain town called Tarasp

We went on a long snow hike...

...and after a few hours we found this amazing little inn nestled in the valley that served a hot lunch and hot cocoa

Extreme Sledding!

This is where my mom gets major points for jumping on a sled...at least she got a chance to exercise her vocal cords at the same time too! For those of you who are not familiar, this is not the kiddie sledding, the swiss dedicate entire mountain runs to sledding and it can be faster and more dangerous than skiing.

And of course being such a small town, we ran into the ticket control guy on the train that let us black ride the train the night before because it was just easier than trying to get the two of us to pay for tickets on a full moon after bottles of wine on the top of the mountain in St. Moritz (well that is not the whole story, but you can imagine!)

Thank you mom for a fabulous adventure, tons of laughs and some much needed mother daughter time. And as always, thank you for being such an amazing mom.

I love you.

2 Hamburgers Get Married

2009-07-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

We're going to go memento over the next few weeks as we rehash a lifetime (or in this case, the last few months) of events that have occurred in reverse chronological order. We have been everywhere from Paris to Panama, Nice to San Francisco, Grindelwald to other places that I can't even remember. But first, we remember a night in Hamburg and two beautiful days in Glucksburg where one of Allie's closest friends in Zurich got married.

So, last thursday afternoon Allie and I hopped on a flight in Zurich and jetted out to Hamburg in Northern Germany. We landed, we checked into our awesome hotel,

Superbude, and then we left to explore the city. Allie had previously been to Hamburg, so she was able to give me the grand tour. The Alster, the altstadt, the Cos store where I had to get some dress pants for the wedding (27 years old and still without a nice pair of dress pants? I obviously don't have a real job!). I got hungry so we went to the wine festival out in front of the Rathaus, and Allie got yelled at when she asked for beer.

After that, Allie took me to the grittier/more alternative part of town where we sat down and ate burritos (yes, a legit burrito, and it was wonderful!) and then we explored the area and appreciated the street art.

The sun was starting to look like it may set (at this point is was around 9/930), so we took the subway to the port where Allie was determined to get on a boat for a tour of the port (shipping is huge in Hamburg).

Things were kind of hectic and there didn't seem to be any place to buy tickets for a boat, so Allie jumped on a boat that looked nice enough and I followed. As Allie was looking for the captain or someone who could tell us what boat we were on, where it was going, and where we could buy a ticket, the lights started flashing and the boat pulled away and started on it's course. Luckily, it was simply part of the public transport system so a) we already had tickets for it and b) it went on a nice tour of the port and returned us to the place we left from. After that, we had to return home, because we were leaving on a train to Glucksburg bright and early the next morning.

One train (2 hours), a stop in Flensburg,

and two buses later (1 hour) and we were as far north in Germany as you can go in a little town called Glucksburg. The town is right on the East Sea where you can literally see Denmark right across the way.

The wedding reception was being held at the Strandhotel Glucksburg, and even though it was way above our social and monetary standing to stay there, we did it anyways.

Literally, the nicest hotel we have ever stayed at. Our room was huge, luxury everywhere we turned, and our balcony had an ocean view.

Plus, the day was absolutely perfect (not a cloud in the sky) so we were able to get an entire day of fun in the sun on the beach.

The highlight was swimming in the incredibly clear water. As Allie and I were just about waste deep, we looked around us and saw that there were about 15 jellyfish surrounding us. We started to freak out, they were everywhere. We looked around us and saw kids playing in the water, and people swimming, and we were confused. Then, we saw two kids in the water with a basket of jellyfish they had caught. We watched them for a second, saw them grab the jellyfish bare handed, and even throw the jellyfish at eachother. Allie touched a jellyfish first, then I did, then I picked one up, then she did, what an experience!

The wedding was the next day. The service took place in the chapel of an awesome castle. As I was sitting down, getting ready for the service, I realized that I wasn't going to understand a word of the ceremony, or any of the speeches at the reception. Then, I realized that with all the international friends we have made over the last few years here, I may not understand anything at many of the weddings we go to in the future! The service was nice and it was fun to sing in German. Then, we were back to the hotel for the reception. For Allie and I, the reception lasted from 5:30pm to 3:30am, with most of that time spent on the dance floor. The pictures tell the story...

So, that's about it, good times in Hamburg, good times in Glucksburg, and on to our next adventure as usual.

Part 3 - Zermatt Saga continued: Hitting the slopes in style

2009-04-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

We had to hit the slopes at least for a day and what better way to do it than in Vintage 1960's to 1980's ski outfits. Some of you may have seen these outfits last season, however as you well know, they never go out of style. What you might not know is that Sharon and Rick wore their outfits when they were avante-garde off the Paris runway 20 years ago in Zermatt! Talk about Déjà-vu. You two are my heroes.

After Sean struggled into his skin tight pants we were on our way.

Team Awesome: Ready, set, go

Almost.....

Allie and the Assasin

And the Matterhorn pics

Après-Ski: The real reason people ski in Zermatt

And this is how it is done. It is all about the fanny pack. Just ask professional Après-Skier Richard Boyer

Before leaving the next morning. Sean and I woke Rick up before the sun had hit the valley for some light morning sledding.

Some of us had tons of fun....

While others were just trying to survive...

The "riding the bull" sledding technique proved fatal

Christmas 2008 - The Elusive Part 2

2009-04-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived in Zurich, so it seems kind of silly to continue where we last left off. But no matter, we'll do it anyways. Which means that we are now on to Day 1 of Zermatt. And no trip to Zermatt, and Switzerland in general, would be complete for Rick without a visit to Sunnegga Paradise. And lucky for us, there was not a cloud in the sky!

But first we had to drag everyone out of bed Zurich and get ready for the trip.

We packed, and then hopped on the first train we could make to get us to Taesch and check into our hotel. As soon as we were all settled, we took the first shuttle into Zermatt and went straight up to the Sunnegga terrace

which provided Beth and Don with their first taste of mountain Rosti and Rick got his hot chocolate.

There were also some decent views!

Finally, we ended the day in a cozy little cafe/bar for a hot drink.

Now, on to day 2...

Christmas 2008... Part 1

2009-01-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

I have no idea where to begin. It's been over two weeks since Christmas. Allie is currently in St. Moritz (or somewhere around there) with her mother. I just got back from a day of skiing at Flumserberg. I think it's the first time I've been able to sit back and relax since Allies parents, and Aunt and Uncle from Indiana, arrived at the main station on Dec. 26. The craziness began with their arrival on unofficial Christmas and continued through Zermatt, Montreaux, Gruyere, and then back to Zurich... where it continues. I have over 1000 photos from various camera sources to sift through. So, unlike last year when I just posted picture after picture, I'm going to break this up into a proper 6 or 7 part entry. So let's start with the arrival of the relatives, Jan. 26 2008 and the madness that began, and continued, and continues, and never, ever, ends...

Allie and I had a quiet christmas. We woke up, I think we went for a walk, but only after a hot cup of coffee. We each got to open one present. That's about the extent of 20 percent of our day. The rest of the day was filled with cleaning and preparing for real Christmas on the 26th, and lots and lots of laundry.

The room was set

Which made Allie happy

We relaxed, we waited, and then... They arrived

Yeah them!

After picking Rick and Sharon and Don and Beth from the train station, we went directly to our apartment. First, we opened a bottle of wine and showed everyone around

While Rick got his bearings

Unlike last year when we waited until after all the food and wine to open presents (and the mayhem that resulted), we kept things civilized by opening presents first. Obviously, Allie was responsible for all presents (other than the ones I gave her), she's good...

And then, we feasted... The new, traditional Christmas dinner, Raclette!

It started out civilized

But then got a little crazy

In the end, it was another successful Christmas (well, day after Christmas) in Zurich. At the end of the night, we showed Beth and Don to their hotel

And then we all went directly to bed, after a walk through the old town of course. It was going to be a hectic, and early, morning. We were off to Zermatt, the home of the Matterhorn, for two days of fun in the snow. The forecast was bright.

End Part 1...

The Snowy Hills of Zurich

2008-12-14T02:20:00.000-08:00

Once again, the winter holiday season is upon us. A time for roasted chestnuts, mulled wine, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, and Sunday shopping. Walking around the old town, lights swing between buildings like magic and people drag around bags and bags of gifts, there is definitely a buzz in the air. Allie and I have been a little too busy to notice the obvious change in atmosphere. But, the time is now. It has begun. We finally bought our Christmas tree yesterday. Just like last year, we took Tram 13 to the end of the line near Uetliberg mountain. But, this time around, there was something a little different, it was snowing. The tree that we picked out, up in the mountains, actually had snow on it. There is something magical about a Christmas tree with snow on it. Anyways, it took us about two seconds to find the perfect tree for us. Lopsided, crooked, essentially imperfect and wonderful. We carried it home happily and set off to transform our living room into a cozy Christmas paradise.

I don't know where I've been, but I'm finally here. To be honest, I haven't done anything Christmas related yet, which means I may be in for a busy next two weeks. Allie has already done ALL of her Christmas shopping! When did that happen? I don't know...

Other than the wonderful preparation for the arrival of Allie's parents and Aunt and Uncle on Dec. 26 for a week of craziness, we've been mostly going about our usual everyday, fun, European experience. Allie spent a weekend up in Murren with some of her girlfriends. I've attended a couple Champions League games in Basel. The last one I went with Allie and we both had a wonderful time, even though it was freezing and snowing during the game.

We have Christmas parties galore coming up the next couple weeks. Aperos at work, fondue with friends, etc. etc.

So yeah, thats about the extent of it. Right now, it's Sunday morning and Allie is working like a mad woman around the house. But once we're done here, we're going to go for a nice hike up the mountain, and bring some of our sleds along just in case. Then when we get home, we'll roast some chestnuts and put the finishing touches on our Christmas apartment. I love this time of year.

California Dreaming

2008-11-09T04:19:00.000-08:00

This has been way overdue. After spending time in New York, Allie returned back to Zurich, and I continued west to California for five days in sunny California. The first couple days were spent with my family (I hadn't seen my parents in over a year!), mostly eating all the mexican food and sushi that I could get my hands on and taking long walks on the beach. I remember questioning how anyone could just go on vacation and sit on a beach, but I realize thats because I was living an endless vacation in San Diego. When Allie and I lived in Pacific Beach, literally a block from the beach, we were beyond spoiled. We used to get up in the morning and just walk down to the beach and drink coffee. January through December, it was always sunny and warm in San Diego. It's starting to snow here in Switzerland, time for another long, but wonderful, winter. Man, we had it good. But, that was our beach life, now we are on to our mountain life.

Once the weekend hit, I was suddenly surrounded by all my best friends from college for the soccer alumni game. There were guys flying into SD from all over the place for the weekend; New York, Michigan, Ohio, San Francisco, Oregon, Sweden, Switzerland, etc., etc. Some of the guys I have been good about staying in touch with, others I hadn't spoken to in years. But, it was amazing just how natural it was to fall back into sync with all of them. Except now, we are all a little bit older. We're all still just kids at heart, especially Orchard, but now we have real jobs and real responsibilities. We're all on our own and taking care of ourselves. And best of all, everyone is doing so well. I can't say how good it makes me feel that everyone that I care about from university is successful, adventurous, and happy. Plus, we cover each others emergency needs. We have multiple doctors, lawyers, real estate gurus, financial stress cases, spiritual wanderers, etc. You name it, we got it. I can't wait for the next alumni weekend, although I hope to see some of the guys sooner than that. I mean, there's always a free place to stay in Zurich, Switzerland!

The pictures of Me, the Beach, and my goofy Family in San Diego:

The pictures with the Guys:

The future doctor, dentist, and financier... Yes, I can now give everyone labels. I won't though, although I could.

Oh, how the times have changed... we now take limos! This is the first of two nights we all went out together. As is tradition, we hit up the Karl Strauss Brewery for food and drinks.

After the alumni game, we wandered around campus for a bit. It was definitely a blast from the past... It seems just like yesterday we were frequenting Price Center on a daily basis.

Our hotel pool had the most comfortable lounge chairs. We all passed out by the pool for hours. I can't believe this just happened a couple weeks ago. It's zero degrees centigrade here right now, and snowing!

And then, of course, the climax of the weekend, the alumni party at En Fuego. I really do miss these guys.

BEST PICTURE OF ALL TIME.

Miz is in the same boat as me. Apparently there is not much good Mexican food in Cleveland. So, this was our big sending off. Amazing, I think we got five burritos and carne asada fries during this visit for around $30 or so. In Zurich, one burrito costs $30! Mexican food, how I miss thee!

One more time, the ocean. I remember getting off the plane just a few weeks ago, and the thick beautiful salty air filling my lungs. The moisture in the air was heavenly. Again, I became addicted to the smell, the sound, and the feel of the ocean. Walking barefoot in the sand, the cold water rushing up and around. When we were at En Fuego in Del Mar, I stepped out to get some fresh air for a couple minutes, and made my way down to the beach. I just sat there looking out at the sea, listening to the waves gently crash on the shore, and then retreat back into the dark. The sky was clear, the moon was bright, I saw stars. I must have sat there for about an hour before deciding that I had soaked in enough. The sea is one of those things that simply cannot be replaced. Personally, it has a calming effect on me that almost nothing else does. Luckily, the Alps have the same effect.

Ok, that's it. This post was way overdue. Allie and I have been slacking big time. A real update soon...

Banksy Invades Soho

2008-11-09T02:37:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have never heard of Banksy, go to his website right now. The site:

http://www.banksy.co.uk

I repeat, go there right now. He is an absolute genius.

During our trip to New York, I spent a couple nights at my buddy Burke's apartment in Soho/Chinatown. One of the nights I was there, I went to a loft party in Soho with Burke's roommates Yashar and Brian, and on the way home, they pointed to a large mural of a rat and the words "Let Them Eat Crack", and commented that it was Banksy. I am a huge fan of Banksy, so I was obviously very excited. They told me that for the entire month of October, Banksy was putting on an (anonomous) exhibition in Soho. Essentially, the city let him paint four large Street Art Paintings on various buildings throughout Soho AND install a pseudo Pet Shop in the Village. I enthusiastically spent an afternoon with Yashar visiting all the Art Pieces.

Let Them Eat Crack

I Heart NYC

Good Publicity

Appreciating Street Art

The Pet Shop (a mechanical installation commenting on the exploitation of animals). The line for the pet shop stretched down the block. It was amazing how many people knew this was going on, and funny to see people walk by who had no idea what was going on.

Swissed out in New York City

2008-10-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

We're back... With all the anticipation, the nerves, and the expectations of the unexpected, our first return to the US since August 17, 2007 was, well, easy. Correction, the majority of it (everything after getting into the country) was easy. The fact that we were barely allowed to enter the country of our birth was a bit of a shock. I mean, we were traveling to the US from Switzerland AND, more importantly, we are US citizens, but we had to speak with 4, yes 4, different customs officials before they allowed us to enter the country. Just imagine what non-citizens have to go through. The level of paranoia and fear that has gripped our country, and the power with which it strangles many US citizens, is frightful. In contrast to our 'difficulties' entering into our home country, our return to Switzerland was blissful. There was a wave of relaxation that encompassed my entire body as soon as I arrived in the Zurich airport, with the familiar sounds of Swiss German confusing my subconscious. I was greeted by the customs official with a smile, and within seconds was in baggage claim waiting for my bags. I then proceeded to pick up my bags, hop on a spotless train running within seconds of the schedule, and glided into the main station. A couple minutes and a few cobblestones later, I was home.

Ok, getting back on track, Allie and I arrived at the JFK International Airport at night, we stepped off the plane and suddenly, according to my adjusted memory, we were standing, bags in hand, on the sidewalk outside with none other than Allie's mustachioed brother Blake walking towards us with a mischievous grin on his face. We proceeded directly to Blake and Elena's apartment in Brooklyn, but not without stopping at a late night Mexican stand for Allie (I had ruined my appetite by eating a salty airline meal). We immediately went to sleep and woke up the next morning on NYC time.

Allie and I have been to New York City many, many times. So we've seen all the touristy things that there are to be seen. We've been to Central Park, to Wall Street, to the Met (several times), Time Square, Rockefeller Center, etc. So, now, whenever we find ourselves in New York City, we simply live and experience. Not to mention eat, drink, and shop. Especially since we come from Zurich, which makes New York City feel like a budget paradise.

But during this latest trip, we also had a chance to experience and fall in love with Brooklyn. The artsy, scenester paradise that is Brooklyn. Trendy cafes, boutiques, and restaurants seem to be popping up all over the place in Brooklyn. At least that is the impression that we got after staying there the entire week.

Unfortunately, of the hundreds of pictures that we took over the course of the week, only a couple are remotely decent. Usually taking pictures is a good way to remember what we did, which makes writing that much easier, but since at this point the entire trip just blends together, I'll give this. We saw friends and family, we saw art, we stuffed our greedy little faces, and bought the essentials that we can't get here in Zurich. We had picture perfect weather, and we blended like locals, without any feeling of being out of touch. New York City and the surrounding areas is one of the most diverse areas in the world in terms of ethnicity and culture, and when one has been fortunate enough to see even a little bit of the world, those differences which may have been frightening in the beginning, are now a wonderful source of acceptance, intrigue, and inspiration.

On to the pictures...

A couple pictures from our time in Barcade. A truly amazing bar. Old school arcade video games lined the walls of this large loft-like bar.

A stroll through Central Park.

Our National Debt!

The first Sushi!

Brooklyn Diner Food for the day after. We considered the Elvis special (waffle topped with peanut butter, banana, and bacon), but reconsidered.

Hand standing at Blake and Elenas.

And the last of few decent pictures that were taken during our week in New York.

Until next time New York City (and Brooklyn).

Zurich Film Festival

2008-10-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

When Allie and I arrived in Zurich more than a year ago, we immediately started to read up on all the different events that go on throughout the year. We were determined to be in the loop and to make Zurich our home. One of the first events that caught our attention was the Zurich Film Festival which takes place in late September until early October. The thing is, almost nobody knows about the festival. It's only four years old at this point. Last year all the movies were low budget endeavors, good movies, but lacking the glitz and glamor of the big film festivals. But this year, we could tell that the tide was turning. This year, they had red carpets and even successful stars and directors coming to promote their movies. For us, the best experience we had was the first movie we attended this year, Religulous.

Religulous documents a cross world journey of comedian (and far left political figure) Bill Maher, simply asking questions about religion. Questions, quite frankly, that people just can't answer, don't like to answer, refuse to think about, ignore completely, or answer automatically with rhetoric. The first segment of the movie focusses on Christianity, but then it shifts to Scientology, Mormonism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, and more. To be honest, I didn't expect the movie to be as civil and smart as it actually was, and at the same time absolutely hilarious. To give you an idea about the 'approach' of the movie, all you have to think about is the director's last movie, Borat.

As good as the movie was, and as much as both Allie and I enjoyed it, the Q and A session afterwards with the director, Larry Charles, could not be topped. He spent about an hour answering question after question, from a suprisingly intellectual audiance, with patience, intellect, and wit. It was a wonderful experience.

The second movie we attended was the premiere of Eagle Eye. The director D.J. Caruso spoke momentarily before the movie. The movie was enjoyable, albeit remeniscent of many before, but this was Allie's kind of movie and she loved it. The third movie we attended was the premiere of The Hurt Locker, a powerful movie set in, but not about, the war in Iraq. The Hurt Locker was incredibly powerful and thought provoking, and drastically different than the director's most famous film, Point Break. And lastly, we went to the Swiss premiere of Burn After Reading. Brilliant, brilliant, and some more brilliant. We loved it.

Well, now we are off to America. We'll be spending the next week eating bagels and pizza in New York City. And then I am off to San Diego for my soccer alumni game. I can't believe that it's been around one year and three months since we have been in the US. I don't know how I'm going to handle being able to understand everyone!

Tapping the Bavarian Spirit

2008-09-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

One million words:

Two million words:

Ladies and gentlemen of the choir, esteemed colleagues. Here we present a classy and sophisticated expose of Bavarian Beer, Bavarian Women, and Bavarian Pig. Oktoberfest 2008! Last Saturday, the 19th of September, was the very first day of Oktoberfest 2008 in Munich, Germany. It was said that if you did not get there early, that there was no way to get into an official tent, let alone find a table that had not been reserved. I mean, this was the first day of Oktoberfest! So, we got there early, and of course Sophie and Allie needed morning coffee.

Oh yeah, Miss Sophie Boddington, one of Allie's best friends from San Francisco, California, came to visit us just in time for Oktoberfest (as well as the first Raclette of the season!).

Reminiscent of Feria in Sevilla, as we arrived in the morning we encountered a huge fair ground in the middle of Munich, filled with rides, games, and the ominous beer tents. And when I say tent, I mean TENT, as in they are built to hold upwards of 7000 people. So, we got there at 8, and even though the tents didn't open until 9/10, there were huge, huge lines. But, luckily I was there with two beautiful girls in traditional garb. When they left to go to the bathroom, leaving me to save our place in line, I was skeptical of our ability to appropriate a table in the tent. Especially since official Oktoberfest beer is only served to those who are sitting at a table. But, then Allie returned solo and pulled me out of line. Turns out that a security guard had let them into a tent before the doors even opened, and Allie had quickly run off to get her "friend". Either way, we got into the tent pretty much before anyone else and found a table that had not been reserved. So, what's the lesson? Always travel with pretty girls, apparently they get things that we guys couldn't dream of!

Pre-Beer: We got in at 9, but the first beer doesn't get poured until 12, so we had a little bit of time to kill. So, we wandered around and ate brezi (pretzels) and made new friends at our table, who would soon become our drinking buddies!

The three hours went by fairly quick and we had a good time talking, exploring, dancing on the benches and playing cards, but as the hands of the clock crept closer and closer to 12, all 7000 of us in the tent grew a little edgy and impatient. But, good things come to those who are patient, a lesson we learned the hard way since I think we were the last table in the entire tent to receive our beer. But, I must say it was worth the wait. Well worth the wait.

The Song:

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Gemutlichkeit!
Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Gemutlichkeit!

(Cheers, Cheers, Coziness!)
You gotta love Oktoberfest. It's all about the beer, and the food and the traditional garb. Next year I have to get a pair of lederhosen.

Mmm Mmm Mmm, there's nothing like Schweinshaxe during the second beer (or mass as they call the gigantic 1 Liter Oktoberfest beers!) You gotta respect the waiters and waitresses who sometimes walk around with as many as 15 Beers at once.

Allie and Sophie making friends.

Somehow Antonello wandered into our tent of all tents and Allie was kind enough to point him in the right direction. Lucky him, he wouldn't have been able to get a beer if he hadn't run into us!

Well, until we changed tents at least. A friend of mine from ETH, a native Munchener, invited us to his reserved table in the massive Paulaner tent. So, at 4, we wandered out of the tent where we were greeted by the sun and thousands of jolly Bavarians in lederhosen and dresses, and stepped right back into another tent.

Once again, good beer, good food, great people, and lots of drunk bavarians singing Schlager (the folk music of Bavaria) renditions of popular american songs!

The day after... just don't talk to her.

Well not until she's had her coffee.

I have to say that Munich is growing on Allie and I. There is a reason Mercer ranked it as the city with the 8th best quality of life in the world. Of course, we all know the number one... yeah, that's right, Zurich!

But then again, they surf in Munich. Yes, that is a real picture. Surfers on a standing wave in a river.

San Diegans need to rock the moto + surf board combination. How cool is this!

So, all in all, Oktoberfest = Good Fun. We'll definitely be heading back there again in the future.

The End Of The World As We Know It

2008-09-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

With this election just around the corner, Allie and I have been thinking politics. And so we've been watching The Daily Show nonstop, by far the best way to receive political news. Obviously, we are crazy far left liberals of the California type, who believe in peace, choice, acceptance, and international exploration. Yep, that's us. We are Democrats with big city values. We have absolutely no small town values. To be honest, it truly amazes me that (some) Republicans who argue for small town values and common sense can be so hateful and ignorant. Now, the election is just two months away. Let the downright depressing mudslinging contest commence. Let the name calling, social issue bending, and fanatical religious judgment begin. It's sad, but this is the way the world works. This is the way the USA works. Politics is just a game. A game of money and power and religion, the three G's. A game of double standards, hippocracy, and manipulation. And it is this way because of the ignorance of the American people and the ease with which we become manipulated. I just hope that for the first time in years, the American people elect a strong and inspirational leader. A leader who can immediately restore dignity to America. Switzerland for Obama 2008!

I've registered for an absentee ballot, although I don't really think it matters since California is so wonderfully blue. But I have to admit, I'm scared that middle America might once again throw it's conservative weight against the Democrats, and the consequences could be catastrophic. This crazy lady VP choice scares the heck out of me. And that was before Allie threw out the fact that she would become the president in the event that something happened to McCain. Be scared, be very scared.

Ok, that's it for my crazy political rant. I could go on for hours, but I won't because oh, so much has happened lately, and lots today.

The particle accelerator/atom smasher was turned on today at CERN in Geneva. Everyone in my lab was raving about it. Yes, we are still here, but there was never any risk in turning it on. That comes in October, when they will actually start making the particles collide. Fun stuff!

Allie and I just got back from the Switzerland-Luxembourg World Cup qualifier. And to my great disappointment, Switzerland lost to the minnows! How? So depressing, but still, a fun game to watch.

Tomorrow, tickets for the Zurich Film Festival go on sale. Apparently, the ZFF is aiming at becoming the Sundance of Europe. They even have Sylvester Stallone coming here for an award and to put on an acting workshop. The students will have to memorize and perform a monologue from Rocky and/or First Blood. I'm trying to sign Allie up.

And lastly, I am going to leave you with some pictures from a recent night out on the town. A couple weekends ago Allie invited me out with her friends to go to a costume party at a bar in the city. The theme was movie characters. So, after a great deal of thought, I put on my plaid shorts, a vneck cotton shirt, a bath robe, slippers, and black sunglasses. Poof, I was The Dude, to perfection (unfortunately I didn't have the gear to pull The Jesus). But then Allie got home and vetoed my plan. She was going as roller girl, so I had to go as Dirk Diggler. Yes, she did wear roller skates all night long, even in the bar. Oh, and it wasn't really a costume party at the bar. It was just Allie and her friends deciding to randomly dress up. Needless to say, we stood out!

Oh, yeah, and then there was also the Lange Nacht Museum, or Long Night at the Museum. Essentially, one night a year all the museums stay open until 2am and have food and drinks, and people just go from museum to museum all night long. Here are some pictures from the Tram Museum, which we actually loved. We also visited the Coffee museum which was a disappointment and then the Swiss National Museum which was awesome. And then Allie was tired and we went home!

Zuriversery 2008

2008-08-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Allie and I saw Eric Clapton in concert last night. He still has it. The night before we went to the Zurich premiere of The Dark Night. Awesome movie. Two nights before, we went to the closing night of Orange Cinema, the open air venue where the screen is literally sitting on the water. The night was beautiful, we got free ice cream, and the film was great. We rode our bikes home. This weekend Allie has another team triathlon and my soccer season starts.

To put it things simply, our time in Zurich is going well. Very well. Amazingly well. It's been one year now, and although we are both slowly losing the ability to speak grammatically correct English, I would say that we are both extremely happy with our decision to move to Switzerland. That isn't to say that we don't miss things from the States. It's just that we can count the things we miss from the states on one hand. Friends, family, mexican food, sushi, and (I'm sure Allie has one more). And not necessarily in that order.

Work is going very well for both of us. I'm juggling a couple different projects and teaching, and without going in to any depth whatsoever, it's all going very well. Allie is working extremely hard at work, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if she got another promotion... soon.

This is funny. I'm sitting in our living room right now, trying to put a year in Zurich into perspective. I can't think of a single negative thing to say. To be honest, it doesn't even feel weird, or special, or difficult, or anything. This is simply where we live. We know the streets (Allie even knows most of the street names, I never even knew street names in San Diego), we recognize the buildings, we see people around town, we get invited to events. We live in Zurich. And the best part is that none of the magic has left with our integration into Zurich life. I'm about to hop on my bike and ride to soccer practice. And while I ride my bike along the river through the middle of town I will most definitely look up at the old city walls, the beautiful buildings, and the alps in the distance. And while I do this I will come very close to falling over because my tire got stuck in the tram tracks, or a cobble stone jumped up and took out my tire. This is where we live, and I couldn't imagine leaving anytime soon.

I can remember the things we had to go through to get to this point. The roller coaster ride with our permits. "They are ready, no they aren't, they are ready, no they aren't, now they're ready!" Finding an apartment, furnishing our apartment, Allie's whole work debacle. But in the end, we have been extremely fortunate. Pretty much everything has worked out in our favor. We have a beautiful apartment in the center of the city with an amazing roof terrace. Allie has a great job where she will definitely be able to grow (if that's what she wants). Our apartment is quite empty still, we don't have a TV, a coffee table, or even a bed frame, but we do have a guest room which has been occupied quite a bit, and instead of buying a TV or a bed frame we have used our extremely limited budget to go to Paris, Como, and various other European destinations.

One year down, and things couldn't be going better. So here is to the next one!

Now I have to hop on my bike and try not to fall...

Street Parade 2008

2008-08-13T10:03:00.001-07:00

I think it's the right time to post our pictures from Street Parade last Saturday. By our, I mean me taking pictures of Allie with 'quirky' individuals. Note that there were some pictures that I flat out refused to take. Ok, that's it, there's nothing else for me to say. Enjoy!!

From Como With Love

2008-08-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

As alluded to in our last post, we spent last weekend (including Friday which was a holiday) exploring Lake Como. Yes, that's right, a weekend trip to Italy. I still can't get over that we can do that. Our destination on the lake was Bellagio, no not the one in Vegas, but the original beautiful cobble stoned city aptly named the "Pearl of Lake Como". Our Hotel was smack dab in the center of the city, it was run by a pleasant family, and our room even had a partial lake view. So, what can I say. The weather, the food, the lake, the gorgeous towns... there was even a castle with owls, eagles, and falcons (and I LOVE castles!). It was all simply incredible. We're thinking that some day in the future we will return to Lake Como and either bike from town to town, kayak from town to town, or just do it the old fashioned way and hike from town to town.

Friday morning we left the house around 7 am. After a 3.5 hour train ride and a 45 minute hydrofoil ride on Lake Como, we arrived in beautiful Bellagio. We landed, but not without a little craziness, and simply strolled around the town all day until the weather took a turn. The weather forecast said thunderstorms at night, and it did not disappoint.

Allie and I on the promenade along the water in Bellagio.

Cool view down to the water near our hotel in Bellagio.

Allie at the point. Bellagio is situated on a small little Peninsula that separates the lake.

Day 2, we rolled over in bed and this is what we saw out our window!

7 am, on vacation, up and on a morning hike with Allie. Apparently they don't have sidewalks in Italy, you just walk on the road with the cars!

The public beach in the suburbs of Bellagio. One thing we found out is that Lake Como is not exactly set up for lake living (beaches, boats, etc.) like it's counterparts (Lugano and Maggiore).

Running stairs at 7 am, crazy.

A view of the suburbs of Bellagio. The weather sure cleared up after a night of thunderstorms!

Allie walking back up to our hotel.

A view of Varenna from the boat. One of the most beautiful cities we have ever had the pleasure of exploring. We went there Sunday morning.

Our second day we spent in the town Mennagio. Our plan was to eat pasta, lay out at a bath, and swim in the lake. It was tough, but we got it all done.

That's Allie swimming!

Absolutely stuffed after a meal in Mennagio, we just wandered around aimlessly...

Allie made sure to have at least 3 gelato's a day

Our Hotel! Would recommend it to anyone!

As luck would have it, there was a typical village festival that Saturday. They were celebrating the Toc! Allie is reading up on the history of Toc.

That food ball is Toc! We just ate dinner at one of the popular lake front restaurants, but we still had room to try some Toc. Speaking of dinner, we had a couple amazing experiences with Italian cuisine and service, but tonight was not one of them. We felt like we were in an US restaurant where they try and rush you out to fill your table. The only thing authentic about the restaurant was the Italian Manager hitting on Allie! Anyways, it was just one of our few misjudgements, but what can you do?

Our last day we decided to explore the lake side town Varenna. As I said before, Varenna is truly one of the most beautiful towns Allie and I have ever been to. We even hiked up to the castle, from which the views are unbeatable. It was as if we had stepped back in time and into the land of Dragons, Nights, and Princesses.

The hike up to the castle was along an old Pilgrims path. It is definitely not traveled often. But the views are unbeatable.

Sean Likes Castles!

Allie likes castles too!

Some 12th century engineering

The View

Step back in time

Or into the dungeon

Unfortunately we had to leave the castle at some point

The last supper (or lunch)

Peace out Varenna

And Adios Bellagio

Needless to say, we'll be back at some point. Especially since it was sooooo easy to get to the lake.

That's it for now. Allie and I are about to head down to Lake Zurich right now. We are recovering from Street Parade yesterday. It was out of control. And yes, there are some amazing pictures. So stay tuned!

Que Paso... Mi Reina?

2008-07-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

So, where to begin. I just don't know. After our Locarno weekend, I thought that things would slow down a little bit, seeing as they were so hectic up until that point. But no. It seems there is just too much to do in Zurich (and Switzerland). But I think that is just what happens when you move to a new place. New place equals adventure. It doesn't even matter if you weren't that adventurous when you lived in your home town (or state), when you move somewhere different something just clicks, and suddenly you can't let a day pass without experiencing something new. I don't remember being like this is San Diego. Maybe a little, but not like this.

Anyways, events that I can remember in the order that they happened.

1. Open Air Concert at Rote Fabrik - Girls in Hawaii

There were no girls in or around Hawaii. Girls in Hawaii is the name of an indie rock band from Belgium. How awesome is that. Anyways, just two days after the Juanes concert, we hit up one of our favorite alternative hang outs in Zurich and caught an amazing show. The venue was small and right on the lake, we were surrounded by "Allie's People", and the weather was wonderful. Couldn't ask for anything more.

2. Allie's Weekend Trip to Geneva

I don't think Allie has the ability to stay in Zurich during the weekend. Honestly, I can't remember the last time she was in Zurich for the weekend. But it's all good, I got some quality alone time (and some good old fashion hiking) while Allie visited her friend Sabrina in Geneva.

Allie and Sabs

At Dinner

On the Lake

3. A Roommate from the Past

Guests are always welcome at Allie's Hostel (until we come up with a better name). This time around, it was a blast from my past, Mr. Mark Hoefer, friend and ex-roommate from San Diego. Zurich is his first stop on a three week European extravaganza, so I tried to show him a good time. On Monday I took him straight to the roof to meet up with a bunch of friends for bbq, beer, relaxation, and conversation. Tuesday, we swam in Letten (the river), ate Tuna Burger's, and then after that spent hours on the roof again. And then Wednesday, well see below. Allie and I sent him to Luzern today, I think he's probably sleeping next to the lake right now. He may never return...

Just like old times

4. Mexi Night 2

And then, last night, was good old Mexican night number 2. This time we had two mexicans over, although the Americans once again provided the bulk of the hard labor. I made my special salsa fresca, and Mark and I slaved for hours over hot oil making the chips. But what resulted was a little piece of heaven. Ahh, chiliquiles, mi amor...

Mark and Sean making Chips

Allie with Patrick and Seraina

Christian = Head Chef

Allie = Entertainment (until the Mariachi band arrived)

Time to eat

The finished product

Ok, that's all I can really remember, although I do faintly remember a couple more picnics on the lake, among other things. Anyways, I'm tired, I had a hard days work (11-3) followed by 4 solid hours of laying in the sun and swimming.

Ok, that's it, gotta pack. Tomorrow's a holiday, Swiss National Day, so we have a three day weekend. We had planned on taking a quick trip to the French Riviera, but that fell through. We're spending the weekend on Lake Como instead...

Mi Camisa Negra

2008-07-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

In 2005, Allie and I were living the life in Barcelona, Spain.

Among our many travels that year, we ventured to Sevilla in the south of Spain where we experienced the Spanish Festival Feria. Feria is pretty much equivalent to Oktoberfest in Munich, but without the beer. The festival is all about special wine/cider, Flamenco dancing, and a month long celebration (I don't think anyone works during this time period).

During our time there, one of the people we met kept going on and on how I was the spitting image of some musician named Juanes. We didn't know who Juanes was.

When we returned to Barcelona, we bought the Juanes cd to see what all the fuss was about. Needless to say, we loved it and Mi Sangre became the unofficial soundtrack of our time in Spain (along with Amaral). To this day, every time we hear Juanes we automatically return to our tiny little apartment in Barcelona. With the red-striped curtains and the bright yellow paint job. Aahhh, the memories.

So, when the opportunity to see Juanes live in concert in Switzerland manifested itself. I quickly jumped at the opportunity and bought tickets and gave them to Allie for her birthday. Of course, seeing as the concert was in Locarno, that meant a weekend on the lake as well!

Locarno is a beautiful old town in the Swiss-Italian region of Switzerland. Just like the Swiss-French area (e.g. Geneva) is a slice out of France, and the Swiss-German (e.g. Zurich) part is a slice out of Germany, The Swiss-Italian region, also referred to as Ticino, is a little slice out of Italy (although the Italians I know would beg to differ!). It's as if you cross this imaginary border and all of a sudden everyone switches to speaking Italian. The atmosphere, the food, the architecture, and everything else just oozes Italy. Except that you are still in Switzerland and everything is clean and runs efficiently and on time, it's the best of both worlds!

Locarno is situated on Lake Maggiore, one of the many lakes in the so-called lake region of Switzerland/Italy. Half of the lake lies in Switzerland, the other half in Italy. Other prominant lakes in this region include Lake Lugano and Lake Como. The lakes are surrounded by mountains and valleys which are magnificent for hiking. Years ago we hiked through the Centovalli which is littered with remarkable towns built from stone. But this time, we enjoyed a more leisurely approach to Locarno. Our goals for the weekend; eat the food, drink the wine, relax on the lake, and then enjoy the concert.

Day 1:

We explored the old town again, and the Piazza Grande (where the concert was being held).

We swam in the lake (actually, I swam in the lake while Allie slept in the sun).

We strolled around the Lake Boardwalk.

We enjoyed Ice Coffees, which is scoops of gelato (Allie had gelato 3 times a day!) drenched in Italian espresso and topped with cream. The Ice coffee ended up having the opposite effect on us than usual because directly after this, we laid our heads down in the grass and napped for a couple hours (siesta!)

We strolled some more.

Dinner! When in Italy (or Swiss-Italy), there is only pizza, pasta, and house wine!

Day 2:

The second day (the day of the concert) was uncharacteristically gloomy for Locarno. Clouds filled the sky, so lounging around the lake like we did the day before wasn't really an option. So, we jumped on a boat and headed towards Ascona, the jewel of Lake Maggiore on the Swiss side (where all the stars stay during the Locarno Film Festival).

The Lakefront Boardwalk in Ascona.

We discovered a little Italian Specialty store in town. We bought various types of Italian Pasta and a huge tin of special Olive Oil from the Como region.

After exploring the town, we sat down for a nice lunch on the Boardwalk (wonderful!) and people watching (not so exciting).

But then the clouds rolled in for real, and we had to head back to Locarno and into the sanctuary of our hotel room. If there's one thing you can count on in Switzerland, it is that the weather is never predictable. I mean, it thunderstormed for about two hours (which would have been horrible for an open air concert!), but then it cleared up completely, not a cloud in the sky, for the concert!

Allie and Sean at the Juanes concert (Moon and Stars Festival).

Needless to say, Juanes is a rockstar, and the concert was awesome. This was the final show from the Moon and Stars Festival in Locarno, and I'm sure we'll definitely try to make it back to a show here next year!

Firmen Triathalon

2008-07-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I participated in a Company Triathalon for Michael Page. One person swims, another bikes and another runs. They suggest that you have two men and at least one girl on the team. Well, who are we to take suggestions...are you sensing a little girl power...We had two girls and one guy. I ran 10K (a little over 6 miles), the other girl swam (1 mile) and the guy biked (40K). Of course, typical to Swizerland, it was raining the whole race day.

Before I go into the details a little history is needed. While I had been training for this race, a week and a half before I got knocked down by a killer stomach virus and was out of work for a week. My new home was the couch convienently located right next to the bathroom (no further details needed). Needless to say, come race day I was very weak, and I hadn't been able to keep anything in my body for a week. BUT, you all know me what is a little stomach virus when you have a race to run.

And the results are in. Out of the 6 teams for Michael Page, our team came in First! Girl's Rock! We came in 113 out of 522 overall. I ran the fastest out of all the other MP runners. I ran it in 46:56 which is 7:30min miles and I got sick immediately after the race, but I did it!

(Running outfit compliments of the Mangus Sisters for my birthday. I wore it for good luck and it worked...thanks girls! They really need a lululemon in Switzerland.)

I am that little orange thing in the trees.

Brazilians are crazy

2008-07-09T01:34:00.000-07:00

Road Trip!

Destination: Grenoble, France

My Capoeira group in Zurich has the same school internationally and throughout the year the different schools hold weekend events where people from that school can move up a belt level. Basically, the Mestres and Profesores are all brothers or cousins or close friends from the same little town in Brazil and they have spread out all over Europe establishing Capoeira schools. So, you can imagine what it is like when they all get together.

This weekend the school in Grenoble, France was the host of the event. Our school met on Friday afternoon and caravaned to France.

The drive was really beautiful and strange because I haven't been in a car in sooo long. In the car we were speaking German and English and then we get to France and all of a sudden all of the Swissies switch to French...what...come on people I am already struggling with German here. But, such is life living in a country where they are extremely gifted with languages. My roomate at the hotel spoke only German and the Mestres speak only portugeuse or french, so the whole weekend I was speaking this wierd pigeon language of german, spanish, portuguese and french...whoooaaaa my brain hurt by Sunday.

Saturday was event day. We all grabbed crossaints at the most delicious very French bakery and headed to the gym. In the morning there was a workshop instructed by one of the Mestres and then a roda (circle where everybody plays/fights in the middle). Then we had a break for lunch and headed back to the hall in the afternoon for the Batizado event. That night we went out to dinner and partied Brazilian style. Over dinner I was serenaded in portuguese by this enourmous Mestre (think of the guy in the Green Mile) as he made up a song about California for me and sang it to the whole table....oh man...those Brazilians will do anything. The party was fun with live music, dancing, capirhinias and plenty of frenchies to mingle with.

Sunday we all headed to a little lake and BBQ'd and swam all day which was perfect after such a hectic day on Saturday.

Overall, it is really amazing to be a part of this sport. It is a lifestyle for some of these people and it was great to connect we the French capoeiristas over common ground and interests. So much effort and training is put into these weekends and it was beautiful to see the end result.

Everybody waiting to leave in Zurich

The Mountains surrounding Grenoble were beautiful. This picture was taken from the car at sunset.

mmmm...crossaints.....

The wierdly shaped room we had the workshop in.

Getting ready for the event, the Brazilians were just jamming on the drums.

The Grenoble students put on a show doing a traditional dance that is typically done with machetes, but in this case with wooden sticks

Video of the Roda at the end of the workshop

Video of the traditional dance. Yes, those two guys in the middle are actually using machetes!!

Dinner: They rented out an entire Indian food restaurant. When we are all together there are so many of us.

Back to Zuri

Written in the stall of a gas station bathroom.

Bella Ischia

2008-07-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

I took 3 days off of work and met Jona at the port in Napoli where we caught a boat to the island Ischia (very close to Capri). Jona knew the Italian guy who owned the hostel because he stayed at her flat in NYC for free so we were VIP hostel guests (if that is not an oxymoron).

The boat ride was gorgeous. I forgot how much I miss the smell of salt in the air (and not just because of all the salty Italians, because of the ocean).

From the second we stepped off the boat onto the island we adapted to the Italian Island Lifestyle. Everyone always says "a domani" which means eh tomorrow...we do it tomorrow. So we were quick to adapt to the relaxing way of life...we were pretty much pro's. Since the pictures do some justice but cannot tell the whole tale I will break it down for you. (half of the pictures are still with Jona)

Day 1: Arrival to Island Life
We got to our hostel at around 6pm and by 6:30 Jona and I were diving into the ocean. The water was such a clear blue that you could swim out for as far as you can imagine and see down to the bottom. At 8 every night, Lorenzo (Jona's friend, also dating one of Jona's former NYC flat mates who now lives in Ischia) drives everyone to his Mama Tina's Restaurant (i.e His mom's restaurant) and she cooks the most incredible Italian food for everyone. They make all their own wine and pasta and Lorenzo gets up every morning and makes the pizza dough. The food comes out slow and beautifully as Mama Tina is doing all the cooking.

Day 2: Total Immersion
Sleep in. aaaahhh. Wake up. Go back to sleep. Ok, wake up...there are beaches out there. Put on bathing suit and walk through the romantic streets of town to the cafe. Take a shot of espresso. Chase it with a a shot of water. Eat a warm Creme Cornetto (cream filled crossaint and it is warm because it just came out of the oven). Pay the ancient Italian lady at the register who just yells "Basta" at you...is that it? Don't even try using bills with her, change is all they accept.

Go to the Beach and burn your feet on the sand. Swim. Swim again. Swim.

Make your way back to town. Take a nap. Go to free happy hour on the roof. Visit Mama Tina's again...you would be crazy not to. Sleep

Day 3:

Repeat day 2 only, go to a different beach. Hire a water taxi for 3 Euros to get you to the more exclusive part of the beach.

At beach. Go get beers. Come back and oh my god...Jona has been stung by a jelly fish. She comes running up Allie what do I do, what do I do? I think you have to pee on it. So, Jona like the champ that she is doesn't even hesitate. She grabs an empty water bottle and goes into the bushes and pees in it and pours it all over her arm. Then she asks a lady at the bar if it is normal seeing as how Jona is allergic to everything and the Italian trick for jelly fish stings is to rub onion on it. She gives Jona an onion and the rest of the day at the beach she rubs onion on her pee arm....what a CHAMP!!!

Make your way back to the hostel. Nap. Eat. Sleep.

Day 4
Espresso. mmm Double Espresso this time.

Beach. Swim. Drink a beer. Eat a panini. Swim out to the rocks in the ocean and go rock jumping (yes Mom, we tested the depth before going head first :) ). The water was so perfect for swimming and if you were tired you could just float. Jona and I never wanted to leave.

Finally leave the beach....wave goodbye. Head to Mama Tina's for the last supper and beautiful litres of red wine.

Go to the natural hot springs on the island. You have to pay to go during the day, but at night, if you know where to go (and Lorenzo drove us) then it is free...just a sketchy walk down there. This was one of the most magical experiences of my life. Every star was out and it was pitch black at the springs, no sign of civilization. They were located in a little inlet surrounded by huge cliffs and the moon was peaking out behind the cliffs. When you step into the water it is so hot as the heat comes naturally from the ground. As you are sitting you butt gets randomly burnt when hot spurts of water come out. Cool, but I got hot. So my friend and I decided to jump into the ocean which is only divided by a few rocks. When we jumped in, we were immediately surrounding by tiny glow fish so that we looked like we were glowing!!!! It was the coolest thing I have ever seen. Mother nature is so surprising. When we swam they followed us everywhere.

Day 5
Departure back to reality...not back yet.

Jona in Napoli waiting to board our boat.

Port of Napoli

Pictures from the boat ride (FYI it is where the Talented Mr. Ripley was filmed)

Our little home in the hostel for four nights.

The roads were so tiny. You had to wait for cars to pass through before you could walk.

One of the beaches: I am so mad, but I did not take any pictures of the rocks we swam out to and jumped off...Another Beach

This lady was so cool. She was selling fruit and was carrying an old brass scale on her back to weigh it for you right there on the beach, so we bought some coconut. If anyone is a painter could you paint this picture for me please :).

Nap Time

Rooftop Happy Hour

Oh yeah, when I mentioned earlier that Lorenzo drives you to his mama's restaurant, I forgot to mention that you cram as many people as possible (in this case 12 and the only physical place for me was my feet on the floor and my head out the top) into his van and he drives like an absolute maniac through the smallest streets you have ever seen and cuts turns without breaking and you swear you are going to hit the wall but you never do.

Mama Tina's

Allie is blogging...woohooo!!!

2008-06-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for not posting in so long. So as you can imagine I have been very busy and a lot has happened. I realized too much has happened to put it all into one entry so I will do it in stages....stay posted.

Here is the 5 second lowdown: I am back at work and loving it. I have a newfound appreciation for my job and feel very lucky to be there. I cannot take German classes anymore because I do not have the time, but I still listen to lessons on my ipod and I have implemented a German Hour every morning at work where everyone has to speak German to each other for the whole hour and if anyone speaks English they have to pay 50 cents. Then, with the money we buy croissants on Fridays.

First event: Interlaken with Jona (it is the only one I could fit in this blog entry...to many pictures)

Jona stopped by Switzerland for a week during her European travels and we went to Interlaken together. It was insane. Interlaken is known for its extreme sports, but out of the 4 times I have been there I have never done any of them. Jona convinced me it was a good idea and we ended up having the most exhilarating insane weekend.

Here we are in Zurich before the crazy weekend enjoying sundown on the lake.

Typical train ride: wine cheese bread and great company...

Then all of a sudden you are in Interlaken.

Our hostel room. Hasn't changed much since the 60's/70's, but it was clean...we didn't question the punch marks in the ceiling...standard issue.

Day 1: We decide to go zip lining in this forest because it was cheap and we wanted to save money for canyoning (see Day 2). I have an extreme fear of heights, but what the hell, lets go swing through some 220m giant trees all day.

This is something they would not allow in many other places in the world. You arrive to the trailer in the woods where the German immigrant takes your 40 Francs and gives you a five minute or less instruction period as to how to secure yourself once you are up in the trees. It is only once you are at the top of the trees on the first course that you realize you are alone, if you do not connect yourself to the wires correctly or at all then you will fall and have a short little history of your beautiful life on the back page of the newspaper the next day. They give you free range. There are 6 obstacle courses and Jona and I stayed all day and did all 6.

At one point a bachelor party of 20 men from Basel showed up and one landed on my tree reeking of alcohol. I was like "have you been drinking?" and he was like "of course" OK...now THAT should be illegal!

Jona and I harnesses on ready to play Jane of the Jungle for the day.

The sidekick of the German boy measuring Jona to make sure she is tall enough to do the course.

This gives you an idea of how high the trees were.

I know it is blurry, but if you look in the middle of the picture you can see Jona's legs flying through the air.

One of the two lakes...it is so beautiful to watch the moods change over the lake.

This was one of the hardest of the obstacle courses. you had to balance in these horshoe typ things which swung like crazy as you make your way across to the other side.

We survived that day! I really learned to trust myself up there in the trees and gained some power over my fear of heights which is a good thing considering what we did on Day 2.

Day 2: Canyoning ( illegal in the US, you free fall, slide, jump through an enourmous river canyon that is fed by freezing glacial water...no joke, someone died doing it the day after we did it)

9am: sign our lifes away to the extremely laid back guides

Getting ready to go. We were in for a six and a half hour day with these dudes. We took a van together out to the canyon. Everyone gets helmuts with a name on it...mine was Princess and Jona's was...well you can see it below, it means prune in German.

Can you tell our smiles are strained??

10:15: Please repel down this cliff, don't worry, just lean back.

You cannot see me, but I am laying down demonstrating how to land so that you do not break your legs when you hit the water.

For some reason the guides had it out for me and made me do everything first "All right Princess, you're up" was all I heard all day.

He is telling me to make sure that I jump far enough out otherwise I will break my legs on some rocks...OK...wait WHAT??

You slide down this. And when you do you cannot see that there is water below. Princess you're up!

OK, Princess, do a backflip...

And we all miraculously survived.

More adventures to come....

For those of you who are still reading I love you all and miss you! Come visit!

Week 2 - Euro 2008, Where Miracles Happen

2008-06-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

Alternate Titles:

Week 2 - From Russia With Love

Week 2 - Has it only been 2 weeks?

Week 2 - Heartbreak on Cobblestone Streets

It's 2 o'clock in the morning. I just got home from the crazy streets of Zurich after an unbelievable, unexplainable, undeniable, unexplicable, un-anything-able victory by the Russians over the Dutch in the third Quarterfinal match of Euro 2008. Yes, I was the only person in my pool to pick the Russians to win this game, but there was no way I thought it would actually happen. Like every other game this week, I thought the team I supported would dominate, waste golden opportunities on goal, and then eventually lose the game. But, after watching the game, there was no way the Russians couldn't have won the game. It wasn't even close! Talk about an amazing tourney, it just seems to be getting better and better!

This past week has been an absolute roller coaster ride. From the Turks pulling two rabbits out of their hats to the Portuguese laying an egg, every game has been thrilling. There has been more drama than a season of Desperate Housewives (which I've never seen, but I hear there's drama).

Monday - The guys from my university soccer team and I met up at Bellevue at around 6:30. When we won the university tournament, we were given tickets to go to the SwissLife lounge for the Germany-Austria game. So, once everyone arrived, we walked around the lake to the SwissLife building and looked for the so-called lounge. To be honest, I was expecting that we would get in there, it would be business oriented and awkward, there'd be some chips and dip, etc., etc. and we would stay for about 5 minutes and then get out of there. I was way off.... We arrived at the building at 7, gave the doorman our tickets and headed into the courtyard. There were tables and benches, a bar and tent with food, flat screens galore and a huge projection screen in the middle of the courtyard. And then, we were smacked with a revolutionary realization, there were NO prices. Free drinks and free food. Oh, the food. They had multiple grills going with steak, pork, chicken, shrimp skewers, lamb, and more! I must have had 3 steaks, 3 shrimp skewers, well... 3 of everything. And, just to clarify, meat is Expensive in Zurich. Really, really expensive. So, if you put a group of starving students in an atmosphere with free bbq meat, they are going to eat, and eat, and eat,... and eat. All in all, good times!

I didn't think Monday could be topped. But then there was Tuesday. David and Mayi invited us to watch the game with them at .... wait for it ... wait for it ... FIFA headquarters! We arrived, and once again, to my overwhelming and unexplainable joy, free food, free drinks. And once again, I stuffed myself with the finest meat this side of the Atlantic! When Allie could get me moving again, we gandered inside, where we took pictures with the world cup trophy and then watched the France-Italy game in in the comfortable leather chairs of the FIFA meeting hall! Apparently they are having another one of these events for a semi-final game, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed we get invited again. Here's some pics.

The rest of the time, We've been keeping it local at the Oberer Letten. There is a huge screen set up there and it is mostly a local joint, so it's been a nice bit of rest from the crazyness of the fan zone.

I hadn't even tried to go to the fan zone until today. I got there 20 minutes before the game and it was absolutely impossible to get in so I had to settle for a bar on the lake. I was a bit disappointed until I realized that the flat screens were HD, and when I looked only inches below the screen, I could see Zurich lake at sunset with the White Tipped Alps towering in the distance.

Ahhhh...

By the way, I just remembered. Allie is currently vacationing with Jona on Ischia, a small island off the coast of Italy (around Capri). I hadn't even noticed she had left ....

Day 5, 6, 7 ... 8??? Must Sleep...

2008-06-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've lost count...No, wait, it started last Saturday. So today would be Day 7. I'm that exhausted. I remember going all out during the World Cup in 2006, but try doing that and working at the same time. Make that attempting to work at the same time. It's tough, but someone has to do it!

I think what really did me in was this Wednesday during the Swiss game versus Turkey. It was insane. I was with a couple friends on the lake of course, but I had to leave my waterfront seat and gander into the cheap seats to meet up with them. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise since they were standing under a tent and it started to rain HARD at the beginning of the first half. Of course, while I remained clear of the dumping rain, I was not so lucky with the flying beer. It all started when the Swiss scored the opening goal in the first half. Everyone started jumping up and down and all of a sudden beer cups went flying into the air and pouring all around. No one seemed to notice. Then the rain came down, and we under the tent became packed like sardines as people started forcing their way in. We were literally moving together like a school of fish. So when Turkey scored, people went a little nuts again which resulted in a giant shift of the mass, and of course flying beverages. And then Turkey won the game, and that was it for the lowly Swiss footballers and their loyal fans. The crowd slowly dispersed, the rain softened, and some of us were finally free to breathe.

Here's a little idea of the atmosphere before and during the Swiss vs. Turkey match.

And here are some of the pictures that I was able to get my hands on from the rest of opening week of Euro 2008. Because of my overwhelming exhaustion the last two days, I've been sticking to a more local setting up the river that only locals seem to know about. But I'm sure I'll be back in the Fan Zone with all the crazies in no time!

Day 2, 3, 4 - Let's All Do The Hug!

2008-06-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

Still waiting on pictures from Christian, but now that the first round of games is over, I think it's time to reflect on the highs and lows of the Euro 2008 thus far.

High: The atmosphere in Zurich, which is out of this world. It's a banana with a z!

Low: Definitely some of the, uhhh, characters that it attracts. You would think that people coming from all over Europe to watch this cultural event would have some kind of respect for those around them and the city they are visiting. Wow, we're Swiss.

High: The Dutch, The Germans, The Portuguese, The Spaniards. Class all around, look for these four in the semi's.

Low: The Italians, The Greeks, The French. They need to step it up if they are going to make it out of the first round. For the record, I share an office with an Italian, a Greek, and a Turk. Gloomy.

High: The Screens. There are thousands upon thousands of people in Zurich, and yet it is so easy to find a great place to view the games. I myself have been watching almost every game on lake Zurich. I mean, what's better than feeding Swan, watching the sunset while small waves crash gently against the wall beneath your dangling feet, and watching football on a huge (HUGE) screen?

Low: The Smoke. After watching four hours of football I smell like I spent the night in a Swiss bar. Not fun.

High: The Fan Mile: The Niederdorf (where we live no less) is the life of the party. Live bands, big screens, great food, cool events, it has it all. There's everything for every kind of person.

Low: The Hugs. Right before each game, an incredibly annoying segment comes on called 'Let's All Do The Hug!' It depicts screaming fans hugging each other for two minutes and is sung to the tune of 'Do The Twist' (I think). Either way, what better way to ruin the laughing and singing and overall friendly vibe in a viewing area than to urge everyone to find the person next to them and 'Do The Hug'. During each segment, the talking stops and people look around at each other in an awkward silence, and only when the song stops do they proceed. Good Times!

Lowest: (Swiss) Coyote Ugly. Enough said.

Highest: Playing football during huge international tournaments. There's nothing better.

Even Higher: Euro 2008 being played in your own city/country. It's out of this world. We live here!

Allie finally attended a game with me today (I think she's still kind of scarred from the World Cup when I didn't let her miss a match)! We sat right on the water and were witness to the Spanish domination of the Russians. There were so many telling signs that it was going to be a beautiful night (mostly the fact that it was a beautiful day), but this is Switzerland. And in Switzerland, it can go from sunny and beautiful (First Half), to thunderstorms (Second Half), in well, less than a half. Needless to say, we got drenched. After the game, it really started coming down. So we decided that the best idea would be to create a spectacle of ourselves. I wish I had a picture of Allie, in her nice summer dress, riding a bike up hill with me sitting on the back doing absolutely nothing but getting soaked with a big fat grin.

Here are the first of many pictures of Euro 2008!

Yes, it's true that Allie still doesn't post. But who can blame her? She's the one with a real job. Yet, she does have an adventure that's all her own and not so one-dimensional I might add, and her adventure involves swinging through trees, scaling cliffs, and sliding down waterfalls. She even has pictures. The wait, continues...

Day 1 - Hopp Schwiiz

2008-06-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

Ole, Ole Ole Ole,...
Schwiiz Nati!
Schwiiz Nati!
Schwiiz Nati!
Ole...

This is a rendition of the main song the Swiss sing during football matches. And with the kick-off of Euro 2008 yesterday, you didn't have to walk far to hear some passionate fans bellowing out these words at full strength. The problem... well, more of an observation than a problem... The phonetic pronunciation of this phrase is Sh-veet-ze Nah-tsi (or Nazi). Yep, before and during the game, the swiss were yelling at the top of their lungs, 'Swiss Nazi, Swiss Nazi, yeah!' Some are a little uncomfortable and embarrassed by it, others are oblivious to this tidbit of information, but that is language for you. And in Swiss German they are simply chanting for their national team (nati means national or something). So...
Schwiiz Nati!

Day 1 was, by all expectations, a great day. We got to the lake at 1 (5 hours before the match) and sat there until we were kicked out of the area by the Delta Force Commandos. I think a prerequisite for becoming a Swiss Delta Force Commando is minimum height 6'5", bench twice your weight, and no soul (i.e. they would have no problem shooting on sight). Needless to say, even the drunk 17 year olds in our vicinity obeyed without the least bit of resistance. While they swept the area for bombs, cleaned up, and all the vendors set up shop, we impatiently waited at the gate, devising a plan to run to our spot as soon as they let us in. The crowds were growing exponentially as the clock crept towards 4. At 3:45, we were off to the races. You should have seen the mad rush of people streaming through the boulevard. Running with painted faces, flags, and every second person had a Swiss jersey on (me included). We got to our spot ahead of the masses and marked our territory, best seats in the house. Needless to say, the opening game of Euro 2008 was a remarkable experience. I had to pinch myself multiple times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, because there I was, sitting on Lake Zurich with 45,000 others, watching the Swiss play in the opening game on a huge screen that was just floating on the lake. Well, the Swiss ended up losing, but they shouldn't have. They had a bit of bad luck all around, but still, wonderful experience.

For the second match, Turkey vs. Portugal, we moved to the main FanZone area in the stadium that they build in Bellevue. We ended up picking a spot which placed us smack in the middle of the wild Turks (they were chanting and dancing and celebrating like they had just scored even before kickoff) and the Portuguese. Yes, there were a couple 'scuffles'. But nothing serious. Again, the game was awesome, could have gone either way (although Portugal is obviously the more talented team and deserved their win). The one thing that I have to say is that watching football in a crowd of passionate supporters is an exhilarating experience. When someone scores, it's as if you get hit by a shock wave of excitement which brings the hairs on the back of your neck to a stand. When Portugal scored, the joy rippled through the stadium, and people went mad. I turned and looked around at the thousands of fans jumping for joy, it was spectacular.

I walked back home through the Fan Mile, which, as I explained earlier, is tent upon tent of bars, clubs, and restaurants all catering to the wishes and desires of the Fans. The most amazing part about this, though, is that the Fan Zone and the Fan Mile are in the middle of the city (just steps from my apartment). This means that at 3pm each day they completely shut down the center of the city! It's gonna be a huge, out of this world, month long celebration!

I just hope it doesn't fly by too fast!

BasketBall Man

2008-06-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is not going to get old... I promise.

However, I must admit that I am a little bit disappointed. Not that Allie left for the weekend to go to Interlaken with Jona, but that she took the camera. Thus, I was out all night during the Opening Ceremony of Euro 2008 and had no means of capturing the numerous events! Yet, I am here now, trying to recapture the feeling, in words. I am failing miserably. This is an absolute tragedy, especially since I thought that they had painted the cathedral green (with flags of all the countries)! It's absolutely amazing what they can do with light's these days.

The clock reads 17 hours, 34 minutes and 02 seconds. 0 days. Yeah, that's right, 0 days. I remember when Allie and I arrived last August, the clocks said 297 days, ... I've been waiting that long. I have not been let down, and I hope this continues. A couple guys and girls and myself headed down to the fanzone tonight to catch the opening act (Mel C, formerly of the group the Spice Girls). I'm going to be honest, the act was quite bad. However, just being inside the fanzone and scoping out which of the 3 huge screens we should watch the game at was enough for me.

I purchased my Switzerland jersey today. We got plans. Tomorrow is the first day, and although the main act was quite pitiful, the rest of the evening was absolutely spectacular. The entirety of Zurich downtown is completely shut down. Nothing! I love it, the streets are lined with food stands, bars, shops, etc. etc. There are live music stages all over the place, and people are just aimlessly wandering without a care in the world. During the concert, there was a 60 year old man who was obviously strung out on recreational pick-me-ups doing the basketball man dance with the imaginary (raver) ball. People were eating it up. He should not have been out there.

That's about it. It was a great night, but I'm a little disappointed that I didn't have a camera. The good news. Christian showed me the infamous Allie video from Davos (the one of her dipping the dinner roll into fondue and eating it, which won us three nights of Chilequiles). He also showed me a bunch of pictures from our semi-final and final game, so those will be going up as well. Let's hope Allie doesn't check the blog in Interlaken!

Up next: Switzerland vs. Czech Republic and Portugal vs. Turkey. I'm hoping that I can pull the best seat in the house. Stay Tuned!

Euro Caroling and Allie Doesn't Post

2008-06-02T13:01:00.001-07:00

I was unloading groceries this afternoon (after being ordered to the market by Allie), when I heard what seemed to be a choir singing. I figured it was just someone in the building playing some loud church music and didn't pay much attention to it. But then I heard clapping. I staggered to our kitchen window, opened the window slowly (making sure there were no mating pigeons just waiting to swoop in) and I leaned outside. Yep, there was something definitely going on, I could hear the singing, but I had no clue where it was coming from. Then I went to our bedroom window and saw that there was a whole congregation of singers in the parking area of our building. What on earth they were doing there, I have no idea, but the acoustics were amazing. I opened the window and sat listening for 20 minutes. I was mesmerized, I even left an unopened box of Magnum Ice Cream bars sitting on the counter. I don't know why, but was simply content sitting there, listening without a care in the world (Ed. Note: Allie just got home and informed me that the Church group is crazy, whatever (and what Church isn't?), they can sing). And then it hit me... it's time for EURO 2008!

Four Days!

Four Days!

There are so many things I still need to take care and so little time. I need a Swiss jersey (they are going to shock the world). I need to pick up a little BBQ for my work balcony, and also some patio furniture while I'm at it. I need to start planning on where I am going to watch each and every individual game. I mean, the choices are endless. In Bellevue they have constructed what looks to be a 15,000 person stadium and a huge screen. Right next to the stadium, they have built a floating screen (who's feeling the inner tubes?). And there are more down the lake and up the river.

Beer gardens, restaurants, bars, friends houses (everyone seems to have big screen HD TV's here, we still don't have a tv), lecture halls, we even got invited to some private company lounge (I'm expecting free food and drinks) to watch one of the games as a result of winning the Uni Zurich tournament. Oh yeah, we won the championship last wednesday. Wasn't even close. 6 - 0. We completely demoralized the other team, they never had a chance.

Ok, on to some pics since I can't really remember everything thats happened lately. It's all flying by so quickly and all I can remember are bits and pieces. And lots of math. Too much math.

Martie Tuffli visiting from San Francisco!

Allie's Belated (Shared) Birthday in Tijuana

Rote Fabrik (Best place to go for brunch in town and some good old fashion free speech, graffiti and controversy)

Oh, and Allie Doesn't Post...

B-eautiful

2008-05-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some random thoughts for a random month...

We got our B permits. It took three months (and some heavy lifting by ETH), but they finally came through. Allie and I were practically skipping to the Kreisburo to pick them up. The best part, Allie was given the type of B permit which allows her to start working immediately. Which brings us to...

Allie got her job back. As soon as they found out she had been given the correct type of permit, they offered her a job. So, in as fitting a manner as possible, she went ahead and signed a contract with them on May 22, which happens to be her birthday. Allie starts work on Monday.

It's kind of ironic that Allie lost her job on Valentines Day and then got it back on her Birthday. I'm not sure if that is interesting or not.

Each semester all the universities in Zurich have a huge soccer tournament with group stages and then a 32 team playoff. We (myself and a ragtag group of Latins) are currently undefeated and play in the final on Wednesday.

Construction on huge fan areas with big screens and stadium seating has started all around Zurich. June is almost here, and with it comes an entire month of nothing but football. Work efficiency is bound to drop to an all time low, and the city will be overrun with Italians and French. Euro 2008!

We need to buy some floating tubes.

I'm supporting Switzerland in Euro 2008. Which reminds me that I need to pick up a jersey soon as well.

We saw the new Indiana Jones last night. Fun movie, but not extraordinary. The originals were definitely much better, but that's not to say that the new one isn't a good time. Allie loved the costume design.

We are now used to the Swiss standards of movie going. This includes assigned seating (you can just pick your seats on the internet and print out the ticket and then get there five minutes before and not worry about finding seats, even during a sold out show like IJ4 was last night) and a 15 minute intermission. If I haven't said it before, I have to say that intermission is a work of capitalistic genius. I got that from Allie.

Allie went to London and is starting a business venture with a friend. That's all I'm going to say about that stuff since it's on her to write some of her own stuff.

Allie and I saw an amazing art exhibit at the Kunsthaus a couple weeks ago. The exhibit was called 'Europop' and showed works of British and European pop art. Awesome stuff. If you search pop art on wikipedia, you'll see an image of 'Just what it is that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?' This is just one of the many very cool art pieces that were on display in the wonderful exhibit.

Apparently fashion is going moral. I saw a shirt which read 'Green is the new Black'. I disagree.

Green is the new Gold.

I bet someone has already said that.

Work is good. Life is good. We've almost been here a year. A year!

We still don't have a bed frame.

As long as I'm able to pay rent each month, I'm happy.

Sunny Days in Zurich, Normal Days in Zurich, Not So Normal Days in Zurich

2008-04-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

The weekends here in Zurich have been absolutely beautiful the past couple weeks, and we have definitely been taking advantage of it. From picnics on the lake to walks along the Limmat, we and every other sane inhabitant of our little utopia have been outside whenever the sun peeks it's head from behind the clouds. Yes, it looks like Summer is officially on it's way, and what a beautiful summer it looks like it's going to be. All over the city the flowers are blooming, the mountains are turning lush green as is customary during these weeks, and through it all the alps and their white tips stand majestic as ever. Yes, life is good.

It's Sunday morning for us right now, and early. But who can sleep when the sun is out? Not us, that's for sure. We've been attacking these sunny days like it's our job. Sure, we haven't done any traveling since Paris (about a month ago), but don't cry for us just yet. We've been keeping busy around the city, you know, doing what we do best!

So here goes, a couple random picture memories in backwards-chronological order. See, this is what happens when you don't update your life!

Greaster Celebration on Lake Zurich

Technically I should say Eastern Orthodox Easter, but since the only people I know who were celebrating were the Greeks, I'm going with the locally coined term Greaster. Greaster is like Christmas to the Greeks, they take it very seriously. It involves a week of fasting (although every Greek I've met loves food too much to actually do this), followed by some traditional Saturday stuff (which I am not in a position of knowledge to speak on), followed by Sunday feast day. Now, most Greeks go back to Greece for Easter, but for the few in Zurich who do not go back to Greece, there is only one place to go. This place being a quaint little lake house south of Zurich. This little house is where many Greeks go to eat, drink, and be merry on one of the most important days of the Greek calender year. Where else would Allie and I be?

The customary grilling of two lambs (or goats). For all I know, this could have been two dogs. But it was good, oh so good! Usually they also grill the insides such as the liver, heart, lungs, etc. with the intestines wrapped around, but they didn't do that here. Oh, well...

While we waited and waited for the lamb to be done, we did what Greeks do best! We ate, we drank, and we were merry!

And then, the main event... I think it literally took about 10 minutes for the mob of people to devour both lambs!

Chilaquile Night

This night has been in the works since Allie's epic fondue triumph in Davos. We woke up early, put on our Spring Break in Mexico best, and headed off to Kreis 5 and El Maiz, the straight from Mexico market. We got there a little early, so we hit up the Brocki where we bought a couple "Summertime" lounge chairs for the roof. We went all redneck in a little ally off the street in our lounge chairs, taking in the sun as we waited for Christian to arrive so we could do our authentic Mexican shopping.

I have to admit I was a little nervous that everything wouldn't turn out perfect. But alas, my fears were for not. The chilaquiles turned out marvelously.

The King of the kitchen was Christian (left), it was his show. He was the only one qualified to make decisions regarding the Chilaquiles. Of course, he couldn't do it all on his own, so Allie, Antonello, and myself helped out.

And it's a good thing seeing as the European unit was burning the tortillas! The American unit had to step in and take over!

Making the tortilla chips was only the first step, so we had some time to relax before we proceeded to the next step. And, being that it was a beautiful day out, we sat on the roof with corona's and my very own Mexican specialty, Salsa Fresca and chips.

Then it was back to work. Allie and Christian finished off the Chilaquiles...

Antonello created a superb guacamole...

And it was time to eat! I have to say that Allie and I were both very proud that we were able to seat and feed 9 people (Allie and I, Christian and Antonello, Cesca, and David and his three very odd and very drunk friends) at our table. It was an ethnic smorgasborg and there were even leftovers!

Swan Lake Ballet

Allie likes to make friends with interesting people. Many times, it results in us reaping benefits that we definitely do not deserve. Of course, who can say no to box seats in the Zurich Opera house for the Schwannensee ballet? All I could think about the entire production was that someone was going to burst into our box and shoot us Lincoln style. (For the record, it only took me 40 minutes into the production to realize/translate that Schwannensee was Swan Lake, and that I was watching a very famous ballet!) The seats were great, the show was as well, and the Opera house is one of the best I've seen. It's absolutely beautiful inside, of course I don't know how we'll go back there if we have to sit in the cheap seats way at the top (on second thought no ticket it cheap in the Zurich Opera house).

Allie was very excited about going to the ballet and was completely freaking out about being on time.

Unfortunately is was too dark inside the Opera House for our camera to get a good shot. But take a look at these great seats!

Chess and Bocce in the Park

The name says it all. There's really nothing to say, except to point out that Chess and Bocce in the park is usually reserved to the elderly male population. So when Allie and I showed up with our bocce set people stared a little. But things really got interesting when we started playing chess on one of those life size boards they have in Lindenhof park. About ten minutes after we started playing, there was a crowd of 15-20 people standing around watching us. Talk about nerve racking!

This is where we live... Allie loves taking inappropriate pictures. Just FYI, and so Allie doesn't soon forget, she was coming out of Starbucks when she took this picture of me waiting for her.

This is Lindenhof Park, our local park with great views of the city from the edge of the old city walls. We played a little bocce...

And a little chess...

And then watched a 9 year old Catalan girl intimidate the heck out of an old Swiss man!

Yup, this is where we live...

Frosty's Nightmare

2008-04-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

I guess now is as good a time as ever to talk about Zurich, Switzerland, and Holidays. There's really not that much to say except that in Switzerland (and I think Europe in general) people like holidays. They like time off of work (paid vacation in Switzerland is minimum 20 days a year, although 25 days is more the norm) and they like paid holidays (if the Pagans did it, then it's a holiday, so add about 15 more days off a year). And if that's not enough, a worker is obligated to take his or her time off. We have actually heard stories of the government going to a workplace and ordering that an employee take their required vacation time. Could you imagine being forced by the government to leave your work and enjoy yourself. This has got be the easiest place in the world to get vacation time approved!

But on to holidays... I know, I know, every town in every country has very special holiday traditions which locals grow up with and grow out of, and outsiders peer in and say "Oh, that's nice." But any time a city gives it's work force half a day off so they can go drink beer, eat brats, and watch a snowman equipped with explosives blown to pieces while moors (Swissies in costume) on horses stampede around the flame... well, that just holds a special place in my heart.

People... Welcome to Sechseläuten (Sexy-Loy-ten) and the burning of the Böögg!

Allie and I had a couple friends over, so we were sure to be prepared.

We ate, drank, and acted merry for a couple hours in our apartment.

And then we ventured into the streets where we were to be bombarded by hale and frogdrops Seriously, the weather here has more mood swings than Allie in January. Sunday there wasn't a cloud in the sky as we picnicked for hours next to the lake, and dipped our feet in the icy water while staring at the white-capped mountains clear in the distance. Monday, rain, hale, with a chance of snow.

But if the paraders could handle it, then so could we...

Especially Allie!

Allie and Zoe were chasing down every character in funny clothing. She even got a kick out of the merry Polizei... And the horses, and the moors (I love the makeup job). And Allie would like everyone to know what rebels her and Zoe are since they "jumped" some "fence" to get to where they weren't "supposed" to "be" and they hung out with "Moors" and "horses" and ate candy frogs with chocolate-plum filling!

While us men were stuck in the cheap seats.

And then it was time for the main event. One minute we were in a mob of loud confused excitement, and then, nothing. As soon as the first piece of brush was lit on fire, a silence smothered the crowd, and everyone stood on pins a needles, willing the head to blow to smithereens. At around ten minutes, the flame had grown and people started to get excited. The first explosions resonated throughout the square. First, it was a leg which burst into a dust. Then an arm. You could feel the tension as the flames crept higher and higher. The nose burst into flames and we knew that the end was near for the mighty snowman. Pop, pop, pop. He looked like a stick, withering in the heat, who could give no more. And then it was over. The last big bang spread like a shock and the people rejoiced, for Summer was one explosion nearer.

All in all, the official count was 26 minutes and 01 second for the Böögg's head to blow off. Apparently, the less time it takes for the head to blow off, the better (hotter) the summer will be (Think Groundhog Day on crack). Now, I hope that this "superstition" isn't spot on because I would really like a nice hot summer, and at 26 minutes, this summer isn't looking so great. But for luck's sake, hopefully next year the Böögg's head will blow off a little faster.

Never thought I'd say that...

Yiddish Delight - A Week in Paris

2008-04-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be honest, Allie and I have never had the perfect relationship with Paris. Ever since the first time we arrived in the City of Lights some three years ago on New Years Eve, sweaty, tired, and generally pissed off after 20 sleepless hours on trains (14 of which I was without a seat, standing smack between a drunken Moroccan and a group of backpackers, who by their stench hadn't showered in days), we never really "fell" for this city. We saw all the sights, and definitely enjoyed them, but the extenuating circumstances always seemed to reach out and claw the affection out of us. Whether it was the great train adventure, the hot and humid hotel room, the hotel room without warm water, or the below standard food we survived on, there was always something telling us, "You are not welcome here." I mean, Paris is supposed to be a culinary mecca, but without the proper budget (and research) we found ourselves eating takeaway on a street we later learned has been locally coined "Bacteria Alley", which in itself is ironic since the last time I visited Paris I went back to the US with Salmonella. Good Times! So, what is the theme of this seemingly aimless rant? Well, Paris + Allie + Sean = Debacle. Until...

Yup, that's right, after all of that, we decided to go back to Paris. Four days and four nights of fighting the demons. You may be wondering why we decided to go back. The answer is simple, I had a graduate course from Tuesday to Friday in Paris, so I was going to be there anyways, so Allie and I jumped on the TGV Friday afternoon, and after 4 beautiful hours of peace and comfort (with our very own seats!) we arrived in Paris for the four day Easter Weekend. By 7 we had checked into our hotel, a little two star gem in the middle of the Le Marais district,

and were off to meet my cousin in front of the Notre Dame. We ate dinner at a nice little Vegetarian Restaurant, and Allie and I were both very excited because we knew that there was no way I could get Salmonella!

The next couple days in Paris were a mixture of cold, windy, and rainy and cold and sunny. We walked all over the city

taking up the sites such as the Notre Dame

the Eiffel Tower

the Louvre

the Arc di Triumph

the Huge Pillars of the Pantheon

and random Blue Doors that Allie loved to take pictures of.

We visited some 4-5 cafes a day

and ate at some very good restaurants, especially the outdoor Moroccan Stand

and the Yiddish takeaway in Le Marais, the old Jewish District in Paris. We filled our stomachs with Yiddish pastrami/turkey sandwiches, falafel, and some of the best cheesecake we have ever, ever tasted!

Good times all around!

Adventures in Snowland

2008-03-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

You may have been wondering what it would be like to spend three consecutive days with engineers from the Automatic Control Lab at ETH, Zurich. Well, as it turns out, last weekend Allie was fortunate enough to live out that fantasy. Yup, it was the IfA annual weekend snow trip. This years destination, none other than the world famous alpine ski resort in Davos, Switzerland.

So Allie and I packed up all our ski gear (all brand new stuff from the after Christmas sales) and got ready to Snow!

Day 1:

As this was a three day adventure, everyone in my lab got Friday off without having to use any of our vacation days. Allie and I woke up early and met up with everyone at the train station at six in the morning. We had a train car reserved for our group, so the madness ensued with a plethora of ear plugs and eye masks. We arrived in Davos at 8 in the morning, checked into our guest house where Allie was ecstatic to find out we were staying in rooms of four equipped with bunk beds. Our bunkmates were both IfA PhD students, Christian from Mexico and Antonello from Italy. After much ado about nothing, Allie and I broke from the group and were off to the slopes, which was bound to be very interesting since it was only my second time skiing ever. To put it lightly, I was absolutely terrified! But, there was no need to worry, Allie and I were wearing our retro ski getups. To be honest, we don't even notice the staring, pointing, and laughing anymore!

We just strut our stuff! Here is Allie and I on the slopes. Yes, we were that couple wearing matching ski gear!

Friday was not too kind to me. I took some pretty nasty falls, like this one right here (well, you can imagine how it was seeing as though I lost both ski's and poles!).

Of course, there's nothing that some mountain rosti can't fix!

Well, rosti, lounge chairs and some refreshing beverages. There's nothing better than lounging in the alps after a day of skiing.

Day 1 in the mountains was wonderful, and both of us (or just me) luckily made out with only minor injuries to our person and to our ego. And this was only the beginning!

I think this is the only picture of the entire trip that Allie and I were in together (other than Allies wonderful self candids). In all our glory!

Skiing was wonderful the first day, but this being a lab trip, you can be sure that the skiing was only half the excitement. As soon as we got home, we had to put on our niftiest outfits so as to not be outdone by the stylish engineers and their mates and then we were off to an Italian dinner, which was generously paid for by the lab.

Here is a picture of Allie before the dinner sitting on our balcony.

And then there was the dinner. Allie was very excited because she got to teach Christian (right center) and Antonello (right) to 'keep it tight'. Of course, the highlight of their night was when I was ordering my food and said to the waiter "Ich bin ruculacremsuppe!", which means "I am rucula cream soup." German's coming along nicely...

Day 2

If there was one thing that I learned in my second day of skiing ever, it's that I'm just not that good. And because of this truth, I realized that there was a high probability that I would be falling quite often and possibly crack my skull. Therefore, we took precautions.

Now, with protection on my head (which is all the rage now), we headed out for another day of skiing. Which for me was like three steps back, five steps forward. After getting only about 100 yards out in the first 30 minutes, Allie was threatening to take me back to the kiddie slopes. Then I ate it hard on the steepest part of the run and got some sense knocked into me. From then on out, it was smooth sailing.

Then a stroll around town

To the Fondue dinner, where Allie bet Christian that she could dip an entire dinner roll in fondue cheese and eat it in one bite. She won the bet, I have the picture, but it's not pretty and she would kill me if I put it up. Now Christian has to cook us Chiliquiles (a mexican dish) three times, whenever we want.

And then directly after Fondue and Wine, we did something that definitely would not be allowed in the States. Night sledding down the entire mountain, and I'm not talking about a little mountain. No guard rails, no lights, no problem! Just check out the pictures. Allie was having a blast and I was scared to death, we had to jump off our sled at least five times to save ourselves from going of the edge. And each time Allie would sprint with the sled and jump on while I frantically dragged my feet. Good Times!

Getting ready to sled!

The winning team...well, not even close

The finish line! Yes, it was that dark...

Still alive!

Day 3

Another day, another step towards greatness. By day 3 I was bombing down runs and didn't fall once. But I still can't hold a candle to Allie.

And then we said goodbye...

Well, that's it for Davos, for now. The entire weekend Allie was jotting down notes, chronicling all the ridiculous stuff that was going on, so there might very well be more in store. All in all, it was good fun and Allie got to hang out with the cool gang from the Automatic Control Lab at ETH, in Davos. Could be worse...

Ciao Bella! Allie and Zoe in Milano...

2008-03-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple pics from Allie and Zoe's excursion to Milan. The pictures tell a story of their own, but one story that has to be repeated for comedic and historical sake is as follows. If there is one thing that is a must see in Milan, it's Leonardo DaVinci's Last Supper. Tickets are cheap, but reservations are vital. The only time that Allie could get a reservation was for Sunday at 6pm. But, as their train left at 5pm, they had to take action if they were going to see the Renaissance Man's masterpiece. So, they showed up Sunday morning at 10am to plead their case. Zoe went in first, but was politely ignored... unsuccessful. But Allie, being oh so cunning and insincere, approached the ladies with a story worthy of the ages. She told them that she had reservations for later that day, but her man had fallen deathly ill and so she had to go home that day, but of course, she had to see the Last Supper. And thus the lady took pity on Allie in her dire state and allowed her and Zoe piggy back onto an Asian tour and reap the benefit of Allie's deceit (I'm sure the oh so (not) religious Leonardo would have approved).

And on to the pictures...Allie and Zoe go to Milan Castle

Allie still at Castle Milano

Allie and her preferred love (the gelato, not the creep in the back)

Allie and Zoe heading to Nobu (a hard to get reservations for sushi joint, you would think they would eat italian food while in Italy, but no), under false pretenses of course. This time the pair pretended to be viewing the ritzy restaurant for clientele, oh the lies!

Some building in Milan... Actually, this is the Holy Building which houses The Last Supper

Art and Fidel, Bananas and Burritos...Viva Berlin!

2008-03-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

Please, please don't eat that banana. She's thinking about it, she's wiping it off with a tissue. Please don't, please don't, ewwww! Yup, she ate it. 9:30 in the morning the Saturday before last, we had just arrived in Berlin, hopped on the subway at Alexanderplatz and were heading to our hostel, and the first thing we see is some German girl drop a banana sans skin on the floor of the subway, pick it up, wipe it off, and take a big fat bite out of it. As Allie said later on "The 10 second rule NEVER applies on public transportation", come on people. And if that wasn't enough, the crazy guy who eyed me up with his crazy eyes before we got on the subway sat right next to us. He proceeded to yell at banana girl and her boyfriend for our entire two stops. He kept on rambling on in a Spanish German mix muttering things like "Castro is finished", well that's all we wanted to understand. Allie and I tried to make ourselves invisible, but we couldn't help ourselves. We absolutely lost it, we turned our heads laughing under our breath hysterically, willing him not to turn his crazy ramblings our way. Two subway stops, that's as far as we had to go. We love Berlin. It's got character.

Being that this was our second trip to Berlin and we had already seen all the tourist attractions that you have to see when you go to Berlin, we decided to give this one a theme. Food and photography, and yes, in that order. We had seen all the sites, so now we were just going to live. For three days, we would wander around this mysteriously confused city, take pictures (artsy ones in Allie's case), and eat to our hearts content. And eat we did, I can't even explain what it feels like to leave Switzerland and realize that eating out is actually affordable, even with the exchange between the Euro and the Franc. I mean, we found a burrito place in Berlin. Legit Burritos! I can't even explain how happy this made us. The burritos alone were worth the trip. Of course, we ate other stuff too...And now, on to the adventure.

Through the slightly less powerful and definitely underappreciated, well maybe not, lens of my camera...

Allie "Annie Lebowitz" Boyer and her powerful tool of the moment

If there's one way to make Allie happy, it's renting bikes for the day. Apparently it's difficult to be stylish and comfortable for an entire day of walking, thus a bike makes life (mine) much easier.

Berlin has to be the only city that I have been to where the graffiti seems artistic, fitting, and historical. The counterculture movement in Berlin, especially since this city is still finding itself after the fall of the wall, is astounding and resonates throughout.

More of Allie in action. She was unstoppable. She was focused, committed, and hungry (both literally and metaphorically)

The Brandenburg Gate, it just kind of pulls you in. A must see during any visit to Berlin.

And now, through the iron (yet see-through) lens of Allie's world. Just for the record, as a paid model of the photographer, I was given strict instructions not to smile at any point in time while working. Each piece is tastefully named and can be had, for a price...

"Stranger on a Bike"

"Urban Paintball"

"Lonesome Techno Cowboy"

"The Window"

"Please watch out for glass, and wash your hands when you are done"

"Existence through painted gate"

"Ask Yourself"

"Forbidden Love"

"Blurry face with Tiramisu eyes and carrot cake heart"

"Untitled Peace"

And that's it. Three days in Berlin flew by like crazy, but we had a grand old time representing the good old red, white, and blue slash red and white. We were sad to go, but happy to leave, and looking forward to the next time we return to Allie's "Paris".

Buh Bye...

Ladie's Poker

2008-02-20T01:12:00.000-08:00

Well, nothing heals better than enjoying life with your friends. Here is a series of pictures from a Ladie's poker night we had at my friend's lokal. In the spirit of poker we added a few props (Parental Types: don't worry the cigars are made of chocolate!) to spice up the night...definitely something "Ladies" would do. We also printed a cheat sheet of the rules of the game to avoid a shoot out dispute over whether 2 pair beats 3 of a kind. Before the madness began, we did have a civilized meal with appetizers and everything.

The Irony and the Agony

2008-02-17T07:37:00.000-08:00

This week was one of the harder weeks I have had here. I lost my job. Not because I wasn’t doing a good job. And that is where the Irony lies. Upon contacting the state to inform them of my raise and subsequent contract extension, the HR department was informed that I never received a work permit. Apparently, “somebody” in the state department made a mistake in giving me permission to work; they just never sent a letter to my place of employment informing them of my denial. On Monday morning I was called into a private room with my boss where he explained that when the letter arrived indicating that I was denied a work permit, I would have to go home. And there is where the Agony lies.

Friday was my last day at work. While I am a positive person, I must admit, this one got me down. Luckily, I have a circle of friends and Sean who held me up through the week, but it is difficult knowing I don’t have to set my alarm clock tonight. The only reason they actually found out that I was denied, was because I was doing such a good job that they were giving me a raise and a promotion. The reason I was denied was because we have L permits (temporary permits) when we are supposed to have B (long-term) permits, but their B permit quota was full when we arrived in August.

Needless to say, our little groove here has been thrown into a blender. But, in the process of going through this, I have come to realize what an amazing network of support I have here and how many people genuinely care for Sean and my well-being. I am a fighter and I will not give up.