More Visitors

It’s been a whirlwind week as we’ve had more visitors here in Zurich.  My parents arrived last Tuesday and just two days later my cousin Catherine arrived.  That meant Christmas vacation for me as I finished up work on Wednesday not to return for a little over 3 weeks.  We of course had to tour around Zurich and see all of the main sights.  Then we were off to Paris for a weekend.  We kept quite busy in Paris doing a wine tasting class, the Louvre, shopping on the Champs-Élysées and Eiffel Tower at night.  I loved the Eiffel Tower at night….it was something I hadn’t done before.  And it was fun learning more about French wines.  Apparently 2005 and 2009 were great years for French wines.  All in all a quick but very fun weekend in Paris exploring. 

Then Monday we were off to Flumserberg for a day of skiing in the Swiss Alps.  It was only about an hour and a half away by train from Zurich so quite perfect for a day trip (much better than that 4 hour drive to Tahoe, that’s for sure).  It was also the same day that we had snow falling in Zurich.  Our first snow here!!!!  (A girl from California gets very excited about these things)  

We got up to the mountain and it was snowing quite a bit up there.  Lots of snow and gray skies which made for a challenging day skiing but it was our first trip out and overall a good one.  And we left the mountain with no injuries which is better than our last attempt at skiing in Europe. 

In the interest of trying to do as much as we could, Tuesday we were off to Konstanz for a taste of a true German Christmas market.  It was recommended by some co-workers of mine and was exactly what I was hoping for.  It was a little town with snow on the ground and in the air and just really cute.  The Christmas market itself was quite large and took up a good portion of the main part of town.  The items sold there seemed to be more unique and handmade compared to what we have seen in the Zurich and Paris markets.  Overall a great day….but cold!!!! 

Now Catherine has left and my parents are staying to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s with us.  We’re looking forward to our Christmas celebration here in Zurich (hopefully with some snow) and then we are off to Spain for a week!

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well it’s one of my favorite times of year now….the holiday season.  Usually that starts with Thanksgiving, which was a little bit strange for us this year being that they don’t celebrate it here in Europe.  I think the strangest part about it was working that Thursday and Friday and then knowing that everyone at home was gathering together to eat delicious turkey meals and celebrate the holiday.  Google did serve some turkey, sweet mashed potatoes and chestnut stuffing for lunch on Thursday though.  Nate came over and we had our Thanksgiving meal that way.  It definitely wasn’t the same as home but it was nice to get a taste of some turkey.  That Sunday, Nate made a pseudo-Thanksgiving meal by roasting a chicken and making mashed potatoes and then some stuffing from scratch (Stovetop doesn’t seem to exist here).  It was quite tasty!  Although our Thanksgiving was a bit different this year it’s all part of the experience and we have so much to be thankful for that I can’t really complain.

Zurich started putting up decorations and lights the weekend before Thanksgiving.  You’d start to see the Christmas stuff come out in the stores and decorations go up throughout the city.  On Bahnohofstrasse they have lights that they put up every year and those were “officially” lit that Thursday evening after Thanksgiving and that’s when I feel like the Christmas season really started around here.  The stores are playing Christmas music, and there are decorations and lights all around the city.  I just love it!!!  This also means that the Christmas markets have started as well.  For those that may not know, a Christmas market, from what I can tell so far, is basically like an arts and crafts fair with food and of course glühwein.  Glühwein is a hot spiced wine that is sold at every Christmas market you go to.  Zurich has a few Christmas markets around the city which start at varying times during the season.  They have one at the main train station which Nate and I checked out.  It actually wasn’t all that interesting to be honest.  Perhaps being that it’s inside and at the main train station has something to do with that.

Therefore last Saturday we were off for a day trip to Strasbourg, France for a true Christmas market experience.  I had read and heard that Strasbourg has one of the oldest Christmas markets in France and is quite nice.  We met up with our friends Stacey and Alex for the day.  I must say, it was quite nice!!!  Very Christmas-y indeed.  And definitely a much better market than the one at the main train station.  It was outside which was a step in the right direction.  The glühwein was tasty as well.  It was quite crowded though, which I guess is to be expected when you go to such a well known Christmas market.  But that didn’t impact our experience.  We walked around the market, had a good lunch and even strolled around the town looking at the shops.  All of the streets we walked down were decorated for Christmas and so fun!  And it was cold too which just added to the experience.  I mean, it wouldn’t feel right if we couldn’t be bundled up in scarves, hats and gloves, right?  Once we had had enough, we hopped on the train and headed home.  A great way to spend the day!

I must say, so far Christmas in Europe has not been disappointing!

Amsterdam

On the short list of places to visit that we had not been was Amsterdam, so the natural thing was to look for a time when there was work to be done in town, Google came calling and off we go for a weekend.

I mean a lot of bikes!

You hear about the canals, the red light district, the “coffeeshops”, museums, and general party like atmosphere of the place.  Sure sounds like fun and if nothing else interesting and different.  Amsterdam lived up to all of the above. What I didn’t realize was the bikes.  Wow, a lot of bikes.  And a very aggressive nature of those riding the bikes, cars and walkers are second class citizens in this town.

 Arriving on Friday afternoon, finishing up the week's work and looking for something to start the weekend of sightseeing.  The Anne Frank haus is in town, sounded both interesting and busy on a Saturday so we took the opportunity to check this out on Friday night before dinner and were glad we did.  Small-ish exhibit but quite interesting, you see the small hidden rooms two families lived in for several years trying to hide before they were ultimately found as well as a big display of many of Anne’s writings while living there.  Highly recommend making the trip if you have never been.

From there, time for a drink and some dinner.  We walked around a nice little neighborhood, found a neat little hole in the wall place serving Belgian beer and Nachos (yeah, nachos.  And have to say the Salsa was good.  Probably from a jar), then stumbled upon a little Ductch place for dinner which we enjoyed thoroughly.  From there we wandered slowly back to the hotel and called it a night.  It was a work week after all!

Saturday morning – let’s get some breakfast, and walk around some more.  Did some shopping, saw the flower market, and eventually found a littler corner café where we got a drink and sat outside.  (was cold, but not crazy cold!)  And this is where we witness the wrath of the bikes.

People about to get DINGED!

In Amsterdam they have roads, sidewalks, and specific Bike only lanes.  Problem is that for out of towners, these bike lanes look, well, just like a sidewalk.  So people across the street from our café kept walking in the bike lane and getting “dinged”.  “Dinged’ in the urban dictionary refers to walking in the bike lane while being given a warning “ding” by the person on the bike who is about to hit you.  One of those little bike bell “dings” that you would have had on your bike if you were a 5 year old girl.  Now the adults have them along with a right-of-way and they are pissed.  DING! “this lane is for bikes!”.  DING! DING! MOVE.  “DING” then give a stern head shake as you pass the walker who jumped out of the way just in time.

We watched this for about 20 minutes, it was very entertaining.

That never got boring but we did have to move on.   We decided to Visit the Dutch Resistance Museum which covers World War II from the Dutch perspective and what life was like while the Germans occupied the country.  Was again quite interesting and had lots of interesting artifacts and stories.  Not too big either but very well done.

Then off to dinner where we found a little Thai place, which was nice to have some variety.  And from there spent the rest of the evening  walking around including parts of the Red Light District which was far more circus novelty feeling than anything else.  It’s like it’s set up so that people can come “see” it but no way anyone would actually walk up and make a um.. purchase?    Not the most charming part of the city, that's for sure but something you have to go check out.

Overall a great visit and I know we'll be back.

Zörcher Wein-Ausstellung

That’s wine tasting to you and me – and that’s what we did, Europe style.

So we’re finding that in Zurich there is usually some sort of event going on that lasts for a few weeks or so.  There was the Oktoberfest, now there is some carnival thing set up in that same spot, sort of weird, and for a few weeks in November they roll up (or float up in this case) about 10 big boats to Bürkliplatz which is right where the lake meets the main part of town and use them for a wine tasting exposition.

The cost was 20 CHF to get in and you could purple mouth your way around the boats for as much tasting as you would like.  There must have been 200 or more booths set up doing tastings from all over Europe.  Language barrier was an issue at some, not at others.  We tasted at a booth where the guy pouring looked like Tony Bennett and only spoke Italian and kept trying to tell us…..something.   No idea but he was nice and entertaining so we stayed there a while.

You could not buy anything there but could place orders so we procured two different wines.  One was an Optima 2009 La Croix de Saint jean which according to the piece of paper that came with it is dieser jahrgangsweing besticht durch ein facettenreiches bouquet,  reife und kandierte früchte schwarzen beeren und etwas vanille - in kombination mit würzigen aromen von pfeffer und gewürznelken - eine dezente rauchnote sowie der duft von veilchen entströmen dem glas. 

So now you know.

Really enjoyed killing an afternoon here, tasted lots, ate a few crackers and then headed out for dinner.  You can check out more at www.expovina.ch

Home Again

Work took me back home to the Bay Area for the week of Halloween (I know this post is a bit late as Thanksgiving is now almost here.  Time sure does fly!).  I had two and a half days in Mountain View for a Partnerships conference and decided to stay the full week.  I must have packed in every single second I had there as I don’t think I had any down time at all.  But I got to see friends, family, visit favorite restaurants and go shopping.  It was nice to be back in our own home and to have that as an option.  Talk about being so much more comfortable than sleeping on someone’s couch.  In a strange way it felt like I was just coming home after a long vacation.  Although, Nate wasn’t there with me so that was a bit strange….it didn’t feel quite right.  But minus that, in some ways it felt like we had never left.

I packed in a full day of shopping since as we’ve mentioned before, things are super expensive here.  I wanted to take advantage of being back in the US where prices are much more reasonable.  And then I ate Mexican food about every chance I could get.  I think I managed to squeeze in at least 3 Mexican meals during the 7 nights I was at home.  I was almost getting tired of it before I left….which was perfect.  Hopefully I won’t be craving that for a while. 

And of course I worked.  I got to see my old team and friends from the SF office.  Then was down in Mountain View for the rest of the week where I did the networking thing, met new people and learned more about the Partnerships organization.  Overall it was such a good visit.  I love being in Zurich but there was just something nice about being home as well. 

And now I’m back “home” again.  It’s funny how the word home is so suitable for both SF and Zurich.  I’m a pretty lucky girl to have two places I can call my home.  

Nicole Comes to Visit

View from tower at Grossmunster Church

A few weeks ago, my cousin Nicole came to visit and what a great time we had.  It was fun showing her

around and was the first time we could be tour guides in our own city.  I must admit, I really enjoyed taking the time to be a tourist in Zurich again.  It gave me the opportunity to do some things I haven’t had the chance to do yet like go up the tower of Grossmunster church for an amazing view of the city.  Along with checking out Zurich, we made a little trip to check out the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen.  From what we’re told, these are the largest waterfalls in Europe.  As they aren’t very tall, I’m guessing it’s due to the volume of water flowing through them.  You’re actually able to take a boat out to a rock that sits in the middle of the falls and climb to the top of that to get a pretty cool view of them from within.  And we also got to give Nicole a little taste of Oktoberfest, Zurich style.  Zurich puts on their own Oktoberfest for the whole month of October which feels very similar to the real thing but of course on a much smaller scale.  It was actually quite fun but my recommendation is if you’re going to do Oktoberfest, don’t take a 7am train the following morning.    

As we couldn’t spend her entire week just in Switzerland, we were off to Paris for the weekend.  I hadn’t been here for a while so it was fun to come back and explore it again.  We had to see all the major sights as Nicole had never been before (a trip up the Eiffel Tower was of course a must do).  It was quite cold the entire time we were there (think mid-40s) but we still enjoyed ourselves.  I mean, how can you not.  It’s Paris!  And I just love Paris. 

Overall we had a great week with Nicole and it was fun showing someone else the life we’re living over here.  

Climbing Mt. Pilatus

View while hiking up

We just got home from hiking Mt. Pilatus in Lucerne. Our friends Stacey and Alex had asked us earlier in the week if we wanted to go hiking on Sunday. Nate and I have never really been big hikers but it always sounds fun and I want to do more of it so we were up for it. We finally decided on Lucerne and when we arrived this morning, our original plan was to take the gondola up to the second stop and just hike all the way down from there. Can you even say hike at that point since it’s all downhill? I’m not sure. Anyways, we got up there and decided to hike uphill for just a bit, towards Mt. Pilatus, so that we weren’t just doing downhill. Well one thing led to another and we ended up deciding that we might as well just finish it up and hike all the way to Mt. Pilatus. Afterall, the sign said it was 2 hours and 10 minutes from where we were at that point and we were watching all sorts

Almost there

of people go up there, including little kids. Well it turns out this was some serious hiking! We quickly learned that it was not going to be an easy stroll up the mountain. We were climbing a pretty steep trail. All in all we ended up hiking up 2350 feet in about 2 hours. No doubt I will be sore tomorrow. But what an amazing hike! It was super foggy in the valley but we were above the clouds and in the sun and it was incredibly scenic and beautiful. Our reward at the top was french fries and a beer and then the gondola ride all the way back down. I must say, it was a great day in the Swiss alps!

Just starting out

View from the top

Madrid - My 2 Cents

I know Nate gave a recap of our time in Madrid but I wanted to add a bit more from my perspective as well. 

View from the Google Madrid Office

One thing that really stood out for me this trip to Spain was their sense of time.  Everything is later in Spain and time doesn’t seem to matter as much.  As Nate mentioned, I was in Madrid for work on Thursday and Friday.  After being in internal meetings all day Thursday, we had a team work dinner that night.  The dinner didn’t even start until 9:30pm, with us finishing up around midnight and off for drinks after.  The Google Madrid café’s lunch hours are from 1pm to 4:30pm.   Nate and I went to an actual restaurant (as opposed to just going from one tapas bar to another) for dinner Saturday night and got there around 9:30pm.  The place was practically empty but by the time we were half way through our meal, it was packed full.  I was worried when we arrived that the restaurant wouldn’t be any good since no one was there, turns out we were just too early.  Nate left Sunday afternoon and I walked around the Prado Museum and got ready for one more day in the office on Monday.  We had three partner meetings lined up so it was a busy day.  The first meeting was scheduled to start at 9:30.  The partner we were meeting with didn’t show up until 10am and then it ran an hour over.  You gotta love it.  When it comes to time, Spain couldn’t be more opposite of Switzerland.   

So back to work.  Thursday was meetings all day and Friday we had a fun event where we attended a cooking class and learned how to make tapas and sangria.  I loved this idea….such a great team event.  We made tortilla Espanola (Spanish potato omelette), calamari, salmorejo (similar to gazpacho) and lots of other yummy things that I can’t remember.  One lesson I learned about sangria, which I will pass on to you, is that it is considered tacky to eat the fruit (apparently that’s only what college students do looking to get drunk).   I’m not usually a big fan of sangria but what we made sure was tasty.

Another thing Nate and I checked out was a flamenco show on Saturday night.  I had wanted to do it, it seemed like a fun thing to do, and turned out it was.  It was in a smaller venue (think Bimbo’s in SF) with a Spanish band playing and a man and a woman flamenco dancer.  Just a small stage with no more than 7 people on it.  It was so fascinating to watch and very intense! 

Spain was definitely a good time.  After five nights there I came home exhausted but loved every minute.  I can’t wait to go back!  

And We're Back

Ok – so where were we?  Not entirely sure myself but spending this weekend at home after travelling somewhere around 13,000 miles over the past three weeks is a very good thing.  But not complaining, it’s been a non-stop adventure.

We last left you in Munich for Oktoberfest which was of course a blast as previously noted by Cleaver.  From there a few days of work then off for a long weekend in Washington DC for the wedding of our close friends Ehren and Julie ShortridgeHill.  But wait – there’s more!   Well, not really that was pretty much the focus of the weekend though did get some sightseeing in too as I had never been to DC. 

After a short 9 hour flight we arrived at probably the worst airport ever (Dulles) beginning with a short shuttle ride across the runway in some sort of vehicle designed by the Snorks.  Honestly, it was just a weird space looking thing that dropped us off at immigration where we waited in line for 45 minutes before we even got to baggage claim.  But once we got that disaster out of the way, into our rental car and off to the hotel, the weekend finally got started.

BBQ that night at Ehren’s house, then spent the next morning with friends walking through the POURING rain to see the White house, Capital Hill and a few other monuments along the way which was really neat to see.  While I’m doing this Cleaver took the morning to go have brunch with an old friend of hers that she worked with who now lives in the DC area.  We definitely had to make good use of our time and not waste a minute.

After all that was out of the way we piled into the car and headed for Luray, VA which was about 2 hours away and the location of the wedding.  Rehearsal, a nice dinner / cocktail hour hosted by Ehren’s Dad and then off to a local bar.  And by local I mean real “local”.  The name of the place was Uncle Bucks.  I forgot that in Virginia they grow tobacco which means they still smoke in bars – a lot.  And when about 30 city slickers roll in on the local turf I’m not so sure they were down with our crowd but I’m also pretty sure with the amount of beer we all drank we doubled their revenue for the past 6 months.  So it worked out.

Next morning was Saturday, went to breakfast at Uncle Bucks.  Yup you read that right, hey it was a small town.  Enjoyed a very lovely wedding in a beautiful country setting and kept the party going until someone found a dentist asleep on top of our car.  Lots of fun and Congrats again to the happy couple!

Sunday we made our way back to the airport and got on our flight home which landed Monday morning in Zurich.  Tried to get some sleep, squeezed in a few days of work before off to our next destination - Madrid!

Cleaver had actual work to do in Madrid, so we took advantage of that and stayed for the weekend.  We had been there for one short night a few years back and were excited to go back.  We were not disappointed.   Spain has such a great culture of eating, drinking, staying out late and having fun that I’m certain that I need to spend even more time there than I have.  Such a great place.

Aside from staying out too late we did take time on Saturday to walk around and see the city, parks, palaces, shopping areas, etc…, there really is a lot to see and we didn’t even go into any of the museums.  Did I mention that I ♥ Spain?

  

Finally on Sunday I went back to Zurich to get ready for another week of work, Cleaver stayed for work she had still in Madrid on Monday.

Now we’re spending a few weekends at home before Cleaver’s cousin comes to visit and we hit the road (well rail in this case) again for Paris.  Good times!

Oktoberfest

Well last weekend we were in Munich for Oktoberfest…for opening day of Oktoberfest in fact.  Now I was expecting there to be lots of people but man, it was a mad house!  According to a news article there were 300K people there on Saturday alone.  The first keg was tapped at noon so we figured if we got there later in the afternoon we could possibly have a chance at getting into a tent as the first wave of people filed out.  We were meeting up with our new friends Stacey and Alex who weren’t arriving until later in the afternoon anyways so it should all work out perfectly.  No such luck.  We arrived at Oktoberfest and while there were definitely people exiting (not all on their own two feet) there was no way we were getting in.  We were fortunate though (after some patience and walking around) to get in to one of the biergartens.  Now it wasn’t the same as being inside the tent but it was still a fun atmosphere and better then not getting in anywhere at all.  We got our Maß (translation: liter) biers and enjoyed a few of those before the downpour happened.  Once we decided that it wasn’t going to let up, our time at Oktoberfest was over and it was off to a bar where we finished out the night. 

Now don’t get me wrong, it was crowded but not total craziness everywhere.  Nate and I had an enjoyable Saturday morning/afternoon.  We walked around a bit and found a little farmer’s market where we grabbed some lunch.  After a bit more wandering around we came across Augustiner in a little side alley not far from Marienplatz and enjoyed a few beers sitting outside on their patio.  We met another new friend, Mike from Chicago, and had a nice time chatting with him.  It was a pleasant little afternoon….and quite different than our time at Oktoberfest.

Overall we had a great time and it was definitely worth the trip.  We were at Oktoberfest in 2007 during the middle of the week and I’m going to say that’s the way to do it.  In 2007 it was crowded but we were at least able to get into a tent.  This trip we had the pleasure of seeing a drunk guy literally thrown out of a biergarten as we were trying to get in, numerous people practically passed out on the ground and plenty of people being carried out by their friends.  So if we do end up ever going again, I’m going to say it’s worth it to just take a day or two off of work and not deal with the craziness.

It's a Small World

It’s been yet another good week here in Zurich.  After our long weekend in London we had a weekend at home.  The weather cooperated with us on Saturday and after we both went running (so necessary with all of the chocolate and heavy food I’ve been eating) we decided to go up Uetliberg mountain.  There were great views of Zurich from the top and when we got there, we climbed an observation tower to get an even better view.  The views were amazing (all of Zurich and Lake Zurich) eventhough it was a somewhat hazy day.  It’s just a short train ride up on the s-bahn and within 30 minutes door to door, we were there.  The train ride was beautiful as you went a little outside of Zurich and into the trees and greenery.  You have the option of hiking up there (or down I suppose as well) which we opted out of this time.  But that could be a fun activity for another day. 

We then had a lovely date night that night, which I guess most of our nights are these days.  We went to this great outdoor place for pizza (since the weather was so nice).  Had a few beers, some yummy thin crust pizza and sat on their huge patio.  Then the rain started coming down and it was our cue to head out to a pub nearby that Nate had found.  It turned out to be a pretty fun place, playing good music and it even showed some college football. 

The next day we were invited to a Labor Day BBQ in Basel.  We were set up with this couple by a friend of ours that is friends with a friend of theirs (did you follow that?).  We took the hour train ride over to Basel where we were greeted with pouring rain.  Our umbrellas are sure getting good use over here.  The only parts of Basel we really saw were whatever we passed as we walked from the main train station to their apartment, which was right on the river Rhine.  It looked like a quaint little European city. 

We enjoyed a good ol’ American BBQ with hamburgers (complete with Best Foods mayonnaise!...I’m telling you the mayo here is definitely different although Nate says he can’t tell.  It has a lemon flavor in my opinion.), sausages, watermelon and beer.  We met some really nice people….a lot of them expats themselves.  Here’s where the small world part comes in.  It turns out that the wife of the couple that invited us over went to the same high school as me and graduated with my sister.  Small world indeed! 

Oh and we did go to a church in our neighborhood and listened to a whole mass in German.  I think we were the youngest in there by about 30-40 years as well.  It was a beautiful church, as most of them are here in Europe.

It’s definitely starting to feel like normal with regards to work.  Nate’s traveling again (Frankfurt for a night this week, Stockholm for two nights next week).  I’m excited that tomorrow is Friday and that we have yet another weekend ahead of us.  The days do go by quickly and I’m enjoying what I’m doing.  I’m still learning lots about Google Maps and the transit feature in particular.  It’s amazing how much goes into making all of that just work.  It’s definitely fun and interesting to be learning about a completely different part of the business.

We have a weekend at home again and then it’s marathon traveling for a few weeks after that.  We’re looking forward to all of it though as it will be busy but extremely fun getting to enjoy some good beer at Oktoberfest, seeing close friends at a wedding and exploring Madrid!!

  

It’s so hot….and other random references to Europe

It’s not you it’s me. I’m the one who has been latent to the blog but I’m back tickling the keyboard and ready for an update. And a busy few weeks it has been.

Last we spoke I was heading back to SF. Went there. Had a great time. Had a moustache. Happy anniversary Cleaver, Kliewer’s, and Horzen’s, great party! Came back….Home? Yeah, home to Zurich. Kind of weird to say but definitely starting to feel settled here especially upon our return which was finally in our permanent apartment with all of the stuff we shipped from San Francisco and after what felt like months, we’re no longer living in transient mode which is nice.

Now that we’re here full time what have we been up to? Well simmer and let me tell you.

The first week, well almost two, the weather here was exact opposite as before. We went from mild and rainy to oh, I don’t know, Florida. Which was especially awesome since there is no A/C anywhere, especially in our home at night? So needless to say when it’s 35 Celsius and quite humid (that’s 95 to you back home) it’s a tad uncomfortable but did feel a whole lot like summer should which we never get in SF, so shouldn’t complain. In this humidity as soon as we got home one of my closest friends Chad had a work trip that brought him here and he spent a few nights with us which was great. Our second guest and first in our new place!

After two nights with Chad, travel, work, and jet lag, we slept. Then came the weekend which we spent in town and did all the normal things people do when moving in. Went to “Coop City” – think Target but without the million crazies on a Saturday and bought a fan. It was hot, best 20 CHF spent thus far. And bought one of those night stand alarm clocks that in this case – would also be sufficient as a car headlight ‘cause the thing is so bright it lights up the room in the dark. On Sunday we then went to the lake and spent a few hours swimming and sitting in the sun. Did I mention it was hot? Was fun with lots of people out doing the same thing. It’s really pretty here when sunny. But in case I didn’t mention earlier, it was hot. And humid. And no A/C.

Back to work that Monday, boring. Tuesday, boring. Wednesday – Off to London! One of the great things in corporate America (or corporate Europe I guess) is what we call “working the system”. Cleaver had a work trip, I kicked down for my flight, work from the London office on Thursday & Friday and voila – trip to London. Where it was much cooler. And had A/C. Awesome.

London for those who don’t know is in England…or the U.K….or some conglomerate of independent countries ruled by a Queen who doesn’t do much far as I can tell….Or. Or. - Something that William Wallace didn’t want to be a part of. (Google that kids…great movie) We both worked from our respective offices in London on Thursday and Friday and on both days I woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup, and looking up I noticed I was late. (Not really….again, Google it. Great album by England’s finest.) We went out both nights to different neighborhoods for dinner and of course stayed through the weekend for some sightseeing. London is a great, huge city with endless places to see, “pints” to drink, and places to go. Saw most of the sights – like Big Ben. Parliament. I can’t get over! London tower, London Bridge, and generally just went around the city all day on Saturday. We did find out that there are four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. And though the holes were rather small, they had to count them all. Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert hall. (www.google.com)

Back home to Zurich Sunday night, still weird to say, and ready for Monday morning. Home for a few weekends then the travel for work and fun get started again in mid September. So I’ll leave you with this final thought. This coming Saturday is a special day. Well, here it will technically be Sunday morning. 1:00 am to be exact and I’ll be in front of my computer instead of the normal TV.

But come 1:00 am Sunday morning – GO DUCKS!

Home Sweet Home

Well we are now finally settled into our home here. It’s been a busy couple of weeks to say the least. I moved us in to our permanent place 2 weeks ago, worked out a few kinks (some spoiled food from a non-working refrigerator, a couple of cold showers) and now things seem to all be in working order. Our stuff was shipped successfully with everything accounted for and while I had my doubts about fitting everything in here (Nate assured me that if it fit in a one bedroom in SF that it would surely fit in a two bedroom here) we now have everything in its place. It’s nice to finally have a home!

I met Nate in California last weekend for my parents’ and Aunt and Uncle’s 40th anniversary party. It was a super quick trip but definitely worth it. We landed back in Zurich on Monday and of all places for our friend Chad’s work to take him, he ended up here. So we’ve enjoyed spending the last few nights with him….our second visitor!

Now it's been another week of work and I feel like I'm actually starting to know what's going on. It's nice to be busier and feel like I am contributing. The weather has been amazing and will continue through the weekend so I look forward to being outside and enjoying the sun. Then it's off to London later next week!

Swiss National Day

August 1 is Swiss National Day which means no work for us today! According to Wikipedia, it has been an official national holiday since 1994, although the day had been suggested for the celebration of the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy as early as 1889….just in case you wanted some more background on that.

We moved into our hotel yesterday and have just one more night here. Nate actually left early this morning to go back to the States so it’s been just me all day. I had a lovely lunch down by the lake and then continued walking further down the lake stopping to read my book and get some delicious ice cream (it's so hard for me to resist the Swiss Movenpick ice cream). The day has been beautiful here too with mostly sunny skies and temperatures around 75 degrees (sorry, haven’t made the switch to Celsius yet). The most important thing is that it wasn’t raining!!! I’m off to dinner soon and I hear there will be fireworks as well so hopefully I’ll catch some of those.  Then tomorrow is moving day!!

My Lunch

And My View During Lunch