Bachelorette Party in Milan

A friend of mine on my team at work is getting married at the end of August and us girls on the team thought it would be fun to do a bachelorette party for her.  So we headed to Milan for the night last weekend.  There were five of us girls in total traveling together (meeting up with one other girl in Milan) and our plan was to head out on the train early Saturday morning, shop during the day, have a nice dinner and go out that night.  Then we would relax a bit on Sunday and head home in the afternoon.  However, a landslide that happened about a week before we left, which damaged the train track between Zurich and Milan, altered our journey just a bit.  What was supposed to be a 3 hour and 45 minute train ride turned into a 5 hour train ride.  The real kicker in that whole thing wasn’t really the added time but the fact that we had to take 2 trains, a bus and then 3 trains to get to Milan on what was supposed to be a direct train to Milan (why they couldn’t make it just one train, a bus and then one more train was beyond us).  In any case, we arrived a little later than expected, checked in to the hotel, grabbed some lunch and before we knew it, it was 3:00.  So we were off to do some shopping for just a couple of hours (I wasn’t quite as successful as I was in Florence).  We got all dolled up and had a great dinner that night, went out for drinks after and made it to bed around 4am.  Needless to say, we were not up early the next day.  When we finally did get up, we had another great Italian meal and were off to the train station. I feel like I blinked and the weekend was already over. But eventhough it was overall a whirlwind trip to Milan, it was well worth it as it was lots of fun just hanging out with the girls.
 
I could definitely go back to Milan just to have a chance to explore a few of the neighborhoods a bit more as well as the Duomo (it was so massive and impressive from the outside).  Eventhough I only got a small glimpse of the shopping, I think it was better in Florence.  If nothing else Florence seemed to be a bit more charming.  In any case though, perhaps I can make it back there someday with Nate and together we can see more of Milan with a bit more time.

Santa Margherita Ligure

It was about a month or so ago that Nate and I started talking about where we should go for this past weekend.  It was a three day weekend for us here in Zurich (Whit Monday) and probably one of the last ones for a while since it seems the public holidays here are mostly front loaded to the first half of the year.  Therefore we definitely had to take advantage.  
We ended up choosing this small Italian town called Santa Margherita Ligure located in the Italian Riviera and it turns out we were thoroughly pleased with our choice.  It is a cute little town located on the water with enough going on where it’s not boring (definitely has restaurants and shops to choose from) but yet not a big city.  We stayed at the Hotel Villa Anita which no doubt added to our love of this small town.  It’s a small hotel run by a mother and her son and they are just the nicest people ever.  You feel like you are staying at a family member’s house.  Our room also had a lovely terrace with a view of the Italian hills and a small glimpse of the water.  Absolutely serene!

This is what greeted us when we arrived to our room

After a flight to Genoa followed by a short 30 minute train ride to Santa Margherita Ligure, we arrived at our hotel. I had pre-ordered a ham plate, cheese plate, mixed salad and bottle of wine and they had the table on our terrace all set up for us.  It felt like heaven!  We fell in love instantly with this town, the hotel and everything around us.  We enjoyed a lovely evening sitting on our terrace enjoying some good food and wine.

The next day we didn’t have any set plans so decided to just casually explore the town.  We strolled along the waterfront and took in the Italian beauty all around us.  We stopped for a coffee and hot chocolate, strolled some more looking at the shops, a church, piazzas and then stopped again for a delicious pizza for lunch.  The day was perfect!  The weather was warm (although not quite hot yet) and we were on no particular timeline.  That evening we enjoyed happy hour on our terrace with a bottle of wine that Nate procured from a little wine shop down from our hotel, dinner at a restaurant not far from that wine shop followed by a nightcap of limoncello on our terrace.  Again, just absolutely amazing and so peaceful!

Santa Margherita Ligure is actually located quite close to Portofino and I had read ahead of time that you can take a hike from one to the other.  So this is what we decided to do on Sunday.  Afterall, you hear so much about Portofino that we had to go check it out.  Not to mention, a little exercise is always good too.  So we headed out and actually took a walk along the water all the way to Portofino.  It’s 5km total and was such a pretty walk.

Portofino

We ended up in Portofino just in time for a lovely lunch looking out at the harbor.  I must say though, I wasn’t all that impressed with Portofino overall.  It was extremely small and felt kind of touristy (with those touristy prices too).  There just didn’t feel like there was much to do around there.  We had lunch, walked around for a short bit and then hopped on a ferry for a 15 minute ride back to Santa Margherita.  

For our last night there we enjoyed happy hour on our terrace (of course) and then headed into town to a restaurant recommended by Daniela at the hotel that had a lovely view of the water.  We enjoyed one more Italian meal (pasta and fresh fish) and discussed how we must come back.  We made all sorts of promises to ourselves to come back in the next few months sometime and stay for more than 3 days.  I hope we can do it!!!  People sometimes ask us what our favorite place has been that we’ve visited and I know Santa Margherita Ligure will certainly rate high on that list for me.

Culinary delights of home and other west coast events

9 months is a long time, though can go by very quickly.  9 months is equivalent to the length of time it takes to complete a cricket match, watch a soccer game, gestate, and also the length of time it had been since I had been in the US.  Needless to say after 9 months (and let's call it 6 months for Cleaver) we were very excited to go "almost" home to LA and Arizona for a 5 day visit to the US.

Both a wedding and a 90th birthday party were reason enough to make the 12 hour flight from Zurich to LAX and enjoy a few days on terra ferma familiar.  Arriving in LA on Thursday afternoon, picked up by Cleaver's sister Julie and our two little nieces we were very quickly reminded why LA is maybe not our favorite place.  It's the traffic.  Lots of traffic. As we slowly made our way toward Thousand Oaks, on the way we did manage to hit the first of several required food stops over the course of our week - Chipotle.  Burritos have not exactly made their way to Zurich, save for this futile effort at a chicken burrito I tried one time.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good.  And it was a flat square.

A Zurich Burrito, with Bread for some reason?

Anyway, finally made it to the house and before too long we called it a night.

Up early the next day and hit up the next food requirement - Peet's coffee.  You can get Starbucks in Zurich, starting at about $6, and plenty of tiny espresso cups of coffee, but nothing quite like a medium drip from Peet's.  Thoroughly enjoyed that.  Killed the rest of the morning by playing some Barbies, yup I did, and packed up the car to hit some more traffic on our way to the Inland Empire for Friday night's festivities and the wedding on Saturday.  Before hitting said traffic was of course lunch at Togo's.  The good deli sandwich is dearly missed in Zurich and nothing sounded better for lunch than Togo's.  Delicious.  http://www.togos.com/

100 miles and a sweet 3+ hours later 'cause of traffic, we arrive in Beaumont, CA where the usual Horzen fueled accordion playing, beer drinking, singing, laughing, and more kids than can be counted were all in full force.  Always a good time.  Getting married on Saturday would be Cleaver's cousin Joe and his bride to be Janelle, both of course in attendance Friday night.  This raucous atmosphere went on into the night and ended across the street at a local watering hole called the Sand Trap.  The Sand Trap would also play host for the nightcap after the wedding on Saturday and was actually a pretty decent place.

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Horzen

Saturday was lazy, sitting by the hotel pool, lunch, and my first date shake.  While nothing like a Shake Weight which is hilarious, (check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXHUdvvHTkw ) the date shake is a milk shake flavored with dates served by one of those places that has been off the freeway for about a 100 years and this is what they are known for.  A little random, but pretty good though not sure I'm making the stop next time through Beaumont.  Saturday afternoon, 4:00 the wedding begins with a  lovely outdoor ceremony followed by a reception on the same grounds.  A very nice wedding in a very nice setting and congratulations again to Joe and Janelle!

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!

Up Sunday morning and off to Arizona to spend two nights with my Grandma for her 90th birthday.  Along the way of course we had to hit the next food stop which was In-n-Out burger, don't really need to say much more than that.  Delicious.  Got to Arizona for a nice evening chatting and some real Mexican food.  Can't get that in Zurich, we've tried.  Bummed around a bit the next day before celebrating the birthday with a nice steak dinner, dessert and good company.

Before we know it, back to the airport and off we go home to Zurich.  Temperature when we left Phoenix = 103.  Temperature when we arrived in Zurich = 43.  It's a long trip I guess.  Good to be home, got some rest and back to work.  Busy week ahead for us both but do have a little getaway weekend coming up to the Italian Rivera!

Shopping in Florence

It was probably two months ago when I was at brunch with a few girls from work when one of them started talking about a recent trip she made to Florence and the Prada outlet located just outside of Florence.  It was then and there that us girls decided we also needed to do a shopping weekend in Florence, and that weekend turned out to be this last one.  There were five of us girls and we had only one goal for the weekend....shopping!  While of course also enjoying some yummy Italian food and wine.  We arrived Friday evening and stayed in a cute little apartment in the middle of the city.  Saturday morning we were up bright and early to make sure we got to the Prada outlet right when it opened at 9:30.  The Prada outlet is about an hour by train from Florence and then just a short cab ride from the train station.  

There are no signs for Prada along the way....it is merely called Space and is basically a giant warehouse.  But when you step inside, it's not like a warehouse at all. It’s like stepping into a regular Prada store, just larger.  There’s a men’s section, and then sections for handbags, sunglasses, women’s shoes and of course women’s clothes.  We beelined it for the handbag section and then slowly covered everything else.  Everyone was quite successful, perhaps too successful.  I treated myself to a pair of shoes and sunglasses while the other girls were much more successful with the handbags.  All in all, a good start to the day and it was only 11:30.

We headed back to Florence, had a lovely lunch and then shopped the rest of the day in Florence.  There are tons of shops all around town so there is plenty to choose from.  We tried to hit up as much as we could with the different stores and then headed to a local outdoor market to check out some of the leather goods.  Again, we managed to all be quite successful during the afternoon as well.  Oh and to top it all off, the weather was absolutely amazing.  It was in the mid-80’s and sunny.....it felt like a summer day.  

By 6pm we were all pooped and headed back to the apartment to rest for a bit before dinner.  We had another delicious Italian meal before calling it a night.  The next day our flight wasn’t until 7:20pm so we had more time to, you guessed it, shop!  We weren’t quite as aggressive as the previous day but still managed to walk around and shop for a few hours while also enjoying one last dish of pasta.  

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend.  You never know what to expect when you travel with girls you’ve never traveled with before and who all want to shop.  But we all got along fabulously and ended up being great shopping partners for each other.  I got home, showed Nate my purchases and told him about our weekend and he was all too happy to have been at home watching the Giants and enjoying the beautiful weather sitting by the lake.  I guess it was a win-win for both of us.  

Viva Mexico!

So as promised, after Istanbul we went home to Zurich for a total of about 48 hours before getting on a plane and heading to Cancun, Mexico for the wedding of our two close friends Louis and Keelin.  Almost as exciting as the wedding was the fact that most of our close friends from home would also be in attendance and a perfect opportunity to get caught up with everyone while relaxing at the pool or beach with the added convenience of an all inclusive (read: all-you-can-drink-and-eat) resort.

The trip did not start out as planned however.

Now I have logged somewhere shy of "a lot" of miles over the past 10 years and traveling that much means you run into a few situations where the trip takes a bit of a detour.  Like the time I got stuck in NYC with no place to stay and could only find a room for $600 at the hotel next to the other airport on the other side of town.  That was fun.  This time we figured hey, we have a 5 hour layover in Philadelphia, we'll be able to get some good "taste of home" food there, and be in Cancun by 10 pm that night.  

Unfortunately a Swiss pigeon had other plans.  As our plane arrived in Zurich, apparently a pigeon thought it a good idea to see what all the noise was about, got a little too close to the jet intake and we'll never see that pigeon again.  This also caused a dent in the jet which would need repair - and time - before taking off again.  And I give you the reason a 5 hour layover was not enough.  We finally get to Philly 6 hours late and as expected miss our connection to Cancun.  While definitely a bummer, the next flight in the morning left at 7:30 am, they put us up at the airport hotel across the street and we ultimately arrived at the hotel in Cancun by about 11:00 am the next morning.  Not ideal, but certainly could have been worse.

This will lead to degenerate behavior!

Welcome then to a bit of paradise.  Got ourselves checked in and after a little mishap with the bell hop who felt no urgency to get our bags to the room, got changed into the swim trunks and off to the pool where we find our first group of friends, drinks already in hand.  Really not much more detail beyond that is necessary.  We ate at the pool, drank at the pool, and waited for the sun to go down.  That first night consisted of a lovely dinner with everyone in town for the wedding in attendance and then some karaoke at one of the bars on site.  To recap the day we ate, drank, and were merry.  "Married" would come the following day.

Mr. and Mrs. LPM!

Friday morning, day of the wedding, and we pretty much did a rinse and repeat of the previous day's events.  Ate, drank, water, sun, lobsterizing, blah, blah, blah, I could live like this forever.  Then came time to go get ready for the main event.  Very simple and very beautiful setting on the beach for the ceremony.  Flip flops and linen pants were the required dress and I think as personal a ceremony as I have been to in a while.  It was such a nice wedding, very sweet, and congratulations again Louis and Keelin!

Following a nice cocktail reception, dinner, then the typical wedding debauchery would begin.  This time including a photo booth, some modified battle of rappers (don't ask) and bad dancing done by people who enjoy it all too much.  I would tell you more but the memories escape me a bit.  Probably a good thing.

On the boat enjoying the ride

Last day in Mexico and the parents of the groom had arranged for a 5 hour cruise for everyone on a catamaran out on the ocean.  Aside from the wedding this turned out to be the other highlight of the trip.  We all load up, roughly 60 people maybe on this big sail boat and head out.  Along the way we stopped for some snorkeling, cruised by the Isla Mujeres, and just sailed around enjoying the water, the sun and total relaxation.  This was a great last day event, enabled everyone to relax and chat, they kept filling our beers, there was a neon sling shot "Borat" style swim suit brought out which Mexican law prohibits posting pictures of, and we all had an incredible time out on the water all afternoon.  By the evening, I think we were all pretty wiped out and as much as we tried to rally, by about 11:00 pm it was bed time for most.

Sad to see it end after only 3 short days, but wouldn't have missed it for the world and so nice to see everyone and thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing few days.  Off to the airport, all went according to plan on the way home and even got a huge Philly cheese steak at the airport before getting on our flight back to Zurich. We made it back to Zurich Monday morning right on schedule, how very Swiss of us to be on time!

Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople!

Sitting now at 34000 feet somewhere over the North Atlantic heading home after what has been a very busy, many miles traveled, activity filled 10 days.  

Starting with Easter weekend where in most European countries you get both Good Friday and the Monday after Easter off as holidays.  It feels a lot like Thanksgiving does at home where many take the whole week off and if not the whole week, then by Wednesday half the office is gone and things are quiet work wise.  Taking advantage of this 4 day weekend we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to visit Istanbul, Turkey which has been on our list for some time.  It’s about a 3 hour flight from Zurich so a bit long for just a weekend trip, not to mention it is a massive sized city with lots to see so 4 days was going to be a good start.  Istanbul did not disappoint!  

Traveling with our now defacto “travel buddies” Alex and Stacey we arrived late on Thursday night, late enough that by the time we got to the hotel it was bed time and let's get ready for an early start Friday morning.

Entrance to the Palace

First up Friday morning was the Topkapi Palace which sits up on a hill in the old part of town.  Really a giant complex of buildings and has served as a fortress and residence of the Ottoman empire.  Apparently the Sultans who lived there also felt they could gouge you for an extra $10 to see the Harem part of the complex which was one of the more interesting parts of the tour.  One tip for you as you plan your own little adventure someday to the Topkapi Palace, do not pay for the audio tour because you will basically be paying for a broken walkman from the early 90’s that requires you to push buttons in order to tell it where you are and it will then respond with 36 seconds of useless information.

That took up most of the morning before we left to find something to eat and 

Looking down a random street

then spent the afternoon more or less wandering around the streets, 
looking at the markets and exploring.  Always enjoy just walking the streets and seeing whatever you stumble upon which included narrow streets, shops and lots of places serving Doners, which we'll get to later.  

Eventually we wandered our way back near the hotel to the next main attraction called the “Blue Mosque”  also built during the Ottoman Empire which is quite picturesque from the outside and fairly impressive on the inside too.  One of those things where you walk in, take a few pictures, say you were there and head out.  This is when we went on to find one of the really cool things they have tons of in Istanbul – the rooftop terrace bar.  

About every 3^rd building has a rooftop bar where you can sit, have a drink, look out over the water, and given the very pleasant weather we had this really made for an enjoyable experience.  Grabbed dinner at this great restaurant then went out to one of the lively parts of town for nightlife called Nevizade street.  LOTS of people out, live music everywhere, really great fun atmosphere which we took in for a few hours before finally calling it a day.

Inside the Hagia Sophia

Up the next morning, powered up with a Doner for lunch, then off for some more sightseeing including the Hagia Sophia which according to Wikipedia is really old and originally a Christian Byzantine empire church before becoming a mosque during the Islamic Ottoman empire.  It was also really crowded which initially looked like a problem save for the random tour guide who asked us if we wanted to join his tour.  Extra cost = $10.  Never mind that with the added cost we got an actual tour AND we got to bypass the whole line and walk right in.  Great investment.  From the outside, not quite as impressive to look at as the Blue Mosque but from the inside it was really something to see.  A huge building with tile artwork from the building's history as both a Christian and Muslim church, a must do sight for sure.

The beginning of Doner Quest

Did some more wandering around after that and also began “Doner” quest 2012 to see how many Durum Doners we could eat since there are as mentioned stands everywhere selling them and had our second of the day.  (So good, would love to have one on this flight right now as I think about it.  Much better than that random chicken thing they just rolled down the aisle)  More walking, wandering, went to the Grand Bazaar which is basically a huge mall, and killed our day that way.  

Dinner that night was up the Bosphorus which is the waterway that runs from the Mediterranean sea up to the Black sea.  It is also about an hour taxi ride from where we were staying despite the distance of about 20 KM because traffic in this city is insane.  Bright side was that at least we got to see some other parts of the town during the trip and even got a short boat ride out to the actual restaurant.  We ate and by this point were pretty much wiped out and called it a night after a short and largely unsuccesful search for a night cap.

Our last day in town consisted of finding more Doners, and having a man exfoliate me with a wire scrub brush mit before dumping massive amounts of soap on me while I lay on a marble slab.  This was the famous “Hammam” or Turkish bath.  A strange experience, nothing like a relaxing spa especially when you consider other strangers are watching you undergo your “bath” like you're an animal at the circus.  It’s weird.  But it's also a worthwhile experience though not one I need to do again.  Then got another Doner.  The other unexpected experience I had was the Turkish barber which Alex had heard about and which we both checked out.  No special place, just found the barber shop down the street from the hotel and walked in for a haircut and shave.  A very thorough process which included a shoulder massage, having all the little hairs you get all over the place washed off, and also a lighter.  This is definitely something I would do again.  And oh by the way - half the price of a haircut in Zurich.

Last real sightseeing thing we did was a boat tour of the Bosphorus which took about an hour and a half round trip and just cruised along the water while we looked at various sights on the shore and enjoyed the sunshine.  Excellent dinner that night, found a local place near the hotel for a few drinks and traditional Hookah, and wrapped up 3 full days in Istanbul.  

Looking up the Bosphorus

All in all a wonderful, different, interesting, and lively city.  It’s truly a huge city with so much we didn’t get to see so I’d have to say a return trip is something I would love to do in the future.  We’ll see, so many places to see, so little time!  

Now stayed blogged in for what the other 6 days I mentioned were all about.....

Tasting champagne IN Champagne

One of the things I wanted to do when I found out we were moving to Europe was go to Champagne France and taste champagne. And that’s just what I did last weekend. My friend Lee from my old team in SF was in London and Paris for meetings so I met up with her in Champagne for a girls weekend. We stayed in Reims, which is the main city in this region. Lee had arranged for us to have a private tour guide, Rachel, to take us around Saturday and Sunday. Saturday started off with a first stop at a champagne house in Epernay recommended by a friend of Lee’s. This champagne house also doubled as a champagne museum so we decided to take the offered tour. This tour was in French (Rachel translated for us) and it took almost 2 hours. It was kind of interesting in the beginning but then it just got weird and went on for way too long. There were many different rooms all underneath the champagne house filled with multiples of things. For example, there was one room that had all shears displayed on the wall. Then another room had a bunch of axes and then one with cork, one with presses and on and on. Anyways, we finally got to tasting the champagne….3 types and they were yummy! We were then off to lunch and after took a walk down Avenue de Champagne where many champagne houses are located. For example Moet and Chandon is there. We did more tasting at a little champagne bar in Epernay and then our day with Rachel was over.

Sunday was a bit more like what I imagined Champagne to be. We went out to this small champagne house (Wafflart-Briet) in a village of 360 people called Sacy. It was super cute and in such a beautiful setting with grape vines and cute little village roads and houses. Here we tasted more champagne, learned about the champagne making process and had a lovely little lunch that Rachel prepared for us. The plan was to go to Pommery after for a tour but we were just thoroughly enjoying ourselves at Wafflart-Briet and we would have been rushed to make our train if we went to Pommery so we decided to stay. We had a nice tour of their small operation, more champagne and then before we knew it, we were off to catch our train.

It was a weekend filled with lots of good champagne and I even managed to bring three bottles home with me (it’s amazing how heavy three bottles of champagne can make your suitcase!).

Overall it was a lovely weekend and I would definitely go back. OH and I almost forgot to mention the BEST chocolate croissant I have ever had in my entire life. Lee and I went for a run on Sunday morning (because when traveling with Lee, exercise is always a must) and at the end of our run we found a cute little Patisserie in Reims. Here is where I got the most delicious, fresh, warm from the oven chocolate croissant of my life. I will be returning to this exact Patisserie at some point…it's a must!