Week 14: Being Normal

It's Memorial Day. A huge thank you to our military service for all that they do and have done for our freedom. I worked today, because obviously Memorial Day is an American holiday. But that is ok because I have Thursday off for a holiday.

So what did I do this weekend? Well, I was normal if there is such a thing as normal. I have been running so much that I did not plan an adventure per se, but think think for a minute that I sat around doing nothing. Friday night, I met my partner in crime here in Switzerland. I had dinner with my patner in crime and her husband. We had a great evening. They cooked great food, with great wine to compliment to great conversation. Saturday, I had to be domestic and do laundry since I hadn't washed clothed in 2 weeks and also putze mein wohnung (clean my flat). Saturday afternoon, I went grocery shopping with a friend, had a Starbucks, and then watched a movie.

Sunday was a busy day. I played a double header in softball. Did I tell you that I'm on a softball team here? I can't remember so I'll give you a few quick details. There are only about 8 softball teams in Switzerland. They do not start playing at age 5 like we do in the US. They start at 16-20 playing. I had to purchase a license to play softball. No kidding! But it is a ton of fun! We won both games on Sunday against Zurich. The second game went into OT with me scoring the winning run. Sweet!

Sunday evening I was off to a birthday party where I heard nothing but Swiss-German all night. It is a good learning experience!

This weekend I'm off on a grand 4 day adventure. I have been assured that this will be an awesome experience.

Adventure 13.0: Belgium

May 21 to May 25, 2011

For work, I went to Lanaken, Belgium to visit a plant. The customer rocked! They took us out for 2 dinners: One was a 5-course meal with wine paring! There other was just as delicious, but 3-course. The 3-course dinner was eaten in Maastrict, Holland. Yet another country added to my list. Most of the trip was work, so I won't or can't go into details. So let's have a funny story!

Co-worker A had to fly out early on Wednesday so we took him to a hotel close to the airport. First off, we had a bit of a hard time finding the hotel. I have a great picture of Co-worker A talking to the police about how to find the hotel. After dropping off Co-worker A in an alley (seriously the hotel entrance was down this little alley) we continue to drive down the alley. We pull out into a restaraunt. That's right Tom-Tom (the GPS) directed us right into the middle of an outdoor cafe! As I was laughing hysterically, Co-worker B is going what do I do, where do I go. As he is looking around a guy sitting at the table beside my car door points to the right. He also has the "what are these idiots doing" look on his face. We drove off down another alley hoping not to crash anyone elses lunch. Haha!

 The signs on the men's and women's toilet....I was so taken back by the graphic that it confused me on which one I should go in!

Redneck in Belgium. I think
Little Joe Cartwright may have
been in the back.

We had 2 hours worth of site-seeing in Leuven. As we are walking around, we see a lot of signs for Stella Artois. With a quick google search, we find that Stella originated there. Not that we need much encouragement, but the next stop was to get a Stella! The town was cute. Good trip!

Adventure12.0: Baden

Saturday May 14, 2011

My view under the
Regenschirm

Saturday it rained. What do you do in the rain in Switzerland? Sightsee, I guess. I went to the town of Baden because it was in my travel book when I opened in Saturday morning. This is freedom: Wake up, open the travel book, and pick a place to go.

Baden is a cute Swiss town, with stores, a couple of castles, some beautiful churches. Actually this is most Swiss towns, but to an American where the oldest building you see is 200 years old this is spectacular!

One thing I loved about this trip is that I had to change trains in Zurich. Zurich has a Starbucks at der Banhoff. I had just enough time to grab a Chai Tea Latte between trains...SWEET!

Now it's picture show time!

  

Gotta love a pub with an

advertisement like this one!

I didn't wear "Jellies" back in the day
and I certainly don't plan to start now.
Are these really making a comeback?

Adventure 11.1: Velo Farhren von Rorschach nach Lindau

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I hope you liked your flowers, but what happened to the balloon?

Today I rode my bike around Bodensee (Lake of Constance). I started in Rorschach and road to Lindau. The day was beautiful! The ride was beautiful! The lake was beautiful! It was just a beautiful experience. However, I'm a little burnt out of writing all the time. Enjoy the picture show.

      

I love this house!
 Do you think the gnomes live there?



Ha!

Theater in der See

Adventure 11.0: Wanderweg zu Kronberg

Saturday May 7, 2011

Today, I took der Zug (the train) and then the bus to Schwagalp. From there I hiked to Kronberg and then to Jakobsbad. I have decided that as I learn German so will you. For now I shall throw in a few German words with English in parenthesis. I hope you enjoy Deutch lernen. I had my path picked out but got off on the wrong foot. While looking in awe at den Berg (the mountain) Santis, I followed the wrong path. At some point, I concluded I was not on the right path. Eventually I found my way. I just took the scenic route to get there. The scenic route war nicht schneller (was not faster). It was however beautiful!

The entire hike, I could see the Berg Santis which was sneebececkten (snow capped). There were also a plethora of wildflowers to be seen in all colors. Once reaching the top of Kronberg, I decided to buy a Coke. After hours of hiking, an “ice cold” Coke sounds delicious. Yes, there is a restaurant on top of das Berg. You can also go paragliding from the top of das Berg. My Coke that I longed for cost 3.50 CHF from the vending machine! And “ice cold” really just means “not room temperature”. However, the Coke was like music to my ears except for my taste buds. Whatever the equivalent saying would be.

The entire way down the mountain, you could hear cow die Glocken (bells). It is quite beautiful to listen to. Unfortunately I never got close enough to get a good picture. The only cows I saw up close were 3 bulls, one of which was pounding its foot at me. It there a rule about not looking at a cow? Apparently it didn’t want its picture taken. I did not linger long. After all, there wasn’t much between the bull and I, just a piece of that electric ribbon stuff. I did see some goats with die Glocken. The Swiss put die Glocken on everything; they must! Upon entering Jakobsbad, there was a campground. This is not camping like I know camping. The campers were literally side by side. From my camper I could stick my head in your camper window. Who would go there? Lots of people because the place was packed. And this is where I saw Mr. Speedo. These things should be outlawed. I don’t care if you a ripped like Sylvester Stalone back in the Rambo days with a face like the Borne Identity guy. Wearing a speedo is WRONG! To make it worse, this guy couldn’t have been pregnant with twins. The picture below is blurry ON PURPOSE. I didn’t want a picture of that, but I wanted you to see the absurdity.

The pink line is my wanderweg.

Long day, beautiful day, God was everywhere! This hike or God brought the following thought to my mind:

People have been asking me for a few years “why did you leave Colorado?” I LOVED Colorado. I never quite knew the answer. God told me to go so I went. I’ve been making up excused for years on why I left. Today, I finally realized why I left. Because without leaving CO and going to NC, I would have never made it to der Schweiz. And der Schweiz rocks! God knew what he was doing...as always.