Thanksgiving?

It was such a surreal feeling last Thursday when I was walking to class. The white grey sky and chilly air were right. But the normal hustle and bustle I passed on my way to class was not. I guess it was kind of culturally ego-centric of me to think that someone might mention thanksgiving in my class - maybe the German teacher who speaks English so well or the Italian guy who also speaks English very well. But no mention or acknowledgment. I mean after all - it is celebrated by just about everyone in the US, regardless of religious beliefs? There I go, being culturally ego-centric again.

Rob and I had a very fun thanksgiving though. We celebrated by taking a trip to London to visit with friends and catch a Gomez concert. (Actually, the first person to mention Thanksgiving to us was the customs officer at London Stanstead airport.) We met up with Rob and Leslie when we got there and went straight to the concert. The venue was the Hammersmith Apollo. It was an old theatre with the seats removed for GA admission to the show. It reminded me a lot of the Recher Theatre in Towson - only the Beatles never played the Recher.

The show was a lot of fun - the band was great! I must say though - I did take some time during the show to have my own thanksgiving and think about what I was grateful for. This year especially there is so much to be thankful for - my marriage to Rob (!), the expansion of the LaGreca family by three new wonderful members (in four months), my incredible adventures here, and the health and happiness of so many of our family and friends.

The London adventures were a lot of fun. I didn't find London to have the same cultural mystique as beautiful Paris or wonderful Rome with its ancient history nestled in among the modern buildings, but we had a great time. I loved visiting with friends and being able to understand the language (mostly). We did a lot of shopping and walked around the town to visit Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Royal Palace. The shopping was so much fun! London is expensive as we had heard, but with so many shops, you are bound to find a bargain (Like black suede knee high boots for 25 pounds (about $50)). And of course we had to sample the local cuisine. I did not find British food as bad as reported. We had some "pastys" which were like soup/stew in a hot pocket and of course - fish and chips! Rob and I stopped in a local pub close to Oxford Street (a huge shopping street) and had a taste. Oh boy was it good! And low cal too ;)

We also went to a local market. It was like the Basel market only supersized! It reminded me a bit of the Baltimore farmer's market under the JFX. This was under a series of overpasses - I guess that is key with the rainy weather. We got to sample lots of wonderful things - different pate and cheeses and jellies. But I think the best thing we had from the market was warm apple cider with chunks of apple in it. Hit the spot on a rainy London morning!

And so our adventures continue! I am well into my German classes and the lingo is inching along. Haven't been doing too much with the radio station but my homework, house stuff and our travels are plenty to keep me busy. Jenny Watta and Katie are on their way! They arrive on Friday for some Swiss fun. I know we will have a blast. The following weekend Rob and I will be going to Hiedelburg (his home previous to Baltimore) to visit friends and check out the Christmas market. And on Dec. 19th, we return to the US. That will be a wonderful adventure as well.

Backyard Adventures

This past weekend we had the pleasure of our first visitors from the US since I have been living in Basel. Cronin - one of my best friends from college - and her hubby Karl came to visit us for 4 days. I had really been looking forward to it!! I was a tiny bit unsure about my capabilities as a European hostess and tourguide but was so excited to spend time with them. We had such a fun time from start to end.

I met them in Zurich - not at the airport but in the town of Zurich. To me, Zurich seemed like a bigger Basel. Makes sense with them being so close together (relatively, compared to the other Swiss cities). We toured around a bit and saw some beautiful views including one from the main church. We climbed into one of the tower spires and could see all around the city - the church overlooked the water but we could also see into the sides of the city where the leaves were turning vibrant colors in the parks. Beautiful!

Cronin & Karl were troopers about the jetlag so we headed back to Basel and went right out to a cafe on the Rhein for outside drinks like true Basel locals. I took them into our little town so they could see more and we did some shopping and had more outside drinks. Fun times! Robs met up with us and eventually we headed home where I cooked dinner and fortunately did not poison anyone. It was wonderful to have them over for dinner.

On Friday, we went to Frieburg, Germany so Karl could see a bit of the motherland (or the fatherland as he said!). We had a nice day touring around and doing some shopping and sightseeing. Karl, whom all the Swiss and Germans seemed to love (where has the love been for dark haired, dark eyed me???!) had a tiny bit of a run in with a German woman at the wurst stand. Some kind of drama over brotwurst/batworst when he ordered. See - he thinks he is fluent in German (the locals seemed to think so too) until he confused the words and the woman all but threw the wurst right at him. I am laughing out loud now just thinking about it! So if you see him - be sure to ask him about that so you can laugh too.

Friday night, we came back to Basel and had a lovely Swiss dinner. We had some humor in the menu translation that night as well. For the most part, Rob can typically get us through the menu. There was a word that we did not understand though. So we asked our waiter to help us translate the word. He did not know how to say it in English so he went into the kitchen. When he came back out, he said "It is... Bambi." haaaaa! Not venison - not Bambi's mom, but Bambi! (no offense to the vegetarians out there). The translation was hilarious! We understood what he was saying though!

Friday we went to Luzern. The weather was not really cooperating as far as the view, but we had a great time. We took a boat out around the lake and toured around the town. For dinner, we went back to the fabulous Sebastian's restaurant that Rob and I had tried over our Easter visit. It was just as delicious this time. It was so wonderful - to share an amazing meal with good friends.

Sunday was definitely the visual highlight of our weekend. We decided to take a train to Interlaken then another train up to the Jungfraujoch, "The Top of Europe." The train took quite a while to chug up through the Alps and bring us to the summit. Along the way, we switched trains twice and had several opportunities for amazing photo opps (check my Snapfish album if you have time). The Jungfraujoch bahn (train) runs through the solid rock of the mountain and brings you to the top where you can go outside and see the most breathtaking landscape. It was bitter cold and windy but undoubtedly worth the chill to be outside for a few moments in the midst of the Alps. I cannot describe the view. I never thought I would see anything like it and I'll never forget it. Nature's beauty is like no other.

We descended the mountain and stopped in Grindelwald for dinner. We had another traditional Swiss dinner. Well - most of us. Cronin had fondue, Karl and Rob had Rusti (fried potatoes with meats & cheese) and I had a burrito. (I prefer mexicano to Swiss.) It was made with cheese, salmon and spinach though - not your typical taco bell bean variety.

Our weekend was so wonderful. I was so happy to share our adventures with good friends from home. We had such a blast. I laughed until I cried (on several occasions!) and smiled until my face hurt.

OH! I almost forgot another highlight of the weekend! Not only were our guests delightful company, but during our shopping time on Thursday, Karl picked up a French press for us as a little house warming (flat warming?) gift. For those that don't know - that is a COFFEE MAKER!!!! Yeah! Soooooo - Sundai vs. the Cappuccino machine? Game Over.

Finally Paris

For those that know me, I am definitely a city person. When I was young, I always wanted to go visit New York City to see its hugeness, character, culture and energy. I went when I was about 13 or so for the first time. It did not disappoint then nor on any other visit, be it for work or for fun. I had similar excitement toward visiting Paris but was very worried that I would be disappointed after looking so forward to it for so long. From the minute we rose up out of the Metropolitan until the minute we left, I loved it completely.

The city itself, is beautiful. It has the charm of New York with great little neighborhoods with door after door of cafes, restaurants and shoppes but the grand architecture of a city like no other. All of the buildings are light in color - the only black you see is from the wrought iron balconies that adorn each apartment. The residences as well as the landmarks are beautiful. There are many museums and beautiful jardins. And we did not find the Parisians to be rude nor intolerant toward us as Americans which was the nicest surprise of all.

We did everything. Well - all the major things that you should do on a first visit. We ate wonderful notoriously French food - crepes, bread, moules (mussels) and escargot. And ordered things off the menu that we weren't really sure of but all the food was wonderful! We saw the Tour Eiffel and the L'arc de Triomphe at sunset. The tower didn't really do too much for me but the Arc was fantastic! We didn't even get too close - you can see the grandeur from across the block. Wow - unbelievable.

I loved the Louvre as well. What a beautiful building - and that's just on the outside! The inside is magnificent as well. I was overwhelmed and almost brought to tears when standing in front of the Mona Lisa. As many have said, the portrait is not spectacular nor large. But to me, the notion that many millions, billions? of people have stood in front of it as I did, viewing it over centuries, really moved me. We spent quite a bit of time in the Louvre but did not even come close to seeing everything. The museum is immense.

The first night we were there, Rob brought me to the Cathedral de Notre Dame. I had booked the hotel with his guidance and wanted to make sure we were close to that so that we wouldn't stand a chance of missing it. It was one of the first things we saw and probably my favorite. My art history classes at JC and UM had taught me what a spectacular structure it was. We first saw it at night, huge and glowing next to a full moon. Just thinking about it now gives me chills. We went back to visit the inside at the end of our visit. The inside of the Gothic style churches in Paris is very plain. The real grandeur and mystery is on the outside, in the detail of all the intricate carvings. Wow - it was incredibly beautiful.

I could write more about Paris - all the details and more stories about what we did and what we saw but I think of it as a romantic and somewhat mysterious city. Probably many of you have your own ideas of what it would be like so I leave that to you and invite you to come and see it for yourself.

Halloween Swiss Style

Another morning - another fight with the Grand Crema cappuccino machine! argh!! This time it was my fault though - oopsie! just when I think I am making advances, we have another little spat! all cleaned up now though!

So happy post Halloween everyone!! thanks so much to everyone that sent photos! We had to kind of improvise our Halloween since they don't really do it in Switzerland - or at least in Basel. The only Halloween event I heard of was a children's costume party sponsored by the American Women's Club Basel! haa

Anyway- wanted to share some of what we've been up to. We stayed in Basel over the weekend (we are headed to Paris on Friday!!). Did our Saturday morning ritual of going down to the market. We got lots of goodies again! mushrooms, sundried tomatten and olives. some kind of soft cheese from the Italian guy, more chevre with chive and one with pepper and a big slice of squash! (more on that later!). Later on Saturday, we went to the normal grocery store and also took a stroll through the big fall festival in Basel. It is actually held in many locations - we went to the one closest to us. We had a delicious bratwurst (I think that is what it was called) but it was just like "white sausage" to me! yummy! they just give you the sausage on a plate with some mustard and you can add bread as you like. We also saw little kids eating what looked to me like a variety of hot dogs in pastry. It was basically some kind of skinny sausage put into a small loaf of bread with the inside dug out. seemed like a lot for a child to eat to me but it must be like a hot dog at a baseball game - all the kids had them! We did get our own treat at the carnival. Fondue is very popular here - I believe it originated in Switzerland? Well they had fruit dipped in chocolate on a stick with nestle-crunch style crunchies on the outside. We got a stick of strawberry & banana. mmmm!!!

Saturday night we went to the movies to see "The World's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins. Again with the no-popcorn thing but thanks to another carnival spot closeby, we smuggled some in! haa! The movie experience here is totally different from that in the US. (as in NO POPCORN!). It is very expensive also. The cost for each of us was 16 chf (about 14 dollars) but they added another dollar to the fare for each of us b/c the movie was more than 2 hours long! So the total was 34 chf! would have been 36 chf if the movie was over 3 hours! crazy, huh? AND no popcorn! but the flick was good! Sir Anthony gave a great performance as usual.

Sunday morning was raining but Rob was able to motivate me to go out for a run. plus I snagged his water resistant jacket! heh :) so we had a nice run & came back and had our little smoked salmon brunch and hung out for a bit. That
afternoon, we went to the Basel Weinmesse which is basically this big old wine convention/tasting. It kind of reminded me of the fancy food shows we used to go to in Chicago only with vino instead of food! This event was the best value we have found in Basel to date! 10 chf to get in - that's it! (so about $8). We met so many new wines that day! Mostly Italian (why mess when it is so good!). We tried several kinds of Barberesco (Piemonte area) and met Nebbiolo d'Alba (also Piemonte), Primitivo (Puglia) and my new fave - Nero d'Avola (Sicilian area) mmmm! (Actually I think some of those can be grown in a number of regions so don't quote me on my wine knowledge!). And we saw some old faves - Chianti, Montepulciano, etc... We had a lot of fun trying the wines and talking to the characters manning the booths. Then home for football! (yeay ravens! sorry jets & philly birds).

Monday was pretty low key but I figured I would share my Halloween adventures from yesterday! in the morning, I set out on my hunt for the great pumpkin (or the medium pumpkin) for our little crib to carve up and cook! I found the perfect sized guy but he was 18 chf at the outdoor market. no dice! they really only had 2 to choose from. I'm telling you - the do not do Halloween here hardly at all! So I continued on my way and found a good little guy for us in a grocery store (at the florist section?!). I came home and found a wonderful trick or treat in our mailbox - CDs of our wedding photos!! (so I am hoping the will be up on Pictage soon!!). I took a peek at them and then settled in to listen to the radio program (Tuesday nights at 6:30). Robs came home and went to work on the pumpkin! He scooped out the guts and roasted the seeds - with o.o. and salt and pepper mmm so good! I put some cinnamon on mine - don't worry - it was good! and we had a fun pre-dinner app of pumpkin seeds! Rob also went to work on the big squash from Saturday. It was cut like a big slice of cantaloupe. he cut it off the rind and threw it in the oven with some sugar (no brown sugar to be found in Basel), cinnamon & nutmeg. We had dinner and then pulled out the squash. It was okay - I didn't loooove it - but Rob grabbed some Movenpick "Vanilla Dream" ice cream from the little store on the block. Boy was it good then! So we settled on the couch and watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" (yeah youtube.com) and then went through our wedding photos.

Definitely not a traditional Halloween but a very special one to me.