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.