Fahren in die Schweiz

I went on a typical American tour...see as much as you can in a really short period of time. I left Sunday from Bonn, and returned on Thursday. Sunday-Tues morning in Villeret with Sabine, Tues-Wed with Elizabeth at Andrea's, Wed-Thurs morn in Klosters/Monbiel/Davos with Elizabeth at Hitch and Dominiques!!!

I started by taking an unnecessary, but beautiful trip up to Cologne, and got a picture by the Kolner Dom, the biggest cathedral in Europe. Very gothic, very impressive.



My discounted train ticket got me from Cologne to Zurich, but as I was on the train, I realized it would stop in Basel, which cut off about 3 hours of travel time! I stopped in Basel, found the church (I wanted to watch conference), but no one was there. I took a picture in front of the train station. The last time I was here in Basel was for Fasnacht in February 2004 with my friends HP and Christina.


I called Sabine on my train from Basel to Villeret who said to get off at the next stop, she had some friends passing through who would pick me up and bring me up into the mountains where she was for her friend, Olivier's birthday dinner. We all went out for a lovely walk in the mountain pastures. Beautiful. This is me with Sabine.


We went back to the cabin and had Raclette for Olivier's b-day. Raclette is basically taking little individual pans, putting a slice of cheese on it and putting it over a fire to melt the cheese, you then scrape it off onto your plate, grind some pepper over it, and eat it with potatoes. Wow, it was delicious! Very Swiss, but I had never eaten it! Olivier is the only other one looking at the camera.


I met Sabine in Davos as well. She was studying massage therapy. We had a great time while I was there, I only wish it could have been longer. She had to go back to school Tuesday morning anyway. She is now studying Physical Therapy.

Hang-gliding

"Hey Millie, my friend, Olivier just called and wants to go hang-gliding. He has a double-wing, do you want to go with him?"
Sabine flies regularly on her own, so when we went up the mountain they were so chill about it, and it all happened so quickly, I really didn't have a lot of time to freak myself out.
It was soooo awesome!! I highly recommend hang-gliding!

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So, I was a little nervous at first, we were setting it up here, Olivier let me help, fortunately, he went back over everything to make sure it was all secure.


We stood in this "ready" position for a couple of minutes, waiting for the wind to be right.


We got strapped into our harnesses that hang you from the Delta (the wing). Olivier said "are you ready? 3,2,1 go" then we started running down the mountain.

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We ran and ran, then kept going straight, we ran out into the air instead of down the mountain. It was so incredible! We flew for about 30 minutes then landed in a nearby field. The Delta had wheels so we just stayed suspended face down, legs and feet dragging a bit, but, rolled smoothly to a stop. Amazing, and so fun!!


Sabine and her family are so great. Her parents, Stephan and Ursula made a dinner for me. Stephan is a chef, so it was delicious! Her mother, Ursula, is also a great cook. She kept offering to make me crepes, Citronella tee (which was quite tasty), and Apfel Strudel with vanilla sauce. They were such great hosts.

Basel with Andrea

I met up with Elizabeth Keeler. Funny story. So, Elizabeth's sister, Becca was living up in Alaska while her husband worked as an intern at the clinic with me. They later found out that Becca and Elizabeth's grandparents served a mission with Grandma and Grandpa Carlson! It's a small world after all...(to be sung while moving your hands and head in stiff, mechanicalized motions). Becca's mom gave Elizabeth my e-mail address along with some for my cousins. Elizabeth wrote to all of us and said that she is living in southern Germany and if we are ever traveling in Europe, to look her up. Very cool, I thought. I wrote her and said, hey, I'm living in Germany too, we should meet up. I'm going to Switzerland next week, do you want to join me? So she did! She is very cool, and if any of you are over here, you should meet up with her. Go visit her in Konstanz!

Elizabeth and myself in front of the Rathaus (government house) in Basel.


We met up with my friend, Andrea. I know Andrea from Davos. She was so great! We took our things to her house then went out touring Basel for the afternoon. We went back to Andrea's house and made cheese fondue and pumpkin-chestnut soup, and salad. So good, but ugh, we ate so much!


Andrea and Elizabeth tried Heisse Maroni, Roasted Chestnuts. Quite delicious. =)

Andrea made some beds out of sheets, blankets, towels, whatever she could find. So nice of her to have us there at her house!

Davos

Elizabeth and I traveled to Klosters and Davos. I got to see my friend, and former German teacher, Helmut Falter. It's kinda funny. My life there no longer exists. I think there may be 5 people, if I looked hard enough, who might remember me. It was really nostalgic to go back, brought back a lot of great memories!

Beautiful fall weather. Just one of the incredible views from the train to Davos.


My friends Hitch (short for Christian) and Dominique with their 2 boys, Gian and Lenard. They had to leave for Zurich, but let us stay in their beautiful home in Monbiel, just outside of Klosters.


Elizabeth and I hiked up Parsenn, up to 1300 meters, I think. We only hiked the top, so we would hike just a few meters and have to stop to catch our breath because of the altitude. It was a bit cold, some snow up there, but a great hike! We took the tram up and down from the Mittlestation, but on the way down we thought we were going to miss the last tram so we started going faster. Fortunately, we made it. Otherwise we probably would have been hiking down for another 2 hours!


This was the mt we hiked up, w/ Davos in the valley down below.
Elizabeth and I went back to Monbiel and made some stir-fry for dinner. I had to catch the bus early in the morning to catch my train to Zurich, to catch my train to Bonn, but she stayed an extra day there...lucky!


One of the many castles on the Rheine I saw on the way back home.

What a great trip!

Switzerland, here I come

I'm headed to Switzerland in the morning. I get to see my friends, Sabine, Andrea, and hopefully, Hitch and Dominique...look forward to pictures!

How lucky are we to have such wonderful messages taught to us by God's Prophets! I've enjoyed conference thus far and look forward to more tomorrow!

Yodeleedelay

Vienna was suuuuper! I posted the previous blog then realized that I hadn't really explained the pics.
These 3 are from our hike near Linz with Pascal. They had all of these "senses" activities like this balance beam, swings, hallowed trees you could beat with sticks, and, as I'm demonstrating, the meditation rock where you can find your tone. You stick your head in the hole and sing different notes until you find the note that resonates the best for you, this helps you meditate. It's true. I felt at one with nature, then again, maybe it's because I had my head stuck in this big rock. =)
The other pictures are:
Pascal's Feuerwehr...old firevan/ambulance, by his parents house
The boys and I with Jette
Walking around the Belvedere Palace and grounds
Michael and I in front of the Rathaus
One of these buildings is not like the others. You can't tell so well, but the third building in is more modern, a lot more plain, the same across the street as well. This was where a bomb hit during WWII. You can see this all over the city. Interesting, what a history!

Wien (pronounced "Veen") aka Vienna

I had a really lovely time in Vienna this last week. We Flew into Linz on Friday. Patrick's cousin, Pascal, a good friend of mine who is very cool, came and picked us up and took us to his parents where we stayed the night. We went out for a nature walk on Saturday, climbed a 30 meter tower to look around the area...beautiful, I love Austria! I've decided that if I were to live in Europe it would be in Austria, more particularly, Vienna. I highly recommend it to all!
We headed to Vienna by train Saturday afternoon. We stayed at Koko and Patrick's apartment. Johannes and Michael, who are renting the apartment were gracious hosts, made dinner for us, drove us to church, went with me around downtown Vienna. Sunday I took the boys to church, Koko had meetings until 11:30pm. We were invited to a garden party with some friends of Koko and Patricks, now mine, who blessed their baby.
Monday, we visited my friend, Jette at her work, she makes violin's and cello's, very cool! We then went to the aquarium. I took the boys to the YSA FHE, met some nice people. Koko got home around 10:30. Pascal came to Vienna Monday night.
Tuesday Pascal came with us to the zoo. We had Eis (ice cream/gelatto) to rival Italian gelatto if you can believe it. Koko got home at 5 so I had the evening off. Michael and I went walking around the Rathaus(government building), and around Staphansdom (the main cathedral). He is so funny! He is Austrian and Italian and speaks very little English so I got a lot of German practice this last week, with him and with Pascal as well. We had to try this other gelatto to compare it with the ones we had earlier. I could probably keep trying them out, for comparison of course, for ever...mmm!
Wed I took the boys to the Prater, a big, beautiful park across the Danube Canal from the apartment. Koko met up with us at 11:30, I went for a run through the park, we packed up, met up with Pascal at the train station, and rode back to Linz together, said our adieu's and headed back home.
All in all, a great trip!

When in Rome...

Get comfortable, this is a long one...

Day 1, Saturday: arrived at 7am after traveling since 2:30 from Bonn, almost missing our flight. Left our luggage at our hotel near Santa Maria Maggiore, in old town Rome. Brunch in a small park, look around, "hey, isn't that the Colosseum?" Yes, it was...walked around the Colosseum and napped on some steps in the Roman Forum. We got on a bus (had to maneuver the buggy around the bar in the door) but the bus driver came back and told us we couldn't ride because of the buggy and that we had to get off! Unbelievable!! We did have some people arguing in our favor, good to see not everyone feels the same about baby buggies. In the evening we ate dinner at this little outdoor cafe and listened to some old men singing folk songs.
Day 2, Sunday: We took the subway to The Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica. Rome is not very handicap/baby buggy friendly...only a few metro stops with handicap access, cobblestone streets, crazy traffic, lots of roads and buildings with only stairs...on and on. The Sistine Chapel wasn't open as it was Sunday, and who goes to chapel on Sunday? Koko took the boys so I had the rest of the day to myself...wandering the streets of Rome until about 9pm! I got wonderfully lost a few times, visited Castel Sant'Angelo, Piazza Navona, St Ignazio di Loyola, the Pantheon, Fontana de Trevi, Quarinale, San Carlo Quattro, Fontana Del Tritone, Piazza di Spagna, Villa Medici, and Piazza del Popolo. There are fountains everywhere, and small fountains with fresh water you can drink from. That was really nice as most of the time in big cities you can't drink the water, but have to buy it and it's rediculously expensive!
Day 3, Monday: Koko had her conference the next 3 days, so I had the boys all day. Monday went well. We went up the Villa Borghese, considered the heart of Rome, a beautiful park, had a picnic, then went to the zoo, which is built around old Roman ruins. Back to the hotel around 7pm to meet Koko for dinner.
Day 4, Tues: Not nearly as pleasant. After walking by the Circus Maximus and over Isolda Tibera, I tried walking with the boys through a "park" below the Vatican, but could find none, just a long, busy, winding road with lots of traffik, so the boys couldn't get out and run very much and I had to try to push them up this big hill. We did get a spectacular view of Rome from the top though. My friend, Francesca, from Rome, told me about the best Gelato shop in Rome...Gelato dei Gracchi. We found it...if you are ever in Rome, I also recommend it, it's just a small shop and there were no tourists, only Italians, that has to say something. =) I went out wandering to find a place to eat dinner, as Koko took the boys for nuggets at McD's. I found this restaurant that had been referred to Koko, but the tables were full...I continued on, tried to head back towards my hotel and got lost, walked another hour or so, and happened to come out back at the same restaurant!! Amazing, I took it as a sign I should eat there. =) I asked the waiter if he recommends the salad, he said yes, but they also have mixed vegetables. I had the veggies, then he brought me the salad anyway, "on the house", he also brought me bread, and in the end charged me only for the pizza and my water and wouldn't let me tip him. Wow! The man who cleans the tables came and asked what I wanted to do with my pizza, I asked him if I could take it home with me, he said I could take him home with me if I wanted to. Those Italians...
Day 5, Wed: I took the boys to the Museo Explora, a museum for children. Then to a park...there aren't very many parks as we know them, with playgrounds and such, only open areas, with an occasional piece of stone or cement in the middle for children to kick a ball at. Interesting. We then went down to Fontana dei Trevi...the boys love fountains! Koko took the boys a little after 7 and I went and met up with Francesca's sister, Kiara, and her friend, Sara, in Piazza Navona. I also got to meet her father Steffano, lovely family. Kiara took us to her boyfriend, Manuel's Cocktail bar, Fluid, quite popular. They serve a buffet; dishes with rice, pasta, little sandwiches, etc. Again, not so many tourists, very cool place! Kiara said I could help myself to the buffet, and just pay for my drink, but in the end, Manuel didn't charge me anything. It seemed to be a little exclusive as there was a man at the entrance to let us in. Kiara's cousin Paolo and his friend Massimillion met up with us later and we all just sat around talking until about 12:30am. I took a taxi back to Santa Maria Maggiore, stopped and had one last Gelato, was invited for a drink with one last Italian man, then packed until about 2. We left the hotel Thursday morning at 6, getting back to Bonn at 1pm.
All in all, a great trip!

Happy desserts

Patrick made these delicious palatchinken (don't know if that's how you spell it), aka crepes. Yummeee!

Biking trip

Yesterday my friends Marion, Patrick, Olivia, and I went on a bike trip. We biked along the Seig river to a lake, went for a swim, and biked around the beautiful German countryside. I got an opportunity to use my mountainbike as we went off-roading through some mud bogs, sorry no pictures of that. I ended up quite dirty by the end, too bad we didn't go for our swim after the mud, that would have been the way to go.
At the lake we used this little, um, shall we call it a changing booth? It's just a cloth tunnel to change in. The smarter ones are the ones that are tight around your neck so they don't fall off while you change. This one you have to hold with your teeth. HA!

The rest in picture form

I guess these pics didn´t post. I couldn´t resist putting in this `rear-view´ of Phinny.
Also, the first picture, showing the valley, has the place we stayed at in the center of the picture if you enhance it, you can see, all cute and nestled in a little valley. Precious.

Holiday in Austria

I went this last week to the Merl Family Reunion in Eisenerz, in the heart of Austria. Beautiful! We stazed in a Familie und Jugendlichegasthause, so a family and youth guest house. I stayed in the room with Koko, Patrick and the boys, which was great except for waking up in the middle of the night to a little Phinny crying. I was also awakened by two excited little boys in the morning, between 6.30 and 7am! Besides that though, it was really lovely. I got to see Patrick´s family, I was particularly glad to get to see his parents ´Mama and Papa´, Crystle and Harry. They are great!!
We went for a hike Monday. Patrick brought the kinderwagen up this ´short-cut´which ended up being a huge, steep climb up the side of the mountain. I don´t have the best pictures of helping him, but I put this one on here to give you an idea of what we did. I helped him carry the buggy up, first with Phinny in it, as he was sleeping. Whew, a great work-out. When I get the pictures from Patrick´s brother, I´ll put a picture of me hauling it...quite funny!
There were so many delicious Heidelbern, or blueberries. We took many a breathers to pick and eat.
I had a ´beauty night´ with the little girls. We are posing Napoleon Dynamite-style.
We spent 4-5 hours at the Leopoldsteiner See, a very ´frisch´ lake, aka, freezin´cold!!! I went in once, which was enough. =) I got sunburned as it was a lovely day.
We went on an ore mine tour, some of the finest ore comes from there. We went down into the mine so we had to wear the rain jackets and hard hats, then rode on a huge truck. They have been mining from this area for hundreds and hundreds of years!
I left with Patrick´s brother and sister-in-law, Michy and Anita back to Gramastetten, close to Linz for the night. I had planned on taking the rest of the week to go visit friends in Switzerland, but it would either be €450 for a rental car, (not including gas and country fees), or €250 to take the train over and then back up to Bonn. Neither of these was really an option financially so when I found a ticket directly to Bonn for €59 I couldn´t pass it up.
Disappointing, but alles gute.
Now, I´m back in Bonn. I went for a long bike ride today, though it would have been much longer had my bike not gotten a flat.
So, there you have it.
I will now go meet some friends at Frittebud for a cheap, yet delectible, burger and fries (good thing I biked so much today!)
Much love to all from Germany!!!

Adventures!!

I'm not sure if these pics will post, but here are a few of them anyway. So, the first is when I biked with the boys down to Konigswinter to try to hike up to the Drachenfels ruins (shown here), but the way was far too steep so I'll have to do it when I can get somebody to come with to help carry the boys up.
Secondly, a picture from Koko's office overlooking the Rheinau park which I bike through several times a day, and in which there are numerous adventures to be had...playgrounds, paddle-boating, kite-flying, bier festivals, rock concerts, flea markets, etc.
I went with the boys on a "mini-cruise" up the river (which is actually south because the Rheine flows south to north) to a little island where we had lunch, this was the boat we took.
And finally, it rained profusely today so I took the boys to the Haribo store where they make every kind of gummy candy you can imagine...gummy bears, boys, butterflies, snakes, strawberries, lots of black licorice, licorice, sweet, sweet yummee, yummee licorice...Let me know if there is something in particular you are craving and I'll see what I can do about getting you a delicious gummy treat.
I shall try to be more consistent in my picture taking and blog posting. Too many things happen to not document. I am headed to southern Austria, or Corinthia, on Saturday with the Merls. Should be much fun! I will probably leave a little early, not staying the whole week, so as to be able to take a detour to Switzerland and see some friends there before returning to Germany.
And the adventures continue...

And we all float on anyway...

So sorry to all who have been looking for a new post. I don't have many, but I did take a few pictures this last weekend when I went with Patrick and the boys to our home teachers 70th b-day party at this farmhouse converted medieval restaurant. Very
cool. We were entertained by bards and ate our whole meal with just our knives and fingers. This is a picture of the
veggies that were in the middle of the table, we picked out what we wanted to eat from this delectible selection, then they brought out these huge plates with meat, which we cut off, put on our plates, then ate, again with just our knives and fingers. Very fun!!!

Anyway. I've been having a grand time here in Bonn. It's been really fun with the Merl family. I have to admit though, it has also been a little difficult as Koko, the mother, has been gone a lot...1st week, I had Nicholas (almost 4) all week from 7-whenever Patrick got home...5:30-8pm. Now Koko is in Munich for the week and I have both boys (Phineas is 18mo's), same schedule. This is the last week like this and it will get a lot easier after this. I tip my hat to all parents, especially mothers, who spend so much time taking care of their children all day everyday. Paul said that with your own children it is an eternal investment which makes all the difference. That gives me encouragement and hope. =)

My cousin, Krista might come over to take my place which would be so great!!!

We've been spending a lot of time in the park which is right by the Rhein, the forest, the Zoo, etc. I will take pictures and post them. It is so beautiful here! Koko and Patrick got rid of their car so we bike or walk everywhere, sometimes taking public transportation. I'm really excited about this, I , I'm hoping to get fit from this last long winter in Alaska, as I've gotten a bit, um, shall we say, soft. =)

Perhaps tomorrow will be a bright, sun-shiny day so I can take some more pics.
love,
Millie