One year and 26 weeks - Favorable exchange rates and hiking to Chaumont

K after his 2011 swim in Lake Neuchâtel

Two weekends ago, we walked into town for the 22nd annual Neuchatel Buskers festival.  Unlike last year, when M got drafted as an audience volunteer, this year, we just watched all of the performances.  One of the best was an Indian troupe that had tightrope walking and pole-climbing.  But we also enjoyed seeing musicians from the U.S. to Africa to Italy.  We were a bit disappointed to have missed the big brass hip hop band this year that some colleagues had seen.  Also, that weekend, K did his second annual swim in Lake Neuchatel.  He managed to get the swim in just before the sky opened up and there was a downpour.

During the week, we attended a Jazz/Dixieland concert.  One of our coworkers is the keyboard player in the band.  Nice night with lots of good music.  Not at all what we expected from a "Jazz evening", but very enjoyable.

Last weekend, Ken had to spend Saturday morning at work.  While K was out, M was called on by a visitor she'd never seen before: Mr. Fox.  She noticed a furry, cat-like object on the patio.  On further inspection, she saw that it was, in fact, a red fox trying to catch a nap on the sunny patio.  She tried to get some pictures and a video, but the fox wasn't really interested in performing, so most of the videos just focus on a large curled-up hairball that only moves every 30 seconds to swat at the flies buzzing around it.  On Sunday, there was more animal excitement to be had at the local ecofair up in the hills at Cressier.  We got to pet goats, sheep, and cows, and we got to see llamas, pigs, chickens, alpine cows, and rabbits.  There were demonstrations on fiber carding and barn bowling.  We enjoyed walking around to all the stalls to see the organic wares for sale.  We even got in a little bit of wine tasting.  For lunch, M had a solar-cooked crepe with cheese and tomato.

Our neighbor, Mr. Fox

As you may be aware at the moment, if you've been following global finance, the Swiss franc is incredibly strong at the moment.  While the US dollar and the euro get hammered by the economic crises, people have been buying up the Swiss franc.  This, in turn, has caused the Swiss currency to became very strong, to the detriment of local Swiss exporters.  In the mean time, contrary to logic, Swiss prices for goods, including imports, have remained high.  This means now is an excellent time to go shopping across the border. (Note: K complains that this will screw-up our US taxes; but M thinks he's a silly bugger)

Therefore, this past weekend, we tried to get in a little bit of sight-seeing, as well as stimulating the French economy in the French alpine cities of Grenoble and Chambery.   We drove almost three hours to get to Grenoble first, the "capital of the French Alps", a medium size city with a gritty French charm.  One of the main reasons we had chosen Grenoble was due to a particular store that sells travel bags, but as luck would have it, the store was closed due to the owner's month long vacation.  (That's as irritating as it sounds.)  We tried to let it go and spent most of the morning and afternoon strolling through the city, popping into stores every now and then, in fact, buying very little considering a good part of the reason for the trip was to shop.  What we were able to take advantage of was the weather which turned mostly sunny as opposed to the gloomy rain in Neuchatel.  We had a pleasant lunch outside, not far from one of the town's fountains.

Elephant  Fountain, Chambery, France

We decided to take the country roads to our next destination, Chambery, which turned the journey from a half hour to an hour, but saved us road tolls and allowed us to see some amazing scenery.  There were beautiful views of the French Alps, and the scenery switched back and forth between cute little villages, pasture land, and forested gullies.  Before entering Chambery, we had some fun picking out products to try in a local supermarket.  After the supermarket, our destination inside Chambery (randomly picked from GPS selections) was the Elephant Fountain, one of the most famous attractions in Chambery.  The fountain was built in the 1800s to commemorate native son Benoît de Boigne's exploits in India.  After the fountain, we wandered through town to see what there was to see.  Both Chambery and Grenoble have good sized pedestrian areas so they were pretty easy to walk through.  On our walk we found the castle, with it's semi-circle tower, and a petanque court adjacent to it. After walking around town, we went in search of dinner.  We decided on an Indian restaurant which we sorely miss from the US.  K got a prix fixe menu with tandoori quail, and M got the veggie menu with a korma curry.  We were stuffed, and as we walked to the car for the long and late drive home, we agreed we would have to do some exercise the next day.

Therefore, we decided to go for a hike in the area. We settled on heading for Chaumont, the local peak where we had gone with Mary and Jack to show them the views over the Three Lakes.  2.4-hour hike up, a lovely picnic in the sun, and then 1.5-hour walk back down (much less strenuous than the walk up); a great way to spend Sunday.

View from about halfway up our hike

We crossed the Sentier du Temps trail, a sculptural rendition of the history of the life on Earth.  From reading local tourist brochures, M was looking for Dinosaurs; but all we saw was a tree-stump carving of  stromatolites (blue-green-algae nodules), as we didn't follow the "paleohistoric path" but just crossed it from time to time.

Lessons learned:
1)  It only takes a month and a half to get a duplicate, replacement Swiss residence card from the Neuchatel Controle des Habitants.  And, we got our replacement VW car key!
2) M likes Wheat beers; the "introductory woman's beer" per craftbeertemple.com (our new source of beer-tainment)
3) Lightning storms over the lake are quite excellent! (Bill & Ted Rule!)  Last week, the hot weather came to an end and storms rolled into Switzerland (the same bad weather we were looking to avoid by spending a weekend in France).
4) Since we moved to Neuchatel, we have noticed that our fellow Neuchatelois have shopping trolleys (big fabric/plastic bags on wheels; like hiking-backpack big, but they pull along the ground on wheels).  Locally, they cost 80-130 CHF.  In Grenoble, we scored one for 30 Euro.  K spent the rest of the day dragging it around with a grin on his face!
5) K will now spend the rest of his time in Neuchatel dragging the afore-mentioned shopping trolley up the darn hill to the apartment.  Let's see how much he smiles then.  Sucka!!!!

One year and 23 weeks - Business trip to Hamburg and Swiss National Day

Following our not-a-complete-disaster-but-nearly trip to Spain, we were quite keen to be homebodies.  On the weekends, we just hung around the apartment and walked down to town to do errands.  During the week, we started the process to replace the items in the stolen bag.  M went to the US Embassy in Bern to submit the application for her new passport to replace the emergency one she got at the Consulate in Barcelona.   She applied for a replacement drivers license and her Swiss residence permit card. We ordered new car keys and got new credit cards.

Less than two weeks after we'd gotten back, M had to fly to Hamburg, Germany for a training at a sister site.  She was completely stressed and guarded on the trip, sneaking glances at her luggage every 3 minutes.  Unfortunately, it was not possible to get down to the city of Hamburg during the trip, so visiting the city will just have to happen on the next trip (whenever that may be).

M came back to Neuchatel for the start of a 3-day weekend, Monday being the Swiss National Day.  Because of the holiday weekend, some coworkers had gone out of town and had asked the Boltons to pet-sit.  They left early, so Ken started caring for the animals Thursday night.  The menagerie included two black labs, one old kitty, and an aquarium full of fish.

For Swiss National Day, there were lots of festivities by the lake:  beach soccer, an American football demonstration, tight rope walking, a bmx track and games for the kids going on all weekend. The actual night of Swiss National Day, there were fireworks displays going off all around the lake.

Lessons Learned:
1. Germans eat some pretty odd dishes.  One lunch dish in Hamburg consisted of a small plate of boiled potatoes and a large plate covered in herbed cream.  It was reminiscent of the cauliflower "incident" on our honeymoon.

One year and 20 Weeks - Spain and the recovery

Two round trip tickets to Spain on EasyJet .............................................................  215 CHF

Spanish / English phrasebook..................................................................................     8 US Dollars

Limonada and una cerveza in Parc Guell.................................................................    6 Euros

Walking around, outside the crazy Sagrada Familia................................................      Free

New emergency passport at the US consulate in Barcelona..................................... 135 US Dollars

Bowl of Andalusian gazpacho on the Rambla de Poblenou.....................................    5 Euros

Two adult tickets to the Prado Museum ...................................................................   20 Euros

Early Sunday afternoon at the Reina Sofia...............................................................   Free

Tortilla de patate, patatas bravas, una cerveza, and jamon Iberica ............................  15 Euros

Jar of Sangria in the Parque del Retiro, Madrid.........................................................    3 Euros

Replacing all M's identification, keys, cash, credit cards, and other random stuff in her stolen bag................  Priceless

We'll be spending a nice, quiet weekend at home this week to "recover" from our vacation.

Lessons Learned:

1. Barcelona is ranked as the number one worst location of pickpocketing by TripAdvisor.com.

2. The Spanish are not early risers.

3.  The Spanish diet is heavily reliant on potatoes, eggs, ham, and fish.

One Year and 18 Weeks - A visitor and Roman ruins in Switzerland

K and Charlotte at Nestlé

The weekend after our trip to Aosta, we got to play host to our friend Charlotte who was between business trips to Israel and Germany.  After picking her up at the train station in Neuchâtel Friday night, we had a homemade fondue and salad and stayed up late chatting.

Saturday, we drove down to Broc to do the Nestlé-Cailler chocolate factory tour and had a light lunch of panini and crepes in Gruyères.    On the way back, we stopped in Avenches, to the west of Lake Murten, to see the Roman amphitheatre there.  The amphitheatre is still in use today, and there was actually a very elaborate rotating stage in the center which had been constructed for an upcoming opera.  We had heard that there were other Roman ruins in the area, but we did not have time to go exploring as we had to be back in Neuchâtel to meet some people.

Amphitheater at Avenches

On our way back to Neuchâtel, however, we decided to stop briefly at one of the local wine tasting rooms in the Vully region.   It took us awhile to find one that was open.  The first one that we found that was open didn't have very good wine.  The second one we talked our way into, as the proprietor had forgotten to remove the OPEN sign that was posted in front.  The wine at this one was much better.  While we drank the wines, K and M tried to converse with the man in French.  While Charlotte was able to catch a few words, K and M did only marginally better as the man spoke very, very fast.  When we finished our tasting, we bought a bottle and headed to downtown Neuchâtel where we met up with Sarala, Claire, and Sacha, coworkers that also know Charlotte.  We enjoyed the early evening in the Place des Halles, sipping local wines, and then Sarala and Claire joined the three of us for dinner at the Cardinal Brasserie.  Dinner was delicious- M and Sarala had constructed veggie plates and the other three each ordered big buckets of mussels.

Cigognier Sanctuary

Sunday morning was leisurely.  M made scones for breakfast, and then we went for a walk down by the lake.  Unfortunately, halfway through our walk, the sky opened up, and we wound up in the middle of a downpour.  By the time, we had dried up a bit it was time to head back to the apartment and take Charlotte to the train station for her trip to Stuttgart.

The following weekend, on Saturday, we caught up to a lakeside pub crawl sponsored by some members of the Neuchatel International Club, of which we were members last year.   We were about 2 hours behind the start, but we managed to catch up near Auvernier and stopped at 3 places with the small group before we took the tram back to Neuchatel.

Roman Theater

Sunday, with the gorgeous, warm weather, we decided to picnic down by lake.  We stuffed a bag full of radish and camembert sandwiches, chips, and cold white wine, and biked down to the lake near the big pools.  We had a wonderful lunch on the grass under a shady tree with the lake and the Alps laid out before us.  After lunch, we met up with Sarala and Claire and biked, mostly along a canal to Le Landeron, a half kilometer from Lac de Bienne.  We had ice cream and beer before we biked back to Neuchatel.





This Friday night, after a long work week, we went over to our coworker Lindsay's apartment (building next door) for a wine and cheese tasting party.  We had a great time, had Swiss, Belgian, Dutch and Spanish cheeses and an equally varied selection of wines.  Additionally, there was American-style spinach dip flavored with imported Ranch seasoning; what a trip!  It was a really pleasant evening with the food and drink and chatting.

This past weekend, we decided to go back to Avenches to find the rest of the Roman ruins.  The village of Avenches overlaps with the ancient Roman city of Aventicum, the capital of Helvetians.  Today, there is a Roman archeological museum in the tower behind the amphitheater that houses many of the findings from the area.  The Roman archeological monuments of the area, which include the amphitheater, the theater, thermal baths, and the city wall, are open to the public.  Most of them are within easy walking distance of one another.  We started again at the amphitheater and then walked from the Cigognier Sanctuary with its two standing columns to the Roman theater (at which an Alpen horn ensemble was practicing) to the East Gate.

M at the East Gate of Aventicum

The East Gate includes a portion of the city's walls, as well as a tower known as Tornallaz, which is known a conglomeration of Roman, medieval and early 20th century architecture.  You can climb up on the wall and in the tower for a nice view of the area.  After we played and explored the wall and tower for a bit, we headed back towards the theater and across the corn and wheat fields to find the covered thermal baths.  The baths are enclosed so you can't play in them, but you can see parts of the tiled floor and the columns that supported the floor for the hot and warm rooms.  You can walk around and get a feel for the different areas of the baths.  After the baths, we walked through another field to the road and then headed back to our car.

La Tornallaz

Sunday we lazed about the apartment with the cats.  Ken managed to get a pretty nice sunburn across his stomach from a leisurely day of reading outside.

 Lessons Learned:
1.   Black currants (cassis) and red currants (raisinet or groseille) are two very different fruits.  The black currants are considerably larger and have a piney, astringent taste.  The red currants are tart and sweet and are considerably softer than the black variety.  We prefer the red currants.

2.  Even when it's not that hot out, you should still make sure you have on sunscreen when you are outside in "high-altitude" Switzerland.

Ken climbing up Tornallaz

One Year and 15 Weeks - Roman Ruins in the Vallé d'Aoste, Italy

Yvderon

We had a three-day weekend due to Pentecost and Whit Monday.  After all the recent traveling, we decided to limit our exploring to day trips.  Saturday, we drove over to Yverdon, the city on the western tip of Lake Neuchâtel and terminus of the infamous 40-km bike ride.  We wanted to check out some prices in a local sporting goods store but figured we'd take the opportunity to have lunch and stroll through town as well.  The sporting goods shop (Athleticum) was in a strip mall of sorts, and we were happy to come across Boissons Center (read Beverage Center) adjacent to Athleticum.  It had an excellent selection of beers, wines, liquors, and sodas; it was almost worth a trip to Yvderon alone.  After purchasing some beverages for later consumption, we headed to Yverdon proper to find lunch.  The Lonely Planet guide from the library suggested a crepe "diner" in town so that's where we headed.  The crepes were pretty good (M really liked her fig, goat cheese, and honey crepe), but the service was really odd.  The waiter either intentionally didn't understand us, or was arguing with us; it felt like he was trying to trick us or something.  It's a good thing for him that he doesn't work for tips--though perhaps service would improve.  After lunch, we walked about town, through the main square and by the castle, and stepped in and out of shops (including a chocolate shop!).  We even came across a rummage sale along several of the streets and had fun looking around at the "treasures" for sale.  We managed to head back to the car only a few minutes before the parking expired and the rain started.

Swiss Alps on the way to Aosta 

Sunday was the big adventure day.  We drove south to the Vallé d'Aoste (Aosta Valley) in Northern Italy.  This  region is another of the lingual anomalies in Europe.  Along the Rösti Divide in Switzerland, there are people speaking Swiss German and French.  In Alsace, France, you have people speaking French, Alsatian, and German.  And in Vallé d'Aoste, you have Italians speaking French and Italian, and supposedly a provençal patois.  A significant percentage of the signs are French and Italian, and many of the village names look much more French than they do Italian.  The region is bordered to the north by Switzerland and to the west by France.  It was ruled by the House of Savoy until the late 1800s.

To get to Aosta from Neuchâtel, you have to cross the Swiss Alps using the Great St. Bernard Pass or Tunnel.  Unlike the Goddard Tunnel, the St. Bernard Tunnel isn't free (30 SFr one-way or 48 SFr round trip), so we opted to take the scenic route.  As expected, the Pass was a chain of harrowing switchbacks with a rock wall on one side and a cliff edge (with or without a guard-rail) on the other.  One fun thing was that many of the guard-rails were made of wood logs instead of the standard steel.  Along our drive, we had beautiful scenery, with alpine lakes, snow drifts, rocky peaks, wild flowers, and waterfalls.

Roman Theater

Some of the main tourist attractions of the region (besides the beautiful scenery) are the ancient Roman ruins in the city of Aosta, the principal city in the valley.  The city was the site of a Roman colony, the Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, sometime in the first century BC.  The ancient town walls are very well preserved and a good portion are still standing.  The old south gate of the town, known as the Porta Praetoria, is a double arched gate in the center of modern-day Aosta.  After we parked our car near the large Arco d'Augusto, built in 35 BC to commemorate a victory over the ancient local peoples, we walked down one of Aosta's main streets to the Porta Praetoria.

M at the Roman Theater in Aosta

From there, we followed the ancient wall until we reached the roman theater.  It was surprising to see how well-intact one of the walls was, and it seemed strange to see Roman ruins up in the Alps (I generally associate them with more mild or temperate climes).  The site is open free to the public, and we were able to walk around on the footpaths cutting through the site.  Next to the theater is the Tour Fromage (named after a family, not cheese).  It was one of the original Roman towers, but what seemed most interesting was that it houses a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci; unfortunately, we couldn't seem to figure out how to get inside or if it is even open to the public ever.  So we walked around it and looked at its exterior.

Town of Aosta

We had lunch at an outdoor Bruschetteria in Piazza Chanoux.  It included a mixed salad, a vegetarian bruschetta (the largest piece of toast I have ever seen with pizza-like toppings on it), and a plate with locally produced cheese, including a fontina cheese known as Fontina Val d'Aosta.  In addition to enjoying the view of the surrounding mountains, we had fun watching the biker gangs pull into the piazza while we sipped our fizzy red wine.

Aosta Cathedral

After lunch, we stopped in the cathedral, which originally dates from the 4th century but which has a 19th century neoclassical facade.  The cathedral had several vibrant frescoes and houses a treasury museum (which was closed).  We then rambled through the Roman cryptoporticus next door.  The cryptoporticus is all that's left now of the old Roman forum.  The part open to the public consists of three long, practically subterranean hallways with arches cutting each hallway lengthwise.  They had great mood-lighting in the tunnels/hallways, and it was neat to think how old the structure was.   M was a bit disappointed that photos were not allowed

Castello di Fénis

We wandered back through town, grabbed some gelato (green apple for K and biscotto for M), and headed back to the car.  Since it was a rather long drive (3+ hours) to Aosta, we wanted to take the opportunity to see a little more of the region since we had plenty of daylight left.  We decided to see one of the many castelli in the valley.  We decided on the medieval Castello di Fénis, a 15 minute drive east of Aosta.  Once we arrived, we waited about 20-minutes for the tour to start.  Then we followed the Italian-speaking tour guide through the open parts of the castle.  There were plaques/signs in the rooms, some in Italian and French and some with English.  But it was really difficult to figure out what the guide was talking about.  Upon further reflexion, we probably should have asked some questions in French to get a little more out of the tour.  Regardless, we did get to see interesting rooms within the castle.  The highlights of the castle included several frescoes (one featuring St. George slaying a dragon and rescuing a princess) and artisinal pieces of period furniture.

K in the Alps

After the castello, we decided to start the long, winding drive home.  On the drive over the Alps, we stopped to walk around a little bit and play in the snow.  We stopped at a turnout, and then climbed over the rocky terrain.  While K dipped a finger in the snowmelt stream, M felt she needed some refreshment so imbibed some fresh Alpine water; we'll see if she gets any intestinal parasites...  As M was taking her chances with Alpine cholera, K scrambled up a mountain hill and spotted a marmot.  Once M finally figured out where K had run off to, she scrambled herself up the mountain hill.   We both watched the plump furry creature bounding on the snow and rocks until he disappeared into a crevice.  We found the easy way back down to the car and made our way home.

Monday, we chilled at home and did some "spring cleaning."

Lessons learned:

1. You can get gelato on a stick!
2. St. Bernards are no longer used as search and rescue dogs in the Alps.  However, you can buy a stuffed toy dog all over the St. Bernard region, from Martigny, Switzerland to Aosta.

One year and 14 weeks - Alsace, California, and Milan

Yes, we have been delinquent bloggers.  No good excuses really.

Breakfast on the patio in Huningue

Shortly after our trip to Ireland, we made our way up to Huningue, France again to see Mike and Christina before they left Europe.  After a year assignment, they were headed back to California.  We drove up Saturday night, and then we went wine tasting in Alsace on Sunday.  Just about every place we stopped was closed, but the people were so friendly that when we asked they said to come in anyway.  We drove up the Wine Road to Barr and then worked our way back south.  At one winery we stopped at in Dambach-la-Ville, we had a show on top of a tasting.  The proprietors were this really old Alsatian couple.  The elderly lady was running the tasting room.  She wound up pouring wine all over the table either due to not being to see the small tasting glasses or having lost some hand eye coordination.  We decided to buy a couple of bottles, so we followed her to the small warehouse behind their house, where first there was a search for the key to open the warehouse, and then once it was open, there was a treasure hunt to find the bottles of wine we had just paid for.  Quite fun!  After a few wineries, we finished with a big lunch in Ribeauvillé.  We had planned to cover a lot more ground, but we ran out of time.  Along the way, we tried Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Edelzwicker, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner and Auxerrois.  It was an enjoyable day in wine country.

We did host another apero in early May with some rhubarb pie that K baked, some home brew, and savory snacks.  The middle of May was consumed by M's support of an FDA audit going on at a sister plant in Israel; she remained in Neuchâtel.  This support included a Sunday at work since the Israeli work week runs from Sunday to Thursday.  Therefore, her weekend was cut short.

A day after the audit ended, we packed up some Swiss chocolates and headed to Northern California for a week.  The purpose of the trip to California was two-fold: 1) visit with old friends and 2) allow M to finally take the Culinary Institute of America's (CIA's) Baking and Pastry Arts Career Discovery class.  On point 1, we certainly succeeded.  After 28+ hours of travel from Switzerland, we spent the first half of the trip at Mary and Jack's goat farm in the Capay valley.  Sunday, the day after we arrived, Mary and Jack hosted a barbecue with some of our old coworkers from Alza.  We enjoyed corn on the cob, grilled tofu/tri-tip, and plenty of great conversation and catching-up.

Monday, arising before Bjorn the rooster could muster a cock-a-doodle-doo, M drove from the farm to St. Helena in Napa Valley for class at the CIA's Greystone campus.  Class ran from 7 am to 1:30 pm, Monday to Friday and consisted of a relatively short lecture followed by hands on baking and pâtisserie-ing.  It also included breakfast and lunch, composed of items prepared and cooked by the short-term and long-term students at the CIA; the food was awesome, and it was difficult not be completely stuffed after lunch.  The class itself was taught by Chef Brown, an instructor at the school, who was obviously going much easier on this short term class than the long term students, but who also gave plenty of constructive feedback.  For the class, we were split into pairs; each pair had one or two "products" to make each day.  Over the course of the week, M and her partner made walnut shortbread, lemon meringue pie, currant scones, rosemary and olive bread, orange pannetone, pretzels, and orange coconut truffles (all in commercial quantities...think 20ish loaves of rosemary and olive bread).  Additionally, she got to cook naan in a tandoori oven and watch a half dozen other demos on various baked goods/sweets.

M's creations during the week (minus the rosemary bread)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...K busied himself with shopping ("alright! $20 slacks!"), eating mexican food, drinking beer (a big thank you to all our friends that remembered Brother Thelonius is K's favorite beer), and relaxing.  He met up with several work friends for lunch and stopped by the old plant to say hi.  He also managed to take a nap in the Northern California sun and get a sunburn on his feet; now that's a sign of a relaxing vacation!

Towards the end of the week, the Boltons moved from the farm to the small town of Winters to stay with Steph, Matt, and Andy.  It was our first chance to meet Andy in person, who was born a couple of months after we moved from California.  He was a cute, happy one-year-old!  We hung out with Matt and Steph and watched the toddler toddle about for entertainment.  Friday night, we went out for a Thai dinner and Czech dessert in Davis.  Saturday, M had a stomach bug and was pretty much confined to bed; K went out with Matt and Steph to the Davis Farmer's Market and then had pizza for lunch.  Sunday, we went to Kim and Blake's house in Davis for a cookout they were hosting in our honor.  (What awesome friends!)  As always at their home, we had totally awesome food and Blake's now world-famous margaritas (at least famous in the Bolton Swiss household).  It was an excellent way to close out our California trip.

Early Monday morning, we drove back to San Francisco airport to start our travels back to Switzerland.  We arrived mid Tuesday morning in Zurich.  After we got home, hugged the cats, cleaned up after the cats, and did some errands, we tried to keep ourselves awake. We managed not to fall asleep until 8:30.

Since Thursday was the Ascension and Friday was an extra day off, we only had one day at the office this week, Wednesday.  Thursday, M slept in and K spent the morning decoding our 2010 Swiss tax documents; the rest of the day was spent lazing about and giving our kitties much needed attention.

Pizza in Lugano

Friday morning, we were off again, this time headed for Milan.  Milan is about a 4 hour drive from Neuchatel, through the Swiss Italian canton of Ticino.  Pretty much as soon as we exited the 17-km long Gotthard tunnel (Gottardo), the signage all switched from German to Italian.  The area was really beautiful with grapes growing on the sides of mountains, long, skinny waterfalls, and several lakes.  We had lunch in Lugano on the edge of Lake Lugano- pizza of course!  Then we took a very brief walk around town and got a scoop of gelato.  The town was so cute, and M is anxious to come back to Ticino for a weekend.  After our leisurely lunch, we headed back to the highway to complete the last hour to Milan.    We found our hotel on the outskirts with little difficulty and parked the car on the sidewalk as the locals do.  After a short nap, we took the tram into Milano city center.

Duomo di Milano

We started our early evening walk at the Duomo, the cathedral that is the symbol of Milan.  Construction on this decorative cathedral began in the late 1300s; it is the fourth largest cathedral in the world and is known as Italy's most important gothic cathedral.  The inticate facade is really breath-taking.  And although the cathedral has no bell tower, it does have the gilded Madonnina (the city's protector) atop one of its spires.  Next door to the Duomo is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a sort of upscale, open air Italian mall built in the late 1800s.  It was one of the first structures of its kind built with glass and cast iron, and it is famous for the murals and mosaics in the center of the building, as well as the shops and cafes inside and around the perimeter.  An interesting and unfortunate fact is that the architect of the building, Mengoni, fell to his death from the glass dome just prior to the building's completion. 

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

After leaving the mall, we found the smaller than expected La Scala opera house, behind the galleria and then strolled around various streets, getting in some window shopping.  We had dinner at a foodie restaurant (Pane e Vino) that had both a classic menu and a modern menu.  We split a salad of raw artichoke hearts, fava beans and pine nuts.  For dinner, M had chestnut gnocchi with pumpkin soup and amaretti, and K had lobster linguine.  The food was ok, but it was fun to be a little adventurous.  A Müller-Thurgau wine from the next region over complimented the meal.

Top of the Duomo di Milano

Top of Duomo di Milano

Saturday morning, we headed back to the Piazza del Duomo, and decided to walk up the steps to the top of the Duomo.  On the roof, we were afforded not only excellent views of the piazza and the rest of the city, but also had the opportunity to see the flying buttresses, pinnacles, and spires up close.  It was amazing the level of detail on the spires, but also the walls, where no one would ever see it other than pigeons and foreign tourists hundreds of years later.  After descending from the top of the Duomo, we headed west to the Castello Sforzesco to peak around its courtyards and stroll through the Parco Sempione behind it.

Interior of Castello Sforzesco

At the Castello, we caught a bite to eat next to the fountain while we watched the street vendors and living statutes.  Then we tailed it over to Brera to visit the Pinecoteca di Brera, one of Milan's top art galleries.  In the pinectoteca, we saw Rembrandt, Carvaggio, Hayes, and Titian.  Our favorite painting was Carvaggio's Cena in Emmaus, which exhibited a high skill of capturing light.  From the gallery, we crossed town in search of the Navigli area, known for its bars and cafes, which had been recommended to M by a Milanese coworker.  We did eventually find the area but not before we both had been almost completely broken by the walk.  (M's feet and K's ankles had both been in better condition.)  We had a rejuvenating gelato and beer before we headed back toward the city center.

We decided to have dinner in the Brera district in which we had seen numerous shops, cafes and restaurants.  M ordered risotto alla milanese (saffron risotto) and spinaci (spinach); K ordered penne all'arrabiata and lamb chops.  We got the risotto and penne pretty fast, and it was delicious, but then we seemed to wait and wait for the rest of the food.  Finally, one of the waiters came by and asked us if we wanted dessert, and we said that we wanted the rest of what we had ordered; the food then came out in about 10 minutes.  The food was worth the wait, as it was yummy spinach, and K couldn't stop raving about the chops.  Then, however, we needed to get the bill.  Again we waited and waited and tried to get our waiter's attention to ask for "Il conto, per favore?," but we couldn't seem to flag him down.  After half an hour, he finally understood we wanted the bill and brought us one...but not ours.  Che comedia!  Eventually, we were able to flag down another waiter who brought us the right bill, and then offered us a plate of biscotti and limoncello on the house.  We were happy to accept the recompense and were in excellent spirits as we caught the tram back to the hotel.

Sunday morning, we drove back to Neuchâtel.  We got caught in traffic at the Gotthard tunnel, which added an additional 45 minutes to our drive, but nothing terrible.

Lessons learned:

1) I haven't been whipping my egg whites long enough!
2) On the way back from Milan, I got to wondering where we could go by traveling in the car so I made a map to demonstrate travel time and places from Neuchatel. Each "circle" of color indicates another hour in the car. The markers don't necessarily indicate where we've traveled, only to where we could travel.

View Neuchâtel Travel Map in a larger map
3) If you're planning on shopping in the US, take more than one empty suitcase.
4) Enough said...

One Year and 8 weeks - Craic on the Emerald Isle

The day before we were supposed to leave for Ireland, we were able to pick up our new residence permits (only after 2 months waiting), which expire the beginning of March 2012, so that yet again we will be permitless and unable to leave the country for 1 to 2 months.  Ah well... in the meantime, it means we can leave the country without concern.

Painting Guinness advert
outside of pub in Galway City

Wednesday night, we flew from Zürich to Dublin for a long Easter weekend in Ireland.  We got in late to Dublin, so we spent the night near the airport.  In the morning, we rented a car and took off for Ireland's west coast.  The first half of the day was slightly stressful because the Irish drive on the left side of the road, so M kept reminding K "driver to the centre, driver to the centre..." while K also had to deal with a manual transmission car.  Despite the traffic near Galway, our destination for Thursday, this was probably some of the easiest driving of the trip since it was primarily highway driving.

In Galway, we parked the car and strolled about town.  First, we found Eyre Square, the center of Galway City, and then made our way to a pub/restaurant off the square to have some lunch and our first pint in Ireland.  After lunch, we walked around to some of the city "highlights," which included Lynch's Window, where the serving mayor in the late 1400s hung his son for murder (supposedly giving us the term lynching), the home of Nora Barnacle (James Joyce's wife), and the Spanish Arch, probably named for Spanish traders that used to frequent the harbor.  We also walked through the touristy shopping district, where the traditional Irish Claddagh ring is sold.

Pub in Oranmore, Co. Galway

Galway was pretty crowded particularly with it being a bank holiday weekend and there being such nice weather (we had good weather almost everywhere, which we were told was atypical), so we decided to leave and to find the bed and breakfast we were staying at in Oranmore, a small village about 10 km away.  After pretty horrendous traffic leaving Galway and driving back and forth across Oranmore, we finally made it to Oranhill Lodge, which had two incredibly friendly hosts.  They wanted to hear all about us and were excited to give us advice on where to go to make the most of our short time in Ireland.  After we settled in, we walked to one of the local pubs to have a drink, then headed to one of the Indian restaurants in Oranmore.  We had a delightful dinner and left the restaurant stuffed.  We walked back to the bed and breakfast and turned in.

Us at the Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare

Cliffs of Moher

Beaches of the Burren

The next morning (Good Friday-which is the only "dry" day in the calendar for all of Ireland) we had a lovely breakfast; K got a mini full Irish breakfast, and M got an egg and cheese on a toasted crumpet. We  got some more advice on what to see on the day's outing and got in the car and started towards the Cliffs of Moher, located in County Clare, about an hour and 15 minutes away from Oranmore.  The only bad weather we had for the trip was at the cliffs-it was windy and raining sideways. Despite the weather, the view of the cliffs was beautiful.  We walked along the cliffs, waved frantically in the direction of North America across the Atlantic, and tried to catch a glimpse of a puffin (which may have been one of the black specks we saw on a giant rock).  Once we were cold and wet enough, we went into the visitor center to learn a little bit how the cliffs were made and about the surrounding environs.

The Burren

After we left the cliffs, we drove around the Burren, a karst landscape studded with enormous limestone bedrock.  We stayed mostly on the edge of the Burren, right along the water, which was primarily lined with cliffs.  The drive was beautiful, but slightly harrowing, often with only an ancient dry stone wall separating our car from the dropoff.  We got out of the car every now and then to climb on the rocks and enjoy the view.  Some of the coastline opened up into some nice sandy beaches as well.  M had fun running all over the beach, and we both had fun looking at objects in the tidal pools.  We stopped for lunch at a small cafe in the middle of nowhere with slow service, delicious food, and a wonderful view of the hills and the ocean.

After lunch we headed back out into the Burren in search of the Burren Perfumery, which was recommended by the hosts of our B&B.  After some almost off-roading in the Opel rental car, we found the perfumery, which in additional to selling soaps and lotions, distills it's own fragrances from the unique flowers found in the Burren.  We watched a slideshow on local plant life in the area, and then strolled through their small herb garden.

Following the perfumery visit, we drove to Poulnabrone, a portal tomb in the Burren, which we had passed on our way into the perfumery.  This portal tomb is estimated to be 6000 years old.  (By the way, Stonehenge is estimated to be only 4500 to 5000 years old.)  The limestone slabs of which it is constructed are quite large, about 4 or 5 feet high, and it is amazing to think that our Bronze Age ancestors were able to construct this tomb with such a heavy building material.  At the tomb, M decided to practice her French on unsuspecting French tourists; they were happy to have her take their picture in front of the tomb.

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb

Connemara

After the tomb visit, we headed back to Oranmore.  Since it was Good Friday, no pubs were open, so we had Irish fastfood (SuperMacs), and then turned in for the night.  The next morning, we had another delicious breakfast (the mini again for K and french toast for M).  We then headed north through the County Galway into the Connemara.  The Connemara is actually primarily bogland, from which peat historically has been harvested.  But it is not exactly how we pictured a bog to be.  We thought it would be...well...more wet.  And it is kind of muddy, but parts of it look pretty much like grassy prairies with short brush dotted throughout the landscape.  We drove up and over and across the Connemara.  We passed the beautiful Kylemore Abbey, hiked for an hour or so in the Connemara National Park, where we got to learn some about the landscape, and stopped for a small lunch in pub in Clifden.  We then headed onto the Sky Road, a winding loop along the coast with fantastic views of the coast, sheep, and the famous Connemara ponies.  We then went northward to the town of Westport, in the County Mayo, where we had just booked a room for the night in local B&B close to the town center.  We wandered around town to try to find a restaurant, but found the town had many more pubs than restaurants.  We settled on a hotel restaurant and had an alright meal.  Then, we walked over to the famous Matt Malloy's pub for craic.

Craic (pronounced "crack") is the Irish/Gaelic word for fun, good conversation, and just overall enjoying yourself.  Since the previous night had been Good Friday, the Irish had to make up for all the missed drinking and merriment for the night before.  At the pub, we installed ourselves at a little table and enjoyed pints of Guinness and Bulmer's cider and waited for the traditional Irish music to start.  While we waited, we struck up conversations with a cast of characters, including a friendly Dubliner in Westport for his stag party, a sloshed bloke from Northern Ireland who claimed to be an Olympic gymnast from the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and a Frenchman from Brittany, who it turns out was playing the Irish flute with the Irish band that night.  (In case you didn't know-and we certainly didn't-Breton is one of six Gaelic languages spoken in the world today.) We really enjoyed the conversation, as well as stomping and clapping along to the music.  It was a very convivial atmosphere.

Easter Sunday, we left Westport to make the relatively boring and long drive back to Dublin.  On the way, we stopped at the Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey welcome center in the town of Tullamore, where we got to learn about the making of Irish Whiskey, as well as some history about the area.  K sampled some of their whiskey, while M tried their whiskey liqueur, Irish Mist.  We had some lunch at a local cafe, and then got back on the road to Dublin.

Once we made it to the hotel in Dublin, we dropped off the rental car and hung out at the hotel, which was again close to the airport.  We then set about planning what we would see the next day.

Monday morning, we caught the bus into the center of Dublin and started our self-guided tour of Georgian architecture.  In addition to walking around town and looking at the buildings and statues, we also popped into the Irish National Gallery which had a small but excellent collection of European art, from Titian to Picasso to Vermeer to Monet.  There was also a small collection of works from Irish artists.

L-R Trinity College; Oscar Wilde statue; Georgian building near Irish National Gallery

After the art museum, it was time to find what we had really come to Dublin for:  the Guinness Storehouse.  "To store," in brewing terms, means to add yeast.  So the Guinness Storehouse used to be the building where they added the yeast to the wort prior to fermentation.  Today, the storehouse is a 7-story tall museum dedicated to Guinness, its history and its product, that is actually in the shape of the world's largest "pint" glass.  Through the different floors, you get to learn about beer brewing, learn how to appreciate a Guinness beer using all five senses, learn how to properly pour a Guinness (which takes 119.5 seconds), and look at and watch old Guinness advertising.  K got to pour his own Guinness on one of the floors and got a certificate saying he is a master pourer.  At the top of the "pint" glass is the Gravity Bar, which provides one of the best bird's eye views of the city.

K demonstrating how to pour and serve a Guinness. a) Hold glass at 45 degrees.  b) Straighten the glass as it fills.  c) Let the surge settle and the head to form. d) Top off the glass without spilling.  e) Brilliant! 

Tuesday morning, we got a very early flight back to Switzerland through Geneva.  We trained back to Neuchâtel, did some errands, and gave our kitties giant hugs.

Lessons learned:
1. Failte (pronounced fall-shuh) is Irish for "Welcome".
2. Guinness is a stout, which is a type of porter, which is a type of ale, which is a type of beer. Also, Guinness is actually ruby red, not black.
3. Many pubs in Ireland (and UK) offer beers and ales.
4. Ireland is not part of the UK; Northern Ireland is.
5. You can have the foam head stamped or draw a picture of a shamrock (or anything else) with the beer as it comes out of the tap, and the picture will remain in the head until the bottom of the glass.  (Though the picture will likely be distorted by the end of your drink.)