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Sorrento (Part I)

Close your eyes.

Now picture a beautiful stone villa dating back over 2000 years. Built by ancient Romans, it is surrounded by a citrus grove bursting with lemons and oranges. Olive plants ready themselves to bring forth delectable fruit. Mount Vesuvius looms on the horizon, overlooking the bay of Napoli on the Mediterranean Sea.

You smell the sea air. You hear the waterfall cutting the bluffs behind you. You taste the fruit. You feel the history deep in your soul.

Now open your eyes.

You see a tumultuous cloudy sky fertile with a nearly constant downpour of rain. And it never gets above 50 degrees. Oh, and you can’t really see the Mediterranean because of fog. This is the reality of our time in Sorrento. For five straight days.

Sarah is our vacation planner. Once we have a destination in mind she gathers all of the information about what to see and do while there, and Sorrento was no exception. Sorrento is a 30 minute easy train ride from the ruins at Pompeii. It’s a quick boat ride to the island of Capri, with its beautiful Blue Grotto. Sorrento is also a launching pad for a drive along the Amalfi Coast – a scenic, harrowing journey along cliff edges overlooking the Mediterranean.

But of all these things, we were only able to make it to Pompeii. We walked the ruins with our umbrellas, fending off the downpour. We began hoping that Mount Vesuvius might erupt again, today even, if only to add some more excitement to the trip. Pompeii was really cool, but the kids showed enthusiasm for only about 30 minutes before umbrella sword-fighting, puddles, and the fascination with all things wet took over.

We couldn’t blame them. They had just behaved spectacularly in Rome, witnessing over 1000 years of civilization, and now they were ready for a break.

So, for the sake of the kids (and forced by the weather), Sarah and I decided that Sorrento would be a time to sit back and veg out. The kids became familiar with Cartoonito – the Italian Cartoon Network – which they happily watched despite everything being dubbed into Italian. They spent an ungodly amount of time in their pajamas. But they loved every minute of it. Especially when they got to accessorize with makeshift capes.

Sarah and I found ourselves in unfamiliar territory. It was a struggle at times, but nothing a good book couldn’t cure. We got outside here and there to go to dinner, or the local markets to buy food. The kids never wanted to leave the villa, unless Gelato was involved (which it frequently was).

So while we mostly missed out on all of the great things Sorrento has to offer, we got some much needed rest and relaxation, and spent A LOT of time together as a family. So much time, in fact, that we may need to take separate vacations next time. Ha!

 

See all of our pictures from Sorrento, Italy. 

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A Quick Interlude

We will take a quick break from reporting on our Italy trip, to bring you this highly solicited message from our most recent visitor, Jeff Schwab, a.k.a. “Gramps.” We loved having him visit and, as always, love to hear his thoughts on his time in Switzerland:

I visited Joe, Sarah and the kids and now I have homework. Joe “invited” me to write for his blog. And pointed out that no previous guest had failed to write something. Even though I was taught that blogging was a sin (at least I think that I was), here goes…………..

Well, let’s get the “Switzerland was beautiful, the weather perfect, the mountains majestic, the cows contented, etc., etc.” out of the way. Why? Because it is all true and well documented long before this blog.

What has been noted, but deserves reiterating, is what great hosts Joe and Sarah are, and how fun Emily, James and Henry are to be around. Grams couldn’t make the trip, bum knee (still supporting MCW Orthopaedic Surgery), and although I missed her greatly, the trip was a smashing success.

Now what are the memorable moments? (see Sarah’s blog account for full details) Well, in no particular order:  Squinkies*, roasting cervelas by the Aare, the farm, biking to buy beer, ping pong, Team Alps, Rubigen by night, but mostly seeing everyone live and up close after almost eight months.

I thought at first I was in Lake Wobegon because Sarah is strong (bikes and walks everywhere), Joe is good looking (Grams made me say that) and the kids are clearly above average.

Emily is the official Swiss translator, gave a great fashion show complete with a Skyped Grams, skied like a champ, and warmed my heart with an early morning read of Calvin and Hobbes.

James and I hit about 1,000 ping pong balls in a row for a new personal record (as I remember). He introduced me to his own Hobbes and reintroduced me to Calvin and Hobbes; skied faster; and reminded me to stop and smell the roses (in his own inimitable fashion).

Henry was amazing; just what Joe deserved. A child without an unspoken thought. His line of the week was “Yah sure, why not”. He is a fabulous traveler, hiker and holder of Squinkies* (up to 10 in one hand). He is also an excellent jumper, especially when least expected, and thrower of rocks.

Sarah made me feel at home, almost like I was family (wait…….I am family) but it was nice and comfortable. It was fun to spend two days at the Bernese Hip Symposium with Joe. I was able see him professionally and meet his worldwide cadre of colleagues.

Friday night I was supposed to babysit. Well, I got to see Rubigen first. This is a small town one stop before Joe and Sarah’s. Instead of the recommended reading the town names when the train stops method of knowing when to get off, I used the counting stops method. It failed and I got off in Rubigen, a picturesque Swiss town usually; less so, however, in the dark while waiting 30 minutes for the next train with no way to notify Sarah and no restroom in sight. I finally made it to Munsingen, to be met by Sarah on a bike which wasn’t planned. I did get to babysit and Sarah did get to the Symposium dinner but I missed over half of “The Empire Strikes Back” and I was really looking forward to it. The rest of the night went well.

We went to the beautiful Lauterbrunnen (or something) Valley. Left our luggage unguarded (I was assured this was just fine and it was) then went and had a great time. Trains, buses, cable cars, hikes, snacks and nearly “Top of Europe” views. The next day I found out, while skiing for the first time in 10 years, that Swiss snow tastes pretty much like all snow. But the kids welcomed me to Team Alps anyway.

The week went by fast, but for me was great. Sarah pretty much captured it all on her blog report EXCEPT for my big THANK YOU to all the Swiss Schwab’s.

I also had to leave to get home to Grams and to let Joe and Sarah get ready for Italy. It is my and Grams fervent prayer that they make Pope Squinkies* so the kids have something for the train.

Thanks again for a great time with you all.

Love,

Gramps

* For those unfamiliar with Squinkies I suggest www.squinkies.com. Really. Mary Lou is online buying some more Squinkies – this might be a good stock opportunity.

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Bella Roma

[singlepic id=961 w=320 h=240 float=right]For the first 4 days of our Spring Break in Italy, we “did” Rome. We dragged the kids to many of the major sites in the city. Having forgotten to bring our stroller for Henry, we literally had to drag or carry him to everywhere. To write about everything we did would take far too long. We took over 400 pictures, so if they are each worth 1,000 words… you can do the math. We visited the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Borghese Gallery, Vatican Museum, and Sistine Chapel. We played junior archeologists at Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum. The kids learned some important life skills about how to deal with con-artists in Piazza Navonna. And we had our own miracle at St. Peter’s Basilica. (After seeing the Basilica and rubbing the foot of St. Peter, we walked back out to St. Peter’s Square and found a stroller in a garbage can! The “miracle of the stroller” made our movement much easier for about 48 hours, until the already broken wheel completely collapsed and we put it in another garbage can.)

While the major sites of Rome are amazing, if somewhat difficult for kids under 8-years-old to comprehend, some of our favorite memories of the city were from the food and from our experiences off the beaten track. The kids loved eating pizza and pasta. We had gelato at least once a day, and discovered the best gelateria in our area where they make their own gelato, unlike most of the little stands and bars that sell it. We explored the covered market just behind our apartment, where I got our breakfast every morning and the kids ogled octopus and other creatures in the fish market. The last morning, the owner of the market cafe recognized me and bid me farewell and the lady at the bakery squeezed the bread to show me how soft it was (“You like it like-a dis? Or like-a dis?”). We got to know Alberto at the excellent take-out place down the road called Non Solo Pizza, or “Not Just Pizza.” He made excellent gnocchi, huge pannini sandwiches sliced and sold by the length, pot roast, sea food, and much more. Our adventurous kids even tried calamari – and liked it! The last night, we ate at a nice seafood restaurant, where James and I shared a Mediterranean lobster that they pulled out of a tank right behind us.

We did all of this by riding Rome’s confusing public buses, quite an accomplishment for a family of tourists. We felt like we got a pretty good feel for the city in the short time that we had. And, though Rome is not known for many kid-friendly activities, the Italian culture makes up for it with their adoration of children. Everywhere we went, waiters and merchants would smile and complement our children, touching their heads and saying “Bella! Bello!” We may be biased, but we have to agree!

A selection of our many pictures help fill in the rest of the story.

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Signs of Spring

Spring is here. Many of the signs are familiar to us — daffodils and tulips are blooming in our yard, the kids are playing outside with the neighbors who we didn’t see often during the winter, and the stores are filled with bunnies, chicks, and colorful eggs. The clouds moved in on Tuesday and have stayed all week, bringing the infamous “April showers.” There are, however, a few things that are different about Spring here than back home.

For the Swiss, spring means gardening in a much more pervasive way that we are used to. I have spent hours in our yard, our raspberry patch, and our vegetable garden trying to get them ready. And they still don’t look as good as all the other gardens we see. Many people who live in apartments, which is very common, rent a garden plot in one of the many community gardens in the area. Gardening is like a religion here. Neighbors greet each other over the bushes and talk about the plants and the weather.

Many other flowers have come up in our yard that I don’t recognize. Little purple flowers that look like styrofoam balls stuck to a q-tip are growing under our elderberry tree. Clumps of 5-petaled flowers in white, yellow and violet are everywhere! And our peach tree, magnolia bush, and giant cherry tree are all flowering. It is really quite beautiful. And though there is a shortage of robins, the ducks have returned in large numbers. We have even seen them in the road and one took a bath in our backyard pond!

Today, we died Easter eggs the Swiss way. There are no egg dying kits in the stores, so I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. But I had recently seen bags of onion skins for sale, which I thought was a little strange. Then a friend explained that they use the onion skins to dye eggs. Huh? I looked it up online, and sure enough it is a common way to dye eggs in many countries. We gave it a try, peeling the few yellow and red onions we had in the refrigerator, and it worked beautifully, producing eggs marbled with yellows and browns. If you want to try it, there are instructions here.

And, finally, today is Good Friday, the start of Spring Break for the kids. Everything is closed today, as it is a holiday throughout the country. Tonight I have a choir concert for the Good Friday service at the main church in town. We will be performing Charles Gounod’s “Seven Last Words of Christ” among other things. I found some samples of the music here. The last movement is particularly beautiful, a perfect piece for a beautiful season.

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Keeping Gramps on his Toes

Joe’s dad left on Tuesday after a week-long visit. It was great having him here, and we loved sharing our life in Switzerland with him. It was a lot to fit into 7 days!

In the first couple of days, he got to spend a lot of time with his grandchildren. They bombarded Gramps, and adored having someone new to show all of their toys and tell all of their “funny” stories. Henry showed him the animals in our pond, James demonstrated his ping-pong skills, and Emily got to open a few early birthday presents from Grams and Gramps and did a fashion show of her new outfits. We showed Gramps our town of Münsingen, walking to the farm to meet our cow friends, biking to the Aare river to roast cervelas, extending our bike ride toward the mountains, taking the bus to the town center to play at the playground and eat lunch at the outdoor restaurant.

The next couple of days, Gramps got to spend a lot of time with his son. He and Joe attended the Bernese Hip Symposium hosted by the hospital where Joe is working. They had a chance to “talk shop,” as I like to call it. After the first day of the conference, the kids and I met up with them to go out to a nice dinner in Bern. The second night, Gramps babysat the kids (after a minor miscalculation trying to find his way back on the train) so I could join Joe at the official conference dinner.

[singlepic id=920 w=320 h=240 float=right]Once the Symposium was over, it was time to hit the mountains. We had viewed them from a distance, but we couldn’t let Gramps visit Switzerland without showing off it’s most stunning features. So, on Sunday morning we navigated the trains to Lautebrunnen in the valley between the Jungfrau and Schilthorn mountains. We have been to this area before, and it is one of our favorite places. We wasted no time getting up the mountain and taking the cogwheel train across to Mürren, something we’ve never done before. Then we caught the main cable car to the top of the mountain, a first for Gramps and the kids. We snapped a lot of pictures and had some hot cocoa and a snack in the beautiful rotating restaurant of the Piz Gloria. On the way down, we hiked one leg of the journey. We got off the cable car in Mürren, a fairly touristy mountain town with lots of hotels and restaurants, and walked down to the smaller town of Gimmelwald, a much smaller village where we were greeted by a chorus of bleating goats. We caught the cable car again, giving Gramps the exhilerating experience of riding it over the cliffs beyond Gimmelwald. After returning to the valley floor, we had a little down time at the hotel, ate a warm meal in the restaurant, and collapsed into our beds.

The next day, Gramps joined Joe and the older kids for the final day of skiing for the year. The Schilthorn is the highest skiing area in the Berner Oberland, and while the lower areas are melting, the higher pistes still have good snow. Gramps, who hasn’t skied in about a decade, kept up with the kids who showed him what they have learned this year. Meanwhile, Henry and I took a funicular from Mürren to Allmendhubel, which we had never done, and then hiked a stunning but also snowy trail back down in our tennis shoes. We all met up after our adventures to return by cable car, bus, and train to Münsingen where we made a fondue dinner to celebrate Gramps’s last night with us.

The weather has been remarkably beautiful the whole week — sunny and unseasonably warm. The morning Gramps left, the clouds blew in bringing April showers. We still miss our families, but seeing Gramps was indeed like sunshine for our hearts.

See some more pictures of Gramps’s Visit here.

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Wildlife Weekend

For once, we spent a whole weekend at home. The weather has been beautiful, spring is in the air. So, we were outside most of the time, and the kids developed a new past time — watching the wildlife in our backyard pond. In our pond, we discovered one dead koi fish, one alive koi fish, one or two frogs, and about a dozen salamanders. Henry is terrified of the frog, and he screams at the top of his lungs whenever it hops out of the water. The other kids had no such fears, and they held the frog and caught several salamanders, until James fell into the pond. At that point we decided we should let the animals be and just watch them.

Emily and James also spent a lot of time up in their tree fort. And Henry likes to play in the pebbles just below the fort. He kept a close eye on the frog, who was sitting by the pond and croaking the whole time. We had our first outdoor fire and even roasted Cervelas (fat Swiss hot dogs) and ate dinner outside. It was almost like camping in our own backyard.

On Sunday morning, we went for our first Schwab family bike ride of the Spring. Joe had seen something from the train on his commute that he wanted to try to find. So, we biked north from Münsingen, and when we were nearly to the next town, we saw some large animals grazing in a field. These were not cows, as we are accustomed to seeing in Switzerland. These were buffalo! We stopped and watched them for a while, and tried to read the sign about the buffalo farm. It was all in German, so we aren’t completely sure of the details, but it looked like the original buffalo on the farm were brought to Switzerland from Wisconsin! Okay, so technically they don’t count as “wildlife,” but they were still fun to see.

Other wildlife spotted this weekend: an eagle soaring above us on our bike ride, lots of worms in the garden, and songbirds in every tree. It might not seem like much, but for the kids, its like a zoo in our own back yard.

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Newest member of Team Alps

Another beautiful weekend in the Alps. What can I say? We left on Friday afternoon for Hasliberg, where we stayed in a 400-year-old guest house in the mountain town of Reuti. We ate out at the restaurant next door twice, a rare treat!

Our primary objective for the weekend was to ski. The season is rapidly coming to an end. Snow is long gone in the lowlands of Switzerland, but the mountains are still open for business. Emily and James have come so far in just a couple of months! We wanted to squeeze in every opportunity we can.

As you may know, Emily and James have become such good mountain kids that we call ourselves “Team Alps.” We use it especially when we are in difficult situations. For example, this weekend when I led Emily and James down the wrong ski piste at the end of our final day. We ended up on a long, flat, slushy run that went to the wrong town. We had to take off our skis and walk part of it, and face the possibility of missing our bus back home. But, as always, we gathered our strength and said, “Come on, Team Alps, we can do this!” And we did!

Henry, on the other hand, has really just glided through our trips to the mountains. He usually gets pulled on a sled, carried on someone’s shoulders, or just stays back for a nap while the rest of us take turns hiking and skiing. But he has started noticing that he is the only one in the family who doesn’t get skis, and he insisted he wanted to ski with the rest of us. I was skeptical, to say the least. The one other time we put him on skis was a disaster. But Joe agreed to be in charge of Henry, so we rented him the smallest skis in the rental shop and headed to the slopes.

I have to admit, Henry really stepped up to the plate! Granted, we mostly kept him on extremely small bunny hills, which abound in this area known for the best ski school for kids in Switzerland. Joe or I had to be right with him the whole time, but by the end we could let go and let him glide on his own for 20-30 feet. And he loved it! He also had his 2-year-old moments, as one would expect. But, he walked around in clunky ski boots for two days, didn’t get a nap all weekend, and got a sun burned face. It’s official — Henry has earned his place on Team Alps.

His accomplishment completely wiped him out, and he passed out on the train on the way home. It’s okay, Henry, you earned it!

You can see a video of Henry skiing on our video page.

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Caught in the Middle

[singlepic id=289 w=320 h=240 float=right]What is it about March? Maybe its the nicer weather, more physical activity, or just the passage of time. It was last year at about this time that James turned a corner in his kindergarten class. Things we had been working on for months just started clicking for him. And it’s happening again.

James is in the difficult position of being our middle child, a role he plays extremely well. He is both an older brother and a younger brother, and he has mastered the delicate balance of tormenting his siblings while simultaneously endearing himself to them. He loves playing video games and computer [singlepic id=421 w=320 h=240 float=left]games, and while that hasn’t changed, he has discovered a number of new interests in the past months. He loves cooking and baking, skiing, riding his two-wheel bike, and generally enjoying nature. Just yesterday, James and Emily spent an hour running around our yard spotting all the little flowers and new plants that are sprouting up through the dirt – and they LOVED it!

James also loves to read, a remarkable feat for a 6-year-old boy in kindergarten who has never been formally taught to read in English. His abilities are attributable to one thing: Calvin & Hobbes. James has found a soulmate in Calvin. He is unfocused, mischievous, [singlepic id=903 w=320 h=240 float=right]and a pain in the butt. But he is also funny, imaginative, curious, adventurous, and occasionally sensitive. The other night when I walked into James’ room before going to bed, I found him clutching his stuffed tiger named Hobbes (yes, that’s the truth) in one hand, and his laser gun made out of tinker toys in the other hand. They protect him from any monsters that might be lurking under the bed.

Tonight, James’ kindergarten class put on a play called “Es Klopft bei Wanja in der Nacht.” And guess who got to play Wanja! For the past two weeks he has been talking about it as they practiced at school. We all came to support him, and it was great to see our middle child finally get to take center stage. He was so excited, he kept waving at us when he was supposed to be sleeping in his bed. Of course, the whole production was in German. I’m not sure acting is in his future, but we couldn’t have been more proud. (You can see the show on our video page.)

Oh, and James finally has his first legitimately loose tooth – at age 6 1/2! He’s been waiting for this for at least a year as his sister lost a whole mouthful of teeth. He should be getting his first visit to the tooth fairy in the next week or so. He probably could have wiggled it [singlepic id=373 w=320 h=240 float=right]loose already, but he insisted that “Wanja” had all of his teeth. Now that’s dedication!

Either way, James has always had a killer smile that could make me melt. I’m going to miss it. But it’s all part of growing up.

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Wait, why are we here again?

It came up recently that I had not been posting much about my work, since that is the reason we ended up moving to Switzerland anyway. I’ve had a number of friends email me assuming that work is keeping me very busy since Sarah authors most of the posts on this blog. Work does keep me busy, but not so busy that I can’t take time off to spend with my family.

So when I looked back, it turns out the only real meaningful post I have written about my job was from back in August, and that was within a week of me starting at the hospital. So I guess it is time for an update. Make sure you grab a drink for this post, because it may be a little dry, and pictures will be sparse.

You may remember that I am here to learn about “hip preservation surgery.” This is a new field in orthopaedics that was really started here in Bern within the last 20 years, and has come into its own here over the last ten years or so. One awesome thing about my job is that I get to work with, and learn from, the world leaders in hip preservation. The Inselspital is used to having people come visit for varying lengths of time to learn their techniques. Most people will visit for four weeks, six weeks, or maybe three months. Six months is not common, and a whole year is not very common at all.

But with that said, there are some very cool benefits that come along with being here for a full year. Unlike most other fellows, I get an office (with a great view of the northern Jura mountains), a new computer, and an ability to really delve deeply into what they’re trying to do here. Research here is plentiful, but not much can be done in 6 weeks. So when a new fellow comes, it’s difficult to integrate them meaningfully in research. Since I am here for a full year, I have as much research work as I can handle, and then some.

My mentors/coworkers are like every other group of orthopaedists that I’ve had the pleasure to work with; they’re fun, irreverent, enthusiastic, and sport a great sense of humor. They have taken the time to teach me their trade, but also to integrate me into their culture and social life. I’m learning history and language and medicine and so much more.

As far as how things compare to what I am used to back home, there are some definite differences. First of all, surgical scrubs are only to be worn in surgery, no exception. I repeat, no exception (and when someone says that with a German accent, you listen). Not only that, but there are communal-use surgical shoes (sterilized after each use) that you must wear. And for infected cases, there are a separate pair of shoes that are to be worn only in the Operating Room (OR), itself.

The OR lounge for nurses, surgeons, and staff has loaves of fresh bread, platters of cured meats, and fresh soup brought in daily. There is also an excellent coffee maker and taps for naturelle (no bubbles) and frizzante (bubbles) mineral water. While lots of time can be wasted here, I rarely see people linger her for more than 20-30 minutes.

Lunch is A BIG DEAL here. Back home, “eating lunch” meant shoving cold chicken strips in my mouth as I walked between the OR and the ER. But in Switzerland, lunch is the main meal, and the Inselspital is really no exception. Most of the orthopaedics department gathers for lunch between 11:30am and 1:00pm. Lunch is a time to sit, relax, eat a LARGE meal, drink a coffee, and… eventually… go back to work.

While all of this sounds great, I can’t help but think how different it might be if I were really able to speak the language. My relative shyness in talking, mixed with the Swiss’ natural tendency to not be very welcoming into their friendship circle, naturally means that my ability to make friends with ancillary staff, techs, nurses, etc is not easy. Back home this was not a problem, but here it can be a bit isolating. But even with those obstacles, I’ve been able to make some work friends. Or perhaps my ridiculous way of speaking is just a novelty to them. I’m like a monkey. A monkey who is poor at speaking Swiss German.

But with all of that said, I could not be happier with my decision to come here. The opportunity has been great, and will hopefully provide a continuing productive professional relationship well into the future. It’s exactly what I want to be doing right now. And in a way it really makes me appreciate what I have to look forward to back home. Sarah and I say it all the time: we’re blessed. We’re extremely lucky to be here.

In fact, I’m the luckiest monkey I know.

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Another Perspective

We are in the middle of a slow week back in Münsingen — school, work, laundry. We were thrilled to find an e-mail from Mark and Kelly, our friends who visited about a month ago. Here is what they had to say…

Alas, we have finally crafted our coveted Switzerland Blog. We apologize for the month long delay. Unfortunately, it coincides with exactly how long it has taken us (mostly Mark) to get back on a normal sleep schedule. And in all honesty we wanted the trip to soak in for a while prior to putting “pen to paper.”

Where to begin? How about the beginning. It was early September when I (Mark) booked the trip. Kelly and Joe work together, but I had only met Joe a handful of times, and Sarah even fewer. (Joe barely remembers any of them as he was lost in song – and booze – around a campfire.) Nevertheless, I broached Joe at his going away party with an idea of a winter visit. It would be surprise to Kelly for her college graduation gift….and Christmas gift…and birthday present.  Joe ate up the idea and it was revealed to Kelly in mid-December. A month a half later we arrived in Zurich.

Our first full day was full of rainy adventures.  We started with a short walk along the Aare River followed by a hike into the foothills. After a short rest at home and a Zvieri (afternoon snack — not to be confused with a Znüni or morning snack), Joe, Kelly and I commandeered Henry’s stroller and walked our ‘beer baby’ to the store for a refill. Kelly was at the wheel and received many an odd look. That evening we celebrated Kelly’s birthday with a dinner at the oldest restaurant in Switzerland (1371 A.D.!) and followed it with Quollfrisch and a fire. Joe may or may not remember.

Saturday was a fantastic day. The seven of us jumped on a train and headed to Kandersteg for a day of hiking and sledging (sledding) where each of us enjoyed a fantastic spill at a high rate of speed.  Smartly Emily and James kicked their sleds down the steep portions and walked them back up to enjoy a more reasonably sloped ride. As you can see, Kelly and I were not as smart.

Unfortunately winter weather was relentless and only shared the sun with us twice for a total of 2 hours the entire week. On Sunday, we skied Lenk in some sort of cloud/fog/haze for the entire day, sometimes only being able to see a few feet in front of us. On our last run of the day, we jumped on a chair lift and took it to the highest point on the mountain. Riding through more haze we got off the lift and skied into this! We were high above the clouds, incredible.

On Monday, we embarked on our first solo Swiss adventure. It started with a bus trip at 6:30 a.m., had us standing on the ‘Top of Europe’ by lunch and skiing down the slopes of Grindlewald in the afternoon! We managed multiple train jumps but survived the day only because a sweet English speaking teller helped us through the dizzying options presented to us in Grindewald.

That solo adventure was one of a number of firsts for us:

  • first plane ride(s) over 5 hours
  • Kelly’s first observation of a Swiss surgery
  • Mark’s first diaper change
  • paying $72.00 for two pizzas
  • Mark’s first train ride
  • losing a digital camera battery for two hours only to find it under some slush filled tire tracks – in working condition
  • and most importantly, our first trip to Switzerland. We hope it was not our last.

We cannot thank you enough, Joe and Sarah, for the opportunity provided. You were terrific hosts and made our first trip out of the country (sorry Canada) incredibly simple and easy. Your kids are wonderfully behaved and left quite an impression on us. Be proud.

Thank you, thank you, thank you and we’ll see you in a couple of months! Unless you decide to stay and then perhaps we’ll see you about this time next year?!?

We will leave you with….

The Top 10 things we learned in Switzerland:
10. We are envious that the Schwab’s get to spend an entire year there.
9. Don’t rent a car. Try the 8 day Swiss pass for endless train, bus and even a few cable car rides. Though not much of a money saver, it eliminates tricky foreign language and currency exchanges AND allowed us to enjoy the “views”, ahem.
8. The Swiss are wonderfully on time.
7. Cats are royalty.
6. Snacks are king. Hot dogs wrapped in freshly baked pretzels filled with ketchup, mustard or whatever you can imagine. Awesome. (Kelly’s mouth is watering as we type this.)
5. If you are lucky enough to visit this place, do take the train to the Top of Europe (highlighted by Matt Lauer on the Today Show).
4. Swiss chocolate gets the attention, but seriously, try the bread.
3. Raclette and/or Fondue = heaven. Yes! hot cheese is a main course in Switzerland.
2. Grüezi (hello) and Merci (thank you). Learn it, live it, and use it on everyone you encounter.
1. Henry…..he just wants.
The week went incredibly fast. Luckily we have 650+ photos to fill in the ’hazy’ gaps.

Love,
Kelly & Mark “Schwab”

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