Wildlife park

Last saturday we went to a wildlife park near Zurich. It was a nice day for a walk, but the brochure did not mention how loooong the walk was (2 hours), or that it was uphill. It was cool to see some cute animals, like deers and linxes (?) and a bear.
You can find the photos here, and a video of the bear here. I also made a video of the Jamie Oliver cooking demo.
I've added a new recipe to the recipe blog: Tiramisu.
send me an email, tell me what is going on with you!
tschoos!

not much to say...

Not much new to say, but I wanted to write something anyways.

It will be almost 1 year since we moved to Zurich! We just went to renew our residency permits, and soon we will have to renew our public transport pass. I cannot believe it! 1 year… more on this when the anniversary actually happens.

We have an appointment in the US consulate in Bern to go to the interview to apply to possibly get a visa to go to the US… notice the possibilities for error? First, get the appointment. Check. Go to the appointment with all the necessary forms filled out and all the required paperwork (bank statements, letter from work), basically you want to prove you don’t want to stay illegally in the US and that you have a reason to go back to where you came from. Then you have a interview where, depending on the officer conducting it, they grill you (like when we were asked to show them wedding pictures to prove we were REALLY married, I guess the marriage certificate does not count), or it will most likely just a polite conversation about what you do and why you want to go to the US. Then they decide if you are eligible for a visa or not. So cross your fingers October 4th.

Things I have been reading/watching lately:
photo above is from graffiticreator
Not Martha
Instructables
Henna page
Veoh

What are you up to?

The Naked Chef!

FIND PHOTOS HERE

Today I went to a cooking demo by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver! It was a fun and exciting thing to do. I watched his show on the food network, and I like his cooking style (although my favorite was Rachel Ray and those 30 min. meals).
It was held at a shopping center, on a tent outside, and the heat was almost unbearable (a couple of girls fainted), but not for me! I grew up on the desert, it is not really hot until you can fry en egg on the sidewalk!. Anyways, he didn’t stay long after for autographs, so I only got pictures. He made some salads and grilled meat, but the stove was not working properly so we had to “use our imagination” for some things (“pretend this bread is toasted…”), I think it made him uncomfortable and he was fumbling a lot for ingredients and utensils. I was meeting a friend there, and while I was waiting, I saw him just sitting there at a restaurant around the corner, so I snapped a pic (I felt like such a paparazzi!).
I think this was the highlight of the week!

Not much else is new. Abril is in Juarez, getting some tests done, so say a prayer for her acid reflux (well, not for the reflux, but for her to get better… you know what I mean). Oh! We booked a hotel for Oktoberfest! We will be going on the last day (October 7), I hope that wont be a problem. That is all for now, don’t forget to write!
Tschoos!

we're going home!

We Finally bought the tickets to travel home for Christmas! Well, the tickets will only get us as far as Dallas, and then we’ll just get another flight from there to El paso. (with a side trip to Ruston, LA in between) I am so happy, I already started thinking where I am going to eat, what I am going to bring, and to take … It is funny how when we were in Indiana, we missed Mexican food, now we’re here, and I miss American Fast food! I know, I should be ashamed! Yo quiero Taco Bell! (and BK, KFC, Arby’s, Wendy’s… and the list goes on).

We are currently planning our next adventure: Oktoberfest! We are a bit late with the planning, and it will be hard to find [affordable] accommodations and reservations, but I hope we don’t run into problems. I will keep you updated on that.

Las weekend I went to the movies with a friend. But this was not just any kind of cinema, it was Orange Cinema . Its an outdoor cinema that sets up next to the lake during the summer, and the screen is actually on the water. It was fun!

We finished reading the Harry Potter book. I loved it! It was very sad in some parts, and the ending provides some sort of closure... I really enjoyed reading it with Gera (we took turns reading to eachother).

we've been simpsonized!

so this is us as Simpsons characters.
The top is from simpsonizeme.com, the bottom is from the simpsons movie website, simpsonsmovie.com.
What do you think?
Get yourself simpsonized and send me your characters! I'd love to see them!

Yesterday we celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary! Thank you Gera for the love and happiness you've brought into my life! OK, enough cornyness...

We have been reading the new Harry potter book! People are dying left and right! (well, at least in the first few chapters) We're half way through, with more deaths to come. Abril already finished it and she says that all loose ends are tied, and it seems like several things from previous books come into play now. I will not say more.

We finally have a webcam! so now we can chat with video, but only through skype, since the messenger for Mac doesnt support that function. It is really fun! Now everybody in our family is getting one! Email me separately to get our skype name, or just install skype (at skype.com) and search for us!

What have we been up to lately?

Gera went to Stokholm for a week (conference). This time I did not get to go, but according to him, it wasn’t so great (maybe he’s just saying…). He had a good time and came home with some nice pictures.

Remember I said I loooved youtube? Well, we have been watching an asian version of youtube, called todou.com. They have even MORE shows, and we’ve been watching them like crazy! Currently we’re all caught up with “The Office” (love Dwight!) and "How I Met your Mother” (love Barney!). There’s another site for shows called fanpop.com.

We have been thinking about going to Juarez for Christmas. When we left we said we would not go back until it was time to go back for good. We said that we’d rather spend the money traveling around Europe. Why go back to a place you already know when there’s still so much to discover, and everything is so close? Family and friends. We miss them like crazy and spending another Christmas alone is not painting a pretty picture. So I’ve been looking around for flights (YAY!). Unfortunately we would only be going to Juarez, so seeing a lot of you would not be possible, but still: YAY!

It took me forever to post the rest of the travel blog. That always seems to happen, hehe. I had some of it typed up, and I guess some is better than none, so I’ve posted that below.

We are finally done with our German course! We’ve officially completed sections A1 and A2, the entire program is A1, A2, B1, B2, C1. C2, so we’ve done 1/3 of it, not bad!. I will start looking into other courses for the fall, we really need a break for now.

I’ve just posted another recipe on my recipe bolg: jazibesrecipes.blogspot.com, go check it out!

I’ve been busy putting together an online portfolio and and website for my freelance business. The problem with the portfolio was that I did not have all the files I needed, and I had to make do with what I had on my hard drive (everything else is on storage in Juarez). Oh well. Hopefully that will bring me some work and keep me busy… I miss design! (so if you or someone you know need a website, let me know!)

We went to the Harry Potter movie premiere! I had mentioned before that going to the movies was really expensive, but my friend Flor has a cinecard and she gets a great discount, so she bought the tickets and we all went together. The movie was disappointing! I think it is the worse so far… the action scenes were great, its just that the plot was very shaky, uncertain, and very “choppy”. Maybe its because I’ve read the books, but I think it could have been much better. I am waiting for the new book: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, it comes out this weekend.

Abril and Roberto are getting settled in their new apartment in Minneapolis. Roberto has started going to the hospital and Abril has someone to keep her company at home: our brother Paco is visiting for the summer. You can read about her (and her knitting habits) in her blog: knitting-en-spanish.blogspot.com

I think that is all for now… I will post new pictures soon.

Zurich, Rome (part II)

----you've seen the photos and know where they are----

May 22: we stay home most of the day but we do go out for a walk behind my house because Roberto is starting to suffer from cabin fever, or what I’d like to call “homer-missing-the-cookout” syndrome (do any of you recall this? … characterized by a everything-is-is-happening-around-me-and-I-am-missing-it feeling.

May 24: we go to the Zurich Botanical gardens and to the Museum of medicine (hosted by the University of Zurich). It takes us a while (and a decent amount of walking) to find the museum, and once we’re there, we find it is empty and they actually have to turn on the lights for us (not very popular??). I just take a few minutes to stroll through a series of “instruments of torture” from the middle ages to present time. They have little engravings that show “how-to’s” from anything like pulling out a tooth, to pulling out a baby (not a nice picture). According to the old drawings, a cure for a lot of diseases was thought to be found by poking you in "unthinkable" places.. (not a nice picture either) I don’t like it all that much so I wait for the doctors outside (and I wondered why it was empty…)
We board the night train to Rome, where we play canasta and go to sleep.

May 25: We wake up in Rome, the Eternal City (I now think that by eternal, they mean “old”)
Our first stop (after dropping off our bags at the hotel) is the Colosseum. Its is spectacular and colossal, but I think it looks much bigger in pictures (maybe the camera adds 10 punds?). The sun is hard on our faces, and we are very thankful for all the little water fountains throughout the city. We cross the street from the Colosseum and enter the Forum. We take every chance we get to sit, rest and drink water. Man, it is hot! Walking through the forum feels stepping back in time… almost.
We keep walking until we reach the other end and into Capitoline Hill and the Capitoline Museum. After eating lunch somewhere nearby we are ready to tackle the Museum. We keep comparing the statues to characters from the Gladiator movie and wondering which one is Russel Crowe.
After that, we walk to the Trevi Fountain, where I toss 2 coins (tossing a coin is supposed to guarantee a return to the city; I tossed 2, just in case). Then we walk to the Spanish steps and we all remember this episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond” where they go to Italy and he says something like “why do they call it ‘Spanish” steps if they’re in Italy?”. I know, do you? (skip this if you don’t care: the steps are actually French, but the are called “Spanish” because of the Piazza de Spagna at the foot of the steps, which is called that because the Spanish embassy is there somewhere to the right of the steps, although it is the Spanish embassy to the Vatican, not to Italy)

After doing A LOT on our first day, we go meet our friend Kate (from IU, now residing in Rome). She takes us across the river to Trastevere for dinner. Sadly is the only time we step foot there, because we never found the time to come back later.

May 26: The next day, we literally RUN to Galleria Borguese. After leaving our bags at our friend’s house we were running a bit late for our appointment to go in to the Gallery. You have to make an appointment ahead of time and if you don’t show up, they sell your spot. We barely made it! The Borghese is a palace full of art, sculptures mainly, but also paintings.
We followed that with a visit to dead monks. We went to the Capuccin Crypts, where they have thousands of real human bones arranged “artistically” inside a crypts under a church (this was Robe’s pick). It was interesting, but small (no photos allowed, so no photos to share). We walked (I am starting to notice a pattern here) to the Pantheon, where we waited for like an hour to get in. Not because there was a line, but because there was a mass: the place still functions as a church! We finally got in, got some nice views of the dome and visited the tomb of Queen Marguerita and thanked her for naming my favorite pizza of the entire trip: mozzarella & tomato sauce. We did some walking around the area, and ended up at Piazza Navona. Sadly, the Four Rivers Fountain was being restored, so not much else to see there. We got some pizza for dinner and headed back to rest. The pizza ended up being more like “pizza sandwiches”, but still good

May 27: Today we realized that as the days progresses, our sightseeing time got smaller (we woke up later, returned home earlier…). It also did not help that we got on the wrong bus and lost like 2 hours. Well, it was the RIGHT bus, it was just going the wrong way, and if we had stayed on it, it would have eventually taken us to where we wanted to go (or so Roberto claimed, after failing to admit fault). So eventually we got to where we wanted to go: Palatine hill. This is like a compilation of palaces and gardens (in ruins) where supposedly Rome was founded. Its got a great view to Circus Maximus, although that is not more than an oval dirt track.
We walked from Palatine Hill to Circus Maximus, and imagined Ben Hur in a chariot race.
We visited Michelangelo’s Moses with horns at the St. Peter in Chains Catherdral , and then walked to the nearby Bocca della Verita , where I wanted to take a picture, but the line was so long and I was so hungry, that I just snapped a shot through the gates instead. That night we saw fireworks sitting on the balcony, it was a great end to a long day,

May 28: Vatican: Museum, sistine chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, Up the dome, St. Peter’s square. Tried to make it to Sta maria della vittoria to see Sta. Teresa in ecstasy. Almost missed the train, the boys RAN. Robe’s birthday, beers and mcDonalds

May 29: Back in zurich

May 30: Abril and Robe go back to Juarez, and we’re all alone again. Snif…

RECIPES!!!

I have started a new blog:
jazibesrecipes.blogspot.com

to share some of my recipes.
I love to cook, and I've recently found myself trying new dishes.
The first post, "Tacos al Pastor", its a great, easy and delicious recipe I made just yesterday.
I hope you enjoy it and please let me know if you try any of them out.

close to home!

literally! !!
(we live on the skirts of this hill)


(the photo was sent to me by a friend, I dont know where she got it from)

zurich, venice (part I)

Photos are found here
I hope this is not too boring!! it is looong.

Sat. May 12
Abril Baba, Robe & Ali arrive at the main train station. They are all tired and have already been traveling for more than a week. They are trying to get used to being with each other 24/7 (or at least get used to the idea of being with each other 24/7). Zurich will be a nice break in between for them (before they try to kill each other)

We eat brats and potato salad in our mini-backyard (we bought a table and chairs for this occasion).
All except Baba and I go to üetliberg (the big hill behind our house with a very nice view of the city). Baba reads a “rome book, I watch TV.

Sun. May 13
We go to Kunsthaus, where Abril tries Rivella (a softdrink made from whey), Then we walk to the lake, where we see the swans and take lost of pics, and then we go to the “churches”: fraumunster and grossmunster and St. Peters kirche (to see the Giaccometti and Chagall’s stained glass windows, and the biggest clock face in all of europe)
We eat fondue (first cheese fondue with bread and susages, then for desert chocolate fondue, with strawberries and apples). We light sparkles and candles. Just how I pictured it.

Mon. May 14
Gera goes to work and we all go out “somewhere” (anywhere, just to be out of the house). We end up at the lake (not much else to see), but with a stop at Sprüngli to try their Luxemburgerli. At the lake we take a boat (it is actually public transport, we just cover the whole route and never get off). The ride is included on their “Zurich Card” and I just pay a bit for the extra “zone” not included in my local pass. The day gets cold and rainy, and by the end of the boat ride (about 2 hours, round trip) we are sitting inside. We see nice houses with their own boat decks and big gardens. Abril knits.
That night, Robe Gera and I go to the main train station to send Ali and Baba off to Rome (overnight train). Abril stays home to watch my version of Must See TV (friends, desperate housewives, Grey’s anatomy, dr house).

Wed. May 16
We went to the train station to reserve seats for tonight’s overnight train to Venice, but to our surprise they were all sold out (yes, we waited until the last minute…). It was a holiday weekend and apparently people tend to go south for the holidays. Who knew. After much (and I mean “an hour long” much) searching by the ticket guy, he finally was able to get us to Venice by 2PM the next day. The problem: we would need to take 4 different trains to get there. It was all they had so we took it. Gera wasn’t too happy (I don’t blame him)

Abril and I meet my Mexican friends for lunch (I should stop referring to them like that… sorry guys), and Robe goes to meet Gera for lunch (at ETH). He was already late and it did not help that he got kinda lost. They did find each other eventually.
After lunch, we met Robe again and the 3 of us went to the Brockenhaus (a goodwill-type-store), and abril found knitter’s heaven in a stack of old knitting needles and yarn.
That night we packed our bags for Venice. We are meeting Baba and Ali at the train station at 3 (when their train gets in from Rome). We hope our train is not late, and we hope they were able to get tickets to Venice.

Thurs. May 17
We all get ready to leave, we are out and on time on the tram stop. We make to the train on time (it leaves at 6:50am). Now we just need to hold on to our patience as the hours pass by and we have to continuously stop and change trains. On the 1st train ride (Zurich-bellinzona), a group of women kept talking like chickens and wouldn’t let us take a nap. They got even worse when they got their coffee. On the second train ride (bellinzona-lugano), we had a surreal experience. This guy (swiss-talian) started talking to us, telling us all this things about world peace, his family, his wife’s smile, Bush, a peace rally… all very weird. Roberto wanted to doze off, but the guy wouldn’t let him. He talked about religion, got out his visual aids from his suitcase and even sang a song. HOW weird is that. We were soon in Lugano, the guy said goodbye and we got off the train. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. Robe kept wanting to go to 1st class, because the railpass they had purchased was for 1st class. And he kept making jokes about how much bigger the seats were and how he deserved to be there.
As we spotted Venice in the distance, Abril and I sang Hombres G’s* song “venecia” (you HAVE to see this clip). And a few minutes later finally arrived in Venice, as scheduled. Abril and I went to use the restroom and by the time we were back, Ali and Baba’s train from Rome had arrived and they were all there chatting. How perfect timing!
The next step was to buy the 3-day vaporetto pass and then be on our way to the hotel.
We stepped out of the trains tation and were greeted by a sight like out of a Disney ride, except this is for real. It was awesome. Abril expertly gets us to the hotel (she had MEMORIZED the instructions from the hotel website “take vaporetto#1, get off @ …, walk to the Disney store, turn right… blah blah”. We checked in, two triple rooms: boys in one, girls on the other.
We were back out into the streets as soon as possible (“who needs to use the bathroom?”, “hurry up!”, “I am hungry” “here, have some egg sandwich leftover from breakfast”). It was too late for most sights, but thanks to a bit of planning we still had things to do. We went to the Palazzo Ducale (that closed later than all other attractions), and we explored St. Marks square for a bit. Abril had a BLAST with the pigeons, and every time we walked by St. Mark’s she HAD to feed them and take pictures. Ali also had a blast chasing them (he was captured on a snapshot stepping on one poor pigeon as he ran, he claims it was an accident, investigation continues).
Later we found a place to have dinner (pizza), and we went back to the hotel (with a stop for gelato). Baba mentioned she heard Gera say that the hotel was old and maybe even haunted, so Abril and I behaved like little girls at a pyjama party and ran to their room (at the end of the hall), knocked on their door and scratched on the walls, and then hid. It was hilarious! We heard them talk and try to figure out which one of us had done it: “It cannot be Baba, she doesn’t run, and abril can’t run with a bad foot, jazi wouldn’t do it alone…” This is my actual confession!! Yes, we did it, and we did not RUN, we just hid around the corner before you opened the door, hehe.

Gera could not sleep with Roberto snoring, so he knocked on our room like at 2 in the morning:
“let me in”
“who is it”
“its ME”
Door opens
(*hombres G was a pop group from spain very popular in mexico in the 80’s)

Frid. May 18
We went early to St. Marks’s Basilica, where the line to get in was already long. We saw the treasury, the altar, and the dome/terrace. Then we head towards the Accademia and have lunch on the way (a nice restaurant with the best tiramisu ever!). We got split up there, and Abril, Robe and Ali went to a yarn shop (guess whose idea that was?). Baba, Gera and me took more time to look around and then headed out. As we were in line boarding the vaporetto, the gates were closed and Gera was on board and Baba and I were left on the boarding platform!! We told Gera “we’ll meet you on the next stop” so Baba and I started WALKING to the next stop (big mistake). We got lost and it took us like almost 1 hour to get there. By then Gera had gone back to look for us, when we finally found him he asked “why didn’t you just wait for the next one?” “I dunno know…” Than was an experience…
We finally met with the rest of the group and boarded yet another vaporetto, but his for mere sightseeing purposes. We went all the way to the lido (the beach) and back to the trainstation, but we did not get off the vaporetto. Eventually we made our way to the front seats and it was like a tourboat. We saw the nice houses on the Gran Canal and the bridges and it was one more thing to check off the list.

Sat. May 19
Gera woke up really really early (which means I also woke up really early), so we were out and about before 8am (he was out at 6am, then came back for me at 7am). We got too walk around an empty St. Marks square, and got to mingle with the photographers with their big lenses and the watercolor artists catching the sunrise. Back in the hotel, we had breakfast and checked out. We split up again: Gera, Ali and I went to the train station to drop off our bags in a locker; the rest went to the post office. We then went to the Rialto market all together, and browsed and shopped and got lost… classic.
Abril had a good 20 minutes of “I lost my camera!”. Turns our Baba had it, but since Baba was lost, we couldn’t ask her. We ate fresh fruit (I had my personal stash of chilli powder in my purse, which mad eit taste even better) and walked around.
Gera and I wanted to go to the Guggenheim, but the rest were not all that interested, and after finding out the entrance was not free (some were free and some discounted because it was Italy’s cultural week), decided to go do something else instead.
The Guggenheim was great! Small but loaded with art!. Well, maybe it seemed small because half of it was closed because they were setting up a new show. It was still worth the trip.
We were supposed to meet near the Accademia, so we headed there, and since we were early, we sat down at a little café to have a Spritz with Aperol (my friend Adri said it was a MUST in Venice). The spritz was a bit bitter (it is certainly an acquired taste). As we were sitting there, Abril, Robe and Baba walk by (they had “lost” Ali). Its it funny how you can get lost so easily, but then you can just as easily find each other just by staying still long enough… They joined us with a beer and I ordered a Bellini (Cava and Peach juice). Later, Ali showed up! Guided by Abril, we walked searching for some shops, and then we walked some more. We stumbled into a place where they sell really cheap wine (by the liter, they provide the plastic bottles for you!) It was funny and we had to try it. We feared going blind, but it was not that bad! (not worse than the “house wine” in most restaurants).
We walked and drank and snacked and pretty soon it was time to go to the train station.
This train was more or less direct. We had to go to Bologna, then wait there for like 2 hours for the overnight to Zurich (that was coming from Rome). By then we were exhausted, had some McDonalds and went to sleep.

Sun. may 20
We stayed home, I cooked General Tso’s chicken for dinner. Yummy.

Mon. May 21
Baba and Ali went back to reality. Gera went to work, and Abril, Robe and I stayed and took a break from walking around. After much pondering, we decide on Rome as our next trip. We thought for a while we would go to Prague, but since Abril and Robe still had travel days on their railpasses, it didn’t make sense to buy plane tickets to go somewhere else. So Rome it is… I was glad Baba left her book for me!

its been a while...

It has been a while since I wrote anything new, but I am sure you understand I’ve been busy! Abril, Robe, Baba and Ali came to see us and we had a great time. We spent time here in Zurich, where we did some things but mostly just enjoyed each other’s company. I cooked for them my current “specialties” (butter chicken, General Tso’s Chicken, beer battered fish), and we also had some traditional fondue. Abril and I saw the Season/series finale of one of our favorite series: “Gilmore girls”, and we even cried a little.
We all went to Venice and had a big 3-day adventure there. After that, Baba and Ali had to go back, but Abril and Robe stayed for a few more days. With them we went to Rome and saw some great ancient sites and museums.
The traveling was great, the food was great, but the best part of all was just getting to hang out with them like before. We really missed them, and now that they’re gone, we are all alone again.
I have posted all the travel pics on flickr, and soon I will post the “travel Blog” (I think is parts, as its turning out to be quite long). I hope you come back to read it and let me know what you think.

they're here!

well, almost!
Roberto, Abril, Baba and Ali arrive tomorrow! we're very excited to see them!
They've been traveling a bit before coming here (london and paris), and this coming weekend we will all be going to Venice!!
Then Baba (my sister) and Ali (a friend) will go back to Mexico, but Roberto and Abril will stay 'til the end of the month. We are hoping to be able to take another trip before they leave.
I have made friends with a couple of girls from Mexico. They're super nice and we get along great! I feel like things are going back to normal, after a few months of "settling in".
We are still going to German classes, every tuesday and wednesday from 8-10pm. I feel we've made a lot of progress, and we can manage to make sentences (even if the grammar is not quite there yet). The teacher says we are VERY very good for a beginner class (we're even better than her other beginner class!! nananana). The class ends on july 4th, and i think we'll stop taking classes after that, and maybe just continue on our own.
Its been already 8 months since I got here (9 for Gera), and 10 since we left Bloomington, but who's counting?
oh, and Happy Mother's Day (in mexico it is always on the 10th, here on the 13th)
hint hint: i have not heard from a lot of you... I hope you're all ok, enjoying spring, and having fun in the sun! dont forget to write.

what time of day are you?

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

burning Boog-Spring Festival

the rest of the pics are here.
To signify the beginning of spring, there's a whole parade and in the end, at 6o'clock sharp, a snowman is burned! and depending how long it takes for the fire to reach his head and make it EXPLODE! its how the summer its going to be... Kinda like a groundhog day type thing, except with fire!!
It took 12 minutes and 9 seconds, which is apparently just OK. (not great, not awfull). The snowman's name is Böögg.
Find out more about the festival here: Sechselauten

We also went to a chinese garden next to the lake. The weather is so nice, we are just trying to enjoy as much of it as we can. The gardens were small, but pretty. The lake was packed!! people sunbathing, having picnics, and just chillin'.

Gera's birthday is coming up... dont forget to write.

The gang from juarez is coming soon! (in 2 weeks). I cant wait!
We are all going to Venice together, it'll be so much fun.

Prague, Milano, Zurich, Swiss Alps

All the photos for this trip can be found HERE

I have so much stuff to share! Gera’s parents came to visit us, and the whole time they were here, we were really (and sometimes literally) running around!. They arrived on Friday (march 30th), so after coming home from the airport and resting a bit, we got a chance to finally experience some traditional Swiss food! We went out to a restaurant (zeughauskeller.ch) and had some Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (veal pieces on a creamy mushroom sauce) served with rosti (basically hash browns). We also tried a pork elbow cooked in dark beer and Pork Cordon Blu. It was all very good but quite expensive (Thanks for dinner, suegritos).



The next day (Saturday march 31st) we were off to Prague early in the morning. I have been getting better at the whole trip-planning thing, and usually have a self-made guide with info on things like how to get to the hotel and where to eat (and a map or two don’t hurt), but I was glad to see that Gera’s dad brought a couple of Prague “top things” books.
Prague was awesome! It was classic and cultural, historic and diverse, it had castles and KFCs, (I must confess we ate at KFC and McDonalds!!) and it was very inexpensive. The beer was great (supposedly the best in Europe), and the sights were impressive. We did the typical tourist things around town, like Old Town Square and Wenceslas square (prague experience), Prague castle (a huge complex with St. Vitus Cathedral and a lots of other stuff)(Prague Castle), and Charles Bridge (Charles Bridge) . We also took a day trip to Karlstejn Castle (Karlstejn Castle) (the second most popular attraction in the Czech Republic after Prague). Unfortunately I lost the travel books somewhere in Prague Castle. Fortunately it was out last day there, so it was not such a big problem, but I was quite embarrassed and upset. (note on Prague: a lot of movies are filmed there, interesting… prague movie list)

We returned from Prague on Tuesday (april 3rd), and rushed back home from the airport, grabbed another bag with one change of clothes, and ran back out to the train station to be on our way to Milan (or as I like to call it now: MilanO). We were back in Zurich only for like 2 hours. We arrived in Milan and since we were not carrying big heavy bags, decided to do some sightseeing before going to the hotel. The soccer match was at 8:30 (the main reason for being there was a soccer game between Milan AC and Bayern Munich). The Piazza Duomo was filled with tourists and soccer fans making noise and having fun. We went to the impressive shopping mall next door to sit down for a beer (Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle). It was the most expensive beer I’ve had! 12 euros!. After that, we went to the hotel and only went out again for dinner, which was a bit of a search since we couldn’t find a place to eat because restaurants don’t open until 7pm. We finally gave up and sat down and waited for 7 o’clock to arrive. We had pizza and some traditional rissoto, Gera and his dad went to the game, and Gera’s mom and I went back to the hotel.



The next day in Milano went by pretty quickly too. We went to the Duomo first, and enjoyed the most amazing sights from the roof terrace. We felt like an Italian Quasimodo! We stood in line for the world famous Panzerottis at Luini’s (luini's), and they were delicious. Afterwards we walked to Teatro La Scala (looks very insignificant from the outside), and then to Castello Sforzesco. The castello now houses several museums, but due to lack of time, we walked the grounds, used their “facilities” and called it a visit. Our last stop of this one-day Milano tour was the Pinacoteca di Brera (Pinacoteca), where we got our dose of Italian art. Unfortunately we did not get to see “the Last Supper” (located at Santa Maria delle grazie) because you have to reserve your 15-minute visit waaaay ahead of time (there were no spaces available ‘til august!), but Milano is so close (only a 3.5 hr train ride), we might go there again some day.





Once back in Zurich (home by midnight on wed. april 4), we wondered about sticking to our plan to go to Jungfrauhoch the next day (very early). We were all so tired, we decided it was best to stay in Zurich the next day and then go to a closer mountain for a view of the Swiss Alps. So we enjoyed a late breakfast in Zurich on Thursday (april 5th), a short walk around Old Town, and a very well deserved rest. That night we made fondue (finally! After 6 months here, we eat fondue). It was a bit “alcoholy”, but very good, made from scratch. And of course, chocolate fondue for desert, yummy!





On Friday April 6th we went to a place called Mt. Titlis. ( Mt. Titlis). We took a train to Luzerne, then another train to Engelberg, then 3 cable cars to the top. The views were breathtaking and the weather was very nice (not cold at all, although I did get a chance to wear a beautiful calorimetry Abril knit for me)( Abril's blog). The place was packed with skiers and snowboarders, but we were there just for the sights. They had an Ice cave (where you walk through part of a glacier), and other attractions (like snow tubing and a cable car called Ice Flyer). It was an amazing experience, definitely one to repeat when we get visitors!

Saturday (april 7) we went to the Zurich Art Museum (Kunsthaus). Gera and I had been there before, but they have such an amazing collection, its worth several visits. They had a Rodin exhibit, and we got to see “the thinker” and “gates of hell”.

Sunday was a sad day because Gera’s parents left, and we were all alone again. But we have a month to get ready for the next European tour, when Abril, Roberto, Baba, and Ali come to visit in May (Venice is on the schedule, I’ll keep you posted).

Heute habe ich Geburstag!

Today is my Birthday! happy birthday to me!
We are doing a spread-out celebration, starting with a concert we went to last monday. It was actually FREE since we won the tickets for it (participated on a mexican-swiss internet portal). The perfomer was Julieta Venegas, a mexican singer (and i really like her too!). The venue was really small and we got to be very very close to the stage. We had a great time!
Check out the pics here Julieta Venegas in Zürich

The next part of the celebrations will be throughout next week, when we go to PRAGUE and MILAN!!! yes, how's that for a birthday? (well, it IS a big one). Gera's parents arrive tomorrow morning (friday), and then we'll go to Prague for the weekend and then to Milan for a couple fo days. I am really excited to be going to so many different places, I love it!

As always, I will keep you posted.
PS. the hand is much better! the Sicily blog is posted below, and i think for now I am all caught up with news. Oh, and Abril and Roberto are moving to Minneapolis in June!! (read her blog for more details)

Sicily (part 2 of 2)

Thurs. 22:
The next day we had a full-day excursion to Piazza Armerina and Agrigento booked. I remembered it being at 8am, but after checking my receipt before going to bed, I was sure it was at 8:30. So that morning we woke up, got ready and headed for the breakfast area. We took our time (we had plenty). We went back to our room to get our stuff and head for the meeting point (conference center), and after looking at the receipt again I realized (in horror) that it was at 8AM, and it was already 10 past. We ran (literally!) out of our room and started heading towards the meeting point, but then we realized it was probably better to go to the bus station, since it was closer and it was more likely that if they were waiting, they’d be there. So we ran the other way and ran and ran. We were expecting to see a bus full of happy tourists pass us by and wave. We got to the bus station and they were still there! We got on the bus (all embarrassed to be late), but then we were “saved” by another couple who was even later than us, so we were not the last ones on the bus after all.
This was a long trip. It was like 2 hours to get to Piazza Armerina, where we visited a very old villa, with walls and floors covered in beautifully preserved mosaics. It is thought to have been the Emperor’s Palace (for when he was in town), or the villa of an animal hunter who sold his animals to the gladiator fights (because of all the different animals depicted on the mosaics would act as a sort of catalog “would you like a wild boar with your lion?”).
Then we were back on the bus a headed for lunch. (where the food, quality and quantity, was very disappointing). Then we were just a short bus ride away from the Valley of the temples. It was spectacular! Temples here, temples there, temples everywhere… well, not that many, but several, and they were all very cool.
The return trip was even longer, and we were running late for the Gala dinner, which fortunately was going to be at our hotel, so we didn’t have to waste time getting there. The dinner was at 8, and we didn’t get back to the hotel until 7:30! We barely had time to change and run downstairs.
The food was good (except for desert), and they had some people playing music, singing and dancing. The seating was not assigned, so we ended up seating with some people from Austria (I think) and the infamous Disco Stu/Elvis with an afro.

Frid. 23:
Friday we checked out of our hotel in Taormina and checked in at a hotel in Goradini Naxos (the beach town below Taromina). We had to take a bus there, and we didn’t know exactly where to get off the bus, so we ended up taking a cab from the bus drop off to the hotel. We checked in and looked for a place to have lunch. We opted for a little restaurant across the street, where a little old man was using his charm to push Tiramisu, he succeded and we had some for dessert. We also had some wine with lunch and after a short walk on the beach (it was cold and cloudy, but we were finally face to face with the sea), we went and took a nap. We woke up hungry again, and went back out looking for a place to have dinner. We found a great little place with a very good grilled fish platter and a couple of super nice waiters (I think one was the owner). We liked it so much we went back there for lunch on our last day in Sicily.

Sat. 24:
I really did not have much planned for our stay in Giardini, because there really isn’t that much to do. We found a book about Catania near the breakfast area, and decided we should do that instead of just staying and doing nothing in Giardini. I had not researched Catania, so I told Gera that as long as he told me where to go, I’d go (I don’t like to feel unprepared and lost). So we took a bus and go there a bit before lunch time. The book we had found was in German, and although we’ve been studying for a few months now, we couldn’t really use the book as our only guide (lets just call it an “inspiration”).
From the bus station we followed the signs to the tourist information office, passing through a Greek Theater on the way. There was a wedding photo shoot (we deduced that much because the guy at the door hummed the wedding march “ta ta tara, ta ta tara”).
The tourist office was very helpful and gave us a map and a route to follow to see all the sights within a walking distance. They also told us a good place to have lunch. It was really good (I had penne pasta with pistachio sauce, gera had a steak with mushrooms).
I did not realize Catania had so many “historical” sights, but I guess for a city that old they must. I did not like it a lot, though. It was dirty and old and smelly (but I guess for a city that old…). It was good that we decided to go and I was glad we (meaning I) had the courage to go even though we didn’t know what/where/how to do once we got there.
Back in Giardini we bought some chips and sodas for dinner and called it a day.

Sun. 25:
Our last day in Sicily went by very fast. Fortunately it was sunny, so we had a great time walking around the excavation area behind the museum, and got great views of Etna. It was also warm enough to dip our feet in the water (although the locals stared at the “crazy tourists deeping their feet in the water”). I was sure to check in the morning the departure time of our flight from Catania to Milan, and I was sure it was 7 o’clock, so we planned what bus to take and when to leave around that. Later that day, after the museum visiting and the feet-dipping, I started to wonder if it was really 7 o’clock, or 17:00… Well, stupid military time! It turned out to be 17:00 (which is 5pm!). It was already 3pm, and the next bus to Catania was not until 4 pm and we were not going to make it. So in a moment of desperation (and there really was no other choice) we took a 90 euro cab!
We made it to the Airport on time, and there were no other setbacks. But we will never forget to double check departure times (for tours OR planes).

Sicily (part 1 of 2)

ok, it took me a while to get this posted, but here it is! (second part coming soon)
sicily pics are HERE
(they are in order when you view them as a set only, and you can view as a slideshow, although you would miss the comments)

Sat. Feb. 17:
Our flight left at 7AM, and we barely made it! You see, we don’t have a car, so we had to take a bus and a train to get to the airport. Fortunately, the public transport system is extremely reliable, but even then, the earliest we could get to the airport was 6AM, and that was before check-in and security, and unless we wanted to sleep there, that was the way to go. We transferred in Milan, where we found a huge statue of Hagrid (Harry Potter character) made entirely out of Legos! (I took a picture). We landed in Catania, and then took a 40 minute bus ride to Taormina (but we had to wait for the bus for more than 1 hour). In an attempt to empty my fridge of all things perishable (we learned a very important lesson once when we left a cucumber in the fridge for a couple of weeks), I had made us sandwiches (bread, ham and cheese, the perishable trio). Abril teased us and said we were going to look silly carrying around sandwiches on the airplane. Well, when we ate our tasty lunch in Catania while waiting for the bus I thought “Not so silly now, huh?”.
After walking from the bus station through a series of death traps, we finally reached our hotel (most of the road had NO sidewalk, and was steep, and there were buses and cars speeding by!). We had booked a hotel online, but a couple of days before our trip, we were “upgraded” to a sister hotel (apparently, someone messed up our reservation). The new hotel was supposed to be nicer and was almost twice the price!! (and we did not have to pay the difference). I did not find it all that “fancy” for a 4-star rating, but it was ok. We checked in, and were back out again within a few minutes. We had only a few hours of sunlight left, and we wanted to walk around. We first went to some gardens right next door to our hotel, and then went to Corso Humberto, basically Taormina’s mainstreet. There, we ate gelato (the first of many!), and had some pizza sold by the slice, which turned out to be microwave pizza!! But it was still good, and we were tired and hungry, so we did not care. We ate our microwave pizza on a park bench and then headed back to the hotel. It was only like 7:30 pm, but we were so tired (we woke up at 4am) that we went straight to bed!!

Sun. Feb. 18:
The next day we headed to Taormina’s main attraction: the Greek Theater. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was out, so it was beautiful. The views from the theater were amazing! We thought about going to the beach, but the cable-car was closed, so instead we went up to the Castello, a small caslte on the top of a hill (more like a mountain!). The book said there were 500+ steps to get there, but it felt like way more. I started counting, but gave up around 70 (not much incentive). It was a nice warm day, and we enjoyed it a lot. The actual Castle was closed, (we knew this beforehand thanks to the Hieftjes), but it was worth the 500+ steps! We walked around town some more, ate some pizza for lunch, this time it was not microwaved!, We also had some more gelato (that stuff was good!). While Gera was at the welcome reception for the conference, I went for a walk with with Kara (another lab-wife, hehe). We got to see the Carnival parade floats. The very small parade was struggling to get by those tiny little streets packed with people, but it was fun and festive! There was a float with a “Mexican theme” where the dancers were wearing zarapes and had painted mustaches, funny! After that, the welcome reception was over and we were done for the day.

Mon. Feb. 19:
Monday was rainy and cold. Gera had his talk this day, so I was by myself most of the time. I walked around a bit in the morning, then went back to the hotel. I went back out to meet Gera for lunch. We went to a restaurant recommended by frommers, and had some ok food. He went back to the conference and I went back to the hotel. Later that night, we went to a very nice restaurant with the Hieftjes and the rest of the Hieftje group. We had a very nice dinner and a great time! (Thank you!) And to keep on with tradition, we also had some great local wine.

Tues. Feb. 20:
On Tuesday I went to a scheduled excursion to Syracuse and Gera stayed at the conference (muaha, ha... evil laugh). On this trip, we went first to a Greek Theater and other ruins (greek theaters seem to be all over in sicily!). Then we had a huge lunch (they just kept on bringing out more and more dishes! and for desert: cannoli). And finally we went to Ortyga (an island) and visited the Piazza Duomo, where according to the tour guide, Dolce OR Gabanna (fashion designers) has a house! (Haha, the things I remember)). Oh, and there’s also a very, very old church and some very nice buildings around it. This was an all-day trip, and by the time I got back to the hotel it was almost time to go out again to the Young Scientist’s Ball (a big dinner and dancing party, with a “mascarade” theme because it was fat Tuesday). I had bought and painted some masks the day before, so we were set! Some people had more elaborate costumes, like a guy dressed as what we thought was Disco Stu (the Simpson’s character), but later found out was supposed to be Elvis! (when did Elvis get an afro?)

Wed. 21:
Wednesday Gera went to the conference (again) and I went for yet another walk around town (I tell you, those conferences get on the way of our vacationing!! Haha). We met for lunch (pizza) and then we went to meet up with the tour people for trip to Mount Etna. We were lucky enough to get the same guide as the Syracuse trip, because apparently one other guy was very boring. “Our” guy had a sense of humor and talked about everything and anything and kept saying “Mamma mia!” and “I don’t like it!” (when referring to newer churches or buildings). The volcano’s last eruption was on 2002 ( i think) and you could see where the lava had run down because there was no snow there (since the ground was still a bit warm). The view from up there was amazing, it was snowing too!. Although it was a very short trip (it took us longer to get there than the time were actually there) it was a great experience and I brought some lava rocks with me!. Later that night we went out for dinner, and ran into Bill and Kara (lab-wife mentioned before) also former members of the Hieftje klan. We had dinner together and they told us about their boring tour guide.

An update before the italy recap

Ok, so I am typing with one hand, which means:
a) we’re back from italy (although I can type from italy too! With one or two hands)
b) I had my surgery already

Italy was really fun, but it was cloudy and rainy most of the time we were there. We only got sunshine on the Sunday (a day after we arrived) and on the Sunday we left. We ate lots of great food, and desserts, and wine, saw friends, and had a chance to visit lots of interesting places, like Mount Etna (an active volcano), and Greek/roman ruins (in Agrigento). We did have a chance to dip our feet in the sea, and I was happy about that! I will write more details later (a recap hopefully not as long as the Paris one…).

We got back to reality late on Sunday night, and Monday was a busy day full of house work like laundry and cleaning, and cooking for the week so poor Gera doesn’t have to worry about that (although, I must confess I might have done that more for myself… haha). And today (Tuesday), I went in for my 15 minute surgery. Really, that’s about all it took!. It took longer to get dressed in that awful gown (where your butt shows!) than to get “squishy” removed (yes, I named it squishy!). So I was back home and my fingers were still numb (I had local anesthesia, and by local, they really mean just the palm of the hand!). It hurts a bit now, but I am fine. I will have a few more doctor visits before I can put the memory of “squishy” behind me, I’ll tell you how that goes.

I am having...

… a cyst! Haha. I have an alien growing in my hand, so after a couple of visits to the doctor, I am scheduled to have minor surgery on Feb 27th. For 10 days after that, I will not be able to do housework, like cleaning, or cooking or doing the dishes… I am sooo sad …NOT! Gera will help a lot, and we’ll have 10 days of pizza, sandwiches, brats and other no-fuss, easy-to-cook food (probably use paper plates too! Haha)

We are sooo excited to go to Italy! Finally, its only 5 days away. As for my planning, well, I’ve been better that the last trip (to Paris), but I still have a bit more to go. I am relying on the fact that the place is smaller and will require less complex planning. So far I think we’ll go to Mt. Etna, and Syracuse, besides doing the Taormina sights (ruins and stuff). I have booked a hotel on the beach in Giardini Naxos for the last couple of nights, it’ll be great! Now I need to start packing (OMG! What am I going to wear?). You can count on being fully updated after our return.

Gera is just getting over some serious illness, something like bronchitis or something. He’s been conferring long distance via skype with the other doctors in the family (well, the other MEDICAL doctors, dad, brother and sister-in-law), and he’s way better now. I think he’ll be good as new by Saturday. Now, lets just hope I didn’t get it…

Not much else going on… ah! and you have been saved from the last Paris post! I haven’t done that part yet (and probably wont, at least not anytime soon), so just know that:
“… we said Au revoir to the city of light and were safely on our way back to Zurich. And they lived happily ever after. The end”.