Oktoberfest!

As promised, here’s the scoop on our Oktoberfest adventure!

Oktoberfest photos are HERE

We went to the Oktoberfest on the very last day (it’s called “oktoberfest” but it actually takes place the last 2 weeks in September and up to the 1st Sunday on October). I did a bit of research beforehand, and found out that we did NOT need reservations for the tents (the BIG drinking halls), because they only take reservations for groups of 10 or more. I also looked a bit into public transport, and city sights, but in the end I was so rushed getting all the visa stuff ready, I did not print out anything but the hotel reservation. So off we were with no maps, and a few notes on my notebook.

We took a train early on Sunday, and arrived in Munich around 11:30 am. We decided to go straight to the fair grounds and not to the hotel, since we packed very light and only had a backpack and my bag to carry around (and it also meant more time for beer). In retrospect (and as Abril pointed out), it was a bit silly to think we would be able to get to the hotel at night with a few beers on our system and without a map… but more on that story later.

So we easily made our way to the fairgrounds (just follow the crowd), and made it there a bit past noon. The place is like a HUGE fair, with booths, and food, and rides, and lots and lots of people. We bought a huge pretzel and whole fish to eat. They had them cooking right in front of you, and even though they didn’t look very pretty, they were delicious. A lady asked me if it tasted good, I said “ja!”, then she asked if they were not too salty, I said “nein!” (this conversation was in German, and I was happy that I understood).

We walked around a bit, and went into a couple of tents. At first we didn’t quite know what to do. I had read that you just sit in a table where there’s room, and make friends with the other people there. Even though it was still early, some of the tents were pretty full (at least their “no reservation required” section). Then we found a very lively tent, and found a table, so right away we sat down and started ordering beer.

The tent was full of young people, and they were all singing and dancing on the tables, and after the first few sips, we were singing along too (to “sweet home Alabama”, if you can imagine). We stayed there for a couple of hours (or a couple of pitchers, however you want to put it), and then moved on to another tent. The next tent we visited was a bit less “happenin’ “, but fun too. We stayed there a couple of hours more, and then headed out for dinner on the fairgrounds (rotisserie chicken). We had a great time in both tents, talking to the people on our table, we found some Swiss drinking buddies. We were also very happy to know that our German is not as bad as we had thought. I fact some people said it was very good and we could even have small conversations with them. (maybe it was the beer)

After dinner, we decided we had had enough, and headed to the hotel. This is where I miraculously found our way to the hotel, without a map, and just relying on asking people (in german) “where is…?” And I was so happy that I even understood their answers (not just their signs when they pointed “that way”). Maybe it was the alcohol in my system, hehe.

The next day we found out that sadly our “recovery” time increases with age when we stayed in the hotel until noon!! After checking out, we just walked around the “old town” part of the city, visited a few churches, and had lunch in front of the Rathaus. Most of the museums were closed (because it was Monday), and we were too tired to enjoy them anyways. We were back in the train station and ready to leave by 6:30. Since the Oktoberfest was the main attraction of the trip, we did not feel too bad about not leaving a lot of time to see the city. After all, we got what we wanted: An awesome Oktoberfest experience!

It was “le-----wait for it---- gendary!!!” (<<-- from “how I met your mother”)

Visa news

Yesterday we had our much awaited appointment to get a US visa at the US embassy in Bern. I had been preparing for this for the last few weeks, gathering paperwork, (bank statements, rent contracts, etc) evidence that we have a home here and that we will return after our visit in the US is over (or more importantly, that we will LEAVE the US, which is what they mostly care about).
Everything was going well, I had all the papers organized, and ready to go. We planned out trip, and researched trains and schedules to make sure we made it there on time (our appointment was at 9:30). We left our apartment at 7:20, to make it to the main station for the 8 am train, to make it to Bern at 9 am, to make it to the embassy at 9:15. Turns out the train was runing 10 minutes late, and that threw the whole schedule off!!! Needless to say I was very upset, but trying to think rationally, there's was nothing I could do, so I had to just let it go (very zen). We arrived in bern at 9:20, and ran to the bus stop to go to the embassy, and arrived at the embassy at 9:35. In the end, there was no problem because we had to stand in line anyways, so we were not "checked in" until like 10:30 (btw, we stood in line outside in the rain!). By the time we were admitted inside, the waiting room was full. So we sat and we waited to hear our names called. And waited. And waited. And everybody else got to go before us, even the people behind us in line. So finally we were the last to be sitting there! And we were called around 11:45. And we were asked a few questions ("do you intend to return to switzerland after your trip?"... duh!) and Gera's current US visa was cancelled (a transit visa he used to come here), and they took away by border crossing card (which i used to cross to El Paso to come here), and then they just said we would get our passports with the visas in the mail. That was it. No more papers requested. None of the papers I spent days putting together were requested. I did not feel too bad about that. We left the embassy aroung 12:00. Had lunch at BK (again!) and were on a train back to zurich by 12:30.
So visa "a---------prooved!"
Now the problem is we dont know the details... multiple entries? (i hope so), duration? maybe a year... who knows. We'll just have to wait and find out next week when our passports arrive in the mail.

Anniversary!

Today it’s the anniversary of my arrival in Switzerland. Its incredible already a year has passed… so fast. The past year has been filled with lots of trips and adventures, german classes and “lost in translation” moments, new friends and home sickness. Here’s a recap.

Trips.
We have traveled a lot over this past year. We figured since we’re here, we should take advantage of having a home base right in the heart of Europe.
In the last year we’ve visited 12 cities in 4 countries There’s still plenty we want to see, if only we had more money… For now, we have out trip to Munich for the Oktoberfest this Sunday, and the big trip to the US and Mexico in December.

Language.
We started taking German classes in October of last year, and made it through 2 courses (that lasted about 4 months each) It was hard and time consuming, but fun and a great thing to do together. We learned enough to understand bits and pcs of tv shows, and words here and there on posters and advertisements. We stopped attending classes last july, and planned to take other (less expensive) classes later. We still haven’t signed up for anything… I don’t know if we will, since we’re a bit discouraged by the fact that even learning German, we still wouldn’t speak the “local” language, which is a swiss-german dialect… a bit frustrating. We get by with what we know, and with English (even though a lot of people are reluctant to speak English to you unless you ask them in German if they do… weird).

Green, green, green.
This whole recycling thing is hard core! I’ve mentioned this before, but I think its worth including on the anniversary recap.
So this is how the trash-recycling system works:
-Trash is picked up once a week and you have to buy special bags from the city or it won’t get picked up. (like $1.50 US per 30 lt bag). This gives you an incentive to recycle all you can so you only put actual trash in the bags.
-Paper gets picked up twice a month, and you have to bundle it up really nicely and put it on the curve the morning of pick up. (paper sheets, paper packing, phone books…)
-Cardboard gets picked up once month (egg cartons, cereal boxes, toilet paper tubes…)
-Clothes and shoes are picked up about once every 3 months. You get a special bag in the mail and you leave it out the day of pick up (or drop it off anytime at designated locations)
-Big items (like furniture, mattresses, garden things) are picked up about once every 2 months. You bring them to your neighborhood collection point.
-Glass bottles and aluminum you bring to the nearest collection center (separate glass by color)
-PET bottles are collected at the grocery store.
-garden waste is picked up once a month on a special green dumpster.
-Batteries and electronics you bring back to the store.
-hazardous waste (paint, paint thinners, chemicals) is picked up about twice a year at a neighborhood collection point.

Always on time
The public transport system is unbelievable reliable. Buses and trams arrive and depart on time (to the minute) and you can always count on it. When accidents happen and lines need to be diverted, you can always hear announcements on the speakers on every tram, bus and stop so you plan your route accordingly. I just renewed my one-year pass for about 650 CHF (around $550 US). I am sure this is one of the things I will miss the most when we leave Switzerland.

Prices
Yes, everything is Switzerland is expensive. Food, clothes, everything. Eating out is really not even an option (for us), and going out to bars is an activity that does not happen often. And everybody notices, not just us. But that is how it is, and people just deal with it. So do we.

Friends
We met some people in our German class, and hung out with them a few times. But ever since we stopped going to classes, we haven’t kept in touch. I met a couple of Mexican girls online (through a zuri-mex forum) and we hit it off right away. We are close friends now and get together once a week for lunch and conversation. There’s 4 of us now, and we have a good time talking about mexico and about living so far from home. We have special (evil) fun talking about the swiss, hehehe. Gera’s lab is not nearly as “active” as its predecessor, so contact with them is pretty much a work thing for Gera.

Schaffhausen + Rheinfall

Photos HERE
Video coming soon!


Last Saturday we took a day trip to the small town of Schaffhausen, in the north of Switzerland (on the border with Germany). It has a very nice old town and a big fortress called the Munot, but more on that later. The main reason for our visit was the Rheinfall, that are really close by. The Rheinfall is the largest waterfall in Europe. Its is not very tall, but more like wide and super powerful. There’s a rock in the middle that you can get to by boat, and get a great view and you also get a bit wet by the mist.
We arrived early, so it was still a bit cloudy and misty, but the day got better and by the time we went to the rock, we got a rainbow and lots of sun. It was beautiful and impressive. We thought about going to Konstanz, the neighboring city on the German side, but it would have been a rushed visit to both places, so we decided to go back later (since its only 45 mins and 17 francs away!). The town of Shaffhausen was similar to Bern, full of old buildings and shops (the old town at least). We took a break before going up to the Munot, an old fortress on the edge of old town. (man, you really have to train and get in shape before a vacation!) The munot is round and empty, but makes nice pictures and the terrace gives you a great view of the town. That day we bought prepackaged tuna sandwiches from Coop (like Marsh, Kroger, HEB…), and they were awful!!! (I should have known better) So we made up for the horrible lunch at dinner by eating at McDonalds! (yes, it hit the spot). I think we tend to eat fast food when we’re on tourist mode (like KFC and McDonalds in Prague, and BK in Bern…)
I hope you like the pictures, we had agreat time !

Not much else besides that… Starting to plan the Oktoberfest trip, although we will only be going for 1 night, so there will not be much else besides the drinking part. I added another recipe to the recipe blog: My General Tso’s Chicken (not quite authentic, but pretty tasty) We have our visa appointment in a couple of weeks, so we’ve been getting ready for that filling out forms and getting documents together. It is starting to get cold(ish), and the trees are already loosing their leaves. Can you say "Summer is over"?

I will soon post the “1 year recap”!!

here's the video of the waterfall (sorry for the quality, i had a better version but was taking forever to upload!)

VIVA MEXICO!

yesterday we celebrated sept. 16th, Mexico's Independence day, with what else but yummy food!
enjoy the pic, and imagine the crunchy taste, with gooey cheese, and soft potato, spicy salsa, fresh lettuce... mmmm. i am hungry again (needless to say, Gera was mega-happy!)

Next weekend we're planning a trip to Schaffhausen and its soroundings, i'll report on that later.
Ciao!

food & bürkliplatz

Last weekend we went for a walk around the Bürkliplatz market (a flea market on a plaza next to the lake).
I found some printing blocks of watches (how swiss!) and gera bought me one! maybe some day I will get to print it, and make some nice broadsides about our time in Switzerland.


I have been taking pictures of food, what I cook, eat, buy... I think the appropriate term is food porn, so beware, food porn coming up! (dont forget to checkout my recipe blog at jazibesrecipes.blogspot.com)




Find more pictuers of our day @ Buurkliplatz, and food HERE

ASCIIfy me!

cool!
I like this, i will be playing with it again.
at degraeve.com

Have you tried the rasterbator?

meme: 4 things

“In Blogspeak, a meme is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs.”

So I’ve decided that instead of not writing when “nothing new is going on here”, I will write a meme. And then you can post the meme on your blog, or email me the meme back (can you say that 3 times really fast?)

We’ll start with a easy one:

4 things:

4 jobs I’ve had
-telemarketer (I sold newspaper subscriptions over the phone!)
-crafty entrepreneur (sold jewelry, and candles at school fairs)
-graphic design Instructor (at IU)
-henna artist

4 movies I can watch over and over
-goonies
-back to the future (all 3)
-I will have to think about the other 2…
-any suggestions?

4 places I’ve lived
-Hermosillo, Sonora (MX)
-Acuña, Coahuila (MX)
-Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua (MX)
-Bloomington, Indiana (US)

4 tv shows I love
-how I met your mother
-survivor
-The amazing race
-gilmore girls

4 places I’ve vacationed
-Cabo San Lucas
-Venice
-Prague
-Las Vegas

4 favorite dishes
-Barbacoa
-Tamales
-butter chicken
-sushi

4 sites I visit daily
-hennapage.com
-notmartha.org
-hotmail.com
-youtube.com

our visit to Bern

photos of our Bern trip are HERE

Last Saturday we took a day trip to the city of Bern. Many people attribute this honor to Zurich, but Bern is actually the capital of Switzerland. It is more of a small town than a city, and its downtown area (Old Town) is pretty much all there is to see.
We took a train (that we barely missed) at 8:30 am, and it took us 1 hour to get there. We walked around Old Town and went (up a hill) to the Rosengarten. There’s also an astronomical clock very similar to the one in Prague. We visited the bears in the Bear Pit, and went to the Einstein Museum, located in the house where he lived when he published his revolutionary scientific articles. I wonder if maybe some of that “inspiration” might have rubbed off on Gera (I hope so!). There were a lot of things being repaired (like the parliament building and the Cathedral), and a lot of construction going on around town (maybe they’re just getting ready for the Eurocup 2008). The fruit, vegetable, flowers and crafts market was great! They had all kinds of cheeses and weird flowers. We got some great pictures there, and I bought a fig the size of an orange (almost!), it was delicious! We headed back around 5:30, after eating at Burguer King! (I hadn’t had BK since Bloomington!!). We will have to go back to Bern in a month, when we go to our visa appointment.

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.