constance & Gera's Birthday

photos HERE

Last weekend was Gera's birthday, and to celebrate we went to the city of Konstanz in Germany (almost on the border with Switzerland). We have been wanting to go there for a while because we knew it would make a nice day trip, so this was the perfect occasion.

I must start by saying that this was probably the worst trip we've had in all our time of Europe sightseeing. It started badly and only went downhill from there. Dont get me wrong, Konstanz was a very nice place, and the Island of Mainau nearby was very pretty too, and we couldn't have asked for better weather... but... it was just a bad trip.

(9am) It all started when we arrived to the tram station only to see our tram leaving... ok. we'll just wait for the next one.
10 minutes later we're leaving on the "new" tram, when Gera asks "did you pack our passports?"..... "no".
We get off the tram at the next stop and WALK home to get the passports (and our stash of Euros, which we had also forgotten). By now we missed the direct train we wanted to catch, but we could make another one that left 30 minutes later but it was not direct. (9:37) Since we still had to buy the tickets, we BARELY made it to the train... (on hindsight it could have been worse).

We finally arrived to Konstanz (11am) and started walking. Kosntanz is the type of town where there isn't much else to do but walk, so we walked for a couple of hours, until we were tired and hungry. We stopped to eat at a restaurant we found on our way (which turned out to be very good, so there again, things could have been worse).

So with our bellies full and our bladders empty, we headed north towards the island of Mainau (a green paradise). According to the guide I had printed, you could walk there. so we walked and walked. And since we had crossed a bridge at one point, we thought we were ALREADY on the Island.... but something was off, and the map of the island did not make sense... weird. But we kept walking along the shore line and came across a couple of bathing areas. Nice. Kept walking. At one point we came to the conclusion we were NOT on Mainau yet, and somehow we were lost.

We walked some more trying to get to a bus station, or a ferry port. We eventually got to a ferry port, where they had a map and there we realized how much we'd walked and how more we still had to go. We boarded a ferry (after buying a one-way ticket) thinking it would take us to Mainau (or to Konstanz where we could catch a ferry to Mainau). We just wanted to stop walking... Turns out the ferry took us across the lake to another town... so we quickly got off the boat, bought another ticket and got back on. Then we ended up again in the same place. Then we took a bus and after changing buses once, we were finally in Mainau. (5pm) Only 3 hours after setting out on foot).

Mainau was a very nice place, but after going through so much just to get there, it was nothing more than a glorified city garden. We were charged 1/2 price for the entrance because it was so late (another good thing). Once there, the map we had made perfect sense! We saw some plants, tulips, fountains and butterflies. It was all very pretty but we were so very tired... and then we were looking for an ice cream place and found none... Another thing that happened here was that Gera lost his return train ticket (he had it in his pocket, and then he didnt). Finally we left Mainau and took a bus back to Konstanz's main station, but since we werent sure the bus went all the way to the city center, we got off at a point were we recognized the area and could walk. Then we saw the bus keep going in the same direction as us... oh well...

So we ended up doing some more walking, but that gave us a chance to find an ice cream place. (7:40pm) We got to the train station and after Gera bought another ticket we found out that the last direct train to Zurich had left like 45 minutes ago. There were no more trains to Zurich for the day (!!), only as far as Wintherthur (about 20+ minutes away). (8:00pm) Oh well... by now we just laughed at all the misfortunes... We arrived in Wintherthur and the direct train to Zurich was delayed!! OMG! will it not stop?! so we took a "regional" train that stops at every single town... so it took forever to get to zurich....
We arrived home at around 10pm. We were tired and hungry, but as I write this i i am grateful that we had good weather, good food and good sights, because things could have been a lot worse!


(the red line is what we walked, the green is the bus we took, the blue is the ferry)

On Gera's Birthday we just stayed home, resting and eating. I made him pancakes for breakfast, and a very yummy General Tso's chicken for dinner. And of course, the 3-milk cake he requested, that was the best!

no news...

more photos HERE
There hasn't been much going on around here. After the excitement of buying our tickets to go to the US, there's been a lull in activities... but here's what we've been up to:
Gera's IU advisor + wife (Gary + Susan) came to town and we got to hang out with them. We went to dinner to a very cool restaurant with an awesome view, and the next day I did some tourist-guide action with Susan. It was great to see them again (we hadn't seen them since Sicily last Febreuary), but it was a quick visit, and it was over before we could say Luxemburgerli (traditional merengue treats from Srpüngli, a local chocolate/pastry shop).
I've also been meeting with my friends and making new ones. I met Rocio a few weeks ago, and we quickly hit it off. She is also from Mexico, and also from the North (like me). We went to her house for birthday cake and had a great time.
The Spring festival known as Sechselauten was last weekend. I've written about it before (where they burn a paper snowman to predict the summer season). Unfortunately it was raining that day, so we skipped it and just watched it on TV. It took fo-re-ver for the snowman to explode... maybe because it was wet?
Gera's birthday is next sunday, so I will have lots of pictures to share with you then. I think he wants to go out for drinks saturday night, and just have cake and relax on sunday. Whatever we end up doing, I will document to share with you.

I am going to Minneapolis!!

(Holding a package abril sent me for my birthday. Thanks sis!)

It is set, I have plans, I have tickets! I am going to Minneapolis in May!
Abril lives there, so I will be spending lots of time with her, when she’s not at school, cooking away… but we’re starting to make plans of all the things we’ll do together, like the good ol’ Bloomington times! Gera has a conference in Denver, but after that, he’ll also fly to Minneapolis and we’ll all be there together. I cant wait. Even though my trip is only 6 weeks away I have not taken out the suitcase (like last time). I am waiting for the weather in Zurich to get better, so I can take all my summer clothes out too (right now its rainy and cold).
Gera’s birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I have been experimenting with a recipe for his birthday cake, he wants “tres leches”. This 3-milk cake is a regular white cake cooked with extra eggs to make it harder, and then soaked in a mixture of 3 milks: sweetened condensed, evaporated, and whipping cream, all topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries (or shredded chocolate). It is YUMMY!. The first try was quite good, but the cake part was a bit too hard, but I think the secret is on the milk mixture and as long as that is good it all tastes great!

happy birthday to me!

see more pics HERE

i just celebrated my birthday and it was great!
A friend of mine hosted a baby shower for a german friend of hers, and I helped a bit ('cause i love doing crafty party planning things!). Then we went out for drinks to a nice cozy bar in old-town zurich.
Thank you everybody for your birthday wishes. (and generous presents)

Abril made this video for me. Love you sis!