Christmas Eve

We had our second annual Christmas Eve hike and fondue with our neighbors, the Ultes. Our friends, the Elkos, stayed in Switzerland for Christmas this year, so they also joined us. The walk to the farmhouse was beautiful with the trees covered in snow. Many a snowball was thrown by kids and adults alike as we made our way to and from the farmhouse. We enjoyed a 2 ½ hour lunch of some of the best tasting fondue I’ve ever had as well as some dried meats and wine. We squeezed in dessert, too, as they were homemade tarts and pies. It was a very memorable Christmas Eve.

Beer Run

We gave Barb and Terry a night to rest up and then we dove into the week’s itinerary. We headed out the first morning for Germany for two purposes: we needed to replenish our beer supply and we wanted to show Barb a Christmas market. After two hours of driving we reached the German border. Matt always likes crossing the border because it means driving on the Autobahn, where there’s no speed limit. I think Terry enjoyed the speed, too. We only stay on the Autobahn for about 5 minutes and then we exit for our little town, where the beer market is. I think it’s kind of silly for Matt to accelerate that much just to have to slow down a few kilometers later to exit, but he’s a guy and there’s no reasoning with him on this kind of thing.

We had a wonderful lunch at a cozy, little restaurant. It was a good, hearty German meal. Matt and Terry enjoyed the sauerkraut that came with their meal. Barb liked her goulash and spatzle. I ate my entire schnitzel, which was not easy as it was falling off the edges of the plate! The next stop was the Getrankmarkt to return our empty beer bottles and buy some more. Then we headed to Freiburg for the Christmas market and sight-seeing. The market was little disappointing as a lot of the crafts didn’t look handmade. I think I might be turning into a Christmas market snob! We all really enjoyed the cathedral. The Nativity scene was beautiful inside.

Holiday Visitors

We are so excited to have Matt’s family, Barb and Terry, here to share Christmas with us. They arrived on the 22nd, a little later than scheduled because of flight delays, but they made it. They will be staying with us until the 31st. This is Terry’s first trip to Europe, so it will be fun to see him experience it. Barb has been to Switzerland once before to visit, so we’re planning to travel to some other countries that she hasn’t seen. It’s so nice to have family with us to celebrate the holidays.

Weekend in Belgium

A few weeks ago Matt went to Belgium for work. He was there Monday through Thursday and then I flew in on Friday so that we could spend the weekend. I flew into Brussels early in the morning. Then I took the train to Antwerp to meet Matt. I realized that the Swiss have spoiled me with their trains. Rarely are trains late in Switzerland. This was not the case in Belgium. My first train was cancelled and then my connecting train was more than 45 minutes late. I was a little late arriving to Antwerp but it wasn’t a problem because Matt was having his own issues getting to the train station by bus. He had a bus or two pass him by because he didn’t know how to make them stop. I didn’t mind waiting for him as there was plenty to look at (the train station in Antwerp is beautiful) and plenty to do (eat waffles with sugar or waffles with chocolate or waffles with whipped cream).

Our hotel was a block away from the train station and just a few blocks from the city centre. We braved the rain and wind and put in a full day of sight-seeing in Antwerp. We window-shopped at the diamond stores. Matt told me that he bought his one and only diamond, so I was out of luck there, but I made up for it at the chocolate shops. I adored the chocolate in Belgium, especially at the Leonidas shops. I had so much fun picking out the different kinds to fill the little box I bought. Not only did they taste good, but they were all so pretty, too. Matt said that Belgian chocolates are only good for 10 days after you buy them. I’ll have to research a bit as to why that is, but it wasn’t a problem for me as I consumed all mine well within the 10 day period.

The rest of the day we spent walking around Antwerp with some stops along the way, including the Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp and a few pubs. Matt loved the selection of beers. I even found a few that I liked (a cherry-flavored one called Kriek). The highlight for us in Antwerp was the Mexican restaurant where we went for dinner. It didn’t look like much from the outside of the restaurant but after the first sip of our very strong, but very good margarita, we knew it was just what we were looking for. We devoured our food as we have not been able to find any decent Mexican food in Switzerland.

The next day we took the train to Bruges. It was about an hour ride by train. Same kind of weather as the day before: wet, cold and rainy. Bruges is described as a touristy city but I liked it, with its canals meandering through the city and beautiful architecture. It was a busy place, too, as the Christmas shoppers were in full force. Our first stop was a brewery tour at De Halve Maan Brewery. Matt and I agreed that we’ve been on better tours before; however, the beer at the end was worth it. Another stop we made was to the Church of Our Lady to see the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. This statue is said to be the only piece of his work to leave Italy in his lifetime. We also made a few stops that are not worth mentioning, you know the kind that are listed in the guidebook but if you haven’t read about them then you don’t know what you’re looking at. That happened to Matt a few times in Bruges as I had read the book and he hadn’t. We went to the Market Square and the Burg Square, where the Christmas markets were being held. We saw the Belfort bell tower, which dates back to 1300, but decided not to climb it. At this point Matt wasn’t feeling very well. I attributed it to him eating a brat for lunch in under two minutes. He said that wasn’t the reason. By the time we took the train back to Antwerp, he was running a fever. He was sick in bed the rest of the night with the flu. I made the most of our evening in. I got some Belgian French fries with mayo and had a little picnic in bed as I watched a movie and Matt shook with fever next to me. Not a great ending to the weekend but up until Matt got the flu, we had a good time.

O Christmas Tree

Here’s a picture of our tree. It looks a bit like a Charlie Brown tree as the branches are few and far between. All of the trees looked like this at Hornbach (like a Home Depot), so it must be a European thing. No fraser firs to be found in Switzerland. Our tree was really tall, too, so Matt had to buy a saw and take about 30 centimeters off the bottom. That didn’t end well as he cut his finger, deep enough that I wanted to take him to the hospital. He wasn’t having it so we bandaged him up as best we could. We also had a difficult time figuring out the lights for the tree. The lights I bought were connected on both ends to the plug, so it was one big circle of lights. How is that supposed to work?! And there’s no plug to connect the multiple strands together. After several attempts and a few choice words on Matt’s behalf (I think my favorite was ‘The f-ing Swiss. They can’t do anything the easy way.’), I took over the lights. Now I know why my mom always did our lights on the tree. Men don’t have the patience for it. Though our tree buying and decorating experience frazzled us a bit, I think our Charlie Brown tree is perfect.

The Efficient Swiss

I went shopping yesterday and discovered that all of the Christmas merchandise was on sale at several stores. Fifty percent off and it’s only December 15th! No wonder I didn’t find any good deals last year after Christmas. They get rid of all of their stock before the 25th. That’s a little too efficient for me. I feel like they’re rushing the holidays by doing this; however, I did find some good buys.

Our Little Conehead

It’s been a rough week for Millie. We noticed a large bump on her nose after we picked her up from the kennel this weekend. The kennel owner said that nothing unusual happened so we couldn’t figure out why she had such a big welt. On Monday morning it was all bloody as she must have scratched it in the night.

I took her into the vet later that day. The vet thinks that Millie has some kind of fungal infection. This next part is gross and I’ve made two people almost throw up when I’ve told them this, so you’ve been warned: the bump was caused by a huge amount of pus underneath the skin. He said it is often seen in dogs during the spring and summer months when they dig outside and get into rodents’ nests. Not only does she have two antibiotics to take, she also has to wear a cone around her head so she won’t scratch her nose. It must be difficult to adjust to your head in a cone as she’s been running into walls and furniture. The cone makes it hard to sniff the ground, too, which is her favorite activity on walks. Even Matt, who doesn’t like to admit how much he loves her, is giving her some special attention this week. He takes time each night to scratch her itches for her since she can’t reach them herself. Poor Millie!

The Hills Are Alive….

The girls and I took a train from Switzerland to Salzburg, Austria for a weekend trip. It was a long ride (8 ½ hours), but we had stunning views of the Alps and interesting people watching as the 10 guys next to us drank the entire way to Austria. Salzburg is a beautiful city. In addition to the history of the city (it dates back to A.D. 700), we also enjoyed the touristy stuff like the Sound of Music sites. The darn songs from that movie are still in my head from over a week and a half ago. I don’t know how the tour guides remain sane listening to it every day!

Here are a few of my favorite things about Salzburg:
• The Christmas Markets – We were just in time for the Christmas markets. We enjoyed wandering through these at night with all the pretty lights. We enjoyed gluwein and big pretzels as we made our way through the different stands.
• Augustiner Brewery – We took the scenic way – a hiking trail across Salzburg’s little mountain, Monchberg, to the brewery. The girls enjoyed rinsing out their own mugs and getting a beer straight from the barrel. The brewery was founded in 1621 by the Augustinian monks. I decided to eat, rather than drink, my way through the brewery. I was thrilled to find a kasekrainer there. I was on the prowl for this sausage, which literally translates to ‘pus sausage,’ since I had it in Vienna last year. It may sound disgusting but it’s really good with melted cheese in the middle.
• Sound of Music Tour – We enjoyed our ride through Salzburg and the nearby lake area on a minivan with Bob’s Special Tours. I was kind of hoping our tour guide would be dressed in one of the SOM curtain outfits (if you know the movie, you know what I’m talking about), but he wasn’t. We saw Mirabell Gardens which was featured in the SOM, when the kids are on the steps singing, ‘Doe, a deer.’ We also saw the backside of the vonTrapp house and the lake, where Maria and the kids fell out of the boat. Another highlight of the tour was the gazebo from ‘I Am 16 Going on 17’. Unfortunately, it was closed to the public because someone tried to do Liesl’s dance moves on the benches a few years ago and ended up getting hurt. We also stopped at the church where Maria and the captain were married. We were hoping that Cameron Diaz or Tom Cruise might also be taking Bob’s tour that day as they were in town filming a movie that weekend. No such luck.
• Mozart Balls – These little chocolate balls filled with marzipan were everywhere you looked in Salzburg. We tried them all – the ones wrapped in gold foil, the ones wrapped in silver foil, and on and on. Mozart was born in Salzburg, so a lot of things are named after him, including these interesting little chocolate balls.

Thanksgiving in Switzerland

We celebrated Thanksgiving with all of the traditional dishes with the exception of turkey. We had chicken instead. The can of French fried onions for the green bean casserole was a special treat that Darcy had packed in her suitcase. Shannon’s mashed potatoes turned out well despite the weird potatoes we have in Switzerland. My pumpkin pie tasted pretty good, too. We even had the Packer game. It felt just like home as we ate dinner at halftime. It was wonderful to have friends from home to celebrate the special day with us!