Swiss Alps Continued...

The Swiss Alps. Words cannot express how beautiful and majestic they are, so it's a good thing we took a lot of pictures! The weather was absolutely perfect. We prayed for clear weather and there was literally not a cloud in the sky, which we were very thankful for. We also had the warmest temperatures since moving to Switzerland. Who would have thought that it would be warmer in the mountains... so we were not complaining one bit.

Just got off the train in Lauterbrunnen Valley

Our hotel room was tiny... ... but the view was awesome!Jake led the way on our first hike... he loved to run ahead and then turn around to make sure we were still coming!That says "Villa Maria"... I didn't know I had a villa there!Jake was so happy to be off his leash and running free!
In case you don't see him, he is that tiny white spot on the left. He ran so far we didn't know if he'd come back!
Nate & Jake... so happy together :)
I think Nate was thinking he wanted to pitch a tent and just live here...At this point in the hike, we were so close to the snow-caps, I thought I could reach out and touch them!The next day we decided to do just that... go and touch the snow at the top. We seized the moment with the good weather and took the train ride up and INSIDE the mountain to get to Jungfrau's Top of Europe Notice in the picture how you walk on a platform that is a major drop off under your feet... scary!
This is the view. Absolutely breathtaking... both literally and figuratively!There's much to do once you're at the top and one of the things was the ice palace. We walked or, should I say, skated down the tunnels of ice. It's crazy to think that you are in a glacier! We walked along a trail and played in the snow. I wanted to make snow angels, but nate didn't think it was such a good idea to do in jeans... he was probably right.
Someone kindly offered to take our picture... finally, a picture of us altogether!

Basel in the N & O

Today, I was googling information on the fall fair in Basel and much to my surprise, I came across this recent article called "Fall in Basel" in the News & Observer. I couldn't believe it!

Click on the link to read the story: http://www.newsobserver.com/2181/story/1258762.html

Swiss Alps Pictures

The pictures of this trip were too amazing not to post now. You can click on the pictures to enlarge. Details soon to follow, so keep checking for updates!!!

Luzern

For our first fun trip together, we decided to visit Luzern. Luzern is about an hour train ride from Basel...or it should have been. As we learned the hard way, the Swiss transportation system is extremely punctual. We were walking to the tram station to catch a ride to the train station and, as we approached, we saw the tram pull away. We also learned, the hard way, that on Saturdays the tram only comes every 17 minutes. Why every 17 minutes? We're still not sure. Unfortunately, this caused us to miss the non-stop train to Luzern. Instead of the waiting for the next non-stop train, which was leaving an hour later, we decided to take the next train leaving Basel. This train required us to change trains in order to arrive in Luzern. Little did we know that changing trains would actually take longer than if we had just waited for the next non-stop train, but I guess you live and learn!

When we left Basel, the weather was warm and sunny, but when we arrived in Luzern (several hours later!) it was bitterly cold. We bundled up with all the clothes we had brought for the day and headed out to explore the city. The first site we came upon was the famous Chapel Bridge. This bridge has crossed the river passing through Luzern since the 14th century. It is decorated with original 17th century paintings and each of these paintings includes a skeleton to remind the townspeople that nobody can escape death. Kind of creepy, but I guess things were a little different back then.
We began to stroll through the old town and we came to to the Weinmarkt Square. On one of the walls of the buildings was written the phrase, "Amor medicabi lis nvillis herbis." I told Nate that this roughly translated to, "No medicine can cure a broken heart." After Nate picked up his jaw from the cobblestone street, I informed him that I had read this in the guide book the night before!
We then decided to walk to the old city walls that run along the ridge above the old town. Once we got there, we were able to climb the stairs and walk along the top of the wall. From the wall, we climbed even higher (And I mean really high!) up to the top of a turret. It was worth the climb, because we had a fantastic, 360 degree view of the city. It was absolutely beautiful.We climbed down the turret and headed towards the monument for which the city is known. Ironically, we didn't even realize that it existed prior to our arrival in Luzern. The monument consists of a gigantic lion carved into a cliff face. The lion's head rests on a shield with tears streaming down his face. In his side is the broken-off end of a spear which is slowly killing him. The lion represents the Swiss mercenaries who were killed defending the French king during the French Revolution. It was a moving monument, but unfortunately, they were giving the lion a "bath" on the day that we decided to visit.
For the last part of the day, we walked along the lake's waterfront promenade and watched people feed the swans and ducks. We then realized how hungry we were, so we ate a delicious dinner sitting outside on a bench looking out at the lake. By this time we were exhausted, so we decided to arrive at the train station plenty early, to catch the non-stop train to our home away from home.

Zurich

All new hires with PwC attended a new-hire orientation in the Zurich office, so Nate’s first day of work was actually in Zurich and not in Basel. Since Nate was headed to Zurich, I thought that this was a great excuse to go and explore the city. I had been to Zurich once or twice before with my family, however, it was typically only for an hour to see one of the famous churches and then we would head to the mountains, so it was nice to actually see the whole city this time.

So as Nate entered the PwC office, I left to explore the city. The first thing I noticed was that it was very cold, almost too unbearable to walk around, so Jake and I went to the one place that any American would head in a new city…Starbucks! We warmed up with a nice cup of hot coffee. Well, Jake didn’t have any coffee, but he did have some of my blueberry muffin! The Starbucks was huge… four stories and lots of comfy couches. Jake can vouch for the comfy couches, because he took a long nap while I read. It was a great place to get warm and gather myself, before I braved the big city of Zurich all by myself, because up until this point, Nate had been with me the entire time we had been in Europe.

After Starbucks, I decided to walk along the river and stop when I saw something interesting. It just so happened that the first interesting thing I saw was an H & M. I was a little nervous about taking Jake inside… but I saw other people take in their dogs, so I thought I’d give it a shot. It turns out that I had no reason to worry, because he behaved beautifully. He just watched the other people in the store, as I looked around at the clothes. In some ways, I think Jake may be a more enjoyable shopping companion than Nate, since Nate is not a big fan of shopping. After making my purchases (only a few very small items!), it was almost noon and I hadn’t even seen any of the historic parts of the city!

So Jake and I trekked on and found some amazing sites. My favorite place was a park located on a hill overlooking the river and the beautiful old buildings. Our tour book said that this spot used to be an important fort. A few centuries ago, the men of Zurich were out fighting a battle, when the not-so friendly Hapsburgs circled the city, ready to attack. The women put on armor and tricked the Hapsburgs into thinking that the city was prepared for the attack. Not up for a fight, the Hapsburgs left. In honor of this event, the citizens of Zurich created this park. The park was filled with trees covered in gorgeous yellow leaves. I decided to let Jake off his leash and he loved running around. Okay, actually he was scared to death of the other dogs, but he warmed up after awhile. There was one dog that looked like Jake’s younger brother! He was still a puppy and so friendly. His owner, a young Danish woman, spoke perfect English and we talked for awhile as the dogs played.

Jake didn’t want to leave the park and his new found friend, but I wanted to see some more sites. We headed back down to the river and towards the lake. The lake was absolutely beautiful! There were swans, sailboats, and mountains (NC sized mountains, not Alps sized). It was very picturesque. The day had also begun to warm up, so I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Well, maybe for Nate, but we were about to go pick him up from the office.

Our last stop was a famous church, the Grossmünster, where Ulrich Zwingli, one of Martin Luther’s contemporaries, played an important role in the Reformation. Church history really interests me, so it was exciting to see one of the places where the Protestant Church began.

In addition to this church, there were many other beautiful churches. One, St. Peter’s Church, has the largest clock face in all of Europe and was founded in the 7^th century. It is hard to believe that this Church was built a millennium before American even became a country!

I was having fun, but it was time to go meet Nate, so Jake and I hopped on a train. Jake practically pulled me the entire way because he was so excited to go see his daddy! Once our family was reunited, we decided to stay a little longer in Zurich to walk around the city together. I took Nate to all the highlights, but no H & M or Starbucks. We went to the park overlooking the river, through the old town, down to the lake, to the churches, and then to a little square for dinner. We ate a classic dinner of freshly baked bread, spicy mustard, and a sausage. It was yummy! After all the day’s walking, Jake and I were exhausted and Nate was too after his first day of work. We hopped on a train and headed back to our home away from home, Basel.

The City of Basel

Over the next couple of days, we explored the city, attempted to adjust to the time difference (we are 6 hours ahead of Raleigh time), and looked for apartments, or as they say in Europe... flats. Fortunately, we found a great flat on a beautiful street named Friedensgasse, which we have been told means "Peace Lane." It is in a great location in the city and is just a 5 minute walk from the heart of the old town, which is my favorite part, and is only 3 blocks from the Rhine river. Besides doing all the logistical things you have to do when you move to another country (I had no idea how much there was!), Nate and I had a lot of down time to read, relax, talk, walk, and travel (more to come about these travels in our next post). We also hiked to Germany one day and to France another. If you don't already know, Basel is right on the border of France and Germany, so we are not crazy hikers (even though Nate would like me to be)!

Some of our favorite things about Basel are the famous Rhine river, rolling hills, dozens of parks, the old town with buildings that have been here since the 12th century, cobble stone streets, and beautiful old churches. The size of Basel is perfect. Nate calls it a small, big city, which is a great way to describe it. Basel is much more urban than any city in NC and the city center has the hustle and bustle feel of New York City. At the same time, we have easily walked across the city in less than an afternoon. The only thing we don't like is how expensive everything is... McDonald's is one of the cheapest places to eat and it cost about $25 for us to eat lunch there! We are hoping to find some local not-so-expensive restaurants by the time people come visit, but I think for the meantime I will be doing a lot of cooking. Hopefully, practice will make somewhat perfect!

The Old Meets New

The Munster

Out for a Walk...Only a Few Minutes from Downtown

The River Rhine

Arrival in Basel, Switzerland

And our journey begins... well, actually it began 10 days ago...

Nate, Jake, and I landed in Zurich after a long flight. Fortunately, it was a relatively empty flight, so I was able to spread out over 3 seats. I only left 2 seats for Nate! Jake had to travel in the cargo hold, so his trip was much more stressful than ours. We rushed straight to the baggage claim area and there was Jake... sitting all alone in the middle of the floor. He was a little dazed, but definitely happy to see us! We zipped through customs without an issue and we were officially on Swiss soil! The smell of cheese and chocolate was in the air and the faint noise of a distant yodeller drifted down from the mountains. Okay, we are stretching the truth a bit there, but we were happy that the majority of our trip was over.

Next, we took a 1 hour train ride to our new home, the city of Basel. When we got off the train, the first thing we noticed was that it was really cold. We were dressed for a summer day, but it felt like a cold winter day in Raleigh. We awkwardly carried our 2 checked bags (The first weighed 50 lbs and the other 49 lbs. Just under the limit of 50 lbs per bag!), the dog kennel, our 2 carry-on bags, 2 pillows, and Jake to the taxi waiting area. I am not sure how we managed that, but we did. As we hailed a taxi, we were in for a surprise, our taxi driver spoke NO English! Not a single word. Talk about culture shock! So, Nate just pointed to the address of our temporary apartment and smiled. Fortunately, we arrived safe and sound and promptly took a long-needed nap.