Black Forest

December 31, 2006

We've had a full week. Michelle and Melody arrived on Christmas eve and it's great to have familiar faces around. We spent a lazy Christmas day watching White Christmas, eating and taking a walk. Thanks to everyone who sent presents along with Michelle, it was so special for us. The next 2 days were filled with sightseeing and it was good to show Milan to visitors. Being a tourist is so much different than living somewhere and we enjoyed pointing out all the good parts of the city. On Wednesday night we flew to Frankfurt on a very late flight and got in at the airport west of Frankfurt around 1:30am. After staying in an ugly but comfortable bed and breakfast, we drove to Frankfurt. It turned out to be more modern than I had thought, but I'm glad that we saw it. It was very cold and rainy there, but we enjoyed the cathedral and a nice lunch.

Then, we drove into the Black Forest to our next bed and breakfast in Haslach. It was a tiny little town with cobblestone streets and nice shops. We had a german dinner and played charades that night and got up early to continue our journey. Next stop: France. Since we were so close to the border, we decided to go to Strasbourg. I love this city. It is big enough to have real commerce, but has maintained it's old world charm. There's a river through the middle of the city like in Paris and it seems to have a good balance of history and innovation. The Christmas markets were still on and the city was bustling with people. It also felt nice to speak French again.

After that stop, we drove through some of the French countryside, which was very pretty and then back to the Black Forest. We made our way to Menzenschwand, a small village in the valley of some tall hills that were covered in dense pine trees. It was different than any of the other places and peaceful. We took a long walk and witnessed some kids practicing their ski jumps on a hill of artificial snow. There was no snow anywhere we went this week, although it was pretty cold. We dined on more german food, which is so many potatoes, big slabs of meat and big tall wheat beers. Our guest house there was run by a lovely English couple and they had a collection on english movies, so we watched one and played Uno. The next morning, Ben and I dropped Michelle and Melody off in Freiburg at the train station on their way to Salzburg. Ben and I wandered around Freiburg, which we loved. When we arrived, the sun was just rising and as we walked into town, we were joined by a dozen people all carrying big baskets. After a while we realized they were all heading to the outdoor market that surrounded the big church in the middle of town. It was a beautiful sight, this huge red church surrounded by carts of vegetables, spices, flowers, meats and cheeses. Germans seem so much more peaceful than Italians and we loved being around them.

Ben and I drove up through more of the Black Forest and saw cuckoo clock country, where there are tons of them. We stopped in a couple small towns, but none of them were as nice as the ones we had already been to. We flew back to Milan that night and now are back here. It was a great trip and we are awaiting to see how MIchelle and Melody fared on their own.

Buon Natale Tutti

December 23, 2006

As we approach Christmas, Ben and I wanted to say Merry Christmas to Everyone!
Our holiday season has been a busy one. Ben just finished his exams which were challenging, and I have finished my job at the English school. My boss and I agreed that me not knowing Italian was a bigger problem than she had thought it would be. And the classes were out of control, so I am glad to be done with that. I also just finished reading War and Peace, which was a great accomplishment for me.
I bought a christmas tree and decorated it, but I have been missing all our ornaments that we have packed in Memphis. As you can see above, i tried to make some ornaments out of some modeling clay that Cynthia and Heidi sent me. But you can see how that turned out.
Michelle, my sister and her friend Melody arrive tomorrow to spend the holidays with us and we are planning to drive around Southwestern Germany for a couple days while they are here.
We miss everybody a lot and hope that you are having a great holiday season and getting to be with the ones you love.
Merry Christmas!

Fun and the Winter Wonderland

December 10, 2006

Ben and I just returned from an amazing trip to Switzerland. We had so many unbelievable experiences. It started on Thursday (Thursday and Friday were city and national holidays in Milan). We rented a car and drove with Catherine and Bryan north. The day was dreary and raining. Milan has been that way for a while now and it does get depressing. On our way, we kept going through mountain tunnels. Ben kept saying each time, that when we got out of the tunnel, it would be sunny with blue skies. But that didn't work, until we went through a 17-km tunnel and when we finally emerged, we were greeted with blue skies, sunshine and the snow capped mountains of the Alps. We couldn't believe it and were all yelling. We got out of the car and took pictures. It was an incredible moment.

We arrived in Bern (the capitol) at dusk and were amazed at the beautiful city. It was like no other place I've ever been. Very medieval and rustic. From our hotel rooms, the roof tops looked like something Peter Pan and Wendy might have flown over. I was especially happy because right away I found some Ben and Jerry's and Starbucks. We went to the Christmas market and looked around. The four of us had some "gluwien" , which is like spiced wine. Everyone stands around drinking it from these green mugs in the market and it was very festive. For dinner we wanted some traditional Swiss food, so I had fondue and the others had sausages, chicken or eggs with potato's that looked like hash browns. It was all very artery clogging, but good. The next day we visited the Munster, which is the big church, and we went to another Christmas market. After shopping for awhile (and finding a wonderful chocolate shop), we got back in the car and headed for Grindelwald, a mountain town near Interlaken.

The drive there was beautiful, but there was no snow on the ground. Our hostel was nestled in between the mountain peaks and our views were of green hills dotted with the swiss A frame chalets. While we hung out and played cards, it started to snow. By the time we went out, it had snowed 6 inches. We went to a nice bar where this british band was playing and it was a lot of fun.

The next morning, it had not stopped snowing, so we had a great breakfast of local cheese and yogurt and bread and then headed up to the town. The walk up the hill was beautiful and fun with about a foot of snow. Every house was so ornate and lovely to see in the snow. We ended up at the sports centre (free passes came with our hostel room). There, we all put on skates and Bryan taught us how to play hockey (he used to play pro hockey). We were the only ones on the ice and had a great time. After that we went to the indoor pool where they had this huge tunnel slide that went outside and shot you back into the pool. Very fun.

That evening, our hostel was hosting an "Opening of Winter party" But since there hadn't been any snow til then, no one was around in the town. For the party, they had a band come to play. We thought it would be like a rock band or something, but no. It was a huge orchestra, like a marching band. They all arrived in santa hats and played strange songs, like by Green Day. We watched them practice outside our window in the snow, and it was very odd. The "drum major" was this girl who didn't conduct at all, just jumped around playing air guitar and then kneeling on the ground and posing with a menacing look on her face. It was so weird.
We ended up staying for the party, which was so fun. Not only was it in the snow (still coming down), but they had made bars and tables out of the snow and had lanterns all around. And the food was served from a huge black cauldron over a fire. So we stood around the fire and met a lot of the band, who were hilarious. We met a guy who actually made cheese and one who made robots. Apparently, most young people who live in a small town in Switzerland are in one of these bands and they travel around some weekends and basically just party and have fun. I never though band dorks could be so cool. You'll see from one of the pictures that I got to learn how to play the trombone. By the end, the band was performing for the four of us and the owners of the hostel who were really nice. Afterwards, we went out to this crazy bar with them all.

What a fun experience and Grindelwald is really a great place. Incredibly beautiful and fun.