Sechselauten

Yesterday was a holiday in Zurich, called Sechselauten. It's a historical holiday, and I've been told that it's a celebration of the end of winter and start of summer. It's called "Sechselauten" which translates to "Six bells ringing" (roughly). It started as a celebration by farm owners and shop owners who could make their employees work until 6pm in the summer because it is still light out. Now, however, it's more of a way to honor all of the working "guilds" in Switzerland (bakers, farmers, woodworkers, etc.). People get the day off work (unless they are accountants with GM:( ) There's a big parade early in the afternoon, then at 6pm precisely (we are talking about the Swiss you know!), they light a big bonfire in the middle of the city that has a snowman on the top of it. The idea is to "melt" the snowman and welcome in the summer.

It's kind of like our Groundhog Day in the US. If the bonfire burns quickly and the snowman "melts" (which really means he burns up and his head explodes into fireworks), it will be a nice summer. If it takes a long time, then summer will be dreary. This year it took 12 minutes and 55 seconds, which apparently is just so-so. So we'll see how this summer turns out! No matter what we had a great time experiencing a Swiss tradition. Pics from the parade. All the participants wore traditional/historical costumes.

Here's the Boogg, prefire

Here's Aidan at the party we went to at our German school's office overlooking the crowds and bonfire.

Burn, Boogg, burn!

For more information, check this article from a Swiss online newspaper: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=76188663213&h=Han6u&u=N_YSz&ref=nf

It's in English, don't worry!

I Heart Zurich

Last night, Jason and I took advantage of the free baby-sitting services of my visiting mom and aunt and headed out into the city. We love going into the city, anytime, but during nice weather, Zurich is the best!

We met for dinner at a department store. Odd, you think? Nope, it's a great store that has an awesome Asian restaurant and sushi bar. We ate some yummo curry, pad thai, and sushi and drank some yummy wine. Then we just wandered. Here, there, everywhere!

The cool thing about Zurich is that you don't have to have a "plan". The city is small enough to go all over and check out many different things to do. Plus, there is always something going on in the city. We don't usually know about these things in advance since ads are written in German, but we do a good job of stumbling upon cool events!

Last night, we stumbled upon a really cool park area, called Lindenhof. This park was featured in the Travel Channel DVD we bought before moving here, but we hadn't found the park until last night. We found the park by following the noise of a carnival. There was an event there promoting tourism in a region of Switzerland called Schaffhausen. It was a ton of fun! There was a tent with local bands (commentary in German, all songs in English!), wine tasting (right up our alley!), casino games (all free, just for fun!), and a huge slide (for adults!) that sent you way down from the park to the riverside below. The view of the city from up high was amazing. The lights were twinkling on buildings, you could see buildings so far away and up on the mountain that you can't normally see from the main streets in Zurich. The view was just breathtaking. And of course, I had a small "party purse" that a camera wouldn't fit inside of. Ugh. Missed out on some prime photo ops. But, luckily, I live here so I can go back up to Lidenhof another night and take the pics! The events may change, but the scenery stays!Zurich is just the most beautiful city. After the park, we wandered more and found a piano bar and listed to more American music there. We wanted to take a boat ride on the river into the lake, but we missed the last one (they don't run very late until May).

There is just so much to do on an ordinary night or day in the city. I'm sure it's the same in Chicago or New York, on a bigger scale, but we've never had the chance to live near a good big city. I try to go into the city at least 2-3 times each week, just to shop or have dinner or whatever. Choosing our apartment here had everything to do with living close to the city. Everyday I'm glad that we sacrificed more space or a view of the lake for proximity to the city. If we weren't so close to a train line that takes only 10 minutes from our stop to the city, I doubt we'd get into the city much. I can have a bigger house anywhere, but I can't enjoy the city of Zurich anywhere but here.

Since many people think we live in Sweden...

When we first told people we were moving to Switzerland, many people kept thinking we were moving to Sweden. I had a few people ask if I've learned Swedish yet. Nope, but I'm working on German! So, that got me thinking about visiting Sweden while we are here. We have some Swedish neighbors and so I talked to them about Stockholm and got interested. Then, I found a good deal for airfare (I love the budget airlines in Europe!)...and so we decided to go! I planned the trip for when my mom and aunt would be here, but unfortunately Jason couldn't go because he had to work.

We went last week, during Aidan's Easter break. Stockholm is a beautiful city with colorful buildings that is actually about 14 islands connected by bridges. We didn't go at the most interesting time of the year (in December there is only 3 hours of daylight and in July there is only 3 hours of dark), but we still enjoyed it. What surprised me the most is that English is even more prevalent there than here in Zurich! Many of the signs and menus were first in English and secondly in Swedish. Language was not an issue at all. In fact, that part was a bit of a bummer. I like hearing different languages and trying to figure them out. But, on the other hand, it makes traveling a lot easier!

We hit all the tourist spots. Our favorite two were Junibacken and the Vasa Museet. Junibacken is a "museum" of sorts honoring Swedish childrens' authors. At school, Aidan had learned about Pippi Longstocking in his German class and went on a field trip to see a Pippi movie. Pippi was written by a Swedish author and a large part of Junibacken was devoted to her. Even Lainey knew about Pippi from Aidan, and because I bought a Pippi book to get them more excited about going there. They had an absolute blast at Junibacken! It was like one big play area-a museum filled with kid-sized houses, slides, and such. There was also a ride in it, similar to Peter Pan at Disney. The ride though was horribly scary for kids though! I'm not sure what book the story the ride is based on, but it was disturbing! No American PCness about what's appropriate for children. Other than the ride about 2 brothers jumping out of a burning building, dying, then meeting a fire breathing dragon, Junibacken was great fun!

The Vasa Museet (museum) was quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen. The Vasa was a Viking-type ship built in the early 1600's that sunk 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage. It sank in the Baltic Sea, completely in one piece. Over 300 years later, a Swedish diver discovered it still completely intact and somehow they were able to bring the entire ship up and turn it into a museum. It was amazing to see the huge ship, almost 400 years old, in person. The kids liked walking around in the recreated decks and seeing all the artifacts. Unfortunately, my pictures didn't turn out great because the lights were so low in the museum to protect the wood.

We also visited Skansen, which was a lot like a Swedish Greenfield Village, and the Royal Palace. We wandered around the Gamla Stan (old town) and took a short boat ride. My personal highlight was going to the Absolut Ice Bar! Entire bar, seats, tables, and glasses were made of ice! It was pretty cool (pun intended)!

I'd love to go back to Sweden in the summer. I didn't get to see the long, long days or go on a boat trip around the archepelago. Plus, the Swedish people are really nice. Hopefully, we'll be able to take Jason back one day. At the Vasa Museet

Lainey at Skansen, overlooking the city of Stockholm

Pony riding at Skansen

Outside Junibacken, with a few favorite Swedish characters

At the Absolut Ice Bar

Hoppy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter day! The weather was nearly 70 degrees and the kids were on a candy high starting at 7:30 am. Lainey got to wear a fancy dress and they both played outside all day with their friends-what more can you ask for! Here are a few pics from today:
The bunny came and hid eggs on the playground for the kids and their friends.

Lainey got a sparkly belt...and tons of candy!

On the hunt for eggs in our apartment.

Aidan got one of his favorite treats- Nutella! (it's like chocolate peanut butter)

The bunny brought LOTS of candy, shoes for each kid, a dress for Lainey, a t-shirt for Aidan and BED HEAD! Seriously, check out that hair!

Candy, candy, candy!

Delainey is a candy-a-holic. I don't know where she got such a sweet tooth, but hers is HUGE! Jason and I don't eat a lot of sweets or desserts, and Aidan is usually happy with fruit for a treat. Delainey, however, is not so easily swayed. She starts asking for "dessert" before breakfast. She doesn't understand why I won't let her have fruit chews or chocolate at 8am. She gets a glimmer in her eye and a smirky smile when she sees anything sweet and uses her (pardon the pun) sweetest voice to beg for whatever it is she sees. ("Please, Mommy? Just one little teeny-tiny chocolate bunny? They are just sooo cute! Just a bite, I'll be good, I promise!") Forget about distracting her...I may be able to take her mind of the sweet of the moment for a little while, but soon enough she'll remind me and say something like "Oh no, Mommy! We forgot fruit chews!"

She's like a character in Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. We argue about treats at least 3 times a day. She's only 3 and I guess I shouldn't expect her to understand what's healthy and what's not. I should just be happy that she eats lots of vegetables, fruits, and other stuff most toddlers won't touch. But with Easter being tomorrow, this has been a LONG week of candy begging. I'm not even sure how she learned to associate Easter with candy so much...but in her mind, Easter is all about the bunny bringing candy. She's been drooling over shop windows and talking about what the bunny might bring her. Forget about toys or sandals or anything...all she's hoping for is candy. When we put her to bed tonight, she told me she's going to dream about what kind of candy she'll find in her basket in the morning.

Lucky for her, I won't curb goody consumption too much tomorrow, but on Monday it's back to the battle. Compromising and bargaining over fruit chews and chocolate. Aidan is helping me teach her that "Mommy is the boss. Mommy always wins." Aidan tells her this when she starts begging and arguing and pleading for candy. At least I've got one child who knows what's up!

There's an excellent chance that some of the candy the bunny brings may get tossed or given away next week. Lainey can enjoy tomorrow, but on Monday, Mommy will win again.

Still Proud to be a Spartan

Jason and I set our alarm for 3am to get up and cheer on our Sparties who were playing for the National Championship at 9pm Eastern time. We had our MSU gear on and were drinking (water-not awake enough for beer!) from our MSU cups. We were underdogs, but we had a chance: Playing only 90 miles from home, being on a high from knocking off 2 other top seeds, 60,000 fans in green and white (vs. only 10,000 in baby blue), and our players all healthy (enough) and ready to make history! But, sadly, it wasn't enough.

It was a pretty rough game to watch. North Carolina came out on fire, and MSU just couldn't make baskets or defend NC. We were down by over 20 at half-time. Jason and I were wondering why we bothered to wake up! But, MSU is a second-half team. They did play better in the second-half, but NC was just up by too many for the boys in green to make a real come back. They all played really hard (poor Raymar Morgan who was playing with a broken nose, got an elbow to the nose and kept on playing-now that's HEART!) but NC was the bigger and stronger team. All the "breaks" went their way, too. I guess God didn't get our hint with the flag on the top of the mountain this weekend!

I'm still proud to be a Spartan! I love the excitement of being connected to a university and the comraderie of alumni. Throughout the game, we were getting phone calls, texts, and messages on Facebook. It was almost like watching the game with friends. Our friends and family are spread all over the world- we're in Switzerland, Erin in Chicago, Rick and Laura in Texas, Heather in Florida, Cooney in North Carolina, and my Gamma Phi sister all the way in Hong Kong-but thanks to technology we were all able to connect during the game.

So, thanks Izzo and the boys for giving us a reason to stay in touch with old friends. We'll all be rooting for you to come back strong next year. And, I can't wait to see Izzo's shaved head!

SPARTY ON!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Jungfraujoch-Interlaken, Switzerland "The Top of Europe"

(My own version of the Sound of Music classic...sing along!)

Snow covered mountains with State flag a-flying,

Pat-Tone back from London- kids are not crying,

Sun shining brightly,

Fondue the waiter brings,

These are a few of my favorite things!

Cheesy songs aside, we had a fabulous weekend at the Jungfraujoch near Interlaken, Switzerland. It really is an amazing and breathtaking sight. Aidan loved it because we took the train to Interlaken, then had to take 3 trains to get to the "Top of Europe". Jungfraujoch is the highest train station in all of Europe at over 11,000 feet! We were a little light-headed when we reached the top, the oxygen is a bit thin so far up. The view was absolutely worth it though. The first picture up top is the view of a glacier. It looks like snow is just rolling down-magnificent! The town of Interlaken is really fun, too. Jason and I rented a motor scooter and tooled around the town for a few hours on Saturday. The weather was amazing, in the 60's in town and not bad at all up on the mountain. We will definitely go back to Interlaken in the summer. I'd like to go paragliding there, they have many different activities to do all year round.

On a slightly connected note...GO GREEN! GO WHITE!!!!!!!

Jason and I didn't get to watch the Final Four game Saturday night because we were in Interlaken without internet reception, but we took our flag up to the top for a photo op! Now that we've watched the game and know that we're in it to win it tonight, maybe we were close enough to God for him to help our Spartans out! I'm sure no Tar Heel flag made it that high up! Tonight's game is a big rematch from earlier this season-that game was even played at Ford Field! Karma? It's our turn to win! I can't really believe that we aren't in Michigan right now for these games. We absolutely would've been at Ford Field. Jason even commented that no matter how expensive Switzerland is, we had a cheaper weekend in Interlaken than we would've had in Detroit this weekend! I have no clue how much tickets to the games are going for, but we would have paid it! We'll be waking up at 3am local time to watch the game tonight. Thank God for ESPN America-we get to watch the game LIVE on Swiss TV! Ahh...the little things that make life easier for expats!

I'm going to bed early and setting my alarm for 3am-feel free to call during the game! GO STATE GO! I've got my cowbell ready...I hope we don't wake the kids or the neighbors!