Cruise on Zürichsee

Yesterday it wasn't raining for a little bit and I've always wanted to go on one of the lake boats that goes up the river under the low bridges. So we headed out.
Lots of sailboats were out. It was fun being at water level and seeing Zürich from a different perspective.

A moment of clarity

My friend called me the other evening and said look out your window, you can see the alps. We haven't been able to see the alps for a very long time...it has been rain/rain/snow/rain/rain/grey/gray/gray.

My first roast

I made my first roast. With tips from my mother and finding the right meat (thanks Tanya) and chopped up the vegetables and slapped it in the oven for severals hours. I'm reading this book right now which takes place in the 50's and I thought it would be funny to play 50's housewife and dress up for dinner!

(O.K. awkward photo because I don't have my nice tripod with me and a remote to focus. But you get the idea.)

Oh was it ever delicious!

All I was missing was either a Jello salad or yellow cake with chocolate frosting;)

Recipe:
brown beef chuck or brisket (seidfleisch if in Switzerland) with the onions in vegetable oil in a pan. Then transfer to casserole dish. (I didn't have one so used a high sided metal pan and covered tightly with foil, I left all of my kitchenware along with everything else in the states.)
Cut up carrots and garlic and throw in the dish. Throw in some water, a bit of tomato sauce and as much red wine as you want. Salt and pepper it. Cook at 250-300°F (140-150°C) for at least 3 hours.

Side note: If you have a smaller pan so the meat is submerged in the liquid I think that is better. Mine wasn't completely submerged. You can also add other vegetables like potatoes or winter squash could be good! Also, herbs would taste good. I was going to add oregano but forgot.

Stuttgart, Germany....again

Sunday evening Jared and I headed to Stuttgart, Germany...again...to get my visa this time. (I tired the previous Monday but the reliable Swiss trains were not so reliable.) It was freezing but we saw a little bit of sun. We don't ever want to go back there again. Hopefully I'll be legal before we head back to the states.

Storming the Castle

King of Swamp Castle: Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.

Our friend Fabian invited us to "storm the castle" with some other friends of ours. He found some castle ruins for us to explore. Of course most of us forgot flashlights. He also brought along a Brit who knew practically all of the Monty Python movies. Unfortunately I didn't bring my nice camera so that photos are a bit hard to make out.

Here is Meike illegally crossing the tracks...we all followed of course.

Jared climbing...what's new?

Jared and Fabian claiming the castle...with a Brit flag.

Fabian was a bit apprehensive about coming back down. It took a bit of coaxing. It was funny when Fabian thought the blood on his hand was oil because it looked black...he was shining a green light on it. It occurred to him that it was probably blood since it hurt.

The storm troopers...ok we'll think up a better name for the next one.

Being sneaky in the dark.

A Rant

I wanted to wait a few months to cool down before posting this, but I haven't cooled down. The day after we moved into our little utopia of a place, construction began. They dug up all four corners of the street about 4 times. They went around in a circle and dug up the ground, repaved and started over again. Then most of December was quiet. We thought we were clear. NO! We received noticed in the mail (which Jared translated via scanner and Google Translation) to find out that they were discontinuing our tram stop for A LONG TIME. Probably until August. Just before we go home. Luckily our bus still stops here for church. But, then the rains came, and of course it starts pouring just as I step out the door, and instead of just hopping on the tram across the street, I have to run all the way down the hill and get soaked. It gets worse. There are groceries I have to lug up the hill and then up 6 flights of stairs and my leg muscles are bulging (I bulk up easily.) That's not the end of it. First they would pave everything ever weekend and then jackhammer it up on Monday's, now it's jackhammer every morning....

.... at 6 A.M. Yup, only to take a 2 hour lunch break in the middle of the day. ARGH! They also sometimes do construction in the middle of the night. Yes we own ear plugs but that doesn't bring entire peace. Oh ya, they have now stuck a metal slab over a hole in the road (which used to be the sidewalk) and all night long we hear, KACHUNK every time a car goes over it. I came to the realization several years ago that when life gets perfect something comes along to screw it up, sometimes for months at a time.

Yes, we will be vacationing a lot this summer. If you want to come visit and sleep past 6 a.m., bring ear plugs.



This is what I wake up to every morning.

Disneyland Castle

On Saturday we rented a car and drove to Germany to the Neuschwanstein castle. It is the castle that the Disneyland castle is modeled after. It was a beautiful drive. I had so much fun driving again. I really miss it. We got a manual transmission because it was cheaper and great because that's what I prefer anyway.

TA-DA!

It was a beautiful day!

We later went out to this bridge but didn't stay long because there were obnoxious American teenagers who were poisoning the scenery and ambiance.

It was a fun day!

We took a few detours on the way home and got to see more beautiful areas of Germany and Austria!

Chillin' at Google

While the boys were visiting we wanted to show them where Jared worked. Well we spent most of the time in the "water room." A place to relax. Mike in the background got a great massage from the chair.

I chose to lay in the bathtub.

While playing fussball in the game room (I don't know when these people work) I noticed that the lights were giant up-side-down light bulbs.

Then we went to show them Sihl city down the street

They had these giant balls hanging from the ceiling that were Google's logo colors.

Here's all of us going down the slide.