Venice Part II (Playing catch up!)

**Note: this was written last week on the way to Vienna. I'll catch up soon!

Monday was our first full day in Venice and we intended to make the most out of it. We got up at a decent time and headed to the island of Murano. We decided to take the Hilton's complimentary tour, which was essentially them contracting with a private water taxi and working with a specific glassmaker on the island.

Venice has a couple of islands that are close and known for specific things. Murano is the home of glassmaking. You may have heard of Murano glass- this is where it comes from. Burano is famous for lacemaking and Torcello is an "island full of legends and mysteries." We only hit Murano.

Ultimately I'm glad we went, but I wish the experience would have been better. Like I mentioned, we took the Hilton tour, and they work with a specific glassmaking factory. The shuttle dropped us off at the factory, we saw a 10 minute demonstration (along with other tours), then were guided around their massive showroom. They definitely have their sales pitch down.

The specific glassmaker's prices we went to were astronomical! Having already explored in Venice, we had run across some small shops that also had Murano glass for much cheaper. I realize we didn't buy it ON the island, but the things we got were still very pretty and high quality. Not to mention that the shop owners were much nicer and more appreciative to have us in their stores. Despite not having the best experience, I think this is something you have to do. It's interesting to see this craftsmanship and to experience the smaller islands.

The rest of our day was again spent exploring Venice. We walked around Old Town, which is a little removed from the touristy areas, then took a gondola ride around the canals. I think we must have picked the oldest gondolier and gondola in the city, but it was still a fun experience.

Lastly, we ate at a great restaurant on Monday night called Fiaschetteria Toscana. This restaurant is part of a group of restaurants that have tried to return to traditional Venetian cuisine. The meal and service were excellent, and I would highly recommend if you visit Venice.

Tuesday was a sleep late day and then our journey to Vienna, which sort of brings me to now. I'll update on Vienna and post some pics as soon as possible. It's been a great trip so far, and we still have quite a bit to go!

Venice: Part I

I'm still working on reading The Happiness Project, and in an effort to reflect some of her positive thinking, I won't go on about reasons (excuses) for not blogging, but instead will say that we've had a great couple of days in Venice exploring and spending time together. Right now we're sitting on the airplane waiting for a storm to pass through Germany so we can start our journey to Vienna. It's not an ideal situation, but at least I have a little time to catch up on Venice.

We headed to Venice on Sunday afternoon. It's only about an hour flight from Basel, and we arrived around 1pm. We took a speedboat (also known as a private water taxi) from the airport, which was really fun. I've never taken transportation like this from the airport, so it was something new and exciting.

I'm actually convinced this should be my father-in-law's next career, as this type of boat driving is totally up his alley. The taxis don't stop or slow down for other boats, waves, curves- pretty much nothing slows them down- just like RK likes to drive. He likes to think of this as a "relaxing" boat ride. The taxi drivers also love to slam it in and out of gear, and ram it into any parking spot regardless of buoys, walls, poles or anything else they may hit on the way in.

On that note, your other option for transportation from the airport is the public water taxi. And although cheaper than a private water taxi (we paid 120 Euros), every time you see one floating down the main canals, it is absolutely packed with people. I don't just mean a little crowded; it looks like people are on top of each other- not a very pleasant experience and still costs 60 Euro.

KM and I chose the Hilton Milano Stucky to stay at in Venice. It is a really cool hotel in a repurposed building across the channel from the main island. They have a free shuttle to a couple of places on Venice, which makes getting around more convenient. We ate lunch at a great restaurant near the hotel called Trattoria Ai Cacciatori and were able to enjoy the sights of the channel, a refreshing bottle of white wine and make our game plan.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the city exploring. It's really fun to wander and just kind of let yourself get lost in the narrow alleyways of the city. You find all kinds of really unique buildings, quaint shops and beautiful churches as you make your way around. We eventually made our way to St. Mark's Square then headed back to the hotel.

The Hilton has a great rooftop bar and pool, so to cool down we headed up there in the evening. After cooling off and enjoying a cocktail overlooking the city we got cleaned up and headed to dinner. We ate at Antica Besseta, a great Venetian restaurant recommended by one of KM's colleagues.

Our evening ended with BK and BM letting KM and I try to lead the way back to the hotel shuttle. We got a little off track and took the long way, but eventually (with a little help from BK) we made it back and caught one of the last boats back. More new experiences awaited us the next day.

Great day in Lucerne!

Today we had a great day in Lucerne. We were up and out fairly early this morning and caught the 9:00 train. It's only about an hour ride from Basel, so it was an easy way to start the day. When we arrived in Lucerne, we inquired at the tourist office about what we should do and learned more about the two mountains there: Rigi and Pilatus. In general, I think you hear more about Rigi, but we opted to go to Pilatus, and it was well worth it!

We started with a lake cruise around Lake Lucerne and another lake that is connected to that. The journey takes anywhere from 50 to 90 minutes, so you have quite a lot of time to look around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The boat is two stories and I think it's absolutely worth it to pay a few more dollars for first class, where you get to sit up top.

On the way to Pilatus

After you get off the boat you then take the world's steepest cog train up to the top of the mountain. The cog train is a remarkable piece of work and is very comfortable for the journey up. The cars are built to handle the ascent and decent and look as if they would not be able to sit flat on a track if needed. The train ride up took about 40ish minutes.

The clouds started rolling in as we got to the top, but luckily we did have the chance to snap some pictures of the view, including all the way down to the lake. Before we did any hiking, we stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants at the top, then headed to the highest point on the mountain at 7,000 feet. The top of the mountain offers five additional points to hike/walk to while you're up there. We chose to do the hardest one, so we only had time to do that specific trail.

View from the top

The Lake is way down below

After we did our hiking at the top of the mountain, we took a cable car down the other side of the mountain. The line is daunting when you first get in it, but it goes pretty quickly, with cable cars coming up every five minutes or so. The ride down can be a bit scary at times, but only because you hanging so far up in the air and some of the descents are a little bit steeper than expected. It was a nice change of pace and something new and different to try.

View of cable car from half way down the mountain

About half-way down the mountain you have to stop and switch the type of cable car you're in. At the top the cars are quite big and hold a lot of people. At the half way point they switch to small cars that hold four people. When we hit this point, BK and BM noticed there was a toboggan track at this stop. We stopped there and they enjoyed flying down the track, although they both admitted to crashing at some point on the course. Luckily, no serious harm done.

View of toboggan run from cable car

After they finished their fun here we loaded into our smaller cable car and finished our descent. When you get down off the mountain you're not quite in Lucerne, so you take Bus 1 to the city center. It's about a 15 minute ride.

We had the evening in Lucerne and decided to go see the Lion Monument, walk around old town and see the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower. The Lion Monument is worth a visit and is different from what I was expecting. It's not your typical sculpture, but instead is carved into the side of the mountain. It's a memorial to fallen Swiss soldiers from the 1700s. The Lion Monument is also quite striking because it's of a lion who has been defeated, which is not usually how this strong animal is portrayed.

After this we walked around and visited a cathedral and the Chapel Bridge- both of which are interesting. The bridge is the oldest in Switzerland and has been beautifully maintained. The cathedral was kind of something we just stumbled upon after seeing the Lion Monument, but was worth the stop to explore both the grounds, as well as inside of the church.

We ended our day on a very non-Swiss note and had Mexican food at a local restaurant. The food was good, but I don't think I'm used to eating it any more. After dinner we headed back to Basel on the train, enjoying lots of laughs along the way. Tomorrow we head to Venice, which is then followed by Vienna and Salzburg. Our fun is just getting started!

Unexpected regular days

For some reason I have no clue what to blog about today, but I feel the need to blog since I skipped yesterday. You would think that I would have tons to talk about with the M's being here, but honestly, BK and I have had to kind of go about our regular life since they got here. We'll be gone all week next week, meaning that BK needs to work and I need to continue in language school.

I consider this to be the relaxing part of K&B's vacation, as they have time to start the day when they want, pick and choose what they would like to do and take their time at things. Maybe, in theory, this is how the rest of the vacation should be, but I'm not sure it will. Tomorrow we catch a 9:00 train to head to Luzern for the day, then are headed out to Venice, Vienna and Salzburg for the rest of the week.

Today K&B went to Zurich for the day and really seemed to enjoy themselves. We had a great dinner at Acqua and then visited Bar Rouge briefly. Bar Rouge is the highest spot in Basel, and was the highest in Switzerland until recently when someone in Zurich built a building just a couple of floors higher. It's quite clubby, but worth going for the view of the city. Here are a couple of pics from dinner.

I want to give some random tidbits of stuff that has happened over the past few days, but I'm really tired right now, so I'll have to save it for another day. We've been staying up late to visit together, then I've still been getting up at 6am to walk the pups. I'm pumped that I get to sleep in until 7:30 tomorrow since the boys are already at their holiday home. I'll make sure to report in on what kind of trouble we get into in Luzern tomorrow, then throughout the week in Venice, Vienna and Salzburg. Happy weekend to everyone!

Rhein Schwimmen

Most importantly today, the M's arrived! BK's sister and brother-in-law arrived in Frankfurt yesterday morning, went to St. Goar, then came by train to Basel this afternoon. Of course, we were extremely excited to see them and have been working on showing them around Basel.

One adventure we did embark on together that BK and I have not done yet is swimming in the Rhine. Our apartment is on the Rhine and tons of people go swimming during the summer. The river runs quite fast so you just have to tread water while you're in it and it will move you, but it is a bit of a workout.

The four of us took our fish bags and went swimming this evening. The water is pretty chilly- around 22 degree Celsius or around 71 degrees Fahrenheit. You get used to it after a while, but it is a bit of a shock when you first jump in. Hopefully K&B enjoyed seeing some of Basel's sites from the river this evening.

The "fish bags" you put stuff in to float the river

After we floated K and I walked the pups, then we went to dinner in Basel. Tomorrow and Friday we'll continue exploring around here, then take a day trip to the Alps on Saturday and head out for big travels on Sunday!  Woohoo! So happy to have them here :)

How many steps count when you have four legs?

As you may have read a few days ago, I ordered a FitBug pedometer and had it shipped to my parents house for BK to bring back to me when he returned from the US. It seems that lots of people have them over here, and I can see why. You walk your behind off. Even if I don't walk to the grocery store itself, I at least have to walk to the bus or tram stop that gets me closer, then probably walk from there.

Since I've been tracking I've walked:

• Saturday: 26,500
• Sunday: 17,000
• Monday: 24,500
• Today: 30,000+

Of course, my walking includes three walks per day with the boys (I was one light on Sunday due to sleeping late). I have no clue how many steps the boys walk with their four legs, but they are pooped by the end of the day. That's the goal though, to tire them out so that BK and I can have a night out or whatever we want. 

Usually our evening walk ends by picking BK up from work. BK walks to work from our apartment every day, so we just make sure we pick a route that incorporates that in. Here are the boys waiting for BK to finish work yesterday. They've actually gotten pretty good at just hanging out when we need to make a stop.

I'll keep the blog updated with the step status. One of my friends, AH, just reach her one-millionth step since she got to Basel at the end of May. Mine will be coming soon!

On another, completely unrelated note, the Marcotts have arrived in Europe! I'm excited to go meet them at the train station tomorrow when they arrive from Frankfurt!!

BK drives like the Swiss do

I apparently decided to take the weekend off from posting. We had a fairly uneventful weekend that included BK returning from the US, eating at home both nights (a huge accomplishment for us), running errands on Saturday and BK driving for the first time in Switzerland. I also started tracking my steps, but more on that later.

We don't own a car here, but are part of the Mobility program- a car-sharing service run by the Swiss transportation company (same people who do the trains). I believe Mobility is throughout Switzerland and has places to pick up shared cars all over the cities. Basel has numerous places you can pick up, including random parking spots that are about a block over from our apartment.

I reserved a "combi" car for us (i.e. wagon) so that we could go purchase some rugs from Ikea and have room to put them in the back of the car. I didn't reserve early enough for us to have an automatic, so BK was the only one driving that day. Not that I have any desire to drive in Switzerland, but Saturday it wasn't even an option, as I can't drive a standard.

BK's first driving experience started off really well. He downloaded a navigation app before leaving the apartment, although he didn't download Germany for some reason. Not sure why, as the border is less than five minutes from our house. Oh well, we managed to find our way around.We found our car and were able to unlock it with the Mobility card, and were on our way.

Of course I'm usually petrified to have to be the navigator, as it never goes exactly how it's supposed to. We got to Ikea just fine, purchased two rugs and were on the road again. As we had finished much quicker than expected, BK decided that we should do something else productive while we had the car, so we headed into Germany to do some grocery shopping.

To make a long story short, groceries and lunch took a little longer than expected, we got caught in a mini traffic jam, and my iPhone pretty much went dead. We barely made it back to Basel before we had to turn our car back in. And we missed a step in there too...oh yeah, all the stuff that was in the car hadn't even been dropped off at our apartment yet.

This is when things started to unravel just a bit. We took the Mobility car back to the parking lot, unloaded all of the stuff, then I sat with everything (in the parking lot) until BK could go get another combi car from a different location. He took my phone so he could find his way back to where I was, but not before he couldn't figure out how to get out of the parking garage at the other location. My understanding is that he had to back down the parking garage ramp and get out and walk back to surface level so he could call Mobility and figure out how to get the car out of there. I'm just glad I wasn't there for that part.

He did find his way back, we loaded everything back in the car and made our way to the apartment. Thankfully, we had already done this journey once that day so we didn't need the navigation. BK was such a good sport on Saturday. After he returned our second Mobility car he helped me install the new rugs, measuring down to the centimeter how much of the rug should be on each side of the table/bed/etc.

We're always up for an adventure, and this one did not disappoint. Also, for those of you who plan to come visit, we will not be driving with you. We will be taking the bus, tram or train. As far as I'm concerned, driving is only for purchasing things you can't haul onto the bus, tram or train, and I plan to keep it that way.

Who's excited about a pedometer?!?

I am for one! BK returned home from the US today which means deliveries! I have gotten into the habit of buying things online and shipping them to my parents' house for BK to pick up when he's in the US. And when I say "habit," it's not a bad thing. This trip I ordered three things: a raincoat (good for summer), a digital watch and a new pedometer.

The pedometer is probably thing I'm most excited about. I probably walk around four hours per day. I walk with the dogs for a minimum of three hours per day, then add on walking to the grocery store and various other errands, and I'm sure I'm up to around four hours per day. It's like my part-time job...literally.

Since about 8pm tonight I have walked around 1200 steps just in the apartment. I did take the dogs out once, but there was no actual walk involved. I'm excited to see just how many steps I walk in any given day. I'll let you know what the verdict is. My over/under is 20,000 if I have any takers.

A quick trip to Geneva

Today has been a really great day. It started off differently, with me taking the boys to the kennel this morning for an overnight stay. I went to German class as usual, then headed south to Geneva for the afternoon and evening.

DJ and two other colleagues from TCU have been visiting Geneva this week working on plans for a TCU study abroad program here. Really exciting! They visited the World Health Organization, toured the UN, toured the Red Cross Museum, met with an international nursing association, toured old town and generally tried to get a feel for Geneva and Switzerland overall.

I think this will be an amazing opportunity for both Social Work and Nursing students. I am interested in looking for other opportunities specifically for social work students while BK and I are over here. As I am able to delve deeper into the culture by living here, I hope to find out more about the Swiss social system and how they address social problems. I also think it would be amazing for Social Work students to work with our international organization, the International Federation of Social Workers. The possibilities are endless.

While I waited for the group to get back from their scheduled activities for the day, I made a quick trip to the ICRC (Red Cross) Museum. I found it to be very interesting, interactive and worth the time. The displays are very interactive and explore the three main areas ICRC addresses throughout the world.

Two displays were especially powerful to me. There is a room that displays 30-40 items that have been given to ICRC staff throughout it's history. The items all came from people who were helped or visited by ICRC and reflect the persons culture or specific situation they were in at the time. Many of the items were made while people were in refugee camps or being held as political prisoners. Very interesting, and reminded me a lot of the tokens homeless clients often give social workers in the US.

The other piece that I thought was especially moving was a full wall of pictures of children who whose pictures were snapped during and after the genocide in Rwanda. The children were extremely traumatized by the things they had experienced at such a young age and often could not speak to give ICRC personnel information about themselves. A picture database was started to keep track of the children and was also available to be shown to parents or other relatives with the hope that the children could one day be reunited with some part of their family. I'm not sure how many pictures the wall has on it, but they are just a tiny representation of the millions of children this happens to throughout the world on a daily basis. Even if it doesn't make headlines in our western news, atrocities like this one still go on every day around the world.

I left feeling more in touch with my social-worker-self and wanting to do more for people all over the world who experience poverty, oppression and violence, just to name a few.

After the museum I headed over to meet the group. We went to dinner at a great restaurant on Lake Geneva. I enjoyed getting to hear about their week and their take on how things were in Switzerland. DJ has also taken to trying to speak French as much as possible, even if he just throws a word out there. He seems to like the words pardon (with a French accent, not Texan) and bonjour. It's pretty amusing, but I do appreciate that he's really trying to get into the culture. And yes, they speak French in this part of the country, so all those hours of German do me no good here.

We then explored Geneva a little bit more and did some walking around the lake. Geneva really seems to be a great city. BK and I need to work our way down here at some point to spend more time in this region.

All that said, now I'm on the train headed back home to Basel. It was a quick trip, but so worth it. Thanks to DJ and the others for letting me tag along. I had a great time!

Time to tidy up

It didn't take long, but tonight was the night I tidied up around the apartment before BK comes back home. It's never too bad. Like I've mentioned before, for me, chaotic house = chaotic life. I just tend to not clean the kitchen up immediately after every meal, not do laundry as often, let items that I buy sit unopened for a couple of days, and random things like that.

No big deal, but typically the night before he gets back I go about putting things back in order. Maybe it's also because with two of us in the apartment things get a little messier quicker. So if there's a mess when he comes back home, it will just be compounded by all the dirty clothes and random stuff he is bringing back from the US.

BK doesn't get back until Friday, but tomorrow after German class I'm headed to Geneva to meet up with some TCU folks from the Department of Social Work and Harris College, so I won't have time to do anything by the time I get back late tomorrow night. Friday morning I go to pick the boys up from the kennel right after German class as well, so that time is out as well. I like to come home to a clean house too, so it's not just about BK.

That's about it for today- nothing too exciting. The dogs and I did go on a 2.5 hour walk this afternoon that included swimming, chasing a squeaky ball, sniffing lots of other dogs and riding the tram part of the way home. If Toby was a human he would probably say it was one of his better days. Tanner just comes along where ever he's forced to go, although he seemed to enjoy the squeaky ball as well. He acts grumpy but I'm pretty sure it's for show most of the time.

Riding home- we were a long way away

Do I fit in here?

Some days in Basel I seriously think I must look like an alien or something. Today is one of those days. I seem to be wearing far too much color for the locals' comfort. I mean, I have never been looked up and down in a disapproving way so many times. It's just strange.

My thing is, I don't even think I am all that colorful today. I have on navy shorts and floral shirt that has pinks, purples, blues and greens in it. I do have on a green belt, which may be what's throwing them for a loop? One lady looked at me so long this morning while waiting for the tram that I wondered if my zipper was down, a button was undone or a bird had pooped on me or something.

I probably also push the boundaries a bit with the backpack that I carry. It is khaki canvas with bright yellow accents. One of BK's coworkers even asked if we got it in Switzerland. No, BK brought it back from the states for me. He said he could tell. Not sure if that's a compliment or what. It didn't sound negative when he said it...

I've also been told I look very summery today. Well, it is July. I'm not sure what I'm "supposed" to look like, but I personally am fine with summery. There have definitely been worse things.

You can be sure of one thing: I will not be transitioning to a wardrobe full of blacks, grays, khakis and whites. Boring, and so not for me. People can stare all they want, but color brightens my day, and it's here to stay. Summer, fall, spring or winter, look for the bright little person walking down the street and you'll be able to spot me in Basel.

An early bedtime

For some reason I cannot seem to get myself in bed before 11 or 11:30. So here it is, now 10:30 (after taking the dogs out and finishing this post after 11) and I'm waiting for my last batch of cookies to come out of the oven. It won't be long, but I cannot figure out how I get to this point every night. BK and I are constantly saying that we're going to go bed earlier. Then every night it ends up around the same time. It gets dark here around 10:00, and when it's still light outside the time doesn't even cross my mind.

On a different note, I seem to be making up for the couple of months that I was not able to bake. I think I got a little scared after having a baking fail the first time I tried it in Basel, but now I am back on track and trying all kinds of Pintrest recipes. Tonight it was Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies. I thought it would be a good way to celebrate the completion of the first part of German class.

Since I need to make this quick, here are a couple of random tidbits from my life:

• I am totally jealous of BK being in US right now, but only because he had dinner with my family last night and is having dinner with his family tonight. At least I got to FaceTime with Abbs.
• It irritates me that I cannot get my oven to cook evenly. The cookies at the back of the oven cook more than the ones at the front. Maybe I need to lower the temperature? I have the setting selected that rotates the air all around, which I thought meant more even cooking.
• I'm walking the dogs with my friend AH tomorrow morning. We're multitasking during the walk- I'm bringing my German flashcards and she's quizzing me (she says it will help her learn too).
• I have taken to dipping Tanner in fountains around the city when we're on our afternoon and evening walks. Sometimes he seems really hot (tongue hanging out, walking very slow), so I thought this was a good solution. Tonight I saw people swimming in one of the fountains, so I figure a little brown dog can't do much harm. I have also been letting Toby swim in the ones that are close to the ground. He jumps right in, paddles around, then we continue on our walk.
• I seem to spill something at least once a day. Today it was the tea that I had just made. I think it's because before departing for the grocery store today I thought to myself. "I have a whole roll of paper towels, there's no way I'll use all of those before tomorrow." I haven't used them all, but I can typically figure out a way to use quite a few of them. 
• I also mention the paper towels above because it's not cheap to fill up your trash bags. I bought another roll of 20 bags today for a mere 35 CHF. Yes, it's expensive. I've never maximized space in a garbage bag the way I do here.
• Only one more week until K&B arrive in Basel!

I feel like I end every post like this, but I'm off to bed now. Hopefully at some I'll start blogging earlier in the day :)

German class, you sure are a lot of work

Today was a somewhat lazy Sunday, with the exception of the fact that BK and I got up around 5am so that he could make a 7am flight to London, then back to the US. We left the house around 5:15, with dogs in tow of course, and walked to the bus stop to go to the airport. The boys and I then walked more in Basel to get our hour walk in for the morning. We returned home, I fed them, then we all went back to bed for a while. I also FaceTimed with TR before going to bed, as it was only 11pm Texas time.

It's surprisingly bright here at 5am

The rest of my day was spent picking up the house, walking the dogs, studying German and finalizing travel plans. Work on my German class has dominated my evening. The class found out last week that we will have a test on Tuesday over the first part of class. So, I've now gone into study mode, including flashcards and everything. I understand the sentence structure, so hopefully if I make sure I'm refreshed on verbs, and their conjugation, and nouns, including their gender, I'll be ok. The one thing I know we will have to do will be to write a postcard about visiting somewhere. The thing I need the most work on is the words for who, where, when, how, how much, whose, what and where from.

A number of people have asked what happens if I don't do well on the test. I'm really not sure, but I'm thinking positive and know that I'll do ok and be able to proceed.

I rewarded myself today by doing, what else, but planning travel and researching destinations. I finalized a couple of things for our trip with K&B (BK's sister and brother-in-law) to Venice, Vienna and Salzburg. I also researched a little bit more for our trip in September and made myself quite a hefty to-do list for this week. I like to keep busy and feel productive.

We'll be up early again tomorrow, so it's off to bed for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Cursing the Kombi

Well, I did it again. I forgot to put the drain for the washer/dryer into the bathtub. Ugghhh!

Last time this happened I just happened to be in the next room cleaning. Unfortunately, this time I was outside on the patio enjoying myself, oblivious to all the water that was being sprayed all over our bathroom and leaking into other rooms in our apartment.

I think I came in around the third rinse (and drain) and was able to quickly put the drain into the bathtub. I used every towel in our apartment and a couple of rolls of paper towels to clean up the water in the bathroom, toilet area and our bedroom. While I was cleaning I kept telling myself that "at least the floors were getting a good cleaning." The carpet in our entry way also got wet and is now still working on being dried.

Tonight at dinner someone suggested making a sign to remind myself to put the drain in the bathtub. BK suggested that we just keep it there all the time, with the exception of when we take showers. Whatever we decide, let's hope that this doesn't happen too many more times. I'm just happy that the downstairs neighbors aren't asking if something overflowed.

Where to next?

I'm sure to many that it may seem that BK and I are off on another trip before we've even recovered from the one we just returned from. One of the biggest reasons we moved abroad was so we could travel abroad more, and few things (barring FaceTime with the nieces and nephews) brighten my day more than planning our next adventure.

What my planning looks like

Up next on the travel plan is a visit from BK's sister and brother-in-law. We'll hang around Basel for a few days, make a day trip to Interlaken, then head to Venice, Vienna and Salzburg for the rest of their trip. It should be really fun. As many of you know, I like to call myself an amateur travel agent, and I've done lots of planning for the trip to make the most out of our time. After that BK and I will head to Lake Como (Italy) and Lugano (Switzerland) for a long weekend, then are back in the US for a couple of weeks.

The trip I am working on today is our "long trip" in September. BK has already requested two full weeks off, but we haven't quite decided where we will go. And yes, I am totally that person who uses my travel books, online guides and many other tools. We are so not "fly by the seat of our pants" people, and fully intend to get the most out of any destination we visit. We are not up at the crack of dawn, and do make sure we relax, but I don't want to be kicking myself because we can't get restaurant reservations or make it to an attraction we really wanted to see.

Initially, we really wanted to do some sort of volunteer trip where we spent the majority of our time doing some sort of service, then had some time on the end to do a little bit of exploring. Unfortunately it seems that I have started my planning a little bit too late. To arrange visas, projects, and other aspects of a trip like that I need more than 2 to 3 months. I'll start working on this type of trip for 2014 in the fall of this year.

So now the question is: where to this year? Today I put together a couple of different ideas for BK and I to discuss and decide on. They're all over the map (literally and figuratively). Here are my thoughts so far:

• Portugal/Spain/Morocco
• South Africa
• Monaco/Sardinia/Rome
• Athens/Grecian Isles/Southern Coast of Turkey

Ok, so most are in Europe, but we obviously have plenty of places to go. Regardless of where we go, the trip will have some adventure (outdoorsy activity), seeing large cities and going off the beaten path a little bit. We have a lot planned between now and then, but I'm really excited about this one. I'll let you know what the verdict is soon!

On an unrelated note, Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US! I hope you have a great day of relaxation, great fireworks, and lots of time with family and friends :)

Get well brown dog!

As I've mentioned before, we often refer to Tanner as "the brown dog" and to Toby as "the fluffy dog". I have no clue why we started calling them these nicknames, but they get referred to often. With that said, the brown dog really needs to get well.

Tanner has been sick quite a bit since we moved over here- not the whole time, just episodes. I won't go into the gory details, but lately my sleep has been interrupted by him needing to go outside numerous times throughout the night, even leading me lately to sleep in all of my clothes so I can just hop out of bed and go. The other alternative is waking up to an apartment that smells terrible or a dog who is hurling.

Yes, it's totally gross. I've about had it with picking up after him. Not the greatest way to start the morning. It makes for a not-so-happy LK.

We have also been to the vet more times in the three months that we've lived here than over the course of five years in Texas. Today we made yet another trip there. The vet has no idea what's wrong with him, nor do I. His food hasn't been changed, he hasn't eaten anything weird, and on and on with the usual questions. So, just like the times before he got an antibiotic shot and instructions to continue with medicine and that should solve things. He's now also on a sensitive stomach diet. Of course when we were at the vet Tanner was excitedly jumping up for treats and barking at the vet, coming off as feeling much better than he portrays at home.

As I haven't had a full night's sleep in a few days, I'm off to bed. Fingers crossed that Tanner sleeps through the night.

P.S.- I know I have some new-mom-friends who are probably rolling their eyes at this blog. I realize it's not like dealing with a kid. Hopefully I was able to provide you with some easy reading for that 3am feeding :)

The kitchen must be destroyed!

I feel certain this is what BK must think when I bake. Not to mention when I cook dinner, then bake on top of that. AND the fact that our Swiss kitchen is much smaller than our US kitchen. Yikes!

I cooked dinner tonight then decided that I was going to bake. It was somewhat challenging because I did not have my favorite appliance- my KitchenAid mixer. So, in addition to cooking dinner and baking, I also got a great arm workout. For the record, I did bring my mixer, but we did not buy the right kind of converter (yet). I have to say, bakers back in the day must have had some great arm strength- maybe it helped counteract all of the dough, icing and other sweet treats they ate (I speak from experience).

My favorite kitchen appliance

After pretty much obliterating our tiny kitchen by pulling out various pans, lots of kitchen utensils, filling up the sink, chilling cookies in the fridge before cooking and sprinkling flour everywhere, all did turn out well. I made Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles. I'm excited to take them to German class tomorrow and to send some to BK's team. They had rave reviews from his team in Fort Worth...let's see how this one goes!

Cream cheese filled snickerdoodles

Why must I have to mop?

I'm sort of procrastinating on my German homework right now. The exercises where I have to come up with questions for answers that are already listed are the worst. I can come up with questions for the answer that is given, but usually not the EXACT question they're looking for. It can be a bit infuriating.

I'm a little ashamed to say it, but we've lived in Basel for about three months now and I just bought a mop yesterday. Of course, it's not an actual mop, but a Swiffer, which is really the only kind of mop I know how to use.

Don't worry, our floors have not gone uncleaned for this long. For the first month we lived in a furnished apartment which had everything in it. But, since we've lived in our permanent apartment we haven't had one. We have a vacuum and I have cleaned with soap and water when needed. I even texted my sisters to see what I should mop with, as I wasn't sure about that. They laughed. It's been quite a while since I had to mop our house.

Let me just say...I hate mopping. I understand the purpose- to clean the floors. But it just seems like I'm just pushing dirty water around on the floor. Gross. Maybe I'm not doing it right or something, but ick. The Swiffer is the only kind of mop I know how to use, and thank goodness I found one here, although  it's not perfect.

The only snafu I ran into today while cleaning was that our vacuum stopped working. At least I know how to use a broom.