Our first trip home for the Holidays

This is our first trip back to the US for a holiday and it's been fun so far. I've never lived away from Texas for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and I like the feeling of being home for the holidays. For some reason I haven't felt the need to pack our schedule full of lunches and dinners, but instead just have a few planned, with most of the time being saved for hanging out relaxing with family.

We left a snowy Basel on Friday morning and seem to have brought that winter weather with us. Since arriving we've enjoyed many of our favorite foods including sushi, Chick-fil-a, Buffalo Brothers and (of course) Joe T's. 

And I've liked this Saturday. Without a TCU game to rush off to, BK and I sort of had a "normal" weekend day. A haircut and color for me (long overdue) in which I went a little darker. My only worry now is how to help my Swiss person understand what to do, as opposed to just going with the color that she has written down on my card. 

BK actually suggested going over the Buy Buy Baby to look at some of the stuff we had registered for, as everything I picked was done online. I thought it was cute and it hadn't even crossed my mind to do that. Here's something I never thought I'd see:

Last night I was super excited to open and go through a giant pile of boxes from all the online shopping I have been doing from Switzerland. It's primarily Christmas and winter birthday shopping I'm trying to get done, but there were a couple of treats in there for BK and I. And knowing that my sisters would happily go through the stuff that is for them before we get back in December, today I stocked up on Christmas wrapping so that no peeking can occur before Christmas.

Another little treat that I got today was a new fitbit (I know, exciting right?). It goes on my wrist, as opposed to having to remember to put my pedometer in my pocket, and it tracks all kinds of other stuff such as calories burned, miles travelled, active minutes, sleep patterns, calories consumed and ounces of water. I'm especially interested in the sleep since I haven't been sleeping as well and I'm working on recovering from a seven hour time difference at the moment.

Of course, I also fit in some time to bake today and did a trial run of a breakfast treat I think I want to make for Thanksgiving day, Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread. It was a process since I opted to make my own dough, as opposed to using cresent rolls, and I had to break up the actual baking around dinner plans, but in the end it turned out well and tastes good. It doesn't "pull apart" like I thought it would, but it will work.

We had dinner with some of our favorite friends who also love Joe T's as much as BK does. It's always fun to catch up and reminisce over margaritas and fajitas :)

Like I mentioned before, we're working on recovering from the seven hour time difference and very little sleep last night, so we're winding down now. Of course we miss the little pups we left behind, but have no fear...we still have some fill-ins here to keep us company.

Baby K is a GIRL!

Finally, I get to post about this! The Lentil is a GIRL! Our child seems to have a mind of her own already and has refused to reveal the fact that we are having a girl in a couple of our previous appointments. When I say that she has a mind of her own, most people's first response is, "Just like her mom and dad." Funny.

We tried in October, then again yesterday at our regular monthly doctor's appointment with no luck. This morning we went to our organ scan, which is a routine procedure here in Switzerland. Everything looks good and we finally found out that she was, in fact, a girl. During the appointment we saw the chambers of the heart, looked at the brain, checked the blood flow, counted fingers and toes and caught a brief glimpse of her face.

Don't worry, even though the gender was revealed, she still made sure the doctor had to really work for what she needed. After about 45 minutes of sonogramming the doctor had me leave to go walk around and get a snack to see if the baby would change positions so that she could see one last thing on her list. After a hot chocolate, croissant and some walking, when I returned she had turned so the doctor could see what she needed.

We're headed to the US in the morning, so I make no guarantees about when I'll blog again. Maybe I'll blog some of the cooking adventures I embark on during the trip. I'm looking forward to cooking with American ingredients in a kitchen with more than one small work surface. Until then!

Rome: one more day to go!

Our time in Rome was a long weekend from Thursday to Sunday, which was a good amount of time. If you're stopping in Rome for just a day or a few hours, you'll have to really choose what you want to see and leave the other stuff for another trip back.

Surprisingly, November seems like an ideal time to go. You don't have to battle the crowds like you would during the summer or any school holiday and you don't have to deal with stifling heat (so I hear) that the summer months also bring. My guess would also be that prices are also seriously inflated during high season as well. Outside of one day of light rain, the weather was decent while we were there, with highs in the mid-60s and lows in the upper 40s.

So far, we'd seen many of the monuments in Rome and been to Vatican City. Our Saturday was spent in the ancient city center of Rome, touring the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum and Circus Maximus. Of course, we also had to make our daily stop at the Pantheon to visit it one more time before we left.

Outside of Colosseum

The Colosseum was an easy walk from our hotel. I would highly recommend booking a tour in advance- either a private tour guide or one of the tours the Colosseum offers. Right now, they are offering a tour called Underground, Colosseum and Third Ring, which is what we did. It was really interesting. Also, if you reserve tickets beforehand, you get to skip the long line that everyone else is in, which is great.  I think if you just buy a regular ticket you only go on one level of Colosseum, which is not much.

We started the tour on the floor of the Colosseum, so you could get an idea of how it felt to be in the center of everything. The tour guide gave a good amount of history about the Colosseum (originally called Flavian Amphitheater) including information about the gladiators (mostly slaves) and how it was built. Unfortunately, like many other monuments in Rome, all of the valuable materials have been stripped from the structure.

Only remaining seats viewed from the floor of Colosseum

We then went into the Underground, which was where animals that fought were kept in waiting and gladiators entered and exited through tunnels. Interesting fact: at some point during the 100 day inauguration of the Colosseum, the underground and floor of the stadium were flooded and they had boats battle. The rooms underground were built after that, but you can still see where the aquifer brought in water.

Ruins of Underground rooms

The third ring of the Colosseum is the top level and has just recently been opened back up to the public for touring. It appears that renovations are ongoing, so I'm guessing they may open more at some point. The third ring would have been considered the worst seats in the house, but does boast a great view of the entire Colosseum along with Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.

View from the third ring

Palatine Hill overlooks the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Circus Maximus. Numerous palaces are located on the hill, with various structures being built by emperors throughout the years. The structures are all in ruins, but it's worth the walk up to look around and explore. The site has good signage explaining what each area is/was.

Ruins of a circus used for animal exercise and display

The Roman Forum is not what we were expecting- it's actually a square in the middle of ruins that is where significant events took place in the city center. I think we were expecting a building of some sort, but the Forum is surrounded by large structures and a number of funeral monuments, including where Julius Caesar was cremated. You should go see it though- ultimately it was where ancient Rome developed and the center of commerce in the city, pretty significant!

Roman Forum

View of Forum and Palatine Hill

Just on the other side of the Forum is a "new" building (1925) that most Romans hate- the monument to Italy's first king who united the country. It is a massive building that doesn't necessarily fit with the ancient architecture that surrounds it; it is also disliked because it was essentially built on top of the ancient city center of Rome, which seems to mean much more to Romans than this new building.

Altare della Patria- monument to Italy's first king

From there we saw Circus Maximus, which used to be an ancient Roman chariot racing arena and large entertainment venue. Now…it's pretty much just an open field. BK and I should have researched this one a little bit more, as we were disappointed after walking up on it, and actually weren't even sure if we were in the right place.

Circus Maximus

We ended our day with some shopping in the city center, then enjoyed sitting on the Pantheon Piazza for a snack and people watching. We had a great dinner at a place right around the corner, then headed back to the hotel to watch the TCU game.

Our Saturday night view

We headed back to Basel on Sunday afternoon, so we didn't do any additional sightseeing. We enjoyed sleeping late and our last Italian lunch before heading to the airport for the short flight home. We've just been in Basel a couple of days, and will be heading to the US shortly to visit for Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see everyone!

Vatican City: a country of its own

The first full day in Rome greeted us with rain and cloudy skies. Luckily, we had scheduled a tour of Vatican City for that day, which just happens to be an inside activity. The only downside of the day was that we had to move our tour up because of an ordination being held at St. Peter's Basilica. We were informed by our tour guide that you pretty much never know what's on the agenda in Vatican City, so you may be in for an unforeseen closing or something.

View of St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican City is amazing. The sheer opulence and magnificence of it all greets you from the moment you arrive in it's vicinity. This was probably my favorite thing that we did. The whole thing just intrigues me; specifically how much the Vatican symbolizes power and dominance (I say this as a non-Catholic)…it's just a little crazy to me.

We hired a private tour guide for the day, which I would highly recommend. We started in the Vatican Museum which is full of all kinds of art and historical artifacts, some of which were bought by various popes, some of which were commissioned and others that were gifted. When you think about this museum you should think of the likes of The Louvre and The Met. 

Globe sculpture in museum courtyard

The Vatican has more Red Porphyry that anywhere else in the world. It is a rare stone from Egypt and is the most valuable stone in the world no longer available for mining, which is a little crazy. I had never heard of this stone before, but it is all over Vatican City and is sprinkled throughout Rome. Additionally, the museum boasts many sculptures, paintings and tapestries. One of my favorite rooms we saw was the room with maps drawn as murals on the walls. Unfortunately, we had to kind of rush through the museum due to the closing of St. Peter's Basilica.

Red porphyry bathtub

Tapestry

Mural map of Italy

From the museum you enter the Sistine Chapel, which is breathtaking. The intricate detail and stories displayed on the ceiling and walls is really just a lot to take in. It is supposed to be a silent place, but it tends to not be so much. I would post a picture of it, but you are not allowed to take photos. Here's a random fact for you: it's not that you can't take photos because it's a sacred space, but because when they restored the Chapel a few years ago a Japanese media company funded the whole thing and now has the copyrights to it. So, no pictures. Weird, right?

From the Sistine Chapel you then enter into St. Peter's Basilica. It enormous to say the least. St. Peter's is actually open to the public and, barring any random events, anyone can go in. Since we entered into the Basilica from the Sistine Chapel we didn't have to wait in line to get in, which was nice. 

Jubilee doors- only opened every 25 years

One thing that I found really interesting about Rome in general, was that many of the materials used to build the Vatican were taken from other monuments from around Rome. So, for example, the Colosseum and Pantheon have been essentially stripped of all marble and copper they used to have. And now where do those materials reside? Inside, and as part of the Vatican. It's viewed as a sort of recycling in Rome, but I also think it's a shame that other monuments were stripped of their beauty to show the power of the church and to build these huge buildings and ultimately country.

Chancel in St. Peter's

St.Peter's dome

I cannot even describe the enormity of St. Peter's Basilica. It is the largest church in the world, and absolutely feels that way. There are markers on the floor showing how large other churches are in the world (Westminster Abbey, a Boston cathedral, etc). Two popes are here in waiting to become saints of the church and it is believed that St. Peter is buried under the alter of the church. Many famous artists contributed to both the building and pieces of work in the Basilica. It is a beautiful building and like nothing I have ever seen before. You have to visit if you are ever in Rome.

The "Arms of God" in Vatican Square

After we finished in Vatican City we decided to stay in that part of the city and went to Castel Sant'Angelo. This castle was formerly used as the Pope's fortress and is connected to Vatican City via tunnels that allowed for the Pope's safe escape, should Vatican City be attacked. If you have a limited amount of time, I would skip this one, but it was still interesting to see and had great panoramic views of the city from the top of the fortress.

Castel Sant'Angelo

We still had much more to see in Rome, and Saturday brought much more sightseeing and nicer weather for us. More to come!

Our last European destination this year

Remember how I said our motto in life right now is, "When in Rome"? Well, we finally made it to Rome to live it out. I shouldn't say finally, since we've been SO many places since we've moved to Basel, but Rome was the one last place we wanted to go this year, and before the Lentil comes along next spring.

BK and I traveled to Rome this past weekend and had an action packed time. The Lentil seems to be punishing me a little bit for our love of travel, as I seem to not be adjusting quite as quickly as normal after we travel to and from places. Such is life- only a few more flights before I'm grounded for the last trimester.

We started our first afternoon wandering around the city, just needing to make it to the Spanish Steps in time to meet our tour guide for an evening tour. Our first stop was at Santa Maria Maggiore. We didn't plan this stop, but found it near our hotel on the way to a more central part of the city. Like many of the cathedrals in Rome, it is beautiful and incredibly ornate. I love all of the ceilings in the buildings. It seems so often we forget to look up, but in older buildings, often the ceilings are given more attention than walls or other decor.

BK and I then stopped for a little afternoon snack to get some sustenance and do some people watching. Of course, in Rome, there are fountains and usually a church in every square.

From there we continued to make our way closer to the Spanish Steps, but first stopped at the Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception. My dad recommended that "we just Google it and go." Somehow we stumbled upon it unknowingly, then decided to go ahead and go in. We didn't go in the sanctuary part of the church, but the main attraction is the crypt. It is kind of weird, and a little serial-killeresque, but the crypt is decorated with the bones of deceased monks and other poor Romans. The rooms are divided up into types of bones, such as the pelvises, shins and thighs, skulls, etc. It's interesting, but like I said, a little weird.

From there we met our tour guide from Angel Tours for our Heart of Rome Tour. The tour could have up to 15ish people, but lucky for us, it was just me, BK and our guide. This was a great way to start off our time in the city, hearing about some history and being able to ask any questions we had. Like I mentioned, we started at the Spanish Steps, which aren't actually Spanish. They derive their name from the fact that the Spanish Embassy is in the same square. It's also where we took our weekly pic :)

From there we went to Trevi Fountain, which actually deserves all of the hype it gets. It's an amazing piece of work attached to a building. It was commissioned by a wealthy family in Rome many years ago and has over 3,000 Euros per day thrown into the fountain. BK and I threw our coins in, with our right hand, over our left shoulders, to ensure we would someday return to Rome.

After Trevi Fountain we stopped at a funeral monument and were pointed in the direction of a couple of unique churches we should see. One included a church that appears to have domes in the ceiling, but in fact, is 3D painting done on the ceiling with a flat roof. Very interesting…I'll wrack my brain, but the name escapes me right now.

We then saw BK's favorite site in Rome, the Pantheon; in fact, he liked it so much we went back every day we were there. It is an amazing building, and a true mathematical achievement.

The truly awesome thing about it is that it was built in 118 AD, is still standing, is still in use, and remains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It measures 43.3 meters high as well as across. Raphel (the artist) and the first two kings of Italy are buried inside the building as well. The building has been studied throughout the ages as an architectural marvel.

From the Pantheon we enjoyed Piazza Navona, which boasts three impressive fountains, along with a church and cafes around the perimeter of the square. The fountain pictured below symbolizes the four rivers of the world coming together in Rome. It (like many others) was commissioned by the Vatican and each statue represents a different continent.

After we finished with our tour, BK and I enjoyed an easy dinner at a local pizzeria recommended by our tour guide, then called it a night. We spent Friday at the Vatican…more on that later!

The family CFO

There's a new CFO in town, and it's probably not who you expect…me! The position has actually been vacant for a while, with things being monitored, bills paid, and whatnot, but nothing else too serious happening.

If you don't know BK personally, but know that he's a CPA, you might have been thinking that he is the "typical" accountant: tight with money, monitoring every cent, balancing the checkbook down to the penny…not so much. In fact, not at all. Who even balances a checkbook anymore, anyway?

I got the job because, per BK, he looks at numbers all day and does not want to come home and look at more. Understandable. Of course, there's also the fact that I don't want him to spend his time in front of another computer when he is at home, when I could easily be doing this as one of my "jobs." And now that I think about it, I'm not even sure he knows how to log on and look at our Swiss bank account (it's more complicated than you think- I had to go to the bank for instructions).

Little did I know that my project would be quite the drawn out process. After I finished up in September, which also included numerous previous months, and showed it to BK, he liked what he saw and appreciated my effort. Following his first viewing, he carefully said, "I have some suggestions, if you'll take them and not bite my head off for them." Initially I was really thinking, "Why would I bite your head off, I can take feedback." Right.

Little did I know that we would have about four rounds of revisions before reaching "our" final format. During the revision process BK would give me ideas about how I could change our spreadsheet to be more useful. It was too detailed at first, then I simplified too much. The above picture is the final feedback I got for our summary sheet.

It's actually a really useful tool. I haven't quite finished October yet, but I seem to keep finding other things to do, such as plan our trip to Rome and do Christmas shopping. It will get done before the end of this week. I'm just a little behind on my month end.

Just for the record, there's another part to my title as well: Chief Purchasing Officer. That's the part that I really excel at, although BK does provide some serious competition!

Work-day-five creation: Mini apple pies

As many of you know, a couple of months ago I started baking for BK's group at work. Specifically, they have their long day of the month on workday four, so on the fifth day I take them some kind of sweet treat to enjoy in the afternoon.

Sometimes there are requests, but most of the time I pick a random recipe that I've seen and want to try. This may be wrong of me, but I typically try to make a really "American" dessert. I figure they can get all the Swiss sweets they want here, I like to try and take something that they may not have had before, or on a regular basis.

This month I took Mini Apple Pies in honor of Thanksgiving. I figure pie is a pretty standard Thanksgiving dessert. As a disclaimer, this recipe was much more labor intensive than I anticipated. I'm not really sure why, but it seemed like I had to stand in the kitchen much longer than normal. For once, I also remembered to take pictures along the way.

The kitchen before I destroyed it; yes, this is all the workspace I have.

One thing that made this one take a little longer than normal was that I chose to make pie crust, as opposed to buy one at the store. Pie is not something that I make a lot of, but pie crust is surprisingly easy to make. I also didn't go the store-bought route because I wasn't exactly sure what I would be buying, meaning I wasn't sure if it would turn out like the pie crust I'm used to. As an FYI, most pie crust calls for shortening. You can just use butter in it's place and it works great. I couldn't find shortening in the store.

Chilled pie crusts, before being rolled out

When I initially decided I wanted to make this recipe, I thought I would go really big and make a few pies in various flavors such as apple, cherry, pecan, etc. But then reality hit and I realized apples were pretty much the only thing in season here, and therefore the only thing I could find in the store. No blueberries, strawberries, or other fruits and I don't even think we have pecans here. I bought canned cherries, but it wasn't the same as pie filling in the US and I had no clue what to do with them, so apple it was.

Granny Smith apples pre-peeling and cutting

The apple mixture is easy to mix after you get through the peeling and cutting of however many apples it takes. One piece of advice on this though, don't mix your apple mixture up and then go do other stuff (walk dogs) and come back to assemble. When I came back to mine lots of liquid had come out of the apples and I had a soupy mixture at the bottom of the bowl. No real harm done, I just poured it off and used the apples anyway, but not sure how it would have turned out differently otherwise.

Apples, flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt and nutmeg

You roll your pie crust out, then cut them into circles that fit into a muffin tin. This wasn't hard, I just needed more dough than I anticipated. My dough recipe said that I eventually used enough dough for four pies (I made 24 mini pies). Maybe I didn't roll it thin enough or something.

Then you fill your cups up with apple mixture, make whatever dough design you want on the top of your mini pie, bake for 20ish minutes and you're done. And yes, it took me a while to lace those pie crusts on the top, but I like the way it looked.

The finished product

I had a little bit of extra dough leftover, and since I made it myself I couldn't bring myself to just throw it away. I decided I would make myself a little sweet treat, so I cut up the dough, brushed it with melted butter then topped it with cinnamon sugar and baked. They turned out well, and I figure they'll be a tasty compliment to pretty much anything.

I took the pies up to BK's office at lunch, and I'm sure they're pretty much gone by now. They went over well and hopefully people enjoyed some dessert after their lunch break.

I told BK I would make something next month for his birthday, to which he immediately said, "I get to choose." Fine with me, but his selection was a hot fudge sundae. Not quite sure how that's going to work, but hopefully I can convince him to do a cake or cupcakes or something resembles a hot fudge sundae.

We'll see, but just know that whatever happens next month, he picked it.

Halfway there!

Today I had a couple of different blogs rolling around in my head, but then I got caught up in walking the dogs, the grocery store, baking a new creation for work-day-five tomorrow (more on that tomorrow) and other random stuff that I needed to do today. This seems to have left me a little tired at the end of the day, and in an effort to always try and bring you something witty, funny, possibly a little informative and entertaining, I feel that I need more brainpower than I have right this second. I'll save those other posts for a later date.

Really, the big thing that happened today was that we reached our halfway point with the Lentil! Obviously we still have a long way to go, but it's kind of exciting that we'll officially be in the second half of pregnancy after today!

For those of you wondering, yes we are going to find out the gender. Last time we went to the doctor the baby was turned in toward me so that all we could see was the spine in the ultrasound. I have nothing to compare it to in the US, but here in Switzerland we have an ultrasound every time we see the doctor, so we will try again when we see her right before we come back to the US for Thanksgiving.

One of Brian's sisters thinks its a boy, my sisters think its a girl, other friends have various thoughts on the gender. People often ask if I have a "gut feeling" about what it is. I don't have a clue. I just want the kid to move a little so I can feel something. I'm sure it will happen soon enough!

A frustrating journey

Tonight was a night that tested my patience and was extremely frustrating. I was supposed to go on my first hospital tour, but it was pretty much a complete fail thanks to delayed trams and buses.

One of the many downsides of not speaking great German yet is that I don't watch or read much news regarding what's happening here in Basel. Tonight I missed the fact that there was an FC Basel football game. Combined with that, I also didn't realize that the hospital I was going to is really close to the stadium, meaning that it would be a madhouse tonight.

I knew that it would take me 35 to 40 minutes to get from our apartment to the hospital, which included all walk time and changes I needed to make. I also planned my route so that I should have arrived with 10 minutes to spare, just in case I got lost or something. Little did I know, the trams would be late and the bus would not be running from the stop that I needed to take it from. I finally got to the bus stop about 15 minutes late, only to find out that the bus wasn't running and my other option was to walk another 15 minutes in the dark to a neighborhood I am not familiar with. Grrr…

I will say, I'm kind of just using this hospital as a comparison to the one that I actually think we're going to use. The one tonight is a private hospital and is supposed to be really nice; I'm thinking maybe more one-on-one attention, more continuity of staff, more comfortable for BK to stay. I say this is a comparison because it's more than 30 minutes from our apartment, with numerous changes on public transportation. On the other hand, the University hospital is a 10 minute walk from our apartment, or two bus stops. I guess my comparison will have to wait until next month.

When things like this happen to me, I do recognize that there are far worse things to be dealing with. I think it's frustrating for me because it just makes me feel like a moron that I can't figure out how to get somewhere on time. I'm sure it also has to do with the fact that this was the ONE appointment I had today, and really, I can't get there? Seriously?

Obviously this is not the end of the world. It just means that next month I'll have two hospital tours, and will hopefully be able to let my doctor know what our plans are at my December appointment. I'll report in on it- hopefully with more success next time.

A pregnant yogi?

I'm feeling a little off today. I'm pretty sure it's because I started my day with a night of not-so-great sleep. Toby decided last night that it was his turn to help me prepare for sleepless nights by being up and around the apartment at all hours of the night.

So I've started something new the past couple of weeks…prenatal yoga. Since we've been in Basel, I've been meaning to find somewhere to do yoga, but just hadn't gotten around to it. I was also feeling like I needed to add something else to my three hours of walking a day. Not that walking is not good, but just needed something different. The challenge with this one was to find somewhere that did prenatal yoga, in English, in Basel.

I did find a place right in the center of Basel. It overlooks Marktplatz, which is where city hall is located. They offer the class in English and Spanish, which I find amusing, considering that we live in a German-speaking city. I really like the class, although I actually think that I could possibly still go to regular classes since I've been doing yoga for quite a few years now. But then I would be the annoying attendee who has to have a modification for every pose, and I'm just not into that.

The class has been somewhat of a new experience. The place that I go to yoga is very "yoga-y", if you know what I mean. Crystals in the corners, incense burning, calm music playing, chanting…this place has all the stereotypical characteristics you might think of.

Often during class I have to physically stop myself from laughing. Not in a disrespectful way, but sometimes trying to "connect to my motherhood" and "surround my child with love" just gets me. I mean don't get me wrong, I think the intention is great, but I guess I feel that I'm connected enough right now carrying the Lentil around with me everywhere I go and for everything I do.

The other thing that gets me, and I feel the need to come home and report to BK about, is that nearly everyone in the class looks like they're about to pop. I think there is one other regular attendee that is fewer weeks than I am, but the majority of women are late into their pregnancy, as in between 35 and 40 weeks. Yikes!

My brain just can't take me there yet. I know at some point I will have a big belly sticking out, but right now it's just still kind of weird to me. I am to the point now where I can still wear my yoga pants, but by the end of the class they tend to have slipped down under my belly that's starting to poke out. The instructor often tells us the various positions that are good for labor, but I can't help thinking:

1. Ew.
2. No thanks, I plan to be in a hospital bed, not squatting on the floor. 
3. BK would totally freak out if he saw this right now.

I feel certain this class will provide plenty of amusing stories over the next five-ish months, but I do enjoy it and think it's good for the Lentil and I. I'm going on my first hospital tour this week, so things are getting more real for us every day. I'll let you know what they say it would be like to deliver in a private hospital in Switzerland. We'll see…should be interesting.

The last stop in Greece: Crete

Our last stop in Greece was the island of Crete. We took an evening ferry from Santorini and arrived in Crete quite late. Crete is actually quite a big island, so BK and I decided to rent a car and drive from the port city of Heraklion to Rethymno, which takes about an hour. Surprising, our navigation went pretty well, outside of a little trouble getting out of the port city.

I cannot say enough about the hotel we stayed at in Crete, the AVLI. It is a suite-only boutique hotel in the center of Old Town Rethymno. It has about 12 apartment-type suites in three old buildings in the city. It is also owned and operated by a chef and her family, so it also has an amazing restaurant attached to the hotel. When we arrived late that night, they happily welcomed us and provided a delicious meal. A traditional Cretian breakfast was served in the garden of the restaurant every morning as well.

Restaurant garden

Crete was a very relaxing island as well, and I really wish we would have dedicated at least another day or so to being on the island. I don't think we realized just how big Crete was when we decided to visit. We spent nearly almost all of our time in the city of Rethymno, which was only about 2 full days.

Old town alley

We wandered around the Old Town of Rethymno the first morning and afternoon on the island, as well as exploring a little bit of the coastline in the city. There are many shops and small restaurants you can visit, with many offering only local products and cuisine. Old town Rethymno is really nice and has lots of small streets and alley to wander down. Additionally, most of old town is pedestrian only, making it really easy to get around.

Cretian coastline

After BK and I walked around for a bit, we enjoyed some relaxation and then went to a cooking class hosted by the owner of the hotel and restaurant. It was only BK and I in the lesson, which made for a really unique experience. We started with the chef telling us about the history of Cretian food and gave us an overview of what types of food were native to Crete. As a fairly large and distanced island, Crete has to be fairly self-sufficient in relying on others for food. We cooked in the restaurant kitchen, making dishes native to Crete with local ingredients, including some from the restaurant garden.

BK in the kitchen

After we made a couple of appetizers, a goat main dish and an orange dessert, we enjoyed our creations in the garden. After our appetizers we took a break, then came back a later and enjoyed our main course and dessert.

Our appetizers

The next day we got up and enjoyed another breakfast at the hotel, then headed out to explore the island before catching an overnight ferry from Heraklion. During the afternoon we went through a number of small towns between Rethymno and Heraklion, stopping at an old olive mill, military museum and a traditional Cretian house.

Old olive mill

Our last stop before dinner and boarding our overnight ferry, was ancient Knossos. The ruins are really interesting. They are nothing like the ancient ruins in Athens, but mostly because in the 1800s an English archaeologist discovered the ruins then began to rebuild them the way he thought the would have been. None of the other ruins in Greece are like this, primarily because the Greeks want people to see them how they are now, not replicas. So when you visit Knossos, some of the ruins are rebuilt and some are not.

Knossos

We departed from Crete later that night and arrived back in Athens the next morning. We spent the morning in a harbor and had breakfast at was essentially a yacht parking lot. We spent the day wandering around, had a massage and enjoyed lunch poolside. We then headed back to Basel via Geneva to come home for a week before departing for our surprise visit to the US.

Yacht parking

Back to the Grecian Isles for a bit

I thought I would take you on a little vacation today and go back to Greece. I left off when we were in Mykonos for the day, then apparently really got into the island mode and didn't post again while we were on the trip. Santorini was my favorite island we visited. When you think about the Grecian Isles, with the whitewashed buildings built into the cliff, beautiful blue water and stunning views all around, Santorini is what you're picturing. And I can tell you, it looks just like that and does not disappoint.

Santorini at dusk

We were there at the end of September, which I thought was a great time to go. The weather is still pretty warm, with highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. The nights on the caldera side of the island can be a little chilly, but only because of the breeze coming off of the ocean. On the island you can choose either the Caldera side, which is the cliff side, or the beach side of the island. We stayed on the caldera side in Fira at a great hotel, Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites, just on the edge of Old Town. The only disappointing thing was that there was not a view off the caldera, but otherwise the hotel had great service and the location was ideal.

We did much more relaxing in Santorini than we had done in Athens, but did get out and go the first day. We rented an ATV to get around the island, and yes, the Lentil and I rode on it too. But don't worry too much, there was no off-roading, ATVs are used just like cars in Santorini and BK and I wore helmets the whole time we were on it.  You can get around the entire island quickly, as it is pretty small in terms of area. My advice is to just jump on one of the main roads that go around the island, then when you see something that interests you venture off there. For example, the red sand beach is a great stop to make.

Red sand beach

A couple of our highlights from the drive around included stopping for lunch on the black sand beach, and just taking some time to chill out for a little while.

Our spot on the black sand beach

And venturing to a monastery at the highest point on the island which offers 360 degree views of Santorini. The monastery's grounds and buildings are really pretty as well.

Entrance to the monastery

Seem like we had a big first day traveling around the island? That was only the first part of the day. In the afternoon BK and I regrouped at the hotel then did the hike from Fira to Oia. It is a great hike right along the cliffside that allows you to discover some of the island that is not right on any road and not in any of the towns.

It took us between two-and-a-half and three hours, and even though BK did time us getting there, we stopped to take plenty of pictures and have water and snacks. The hike is pretty easy- you can take it at your own pace, and I would say unless you have serious health issues you should be able to do it with no problem. Our goal was to get to Oia by sunset so we could sit and enjoy the view from the west side of the island. It was relaxing after the hike, and we enjoyed talking to others who had come for the same thing.

Sunset in Oia

The next couple of days in Santorini weren't so packed with activity. We kept the ATV so we had an easy way to get around, but pretty much spent our whole next day on the black sand beach relaxing. We did make one other stop for lunch before we went there and did a little bit of driving around the island, but otherwise napped and read on the beach. We ended our day with a massage at the hotel spa and an easy dinner across the street from our hotel. I feel relaxed just thinking about it…

We had one last day on the island, with most of the day in Santorini before our ferry left for Crete that evening. We explored more of Fira's Old Town, which offers tons of shops and lots of easy places to stop and grab something to eat. Speaking of which, I haven't said much about the restaurants in Santorini. There are many restaurants on the island, most of which either offer traditional Greek food or seafood. All of the food we had was good, and you can easily find quality places by just asking around.

The other thing we decided we should do on our last day was walk down to the old port, which seems to be right below Fira. You can take an aerial cable car up and down, take a donkey, or walk the 800ish steps down. BK and I walked up and down.

Old Port

The worst thing about the walk is the donkeys. You're constantly competing with them for a place to walk, and when you start your descent the donkeys are lined up against the wall, and you have to walk behind them to get by- it's a little unsettling. It also smells like poo because of all the donkeys. There's not much to the Old Port, but I'm glad we walked down to explore a little bit more.

Donkeys on the way down

Like I mentioned before, Santorini was my favorite island and was incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. We were off to Crete after this, but I'll save that one and take you back there tomorrow. Time to get back to reality…time to finish laundry and practice German.