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!