Rainy SaturDay 103

Today it rained in Basel. My original plan was to hike/walk to this village called Gempen about 7 miles away, over a small mountain. There is a festival there this weekend. There is also a summit near by that gives views to the Alps on a clear day. None of this happened.

Instead I stayed home most of the day, doing laundry. I went out for some shopping and the excuse to take a shower. I also experienced my first haircut in Basel.

My new friend, Alison, invited me to play squash. I had never played before but I knew it was kind of like racquetball. I almost didn't go but decided that I had to be active today. The Europeans call it "doing fitness" or "doing sport".



I decided to run/jog/crawl to the place we were meeting which was 2.5 miles from my place. Then we played squash for ~2 hours. Upon leaving, we were trying to figure out what to do next. I suggested the festival in Gempen so we went! I love that kind of spontaneous action. No dwelling on the fact that we were covered in sweat, or not wearing proper clothes. No! We just went! Later on we talked about the fact if we had gone home to take a shower and change, we probably would not have gone back out.

We saw this amazing rainbow on the way to Gempen.



The festival was kinda lame but we were bit glad we went.
After a nice bath, I'm ready for bed and another exciting, long day tomorrow in Zürich.

The picture below is of flammkuchs baking in an oven. This is a traditional "pizza" type dish here in the Alsace region. The four "tops" are spinning with fire below.


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Day 102

It is raining today in Basel. I hope this doe not affect my weekend plans but undoubtably it will.

I've signed up for Mobility, a car sharing program. I am really looking forward to using a vehicle here to help with furniture. I have missed out on secondhand pieces because I have no way to transport stuff. There was a beautiful antique four poster bed someone was getting rid of, I hope it's still available.

I had lunch yesterday at Vapiano, a pasta place. They make the pasta fresh there and cook everything in front of you while you wait in line. Then you take your food and sit down. It was amazing! I had penne with carbonara sauce. Soooo good! I'm learning where to eat what. Some places just are bad. This is something I miss about the states, not the food per se but the knowledge of where to go to eat.

The picture below is from the Jazz festival a couple of weeks ago.


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Day 101

I wrote such a nice blog this morning and for some reason it didn't post! I will try again but first I'm testing if this will post before I write a bunch and have it lost again.


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Day 97 - video project

This post has almost nothing to do with my move to Basel. Almost because it's about a project I started before I left. The fact that I'm finishing it now means something to me. It means that I am feeling settled here. I took the whole day to stay at home, organize my life and 'play'.

Here is the link to a cooking video I made with Chris Escalante in February.

Chris Escalante Cooks

As I near the 100 day mark I plan on doing something special, so stay tuned!

Meg

Likes and dislikes

This post will be about all the stuff I miss and don't miss about the States, and all the really good stuff (and bad stuff) about Switzerland.

I'm just shooting from the hip so this might not be in any particular order.

I miss stores that stay open all night.
I don't miss driving a vehicle to work everyday.
I miss driving the Jeep with the top down and the music up.
I really like getting around the city with public transportation and my bikes.

I miss knowing all the streets and where everything is in the city.
I don't miss my house.
I don't miss the food (except for my moms).
I miss understanding how the government works and the insurance etc.

I really like the people I've met here.
I don't like not understanding what people are saying.
I really like how pedestrians are priority.

So I was asked what is the best part about living here in Europe>Switzerland>Basel.
My favorite part about living in Europe has to be the ability to travel so easily.
My favorite part about living in Switzerland has to be that everyone follows the rules and thus makes for a really well run country.
My favorite part about living in Basel has to be all the new friends I'm making.

I really, really, really miss my gas stove!!!

I don't think this list is extensive but I'm working on it.

What's to come? I'd like to write a post on Insurance, wooo fun topic! But seriously interesting I think, especially for those of you who may want to live abroad some day.

I'm also working on a post about hiking (walking as the Swiss call it), trials and tribulations of learning German, and a post called, "What does Megan eat?"
Stay tuned!

78 Days in Switzerland!

Day 75
It has been a really long time since my last post!  I've heard that some people actually read this so let me apologize to those who have been waiting.  By the way, if you leave a comment or sign up to 'follow' this post I'll know how many people are spending time reading me!

Me in Venice, Italy. July 31st, 2010

I look tired because we were up since 3:30 A.M. to catch our flight!

Let's begin with last weekend... I went to Venice for the 3 day weekend with Laura.


Sidebar: Laura is the fantastic person living in the apartment below mine.  She also works for my company and is from the States.  She has two cats and a long distance boyfriend in Chicago.  She's pretty cool.

This is Laura, it's unfortunate that the Gondolier's fanny is sticking in the wrong direction...

Laura booked a fantastic 5-star hotel called Bauer.  It's one of three hotels in Venice and we stayed at L'Hotel.  Breakfast in the morning overlooks the Grand Canal.  A really great place to stay!  Brass everywhere and tons of Murano glass sculptures.

This is the view of the Il Palazzo which is the old part of the hotel.  

L'Hotel is the new part attached but located to the left in the photo.

Day 1 - Walked in San Marco, trying to avoid tourists.  I've been to Venice before so I was just enjoying the weather and the scenery rather than trying to get in at all the hot spots.  I got the chance to try out my new iPhone 4 camera.  Realized later that the forward facing camera is not nearly as good as the outward facing camera.  Here are some of the things I saw on the first day.

Gondola's - everywhere!

This is just an everyday walkway but the light played very well here! Angelic! 

Another wonderful play of light.  I'm calling this one "Green".

Canal water.

This picture above of a canal was taken at the end of a very long, narrow walk way.  I try to walk down places tourists don't normally even look down.  I find little treasures like this one!  

As you walk around Venice due to the nature of the city you can walk with a group of people for quite some ways since there is only one way.  I was walking with an adult family that included mother, father, 3 grown men (boys) and a girl.  So I walked down this ally, they saw me and looked down the ally too.  They saw the same coolness and decided to follow me...I was a little nervous.  

I assumed they were just coming to look but the parents and girl didn't come.  So I put my iPhone away and just waited.  The men just looked at the tiny fish, took a few pictures and walked away.  Phew!  I'm always aware of my surroundings and I was very aware at that point that there was no where for me to go except in the water!

I waited until they are completely gone from the ally before I resume taking pictures.  Just as I'm leaving a little old woman with groceries comes down and unlocks her door.  I only wonder if I scared her like those boys scared me...

The guys that followed me down the ally.

Later that afternoon I took a long, long nap!  Eventually Laura crashed as well.  We dressed and went to dinner around 8.

We're trying to figure out how to put a short person and a tall person in the same shot.

Conclusion:  It's better to have the short person take the picture!

Me!

The hotel recommended a restaurant on Dorsoduro called Lineadombra.  The terrace is on the water, so the view was unobstructed and breathtaking.  As you can see above we were there as the sun was setting then into the night.  Dinner lasted until 2330.  

See the dome in the picture above?  At night the moon was sitting right next to it!  Beautiful! 

 This doesn't do it justice.  I really needed a tripod and a 'real' camera.

Here are some pictures of the restaurant.

Happy Megan!  And this is before the food!

Raw tuna. A lot of it! Tasty!

Skip to the end!  Lemoncello and espresso macchiato.

We had a wonderful evening!  The food was okay but the servers and atmosphere where really awesome!  Ah... Franco and Alberto!  The look we received when Laura asked Franco for salt.  Priceless.

The weather was perfect for a mid-night stroll back to the hotel.  Fall into bed and sleep deeply in air-conditioning!  We don't have that in Switzeraland.  A wonderful, long first day of the weekend.

Since I want to post this tonight but have no more time to write I'll try to do another post tomorrow for days 2 and 3 in Venice!