munich

I went to Munich, Germany (Muenchen) this weekend! Since it was going to be raining in Zurich, I decided to take the 4 hour train to Munich on Saturday. My friend Alayna came with me. It was the perfect day trip. We had great weather for the first half of the day, but then got caught in the rain. It wasn't too bad though since we were prepared with umbrellas and didn't have to be outside too much while it was raining.

As soon as we got out of the train station we both commented on how lively Munich felt compared to Zurich. There were a lot more people, the buildings and clothes people wear are more colorful, and it was noisy!!

Our first stop was Hofbräuhaus. We have both been to the Hofbräuhaus in Newport, Kentucky, so we were interested to see what the original was like. Well, it was great! The beer and food were delicious, the band was lively, and the building itself was gorgeous. I especially liked the courtyard area, it was so pretty. Along with the pretzel and beer (pictured below), I had meatloaf and potato salad.

We then walked through Marienplatz on our way to the subway.

Our next stop was Englischer Garten, which is a park of 1.4 square miles, or 910 acres in the middle of Munich. It was really pretty. A lot of people were taking carriage rides or riding horses through the park. We walked to the Chinese Tower (pictured below), which is surrounded by a huge beer garden. The beer garden was exactly what you would picture when you think of Germany--a bunch of people sitting on picnic tables drinking Hofbräuhaus beer out of large steins in the middle of the woods, complete with a polka band playing music from the tower.

The next stop on our "tour" was the BMW Museum and BMW Welt. It was also really fun and neat to see. If you are ever going to buy a BMW, you can order it and when it is ready for shipment, you can come to Munich and take it for a spin on the autobahn before it is shipped to its final destination. We saw someone driving their brand new car out of the building, which was really cool.

Our last official stop was Olympiapark, home of the 1972 Summer Olympics. The stop was fitting as it was one day after the opening ceremony for London 2012 Summer Olympics. We walked around and saw one of the coolest things I've ever seen:

You could rent these bubbles and walk around in them in the lake. It was so weird. I've never seen anything like it, but it looked like fun!

After our official tour was over, we just spent some time walking around and stopped at a cafe for coffee/milkshakes. Then we did a little shopping (as I said after my visit to Constance, Germany is so cheap compared to Switzerland). Lederhosen was sold everywhere - and it is not cheap - 180 Euros for this dress!



wakeboarding

On Wednesday I went wakeboarding on Lake Zurich. One of the partners in charge of our group at work set up the event. He reserved two boats at the Wakeboarding Academy. There were 7 of us that went and since one of the boats had a broken men's wakeboard, we split the group up into girls and guys. Here is me with the other two girls (Daniela and Jelena) on the boat. While it had been sunny and hot all day, a storm started to roll in about the time we left work, so it became cloudy and we had a few drops of rain, but it didn't stop us.

The "girls boat"

Here is a picture of the "guys boat" with Bernd (the partner who set this up) wakeboarding. He had been once before so he was pretty good.

Daniela was the first to go from our group and got up on her first try. She loved it and after a couple times wanted to start doing tricks.

This is me in the cold water getting my instruction after our instructor "accidentally" pushed me in.

Beatuiful Lake Zurich

There was a lot of this when I tried wakeboarding:

But I was finally able to get up and it was actually really fun!

Our instructor/boat driver Sasha was really nice. He gave me a hard time for not speaking Swiss German, but his English was very good since he has an American girlfriend.

Here is Jelena as she struggles to get up.

Daniela loved it so much that she went a second time because we had a little extra time.

 After wakeboarding we went out for beers and dinner at a cool bar which was on the lake. We were all sore the next day at work!

first trip home

I had my first trip home this past weekend. It was a really short trip, but it was packed full of activities and it was totally worth it! I left my apartment at 4:30AM Thursday morning. Since the trams aren't running that early, I took a taxi to the main train station. From there I took the train to the airport and got on my first flight of the day at 7AM. I had two layovers - one in London and one in New York (JFK). I was supposed to land at CVG at 6:15pm (Cincinnati time), but my flight out of JFK was slightly delayed and then due to weather we sat on the tarmac for almost 2 hours (had to go back and refuel at one point too). Minh was supposed to pick me up from the airport and was already waiting there for me when I was able to get my cell phone from the overhead compartment and tell him we were delayed so long.

I finally landed in Cincinnati at 9:15pm. As Minh and I were waiting at baggage claim for my luggage, I looked at my watch and realized I had been awake for a full 24 hours (minus a few naps on the planes). We went to my parents for a nice home cooked dinner complete with homemade peach pie and I got to see my sister Lainey and niece and nephew too.

The real reason for my trip home was one of my best friend's weddings. Friday morning Beth and I went and got manicures and pedicures and then Minh and I got Mexican for lunch. It was delicious! I got to see everyone else Friday night at the rehearsal.

Saturday (the BIG day) started at 8am with hair appointments and then ended at midnight when the reception was over. It was a long day but SO MUCH FUN. We were a little camera crazy Saturday and here are some of my favorites:

Bridesmaids and Beth with our hair done

Abby and Brie doing their makeup

Me and the bride at her mom's house

Some of the girls before the wedding (Diane, Katie, me, Tracey, and Abby)

Minh and I after the wedding (he was an usher)

Me and Jamie

The bridesmaids and flower girl

The bride and groom (Beth and Kevin) in the bus after the wedding

Half of the crew on the bus

Me and my rooommates (Amy and Katie)

My brother Jared and very-soon-to-be-sister-in-law Jenae

Beth and the boys (Jared, Corny, Lehman, Greg, Brian, Josh, and Harry)

"The girls"

This was the best tasting diet coke ever. I miss large fountain diet cokes with lots of ice more than anything!! The "coca-cola light" in Switzerland is not very good, is either in a bottle or can, and if you get two ice cubes you can consider yourself lucky.

Sunday morning was my nephew Eli's baptism.

I left at 2:30pm from Lainey and Josh's and arrived back in Zurich around 3:30pm (Swiss time) Monday.

Like I said, it was a busy first trip home, but it was fantastic! Two more weeks and I'm headed home again for Jared and Jenae's wedding! That trip will at least be a little bit longer!

first trip out of switzerland

Maybe I was ready for a new restaurant to try, or maybe I was ready for my vacation, but whatever the reason, I decided on Monday, July 16th that I was going to Germany after work. This was quite easy to do since we were working in Steinach that day. After work we checked into our hotel and took the 45 minute train ride along the lake to Constance. Constance ("Konstanz") is the largest city/town on the Bodensee (lake where we are staying). It was my first time ever in Germany, and I am a fan! Mostly because everything is so cheap compared to Switzerland :) Many Swiss that live or work close to the border do all their shopping in Germany. We didn't have any plans, so we just walked along the cobblestone streets, stopping in shops along the way, and found a nice cafe to eat dinner and have some German beer.