2 years!!

It's still so hard for me to believe that I have been living in Zurich for 2 years now. Had I not extended my assignment, I would be home. I'm so glad I have another 6 months to try to soak in as much as I can. So, here is the recap of countries I've travelled to in the past 2 years (much of the past 6 months was spent skiing in Switzerland where I was able to improve my ski skills and see some amazing new places in Switzerland):

First 6 months:
1. Switzerland
2. U.S. (2 trips home and Minneapolis for work)
3. Germany (Konstanz and 2 trips to Munich)
4. Liechtenstein
5. Holland (Amsterdam)
6. Ireland
7. UK (Belfast)
8. Czech Republic (Prague)
9. Spain (Barcelona)

Second 6 months:
10. Jersey
11. France (St. Malo and Rennes)
12. U.S. (Home, NY, NJ, PA, OH, CO, TX)
13. Austria (Vienna)
14. Italy (Milan)
15. Germany (Berlin)

Third 6 months:
16. Belgium
17. Germany (Munich two times)
18. Austria (Salzburg & Innsbruck)
19. Liechtenstein
20. Sweden
21. France (Cote D'Azur and Reims)
22. Spain (Madrid)
23. Portugal
24. Poland
25. Turkey

Fourth 6 months:
26. Scotland
27. Germany (Fribourg & Munich)
28. USA
29. Hungary
30. Thailand
21. Denmark
22. Italy (Cinque Terre)

lauterbrunnen

Matt & Lloyd happened to be in Lauterbrunnen on one of our May public holidays, so my friend Daniela and I took the early train and met up with them for a nice day taking the gondola up to the top of Shilthorn (I'd never gone all the way to the top before) and hike.

 

View from the top of Schilthorn:

 

Triplets: 

 

Mürren

 

Lloyd opted for the train ride down because of his hurt ankle. Daniela, Matt and I hiked down. A lot of people turned around when they got to this spot where there had been a landslide and the makeshift pathway did not seem to be the safest.

 

Daniela wasn't scared:

 

But if you slipped or the board moved, you were going down...

 

Being in the Lauterbrunnen valley, we saw lots of beautiful streams and waterfalls.

 

After we made it back down to Lauterbrunnen, Lloyd joined Matt and I on a short hike up behind one of the big waterfalls - Staubbach Falls.

 

In the evening Lloyd iced his ankle in the freezing cold creek. I put my foot in for about 5 seconds. He left his in for at least 10 minutes at two separate times. In the end, I think it was the mountain water that saved his ankle for the rest of their trip.

 

 

josh & matt & lloyd's visit

So May was a busy month for visitors. My friend Josh was here for a week and his trip overlapped a little bit (one night in Zurich) with my friend Matt and his friend "Lloyd". Along with the various hikes and side trips to Germany/Italy that I did with the boys, we did have a little bit of fun in Zurich as well (although most of Matt & Lloyd's stay in Zurich was spent at Urgentcare x-raying Lloyd's severely sprained ankle and resting/icing said ankle on my couch). The boys were so much fun to have around, I literally laughed for days on end. I will say that some much-needed girl time was in order after they were all gone!

 

Lunch at the lake on Josh's first day in Zurich:

 



 

I had to take Josh to Zeughauskeller because I knew he would love eating a sausage off of a sword:

 

oh..and their flaming beers:

 

Met up with some friends at Rimini bar after dinner:

 

The boys travelling all over Europe in 2 weeks were tuckered out at my apartment:

 

 

And this is how dorky they looked with their money/passport pouches (aka "loin cloths"):

 

And here is the medicine the doctor gave Lloyd for his hurt ankle...that's right "Retard pills". I hope he can get a normal prescription back in the US because I think he needs a daily dosage to keep the retard away!

 

Thanks for visiting boys! It was great having you here!

 

munich

Josh wanted to go to Munich while he was in Europe and so we made the trip for a couple days of enjoying beer gardens, pretzels, and of course some steins of beer. We met up with Matt and Lloyd for some beverages as well since they happened to be there at the same time we were.

 

swiss national park

While my friend Josh was visiting, we went hiking on a Saturday. Due to bad weather in most of Switzerland on that day, and snow still in the mountains if you get very high up, we went to the Swiss National Park. Its in the Graubünden region in the east part of Switzerland where they speak Romansch, Switzerland's 4th national language. I believe this was the first time I'd ever been in the Romansch-speaking part because I don't remember seeing it written before. It seems to be very similar to French. Anyhow, the hike was beautiful and we had a great time. My friends from work, Adrian and Piotr, came with us. Adrian is the expert hiker and came prepared and directed us so we didn't get lost. All three of the boys filled their hiking backpacks with beer. By the end of the day, they had all ganged up on me, the lonely girl, and were calling me the "commander" (I don't have a clue why...) ;).

 

Josh washing his hands in the mountain stream:

 

It turned out to be such a beautiful day and the views throughout our hike were amazing.

 

The Swiss National Park preserves wildlife. We ate lunch in this area where there were several groundhogs checking us out. 

 

 

 

 

There were still patches of snow to hike through at various points in our hike. May is still quite early in the mountains for hiking.

 

The Deloitte crew with some hiking beers: 

 

So here is Adrian after he captured a "beer" - one of the wildlife you might see in the Swiss National Park. Yes, there's a story behind this picture - on the train ride there Adrian was telling us that we might see some wildlife in the park and that there is even a bear that lives there (although sometimes he goes across the border into Austria). However, Adrian pronounced "bear" as "beer". I shouldn't give him too hard of a time because English is not his first language and he (like most Swiss) speaks it wonderfully, but it was pretty funny!

 

And of course some more beers on the train ride home: 

copenhagen

My friend Lise and I went to Copenhagen for a weekend. Copenhagen was one of the last major European cities on my list of places I wanted to go. It did not disappoint. Copenhagen was similar to Amsterdam and Stockholm, both of which were great. We enjoyed exploring the city, shopping, eating some amazing food, and riding bikes.

 

 

Bloody & bruised hand from my bike accident:

 

Drinking beer and eating cheddar cheese in the park: