more than our fair share of "prost"ing

It is one of the most bittersweet feelings the first few days after visitors leave. Our lives are so incredibly rich & full, simply by the phenomenal people that are a part of it.

So here goes; the slightly edited version of the past weeks shenanigans.
Last Tuesday I met Kate, Jared & their friends in Grindelwald/the Jungfrau region of Switzerland for the day. Hence, the amazing photos below. What an immaculate day. Days like that are rare here in Switzerland, so rather than sledge with the rest of the crew (and because I am nervous about sledging), I spent the afternoon on the top of the slope, enjoying the view, hiking around, eating a delicious brat, etc. I honestly felt like a legitimate Swiss person for one of the first times ever because I simply sat. I spent the time to soak everything in. Some of the ridiculous things that were seen & heard include (I had to make notes of these while on the mountain for fear of forgetting any of them):
~I heard the song "gasolina", yes amy, on an amazing Swiss slope, your 'favorite' Mexican tune was played
~The parachuters prepping & taking off, gorgeous
~A couple getting married, their family in their ski gear around them with the spectacular view all around
~Another couple dancing together while in ski boots (ask joe, i can barely walk in ski boots, let alone dance)
~Last, but of course not least, the shirtless old man with ski pants

The next day Kate, Jared & I went on a Zurich tour, then spent the afternoon in Luzern, where we were also able to take a boat cruise. We opted for having a beer on the boat, then like all good Swiss, a beer for the train ride home ;) Nothing quite like a train beer, I don't know why. Once back in Zurich, Joe met up with us & we had brats from our favorite stand. Nothing like taking guests out for stand food, huh?! Seriously though, they make a mean brat. Then, we went out for a bit & played a new favorite card game, 500. It was spouses (Jared & I) vs. Ducheks (the originals, Kate & Joe), the second time Jared & I beat them, true Duchek character was starting to flow from both our delightful red heads ;)

Thursday was spent on a 23 km hike around the bottom of the Zurisee (Zurich lake). It was nice for me to get out of the city & enjoy a part of Zurich I haven't seen yet. Thursday night was hypothetically going to be a low-key night, but we should have known better when adding the Aussies, Erin & Lachie, to our evening equation. After enjoying steak on a stone, we stopped into the Aelpi bar. This is about as legitimate Swiss you are going to get in a bar in Zurich. We wandered in there soon after moving here while out with Erin & Lachie, and it's honestly the greatest place. Some sort of improptu instrument is bound to be played as some point throughout the night; sometimes it's the spoons, but this time -- the classic coin & bowl was the new instrument of choice. Not exactly music, but fun to attempt none the less.

Friday Kate & Jared took off super early for Neuschwanstein Castle which sounded like a good time. Kate clearly began to take to the European lifestyle as she recklessly ignored multiple signs forbidding them to get closer to the famous bridge that overlooks the castle. We were all so proud! We had a late dinner that evening in Munich of wurst, pretzels, wurst & more wurst. Nothing says Munich like sausages & pretzels. Did someone say diet of champions? I thought so....

Next morning Kate & Jared visited Dachau, the concentration camp a bit outside of Munich, while Joe & I strolled around town, enjoying of our favorite towns. Gina arrived around lunch perfectly on time. Then we all spend the afternoon at the Munich residence & cruising around the city. Saturday night was spent camping out at the Hofbrauhaus. We all enjoyed our fair share of liters, which is really the best way to enjoy Munich! Some silly great things that happened include;
~Jared trying to bribe the waiter with 20 Euro to get them a halb hanchen (1/2 chicken), despite the fact that the kitchen had run out of them hours ago
~Gina sharing her beer with table behind us, seriously the entire table
~Kate chugging a good potrtion of her liter beer to beat Jared at their bet (go lady!)
~Pretzels bigger than our heads!
~quote of the evening, Kate to Joe, "I don't think I have ever really seen you drunk, I feel so much closer to you now." (ps We feel closer to you guys now too!)

We wrapped up our trip in Munich on Sunday with a refreshing train station breakfast, a town stroll & a visit to the Deutsches Museum. Deutsches Museum is not recommended for the day after the beer halls, but we were all resilient. Kate & Jared left early on Monday morning, back to reality, while Gina stayed on through today. We spent Monday cruising Zurich, and attending a huge wine tasting. Gina happens to know things about wine, I happen to know nothing. At one of the stands, the woman didn't speak English so I told her, when attempting to smell the wine, "Mein Nase ist kaputt", my nose is broken, basically this smells like wine, just like all the other ones. But, it was fun & Gina encouraged me to purchase some wine I really liked, which I typically would have have done. I believe the words were something along the lines of, 'you would be an idiot not to buy this wine for this price.' Enough said, 1/2 a case will be getting delivered to the house. And since this is Switzerland, they don't need you to give them a credit card number, or, really anything for that matter, to order this wine. They will send me an invoice AFTER we recieve the wine. Sounds about right. Then we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Europe, yum!

To all of you, prost! I think here in Switzerland, we'll be prosting with water, over a dinner of salad for a while to recover from all the fun!