Goodbye Switzerland!

Matt and I have been in the United States for the past 12 days now. I am permenantly back. Matt still has to make one more work trip, but will be here full time by the end of July. We spent our first week searching for apartments in New York City, Manhattan specifically. We think we may have found a place but are still waiting for all the papers to be processed and approved. We expect no hitches and are quite please with our potential future home in the Upper East Side.

Moving is alot of work and being without a place to call "home" for at least 5 weeks makes for a crazy time. But I am back in Iowa, and to me everywhere in Iowa is home, even if I am couch surfing. Though I am glad that it is just for a long visit. Getting a taste of NYC has made me excited to go back. We also had a chance to catch up with friends living there already and they gave us just a peak of what life could be like there. But for now we are enjoying every minute we have had with our families. It's been great to hug and hold our nieces and nephews we missed so much while away.

So this is the end of the blog for me...

Matt and Jill's Zurich Adventures are done for any foreseeable future, so it only seems right to close it out here. Thanks for being apart of it.

Blessings,

Jill and Matt

Conquering Calanda

One of Andrea's pictures of Mt. Calanda in the springtime - taken from their mountain house. (There wasn't this much snow on it when we were hiking.)

Hiking along the trail

Our picnic spot was 360 degrees of beautiful

Look closely and you can see me under the far left tree!

An image from the hut website of where they are located. We hiked along a ridge from the left side of the pic.

Enjoying a Calanda beer after a long day of hiking

Andrea and Joel at the top!

Yeah we made it! Now the hard part, hiking all the way back down.

Last Saturday morning we made a trip into the mountains with our friends Joel and Andrea. We had made the plan last year to hike to the peak of Mt. Calanda - a goal of theirs' for quite some time, and we were happy to be invited along for the challenge.

Our original plan was to go last August, but the weather did not cooperate. Thankfully, our last weekend for Matt and me in Switzerland was a beautiful one and we were able to embark upon our journey.

We hiked for 6 hours on Saturday, not including our picnic time. We spent Saturday night in a Swiss Alpine Club mountain hut. There we were able to ease our muscles with some Calanda beer and enjoyed an amazing 4 course meal with about 14 other hikers.

The next morning we made our way to the Calanda peak. We hiked another 8.5 hours on Sunday. So in total, there were 14.5 hours of hiking on roughly 20 miles of trail (or not trail, depending on if we could find markers) and climbed at least a mile in elevation. Needless to say, we were spent. It no doubt could have gone faster, but it was the first real hike of the season for all of us and they were happy to patiently go our at beginner's pace.

It was the best way possible to say goodbye to Switzerland.

Euro 2008

Zürich is a host city for the UEFA soccer tournament this year. The Euro 2008 matches are the largest event to ever be held in Switzerland. There has been much preparation and excitement for this tournament for over a year coming. Fortunate enough for the Swiss team, as they, along with the co-host country's team Austria, were awarded automatic entry into the tournament. Both Switzerland and Austria would have otherwise not qualified. They met the expectation that they would not advance past the round robin stage, but it was an exciting victory for Switzerland when they won their first ever UEFA tournament game the night before last.
The games kicked off on June 7th and will run through June 29th. Our apartment lies right in the Fan Mile where food vendors, makeshift bars, and tee shirt stands have cropped up to service all the needs of the fans. Needless to say, it's been quite the temptation to go out and party instead of getting ourselves packed for NYC. Also, it has proven to be a challenge to sell off our furniture when our street is so crowded.
The last game to be played in Zürich is tonight, France vs. Italy. We'll have to put the packing on hold tonight so we can enjoy the antics of the French and Italians. Go Italy!


Matt feasting on Älper Maccaroni and sporting our awesome Hawkeye beer cooler.

The Fanzone entry at Bellevue is ground zero for crazy fans.

Our former neighbors Stephan and Patricia came out with us to watch some of the Euro 08 games.

CONGRATS MELANIE AND CHRIS!

Melanie and Chris take their vows at the beautiful Elkhart Lake

Melanie, Heather, Jill and Sophie -- partying much too hard for the night before the wedding!

Andorra & Spain

On Sunday, May 18 we left for our last European trip. Who could pass up plane tickets to Spain for only 150 CHF per person? Certainly not us. But our trip budget was wearing a little thin, so we took along our tent and camped the three nights there.
We flew from Basel into the Girona airport just north of Barcelona. Our intention was to hit the beaches of the area known as the Costa Brava. We arrived late on Sunday, so by the time we pitched our tent it was already dusk. We first went to the Castillo Perelada. The castle, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is now home to a casino, hotel, and vineyard. It was very well done. A great stop.
The next day was a little cool and overcast so we decided to drive through the Pyrenees to the tiny little country called Andorra. We spent the afternoon in the capital city of Andorra La Vella. We spent some time there at a spa called Caldea. A bit overpriced and not as nice as the one in Baden Baden, but relaxing still. We hit the road after our break and spent the night in the mountains just over the border, back in Northern Spain. We definitely did not have enough warm stuff with us to camp that evening, but we lived.
The last full day of our trip we drove into Figueres, home to Salvador Dali. We visited the Dali museum there which he occupied during the final years of his life. The museum not only has the largest collection of Dali works but is also where he is buried.
After the museum we explored some of the coastline near Begur, then spent the night at the Verde Delfin in El Mas Pinell. It was a fantastic campground on a beautiful stretch of beach. We had nice weather and was a great way to round out the trip.



Castillo Perelada

From the web, a shot of the inside of the Caldea Spa

The outside of Caldea in Andorra la Vella

The beach at El Mas Pinell

The coastline view from Begur

NYC - Here we come!

By all accounts, our move back to the States is set and will be moving to the one and only ... NEW YORK CITY! Of course we're both thrilled. We are planning to leave Zürich on June 27. Of course, Matt will be back at least one more time for business.

We're spending the first part of July in temp housing while we search for an apartment. Then we'll both return to Iowa to spend some time with family before we're there full time. We're hoping to take an apartment at the beginning of August.

So watch out Big Apple, we're coming soon!

Aalsmeer, NL & Rhine Valley, DE

Our last full day of vacation. It was important to use it wisely, so we consulted Rick Steves and his book on Amsterdam for day trip ideas. (Thanks again for the book Kevin!) That is how it came to be that we found ourselves at Aalsmeer. For a description of the Bloemenveiling or "Flowers Auction" I turn to the town's website:
http://www.aalsmeer.nl/
'The world marketplace for flowers and plants'
Every day Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer sets the world price for flowers and plants. This happens by bringing supply and demand together by means of the auction clock- a fascinating process during which large and small batches of flowers are sold within fractions of seconds. Each day, 19 million flowers and two million plants are sold through 13 clocks at 'Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer'. It takes place within an area of almost one million m2. This means that Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer has the largest trade building in the entire world!
As a visitor to Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer, you will walk over a specially designed gallery. You can take a look at the auction without being noticed. Enjoy the gorgeous flowers, experience the hustle and bustle of auction. Come and take a look at Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer! Opening hours You can visit the auction between 7.30 and 11 a.m. The best time to visit is between 7.30 and 9.00 a.m. The auction is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. More information: http://www.vba-aalsmeer.nl/
What else need I say? The flowers were amazing. I just wanted to tip over a cart and roll around in them. Really neat, I think Rick was right on the money with this tip. Of course, they aren't lying when they say to go early. We were done by 9 am and the tour groups had just started rolling in, plus the activity in the market had greatly diminished just within the hour that we were there.
Our next stop was Antwerp, Belgium for some lunch of french fries and waffles. I think Belgium and the Netherlands have become one of my favorite areas of Europe just for the french fries and waffles alone. Matt agrees, and it's not easy for us to love the same foods. After walking a quick loop of the downtown area, we moved south to Brussels for yet another waffle. We're the epitome of health, no?
Then we moved back into Germany to the Rhine Gorge to camp in the land of castles. We stayed in St. Goar but drove out through Bingen. It was a great area to explore, just wish we had more time there. Also another reason to go back is all of the wine! This area is full of vineyards.
We were back to Zürich by noon after 10 nights of travel. A week and a half to gear up again before we are off to Spain on our last true vacation in Europe.

The flowers of Aalsmeer

Getting a view into the enormous warehouse of flowers at Aalsmeer

The auction clock at Aalsmeer

The description for tourists of the meaning of all the numbers on the auction clock at Aalsmeer

The Grote Markt of Antwerp

The Grote Markt of Brussels

Our look at Rheinfels Castle at St. Goar before we descended into the Rhine Valley
Pfalzgrafenstein fortress dates back to 1326

The Stahleck castle at Bacharach is actually now a youth hostel

Rheinfels Castle from the valley the morning after camping

Utrecht, Netherlands

After spending the night in Noordwijkerhout, we layed around the beach most of the next day. It was so relaxing. While the water was as cold as ice, we were nice and warm in the sun with a great coastal breeze. We wasted a good part of the day away when we decided it was time to move on.
As I mentioned before we were in the dune and bulb region. So after seeing the dunes it was time to see more of the bulbs on the way out. A few weeks back I went to the nearby Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse and saw a gorgeous display of flowers. This time, I got a closer look at the fields the farmers work for the commercial industry of tulips. It was stunning.
But we couldn't stay forever. The old Roman town of Utrecht was calling. It developed around the settlement of a fortress on the old river Rhine and later became an important religious seat for the Catholic Bishops. We walked along the old canal called Oudegracht and admired the construction. The houses were built so the basements opened up at water level to a pedestrian walk used for easy access to goods coming off boats from the Rhine River. Today, the wharf walkway is used for cafes and restaurants.
We stayed too long in Utrecht. We got going late and by the time we arrived at the campgrounds in the area, all of the offices were closed. So we had to bite the bullet and spend six times what we were paying in the campground to stay at the Mercure Hotel. Camping in Europe is definitely the way to go.

Another look at the bike route into the beach coming from Noordwijkerhout

The beach, again. Did I mention that I loved it? Just wish I got a ride on one of those horses!

The fields just outside of Noordwijk

Can you ever really capture something like this?

The Dom Church Tower dominates in Utrecht

A canal in Utrecht and one of the bridges crossing it

Utrecht

The Oudegracht or "old canal" in Utrecht

Arnhem and Noordwijk, NL

Round two of Arnhem. We first discovered Arnhem last August and we were determined to get back to the area with our tent. Camping in the Netherlands is very convenient. By and large the land is flat and bike lanes connect everything, plus alot of the campgrounds were renting bikes. It's such a great way to get out to see the area and enjoy nature. We got an early start to De Hoge Veluwe National Park and we were rewarded! Here we picked up our free bikes with admission and rolled through kilometer after kilometer of open bike trail - all to ourselves. Of course the park is big enough that even later in the day when mostly all of the 1,500 free bicycles were in use, the paths were still not very crowded.

My only regret is that we did not visit the Kröller-Müller Museum. It was such a nice day when we started out into the park and the museum entrance would have doubled our fare, so we went without it. Only to remember later that this museum is the second largest collection of Van Gogh's work and houses one of my favorites “The Café Terrace at Night” plus some others. Well, looks like I'm just going to have to make another trip back to De Hoge Veluwe sometime.

After we left the park we went to Openlucht Museum or "Open Air Museum". This museum park relocated some 80 historic homes, mills, and farmhouses to create a little preserved town from the past. It's great for kids but was a little soft on value for us.

We left heading west to the sand dune and bulb region of Noordwijk aan Zee. This stretch of beautiful sandy beach is located on the North Sea between Den Haag and Haarlem. Noordwijk aan Zee actually has a large complex of hotels and a nice strip of restaurants, but we camped in a more residential section called Noordwijkerhout. Also a great place to go if you love horses, we saw many people riding along and into the sea. Again, bike routes everywhere along the dunes. Yet another place I'd like to return.




The free bike in De Hoge Veluwe National Park


The path winds through a field in De Hoge Veluwe


The Hunting Lodge Saint Hubertus in De Hoge Veluwe designed by architect H. P. Berlage who worked for the Kröller-Müllers family



The bike path leading up to the beach coming from Noordwijkerhout

The beach near Noordwijkerhout


Some of the restaurants of Noorwijk aan Zee

Haltern am See, Germany

We left Bremen for someplace we have been wanting to go ever since moving to Europe - Haltern am See. I know, this doesn't make everyone's top ten list for vacation spots, but there is a reason for our desire to see it. Matt's ancestors immigrated from here. The farm they left is still in the family name and run by relatives who stayed behind.

Our first order of business was to find lunch. We found a great little roadside farmhouse named Peter's Bauernstube that was serving up some fantastic traditional fare. We ate like kings, then headed into town to poke around. We were looking to buy some much needed blankets and were happy to find some cheap ones at a discount shop. After spending the previous night wrestling over the one real sleeping bag we brought, it had to be done.

We cruised the strip surprised by how much bigger the town was then expected. The Tourist Information Office was actually some other type of government office with a secretary that doubled as a guide, but she gave us free postcards so we were happy.
We left the downtown area of Haltern am See and followed our GPS to the address of Matt's relatives. We drove between 5 and 10 minutes outside of town into what appeared to be a little village called Flaesheim, but the relative's city address is still for Haltern so we don't really know what the deal was. But we found it without trouble. We had made a couple of attempts prior to our arrival to contact the Althoff relatives without success. So, we decided to embrace the American in us and just show up. Matt spoke with the teenage son and younger sister but the parent's were not home. We got a look around at the barns and sheds by the house, then said goodbye and we were on our way.

It was getting late and we figured we better get somewhere to set up our tent. We drove another hour or so into the Netherlands and camped just outside of Arnhem. More about that tomorrow.

Matt at Peter's Bauernstube in Haltern am See

Peter's Bauernstube

A public fountain in front of St. Sixtus Church in Haltern am See

The main shopping street in Haltern am See

A look over Wesel-Datteln-Kanal, an important transport connection between the Lower Rhine and northern and eastern Germany. One of the six locks of this canal is located at Flaesheim and is located very near to the Althoff's.

We arrive! The entrance to the Althoff farm.

The driveway of our Althoff relatives

Althoff farm

Althoff farm