Swiss Alps

The family I work for does an annual ski trip. We spent 9 days in a cabin in Avers-Juf, Switzlerland, with few other families who are friends or relatives of Patrick and Koko. The area is beautiful. It's the highest village occupies year round in Switzerland. It's know for great "Tour-skiing" which is Patrick and Koko's sport. There is also a small ski resort there, where the kids had ski lessons everyday. I was working throughout the trip - getting all the kids (some from the other families) dressed and ready to ski, and taking them to their classes while the parents were out tour-skiing. Amazing scenery, really quiet town removed from civilization. There are a few dairy and sheep farms up there, and the village cheese store, and that's about it. We drove into Andeer one day and went to a hot spring spa in the middle of a beautiful Alpine valley.

Late season sun has made only half of the slopes ski-able

I hung out at the ski hut while the kids had their lessons. This was my view.

The house across the street from ours had the most elaborate model train I have ever seen. The tracks go around the house, through the garage, and are based on the famous Glacier Express train route, which goes through the area.

Deaner - this pic is for you. Roofs out of flat rocks. I found this mystifying.

This was our home for the week

Our home from above.

I got a chance to ski on the last full day there - I'm not much of a skier, but it was a beautiful place to try something new. (Picture to come later hopefully)

On the way home we stopped and went to church in Chur, Switzerland, which is the same congregation Patrick and Koko used to attend when they lived in Davos, Switzerland. They had a fun Easter luncheon after the services with traditional eggs and bread.

Weekend in Holland!

Quick lesson that I learned at an embarrassingly late age: The Netherlands is a country where the Dutch people live. They speak Dutch. The country is made up of 12 provinces, two of which are called North Holland and South Holland. A lot of the sea-faring adventurers came from the coast which is where those two provinces are, and claimed they came from Holland. So the two terms aren't interchangeable, only people from those two provinces are from Holland. Also of note - one other province there, Zeeland, is the Sr. of New Zealand.

So I took a train to Amsterdam, only about 4 hours from Bonn. I honestly wasn't really looking forward to the city, and I was pleasantly surprised. So far my favorite European city. 

Hanging out at Museum Platz

Perfect day at Vondelpark

And yes, the Red Light District. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Window Shopping"

 I stayed at a house in Almere, I booked a room through Airbnb, and it was fantastic. My host, Caroline, gave me wonderful insights about the area, growing up in the Netherlands, and she made me an amazing and huge breakfast each morning.

I spent my Sunday with tulips. Took a bus to the Keukenhof museum, the world's largest flower garden. Dwell on that fact for a minute. It is amazing. I was weary that it would be too crowded, but it was a beautiful day for anyone at the park. Absolutely stunning. They had some fun traditional songs and dances around the park as well. I posted a million flower pics on FB, but I'll post a few here. 

After spending a few hours at the Keukenhof, I rented a bike and went out on my own. I biked for about 4 hours, through a few cities, went to the coast, and through at least 75 tulip fields. It was a perfect Sunday (minus the flat tire I got about 5 kilometers away from the bike rental place)

Around Bonn

One Saturday, I caught a train to meet my friend from church on our way to Koblenz. It's a city about the size of Bonn just upstream (which means south), only about a 30 minute train ride. We had a great time on a beautiful sunny day.

This is a huge statue right at the delta where the Moselle and Rhine rivers meet

The View from the Horse

Here is Inga in the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. She's great. 

View of Horse from Fortress

View of Fortress from below, after we hiked down the mountain

I have never really been in love with spring. In Utah, spring lasts about two weeks and doesn't involve a lot of flowers. In Juneau, spring shows up end of June, and isn't much different than any other part of the summer, except colder. Europe however, knows how to do Spring. Here are some spots in Bonn flaunting springtime blossoms.

Rhinaue Park

Rhineau park. So much green

Today, my friend Olivia and I biked around the area a bit. She's another American Au Pair here in Bonn. We biked across the Rhine to Koningswinter. We ate lunch, took this train up to the top of one of the Siebenbergen (Seven Mountains) to the ruins of a beautiful castle.

Bad Honnef

Some of the other mythical Siebenbergen

Bonn, and the skyline of Cologne in the distance

First Trips - Basel and Frankfurt

Last post I showed some Carnival pics from Basel, but here are a few shots of what the city looks like during the day.

Koko had told me about the fun festivals that happen in Basel when I first got here, and I really wanted to see them. But let's be honest, my real motivation for heading to Basel was to hang out with Roger Federer. I was hoping for giant gold statues of the man and everyone would be wearing his logo and playing tennis in the street. Turns out it's a normal, beautiful European city, that - along with the rest of Europe - only likes to idolize dead guys. Until he dies, Rog just exists on a million advertisements around Basel, on the courts, and in all of our hearts. (Yes, I do know he's happily married). Patrick got me in contact with one of his mission buddies, and they were nice enough to let me invade their home for a weekend. I loved getting to know Curtis, Susan, their gorgeous daughters, and a little bit of their story.

You could actually swim from Bonn to Basel directly, but it's upstream in deadly currents and freezing water - so I opted for the train. I arrived Saturday morning after about a 4 hour train ride that follows right alongside the Rhine, past many castles and small towns in a Unesco World Heritage cite. Curtis and his daughters met me at the tram stop right by their house, and I soon after went off to wander. I found a flea market right away. Europeans love flea markets and they're good at it. Bartering in multiple languages (I counted 5 in my walk around the square), ancient treasures, and useless stuff as well. I was in heaven.

Flea Market

They like them Shutters. I do too.

This gate was part of the original wall around the small Medieval settlement of Basel. There are remnants of the rest of the wall, but this was the city's entrance. Most European cities have very similar things (i.e. the gate I posted from Bonn, same story)

From within the city

From the "Outside"

A sneak peak of the Rathaus while walking around the city

Just a random mural on a narrow alley wall

Basel Munster

Ideal place for a sunset stroll

Basel by day. The Rhine sure is hideous, right?

 Here are my two new BFFs, Ivy and Mia. Mia only refers to her school as "my beloved school." They gave me a fun tour of their routes and walks, and all weekend they made me feel beautiful and welcomed. I love these gals.

Messeplatz

The following pic is for Amandass. This was the outside of a museum, after hours, with an interactive game of "memory" all with pictures of Marilyn Monroe. The two silhouettes you see are people playing the game.

Basel by Night

I went to church here, their ward was so friendly and fun. And their building is beautiful and much bigger than Bonn's.

After church in Switzerland, I WALKED to France, then Germany. Yup. This is a monument marking where the three countries meet.

 I spent a few hours hanging out at this huge and amazing park. It was pretty much the first legitimately warm day, so everyone was outside enjoying the weather. I sat and watched old men play chess on one of those giant chessboards, watched some hippies doing gymnastics/yoga/what my immediate family would call "Professional Body Games," but I didn't dare take pics.

 

Basel was a great trip. I'm lucky to have gotten to see it, and meet the Nordstroms. 

Last weekend, a fun girl from my ward in Bonn invited me to join her in a quick trip to Frankfurt. We left Friday evening to get to Darmstat for a YSA (Young Single Adult) dance, put on by the Mormon church. This was like no YSA dance I'd ever been to. We got to the church around 9, the dance went until 2 AM! And everyone stays the whole time. We drove 2 hours to get there, and we traveled less than most people there. It was for anyone in the German speaking area (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), and everybody is friends. It was such a cool thing to see people from all over the country come and hang out, really talk, and actually dance. The dance is casual, but they actually dance - kind of like how Americans swing dance - paired off, there's designated steps and form, lifts and fun moves. Jelena from the ward and her friend Maili had to do a ton of introducing and translating for me, and they were so nice. 

This is actually from just outside of Bonn where I met up with the girls, but I thought it was pretty and part of the trip.

After the dance We stayed with Jelena's Aunt and Uncle, they were delightful and really interesting to talk to. In the morning we went by the temple before heading back home.

This nice man, the temple gardener and friend of Maili, is giving us each a flower from the grounds

Frankfurt Temple

 Another view of the temple. You can see two yellowish buildings that look like apartment buildings. They are actually the "Temple Hostel", part of temple square. Since people have to travel a long way to go to the temple, they often book a room in the hostel, which you can get to from the lobby of the temple itself! We saw some friends from the dance, and while talking to them they saw three or four couples from their ward. This ward, mind you, is about 5 hours away. It's a cool network of Saints here in Germany. I'm really lucky to get to witness them in action.

Two pretty quick weekend trips. For no reason, here's a picture of the two men who occupy most of my life right now, Phineas and Nicolas, at one of the amazing parks right near our home.