No Place Like.....GNOMES?

I'm home from spending 3 weeks in Switzerland. It didn't feel like 3 weeks at all, in fact, I almost forgot that I was going home there towards the end!

One of the coolest things that I think has made the trips better is getting an apartment. I got a studio apartment that really feels like a 1 bedroom. The "living/sleeping" part is about as big as my living room here, so I have a ton of space. And I love having a kitchen and can't wait to make cookies. Oh, and we outfitted it at IKEA too! Gotta love that...


And the best part of my apartment is the fact that it's on the Rhein. Like walk out my front door, turn right, walk 20 steps, get wet, close to the Rhine. And with the weather getting warmer, it will be great to sit out along there. (I don't have a river view though, but it doesn't really matter...) Here's what I see in the morning:



After a trip to IKEA and just wandering around Basel, the group went to MUBA which was down the street from the hotel we were all staying in. This was the home show and it was HUGE. In one upstairs section was the wine and cheese tasting area. Imagine 50 booths for wine tasting from all over Europe, but the atmosphere reminds you of a Used Car lot (so, you want the leather interior AND the free undercoating...). The wine was fabulous and I decided that I like the Italian reds and German whites the best. And we were there on the last day and were by the booth that a colleague had bought cases from earlier in the week, so we got a bunch of samples AND 13 bottles to "take home", as they were opened. So that night we enjoyed wine and pizza on the patio (it was 65 that night!!). How European is that!!

Wine, arranged by country:


And there was some US Country band playing there. They had no European accents, so we figured they were legit.

The next weekend I got to move in and went back to IKEA for more stuff! (love that place...) And went grocery shopping, as nothing is open past 6 during the week!

On Sunday, a group of us went to Davos-Klosters to ski. Apparently the Royal Family skis here on a regular basis and the consensus from the group was that this was the best skiing they've done since being over there. Since I don't ski, nor have any desire to ski, a colleague of mine - Chris and I went sledding instead. (Or Sledging, as they call it!) It was a BLAST. A 2 mile run down the side of a mountain on a sled. Wooden sled using your feet to steer and stop. And there are bumps and moguls and no fencing along those 15 ft drops. It was so much fun. I would flip off the sled and end up laughing so hard. At the end of the day and 5 runs later, I felt like I had been chewed up by a shredder and my legs looked like someone had taken an aluminum bat to them - thank God for Celebrex! I did end up hitting Chris once - he wiped out and I couldn't stop in time. And I wiped out good and proper and my sled took me out, leaving a bruise the size of a softball right above my knee. It was so worth it though and I would totally do it again. I sledded the Alps. Oh and I got a video of part of the run here. (I dropped the camera about half way - I didn't wipe out)

Picture from the top of the Mountain. We did not sled from that high up. We were only half way up. And yes, those are clouds DOWN there.



Another picture from the top of the mountain. The sky color was amazing that day.

Here is a picture of the sled run about half-way down.

My next trip is in another week or so and I'll be gone for 5 weeks this time. It seems like a long time, but I know it will fly by. And I would rather spend this part of the year over there than here with all the severe storms and tornados! Oh, and it's been warmer there than here, so I cannot complain about that either!

By the way...I found Gnomes off of the #2 Tram: