Blogfest 2013 - #3 - Oktoberfest!!!

Yea baby!!!

So we figured that attending Oktoberfest was a mandatory event while living here in Europe.  I'll be honest, I wasn't so much looking forward to it.  The idea of sitting in a tent with a few thousand of my closest friends all hammered off their asses?  Not so much.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  We had a really excellent time.  The atmosphere there is just so much fun.  Before you even go into the tent, there are these huge fairgrounds with all kinds of rides and food and drink booths.  I do, very highly recommend, riding the rides prior to entering the tent to drink!  But anyway, inside the tent, everybody is in a great mood, the band is playing and everyone is singing along.  Sometimes while standing on the benches.  Two drunken thumbs up!

The tents are huuuuuuuuge

this is maybe 1/4 of the tent

and so are the beer steins

His and Hers

somehow, our friends managed to convince us that appropriate attire was this:

before

during

a little later

and after

The best part of Oktoberfest?  They close the party down at 10pm!

There are a ton more pictures but they will most certainly not be uploaded to the internets.  Feel free to drop by and visit if you'd like to see the rest!

Blogfest 2013 - #2 - the Swiss Grand Canyon

After a busy and hot summer, we decided to do as the Swiss do and go to the mountains for a weekend.    We found a nice hike in Flims which is about a 2 hour train ride away from Zurich.

Here's a link to the hike should you ever find yourself in Switzerland and looking for a nice half day wander through the mountains.

We took plenty of pictures of course!

Before we get started, a nice shot of a typical Swiss village:

And now, the Swiss Grand Canyon!

For next year, we must figure out how those folks got down there with rafts and canoes.  That looks totally awesome!

Andre and Sophs checking out the view

the hilllllls are alive with the sound of muuuusic!

We also hiked by the absolutely amazing Lake Cauma.  

So, who wants to come visit now!?!?!?

Blogfest 2013 - #1 - We Moved!

Sooooo, seems I've been a bit remiss in my blogging over the last few months.  Time to catch up!

First up.....we moved!  After over a year of commuting for over an hour each way, Andre finally convinced me to move apartments.  We moved to the other side of the Zurich lake.

Here's some perspective:

It's about a five minute walk from our new place to the lake which should be totally awesome (in about 10 months...).  In the meantime, we have an excellent view of the train tracks and the lake!

Here's a shot of one of Switzerland's finest trains.

The trains are a bit loud but everyone we've talked to says you get used to it.  Here's hoping that's true!

We have an excellent picture window (please ignore the boxes - we're not 100% unpacked yet)

The new place is basically the same size as the old place but our bedrooms and the bathroom are much bigger so as a result, we have waaaaay too much living room type of furniture.  Time to get on the Swiss version of e-bay and get to selling!

Our old apartment had a glass shower door so when we moved in to the new place, we had to buy an emergency shower curtain.  There's wasn't a lot of choice.  It's growing on me though!

And of course, with the new deck we have, Andre had to go out and buy himself a present...

We've already put it to some serious good use!

Coming up next...the Swiss Grand Canyon

oh and come visit!