European trip, 2010: Northern Italy, April 22th to 28nd

The Train, multiple countires: April 22nd 2010

Thursday morning we took a somewhat round-about route (I tried really hard to plan things efficiently as possible, but sometimes my best efforts turn out to be not as good as I intended) to Milano, Italy. We started out taking a train from Interlaken to Bern where we had to switch to a different train which took us to Zurich. From Zurich we switched to another train that carried us on to Milano. Unfortunately the ride from Zurich to Milano was a little rockier than any of our previous train rides and both Andrew and I were feeling a little queasy at different points throughout the trip. We survived it though, and arrived in Milano at around 2:00 pm. From there we had to switch trains again to the local commuter trains to reach our host. Now, I have to say that sadly, Italy’s local commuter trains are not the most pretty of beasts. Many of the cars are heavily graffitied on the outside, and old and smelly on the inside. They run, though, and got us where we were going on more than one occasion, so I guess that’s a step up over many of the cities in Canada.

We arrived at the train station nearest our host's place of work (place of study, really, since he is a PhD student) around 3:00 pm. He picked us up, and drove us to the University for a tour and meet ‘n greet. This was for Andrew’s benefit rather than my own, as our host became acquainted with Andrew when he (and his wife and child) came to Edmonton for a stint in the lab Andrew works in at the University of Alberta. I listened as politely as I could and tried to remain focused on the discussions, but superhydrophobic surfaces and water droplets are somewhat outside my realm of study/interest/understanding. Around 5:30 pm we headed home via the supermarket. We ended the day with a delightful dinner with proper Italian pizza, and made plans for the next day.

Venezia, Italy: April 23rd, 2010

Our first destination for our stay in Italy was Venezia, or in English, Venice. Another train ride was in order for this day (2.5 hours), but it passed in relative comfort on the Italy Eurostar (way cushier than the local commuter trians). After a slightly longer-than-necessary wait, we managed to grab a map of the city and directions to the nearest grocery store, then off we went to explore. The first few steps outside the train station were wondrous--a little like entering Disneyland for the first time, I suppose. The main canal was right there, there were bridges, there were boats passing on the river...oh, and there were gorgeous, old buildings. We snapped a couple of pictures right away.

Our first view of Venezia out of the train station.

The main canal, from a bridge as we crossed.

The side trip to the grocery store took a little longer than intended--both in the length of time it took us to find it (went one street to far at first), then switching cashier lines when we were ready to pay (Andrew thought we were being told we needed leave the line because we had too many items for the express counter), but eventually we were off. We walked mostly without aim, turning down which ever tiny, narrow streets seemed interesting. Occasionally we checked our map to make sure we were at least progressing toward San Marco, which was our goal. If you have never been to Europe, you may not realize, but there aren’t really shopping malls like there are in North America. Shops, and boutiques are crammed into buildings amongst the historic architecture of Europe. So in Venezia (and Milano, and Florenze, etc) shopping in done out of doors with a mixture of stores inside buildings, and outdoor vendors.

In Venezia, fancy, decorated face masks, and glass are particularly famous. Many of the shops carried one or the other of these and sometimes both. We decided it might be nice to pick up a mask, which we eventually did on our way back to the train station at the end of the day. We chose to support one of the smaller vendors, who decorated the masks onsite. She was very friendly, which was why we went back to her, and spoke at least three different languages (English, Italian and French). Eventually we wound our way to San Marco (it took as three hours, maybe?) and paused there for some time to admire the architecture. Ultimately we choose not to go into any of the museums, so we just got an external view. We started working our way back around 4:00 pm, in order to catch our train home. Although the weather wasn’t spectacular (rather grey, with a light pattering of rain at some points) we had a very nice day, ambling the streets on our own.

San Marco square.

San Marco square.

Milano, Italy: April 24th, 2010

After our early start the previous day (we were on the train by 7:00 am) we were able to sleep in to around 8:00 am this day as we were driving into Milano with our hosts. After a breakfast of a cappuccino (for me) and biscuits we headed off with our first destination as the castle of Milano. It was quite a spectacular building, definitely a proper castle with turrets and fortifications, and it must have been quite grand in it’s time. We were free to wander about the interior walls, which gave us a good view of the building and many photo opportunities. As an added bonus, the weather was already demonstrating it was likely to be a decent day, with not too much sun, but pleasant overall. After the castle we continued on along one of the main shopping streets on our way to visit the huge city centre cathedral. First, we passed through a famous archway dedicated to long ago royalty. While under the arch also had to take a turn spinning on the balls of a bull--yes, truly. There’s an image of a bull placed in the sidewalk and you’re supposed to place you heel on the bull’s balls and turn around to ensure you will one day return to Milano. A reasonable-sized crowd hung around it and I found it difficult to butt in and take my turn.

A snapshot of the interior of the castle.

The arch.

Andrew, turning on the bull.

From the arch we emerged by the square in front of the cathedral where we milled around for a bit before deciding to wander around for a little while before heading in. Our hosts wanted to show us a second church, not for away, so we headed over there; however, it turned out this church wasn’t open until 3:00, so we headed back for the main square. En route we stopped at a bakery as our hosts wanted to pick up some marzipan (decorated in the shape of various fruits). As we waited outside Andrew and I wondered about a curious, shell-shaped pastry, which was then purchased for our sampling. I can’t recall what they were called, but they were slightly crunchy on the outside, while soft and chewy on the inside. They were very good and very filling. As Andrew and I munched, we all headed back to view the cathedral. Apparently this church has the 3rd largest dome in the world after Rome and a place in Germany. It was overall quite beautiful, as our most churches from that time, with lots of ornate paintings, sculptures, etc.

The main cathedral in Milano.

At this point we agreed it was time to hunt down some lunch, and decided to try one of the best places in Milano for panzarotte. Similar to our experience in Worms, the best place was quite busy; however, the line up was moving quickly and we waited. The panzarottes were indeed very good. I had one with spicy sausage and cheese, and Andrew bravely went for the panzarotte of the day without knowing what it was--as it turns out, it was “German” with sausage and sauerkraut. They were both very delicious. Afterwards we ambled around the street-lined shops for sometime. If on our own I probably would have wanted to stop in several of them and try on clothes, but with our hosts I didn’t want to slow us up. I just window shopped, which is better on the wallet anyways. It should be noted that clothing in Italy wasn’t actually all that expensive. Definitely the high designers like Cocco Chanel, Fendi, Prada etc., were not within my price range, but many of the higher-priced, average person stores were no worse than going into a Mexx, or a Tristian and American in North America.

After a rest in a small coffee shop we were able to visit the second church, which was in deed very unique. We only took a few steps inside the church and stopped, when our host asked us if we could tell what was different about it. We paused. Andrew looked around closely and so did I. Our host hinted that we would have to be very good to be able to tell the trick from where we stood. I think we walked in a little farther and stopped again. Andrew reacted as if he had realized what was going on and I looked again. I’m not quire sure how I was able to tell, but I too realized the quirk: the front of the church was painted to act as an optical illusion. There was really only a few meters of depth behind the alter although it was painted to look like the church continued on much deeper. Unfortunately photographs of the interior were not permitted. When we’d finished in the church we headed back to where the car had been parked. We’d walked a fair bit by this point and our hosts' son was fast asleep in his stroller.

Isola Bella, Italy: April 25th, 2010

This morning I had faith in it being a beautiful day. I wore capries and sandals--my faith, as it turned out was rewarded. This day was pleasantly spent on Isola Bella. The drive took about an hour and a half (I’m not quite sure as I was busily reading Beauty, by Robin McKinley) to we arrive at a parking lot beside a small dock. We had to wait for sometime after our arrival for a group of friends of our host who were going to join us and seemed to have gotten lost. After a slight delay we were off to the island. At first we just took a circuit of the island. Many of the shops carried things like postcards (for excessively cheep prices), glass jewelry, more masks, etc. I liked to look at the various wares available, but the only thing I picked up was postcards (for virtually every oversees trip I have taken I have sent back a small army’s worth of postcards to friends and family--it’s easier and less expensive than kitschy souvenirs). It’s amazing (being a native North America) how Europeans cram as much as they can into tiny spaces. The streets on the island were only big enough to walk along. I thought it was all very beautiful, but that may because I don’t see such scenery on a regular basis.

The streets on Isola Bella.

Once we were done browsing we paid our entrance into the huge manor house (built by the Borromeo family). We took our time as we meandered through the house, admiring the enormous rooms (including the library, ball room, salon, etc.), and the fine furnishings. Bellow the house was a number of grottos, which although not natural, were designed and built to look like they were made out of rocks. Eventually the route through the house spit us out into the garden. I think the garden was as spectacular (if not more so) then the house. It contained lemon and orange trees (with fruit easily twice the size we see in Canada), palm trees, other spectacular plants (which I cannot name since I am no horticulturalist), plus white peacocks, which roamed freely throughout the garden.

Me, admiring the scenery from the Borremeo garden.

The interior of the garden.

The white peacocks.

After we exited the garden we grabbed some lunch (it was something like 2:00 pm by this point, so I was very happy to sit and have some food). We ate at one of the restaurants on the island, and to our surprise it was not as expensive as anticipated (given the island is something of a tourist trap). I enjoyed grilled a vegetable and cheese plate. Vegetable consumption tends to be a bit low in Europe for my preference, so I enjoyed my lunch greatly. For desert I grabbed pistachio flavoured gelato from a vendor outside the restaurant. Yum! At this point we caught a ferry over to another island, only a few minutes away. This island was mainly shops and restaurants, so we didn’t stay as long here. We enjoyed the view of the coast, watched some people attempting to maneuver the choppy lake on water bicycles, and walked a little further before returning to the mainland and to our car. Again on the ride home I spent much of the time reading (hey, it was a good book).

Florenze, Italy: April 26th, 2010

We struck a bit of bad luck this day. First, I woke up with the beginnings of a cold (the whole left side of my throat and face felt congested) then, once we arrived in Florenze we discovered that all the museums are closed on Mondays. This meant we couldn’t go see the David as planned, and we couldn’t go to the Pitti Palace, which was a definite bummer. The day was sunny, at least, which in my books makes anything at least somewhat bearable. It was also rather hot, although quite tolerable when hiding in the shade. So, although Sandra Bullocks’ character from While You Were Sleeping dreamed over going to Florenze and thought it the best destination possible, Andrew and I were somewhat unimpressed. I liked Venezia better even though the day we visited there it was cool and damp.

We spent a good deal of the day walking. First to the art museum were the David is housed (before we had realized everything was closed), then to the Pitti Palace (where we determined that no, indeed, the museums were closed). Then we walked a bit farther yet thinking we might be able to get into a semi-nearby garden—we couldn’t. In the end we decided to sit for a dessert and a drink then killed time by doing some shopping. I tried a few things on, but didn’t purchase anything. Around 5:00 pm we took a peak in the main cathedral in Florenze. It has a fancy dome, which is really high up (supposedly some kind of engineering feat) so you have to crane your neck to see the art work. Andrew took pictures, some of the few we took in Florenze. We caught the train back to Milano at 6:00 pm, and were back with our hosts around 9:00 pm (we had to wait awhile for our connecting trains).

The dome.

Como (and other small villages) Italy: April 27th, 2010

This was the day we went to see George Clooney’s house. Well no, not really, but we liked to think that’s where we were going. Mr. Clooney has a house in Como, which is a very pretty town on a lake of the same name. Houses are built at the base of mountain, just like you might imagine from a European postcard. Unfortunately, the day we went was not particularly postcard-like. It was grey, cool, and windy. Plus, by this point we didn’t have much in the way of clean clothing so I wore my capries again, and the weather was only barely warm enough. We arrived in Como around 12:00 pm (Andrew and I slept in that morning, me because of my cold, Andrew because...well...he likes to sleep) and wandered around the pier for a bit. If it had been a nicer day it would have been really lovely, but as it was, it was only tolerable. We continued to meander around the town for a while, but as it was mid-day many of the shops were closed (the siesta is a common practice in Italy).

Along the pier, toward the edge of Como (otherwise there were construction cranes in view).

We picked up lunch from a local bakery (pizza and bread) and ate it by a fountain in a small square. I haven’t really mentioned it so far, but I really love the plethora of bakeries found in European cities. They really love their baked goods there; whether it’s bread (which is rarely plain white or whole wheat), rolls, croissants, or fancy pastries, they’re readily available even in the smaller cities we visited. I happen to love bread in all its shapes and forms so this didn’t bother me in the least. I ate chocolate croissants whenever possible, and often had bread covered with Nutella when not. I love the way Europeans eat...aside from the lack of vegetables. Anyways, once we’d finished lunch we walked a little longer and headed up toward a small park were there were several memorials/crypts including one for the inventor Alessandro Volta, and one for the city of Hiroshima. At this point we made our way back to the car and drove farther along the coast.

We arrived in the town of Cernobbio around 2:00 pm (I think) and again went for a stroll along the lake. Judging by the city centre, this town was considerably smaller than Como, and so the main purpose of stopping here was to take a quick look around before catching a ferry, which would take us to the other side of the lake. Thankully the wind had died down by this point, so I was more comfortable with bare legs. In order to kill time we stopped in one of the local restaurants for some refreshment. I ordered tiramisu as I hadn’t had the chance to have it anywhere else in Italy and this was our last day. It lived up to my expectations with a tasty cream/custard filling. Unfortunately we missed our planned ferry at 4:00 pm due to taking are sweet time in the restaurant and had to wait for the next one which was at 4:50 pm. Even then we nearly missed the second ferry as we were confused about which dock we sailed from.

The walk way along the lake front in Cernobbio.

The ferry took us to another small town on the other side of the lake. The boat was quite small, especially when you consider the gigantic ones that cross from Vancouver city to the island. Ten cars fit on this ferry (it was a tight) and we had to tip-toe through the vehicles to get to the seating (outdoors, on an upper deck). On the plus side, by this point the day had warmed and the sun had come out so the crossing was pleasant, as was the walk around the town. We stayed maybe an hour at most as we needed to get back home in time for dinner. We were a little late in getting back; however, as we undertook a small (okay, slightly epic) treasure hunt to locate a stovetop cappuccino maker for myself.

From the ferry as we approached the opposite side of the lake.

Our hosts offered us tea or a cappuccino every morning with breakfast, and I always opted for the cappuccino. They had a nifty little stovetop 2-cup maker decorated with cow spots. It has a chamber in the bottom where you place the water and coffee grinds, and a top compartment that screws on where you place milk. As the stove heats the water in the bottom it evaporates and filters up through the coffee grounds into the top pot that contains the milk. Andrew and our host were gushing about the engineering involved in this design...oh engineers. I commented that I liked the cappuccino maker and might be interested in purchasing one if they weren’t too expensive, and so on our last day we drove to several places in town in order to find a store that carried the right product. I’m now the proud owner of the Tweety Bird model of the Muuka maker by Bialetti.

Ciao,

Andrea

European trip, 2010: Interlaken, Switzerland April 20th to 22nd

Interlaken, Switzerland: April 20th to 22th, 2010

We arose at a not too early hour (about 7:00 am) to catch a train from Mainz that took us to Mannheim, and from there to Interlaken. The walk from the train station to our hostel was relatively short…although it would have been quicker if we hadn’t turned down the wrong street first. We stayed at the Backpackers Villa, which although slightly prison-like in its dorm interior, was otherwise quite comfortable. We choose to go to Interlaken for one reason: paragliding. I went on a tandem paragliding flight there three years ago when I last visited Switzerland, and I wanted Andrew to have the chance to experience it as well. So, one of the first things we did upon arriving in the town was book our flight. Tuesday was cloudy with a little bit of rain and so no one was flying when we arrived, but we were told Wednesday was expected to be perfect.

Once we set our flight time, we headed off to explore the town. It’s quite a picturesque little place, with mountains surrounding it in every direction. It also has lots of shops to look in. Perhaps not surprisingly, there were a number of places that sold watches and Swiss army knives. Watches can range from 70/80 CHF to several thousand CHF. On our first day we didn’t purchase anything, but enjoyed browsing through the available wares. That night we decided to go back to one of the fancier restaurants and enjoy traditional Swiss cheese fondue. It was quite tasty and very filling…but not so filling that we couldn’t fit in chocolate fondue afterward. We spent close to two hours at dinner, so by the time we were done, we simply headed back to our room and relaxed.

One of the huge hotels in Interlaken, with a few mountains in the background.

Me, enjoying cheese fondue.

Wednesday was indeed the glorious day promised. Having slept well, we awoke a little earlier than planned and headed out for a run. We weren’t really sure where we should go on our run as there was no convenient river to follow (like the Rhine in Germany) so we wound up going up part of a hill (small mountain?) then out of Interlaken and into one of the neighbouring towns. I probably could have run on for longer, but since I knew there was still a lot of walking ahead in our day we turned back after 20 minutes, for a 40 minute run altogether.

After breakfast we headed into Interlaken, not too sure what we would do with our time before our paragliding flight, which wasn’t set until 2:00 that afternoon. We brought along one of the tourist maps provided in our room and decided to visit the Interlaken Castle, which is probably really more of a big manor house. We didn’t go into the Castle itself as it’s used for local government offices, but did visit two churches (situated right beside each other). One was a much older church, although I don’t recall when it was built, and the other much newer. No one was around when we went into either church so we just wandered about the pews and sanctuary. The both had lovely stained glass windows. Afterward we continued into a lovely Japanese garden (only a block or two away), where giant fish inhabitant the pond. Then we walked. I think we must have walked for over two hours, up the side of the mountain a little ways (not too far up as we didn’t have extra food or hiking shoes with us) then when we got back down to the town level, along the river and through the country side. It was lovely.

The country side around Interlaken.

Before heading out to our paragliding flight we stopped by our room to get rid of all unnecessary baggage (backpacks, etc), then off we went. The company we flew with took us up the side of one of the mountains where a number of people were already lining up to take off. We somehow managed to jump the cue and be the first to take off. How does one take off, you might ask? Well, by walking off the side of the mountain--truly. You stand on the side of the mountain with your pilot strapped to you from behind, then you take a couple of steps and before you know it the canopy is filled with air and you’re soaring in the sky. Wednesday was a good day to fly. It was clear, and we were able to see all around the valley. Altitude is gained by catching thermals, which we were easily able to do that day. We did some tricks while we were in the air, slaloms, and spirals, which are just as good as any rollercoaster before we landed. I think the flight was half an hour total. Sometime I need to learn how to fly a paraglider myself.

Andrew and I before heading out on our paragliding flights.

Me, coming in for a landing (I think...it could also be a random person we don't know.)

We took it easy for the remainder of the day, resting in our hostel, writing postcards and drinking local beer. We also did some laundry, which was getting to the crucial state given we were about a week into our trip. I also decided to purchase a watch--a proper Swiss made watch. It’s a Balmain watch, and in my opinion both pretty (with some neat scrolling things on the face) and shiny. It is not, should I have to mention, one of the multi-thousand dollar watches. We went to bed at a reasonably early hour since we needed to by on the train by 8:30 the next morning.

European Trip 2010: Germany, April 15th to April 19th

Last Wednesday Andrew and I took off from Edmonton International Airport en route to Frankfurt, Germany. We have been talking about taking such a trip for some time (I can't remember how long for sure) and finally booked our airplane tickets last Christmas and started planning in earnest. So now, here I am, blogging from Germany. We've had a great time so far, with equally great weather. Today was a beautiful 21C and sunny.

April 15th, 2010: Darmstadt
We spent a few hours on our first day in Germany wandering about Damstadt. Andrew spent 3 weeks in this town a few years ago in preparation for a parabolic flight, so he had a few acquaintances who go to the University there. We briefly met up with our host, a PhD student at the University, then busied ourselves for the next couple of hours exploring the city (our arrival actually interrupted a meeting our host was involved in, and then he had to mark exams). We visited the city's botanical gardens, which Andrew enjoyed very much when he stayed in Darmstadt, then ambled on along the streets . We saw some old castle ruins, and also happened by the library.

Ruins in Darmstadt

Me, in front of the library in Darmstadt

We returned to the University around 5:30 p.m. and from there headed to Mainz where our host lives with his girlfriend. To get to Mainz we first had to take a bus, which was packed, then the train, which was less packed. We arrived at our accommodations around 8:00 p.m. I'm not sure how Andrew and I managed it, but we stayed up until almost 11:00 p.m. on only a couple of hours of sleep on the airplane. We were both exhausted by the time we went to bed.

April 16th, 2010: Heidelberg
This day didn't start until 11:15 a.m. I'm not sure sure how I managed to sleep in that long, but I was relieved to have done so, as I think it helped minimize the jet leg. This late sleep-in actually worked out well as our host had to work that morning, and wasn't free until early that afternoon anyway. Once we had eaten breakfast and showered, we headed out to pick up our host at his office, then continued on to Heidelberg. Lunch was at a local diner called, Mandy's. It was delicious and extremely filling, even though I just had a burger and a drink (plus a few fries off of Andrew's plate).

Mandy's diner

After lunch we visited Heidelberg castle. It was very beautiful, although in a somewhat ruinous state. The admission to the castle included a pass to ride the inclined rail train down to the market area. We spent a couple of hours wandering the shops in very pleasant weather. I particularly enjoyed a lovely jewelry store, a very cool "stuff" store (kitchen implements, cups, plates, umbrellas, bags, etc), a chocolate store and a wonderfully fragrant spice store. We didn't buy anything, but very much enjoyed the day. Eventually we made our way home and had a late dinner.

Andrew and I at one of the bridges in Heidelberg, the castle can be seen in the background

April 17th, 2010: Eich
After an enjoyable breakfast of bread and spreads (I love Nutella), we headed out for Eich, the home town of our host. The drive to Eich took approximately 30 minutes. When we arrived we picked up bicycles from our host's parent's place then pedaled off into the German countryside. The sky was blue, with little to no clouds, and although a little cool, the weather made a lovely day for bike riding. Our route took us along the Rhine, on paths made specifically for bikers and walkers. We biked for some time, continuing on to one of the nearby (and rival) towns before returning to Eich. I wish Canada had paths like this in the countryside--I could spent hours biking without interruption. It would be wonderful.

The Rhine

After biking we ventured into downtown Eich, which was over run with motorbikes--there was a festival going on that day. I have no idea how many were there, but definitely several hundred, maybe even a thousand. We wove our way through the streets checking out the various bikes. Andrew liked the Chopper, Harley-style of bike, whereas I would prefer something built for speed, like some of the Yamaha bikes. We also grabbed delicious ham sandwiches from a local deli for lunch and ate them outside in the sunshine. At 1:30 p.m. the bikes began a slow parade out of the town and onto a ride in the country. We watched for awhile until the excess exhaust got to us then left.

Motorcycles in Eich

After what was supposed to be a short pit-stop at our host's parent's house (we all wound up falling asleep in the backyard in the sun) we drove off to some of the local vineyards. Being early in the season the grapevines weren't fully grown, but it was still nice to wander over the hills and enjoy the countryside. Again we sat out in the sun for a while, before heading back to the car. At this point it was late in the afternoon. We picked up some of the best local wine then headed back for Mainz.

Vineyards near Eich

April 19th, 2010: Worms
Sunday actually started out with a run in the country side around Eich, then a football game (i.e. North American soccer), which our host was playing in. Unfortunately the Eich team lost 4-3 after a hard fought battle in the blazing sun. After the game we drove to Worms, one of the oldest cities in Germany, dating back to Roman times. It seemed like there was a lot of Jewish history in Worms, as it included a synagogue built in the 11th century, and oldest Jewish cemetery in Germany. The cemetery was particularly enchanting and I wish I could have spent more time there. We also briefly visited a huge Catholic cathedral, which began construction in the 12th century.

The Jewish cemetery in Worms

To cap off our day we planned to get the best ice cream in Worms, unfortunately the line up was huge. We estimated the wait time to be 30 minutes easily, if not more like 45 minutes. Rather than wait, we settled for the second best ice cream shop, which was also very good. I got a coffee flavoured treat, and Andrew choose strawberry. I couldn't eat all of mine and had to give it to Andrew to finish. Before returning to Mainz we swung by the statue of Hagen, a figure in the Nibelungenlied story.

Ice cream in Worms

April 19th, 2010: Mainz
Our last full day in Germany was a lazy one. Andrew and I got up a little after 8:00 a.m. then went for a run along the Rhine. We grabbed some fresh pastries for breakfast on our way back to our host's apartment--they were delicious. We took our time having breakfast and getting ourselves ready for the day, not heading out again until almost noon. Today was the warmest day we've had so far, so I was able to go out without a jacket and had to apply sun screen. We spent most of our day ambling through the stores in the city centre of Mainz. Andrew purchased a pair of white shoes to go with his white suit, and I purchased a couple of scarves.

We enjoyed lunch on the patio of a lovely restaurant, purposefully taking our time and enjoying the sunshine. We each ordered a pint of dark beer, and after muddling over the menu (printed in German, naturally) we ordered two delicious meals. I had pasta in a cream sauce made from truffles, while Andrew had spargle soup (we think it's just white asparagus...although we're not too sure) and a chicken sandwich with delicious potato wedges. Once we had spent enough time resting and enjoying ourselves we ventured into the Mainz cathedral, not quite as big as the one in Worms, but definitely a sizable building. Afterward we continued to tour through the shops for the rest of the afternoon until we both acknowledged we were tired and needed to rest our feet.

Tomorrow we head for Switzerland.

Ciao,

Andrea

Lightening round: Take 2

I'm not to sure what I should blog about this week. Easter has come and gone (faster than I would have liked), my birthday is just a few short days away (April 8th) and this coming Monday (April 12th) will mark the end of my life as a grad student. Andrew and I are also leaving for our first really big trip where we had to do all the planning, arranging, and booking next Wednesday (April 14th), which if I am unable to blog about on route, will definitely recap after we get home.

I wish I could say: "Bwa ha, ha! I will write about none of the above things. Instead I will devote this week's blog to this random, obscure topic!" Although my head is filled with random, obscure facts that no one really cares about, I will not take the time to write about them just now*. Instead, I will write another lightening round post, as I did a few months ago when I had no standout topics to discuss, but wanted to let my surely limited readership know I was still alive and kicking.

Easter Weekend
Andrew being Catholic meant that Easter weekend was full of church. I grew up in a small protestant church and we only had a service on Easter Sunday with the occasional Good Friday event depending on whether it got organized. In addition, my high school friend Michelle visited, so we had company throughout the weekend. We did a big lunch (lamb was on the menu) with a few more friends on Sunday afternoon.

How to Train Your Dragon
Sunday night we ended up going out to see How to Train Your Dragon. It was super cute and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light-hearted movie with cheeky dialogue. Also, anyone who has ever owned a cat will see much of their beloved pet in the featured dragon, Toothless--so very adorable.

My Birthday
I'm turning 29 years old on Thursday. I considered calling this my 1st annual 29th birthday (as a friend once had dubbed hers) but I'm not overly concerned about growing older. As pointed out to me recently, this is likely because I'm married, have a reasonable nice apartment, a car, and a cat for a proxy-baby (at present I have no desire for a real one). Andrew and I are going to go out for a fancy dinner the night of, and I will be hosting some friends at our place on Friday. Lemon flavoured cake will be served.

Last Day of School
My last day of grad school will be next Monday. The time has passed relatively quickly, and I can't honestly say I'm too sad about it. If you asked me on the spot what I've learned, I'm not to sure that I could put my thoughts into words. That's not to say that I think I've learned nothing--that's not true (although some classes were vastly more useful than others). I feel like I've got various concepts and ideas fluttering around in my head about librarianship and what it means to be a librarian, I'm just not sure I could verbalize them in any sensible manner.

European Travels
Andrew and I will embark on a 2 1/2 week trip around Europe next Wednesday. We'll be flying into Frankfurt, Germany, then move on to Interlaken, Switzerland, Bergamo Italy, and several different places in France (Caen, Arras, and Paris). We have friends in Germany and Italy, who have been kind enough to offer to host us, and we'll be doing all our inter-country travel by train. The main purpose for visiting France is to see some of the major battle sites from WWI and WWI: Juno Beach (the Canadian landing beach for D-Day) and Vimy Ridge (one of the CEF's major victories). I suspect I will be extremely exhausted when we get back, but I'm looking forward to it immensely.

Ciao,

Andrea

*note the phrase "just now" meaning, those random, obscure topics make yet make an appearance on this small space of the Web.