More Blog Updates Soon

I've been a bit of a slacker with the posts recently. I plan to update once packing for our trip back to the US is complete.

Just a few "previews" of what's to be posted soon:

-London Trip
-Slingbox
-US Adventures

Rebecca geht ins Kino! (Rebecca goes to the movies!)

Last night with Brady safely being "babysat" by Bill, I attended my first Ladies Night Out in Zurich. A bunch of women from the Moms N Tots group that I attend met up for dinner and a movie. We ate dinner at Marche - a cafeteria style restaurant that is pretty popular here in Switzerland. Then we headed to the 8:30 PM showing of Mamma Mia!

What a fun night! The movie was hilarious - and I've been humming ABBA tunes all day. The only uncomfortable part of the movie was when Pierce Brosnan broke out in song. It's not that his singing was especially bad - but he looked weird singing. I have to say he lost a little of his mystique.

This was my first time seeing a movie in a foreign country and it was interesting. The movie theater was VERy nice. When you buy tickets for a show, you actually get an assigned seat. I think I actually like that system - very orderly. They actually had an intermission during the movie which was funny. Here in Switzerland, if a movie is originally in English (like Mamma Mia), it is shown in English, but has subtitles. In this case, the movie had both German and French subtitles. It makes seeing the big blockbusters pretty easy for us Americans.

And in true movie theater style, they did serve popcorn. I wasn't expecting that. And they also had beer that you could buy - unlike the popcorn, I was expecting beer to be served. We are in Switzerland after all.

All in all, a good time was had by all - and I think a new tradition has been started!

Brady the Artist

Friday afternoon, after eating a meal and waiting for Daddy to come home for the start to the weekend, Brady and I decided to attempt coloring. I've tried coloring with Brady before and that only led to my constant nagging about not eating the crayons. So, I figured now with Brady being such a mature one-year-old, that it was time to try again. We had given dog coloring sheets out as part of the "doggie bag" giveaways for the kids at his birthday party, so I got a few of those out and started with the Crayola weeble-wobble crayons. (Not sure if this is the real name of these crayons...but they are made for little hands.) He had a blast! I had to help him with hand positioning when he switched colors, but he did really well and gave me a big toothy grin when he realized he was making the colors appear on the dog picture. Dad was a bit disappointed that he didn't stay in the lines, but what can you do? :) The fun ended about 15 minutes later when he kept trying to eat the crayons. I figured we had enough progress for one day.

I've posted a copy of his "artwork" here. This is a St. Bernard...in honor of being in Switzerland. (St. Bernards were named because they were kept by the Monks of the St. Bernard Pass in Switzerland to help rescue stranded travellers in snow.)

Revolutionary War Rematch a la Beer Pong

Being in a foreign country when your nation celebrates its birthday really brings people together!!! Bill's coworkers, Jared and Julie, hosted a July 5th Independence Day celebration at their apartment. We had the customary Independence Day fare of hot dogs, bratwurst, pasta salad, potato chips, etc. Most of us Yankees were wearing some sort of patriotic gear and even the Brits in Bill's office showed up wearing their true colors - while we joked about Red Coats and Tri-Cornered hats.

The party continued and soon many folks with children had left. Brady continued to be in good spirits thanks to a long morning nap and being around tons of women to flirt with. So, Bill, Brady and I stayed on almost to the end of the party at 7 PM. Around 3:00, the men got a little crazy and decided that there need to be a rematch of USA vs. UK and so, the beer pong game was started. I am happy to announce that the US prevailed again and is still independent from England...although at one point Michigan's Upper Peninsula was on the bargaining table. (Note of explanation...Jared and Julie both hail from Michigan.) Bill and Jared (USA's Dream Team) won 2 of 3 rounds - leaving England's team (Mark and Martin) feeling rather deflated.

It was a nice way to spend the 4th - surrounded by friends that hail from both sides of "the pond."

Lugano Trip

The other trip we made while Mrs. Coyle was in town was to the Ticino region of Switzerland. The Ticino region is in the southeastern part of Switzerland and where the folks speak Italian. (Italian is one of the 4 National languages of Switzerland - however, only approximately 10% of the people in Switzerland speak Italian as their native language.) To get to Ticino, you must cross through the Alps. On the way to Ticino, we drove on the Autobahn through the St. Goddhard Tunnel - which is approximately 10 miles long. Basically you are driving under the Alps which is a bit of a weird feeling - especially when you are in a tunnel that long. You leave one side of Switzerland that looks like Germany with cows, green hills/mountains and enter a region that is very Mediterraenean looking. Pretty cool.

Lugano is the largest city in this region and we had booked a room at a very nice hotel...the Hotel Lago di Lugano (http://www.hotellagodilugano.ch/) This was a very child-friendly hotel located right on Lake Lugano. Basically we spent that afternoon lounging - eating lunch, playing in the pool with Brady and enjoying the views from our hotel.The next day we set off for home after taking a tour of Campano, the small town very close to our hotel. We drove home the long way, taking the St. Goddhard Pass - a road that twists and turns over and across the Alps. This road is 16 miles long - instead of the 10 miles of the tunnel, but takes a long time to travel because of it's many switchbacks. However, this was an AMAZING way to experience the Alps. We stopped at a panoramic lookout about halfway up and it felt like we were almost at the top of the world!

A view of the St. Goddhard Pass from high up - look at all those switchbacks.

All in all, it was a great trip - this is definitely a beautiful part of Switzerland and we are looking forward to going again sometime!

The Cat Net Has Been Compromised

The saga of the cat net continues. Just to recap, we have a cat, Monkey, and we live on the first floor here in Zurich. Unfortunately, windows in Zurich do not have insect screens and so if we were to open our windows to let some fresh air in, Monkey would jump out. (We also do not have air conditioning...thereby creating the need to open windows.) We bought a thing called a Cat Net, but Monkey proceeded to bite through that (it was plastic) and escaped. Luckily his courage is mainly "all talk", because I found him outside cowering by the side of our building. He had a whole bunch of little blooms in his hair from the bush outside our apartment building.

After that initial escape, we got a new Cat Net that was made of some kind of twine. It took some time, but Monkey also chomped through that one and escaped. (Again, cowering by the side of the building.) So, last weekend, we ventured out to the suburbs of Zurich to a place called Jumbo. Jumbo is pretty much like Home Depot. We bought an insect screen that we (a.k.a Bill) installed in the living room and our room. (It has to be customizable for large windows.) So far, so good. The added bonus aside from keeping Monkey in the apartment, is that we are keeping bugs OUT of the apartment. Below is a picture of our new insect screens.

The funny thing is that this was our original thought of how to solve the problem in the first place. We went to the Coop Bau and Hobby in another suburb (which is like a scaled down Home Depot), but couldn't find insect screens. I guess it took going to Jumbo to get the job done.

This has been a bit of a Zurich drama...but luckily no cats have been harmed in the many escapes.

Neuschwanstein Visit

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I've been very behind on providing updates. So, I'm going to attempt to catch up this afternoon while Brady naps.

The first weekend that Mrs. Coyle was here visiting, we made a trip to Southern Germany to visit Neuschwanstein. This is probably the most famous castle in Germany and even served as the model for the Walt Disney castle. The construction of this castle was started in 1869 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and is located near the town of Hohenschwangau about 2 hours southwest of Munich. King Ludwig II was very taken with Richard Wagner's music and so many rooms of the castle are modeled after Wagner's operas.

The castle is up on a mountain and you must park at the base of the mountain and then either walk up to the castle or take a horse carriage ride. With Brady, we opted for the horse carriage. We arrived at the parking lot around noon and ate lunch at a nearby restaurant. For all those foodies, here's what we had:

• Rebecca: Gulasch Suppe; Salat (soup and salad)
• Bill: Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut
• Mrs. Coyle: Schinken und Kase Sandwich (ham and cheese)
• Brady: Oatmeal, yogurt and banana (his usual breakfast)

The food was excellent and actually moderately priced for being a restaurant strategically located near a large tourist attraction.

I had purchased tour tickets online ahead of time - so after picking up our tickets at the base of the mountain, we enjoyed our carriage ride up to the castle. Even though it was June, the castle was remarkably uncrowded the day we went. To get in the castle, you have to buy a ticket for a guided tour. The tour itself was a bit lackluster, but we really enjoyed seeing the inside of the castle. Here is a link to the Neuschwanstein website, so you can get a look at the inside of the castle. (No photos were allowed during our tour.)

http://www.neuschwanstein.com/english/index.htm

After the tour, we drove back home to Zurich. It was a long day - but well worth it. I think we all had a great time. The only downer was that we got pulled over in Austria on our way home and had to pay a fine for not having an Austrian Autobahn Permit. We didn't know we needed one and frankly didn't know we were going to be driving through Austria until we crossed into Austria. We paid the fine and learned our lesson for next time!

It's not a purse...it's European!

Brady has given us new meaning for that famous Seinfeld quote. He LOVES purses. He loves their straps, buckles, zippers, etc. This is the purse of our friend, Julie. He set his eyes on it and wouldn't let go until it was time for bed. It's not my bag, baby!!!