Spring Break 2010

I'm sorry it has been so long - to the handful of people who actually read this blog.

I will try to make a really quick brief of what happened over spring break in Switzerland and this past week in CPH. I had an amazing time in Switzerland. Daniel's family hosted and they couldn't have been nicer. David, Patti, and Matthew: if you are reading this I just want to say thank you again for everything.

• FRIDAY - Daniel and I were up at 5:15 am to get to our 8:30 flight. I don't know if everyone is aware, but I hate flying. Part of this is a fear of flying and part of this is the whole process - getting to the airport 2 hours before a 1.5 hour flight, being filed through security like a herd of cows and losing all rights as a human being until cleared, waiting until the flight boards while awkwardly profiling who else is on your flight (don't want to sit next to that baby, etc), boarding a general admission style seating arrangement - move to the back people, honestly, then the whole flying thing and the reverse process out of the plane. I will say that EasyJet is awesome though. They have new aircrafts and don't mess around when it comes to being on time. On the way there Daniel grabbed a seat up front and I went to the back where I had 3 seats all to myself. I took a nap and woke up when we were descending. Daniel's uncle, David, and his cousin, Matthew, were waiting when we got our luggage and exited the airport. The rest of the day we spent walking around Lausanne with everyone. 

Lake Geneva and the Alps

• SATURDAY - The guys got up early Saturday and drove to Bern. It was about an hour drive and the scenery is amazing. We walked around the city, went to a market, saw the main cathedral, and then went to see the Bear Pit. Bern is known for its bears. They house a few of them on the edge of the river bank right in the middle of the city. Einstein's house is actually in bern. There is a window with him in it (it's black and white cardboard cut out). After that we drove on to Interlaken, which is quite literally a piece of land that is interlocked between two lakes. There were paragliders up on the mountain ridges. This town was pretty touristy and we were pretty tired from the day of walking so we hopped back in the car for the night. On the way back Daniel spotted the Paul Klee Museum design by Renzo Piano that we had intended on seeing but forgot. It was about to rain, but we pulled over and got some shots. Unfortunately it had just closed for the day.

Paul Klee Museum - Renzo Piano

• SUNDAY - was Easter. We went to Easter Mass at the Heering's local church. When we got back they had Easter baskets for all of us, which Matthew proceeded to finish that day. After a little while we had been talking about skiing on Monday and Tuesday, so we went to check out some of the slopes to make sure there would be optimal conditions. 
• MONDAY - we to Zermatt. It was awesome. I was snowboarding while Daniel and David were skiing. We had a view of the Matterhorn all day long. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. I only fell a couple hundred times, but that was to be expected for I haven't been on a snowboard since high school. I didn't kill anyone or myself, but my tail bone is still quite sore. We ate lunch practically on the Matterhorn itself. The picture will have to suffice. I am the one sporting the throwback outfit. It was really warm.

Yummy - Goulash

What's that Cyclops? No, you can't use your powers to get in front of the lift line!

About 13000 ft. You can see Italy.

Watching kids do front flips.

• TUESDAY - recovery day. We were suppose to go skiing again but I couldn't take that abuse again. Instead we went to Chateau du Chillon. It's a castle in Montreux, about 20 minutes from the Heering's apartment. It was beautiful. 

Looking out a window

• WEDNESDAY - to put it simply - Daniel and I got lost. We started in Lausanne... 10km later of walking up hill both ways we found the train station home. It was a nice day full of exercise. Funny thing, Switzerland has public drinking fountains much like Rome. I would stop at everyone we passed and fill up my water bottle. Daniel still thinks I was drinking bird poop water. 

NO BOOMBOX!!!!!

• THURSDAY - we went to Luzern. Very nice place with delicious food. Within 5 minutes of the city center you could see the Chapel Bridge, the Modern Art Museum, a Calatrava designed train station, and eat delicious veal sausage with onion sauce and hash brown potatoes. That sums up what we did. We also went to the old wall and lookout towers that protected the city. Before we went home Matthew and I got a tradition Geman Pretzel (Bretzel). It made the ride home only that much more enjoyable. 

Chapel Bridge - one of the oldest wooden bridges in Europe

• FRIDAY - David and Matthew went skiing. Daniel worked on his portfolio, and I watched movies all day long. It was nice
• SATURDAY - we went to Basel. This was one of my favorite cities. Daniel and I have been wanting to see one building in particular - the Signal Box, designed by Herzog and de Meuron. The rest of the city was equally as impressive. We had lunch on the river and watched a barge squeeze through a historic bridge by just meters. This city was too big for just one day, but we got to see a lot.

Signal Box - Herzog + de Meuron

• SUNDAY - relax day
• MONDAY - we flew home.

Well, that very quickly sums up what we did over spring break. I have to go finish my project now...