Happy 85th Birthday Grandpa!!! You don't look a day over 50!( Bob's dad turns 85 tomorrow on February 23. We wish we could be there in person to wish him a happy birthday.)

Have a great one Primo/Grandpa/Dad! Bob and Maria will see you in March and Julie, Leah and Jennifer will see you April.

We are in Switzerland!

Packing for a trip to...

We leave tomorrow morning for a little trip. Leah and Jenn have a week off of school. Guess where we are going...

• We can drive to most of our destinations.
• We will work and play.
• We love the food in this country, but it isn't Italy.
• Bob has been to all the places we are going.
• It is somewhat close to Belgium on the map but it is still a long drive.
• Cows and castles, cheese and chocolate.

  These clues are really easy!

The water was crystal clear at the Rhine Falls.

The Rhine Falls of Switzerland

We viewed the falls of the Rhine River from two locations. (There is a map further down.) From here you can see the water straight on as we stood near a small hotel that Bob swears he stayed at 25 years ago! The castle structure on the top right is wear we went next.

You can really see how big the falls are in comparison to the little bridge at the lower right hand corner of the picture.

We went to both viewing locations on either side of the river.

This is view is from right on top of the falls.

See the rainbow? Too bad it wasn't a double one! (Only Maria will get that inside joke. I hope you are reading this honey!)

Bob takes great pictures! This was a spectacular day. On the way home we stopped for pretzels and wiener schnitzel in Germany.

Video of the Rhinefalls in Switzerland

Bob took this little movie last Sunday of the rushing water at the Rhine Falls. We were very close to the falls and standing right on top of them.

Pictures from Zurich

Our weekend in Zurich was just perfect. From the weather to the sites to the food, we had a great time! Above and below are views from our hotel room. Our hotel was fabulous! The breakfast was unbelievable and they just kept bringing us more and more food...Swiss muesli, fruit cups, eggs, bacon, juice, coffee, cheese, breads, muffins, homemade jams and chocolate spreads, salami, ham, nuts, yogurt. Wow!
Bob and the girls skated on a rink right by our hotel. While they skated there was also an outdoor hockey game and private lessons on both sides of the public skating rink. Inside was curling. When they finished skating they were worn out!
We took the train everywhere. It was so easy. Our hotel even had a train that led right up the mountain to its back door and just steps away from the ice rink.

The shopping on Bahnhofstrasse was really exciting. They even have the famous French bakery Laduree. We found a fun toy store very similar to FAO Swartz in NYC with floor after floor of toys for all ages (even Bob!)
The window displays were very special for Valentine's Day. You can see Leah and Jennifer inside the chocolate shop.
We have found that some of the best places to eat are inside the train stations in many European towns. We had a really tasty sausage lunch covered in onion gravy and rosti potatoes. Served with a Swiss bear for Bob and me and sparkling apple juice for the girls, the meal was delicious.

We finished our trip with a drive through Germany so there are lots more pictures to show!

Weekend in Zurich

We just got back from spending a very wonderful weekend in Zurich, Switzerland. As you can see from the picture, the weather was perfect. Leah, Bob and Jennifer skated in the afternoon on Saturday wearing just their sweaters at an outdoor rink. We did so much that it will take me a couple of posts to get it all on the blog. Check back tomorrow!

Yesterday I complained but today I will not!

Yesterday I complained about corn but my blog friend, Ted, had a great comment that made me think about the things the Belgians do like. So what if the Belgians don't know much about corn?


And what do they know well? BREAD


They have great bread, I mean REALLY REALLY great bread from real bakeries. Remember those? I can't even think of a bakery anywhere near my house in Indiana. There is a chain of bagel stores, fresh bread at the grocery store and treats at Starbucks but there aren't many true bakeries that bake their own bread and sell out of the popular stuff by 3pm. Going to the bakery is fun for me. The one located close to my house has a very mysterious woman who works behind the counter. She has a tatoo on her forearm that I just can't decipher and barely says anything to me but she always has a smile on her face. I buy a regular loaf of white bread on Tuesday mornings. When she sees me park my car, she starts slicing the loaf and putting it into the bag! The busy bakery up the road has multiple employees. If you go early enough in the morning, you can see the bakers still slaving away and making their famous pie shaped coffee cakes. The bakery on the way to school has the most spectacular eclairs that make your mouth water before you even turn off the car engine. And what do you do late at night when you realize your out of bread and all the stores are closed? Well you just go to the bread vending machine of course!!!


Those Belgians really know their bread. If that machine also dispensed gallons of milk and bags of Doritos, my life would be complete!

Corn

I am getting a little tired of driving to far off locations to find the one item I need for a recipe. Why don't the Belgians like creamed corn? Why don't they like corn at all? Why don't they sell corn on the cob? What do they have against corn? And why don't they crave pop corn? At the movies it is coated in sugar instead of butter. What a waste! In my opinion the Belgians are really missing out on something good no matter how you cook it.