The Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was kind of a two-parter. We went to the Phipps Inn bed and breakfast in Hudson, Wisconsin between the Saturday wedding and the Monday departure for Switzerland. It was a terrific place, with a cozy fireplace in the room and breakfasts that were simply fabulous. Then it was back-to-Minneapolis-meet-up-with-the-Swiss-crew-collect-all-of-Michelle's-suitcases-say-goodbye-drive-to-the-airport aaaannd... get on that plane!

After a few days of settling into Didier's apartment in Geneva, we were off to the airport again to fly to Vienna, Austria. Didier's aunt and cousin gave us five days in a posh hotel in Vienna as a wedding gift! We thoroughly enjoyed our week there, and felt so blessed to have a longer honeymoon than we were expecting.

You'll have to pardon the pictures - the only camera we had was Didier's Blackberry. (Yes, my next technological goal here is to acquire a good camera.) And anyway, we weren't allowed to take pictures of some of the most phenomenal things we saw, so you'll have to use your imagination. Or Wikipedia.

It snowed quite a lot the first couple of days in Vienna. It was fun walking around a white wonderland with
an umbrella to fend off the giant snowflakes.  

The statue you see here is of a little-known musician named W. A. Mozart.

I don't know who this is

Best-looking man in Vienna

The first big thing we went to see was Schönbrunn Palace, home of many Habsburg rulers, notably Maria Theresa.
This is a view of the rear of the building. On this occasion we didn't go inside; we spent the afternoon wandering around the extensive gardens and checking out the many sculptures and outbuildings. 

On a hill opposite the rear of the palace is the Gloriette - kind of a royal backyard gazebo, if you will. 

The Neptune Fountain

It was snowing and quite cold, so we stopped at the cafe inside the Gloriette, and warmed up with some coffee.
There is a beautiful view from the cafe, over the grounds of Schönbrunn and down to the palace. 

While we were enjoying our coffee the clouds dispersed a bit, and we had blue sky for a while.

We left the Gloriette and continued our tour of the grounds. It was a lovely place for a walk, and I imagine
would just be stunning in the spring. 

The Palmhouse, a large greenhouse built in the early 1880's.

We found this cafe the second morning in Vienna, and ate there every morning after that. We loved their breakfast of fresh rolls, butter, jam and a personal little pot of very good coffee. This was my favorite eatery in Vienna.

In front of this church was one of several outdoor Christmas markets we found.

The Christmas markets are such fun because you can buy glühwein (hot spiced wine) and drink it in these shelters they've put up with tables and music playing over little speakers.  

I had rumpunsch. It was delicious.

The stunning Upper Belvedere, a Baroque palace built - along with the Lower Belvedere - between 1712 and 1723
as a summer home for Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Another Christmas market was spread out in front of the entrance to the building. 

We managed to take this picture of the entrance hall of the Upper Belvedere before we found out that they don't
allow visitors to take pictures. 

Day 2 at Schönbrunn. The second time we went we took the tour of the interior of the palace. The place is
jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and just enormous. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed inside here either. 

To console ourselves about not being able to take pictures, we spent some time drinking glühwein and
eating sausages. 

The Lower Belvedere, which now houses several art exhibits, some of which are worth seeing (like the sculptures
by Rodin) and some of which are NOT worth seeing. 

Slightly blurry picture of a random house, but with a plaque on the wall. Clearly something historical happened here.
Like Mozart making this his residence for a while, during which time he wrote The Marriage of Figaro. 

Not the best picture, but it gives you an idea of the cool Christmas lights they put up around town.

The plague monument, a memorial to the victims of the 1679 plague. It's quite impressive.

I just like this building.

If I remember correctly, this is the Museum of Natural History. 

View from inside a building whose significance I forget. There were so many big old royal buildings.

Our last stop was the Museum of Art. A wonderful, wonderful place which we would love to return to someday. 

The Museum of Art itself was an incredible work of art, and these pictures do not do it justice. 

I think someday we will try to make it back to Vienna. There is so much more to see, and there is definitely more Wiener Schnitzel and apfelstrudel to be eaten.

Under the Weather

I don't have pictures of Vienna yet. I have been a bit sick lately, which is why we don't have a good blog post yet this week. We just have me apologizing for the delay. I'm feeling much better now, though, and thought I would just catch everyone up on what is happening over here.

We found a new apartment! We've been staying during the week in Didier's aunt's apartment since Didier started his new job, and last week we went to see one of the possible new apartments that caught our eye. It's a great place, with more room than the Geneva apartment, and it's very close to Didier's workplace. It has a killer fireplace, which is a cool bonus. We signed the papers last week, and we will move at the end of March! God really blessed us in providing a place that is near Didier's job, and that has enough room, but that also is just loaded with charm. We are so excited to move into our new place! I can't wait to plant tomatoes in the backyard and grow a few herbs (that's "herbs" with a definite H sound and a very British accent) and bake scones in the kitchen with the molasses I bought weeks ago just to have some real molasses near me. It'll be fun.

Apparently it is not winter any more here. Currently it is 52 degrees and sunny in Zürich, so if any of you want to package up some snow and mail it to me, I'll take it.

Something I learned recently: Over here, when one wants to designate a service or product as "discount", one slaps "Mc" onto the beginning of the name. As in "McPaper World", a paper products store which I pass all the time. Or "McOptik", a discount eyewear store. And then there is "McClean", a restroom I saw in a train station. Oh, the fun bits of exported American culture one encounters when abroad.

So, in short, Switzerland is a great place. I think I'll go swimming now.