We Have Internet Now!

So after a quite lengthy absence from computers, during which time I'm sure you all thought I had fallen off the face of Earth, we finally have internet in our new flat and I can do a new blog post. The ironic thing is that as I write this I'm in Stuttgart, Germany, using the internet in a Starbucks. I also now have the capability to move pictures from my phone to the laptop, so now I can post pictures, which is the real reason anybody checks this blog.

I'm thinking the best thing right now is to show pictures of the new flat. We moved on April 1st into a "maisonette" - multi-level flat - that is truly a blessing from God. We love the neighborhood we live in, and our landlords are very kind.

An awkward view of the entryway. The white door on the right is the front door; the partially-obscured brown door
is a bathroom, and the staircase - barely visible at the left - leads up to the living room and bedrooms. 

The kitchen (obviously).  Behind the bar area, on the right, you can see two coats hanging on the wall.
That is the entry area; the coats are to the right of the front door as seen in the first picture. 

Dining area, which is part of the kitchen. The window at the right looks out on the backyard. 

What most of our moving boxes consisted of. 

Second floor. The stairs going up lead to the loft bedroom. The door on the left is the master bedroom.
To the right, on the wall you can't see, are doors to a second bathroom and to the little office.

The office. Didier's father built terrific bookshelves for the left side of the room, where you can see the raised section
of floor. Clearly more pictures are in order, since the office doesn't look like this anymore. 

Notice the tree in the picture two above this one. If you are looking at that tree, and then turn to the right, you see
this. I guess you could call it a second dining area. The green bench is heated for proper enjoyment of fondue in
the winter. 

Backing up, we now see the fireplace. The part where wood is burned is mostly obscured in this shot; what you're
looking at is the spot for storing wood (or a big copper cauldron) and a kind of stone outcropping which we
could use as extra seating (or the place from which to serve our medieval stew). 

Part of the living room, opposite the area with the green bench. 

The loft bedroom. If you look over the railing, you see down into the living room. 

I see some better pictures of the flat are in order. (Better still, if you want to see more, come visit us!) Before that, though, I'll put up pictures of Stuttgart... because I know what you are all dying to see is more history.

The Only Interesting Thing That Has Happened Recently

It has been a while since my last post, and the reason for that is that I've been busy packing up the Geneva apartment! We have a lovely new flat waiting for us in Winterthur, near Zürich, which becomes ours on April 1st. We can't wait to take pictures of it and post them for everyone to see!

While I've been packing for the past two-and-a-half weeks, Didier has been completing his last days of required military service in some small town that is not close to Geneva. His service was three weeks long, ending March 11th. He gets to come home on the weekends, so we do fun stuff like wait several hours to see a doctor at the emergency clinic near the apartment. This is what we did two weekends ago. We did this because I, being the self-aware non-klutz that I am, managed to slice my thumb open with the lid from a can of tuna. It hurt, and bled a lot, but I thought I could take care of it myself. Ah, youthful fancies.

I could hardly sleep that night from the pain, so the next day after Didier arrived for the weekend, off we went to the pharmacy for a little professional advice. The man we spoke with asked to see the cut, so I peeled off my three big band aids, and to my surprise the thumb was bleeding almost as much as when I first cut it. Well! The pharmacist very kindly led me to their back room where he disinfected the cut and applied a new bandage. He got enough of a look at it, though, to tell us that it was too deep to close on its own, and we should probably have a doctor look at it. That's where the emergency clinic comes into the picture. And that's where I learned that stitches have to be done within six hours of a deep cut, so to close my thumb they used those little sticky strips and then wrapped it up with a rather impressive-looking bandage.

That was on the 26th of February. My thumb has been healing well, and I just have a little bandage now. I hadn't hurt myself in any significant way for quite a while, so I guess I was due for something like this.

My sore thumb didn't slow the packing down much, but it is hard to wash dishes with one hand.

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.