November

Robyn and I had a week off of school last week so we decided to do it up like we were kids and roam around northern europe on the train.  We picked up an interail pass which allowed 5 days of train travel over a ten day period.  It was a great trip.  We headed from Lux to Hamburg, where we roamed around for a few hours and stopped in to Hofbrauhaus.  Hopped back on the train for Copenhagen and made it to the city at around 10:00 pm.  We both liked Copenhagen, interesting markets and cafes and enough sites to keep you busy.  We went up to Malmo, Sweden for a day as well.  We then trained it over to Poznan, Poland which turned out to be a great time.  Pretty mellow little city with a beautiful square, plenty of neato bars and restaurants and wicked cheap.  I do love eastern europe.  After Poznan we headed to Berlin for three days.  I really liked Berlin.  It was interesting in a way that I haven't seen in other big euro cities.  People were very laid back and different.  There is a video in our photo gallery that explains what I mean.

 

 

October

Summer has come and gone and I still can't get over the fact that it is already the middle of October.  One of these years I will start paying more attention.  I remember being amazed when my old man could see a car and recall the precise year it was made.  I can hardly recall the year it is currently.

I am sure there is a profound/witty insight that a clever person would put together from that observation, but we will save that for the clever people out there.  

Another birthday has come and gone for this guy and thanks to all for the calls, notes and gifts.  As usual, people were far too generous.

Robyn and I have made some nice weekend trips lately, and we have some new photo galleries from them as well as some from the summer.  Please have a look if you like.

Work has been odd lately.  Stressful and challenging and maddening and tiresome and interesting and fun and befuddling. The intersection of IT and education make for some interesting days.  Both are massive in inertial terms - one is always moving however and the other nearly always is not.  It can make for a dangerous place for those of us who spend our time there.  

We went to Bonn recently for no other reason that I remember hearing about it when I was a kid.  Turns out it is a pretty cool city.  There is a super-rad museum there called the Arithmeum.  It is a history of the adding machine from the abacus to today.  It sounds ridiculously lame, but trust me, if you are ever in Bonn do it.  We also got to climb one of the seven peaks of Bonn.  They are not really peaks, but bluffs over the river.  This fact did not stop them from putting a cog railway to the top of the one we climbed.  It reminded us both of Winona, and it was a nice experience.  I always enjoy doing the things that aren't interesting enough for the majority of tourists, you always get a glimpse of what's going down with the locals in the area.  If only I could understand them...  

06.14.11 Rouen

This past weekend we went to Rouen France to visit my cousin Kathleen.  Rouen is a lovely city and we managed to see Mont Saint Michel, the Bayeux Tapestry, Omaha Beach, Giverny and Versailles.  Great trip.  I particularly enjoyed Mont Saint Michel and the gardens of Versailles.  The lavishness of that palace make me understand a little bit better why they were so eager to chop some heads.  Makes for a nice wander nowadays though.

06.07.11 Visitors

We have had a slew of visitors over the past few weeks which has been wonderful.  It has given us an excuse to see some of the sites and get out and about.  We spent some time in Germany with Jacqueline, Kathleen and Cori, some time in France with Dave and time in Luxembourg with Dan.  Good fun.  Next up is Jason and his niece.  After that we have Paul, Denis and Julie.  Then we have Anthony and Isaiah.  It is shaping up to be a great summer. 

03.13.11 Winter is Over

Or I guess it will be after this evening when Luxembourgers light some bonfires to chase away winter - and also, I suspect, for an excuse to drink beer and eat sausages.  Every event in Luxembourg is more or less the same in this regard - the beer trucks descend and the grills fire up, regardless of the occasion.  So we will go tonight to singe our eyebrows and swill headache-inducing lager.

We just got back today from chaperoning a trip to Echternach.  It was pretty amazing - I am coaching the school's adventure racing team (as an international school we can get away with doing all sorts of ridiculous things, adventure racing being one of them) so I took the kids out to a hostel about 45 km away by bike.  There were only six kids, but there was no whining and they all just did what they were supposed to.  Yesterday we mountain biked and ran some courses and then today we cycled home.  Probably the best school trip I've ever had.

Paul and Nate were here until last weekend and we had some excellent time in Spain and Switzerland.  The skiing was great in both places and we got to see quite a bit in southern Spain as well as Gibraltar and Tangier in Morocco.  Granada is now my favorite city by far in Spain.  They do tapas right, as you don't have to pay or ask for them.  There is also a big ol mountain nearby, which always helps.  I loved Gibraltar just because it was so ridiculous.  There shouldn't be a British city there, but there is and they have monkeys.  What is not to like.  Finally, I liked Tangier much more than I had expected to.  It was different and interesting, and not at all as seedy as I had imagined it would be.  We wandered around, ate some food, drank some Moroccan beer and took the ferry back.  Very cool to be able to pop over to Africa so easily. A great trip and thanks to Paul and Nate for popping by.  We are off to MN for Easter, so if you are reading this and you are there, be prepared for a visit.

02.15.11 B&B&B

Robyn, myself and two friends from school headed into the wilds of Belgium this past weekend to further explore what Belgium does best (No, not statues. Not chocolate either, or child molesting for that matter. I am once again talking about beer).  We had heard that there was a B&B attached to the famous St. Bernardus Brewery, near Watou (http://www.brouwershuis.com/).  St. Bernardus beer always manages a good rating on the beer nerd sites (http://beeradvocate.com/lists/top , http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/top-50/) so I was eager to check it out and tour the brewery if possible.  Unfortunately, the tour wasn't possible, but the B&B had some mini fridges in the common room where guests could sample all the brewery's beers.  Additionally, the B&B is about 5km from St. Sixtus Abbey, which is legendary for brewing Westvleteren Trappist beer (which you will note from the previously mentioned rating sites as the highest rated beer in the world).  We had visited there with Ray and Kathy, and were happy to stop in again.  But back to the B&B.  In addition to the beer, the common room was decorated with oil paintings and old sofas and had a massive fireplace.  It was the type of place where I would have been happy to spend a week, hanging around, biking, reading and tasting.  Highly recommend it to anyone - especially if you happen to find yourselves in the absolute middle of nowhere in Belgium.   


02.06.11 Kathleen and Scot and Paris

My cousin Kathleen popped in for a weekend a couple weeks ago and we had an excellent time.  We headed over to Germany for dinner and a few exceedingly large beers.  We then explored Belgium and Luxembourg on the following day.  Good times, but the visit was too short and her and Scot headed back to Rouen the following afternoon.  Was nice to have visitors and be able to throw around Alaskan jargon without the usual backlash from my lower 48 born wife.  Snow mobile - don't get me started.

The following weekend we shot off to Paris for some time away.  Only 3 1/2 hours of driving and we were transported into that magical land of expensive parking and dog poo ridden streets.  We did manage to finally spend some time in the Musee d'Orsay and the Centre Pompidou - amazing museums overall, with just enough goofiness to keep you interested.  As usual, I posted far too many pics.

This weekend we cleaned up around the house and I finally took care of the empties that have been accumulating in the garage for the past six months (http://i.imgur.com/kbRyV.jpg for any beer folks out there...).

Paul and Nate are coming to visit in two weeks for some skiing in southern Spain - should be a great time.

01.23.11 Not too much to report...
Things are going pretty well - we have spent the last few weeks in Lux hanging out with friends and getting fat.  We hosted a brunch a few weekends ago that was a good time.  Today Luxembourg opened up this goofy water tunnel that runs under the city for people to walk through.  Strange.  Think I'll spend the rest of the day planning our February trip as Paul and Nate are heading over for some skiing in Spain. Over and out.

12.31.10  Still in Bangkok
After the beach fun, we headed back to Bangkok to explore a little more.  Initially we thought we might head north to explore a bit up there, but we found that there was still a lot in Bangkok that we wanted to see so we decided to camp out here with a day trip up to the old capital (Ayutthaya).  It has been lovelyv.  We head back to Lux tomorrow morning, but I have posted the Ayutthaya pics and I will try to post some more from Bangkok.

12.22.10 Bangkok
New pics from Bangkok (we went a little crazy but the temples are amazing).  Cool place.  Feels like Mexico City meets northern California meets sci fi to me.

12.20.10 Greetings from Dubai (Also New Abu Dhabi Pics)

We are on our way to Thailand for Christmas and we thought it would be fun to stop in the UAE for a few days to see the sights.  We flew into Abu Dhabi and caught a bus to Dubai.  We´ve stayed here for two nights and now we are heading back to Abu Dhabi for one night and our flight to Bangkok.  To be sure, Dubai is a strange city, however, I´ve actually enjoyed it quite a lot more than I thought I would.  Cool buildings, neat souks, fantastic Indian food, nice beaches, crazy fountains and...Taco Bell.  The Dubai mall feels just like being in the US (for better or worse) except for the folks in traditional garb running around.  My two highlights would have to be going up in the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) and seeing the sunset over the Burj Arab.  Amazing.  Have a look at the pictures.

11.25.10  Long Overdue Update

It has been a while since I've updated the page, and if you have a look at the pictures, you'll see we've had a good few months.  Robyn's folks came to visit, and we had a great time.  We spent a few days in Belgium where we hit Brussels and then stopped in at a goofy VFW-esque beer festival.  A strange and wonderful experience it was.  We also spent some time in Bruges and managed to stop off at Westvleteren (more on that in the beer section to the left).  After that we headed to Ireland and had an excellent time in Dublin.  We also managed to head out west to see the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and Galway.  Lovely place and wonderful people.  Overall an excellent autumn vacation - many thanks to Ray and Kathy for being such good sports and excellent traveling companions.

Another thing I have been meaning to do is to celebrate my relatively new wallet.  Andy, one of the Norwegian guys from our Haute Route trip last year, sent me a great wallet this summer.  I had complimented his on the trip and he was incredibly kind to take the time to send one my way.  After using it for about four months, I now proclaim it the best wallet I have ever owned.

It looks like this:

Northern California and Alaska

8/6/10 

Robyn and I popped over to Northern California to visit some friends for a few days and had an excellent time.  Was great to see all of our old pals and their kids.  Thanks to everyone out there for the wonderful hospitality.  After Nor Cal, Robyn returned to Minnesota for some qt with her family and I went to Alaska for the same.

7/16/10 Tanzania

Robyn and I just got back from chaperoning a trip to Tanzania.  We had 14 relatively well behaved students who went down for two weeks of volunteering and sightseeing.  We spent the first week at an orphanage playing with kids, painting, harvesting beans, digging a trench and trimming grass with machetes.  During the first weekend we headed to the Usambara mountains for some rest and enjoyed a walk through villages and to an amazing viewpoint.  The second week we worked at Second Chance School plastering a girls dorm and tutoring students in English.  The second weekend was a safari to Manyara and Ngorongoro Parks.  An exhausting but excellent experience overall.  We found the people amazingly friendly and the sights spectacular. 

6/23/10 Cologne

Robyn and I popped up to Cologne last week to see the Hold Steady in concert and take a little break.  Once again Cologne deeply impressed us.  Great city, nice people, fantastic cathedral, excellent beer and Dunkin' Donuts.  What more can you hope for really.

6/6/10 Catching Up

I fell a few weeks behind in my photo posting so I just put up some pics from a long weekend we had in May.  We went camping in the Champagne region of France and then returned home via Bouillon, Belgium.  It was a nice time, we stayed in Epernay and toured the Moet champagne house.  It was pretty interesting, and the countryside was nice but neither Robyn nor I fell in love with Epernay.  The camping was fantastic though - definitely the best way to travel in Europe.  We had been meaning to go to Bouillon for quite some time as I had heard that you could rent kayaks and do a mellow river paddle.  We paddled for about 3 hours on the Semois river and it did not disappoint.

While in Belgium we passed by the Orval Trappist Monastery, which is legendary for their beer.  When I got home I started looking into it, and it turns out that there are only 7 Trappist Monasteries left that brew beer.  Six are in Belgium and one is in Holland.  I've been reading more about them and hoping to visit some and I found out that Orval is the only one that gives tours  but they do so only for two days each year.  In 2010 they are open on September 17 and 18 (I booked for the 18th - more info then).  Five of the other breweries seemed pretty normal, but the one that is supposed to make the best beer (http://www.westvleteren12.com/) makes it quite difficult to purchase.  The beer can only be bought from the monastery directly and you can only buy one case per car (it is illegal to resell).  There is a beer hotline that you have to call to order your case, which is only open for a few days each month.  Once you have ordered your beer, you have to pick it up at a specific time pre-arranged by the monks, but you have to have the exact car that you specified on the order.  Awesome.  The monastery is 3 1/2 hours away.  I smell a road trip.

Work has unfortunately been pretty consuming as the end of the year approaches.  Once summer hits, Robyn and I are off and running and it should be fun - if a little nuts.  We are heading to Tanzania with a group of students for two weeks on June 28, and then we are off to MN in mid July.  We are popping by Humboldt County on July 27, 28, 29 and then I am heading up to Alaska until August 11.  Please let me know if our paths will cross this summer and you want to get in touch.

5/16/10 A Long Weekend in Athens

We had Thursday and Friday off this past week due to Ascension and Robyn was heading to a conference in Athens so I decided to tag along.  Athens impressed us both very much.  It was nice to be in an environment that was a bit more chaotic and full of life, and we had a splendid time exploring the city.  Highlights for us included the Parthenon, the food, the new Acropolis Museum, the beach, the laid back neighborhood of Exarhia, massive donuts and frappes.  I posted an absolutely ridiculous amount of pictures, so you might want to just check out a sampling.

5/9/10 Camping in Holland

Robyn and I went to Holland again a bit ago for some camping and orienteering fun.  It was a nice time and our love for Holland has deepened.  Hard to beat cheese pancakes and people not wearing fancy suits (as they seem to do in Luxembourg regardless of where they are at).  We encountered a strawberry eating event in which we witnessed the breaking of a world record.  It sounds cool, but it really wasn't.  I don't think Robyn or I really knew what was happening, or what we were supposed to do.  Nothing new about that I suppose.

4/10/10 The Haute Route, Mallorca and Skiing

We are just finishing up our two week Easter holiday, so I threw up a pile of pictures.  I did the skiing Haute Route with Paul, Nate and Brent, and Robyn and Julie spent some time in Mallorca.  After our separate holidays we met up in Zermatt where we were joined by Brent's wife Jen.  We then spent the next few days skiing and driving around Switzerland.  It was a fantastic holiday and I think the pictures do it more justice than I can with words.  I combined pictures from Paul's, Nate's and my camera, so there are a ton of shots from the Haute Route. 

3/11/10 A First Aid Course in Wales

Just got back from a nice long weekend in Wales where I took a course on mountain first aid with a friend from school.  He is in charge of the Merite Jeunesse program at ISL (which is an outdoorsy/service program the school offers) and I sometimes help out chaperoning so it seemed like a good idea.  I have to say that Wales did impress me.  We woke up early each morning and would get a quick hike in before class started.  We didn't have time to make it up Snowdon (the highest peak in Wales) but we bagged a few of the others.  We took the train from Luxembourg (which was my first chunnel experience) and stayed at a B&B in which the owner crushed me with massive, gas inducing breakfasts.  The other folks on the course were quite nice and I picked up some new British words (plasters, gaffer tape, knackered) and learned not to use fanny or toss when in the UK.     

2/22/10 Carnival in Italy

...is all about kids dressed in costumes throwing confetti in inappropriate places.  Not really the party I generally associate with fat Tuesday, but no complaints.  Italy didn't disappoint, and we got to eat the best pizza ever (Naples), climb a volcano (Vesuvius), drive one of the most spectacular coasts I've ever seen (Amalfi), see the best ruins (Pompeii) and use more parentheses than I am comfortable with (now).  The island of Capri was certainly a highlight, where we spent a day hiking in the sun and being terrified on a crazy bus.  Yet again, we posted a pile of pictures, so have a look if you like.

1/4/10 Back to Reality

It was back to school today for Robyn and I, and a return to regular eating patterns and hopefully more exercise.  We had a quick trip to Paris for New Year's Eve, that was a great little trip.  I had a great time driving around at night, and I think Parisian drivers went to the same school as Mexican drivers.  Happy New Year to everyone! 

12/25/09 Christmas in Tunisia

Merry Christmas!  Robyn and I are writing this from the lobby of our hotel on the island of Djerba in Tunisia.  The island is a pretty interesting place, despite being quite touristified.  Being a Muslim country, there are some pretty big differences (call to prayer a few times a day, a lot of head scarves, etc.) but it has been a surprisingly nice place to spend the holidays.  We went on two tours to get off the island, and had some pretty wonderful experiences.  Seeing Luke Skywalker's boyhood home is pretty high on my list as well as a camel ride on the edge of the Sahara.  We also have done some exploring of two of the local towns, and we perused the markets and I got in a quick shave and a haircut.  Our hotel is one of these ridiculous all inclusive things which will demand a rigorous post new year diet.  We were treated to an excellent Christmas dinner at the hotel that included a live nativity scene, a belly dancer and the best live rendition of "We Are the World" that I have ever heard.  Overall, a very happy Christmas. 

11/03/09 Back at Home From the North Countries

We spent last week up in Finland, Estonia and Russia.  It was rad.  Have a look at the pictures if you like.  St. Petersburg might be my favorite city. 

10/02/09 A new car and Oktoberfest

So we bought a new car the other day, it's a first for us and was prompted in part by Luxembourg's equivalent of the "Cash for Clunkers" program.  It is a sweet little Peugeot 107, has four doors and still manages to get 60 miles to the gallon.  There are some pics of it in the pictures section if you would like to have a peek.

We inaugurated the little beast on a long weekend trip to Munich for the famed Oktoberfest with some friends of ours from school.  We stayed in a rented apartment in Munich and managed to find our way to the fest via the metro without much trouble.  Oktoberfest is Oktoberfest.  I have never seen anything like it, and if my liver has a say I will never see anything like it again.  To get into one of the tents we had to get there early, so we found ourselves at a table at about 9am.  The fest picked up steam pretty quick and by noon we were surrounded by craziness.  We posted quite a few pics that pretty much sum it up. 

8/23/09 A Trip to Alaska and Another European Road Trip

Quite a summer it has been.  After our road trip with Jason and Kurt, Robyn and I visited Alaska and had a wonderful time with friends and family.  Robyn's parents popped up for a few days and it was a great treat to get to spend time with them and show them around the homeland.  We flew back on the same plane as my brother Paul and his wife Julie, and have enjoyed the past few weeks with them.  We went on a road trip for about a week, and it was an absolutely amazing experience.  Check out the pics for some more info.

7/19/09 A European Road Trip

We just got back from a wonderful little road trip through southern Europe and I have since posted a ridiculous amount of photos.  Really, there are way too many to look through, but I have come to understand that our web albums are more to help me remember what we have been up to over the past few years than anything else.

Our trip took us to southern France, Barcelona, Andorra, Monaco, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria and Bavaria.  Highlights for Robyn and I include: climbing around in Sagrada Familia, going to a U2 concert in Barcelona, hiking in Andorra, seeing the start of the Tour de France in Monaco, swimming in the Mediterranean at night, jogging in Venice, walking around at night in Rovinj and Dubrovnik (Croatia), swimming at Krka national park and getting lost in Plitvicka national park, lounging on the beach on Korcula Island, wandering around Zagreb and Ljubljiana, hitting the casino in Austria and having a few beers at the Hofbrauhaus.  Overall a great trip.

The car performed mightily, and it was great traveling with Jason and Kurt.  We parted ways in Split (it seemed appropriate) where they caught a ferry to Italy and we went on to Zagreb.

Now we are back in Lux for a few weeks of fun and work and then we are off for some quality family time in Alaska.

I hope all our friends and family are having a wonderful summer and please do keep in touch.

Pete  

06/25/09 The Grand Duke's Birthday

Is awesome.  Seriously, it's not his real birthday, but it is awesome. It turned out to be a huge party in Lux with crazy fireworks and ridiculous European drunkenness.  Who would have thought that this little country had so much party in it. Tomorrow is the last day of school at ISL and Saturday we are heading out.  Wish the Citroen luck

6/20/9 A Marathon, Jason and Kurt, Bruges and the Czech Republic

As school winds down (we have only one more week left) the craziness seems to be amping up.  A lot has been going on and we have posted a pile of new albums ranging from the Luxembourg Marathon to our recent trip to Prague with Jason and Kurt.  After school gets out we are heading down to Barcelona for some Spanish fun and a U2 concert.  After that we will hopefully make our way over to Croatia for a little R&R on the beach.  I hope to get better at posting updates and comments once school is out, so keep checking in.

5/9/9  MN, Back to Lux and The Netherlands

It's been a wild and crazy month or so, and I have been neglecting the web page so apologies to anyone who has been checking for updates.  I have since posted a bunch of new pics in a number of albums so feel free to have a look.  We had a fantastic time in MN for Easter celebrating with Robyn's family and hanging out with pals.  Heading home always makes us realize how much we miss our friends and family, so come visit already.  I posted some pics from MN and you can see that our time was full of parties, sports, wildlife photography and troublemaking.

We had a three day weekend for May 1st, so we decided to head up to the Netherlands for some fun in the tulips.  We traveled with some Australian friends from school and ended up staying in an Ikea hotel in Delft.  It was in an Ikea parking lot and had only Ikea furnishings.  Very strange, but comfortable and cheap and in walking distance of Delft's old town.  We spent some time on the coast and also an afternoon at the Keukenhof Gardens.  They really, really like tulips there.  Then we headed out east for some camping in De Hogue Veluwe, which is the largest national park in the Netherlands.  They have park bikes all over that you can grab to pedal around inside the park.  Nice place.  On the way home we stopped for lunch in the town of Den Bosch, and happened upon some crazy flag waving dancing guys, another peeing boy statue and a beer festival.  The Netherlands is fast emerging as our favorite vacation getaway.

3/15/09 London and a Very Happy Bike

Went to London for a conference last week and had a pleasant time talking tech and seeing the sites.  Unfortunately, I got a bit sick so that stopped me from burning that town to the ground.  It was nice though, and the organizers of the conference took us on a trip to the 'Eye of London' (the big Ferris Wheel looking thing) on the final day.  Upon return I got really sick and am now only starting to feel better.  I also bought a used road bike this weekend so I look forward to causing some trouble on that this summer.  That's all for now.

3/1/9 Spain and Portugal

We just got back from a week in lovely Spain and Portugal (I posted an enormous amount of pictures, so my apologies to anyone who wades completely through them).  The weather was fantastic and we had a great time seeing the sites.  Our rental turned out to be a Smart car which was an adventure in itself (their tracking ablility on the freeway turns out to be rather poor) but I have a special place in my heart for that little beast.  I competed in a few orienteering races in Portugal and although it was a wonderful time, I got absolutely schooled by the crazy Europeans.  These cats can orienteer.  I entered the 'Mens Elite' category and in one of the races and I think I came in 40 minutes behind my closest competitor (in a 2 hour and 40 minute race).  Crazy stuff.  Running around the woods really allowed me to see the countryside and it turns out that Portugal is very beautiful.  Lisbon is also spectacular and we had a few pleasant days wandering around that burg.  Andulucia was also quite nice and we had a fine time in Madrid as well.  We managed to stumble upon the only Taco Bell in Europe, but unfortunately it was closed and I was unable to get my fix.  Next time.  When we got back to Luxembourg I was out jogging and happened to notice a massive pile of wood with a cross at the top.  Sure enough, it was a bonfire constructed to beat the metaphorical crap out of winter.  This evening Robyn and I wandered down and enjoyed some champagne  and a huge fire in what appeared to be some sort of Pagan ritual.  Nice to be back in this crazy town.

1/10/9 Nancy

We headed down to Nancy for a day trip this Saturday and  about 2/3rds of the way there we spied an old chateau on a hill and did a little exploring.  It turned out to be the groovy little town of Mousson, which we also posted some pics from.  Among other things, they had a bread vending machine.  I am really starting to like France.  Nancy was also a charming town with a lovely plaza and beautiful park.

1/4/9 Happy New Year!

Vacation is coming to an end for us, and we posted the rest of our pictures from the past two weeks.  It has been a great break, but there is a part of me that is looking forward to a return to normalcy and an opportunity to undo the yearly fattening that happens this time of year.  Cheese fondue and chocolate be damned.  It has been a great year for us, with lots of adventure and excellent times with friends and family.  I hope the holidays were fabulous all around, and remember us in your 2009 travel plans. All the best!

12/21/08 Gindelwald, Switzerland

We popped down to Grindelwald Switzerland for the first four days of our Christmas break for some skiing and seasonal merriment.  The skiing was spectacular (although more snow would make it even better) but I do need to find some skiing pals as the self-portraits certainly get old.  Grindelwald was a great little town and the mountains (specifically the Eiger, the Monch and the Jongfrau) were pretty amazing.  You can see the Eiger train station on the north face if you look carefully - there is a railway that goes to a lodge between the Monch and the Jungfrau and it has two stops that have windows that look out the north wall of the Eiger.  Pretty strange, cool and expensive.  Maybe we will take the train next time.  Peace and happy holidays.

The first week seems to be going pretty well.  We have an apartment, although we won't be able to move in until Saturday the 16th.  We will stay in the hotel until then - it is pretty comfortable  and we have a sweet 10 inch tv to watch the French version of Survivor on.  We have explored the city some, and it is an incredible place.  It feels like Disneyland, only without the big stuffed creatures which hopefully the city will invest in soon.  Our future apartment is quite large and I think it will be very comfortable.  It has a second bedroom, so please help us get our money's worth by planning a visit.  I think that is all I have to report, we will try to get better at updating the web page so please check in frequently and keep in touch.  If you need to call us, please use our new number (our cell phones are no more)(763) 219-1944.  It is a number in the states so there is no need to mess with country codes or additional charges.

Pete