Don & Dean

You can take the boy off the farm, but can you take the farm out of the boy? Well, it turns out, in the case of my father, yes and no. During the wettest and perhaps most depressing spring he has seen in his many years of farming, my dad took 8 days out come visit us in Zurich. After a small amount of convincing, his big brother Dean decided to join him in his first ever trip off the North American continent. After a little time in Zurich we headed off to the Alps near Grindelwald to a little hotel with a view of the Eiger - the most dangerous mountain in Switzerland. On the way to the hotel, however, we spotted a farm field days off the side of the highway and just couldn't resist stopping in to see what a farm show in Switzerland was like. Turns out, a lot like in the US, only more focus on things like potatoes with a kids play area and a really cool corn cow. Once in Grindelwald we had a lively hike through some wet pastures and around the town. On our way back we stopped at the Swiss Historical Open Air museum in Ballenberg, where they have moved historical buildings from all over Switzerland including some farm houses from the 1400's. They had great cheese making and woodcarving exhibitions. Oh, did I mention the chocolate factory. On the way back to Zurich, Don says, 'why don't we go to Paris?' Why not, indeed. Dean was game, so once back in Zurich we booked train tickets and, after a some nervous searching, we found a hotel. The train ride took us through the beautiful French country side and into one of the most robust, diverse cities in the world. Luckily the subway system is among the most convenient in the world. We navigated our way to the hotel on a Tuesday noon, with some help of some local shop keepers. After dropping our bags we headed straight to the Louvre, which we soon found to be closed on Tuesdays (who knew?). So, we walked down the river Seine to Notre Dame to take in the breat-taking structure in the warm June weather. Later that same day, we made our way to the Eiffel tower, which provides those who scale it an clearer understanding of the scale and magnitude of the city of Paris, whose 10 million inhabitants are spread over a fantastic area interweaved with the river that defines its heart.

The next morning we went to the Louvre and saw teh Mona Lisa and other highlights of this vast and stunning landmark. We then hit the metro and went to our train station and back to Zurich. The next day we visited an organic dairy and crops farm not too farm from our apartment. The boys loved seeing a glimpse of our life back on the dairy farm in Wisconsin. The warm summer day at twilight complete with the chopping of hay brings back some incredible memories. Luckily we didn't have to do the heavy lifting and instead sat and had a wonderful dinner at a guesthouse only steps from the farm.

The next day was the travel day back to the states. Too soon the brothers boarded Swiss Air and returned to the new world.

The Need for Speed, with Limited Guilt

You know those cameras situated at a few intersections in the United States that take a picture of a car if it runs a red light and send the person a bill? You know, those cameras that will likely cause politicians to lose their jobs and spark lawsuits that will end up at the Supreme Court?

Well, in Switzerland, they have no qualms about using cameras to enforce traffic laws. Case in point: we were driving back from Germany a couple of weeks ago in a car rented from ETH, our university here in Zurich. Seems that we went 68 km/hr in a 60 km/hr zone somewhere near Schaufhausen. Two weeks later, I get a nice letter in the mail with a bill for $40, explaining how I went a little too fast. No big scene on the highway, no flashing lights, no tired excuses - just a bill.

I wonder where else they have cameras here?

Got it, Need it, Need it, Got it

While baseball cards might be the thing that makes the little (and big) boys in America willing to bargain, right now all over Europe little (and big) boys are trading like mad in an attempt to complete their Panini card collections for the Europe 2008 Cup - the European Soccer Championship tournament that is held every 4 years. This year is particularly special as Switzerland and Austria are co-hosting the tournament. Switzerland has been promoting this fact since we arrived last August with 'countdown' clocks stationed around the city. It is also making the city feel really alive right now as fans from around Europe have arrived and are filling the buses and trams with (sometimes drunken) energy.

A company called Panini issues a book and hundreds of individual sticker cards that document every player from every national team plus cards that have pictures of all the stadiums where the tournament is being held and team shots as well. (Why Panini - my friend Alison told me it refers to the rectangular shape of the cards). A pack of 5 cards costs 1 Swiss Franc (about $1) and the boys are slowly depleting their allowance and gift money to pursue the dream of getting every single card to complete the booklet. This also stimulates impromtu trading literally around the city. We have this picture of a table set up outside the biggest toy store in the city, which is down on Bahnhofstrasse. Isaac looks longingly, wishing he had more doubles to trade.

Two more weeks of the tournament to go; wish Isaac and Elliot luck as they try to complete there book and, if you happen to have card 70 (Swiss player Marco Streller), give Isaac and Elliot a call.

Now you're bigger than you ever were and now you're even bigger...

So Elliot seems to have hit one of those growth spurts. I measured him on May 30th and he was 112 centimeters. Brian measured him on June 8th and he was 112.5 cm. Brian measured him again this morning (June 12) and he's 114 cm. Is this really possible or are we just really bad at accurately recording height??

campus meadows

are back; getting time for us to leave...

Alix & Sean

That was a great description by Brian about how we feel about Alix and Sean (or Sean and Alix, as the case may be...). Really, any time we want to feel super happy, we just think about them and how amazing it is that they have found each other. They are both so wonderful as individuals, it's hard to imagine the even greater wonder of them together.

Right now I am trying to envision their children -- Woooooah. Good thing they are both very energetic. For over twenty years now I have waited for Alix to have a child, so that she could have someone shoot rapid fire questions of why, how, wozu at her (see exhibit A, first pic, below) (you know that I say this with the greatest of affection, BL). Now thinking about that child being a product of her and Sean...as I said, woah.