Basler (Half) Marathon

Nancy (bib number 1818) has been training all summer to run the Basel Marathon, but my training fell short in the end and I opted to run the half marathon instead. The course starts just out of town and follows a lovely path along the Birs River. The weather was chilly (in the mid-40's) and it was overcast, but the leaves were turning and the 'fans' were cheering and ringing their cow bells in support of the runners. It was a great day overall and I managed to finish almost 20 minutes faster than last year. Hooray!!!

Weekend in Italy

Wow - what a terrific weekend! We ventured off to northern Italy for Robert's birthday and were treated to terrific blue skies, nice fall weather and some great site seeing. First up, we arrived in Stresa on Lake Maggiore to visit the Park of Villa Pallavicino. It was a zoo (see video) and botanical garden all rolled into one (any they even had 3 owls!). Next we took a ferry to an island in the middle of the lake to visit an absolutely over-the-top villa on the private island of Isole Borromee. We could not believe the scope of this magnificent palace and gardens complete with white peacocks! We missed the ferry back to the mainland and were forced to have a beer to pass the time (darn). We ate at a great hotel/restaurant in the town of Mergozzo to finish off our perfect day. Sunday we started in Arona to visit a huge statue that is only 30 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty - Coloso di San Carlo Borromeo (check out those EARS!). That riveting visit was followed by a visit to the most beautiful garden either one of us has ever been to - Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto. We couldn't stop saying things like - that's beautiful, look at that tree, check out that view...MAGNIFICENT!!! For our drive home we took a long journey through the Alps and over a couple of passes - there was light snow falling near the top. See pictures from our weekend here, and see what it looks like to drive in the Alps here.

Mallorca Spain - Part 1

The Spanish island of Mallorca is one of the Balearic Islands located just off the South East coast of Spain in the Mediterranean. Palma is the capital city with over 500,000 people including the urban areas making it the 12th largest in Spain. The history of the island includes Roman rule, a Byzantine period, and a Muslim period up to 1229. Today, the island is a favorite vacation destination for more than 20 million tourists annually, WOW! The island has plenty of things to do and see... Lay on the beach, explore many castles, drive along the coast and enjoy gorgeous views, spend a day in one of the small villages enjoying local food and wine, or enjoy never ending tourists shops full of everything you don't need! We did our best to do a little of everything. See our pictures here.

Mallorca Spain - Part 2

It's hard to believe, but we actually spent a few days relaxing! Yes, it's true, we actually laid on the beach and also lounged by the pool. It was our vacation after all! But because Mallorca has so many things to see, we also spent time sight seeing around the island. Walking around in the capital city of Palma took one day, we travelled on a tourist train another day, and finally we rented a car for two additional days to get us to places like Valldemossa, Deia, Lluc, Pollencia, Alcudia, Cap de Formentor, Sa Pobla, Manacor, Arta, Portocristo and every small village in between. We enjoyed beautiful coast lines, beaches, mountains, lakes, castles, small villages, cathedrals, olive groves, different kinds of citrus trees, sheep \ goats, a light house, and much more. Of course we made time for plenty of yummy Spanish food and wine along the way. A good combination of accommodation,weather, food, and sights made our vacation in Mallorca very enjoyable. See the pictures here.

New Blog Features

Last week, our visitor added a couple of great features to our blog. RSS feed allows you to subscribe to our latest updates - the information can be added to your i-Google home page or your MyYahoo home page. If you don't have a home page setup on either one of these sites, you can have our updates emailed to you at the email address of your choice. Either way, you can keep up to date on all of our Swiss Adventures! Check out both features on the left side of the page. If you haven't already discovered our Smug-Mug photo page or our YouTube page, you can check those out as well.

Another Visitor!

Last week, we had our last visitor of the year, Kevin P. With not too much time, and an open mind, we zigzagged our way through three countries in five days. Some of the highlights included: window shopping for watches (plus an actual purchase), the world's smallest hummingbird, cows on parade (see video), lack-luster food, terrific Alsace (french wine country) driving tour complete with wine, stork nests, unruly British youth at a terrific waterfall, NO HOT WATER!?!, Basel walking tour, perfect hiking weather at Jungfrau, MAGNUM BARS, warm pretzels, German wheat beer, sunny days with fall temperatures, luggage drama, great conversations, 160KPM on the autobahn, medieval french castle, world's largest cuckoo clock, black forest cake, tallest building in Switzerland, Rhine River ferry ride, the best of Bern-Lucern, local German wine, and the Audi A5.

All that, AND Kevin was able to add new features to our blog (see next post)! Danke, Merci, Gracias - you are welcome to visit ANY TIME!

Circus Nock

Have you ever attended a circus in a REAL TENT?!? Circus Nock is conducted in a tent with a terrific agenda. From the zebras, jugglers, tiger tamers, and acrobats we were wowed by fabulous performances for over 2 hours.