Munchen (Munich), Germany

It is impossible not to like Munich: a beautiful city with a giganitc park, the Pinakothek with a huge architecture section, the glockenspiel and most of all the BEER! On our first evening in the city we took the beer tour and drank our way through four breweries: Schneider, Paulaner, Lowenbrau and of course the Hofbrauhaus. We learned a lot about the history of beer and beer culture, beer gardens, the maypole. We took a walking tour of the city as well and also visited the local palace. We'll be back in Septemeber to experience Oktoberfest - we can't wait!
See our photos.

World Cup 2006

It is absolute mayhem in all of Europe right now – no, not protests about “The DaVinci Code” or US-Iran issues. We are one short week away from the 2006 World Cup tournament which is being hosted by Germany this year. As you may or may not know, the World Cup only occurs every 4 years and it works kind of like the Olympics where the regular soccer season is suspended and country teams are formed by professionals who normally don’t play together. The excitement is intense and the fans are loyal and I still can’t believe the US actually has a team! We have a member of the Fussball Club Basel that lives in our building who is playing for Japan, his native country, in the games. Check out the history of the game and all about the World Cup here.

Maranello, Italy

Maranello Italy - never heard of it. Maranello is 30 minutes outside of Bologna and is the home of Ferrari. We visited the Ferrari gallery which is a mix of F1 cars and street cars. We picked out the one we wanted, but they wouldn't let us take it home =( Here's a fun article about the factory tour (you can talk to your local dealer if you'd like to get a tour for yourself). Read this article. See our pictures here.

Firenze (Florence), Italy

Florence is yet another very old, very beautiful city. The Ponte Vecchio is a very famous bridge that dates from 1333. Be sure to read the bit about the padlocks in the following link – Robert got some great photos too. The Santa Maria dome is an impressive site atop a fantastic cathedral – it was a milestone in architectural history. Michelangelo’s statue of David is a must see in Florence – it is an awe-inspiring 17 feet tall and it’s no wonder that the people of Florence (and the entire world) fell in love with it when it was unveiled in 1504. View our pictures here.

Lucca, Italy

Lucca is way more than bad mall pizza – it’s actually a wondrous walled city between Pisa and Firenze. We walked around this great city during the evening and we very impressed with its incredible history and up-to-date style. We had a great, garlic-y pasta dinner with the local wine there and were all sorry we couldn’t spend more time getting to know it better (lucca history). Take a look at our pictures.

Pisa, Italy

Pisa isn’t just a leaning tower – it’s actually quite a large city, but time only allowed for the obvious. Once we found the tower we were all stunned to see how much it leans – 27 degrees! Robert took some great pictures and we actually got to walk to the top as well. After our perusal through the souvenir vendors, a stop for gelato, and a walk around the tower area, we were presented with an official Pisa citation for not knowing how to read the parking signs =( Check out our pictures.

Genova, Italy / Mediterranean Coast

We know it as Genoa, but this is where Christopher Columbus is from. We stopped just long enough to stretch our legs and we saw their nicely renovated port area that reminded us of Baltimore of all places. Renzo Piano is from here as well and had buildings and structures in the port. The bank here is where the first check was ever issued! We took a leisurely drive along the beautiful Mediterranean coast and ate a picnic lunch on a rocky beach and had gelato for dessert. For those of you who haven’t experience gelato – you can get the real thing in Indianapolis at Gelato da Vinci . Take a look at our Genova and coastal photos.

Milano (Milan), Italy

Indeed the fashion capital of the world, Milan has great shopping and lots of history. The Opera House is not much to look at on the outside, but the inside (according to Sandra who decided to venture in) is stunning. It is a working theater and a museum as well. Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" (1495-97) is here; unfortunately we didn’t know you needed reservations. We’ll be back. (By the way, we understand that there is a lot of controversy around “The DaVinci Code” in the US – there are no such issues, problems or protests that we know of anywhere in Europe). Sforzesco Castle is a well preserved relic of the past that has been incorporated into a fantastic use of public space for residents and visitors alike. Last but not least the duomo at the heart of the city is the largest gothic cathedral in the world. Built in 1387 and it is still covered in scaffolding! Here are the pictures.

Our First Visitor!!

Sandra Moffett came to visit us for 2 weeks =) We were both very excited to have her and enjoyed showing her around Basel and getting her acclimated to Europe. She went to several museums, the local roman ruins and the zoo and saw many Basel landmarks (basilisks, ferry, three kings corner, the munster, etc.). We all went for trip up into the mountains, did a little hiking, and had cheese fondue for dinner. It seemed that all roads led to Luzerne as she was there several times over once to see the city and another time with Nancy to see an example of the Swiss military forts built into the sides of mountains (of which there are 15,000!), we also spent a nice day in Bern. A lovely drive thru the France took us to Luxemburg to the American Cemetery where Sandra’s uncle, a Medal of Honor winner, is buried – a very humbling experience. On the way home we came back through Germany to visit the Heidelberg castle and a trilling drive on the autobahn! Finally, we took a trip to Italy to soak up some sun, pasta, gelato and wine.

Barcelona, Spain

Robert took a business trip to Barcelona several weeks ago and during his time there he was able to squeeze in a bus tour of the city along with some colleagues. Check out his great pictures!

Southern Road Trip

This week took us to the South... Lugano, in the South of Switzerland, and Lake Como in the North of Italy. They're both beautiful sub tropical areas well worth the drive. We were able to be there at just the right time as the flowers were beautiful, the weather was warm, the mountains were high, and the palm trees and bikers were all around. We spent the time walking and driving around the lake(s) and taking in the awesome scenery. It really is one of the most beautiful areas we've been to. The highlight of the trip was probably the beautiful Villa Carlotta Gardens we visited on the shore of Lake Como. Have a look at the pictures to see the amazing flowers in the Spring. This is their official website. We also squeezed in a short trip to a Christo and Jeanne Claude exibit. Visit their website here. See the Villa Carlotta and Lake Como pictures here. See the Lugano pictures here. See pictues of our drive home here.

Normandy (5/5)

A moving experience, Normandy humbles it’s visitors. Omaha and Utah beach, where the American’s landed on D-Day, June 6, 1944, still contains military relics, bomb craters, and German stronghold bunkers. The American Cemetery is as overwhelming as it is beautiful with over 9,000 graves overlooking the English Channel. We visited several museums, saw lots of military paraphernalia, listened to ‘40s music, and saw a movie of old new reel footage from the landing and subsequent deployment of military troops and equipment from this site once it was secured. TIME WILL NOT DIM THE GLORY OF THEIR DEEDS.
See our pictures of Normandy here.

Giverny (4/5)

The home of Claude Monet is located 1hr NW of Paris. Giverny is a very quiet town with lots of art galleries, gardens, and tour buses. Monet’s home and studio is open to public and offers lots of opportunities to walk around his beautiful gardens and lily pond. It’s a lot larger than we both expected and we were thrilled to see the Japanese bridge that’s been painted so many times by this great master. Monet is buried just down the street and we were able to spend a very enjoyable time both at his home and in this charming town. We speculated that he’s making more money per day in the huge gift shop than he made during his entire life!
See our pictures here.

Villa Savoye / Paris (3/5)

We stopped by another Le Corbusier masterpiece, Villa Savoye, located in the suburbs of Paris. The house models the architect’s five points of new architecture in every way. We followed a sefl-guided tour and loved it so much we walked thru each space at least 3 times. In the evening we ventured into Paris for some dinner and to visit the Pompidou (Richard Rogers/Renzo Piano) building. See our pictures of Villa Savoye here, or see our pictures of Paris here.

Versailles, France (2/5)

You must see Versailles to believe it. It’s got three parts: the chateau, the park and the other park. The castle is about 2 blocks long (IT’S EMENCE!), but it is dwarfed by the MASSIVE gardens located in it’s “back yard” – it takes one hour to walk from the house to the end of the grand canal (I am not exaggerating!). We spent the entire day strolling thru the gardens, learning about King Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Hall of Mirrors. The words ‘shock and awe’ were used by us several times during the day to describe our general feeling for this magnificent landmark. See our pictures of Versailles here.

Belleau Wood, France (1/5)

One hour east of Paris is the WWI battle site Belleau Wood. Nancy’s grandfather, Julian Paul Orem, fought here in 1918 as a Marine. The American Cemetery (1 of 8 for WWI) lies below the woods with 2,038 graves. There is a small memorial in the woods which recaps the battle and an American Memorial overlooking the town of Chateau Thierry which commemorates our brave, young soldiers.

Here's some additional information about Nancy's grandfather:
Julian P. Orem was born September 21, 1898 in Switzerland County, Indiana. He was one of 7 children. His father died November 9th, 1904. By November 22nd, 1905 he was orphaned by the death of his mother Nancy Tabitha Orem.

After a "rocky" childhood, he enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corp in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 13th, 1915. He received his basic training at Norfolk, Virginia, and was assigned to the 8th Marine Company at New Orleans, Louisiana.

After duty on the destroyer Kersarge at Verecruz, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, he was sent to Saint Nazaire, France in late June 1917. He remained with the 8th Company which became the 8th Regimental Machine Gun Company in the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment of the Second Division.

He saw action in the following sectors & engagements: Verdun Sector, Chateau Thierry Sector, Soissons offensive and the St. Mihiel offensive.

He was wounded in the left hand September 12, 1918. He was hospitalized in France for about 10 weeks, and then returned to a military hospital in Norfolk, Virginia where he was eventually discharged April 19th, 1919.

See our pictures of Belleau Wood here.

Ronchamps

Ronchamps in one of several architecutral masterpieces by Le Corbusier. Actually it's called Notre Dame du Haut, but it's affectionatly known by and refered to by the town it is located in. We are taking a driving tour of France later this month and were looking into the locations of several things we'd like to see, Ronchamps being one of them. It turns out that it's less than 1.5 hours from Basel so we jumped in the car for a short road trip.

Check out the pictures.

Panama Canal

We entered the Panama Canal at 6:30am. The stern was full of the passengers taking pictures and eating Panama Rolls (sweet rolls with pieces of orange). Our ship only went thru the first set of locks and we took an excursion that allowed us to see and pass thru the other locks. Here are some interesting facts about the canal:

If a ship is just large enough to fit thru the locks it is called a Pana-max
The locks are 110ft wide – our ship was 106ft wide!
There are 3 sets of lock pairs across the 50 mile Panamanian isthmus
The locks are able to function using fresh water from a man made lake (Gatun)
The locks work via gravity; there are no water pumps used
The locks and mechanisms are 80% original from the August 1, 1914 opening
More than 25,000 people died building the Panama Canal
They are currently designing a larger set of locks that will parallel the existing ones
38-40 ships pass thru on a daily basis saving an 8k mile journey around South America
It cost our cruise ship $225,000 just to pass thru the first set of locks

See our pictures of Panama here.

Cruise Highlights

In between all the eating (breakfast, mid-day snacks, lunch, high tea, dinner, dessert and midnight chocolate buffets) we were actually able to make it to Ft. Lauderdale and back without a) careening off the side of a mountain in a tour bus or b) setting the ship on fire. Here are some of the highlights:
•Going to Big Lots for cold medicine and sunglasses before getting on the ship
•Seeing Nancy’s parents for the 1st time since we left (they took the cruise too)
•Half Moon Cay - we have never seen such beautiful water and beaches
•Aruba –cool fish, coral & turtles on our submarine excursion – pina coladas!
•Curacao – Netherlands colony with old world charm, a canoe trip and snorkeling with fantastic, colorful tropical fish
•Costa Rica – thick rain forest, cocoa plants (chocolate), banana plantations, howler monkeys, toucans, and sloths (two AND three toed!)
•On-Board - Jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, old movies, reading on the deck, cheesy stage shows, duty free shopping, exploring the ship, drinks before dinner, origami towel animals, art auctions, BINGO!, losing money in the casino, galley tour, scrabble, shuffleboard, and lectures from a college professor about our destinations. See our pictures of the cruise at Aruba, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Curacao and Panama.

Fasnacht - Basel Carnival

Last week was the Basel "Fasnacht" (Carnival) we've been telling you about. CRAZY, that's what it is... Confetti, drums, flutes, costumes, parades, and floats to name a few. The streets were blocked, the tram and bus schedules were modified, and to make it more convenient, Basel got about 16 inches of snow (all in one day) two days before it started. So anyway, we've told you about this event several times now, so finally, after all the hype, here are the pictures. Enjoy! See pictures here.

Rome Day 3

We only had a couple of hours to see the Vatican, so we decided to see St. Peter’s. We had planned on taking a tour with the same tour company we used before, but we arrived late (because the buses are not on a schedule) and had to make a go of it on our own. We walked to the top of the cupola to see the magnificent views of the city and also the fantastic mosaics up close (you can’t even see them from the ground). Michelangelo’s Pieta was definitely the hi-light of the Vatican trip. See can see our pictures of Rome here.

Rome Day 2

We had a guided tour scheduled for 11am so we walked from the subway station to see the Spanish Steps (of Roman Holiday fame) and then walked to our tour of Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill (the origin of the word palace) is a ruin located between circus maximus and the roman forum – the tour was again, fantastic and we learned that the white togas of the vestal virgins are why we wear white wedding dresses today and that the Romans invented bricks and mortar. We walked through a fantastic park just outside the city to wind down and discuss what we had seen. Italian food was on the menu all three days – not to mention gelato! You can see pictures of Rome here. And our pictures here.

Rome Day 1

Our first full day we took a bus tour to orient ourselves with the city. In the middle of the bus tour we got off to see the Victor Emmanuel Monument dubbed the “wedding cake” by the American GIs during WWII – just look at the picture, it is aptly named. Just behind this monument is the Roman Forum and behind that is the Colosseum…Circus Maximus is just down the street. Each of these historic sites is completely unbelievable and that they are within easy walking distance is amazing.

Oh, you should see the Colosseum, Spaniard: we missed our tour bus connection and stumbled into taking a guided tour of the Colosseum. The Colosseum, it’s history, our tour and the guide were AMAZING! We learned about how and why it was built, that it had a retractable roof, how the floor worked, who attended, who fought, the bathroom facilities, the earthquake in 1349 that destroyed half the building and that the marble and iron was stripped out of it to build St. Peter’s.

We also took a walking tour of the city in the evening that was a great opportunity to find the hidden treasures in the labyrinth of city streets where cars aren’t allowed. The highlights were: Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio, Mussolini’s balcony and the adjacent Napoleon balcony, many Egyptian obelisks which came to the city between 50 BC and 45 AD, the magnificent and HUGE Trevi Fountain, and the just to round it out – The Pantheon. Click here for pictures of Rome, or you can see our pictures of Rome here.

Rome MMVI - Prelude

We had a long weekend and decided to spend it in Rome. There is a low-cost airline that flies out of the Basel airport (EuroAirport) and goes to many popular destinations. The flight to Rome was about 1 ½ hrs and once there, we enjoyed getting to know the city. Italy has much different views on rules, punctuality, and litter control than is evident in Switzerland, but after understanding and accepting these differences we were able to go with the flow. Here’s a great web-site that has a lot of information about all of the sites we visited.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Once upon a time there was King Ludwig. He was the King of Bavaria. King Ludwig loved to build castles and Neuschwanstein was the grandest of them all. He dedicated this castle to Richard Wagner and had the rooms painted with scenes from his operas (there is even a CRAZY cave room that is on the 4th floor of the castle). The castle is almost as unbelievable in person as it is in the pictures. The Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disney World is based on this castle. And we all lived happily ever after. The End. You can see our pictures of the castle here.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Located in southern Germany (a mere 5-6 hrs from Basel) is Garmisch. In 2004, Robert had the opportunity to meet a Roche colleague, Robert Huber, and his family (Gaby, Daniela, and Florian). The Huber’s invited us to visit for the weekend – they were gracious hosts and fantastic tour guides. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is Germany’s largest alpine resort and consists of two towns that were merged for the 1936 Olympic Winter Games. We spent half a day sight-seeing (see castle blog), a day and a half skiing and the rest of the time eating and enjoying the Huber’s fantastic German hospitality. Mr. Huber spent time teaching Nancy how to ski while Florian introduced Robert to slopes that were a bit more challenging. The weather didn’t allow us to see all the great mountain views while we were there so we’re planning a return trip in the summer – we can't wait! You can see the pictures from Garmisch here.