Sweden and an improptu Baltic Sea cruise to Finland.

While D is processing his pictures from Tuscany, I thought I could skip around a bit and talk about our visit to beautiful, cold, dark, cold, fun, cold Sweden.  

The Ytterjarna Fjord

D and I went to Sweden to visit his sister Kathleen who is helping out with an amazing organisation here called The International Youth Initiative Program .  It is based in Ytterjarna, Sweden, south of Stockholm.  We flew into Arlanda and had to take a bus to a train to a different train to a bus to get to Ytterjarna and cost us about 500 krona (or 50 Euro).  It took us a bit more than 3 hours - usually it only takes an hour and a half and only costs about 10 krona!  It was a fun journey though - we don't know Swedish so it was fun trying to pronounce the stops.  We took the bus and kept getting deeper into the Swedish countryside and finally pulled up to our stop in the middle of a field.  Kathleen (thankfully) met us at the stop, since otherwise we would be wandering the countryside knocking on doors and asking (in English) if anyone knew Kathleen.  

The first thing we did was have fika - a coffee break but so much more.  It was amazing to see Kathleen again, sit by a warm fire, drink hot coffee - or cocoa, and eat delish Swedish food.  The buildings in Ytterjarna are beautiful and designed to mimic the land.  Sweden (especially the area around Ytterjarna) is very good at waste management.  They compost, and have a new technology that consists of burning waste to get energy, and their sewage system is basically all natural.  I'm not really sure on the details but I all the soaps etc. have to be biodegradable because there is little chemical filtration. 

Fika is also a great reason to come in from the cold - we had fika at least twice a day!

For the first time in my life I had nothing planned for the trip.  I did a bit of research reading about Stockholm but didn't even have any sights or anything picked out.  Shocking.  It ended up being a great thing because on the day we arrived we decided to take an impromptu Baltic Sea cruise to Finland the next day.  It is called "The Booze Cruise to Finland" because during the summer you don't need to get a cabin for the overnight ride, you can just sit at the top of the ship and drink. The three of us went into Stockholm and purchased tickets for the ferry which left a mere 4 hours later.

Snowy Stockholm

Two of the 10 tourists visiting Stockholm in November

The colors were beautiful

The street names were unpronounceable.

 Stockholm is situated on many different islands.  We walked around the old town area of Stockholm called Gamla Stan and saw amazing architecture, the royal palace, Stockholm's narrowest street (and where they filmed a Moby music video apparently), and explored.  We then took the bus to the ferry (where they have signs on the road pointing to 'Finland').  I was expecting a large ferry but it was actually a small cruise ship!  We took Viking Cruise Line and it cost us a mere 30 Euros for a round trip ticket with a cabin for 3 from Stockholm to Helsinki.  We stood at the top deck as we pulled away from Stockholm, it was cold, snowy, and gorgeous.  

Kathleen and Dave in the narrowest street of Stockholm, which only got smaller!

Braving the cold - that plastic bag is full of reindeer sausage!

Impromptu Baltic Sea cruise.

We also chose to do a Julbord - a traditional Christmas dinner in Scandinavia.  The Julbord had cheeses, caviar, different types of bread, salad, Swedish meatballs (way better than Ikea), and  we had so much cold smoked salmon.  It was amazing.  They also laid out a wonderful dessert buffet - we had something called a Cone Cake which was shaped like a pine cone, and apple cinnamon charlotte, and a lot of other delish desserts.

So much Salmon!

After dinner we explored the ship and it had a karaoke bar, pub, a nightclub, and just like a normal cruise ship, a hot tub and sauna.   We decided to digest and sit in the sauna, where we met Sum 41, a band that I used to love in high school.  Very random.  We ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night.

Helsinki was gorgeous, and we met two of Kathleen's friends and had a wonderful talk with them.  One of her friends, Matt is involved with a group called Homeboy Industries.  If you haven't heard of the group check it out, it is doing some amazing things.  It was started by a priest who wanted to give LA gang members a second chance, if they want it.  Homeboys gives at-risk youth counseling, tattoo removal, and employment.    He runs a poetry workshop.  This summer, Kathleen let me borrow a book Fr. Boyle wrote a book entitled Tattoos on the Heart and it was very inspiring.  It was great to hear Matt's stories about his own experiences working with Homeboys.

No fika is complete with something to eat.  Here - a kannelbulle.

We walked around Helsinki and visited the Russian Orthodox church which towers over the city.  Their main shopping concourse has heated streets so the snow doesn't collect.   We also had some delicious Nepalese food (according to Kathleen's Finnish friend, Finnish food is not so good).  We visited the Market Hall in Helsinki and went back to the ship a bit early because it was SO COLD. 

More Salmon!

We have maybe 5 pictures of us without jackets on.

The next day we hung out in Stockholm and went to the Vasa Museum where a beautiful ship form 1628 was restored after it sank on its maiden voyage.  We visited Ostermalm Saluhall and ate more lox.  Finally, we figured we had to go to H & M since it is a Swedish store.  We went to the H & M flagship store, and when we exited we realized we could see at least 5 different H & Ms.  They have different stores like H & M children, young and trendy, home, men, women, etc.  Crazy.  We took the train to the bus home and were a bit lost when the bus driver dropped us off in the middle of a field in the middle of the night in rural Sweden.  Luckily, he also pointed us in the right direction. 

The beautifully restored ship

Julmust - a traditional Christmas drink.  In Sweden Coke sales fall 50 % in December.  Not all that delish.

GIANT TURKEY, surrounded by normal (European) sized turkeys.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, we were able to bring Thanksgiving to Sweden and show about 50 non-Americans what Thanksgiving is all about.  We cooked 3 turkeys, peeled and mashed a garbage bag full of potatoes, made a vat of Bernaise sauce, and a LOT of stuffing.  We also had apple, pumpkin, and pecan pie, and amazing Swedish bread.  Thanksgiving was wonderful.  At the end of it, everyone looked uncomfortably full and we told them they did it right. 

Dave mashing vats of potatoes.

The rest of the days were very relaxing, and we explored rural and not so rural Sweden.  We had lots of fika, hung out with Kathleen, discovered an amazing Swedish dessert, and enjoyed the beautiful light cast by the sun.  It basically looks like dawn all the time, and the sun sets at 3:30.  YIP put on an open mic and were fortunate to hear Kathleen's poetry, Ani's singing, and lots of talented yip-ees.  

We were lucky to be in Ytterjarna for the Light Festival.  They light thousands of candles all along the nature paths by the fjord, and it is a beautiful experience.  The candlelight on the snow and a clear sky made it magical.  They also put on a fire show, with flaming poi balls.  It was gorgeous!  It made a beautiful end to a very fun week!

The Swiss love their Cows.

According to what I've heard, the cows in Switzerland were a bit listless and farmers determined they were depressed.  Thus, during the summer, they are all sent to the top of the Jura for vacation and to eat the sweet grass.  In the fall, many towns have a big festival and the cows are sent back down the mountain and paraded through town with Christmas trees decorated with flowers on their heads and giant cow bells. We drove to the village of St. Cergue and were lucky to see the cows being herded from field to field.  

I have never had a more 'Swiss' day.  Each farm brings their cows down decorated and the herders dress in their traditional cow herding gear.  Every so often a different farm brings their cows down and they parade through town within meters of the public.  No stampedes, so that was good.   There was a LOT of poop in the streets after hundreds of cows were paraded through.  The locals wore galoshes.  We did not. 

We also saw and listened to Alp horns, yodelers, and met some Bernese mountain dogs.    The dogs are still used to transport milk from the farm to the town. After the cows were safely down the mountain, the cow bell band paraded through town and played their cow bells. 

There were lots of stands selling Swiss specialties - cheese, tartiflette, pastries, etc.  We tried a lot of food, pet a donkey that was wearing the same hat as our friend Emily, dodged poop, and all in all felt very lucky to call this area home.

Bar Trip # 1 - Burgundy Wine Region

Our home for the week!

A few weeks after arriving in Europe, we had a great visit from Stacy and George.  Stacy is a good friend from law school - I wouldn't have made it through without her.  

We rented a house in Change, France through Homeaway.com.  Homeaway.com is a site we always use to book vacation homes.  It was a wonderful place, a former winemaker's home, complete with fireplace, pool, sauna, and a washer and dryer!*

Hospice de Beaune

 The first day we were there, we visited the Hospice de Beaune, a charitable hospital in Beaune, France, which operates to this day.  Hospice de Beaune also owns 61 acres of vineyard, many Grand Cru and Premiere Cru.  A very important wine auction is held in November of each year, and this charitable wine auction sets the prices for wine of the region for the next year.  The Hospice de Beaune has a beautiful glazed tile roof, which is common in the region.  We all remarked that we did not think that this would be the architecture of French countryside, and looks more like something from Germany. 

We also attended a Burgundy Wine class at Sensation Vin.  It was an interesting class to learn about the wines of the Burgundy region.  Our teacher taught us the basics that we already knew - how to taste, etc. and had some very useful charts in addition to the basic wine wheel.  She also taught us how to read a Burgundy label, and about the terroir of Burgundy.  It was quite interesting. 

The Cellar

The next day we took the 'Prestige' wine tour at Patriarche Pere et Fils with sommelier Jean-Michele.  I fully encourage going on specialized wine tours such as these if you really want to learn about Burgundy wine.  The normal wine tours are 10 Euro/person and you go on a self guided tour of the cellars, taste the wines set out for guests, and receive a tastevin for which to taste.  These were used back in the day to help winemakers taste the wine.  Now, its a kitschy tourist thing.  According to Jean-Michele, they are given out to ensure that the individuals taking the tour won't get drunk.  

Our Wine Tasting

Our group with Jean-Michele

Jean-Michele took us on a private tour of the 13th century cellar.  It was amazing!  They have over 3 million bottles of wine, the oldest from 1907.  (If I remember correctly) At the end of our tour, we had a private tasting with Jean-Michele in a candle-lit private room in the cellar.  The whole cellar had very low light in order to protect the bottles.  We tasted 8 interesting bottles of Burgundy, from Village to Grand Cru.  It was a wonderful tour and at the end we were each given a bottle to take home.  The tour costs 40 Euro, but the bottles given to us cost 35 Euro, which brings it down to the cost of a normal self-guided tour. 

The next day we did a similar tour at Marche aux Vins.We did the 'Best of Burgundy' tasting.  It was interesting, but we liked the wines at Patriarche better.  That night, we had a wonderful picnic (mostly cheese) in the world famous Montrachet vineyard. 

We drove around the Burgundy region - in both the Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune.  The area is beautiful - many rolling hills with vineyards as far as the eye can see and beautiful little villages. 

 

We visited Clos Vogeout - one of the larges Grand Cru plots in the region and even helped harvest grapes!  We were there during harvest time and asked some pickers of we could help them for a bit.  It was great fun, but I probably would not like doing that for more than 30 minutes.  

We also visited the Romanee- Conti vineyard, one of the most famous wines of the world, and definitely the most famous of Burgundy.  They only have 1.8 hectares and produce about 450 cases per year (about 5,400 bottles).  Each bottle costs about $6,000!  We did not try any while we were in Burgundy.  

The last night of our Burgundy trip we took a tour of Domaine Monnot Roche.  The owners were the agents of the owner of the Homeaway house and showed us around the home when we first arrived.  We asked if we could visit their winery, and they were happy to oblige.  They presented many (many, many, many) of their wines and even treated us to a Burgundy specialty - gougeres.  Little cheese puffs with spices.  Delish.  After our tasting they took us on a tour of their winery, we saw the barrels, the fermentation room, aging room etc.  We purchased wine and they let us label our wine ourselves (we weren't very good).  They even let us taste the 2009 Burgundy (great year) straight out of the barrel! It was a wonderful way to end our trip.

Next Post:  The Cow Festival!

* How things are different in Europe # 2:  There are very few dryers here - most everyone line dries their clothes.  Great in general, as we normally do the same back in the States, but sometimes you just want a freshly laundered warm towel or to shrink your jeans back to size. 

The Great Apartment Hunt of 2010

But first...The Chalet!

I mentioned that D's experiment graciously rents out a ski chalet (for summer students only) as temp housing.  That is great, because omigosh is rent expensive here! We stayed there for a month.  We got off the plane, drove directly to CERN, and then after an hour or two, drove to the Chalet.  Our friend Nil drove us as it is easy to get lost.* We get to the Chalet, which is in a gorgeous area, literally on the foothills of the Alps.  BUT, for a summer many, many physicists have been running in and out.  Most physicists are boys.  Most boys are dirty.  (Hope no one takes offense to this, but that's my experience) The Chalet was so icky.  So icky.  D and I picked our room and then took on the task of cleaning, because it was (have I mentioned?) so icky.  First task: bathroom.  I am very lucky:  D is quite clean (or has become? I'm not sure).  Regardless, I'm a great cleaner but D pledged a fraternity and can deal with a lot more dirt than I can.  D literally took a Brillo pad to tub.  It went from being gray to being a gleaming white.  Seriously.  It took him at least half an hour to clean the tub.  D also mopped the floors.  He is so awesome.  The kitchen had to be cleaned as well.  It took us about a week to clean everything up and do a bunch of laundry because people just left the (dirty) sheets on the bed.  Ew.

In the end, it worked out fine - and the Chalet had Satellite so we could watch British TV! It was also our first experience with real functional shutters!  Every night we close them, and every morning we got to open them and look out onto the foothills of the Alps.  The first time it happened, D said I looked like I was in a Disney movie!  Every time I opened them, I sang. It was great!

But we moved out into an amazing apartment on 1 October! 

Finding an apartment in Geneva is ridiculous.  There are too many people and not enough housing.  So began our great apartment search.  We were actually VERY lucky.  D had to work all day, so all I did was look for apartments.  I looked on Glocals (which is a social networking site here), WRS classifieds (World Radio Switzerland - English radio channel), CERN Marketplace, and the UN housing ads (the last two are only available if you work at CERN or the UN or if you know someone who does).

Regies:  Here in Europe many apartments are owned by the Regies.  They regulate the apartment, and replace stuff after a certain amount of time, etc.  But, boy they are a pain to work with.  First, you have to see the apartment, fill out a crazy amount of paperwork, and there are generally like 20 people viewing the same apartment you are.  You have to have a certain amount of income, but also be under a certain income.  It was intense.  After a week of working through the Regies, we find out that the Swiss Embassy messed up our visas - we were given visitor visas instead of resident visas.  So no Regie would take us anyway.

Apartment 1:  Kitchen Closet

Location:  Paquis, Geneva, Switzerland

Area:  20 meteres squared

Pros:  In Geneva, close to public transport, furnished, had a lift (for 3 people).

Cons:  1500 Francs, not including internet or electricity.  D had to duck to shower.  Tiny.  Oh, and the KITCHEN WAS IN A CLOSET.  It had a college sized fridge, and a microwave with a burner on it.  It was not big enough for 2 people.  

I took this picture on the other side of the apartment.  Seriously.  This is the one room of the apartment.

Apartment 2:  Regie Experience

Location: Meyrin, Switzerland

Area:  22 meteres squared

Pros:  In Meyrin, close to D's work, farther from Geneva so cheaper, balcony

Cons:  We visited and there were at least 30 people there looking at the apartment.  It was still 1 room, but the kitchen was a bit bigger.  1 room.  It was still 1400 Francs. 

Apartment 3:  Unfurnished - literally

Location:  Meyrin, Switzerland

Area:  25 meters squared

Pros:  Great building, great hardwood, 1200 Francs.

Cons:  Here in Europe when an apartment is unfurnished, it doesn't just mean that it doesn't come with a bed.  It doesn't come with a fridge, or a stove either.  So we would have to buy that stuff.  No.

Apartment 4:  Camping Cabin

Location:  St. Genis, France

Area 30 meters squared

Pros:  Very close to CERN

Cons:  Everything else.  I wish I had a picture of this place.  It was literally a camping cabin.  There was no heating - only by wood stove.  If we wanted hot water for the shower we had to turn on a little box which would heat up the water.  It was 'furnished'  with a bed, stove, fridge, and the worlds oldest radio.  I felt a bit bad for the man, because he was really nice.  But, on our apartment tour, he told us that people had stolen stuff so he had to put bars in the window, and that the steps leading up to the apartment are very slippery.  Last year he fell on them and hurt his leg.  Did I mentioned the framed Men In Black poster on the wall?

Apartment 5:  OUR APARTMENT!

Pros:  EVERYTHING - its in a renovated farmhouse.  It was renovated 4 years ago in an ecologically friendly way.  It is attached to the landlord's home.  We have solar panels, underfloor heating, the insulation is hay, and the walls are made of plaster and mud.  We have a compost in the backyard, we can garden because WE HAVE A YARD.  The landlords are wonderful.  I can see the foothills of the Alps from our desk, along with the ski lift that is in our town. It's great and we can't wait for people to visit! 

Our Kitchen/Living Room

Our Yard!  The Jura and the ski lift in the background

Our Living Room/Kitchen

I just love our yard. :)

Our Bedroom

Bathroom

The world's smallest washing machine!

We have already had Stacy & George, and Anita & Warren visit.  It has been great fun showing our friends life in Europe.  We hope more people can visit! 

* How things are different in Europe # 1:

Amazing thing:  If you don't have a map, and know the city you are going to - Europeans are AMAZING at labeling what city is where.  At roundabouts you will see signs to the city you would like to go. For instance, in Gex, there was a sign to Paris, perfect!

Un-Amazing thing:  If you want to navigate (say from googlemaps) on road names, you are outta luck.  Road names are posted as tiny little things, and roads change names a lot.  Also, if you are coming from the wrong direction, you may not see the road sign because it is pointed so only one direction will see the sign. ugh.

In general, we pack light, I swear.

D and I packed up what we thought we needed for a year and squeezed it into 1 pullman, 1 cardboard box, 1 giant duffel bag, 1 large duffel bag, 2 rolling carry on bags, 1 messenger bag, and 1 backpack. It took about 1 month of packing, re-packing, re-evaluating and a LOT of space bags.  This is what the finished product looked like...minus the carry-ons and backpacks...

Wow!  We weighed, re-weighed, added stuff, took stuff out, and I may have cried.  It was after taking the Bar, I was still very emotional.  It was perfect, each bag was at or (a little) less than 23 kg (50 lbs) and, of course, less than 158 cm of L+W+H .  We thought we were being brilliant by putting the heavy stuff (books, etc.) in our carry-ons.  I said "I've flown a thousand times - they never weigh the carry on stuff."  Then I ate my hat. 

On 1 September we get into the car and drive from D's parents house to JFK.  Getting the stuff into/out of the car was a challenge.  Getting the stuff onto the smartecarte was even more of a challenge.  The biggest challenge?  The scale! 

We get in line while enduring a lot of stares. People were probably thinking 'These Crazy Americans - they have too much stuff!'  D and I see that there are 3 women and 2 men, all quite frazzled.  In my head, I repeat 'please let us get one of the guys' over and over.  We (luckily) get one - and he's nice, and he's Filipino! We tell him we're moving to Switzerland, that we're nervous, and just chat him up.  He weighs or luggage and I see EVERY SINGLE BAG BUT ONE is OVERWEIGHT!  But he says nothing.  He just takes them and puts the sticky tag on the bags.  Then...

Awesome Swiss Air Employee: How many carry-ons will you be bringing?
Me:  Two each, one roll aboard and one personal item - a backpack.
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: OK, put the roll aboard on the scale
Me: .....k
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: Um, they are overweight.
Me:  (close to tears 1:1 ratio of pretend to real)  ...so what do we do now?
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: Well, you can't bring them on board, you will have to check them.
Me:  (close to tears 1: 2 ratio of pretend to real) ...how much will that cost?
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: For you, nothing.
Me: (tears come, 100% real)  THANK YOU!  

Luckily, he doesn't ask us to weigh our personal items - D's backpack is bulging with stuff sticking out, my shoulder is about to fall off and various items are sticking out of pockets.  And we go on our merry way.  Thank you Swiss Air Employee, wherever you are! 

My tips on packing up to move to another country:  

1.  Buy space bags.  We used the ones by Packmate and compressed our down comforter, duvet, winter jackets, and various clothes. You don't need a vacuum, just someone willing to lay on bag and roll back and forth while you hold the seal. 

2. If you pack in the summer and are moving to a relatively cool climate, don't pack an inordinate amount of summer clothes.  Silly me, I thought I could wear tank tops in October. Wrong. 

3. Ask people who live in the country you are moving to (if possible) what they miss or can't purchase - I brought measuring cups and spoons.  Had I known, I would have also brought brown sugar, almond butter, and cupcake liners.  

4.  Ask you mom for help - moms are fantastic packers. 

5. Don't let your husband convince you that you only need a few pairs of shoes.  I brought SEVEN PAIRS for the whole year.  Then I bought boots here. 

6. Bring stuff that reminds you of home - when we unpacked our down comforter (given as a wedding present from D's amazing sisters) it was like getting hugs from them, and a wonderful taste of home.  A good friend brought me a real cinnamon stick from Saigon.  Stick being a vast over-generalization.  Real cinnamon = bark of a tree.  She brought me bark from Saigon, gave it to me in Chicago, and I brought a bit of it to Europe.  It was one well traveled piece of bark, and I love it.  

7.  Buy a Magic Jack.  I know it looks cheesy but I think it was one of the best things we purchased.  It looks like a usb stick and you plug it into the computer to make a call.  You get a US number that you can choose (we have a NY number) and it is like calling the States from the States.  Anyone can call the number and leave a message if its not plugged in.  And it's only 40 USD to purchase.  This has been very useful to call credit card companies, etc. 

8.  Get Skype.  It's wonderful seeing our parents, sisters, friends, etc. 

9. Pack in stages - otherwise you will get overwhelmed.  

10.  Have an idea (or if you are OCD like me - a list) of what's in what box.  I knew we were moving to temp housing for a bit and made sure that we didn't need to dig through every bag to get what we needed.  I packed 'stuff we wouldn't necessarily need in the first month' in the cardboard box, 'stuff we would definitely need all the time' in the carry-ons, and 'stuff to wear for our 1st month' in one of the duffel bags.  

11.  Know about the country to which you are moving and pack clothing appropriately.  Europeans dress up much more than Americans.  They don't wear shorts, generally.  We've been to 3 countries in the 2 months we have been here (not a huge feat, considering D commutes to another country for his work everyday).  But it looks to me like Italians > Swiss > French.  Regardless, you won't see anyone walking around in sweatpants.  (I prefer black yoga pants anyway!)

12. Pack light (ha) because you will buy stuff.  I know we're already going to have to ship stuff back to the States!

Moving to Europe and a Brief Overview

We have been in Europe for 2 months now and I told myself that I would write a blog to update our families and friends on our life here.  So, finally, I am doing just that.*   Hi Family.  Hi Friends!

In case anyone reading this doesn't know or doesn't remember, we moved to SwitzerFrancerLand for D's work at CERN.

Why SwitzerFrancerLand? 

As you can see from this map** Geneva (in the lower left) is completely surrounded by France.  We actually live 16 km away from Geneva, in Crozet, France.  This means that we have to carry both Euros (France) and Francs (Switzerland).  We also have to remember the different operating hours of each country. 

So, what have we been up to in the last few months?  (Or an overview of what this blog will cover - learning to write in law school has taught me that one must always give one's audience an overview of what they will read in the next pages.) 

 1. We packed up what we thought we needed for a year and tried to fit that in baggage that was in accordance with FAA and Swiss Air Standards.

2.  We moved to 'The Chalet' in Gex which is the house that Dave's experiment generously rents out to provide their students with temporary housing.  

3.  We went on "The Great Apartment Hunt of 2010"

4.  We visited the Burgundy Wine Region in France with good friends and drank too much wine. 

5. We went to a Cow Festival

6. We visited the Tuscany Wine Region with good friends, had our car break down, had a purse stolen, and still had an amazing time. 

7.  We have learned just how different Europe is from the States (this might be a series in this blog)

8.  I'm learning to cook French food!

So there you have it.  I hope you like reading it.  Although, even if you don't I'm still going to write about how awesome it is to be here.  Enjoy!

* It took me this long to actually write a blog because I have been obsessively reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series (again).  The series is 7 books, roughly 3,712 pages in two months.  Law school definitely taught me to read quickly. It's amazing - go borrow/buy the series - you won't be sorry, but your eyes may hurt and your significant other may get annoyed at the Dark Tower references you incorporate into everyday life. 

** Image from www.solarnavigator.net 

***I never realized I needed reference numbers in writing!