Ok the break is over for now....

So I received a couple of comments about my apparent "slacking off" or abandonment of the blog, and apparently people were asking other people if everything was ok with me. Weird. Anyway, the person that actually made me want to write was my mother. She sent me an email saying she would be sad if I stopped writing, and that she for one, really enjoys reading the blog. And being one who does not like to disappoint my mama, I told her rest assured, I was just taking a break. However it got my mind thinking about my mom and her awesome-ness, so I figured why not write an ode to my mom. (I know, Mother's Day was last month).

I like the way a band called Slightly Stupid puts it in one of their songs "To my mother, I love you, ain't no one above you" and that's pretty accurate. Don't get me wrong, I adore my dad and my sister too but this is about my mom.

As several of my friends are now embarking on the new journey of motherhood, I think of my mom and what an amazing person she is.

Some may know my mom was born and raised in Switzerland, she grew up with three brothers and one sister and was without a doubt a tomboy. My mom had a passion for animals, especially horses. When she finished school, her greatest desire was to go work with horses, but my grandfather, being a practical Swiss told her she had to do a proper internship and learn something of value before she could take off and chase her dreams. At the age of 20, after finishing her internship, my mother took off and went to Western Switzerland to work with horses. Eventually she made her way to France and worked with racehorses for a few years, which after a time, brought her to live and work in the USA.

Some years later, my mom decided she wanted to try something new and decided to become a flight attendant. She traveled all over the world, exploring new cultures in Japan and Thailand amongst others.

Eventually she met my dad, got married and had two kids and started a new journey as a wife and a mother. As we got a bit older, she decided to start working in the schools we attended (maybe to keep an eye on us, but really we were good girls).

My mom has shared her love and appreciation of animals, nature and travel with my sister and I - amongst many other things, and for this I am eternally grateful.

She has allowed me to have such a magical childhood, where I could play in gardens, get dirty, explore my imagination and have amazing memories. Some examples of these memories are from France. Once we were in Chantilly, France at the training track for the racehorses. It was early morning and the light was misty and dewy, the track was in the middle of a forest and you could feel the horses pounding the dirt seconds before they actually appeared from around the bend. Another time, my mom, my sister and I were driving through France and came across one of these enormous fields of sunflowers. My sister was obsessed with sunflowers, so my mom pulled over and let Carmen and I jump the fence and run through the field. Memories like from a storybook, except these are real.

As an adult my mom has supported me in ways I don't know that so many other mothers would. Never any pressure about what are you doing with your life, when are you getting married, when are you having kids and those quintessential "mother" concerns that seem common in our society. If anything she bugged me for years about working too much and when I decided to quit and travel she did not bat an eye. Safety concerns, she had but she definitely didn't make a huge fuss.

So to my super duper mama, tough as nails, adventuring, incredibly supportive of living against the grain, best lasagna and chocolate mousse maker on the planet - thank you.

Sex and the City

Not really. Last week I had visitors. My cousin Samantha and her friend Steffy came to visit me in NY after they had visited my family in Miami and gone to Key West and the Bahamas (you see - this traveling thing actually does run in the family). The only people that visit me sort of regularly are my mom and my friend Camille who comes up for business. How exciting to be able to show these two around one of my favorite cities!

I picked them up at JFK, we had dinner in Brooklyn at Picket Fences, which is in my neighborhood and is really delicious. Their mac and cheese is awesome. Anyway after dinner I packed these two into my car and drove them into Manhattan. I have some pretty strong opinions on how people should see NY and I consider a night time drive through the city essential. How else do you begin to take in the twinkling lights, the bridges, the billboards, the shock and riot of color, sound and light that is Times Square?

So we drove over the Brooklyn Bridge with great views of lower Manhattan, up the west side, down through Times Square (that really hit them!), through the Village, up the FDR, back down through Times Square again (for the pictures) and back over the Brooklyn Bridge and home. But not before they could experience the difficulty of finding legal street parking in Brooklyn at 1am. Ha ha ha.

The next day, with spectacular weather, we went to Rockefeller Center. The top of Rockefeller Center is 70 stories above Manhattan, with amazing views of Central Park and the Empire State Building. No lines and no waiting. Bonus.

We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue, which is as beautiful as any cathedral in Europe. Funny enough I have lived here for 8 years and never been to either the top of Rockefeller Center or St. Patricks.

We hopped on the subway and went to Gray's Papaya on the Upper West Side for hot dogs that my sister insisted they try. So for something like $3.50 you get the recession special - 2 hot dogs and a drink. I have to say they are really good. I have actually been here before but generally after a night out. We sat in the little park on 72nd and Broadway, watched the city walk by and took it all in. I think one of the really important things to do when in a city, be it your own or one you are visiting, is sitting on a bench in the sun. Somehow I think you get a better feel of the place, you just have to sit, be still, observe and get the energy of the place. Now that I think about it I think I have been doing this for a really long time. Funny that I just notice this.

After chilling out a bit we headed back on the 1 train and hopped on the Staten Island Ferry, the best and cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and lower Manhattan. Why is is the best? It's free! Imagine, something that's still free in NYC! So after the trip on the ferry it was time to get back on the 1, we went to Central Park, took a carriage ride through the park - again something I have never done, and it was really nice. After taking some pictures with our cranky horse, we walked up to Lincoln Center and had dinner at Rosa Mexicana. For sure one of the best restaurants in the city. We drank pomegranate margaritas, Samantha made guacamole table side with our waiter overseeing, we ate too much, tried to get through the pitcher of sangria and headed out again. But destined for home we were not.

I ask, where in the world can you go shopping at 11:30pm? Times Square of course. So we headed to the Quicksilver store, the girls did some shopping and we finally made our way home.

The next day we headed back to Manhattan. The girls were not much for seeing museums but the weather was not so great, I thought well, I could take the to the Museum of Sex. (Yes this is where the Sex and the City part comes in.) Again another place I have never been - so first we see the exhibit on Sex in Design - plenty of interesting objects and art on display, for cultural purposes of course. Next comes the "film" exhibit. Well, that was interesting. Everything from "educational" films to soft core, hard core and celebrity films on display. Kind of a weird place, a few suspect characters standing around just sort of watching the films very intently. It was sort of shocking and funny all at the same time.

We decided to go get some lunch and headed to Coffee Shop in Union Square. Models and quasi celebrities abound, we ate a delicious lunch, went shopping again in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Times Square. We caught our breath in Bryant Park with a coffee and made our way back home. Initially I had big plans to take them to a fancy dinner and then out to a bar or lounge but I think we were all so tired out that we opted to stay in, order a NY pizza and watch a movie.

The following day, I got the girls some bagels (I had to make sure that they ate the NY classics!) and they packed. We went for lunch at the super fantastic A Farm on Adderly, where we intrigued the bar man and the patrons with our Swiss German. We finished up, packed up and made our way back to JFK for their flight to Zurich.

Time to go home

After spending a few fabulous weeks in Europe it was time to go back home to the USA. So once again I boarded a plane and made my way back to JFK International Airport. However I was not to be spending my time at my home. I had a job lined up! So I unpacked and repacked and headed to the Upper West Side of Manhattan where I had the job of watching Finn, my friend's cocker spaniel for a few days. I love animals, so for me it was a great way to make a few bucks. I spent my time hanging out with Finn, froze my ass off in the snow, went to a career seminar to look for that epiphany and did some general catching up.

After Finn's mom came home I was back off to my home in Brooklyn to repack again, I was off to Miami again but this time to pick up my car and drive it back.

I spent the next few weeks in Miami, lethargic as all hell ( I think there is something in the air down there!) I visited with family and friends, worked on business ideas, hung out with my cousin and her friend who were visiting from Switzerland and did not do much else.

Finally on the 17th I was ready to get on the road again, this time really eager to drive and get back to NY. So I drove - no stopping for sightseeing (although I would not have minded a few surf lessons in North Carolina again), no speeding tickets and 1 flat tire - and 2.5 days later I was home and ever so happy to be back.

Venezia Parte Due!

The next day I woke up, got out of the hotel and went to see Piazza San Marco in the light of day. I don't think words can express what a magical sight Venice is, the skies were bright blue, the sun was shining making all the gold on the buildings glitter and because it was not high season there were not a lot of tourists. Perfect!

The piazza originated as a small plaza in front of Basilica di San Marco in the 9th century and was later enlarged to it's current size in 1177. I went to explore the basilica, which is this amazing mix of various styles of design and architecture - Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic. I was told that when you walk in the basilica your jaw literally drops, well I can attest to that. The walls are covered in the most amazing mosaics, many of them gold, so everything just twinkles. I figured since I prayed in about every temple, Hindu and Buddhist, that I have come across in the last few months I might as well pray in a church who's faith I was actually born into. So I sat in a little chapel off the main basilica, on the the creaky wooden bench and kneeler and listened to an at least 90 year old priest give Italian mass. After mass, I walked up into the dome of the basilica where you can actually go out on to this roof terrace and take in the sights of the piazza. Really spectacular.

That morning, my aunt Helena and her friend Gertrude had driven down from Switzerland to meet up with me in Venice. It was really nice to have some company - Venice is almost too romantic a city to visit alone. Either be with a boyfriend or some friends and family but not necessarily alone. So once we met up, we went for a fantastic lunch at a lovely restaurant on the Grand Canal, next to the Rialto bridge. We basically walked for hours through the city, past technicolor bright buildings, into fantastically expensive boutiques, we went to the Basilica Frari where I was able to see the famous painting "The Assumption" by Titian. In this painting Titian developed a particular shade of red paint now known by any art student (me) as titian red. We kept walking through the city on these winding roads and alleys over these tiny bridges. We passed antique booksellers, paint pigment stores where the colors are in powder form and you just wish you could stick your fingers in the powder, the color is just that beautiful. I think over all the color and light in Venice is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, this rosy pink misty light in the morning and in the evening turns white buildings pink and just accentuates the vibrancy of the colored buildings. It is like literally wearing rose colored glasses.

We had a lovely dinner where we received free prosecco (sparkling wine) for apero and a free limoncello for the digestif or after dinner drink. Limoncello is a tart and sweet lemon liquor, served chilled and especially delicious. We visited Harry's Bar for their famous bellinis, prosecco and peach puree. Harry's Bar created the Bellini and was a favorite haunt of Hemingway. What a day!

The following day we went to the local market where we saw all the food the locals were buying for their lunch and dinner, oranges from Sicily, anchovies, artichokes, octopus and all kinds of fish. After seeing where our food came from, we went for our lunch. I had planned to go see the Guggenheim museum after lunch but I was having so much fun with Helena and Gertrude that I decided to skip it and stay with them. Instead of going to the Guggenheim I ended up purchasing a pair of ridiculously gorgeous and sexy Italian shoes, now known as my Guggenheim shoes as they are quite the work of art. Ha ha ha.

After lots of walking, talking, shopping, eating and such it was time to go home the next day. So after breakfast we drove north, stopped at a town by the Garda Lake for lunch, stopped to visit the Virgin "Rosa Mystica" in Montechiari and finally made it back to Switzerland that evening. All in all, a fantastic trip.

Queen of the Mountains

No not me, Mount Rigi that overlooks Lake Lucerne is also known as the "Queen of the Mountains" and that is where I went after recuperating from Fasnacht.

On Thursday, another picture perfect day, Radka, Cedric and I met up with my aunt Amay down by the wharf on Lake Lucerne. We got on a boat that took past the picturesque towns until we arrived in Vitznau, where we boarded a cogwheel railway that would take us up to the Rigi Kulm (peak). In 1497 humanist Albrecht von Bonstetten referred to the Rigi as "Mons Regina" and its description by the local population as the "Queen of the Mountains".

After reaching the top we took a walk around the peak, had a lovely lunch and hiked part of the way down the mountain. One thing I find fantastic about Switzerland is that there are lots of well marked hiking trails every where. The are actually called a "wanderweg" or a wander way. I would almost call hiking the national sport, everyone does it, old and young. The Swiss call it wandering, which seems to give it a more special sentiment than just "hiking". Wandering and exploring versus the effort of a "hike". Interesting.

Anyway, once we reached the point where it was too steep for us to walk further, we stopped off in a little village on the mountain where we had a rest, a cup of tea and a horse pulled sleigh ride. The sleigh ride was great. The four of us sat in this classic sleigh that was pulled by two massive horse and we jingled through the town and forest a bit.

As the light was fading and the air was getting colder, we finally hopped back on the cogwheel train, back on the boat and were back in Luzern.

Fasnacht - Part Deux

So Sunday night as I am lying on the sofa nursing my cold, I get a text message from my cousin Alex. "Good evening! Are u better? Ready to pick it up again tomorrow at 4:45am?" Well unbeknownst to me, the festivities were about to continue early Monday morning.

So at the ungodly hour of 4:15am I walked down into the old town in my old man costume and met up with a Swiss guard, a alp wanderer and a frog. Me and my three bodyguards walked the town, drank lots of holdrio (to keep warm, of course), tracked down the Vikingers, danced and sang. There was lots of carousing and taking part in the revelry going on that morning.

At about 10am, I excused myself, bought something to eat and headed back up to the house for a nap. After a good sleep, I was told the festivities would continue at around 8pm that night. I looked out the window and saw the dismal weather - rainy and cold. It was too much for me to motivate an appearance so I told my bodyguards to go on without me.

Tuesday afternoon I headed to town in civilian clothing to take some pictures and watch the children's parade and some more bands. The weather was pristine and the crowds were in good form. I got myself some holdrio and meandered through town, getting hit with confetti along the way. I watched the children's parade, where young and old were dressed in fantastic costumes and going through town on floats. By the famous water tower bridge I saw fantastic costumes and a concert by a Swiss band who actually brought their alp horns. Quite an amazing sight with the river, the water tower and the mountains in the background! However my main objective was to hunt down the Vikingers and watch their afternoon performance. After searching them out all through the town I finally found them and watched their sensational performance.

After a while it was time to head back home so I could get into costume again. So once I donned my old man costume I made my way back to town to meet up with my cousin Pia and her daughters Jeaninne and Michele. We watched the Monsterkonzert, which is where all the bands parade through town playing their music. Sort of the big send off for the carnival. After the parade we met up with my cousin Alex, the alp wanderer and the frog again. It basically turned into a family reunion of sorts, where we collectively drank lots of holdrio and stalked the Vikingers the rest of the night. We watched the last Vikinger show at about 2am and I finally called it a night after the show. What a way to finish off fasnacht!

Fasnacht, Schmutziger Donnerstag - "Dirty Thursday"

Wow, so I don't even know where to begin on this subject. Fasnacht (sort of a Mardi Gras carnival) is a tradition over 500 years old and is celebrated in parts of Germany and Switzerland. Luzern is said to have the best Fasnacht in Switzerland and although I have not seen the celebrations in Basel or Bern, I definitely believe it. At 4:30am the four Americans got in the car with my cousin Philipp and his son Cedric, who were in costume as an old man and a cowboy, respectively.

Due to traffic, the four of us had to jump out of the car and literally jog across to the other part of town, past the water bridge, to the Schwanenplatz, where we were meeting up with my aunt Helena and her friend Gertrud. We stood lakeside with thousands of others to watch the Fritschi father and his wife arrive on a boat. The Fritschi father has a long history, from what I have been able to find out, it appears that Brother Fritschi was a member of the Safran Guild which was a merchants association with a reputation for attracting daredevils and warmongers, now the Guild is a bit more "civilized" and part of what they do is uphold the customs of Fritschi and Fasnacht. In any event, this year Fritschi was kidnapped by the town of Basel but the party still continued. Fritschi's wife was on this boat and at 5am everything started. Fireworks went off on the boat and Fritschi's wife and her escorts came ashore and made their way to the square in front of the town hall. It was a sight to see, young and old stood in costume waiting for another explosion of confetti and to be pelted by oranges and cookies. This is called the "orange battle" (which I accidently translated to my friends as the orange massacre - hey it sounds more fun like that anyway!).

The basic gist of Fasnacht is to celebrate and eat before 40 days of Lenten fasting, however it has animistic roots as well - the goal is to look scary and make a hell of a lot of noise to scare the winter demons away and bring spring.

Each day is sponsored by a different guild and Thursday is always sponsored by the Safran Guild. So after the big celebration in the square, we were invited to the Safran guild breakfast in the city hall, a very exclusive, ultra VIP event that most Swiss have never had the opportunity to experience. We had a lovely breakfast, watched some yodelers, some carnival bands, some old men dressed as women, and an impromptu conga line through the hall. It was surreal.

After breakfast we headed back home for a nap as we were going to need all the rest we could get to get through the rest of the day. In the afternoon we headed back down to town to watch the parade of bands and floats, but first we had an interview to give to a Swiss radio station. Radka had asked me earlier if we would be up for an interview as the station where she works, DRS Radio, were totally interested in these 4 Americans who came to Switzerland to experience Fasnacht. Under normal circumstances I think I would have been too embarrassed to do this but, not giving my friends an option - I said ok, I mean this was a once in a lifetime experience! So much to our mortification, Kiki, Rob, Elisa and I were interviewed by Dario from DRS Radio. My friends in English and me in Swiss-German - it was priceless. After our 15 minutes of fame we watched some more of the parade, which was fantastic. Absolutely stunning costumes and amazing music. I also happened to get doused in baby powder by some grown men dressed as infants (sometimes that's not so far from the actual truth - ha ha ha).

After a while we were pretty cold and went to my aunt Amay's home for tea and pastries. In Switzerland they make special pastries just for Fasnacht (something like an elephant ear - fried dough and powdered sugar), delicious! We listened to our interview come on the radio, listened to some bands playing in the square below and headed back home. After eating AGAIN, we get into our costumes, Rob as Sammy Davis Jr, Elisa and Kiki in traditional Fasnacht dresses and me as an old man, complete with mask and one of my grandfather's old 3 piece suits. So we met up with my cousin Alex (dressed as a Swiss guard) and his friend Patrick (dressed as some sort of alp wanderer complete with lederhosen and all). We traipsed all over town, drinking holdrio (rosehip tea and schnapps) and beer, eating all the food Alex's au pair brought us (basically anything we wanted). We danced to amazing bands, ate more food, drank more holdrio and had a fantastic time. Our night ended with a performance by the Vikinger, they are a carnival band made up of professional musicians, replete with singers, rappers, guitar, bass, drums, horns and they were totally AMAZING. After their show, we ate again and finally called it a night at 3:30am.

Now came the hard part - we had to walk home, uphill. It was almost as bad as the forced mountain marches I had to do with my grandmother - minus the yodeling. At 4am as Radka was heading to work, we stumbled into the house and collapsed into bed. I think it was one of the most memorable and amazing days of my life.

Notes on the pictures.
1- The Fritschi House in Luzern's old town
2- 5am at the Fritschi Fountain
3- The bad guys from Basel who stole Fritschi
4- The babies
5- Ready to go and in costume

To the Land of Heidi We Go!

While I was back in Miami, I checked the calendar one day and saw that Fasnacht, AKA Swiss Mardi Gras, was coming up pretty soon. After a quick search online for a ticket and a quick chat with my mother, I very impulsively decided to go. For about as long as I can remember, my family in Switzerland have been urging me to come to Fasnacht but I have never been able to go due to obligations with either school or work. This time I had no excuse, I found a cheap ticket and I decided to go.

The day after I booked my ticket, I went to dinner with my friends Kiki and Rob. We had talked about going to Switzerland over the years but never really put anything together. So when they heard I was going they wanted to go too. After a bit of convincing, calender checking and coordinating, Kiki, Rob and Elisa (Kiki's cousin) booked their tickets on the same flight as me.

We bought some travel books, some train passes and pretty much mapped out the week we would spend together in Switzerland. It was a rough schedule and my cousins in Switzerland called me quite a slave driver of a tour guide; well, if you only have a week you better make the most of it as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, so we land in Zurich at 7am Sunday morning, two of us were able to sleep on the flight and two of us were not. But hey, we are troopers and we were determined to push through. So my awesome cousin Alex, picked us up at the airport, gave us a driving tour through Lucerne (my family's hometown) and took us to my cousin Philipp's house (which is actually the home my mom grew up in). After making us coffee, Alex went back to his home and we hit the city. We walked to the old town and had a huge lunch of alpine macaroni. We do not recommend mixing jet lag with a massive pasta dish, we were lucky that nobody passed out at the table.

In classic tourist fashion we headed to Mount Pilatus for a quick look while we still could. Mount Pilatus is a notable mountain in the Lucerne area and a place I went often as a child. One of the most fascinating things is that the Swiss military actually has a small base at the top and according to the soldiers we talked to, they are there to make sure nobody comes along and steals the mountain. Ha ha.

After a long day we were welcomed back at home by my cousin and his family for a lovely dinner after which we finally made it to our beds!