Heidelberg

Sunday, June 22, we arrived in Heidelberg where Ryan grew up. The first thing that I wanted to do was get some breakfast, so we went into a shop that Ryan used to go to all the time, and it changed from a normal supermarket to a Russian grocery store and we found pickled watermelon! it was such a strange phenomenon. We went and saw Ryans old neighborhood and old home. We kept seeing the 'ghost cat' that Ryan claimed haunted him on his paper-out as a kid. We then ate some awesome pastries and went to the downtown Heidelberg area. We climbed up to the Heidelberg castle and it was so cool! I felt like I was sucked through a time whirlwind and was sucked into the medieval ages at the castle, I felt like around any corner I would find Robin Hood or Maid Marian. It was awesome! Ryan could hardly handle the hike though, his feet were killing him from wearing bad shoes the entire trip. We then went to the pool where Ryan had his swimming lessons and swam as a kid. It was really neat hearing a lot of his childhood stories where he grew up, about beating up the Russian kids, where he crashed his bike, the ghost cat and many many others. It was such a neat town! I think I like Heidelberg better than Berlin (sorry Mike). Then we caught a train taking us back to Basel, got off on the wrong station and had to wait 40 minutes for the right train to come by, and we made it home right at midnight! all in all it was a great trip!

Berlin

We arrived in Berlin, Saturday, June 21! We had an awesome train ride experience. We decided that it would be good to take an overnight train, sleep all the way and wake up in the morning in Berlin! So we paid an extra 30 Swiss Franks to make sure that we would get some good sleeping seats, but on our way we had to make a connection in Basel, and on our way to Basel, the Train died. it didn't move for about 20 minutes and we missed our train to Berlin!!! we were like uh oh, we paid for the train ride, and the hotel, and now we wont get to Berlin. Luckily when we arrived in Basel, there was another train leaving for Berlin. so we hopped on, but we weren't able to get good sleeping arrangements, and we ended up in a cabin with 6 other people! all night for about 8 hours! yuk! Ryan slept on the floor of the compartment and I attempted to sleep against the window. we arrived in Berlin very tired and sleepy, so we went to our little hotel and slept for about 2 hours. We wandered around the Schloss Charlottenburg and walked down the river and through the Teir garten and found a cool blown up church, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche, and of course, we found the Brandenburg gate. Sunday morning we headed to the Berliner Zoo and explored the animal kingdom, it was very fun! and we found a unicorn! We went to Spree island and wandered through the Berliner Dom, and we went to the Pergamon museum. In the museum was the actual Pergamon Altar where king Nebuchadnezzar once walked. it was so cool! we also found the Fernsehturm, or the toothpick, it is the second tallest structure in Europe. It was such a hot day, we ended up going to a fountain and ran through it a few times, well for about an hour, just to cool off. We went to the monument dedicated to the Jews who died during the holocaust which was actually put right where the death strip used to be. It was very interesting seeing the contrast between western Berlin and east Berlin. After 20 years of the Berlin Wall coming down, you can still feel the division. On the eastern side, the water pipes aren't under ground, but above ground just like in Russia! I wanted to see the Berlin wall, but we found out that just about all of it had been torn down and only a very small piece was left inside of a museum, I didn't really want to pay 20 euros to see a rock. We didn't see Checkpoint Charlie either, but thats ok, I wasn't in the mood to have someone convince me that I needed to buy a Visa to get to Eastern Berlin (apparently there are still a lot of tourists who think that they need a visa and will pay a lot of money to see Eastern Berlin, what a scam!) We watched the soccer match and had great food and a wonderful time in Berlin. What an adventure! but it doesn't end there, we hopped a train in the evening heading to our next destination, Heidelberg.

Euro Cup 2008 June 13th, 2008

So, this is what it's like when someone scores in a Euro tourney game....mayhem. As you can see at the end of the video me and Sarah are just as crazy! The Dutch are the funnest fans, unfortunately they lost to Russia in the quarterfinals. Awww, poor Oranjes (nickname for the fans).
HOP HOLLAND!

Cows of the Alps

We went to dinner with a nice family who lives in a small town south of Bern, afterwards we went on a nice little hike in the hills behind their house and we ran into some typical Swiss cows! Here is a cute one. The one behind it is really dirty. Its so peaceful out here, just a couple of stops outside the city and you are in hiking wonderland!
Now we have all seen the small smart cars of Europe, but have you seen this? Its not as small, but look at how short it is compared to me!!!

SOCCER!!!

Here we are on Saturday June 7th, at the first Euro 2008 game Switzerland vs. Czech Republic. It was really exciting waving our flag, wearing Swiss hats and socks and rooting for our 'Nati' team! Its so exciting going to the games. On Monday we went to the game Holland vs. Italy and we were rooting for Holland, and those Dutch people are crazy! Every time the Holland team scored it was crazy! people jumping up and down yelling and I got sprayed with beer like 4 or 5 times! Now that Switzerland is out of the tournament, they have one more game there is just no way they can continue, we are rooting for Holland!!! I think we are getting addicted to Soccer out here, we watch a lot of games and go to a bunch of parties and the games are fascinating to watch and fun to get into!!! I think I'm turning into a soccer fanatic, uh oh!!!

Concerts, Fun stuff...

Here, by our bus stop, I made Sarah pose for what I thought would look like a cool picture. We we're on our way to some free concerts downtown to celebrate the start of the Euro 2008 soccer cup. It's been overcast and raining alot in the last week. Actually, now that I think about it, there hasn't been any sunshine at all this week! Oh well.

Then, here is at the concert with a local Swiss band called...uhh...something like Hol hulotti trop or something like that. It was alot of fun, but so many people. They actually fit around 70,000 in what is called the bundesplatz (federal square). The capital building is the one lit on the right. Could you imagine there being a concert right in front of the white house? And one that is completely paid for by the government no less? The madness begins on Saturday with the first game being Switzerland against the Czech Republik. We're going to watch it with some friends in the same place because they have a monster 50 ft. screen set up. They will also have screens set up in two other places around town for everyone who wasn't able to get tickets. They actually sold out over a year ago. They had to have a ticket lottery because there were over 10 million people who wanted them and they only had 1 million to sell. People really are obsessed with soccer here. With everyone being so squished together watching the game people are going to get knocked out when Switzerland scores. You can just imagine all the fists going in the air.

WhhhooooOOOOOOAAAaaaaaa!!!!

Here's a pic of some guy mountain biking down this awesome trail on Bern Mountain. I wanted to go down it so bad, but I would probably freak Sarah out or break my hip. Here's actually a cool video of some people that went down it and it shows the tram that you have to go up and then the first part of the trail... watch. Hey Brian!! If you come to Bern we'll tear this up....if you can handle it...muah ha ha ha!

Hiking up Bern Mountain

Saturday, May 31st was a great day for us. Ryan had the day off of work and we were able to do something fun. We didn't want to leave Bern for the weekend just yet, so we decided to hike up the Bern Mountain. I don't know if thats what it is really called, but that's what the natives call it.

We went to the 'base' of the mountain and there was a tram that went up the side of the mountain that we could take. We decided to take a hike. The man and the tram station said that it would be an easy hike, 'like 100 meters'. HAH! more like 1000 meters. So we hiked along and on and on, taking a few breaks here and there, and we happened to find some hammocks!
Here is the view of Bern on our way up the mountain. What a pretty city!
So we hiked and hiked and met some cows and goats, and finally we reached the top. And we found a park!

It was cool, they had a massive jungle gym and mini bumper cars for kids, ponds, ice cream and a mini train station! I thought it was so cool that I just had to pretend to be a monster! We hiked back down the mountain, which was much easier than coming up, said hello to the goats and cows. By the time we came back, we had been hiking for five hours, yes 5! 100 meters?

I think not.

Muhlematter, and our humble abode.

Muhlematter, pronounces (moolah-mattah) is the name of our gracious host. I remember her name by thinking: mule mother. She is a proud Swiss woman who is letting us stay in her apartment. She is leaving for the United States this week to stay with her daughter in Pennsylvania for the rest of Summer and Fall. So we are house sitting for her in a sense.
You can see the view from our bedroom overlooking Ostermundigen. Muhlematter lives in Ostermundigen which is about 15 minutes away from Bern by bus. We went to a Bern club Saturday night with a couple friends. This party was put on because the Euro 2008 is happening in Bern this year. The Euro 2008 is the European soccer tournament held every 4 years! I can't believe how lucky we are to be living in the city where it will all take place. So we went to this club and they were throwing out Swiss flags and hats and teeshirts. We happened to get a couple to flags and this hat! I think we were the only ones to get a hat because I didn't see any one else with one and so many people in our group were trying to take it from me. But here it is, our little humble abode along with our Muhlematter.

Bern, the City of the Bears

Bern, Switzerland. What a beautiful town. This is the view from Rosengarten. I often come here and overlook the city while I study. The word Bern comes from the word Bear, and Bears are the cities animals. There is a bear pit in Bern and this bear learned how to sit up and he stretches out his hands for food.

So far our stay in Bern has been wonderful. We have learned the medieval city quickly and have enjoyed the food, atmosphere and the people.