June 21 - 28 - Lazy week

We had a very low key week and made up for it with a full weekend of exploring Zurich and hiking around the alps. It was nice to have a relaxing week especially since we were both battling colds. We went through a lot of tissues and Nate may have passed on his cold to an office mate too. But, our nasal passages cleared and our bodies were less achy by Saturday, so we spent the day out on the town. The weather was great and we went for a walk around the lake and eventually made it to a mall so I could buy some yarn. Did you know I started knitting? I made a scarf with some amazing yarn my mom brought me. Initially, it was going to be for Nate, but it is so pretty that I think we will have to share it. Now, I am just practicing some things from a book (also from my mom): knitting for dummies. I like it! Plus, we got the yarn for 50 percent off. After yarn bargaining we went to Google to play a little pool and escape the heat before heading back to relax by the lake.

On Sunday, weather was predicted to be clear in the mountains so we got up super early, caught the 7:30 train and hiked around Gimmelwald & Murren. We have been here before, but we wanted an experience without rain and clouds. It was beautiful!

(The start of the hike)

We went on a hike following the river into a valley that ended at the base of a mountain. We had a picnic, explored the valley, and then made our way back to town. We walked around Murren for a bit, took a cable car back to Lauterbrunnen and watched some of the England vs. Germany world cup game before hopping on the train home. The game was a nightmare for England, good thing I don't care about the world cup. But I do care about fries and we had a nice big plate of them while we watched the game. It was an excellent end to our trip to the mountains.

(Don't worry, he's not super sweaty - he just got out from taking a "dip" in the glacier fed river)

(We finally reached our destination)

Then, after getting home, I finally broke down and cut Nate's hair. I am not a big fan of cutting his hair since I don't know how, but he always charms me into giving it another try. This time, I only had a dull pair of kitchen scissors and no comb. Really, I just blindly chopped away hoping for the best. I left a rat tail for a bit, because it made me laugh, don't worry it's gone now. And, I accidentally cut a chunk off way too short, but he doesn't mind. What do you think?

My friend Corrie arrives on Thursday for a week! It's going to be great. And, we just learned that Zurich is having a huge festival with a carnival, free concerts, and even two nights of fireworks while she is here. Good times will be had by all!

June 8 - 17 Sister time

Where to start? Sarah came to visit us for 10 days and it was wicked fun, of course! We did so much stuff. Nate suggested that I just write this in bullet point form to keep this post under control. I fear that bullet points may not fully capture the awesomeness of our adventures, but it will at least give you a taste. Which is probably all you want :) (And, these bullet points are in no particular order. I like to keep you on your toes).

* Most importantly, Sarah cooked homemade popcorn on the stove every day. She's a pro and it was amazing. I want some right now.

* We went to Italy, Germany, & Austria!

* We hiked all over Switzerland. In fact, the first day she arrived we went on a 5+ mile hike around Uetliberg just to break her in :)

* We hiked 10-12 miles after a trip up Mt. Santis. We both agreed it was the most scenic hike we had ever been on. And one of the longest. The sun was shining, we had incredible mountain views the entire time, the Swiss farmers were out in full force haying and it smelled so deliciously fragrant, and we seemed to be the only hikers on the trail which made it seems as though the glorious weather and breathtaking vistas were just for us.

* We explored Bavaria (southern Germany) and toured the Nieuwenstein Castle. Our tour guide was very strange and Nate's impression of him kept us laughing all day.

* Sarah's one wish for her trip to Germany came true - we were able to relax and lay out by a lake while having a picnic. It seemed blissful, but that may just be the nutella talking.

* We went to Como, Italy, took a ferry across the lake to Bellagio. George Clooney has a home here. He invited us in for lunch, but we had a lot to do so we politely declined. The town was so cute and so different from the Swiss towns we had visited. Sarah felt it was truly an "Italian" experience. Eating some scrumptious pizza followed by gelato was icing on the cake.

* We were both astounded by the lack of quality public bathrooms in Como. They had actually squatty toilets in the train station. Sarah was worried that we had made a wrong turn and arrived in Calcutta. Switzerland has definitely spoiled us with its clean bathrooms and never ending fresh water supply around town and on remote hiking trails.

* I learned that Sarah seems to be a good luck charm in terms of weather. Everywhere we went the sun came out. Seriously, squalls and storms were predicted for our day trip to Italy. We only experienced a light drizzle with sun breaking through the clouds.

* We realized we do not have strong skills in estimating distance or time. Sarah stopped asking me how far of a walk we were in for because I would always answer "about twenty minutes" no matter what the distance. I don't know. It always seems like twenty minutes to me. Turns out it is usually much, much longer than that.

* We had evening picnics on Zurich lake to watch the sunset and relax. One night we were serenaded (indirectly) by a jazz trombonist accompanied by a guitarist. Sounds lame, right? That was our first thought when we saw them parking themselves along the water. We were so wrong. They were surprisingly talented and the music was beautiful.

* She got the full Zurich tour and we had coffee at a cute little cafe.

* Naturally, she got the google tour and snagged a few tasty mini quiche things that were available in every room.

* We had a great day around the Rhine Falls. We went expecting rain and were treated to great weather. We also got hit on by a few weird & awkward English speaking guys. Don't worry, we turned them down.

* We had a Callnan/Bodenstab party with almost all the kids from both sides of the family (Jake & Whit & Dylan were unable to join us). We got to see all the pictures from Jake, Nikki, Laura & Zach's trip and eat some tasty food together.

Phew, see, we were very busy. I think we had two full days when we just crashed by sleeping in late, watching bones episodes, and staying very close to home.

I really loved having Sarah here. The ten days flew by!

Here's more evidence of our good times:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bodenstab/SarahVisitsSwitzerland#

June 5 - Rhine Falls

Another sunny Saturday! I swear our guests will never believe us that we have good weather here. But, it is true, the sun does shine in Switzerland. We decided to check out the nearby town (well, and hour away by train) of Schaffhausen and the Rhine Falls. Despite it being close to 80 degrees and sunny, the town was surprisingly lacking in tourists. The old town was beautiful and manageable. By manageable, I mean it was easy to navigate and it was small enough that we didn't get overwhelmed. Sometimes, there are only so many old buildings you see before you get history fatigued.

We also explored an old castle/fort with a pretty cool dungeon area. Well, it is really just the dark dank inside, but we like to think it was a dungeon.

After treating ourself to a gelato (a bit of a theme for us while traveling) we walked a few miles along the river to Rhine Falls.

Rhine Falls claims to be the largest falls in Europe. (But, Switzerland always seems to be claiming these kinds of things). Nate and I decided that Oregon offers far more dramatic falls, but the Rhine Falls may win for absolute widest falls. It was gorgeous and absolutely worth the trip. We had a picnic lunch nearby.

Before catching the train home, we checked out the hostel at the top of the falls where Doris stayed when she was in college. What an amazing location!

June 3 & 4- The Fam arrives!

Nikki, Laura & Zach arrived in Zurich bright and early to start their grand European tour with Jake. I met them at the airport and they all came back to the apartment to crash for a bit. It is amazing how an hour and half of sleep can perk up a person :) Due to a packed travel schedule, they only had one day planned to be in Zurich so we decided to make the most of it even though the rain was trying to dampen our spirits. But these West Coast folks are not daunted by a little drizzle, they ate a vegetarian lunch for sustenance, threw on their hoodies, and were rip roaring and ready to go!

I gave them a somewhat unofficial tour of the old city, lake, and famous sites. Statures were mimicked, swans were startled, fountains were slurped from, many pictures were taken, and some feet got sore. I tried to break them in gently to my extreme walking style, but perhaps I should have taken it down a notch.

I did receive a little bit of protest when I made them hike to the top of Uetliberg, but everyone agreed that the view was worth it :) Well, Nikki did after she woke up from her short nap on Laura's shoulder.

We finished our whirlwind Zurich day with a tour of the infamous google office. Let's just say that the fire pole & slide were a huge hit! Of course, dinner couldn't be missed. Everyone ate their fill and we waddled home for a relaxed evening. What a full day!

The next morning I took them to the train station to start their trip to Paris with bags full of snacks. A minor eurail ticket disaster was adverted and they were on their way! Can't wait to see them again in a little over week when they fly home.

Till we meet again!

June 2 - We have a niece!

Emma Elizabeth Callnan was born early this morning after 34 hours of labor. Obviously, Whit is a champ! She is a few weeks early, but she is doing great! Jake is over the moon and the entire family is smitten. Of course, she is extremely beautiful, not that we're biased :) She's the first grandbaby on both sides and both grandmothers were there for the entire birth. I even got to be part of the action via skype. I kept running to the computer every few minutes for updates. Jake B is staying with us and was very patient with me as I was glued to skype the past few days. I can't wait to meet her in person!

http://picasaweb.google.com/bodenstab/Emma#

May 29 - May 31 Germany trip

We had an amazing weekend in Northern Germany with Nate's relatives. We boarded our train at 8:30 PM Friday in Zurich and arrived in Bremen, Germany at 9:30 am Saturday. It was my first time on a night train. We arrived in Bremen a tad weary, but ready for adventure. Jake made it all the way from Salzburg, Austria to meet us there. Nate's cousin Nicole and her boyfriend Sven picked us up and took us back to their apartment for much needed showers and a fabulous breakfast spread.

We ate far too much and then took on Bremen: we had a tour of the old town, squeezed through the smallest street, partook of some ice cream, saw the sites, and of course, rubbed the feet of the Bremen town players while making a wish. It's tradition!

Another fine German tradition, at least for our relatives, is to eat amazing meals together. We finished the day with a traditional (the buzz word of the weekend) meal provided by Thea & Hermann in Neubruchhausen. Lots of meat, cheese, bread, salads, and yes, meat with an egg inside thanks to German cutting edge meat production practices. We went to bed early due to travel exhaustion and the rest of the family settled in to watch Europe's international version of American Idol (except it has been around since 1956): Eurovision Song Contest. I won't keep you on the edge of your seats, Germany's contender Lena won. How could she not with a song like this, plus she's pretty cute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmOeISUYXuI

Sunday was filled with more family fun. Hermann took us on a walk through the town and we saw a town poster featuring Nate & Jake's great grandfather Fritz Bodenstab.

We did a little exploring on our own and then met up with the extended family at Nicole's parents house for a bbq. Nicole and Domenik (cousin) did double duty with translating and we had a fine time depiste the rain. But, the best part of the weekend was due to our current favorite computer program Skype. We busted out the lap top and Hermann and Thea were able to chat with John and Rose. (Despite it being earlier than 6 am west coast time, John & Rose were not only awake to chat, but they were fully prepared for church as well. Impressive!) All the family took turns saying hello and it seemed to be a great moment for Hermann & John.

In the evening, Nicole & Sven brought us back to the train station for our twelve hour journey home. We settled into our sleeper car and just as I was was ready to open my book, we got sucked into a three hour long discussion with our professional vedic astrologer sleeper car mate. He was a friendly and strange guy earnestly trying to explain to us the real meaning of life. It was interesting for a while, but sleepiness set in and I politely ended the conversation. Oh, the people you meet on a train. On the way to Bremen, Nate and I met a Columbian working in Amdseteram as a massage therapist who just had his heart broken by the love of his life. But, that is a much longer different story :) All in all, it was another awesome weekend!