Netherlands

Sculpture inside the Rotterdam train station 

     Short trip to the Netherlands? Yes please! Though there was another reason to visit, of course, which was to see a fellow art teacher and friend from university. Moodie currently lives in Mexico City, but was accompanying a group of students to the Netherlands for a MUN conference. I met him in Den Haag, which is about 30 minutes south west of Amsterdam. The first night, we shared a nice Indonesian dinner with one of his coworkers. The next day we set off for Rotterdam, where there was an International Film Festival going on. We saw a German film that was about a woman who loses her identity. We spent the rest of the day shopping and eating.
     The next day we took an excursion to Delft in order to visit a cheese shop. We sampled lots of cheese and other goodies sold in this store called Cheese and More. They ship world-wide too by the way. I then left Moodie to go and visit Amsterdam. Since I only had a half-a-day in Amersterdam before leaving early the next morning, I decided to visit the Van Gogh Museum and have a nice sushi dinner. There was so much I did not get a chance to see, but the most important reason for the trip was worth it, spending time with a good friend.

Moodie in front of Cheese and More

In the Van Gogh Museum

Poffertjes, dutch mini-pancakes

8 kinds of popcorn at the movies!

Local art sculpture

One of many beautiful canals

The cheese woman!

Holidays in Cali

Sunset in Venice

     The holidays come around, though Santa has thought about it since mid-year, and off we flew to Los Angeles. Our time in Southern California consisted of splitting our time between family, friends, and wedding planning.
 It has been a hard transition from being within driving distance from my parents to a half-of-a-day worth of flights. Traveling with Nuno does help the traveling be more enjoyable. My mom organized not only the loveliness of the Christmas decorations inside the house, but also the many appointments to further along the wedding plans.
 I was able to see almost all of my friends who were around for the holidays. My old co-worker Sara held a get-together at her house for my friends from EHS. I also got to spend an amazing day exploring Mexico with Brady. I am still thinking about the awesome civiche and tacos we had there.
And then just as soon as it began, as with any vacation, it ended abruptly. I said good-bye to my brother first who left for Japan. I spent the last day with my sister exploring Venice Beach before she left to go back to Boston. My parents, however, remain in the constantly awesome weather that is Southern California.

Venice Beach art work

Santa!!!

At the Beach House in Cardiff

I love the beach!!

Quality time with the parentals

Santa even spoils Ryder!

A painting of my parents at their wedding

Brady, Nuno, and I in Mexico

Europa Park

Indoor roller coaster

  
     Growing up next to Disneyland has instilled a constant urge to visit amusement parks. Yes it is true that I can be in a different country just hours away, but what if they were all together in one place? So is the case with Europa Park in Rust, Germany. It is about a three-and-a-half hour car ride away and it is split up into small sections that represent different countries in Europe. Though Switzerland was not well represented. The theme park was decorated for Halloween with thousands of pumpkins all around and other scary decorations. Nuno has been before, but not for a long time so there were some new roller coasters he never rode. It was no so crowded and one of the major roller coasters had a five minute wait! All in all a great time, except for the food, but we will not go into those small details.

The wooden roller coaster was viking inspired

There want-to-be Mickey Mouse

Pumpkin tree!

Us near the entrance

Welcome to Europa Park!

Yvoire

Upon arrival

     This past weekend, Nuno's soccer team organized a get together to a small city called Yvoire. This city is actually located in France. It is located about an hour-and-a-half boat ride across Lake Léman. It felt like we went further across the lake, but since it is the biggest in Europe, in reality it ended up being not so far. We then ate at a restaurant that had windows all around to give a panoramic view of the lake. There was about twenty of us all together, so we took up one side of the restaurant. After a long lunch, we walked around the city to do a little shopping. They had really cute shops and lots of local artists. I overheard that in a couple of weeks the shops will be closing until the spring! That is okay because there are plenty of other cities to explore around the lake.

On the boat

The view once we stepped off the boat

Our very long table

My assorted dessert plate

I thought this statue was hilarious

Always happy shopping

Donkey rides for the kids

The outside view of the restaurant

Bex Salt Mines

They keep wines in the salt mines because they age faster

      Just about an hour drive on the other side of Lake Léman, one can find the Bex Salt mines. The mines date back to the 17th century and are still being used. The salt from this mine, however, is only a small portion of the salt production in Switzerland. The biggest producer is in Basel. After taking a 10 minute train ride deeper into the mines, we were given a tour of the machines used to mine salt, as well as the evolution of equipment over the years. We were also able to see different salt rocks from around the world. The tour was then concluded by dropping us right in front of the souvenir shop, and yes, I bought some salt.

This is the train we took

We sat in the outside part

Map of the mines

Salt from California!

Attempting the old-fashioned way of mining

Sumo-wrestler projected on salt

Nuno entering the mines

Family Visit

Our view from our hotel in Cinque Terre

     This summer some of my family came to visit, which included my sister, my aunt, and my mom. My sister has traveled around the world, and to more places than I have in Europe. For my mom and aunt, however, this was their first time off the North American region. We spent half of our trip in a Northern city in Italy, Cinque Terre, and the rest of the time exploring Geneva.
     Cinque Terre was our first destination. It was a very beautiful city, made up of five little towns. We stayed in the largest one, Montorosso, which a little slice of paradise. We spend our time enjoying the views, the beach, the pool, and of course the food. Limoncello nicely ended almost every meal.
    We then returned to Geneva, where the Fête de Genève was still going on. We bought tickets to have good seats to see the firework show, which is said to be the biggest in all of Europe. It was amazing and coordinated with music, half of which was Portuguese music of all genres, and the other half to explorers of the past. We also got to go up the cable car at the Salève in France the next day, after spending some with Nuno's family.
     It was a short trip, but as always, it was good-quality family time. So now the question for the next trip is...where in Europe will we go?

My oh-so-mature older sister

Lovely ladies

My favorite picture of the trip

Look at how blue the water is!

The beach at the bottom of our hotel

Train ride back from visiting the other small towns

My mom and my aunt

Wedding in Switzerland

Newly Weds!

     Last week I got married...in Switzerland. It was a small and intimate wedding with just about thirty of our close friends and family. In Switzerland everyone is required to get married at the courthouse. So our ceremony stared there in a room with everyone. The woman who married us was really funny, though I did not understand all of her jokes. My sister Jenny was my witness, and Nuno's best friend Fred was his. After being officially married we went outside to the back lawn which had a great view of the mountains.
   After many pictures, we left caravan-style honking our horns to the reception location. We rented a room from the caterers who did all of the decorating and cooking, which made it really easy. The food and the company were great, and the both of use were really happy with how everything turned out.
  In retrospect, though it was a wedding, it did not feel the same to me without having all of my family and friends there. So for those who read my blog, save the date for next year where we will be getting married again in San Diego, the same date as this year, next year, July 26th, 2014.

In the courthouse

Our witnesses

Our awesome robot and owl cake

Sisterly love

Our table setting

Sparklers!