Cuckoos and Cathedrals

 So day three began the same way- the 7 am call for the lobby. The breakfast. The uber. All good. But this day would end differently, because we would be done at NOON!

We cruised through the 4 hours in the morning and ended with a retrospective. I love those. I operate from a non-defensive position and choose to be curious and embrace the feedback. It’s always a hilarious blend of I liked the amount of time but also want more breaks and long sessions. Well, ok. Let’s just bend time! But also, when you work with a really great team, where everyone is earnest and kind and actually just trying to do the right thing, it hits differently. We’re in this together. Can we do it better next time? Rock on! Let’s do it!

And then, just like that - I was free!!!!!! FREEDOM!

I didn’t want to eat lunch but my fellow uber riders did so I waited for them. We ubered back to the hotel and I found Jason and Ashley and experience a brand new lease on life. 

They’d been exploring but this was really my first chance. So, we went to grab lunch and drinks. Ended up in a super cute, very German little place, in which Jason sweated so profusely it was ridiculous. The server attempted to turn on a fan but a bunch of confetti started blowing out -LOL- so she turned it off again. The food was yummy but it really was stifling in there with no air movement so once done, we headed out.

Up next on the agenda - buying a cuckoo clock! If you know me, you know I ALWAYS eat the local cuisine (even when it is haggis) and I ALWAYS want to buy whatever the local thing is. Our buddies Pete and Mandy, of last year’s French Riviera yacht wedding fame, where once here and bought multiple cuckoo clocks so they sent us the name of the shop and off we went! We ended up visiting three shops, launching of our butts off, and making friends. Who here is shocked? Not us!

And finally, I decided on the clock for me. The hardest part was whether we wanted it to also play music or ‘just’ cuckoo. I mean, who knew this was such a hard decision. Dang. This was also a $1,000 price difference so worthy of consideration. We went to lunch to ponder it and I finally decided, you know, I don’t care if it plays music. I’m here for the cuckoo! also, I want it to have a dog and I don’t want to wind it every day. With the criteria in place,game on! 

On the way back to the clock shop, we wanted to stop by this gorgeous cathedral in the city center. It did NOT disappoint! We walked in and enjoyed a very slow walk around. Looking at all the stained windows and stunning craftsmanship. Also, there was an organist playing and I must say in all my world travels - I have NEVER encountered an organist who could hold a single note as long as this person. Was this good? Nein. Was it bad? Nein. It just….was. It painfully was. At one point, I was sure the organ pedal broke and we would just be hearing that one note for the rest of our lives. Sweet Lord. 

After the cathedral walk and finding the right clock, we decided to celebrate by getting ice cream. Ash told us the ice cream was delicious but also less sweet (a plus in our book) so I was up for it. Jason opted out. I decided I would order in German because, frankly, those 5 college semesters of German should actually count somewhere in this lifetime, you know? I did pretty well until it was time to say goodbye. At that point, 18 thousand languages came to mind but no German. So, after staring at the man for way too long I finally said, “well, goodbye.” I think it was a nice moment that we all enjoyed. About 5 hours later, my brain turned on and the only thing I could think for about 24 hours was AUF WIEDERSEHEN.  I MEAN, HELLO. DUH. Even without studying this language, you watched The Sound of Music and would know this. Geez. 

ANYWAY, as we ate the ice cream, Ash and I decided it was time to dip our toes into the super cute little canals running all throughout the town. Kids, dogs, adults - everyone had been walking in, dipping in, dragging boats through…and we wanted to do it, too. And OH the bliss on the hot day. The water was crystal clear snow runoff. So cold and pure. Absolute joy. Poor Jason is still struggling to put his shoes and socks on post surgery so even with our offer to help, he didn’t want to partake. 

Afterward, we realized this was really our last night in Germany and we hadn’t yet had Germany Riesling! Gesundheit! (Not the right word there but also, what do you know?) We happened by the amazing restaurant my team had eaten at so we stopped in there, grabbed a table on the back patio, and grabbed a local bottle of Riesling. It was terrific!! 

After all that, we were pretty pooped so we walked back the hotel and parted ways with Ashley. Her hotel was another 10-15 minute walk past ours. We were excited for the next day when we would take the train back to Zurich, Switzerland and get a week of vacation and freedom to explore the gorgeous country! 

Dingle, FTW

 Day 2 was much better in the sense that it wasn’t day 1, the uber came and dropped us in the right spot, and it didn’t go on until 10 PM. Things were really looking up.

We had an earlier finish from meetings to allow for a happy hour in which we invited all the local colleagues in the building. 3 of us planned a fun happy hour game that got people mingling, telling stories, and sharing photos from their phones. There was a terrific spread of food, beer, and wine to go along with the joy. Several recent students who have come through our programs showed up and it was fun to see them there on their home turf!

When we got back to the hotel, it was still early (ish) so Jason, Ashley, and I headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at this super cute Irish pub, of all things!!! and then the most spectacular, glorious thing happened. I said, “Man, if only they had Dingle gin,” which we discovered together when in Dingle, Ireland in 2019 and then THERE IT WAS ON THE MENU. We’ve never seen it anywhere but Ireland.

BAM! 3 Dingles it was. And some food. Perfect evening on a back patio! By the time we got home, it was again later than my body wanted it to be but also- Ionly had 4 more hours of work to live through before vacay and I was convinced I would make it!!!

The longest day I’ve ever had in Freiburg

Today was the day- our reason for coming on this trip- the kickoff of a 3-day offsite for my boss and his leadership team. An offsite I lead. 

I was downstairs around 7 and found a good smattering of colleagues already having breakfast. The breakfast was pretty great - lots of options, everything fresh and delicious. Fancy coffee machines. Everything we needed. We had a blend of people with cars and not. Finally, around 7:30 there were 5 of us left and we decided to band together and get an uber. I pulled it up and was dismayed to see an uber couldn’t even get to us for 19 minutes. We had to START at 8 am! So, we all ran to the train station to grab a cab. We found a mini-van that could hold us all and then, inexplicably, my colleague who must be at least 6 feet tall, climbed all the way into the back and there I was now sitting in the front with the other 3 sharing the middle bench seat. It was hilarious so I snapped this cute pic.   

What wasn’t cute was the uber driver trying to drop us off in a large, grassy field. Fred, speaking perfect German says to the driver, “No! This is not it.” The driver said yes in some language but frankly at that point I’d decided he didn’t speak German or English. Anyway, Dorothy pulled her map out and pointed to show him to please drive around the large grassy field. Thank goodness those guys were with me because I had no idea where the office was, what it looked like OR what language to speak to the driver. I did think the office didn’t look like a large, grassy field. 

We ended up late, which is awful when a)you’re leading the thing and b)your boss is the first speaker and he’s standing at the front of the room waiting to start as you walk in. Good times! That said, everyone was chill about it and off we went.

At lunch, we took several laps around outside to wake up and get some sunshine. The campus is beautiful and the catered lunch was delicious. I was starting to believe I would live through the day!

We wrapped the meetings and embarked upon some manufacturing tours to cap the day. It was all very cool to see. We ubered/taxied/drove back to the hotel where we had all of…say 27 minutes before meeting again to walk to dinner.

But, as I walked into the lobby, I saw my friend Ashley had arrived! Woohoo!! Ashley moved to Germany 3 years ago but we’re old pals from Texas and this makes the 3rd time now we’ve hung out overseas. We were so stoked when we found out we were coming to Germany! She and Jason were sitting at the bar waiting for me so I was able to have a quick drink and chat with them before the lobby was buzzing with the craziness of the team gathering for dinner.

We all took off to walk into the gorgeous old town area together. The restaurant was absolutely delicious and we had a great time talking, laughing, and enjoying being together. My colleague Eddie started what would become a 4 day schnitzel bender. I have to say, schnitzel is good. Also, it is apparently white asparagus season and I for one do celebrate this now that I know about it. I asked everyone what the difference was between white and green and no one knew but I am here with the scoop having eaten the famed white asparagus now. There are 2 things - 1)apparently you have to peel white asparagus but more importantly 2) it doesn’t make your pee stink. Who else wants to celebrate this terrific vegetable? 

 I started hitting the wall after the second round of shots of grappa came by and was like - yo, who else is ready to walk back cause I’m outta here. We walked again as a herd on the way back after very loudly singing happy birthday to my colleague John who was a terrific sport about it despite the horror of the singing.

We had another 7 am lobby situation set for the next day and this time we knew we needed to call the car earlier. NOTED!

I was SO SO SO tired when I laid down. Whew!

Sliding Into Germany, Zero Fanfare

So, we woke up in Zurich and had “free” breakfast in the hotel lounge. This is one of our favorite travel hacks because it saves us time and money to eat meals, snacks, and even have drinks in the lounges you gain access to with loyalty status. We can save our money for the bigger things we want to do.

Then, we hailed an uber to cruise to the train station. Our driver was hilarious- he said he was driving Scottish people to the train station all morning because there was going to be a big soccer game later in the day in Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein!!?!?! what?!?!? Just a short train ride away to score another country??? This gave me ideas. Anyway, the driver was assuming we would also be Scottish and was quite surprised to hear our American accents.

The train station was pretty big but also super easy to figure out. I asked at the info booth to confirm we were reading our tickets right - and we were. We hopped on when it arrived and found our seats. We had a bit of a challenge with all the luggage - especially the large suitcase- because the overhead racks weren’t that big and there was otherwise nowhere for it to go. Another guy and Jason tag-teamed to ram the suitcase up there but it half way hung out, which made us nervous the entire trip that it would flop out and crush someone’s face. 

Aside from that, the trip up was great. Beautiful scenery. Lots of lush green farmland and vineyards. And somewhere in all that we crossed into Germany with zero fanfare or anyway of knowing it at all. It was more of a, “well, I guess we’re in there by now.” Too weird!

When we got to the train station in Freiburg, I pulled out my phone because I’d taken some screenshots of google maps knowing my phone wouldn’t be working yet/ no WiFi. But, turns out I didn’t need that because I looked around and literally could see the Marriott Courtyard from the train tracks! HA! 

It would have been fastest to walk through the station but something had happened and the entire thing was closed and surrounded by police. I, of course, didn’t know that there weren’t always police standing around the outside of the train station so I tried to walk in anyway when two of them said to me at the same time, “ENGOIEGNOIENGOIEGNOEIG” which is German for something likely resembling, “You can’t go in there.” Well, excuse me.

So, we walked around and all of 2 blocks later, there we were! As we entered, we saw Corie and Nick- like showing up at summer camp and seeing all your friends. We got checked in and up into the room with no trouble at all. 

We decided to just have a light bite at the bar rather than going out since we were still shaking jet lag and I had an early start the next morning. Well, as we sat there, literally my entire team strolled in over the evening and each time we’d stop to meet/chat/catch up. Before you knew it, it was like 9 pm and we hadn’t eaten yet. Little did I know this would become the theme of the trip!

We finally had some dinner and headed up so I could get ready for a 7am meet in the lobby start to what would be a very long day of meetings and team dinners. Whew! Look out Germany- we have arrived!! 

The much anticipated, last minute upgrade on our way to Europe

 

After booking this trip way earlier than we normally would, mostly because it’s a work trip for me and my boss told us in a staff meeting one week to “buy your tickets THIS WEEK,” we found ourselves in a very long wait to see if I would get upgraded.

Airlines are such a whip.

We booked Jason in business class to make sure he would be able to stretch out and be comfy. And then we called and bought a mileage upgrade for me. And, you would think in doing so, we would trade in the miles and dollars and then have secured the upgrade. But, no. Instead, it sat there saying requested until about 5 minutes before boarding when miraculously, they paged me. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so dramatic had the agent we spoke to not told us that UNLIKE an unpaid upgrade, this could process at any time. So you know, everyday I thought today could be the day. Sheesh! 

Now to back up - we flew overnight to Philly through Phoenix. We had a painful 6 hour layover in Phoenix and then the night flight to Philly. When we landed, we realized we could walk to the hotel from baggage claim- w00t!- and did so. But, then we had to wait a bit for our room because it was so dang early and they had been sold out. So, we had breakfast and sat in comfy chairs. We met delightful staff members - 2 of which said they’d been there for 30 years- whoa! And finally, when Jason looked just about ready to fall asleep sitting up, they waved us over to get our keys. 

So, after some sleep and a shower, we cruised back down to the bar again and man it was poppin’. Turns out when you have a hotel in the airport that you can walk to but nothing else walkable, the lobby bar is the scene! We had some wine and appetizers and headed back up. We would try to have a normal night’s rest before our next overnight flight to Zurich.

We did ok with sleeping. We walked back to the airport and checked in and then were delighted to find we could both go into the brand new Flagship lounge. I was worried that they wouldn’t let me in since the upgrade hadn’t come through. Whew!

The lounge was pretty good for a US based on but no comparison to the Heathrow lounges, as one example. But! We were happy for food, drinks, comfy seats, and places to charge all the devices. While we waited, my colleague Nick popped in for a drink. Fun to be on the same flight. 

This pop up storm entertained us while we were in the lounge. When the rain stopped this beautiful rainbow came out!

After finally clearing the upgrade, I took the very last seat in business and I was so happy to have it! I’m old enough now that sitting that uncomfortably for long periods of time will make me miserable for a few days. We were entertained by the very loud, rude, and entitled man in front of me as he attempted to demand the steak for dinner despite there not being any more steak. What a moron. I had the salmon and it was delicious. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours. Jason powered through, as always, wide awake the whole time. He became best friends with the flight attendant who reminded us of another South African friend from a cruise we took a few years ago.

Before long, boom - touchdown in Zurich! We grabbed our bag, cruised through immigration, and I figured out WiFi and grabbed us an uber. We were SO happy to find we could check in early and went right up to our awesome room at the Renaissance downtown. It was now Sunday morning, we’d been traveling since Thursday and still weren’t yet at the place we were trying to go! Craziness. 

With that, we had a slow, chill afternoon and evening and went to bed looking forward to taking the train to Freiburg and seeing Germany for the first time the next day!

Our hotel was so cute- this book shelf was probably 8 feet tall and you could walk through it. These wasabi peas nearly burned my sinus passage off- love it! And really, who knew the Swiss were spicy?

It’s June- That means it’s time to meet up with Ashley somewhere in Europe!

 We didn’t mean to start a new tradition, but according to Facebook memories and my actual brain, apparently when it’s June, Jason and I head to Europe and meet up with our buddy Ashley somewhere. 

Let’s do it!

This time, we’re heading to Germany and Switzerland. I’m super stoked because I’ve never been to either and I do love collecting new countries!

It just so happens that Ashley now lives in Germany so she can just hop a train down to meet us when we arrive in Freiburg. BAM!

This whole trip just sort of accidentally worked out, as it often does, so that Jason can go- having just healed from getting a brand new right hip and conveniently still a few weeks from a brand new left hip. Ashley was able to get some time off work and I have to go for work which means my flight and first week of hotel is free. Woohoo!

It also means, sigh, that I have to fly coach. Let’s face it- I’m old now and my body doesn’t appreciate this horror and disgrace. When you can lie down up in business class and have a great meal- man, not going to lie, that makes a massive difference. Alas. I shall sit up right, likely sweating (why do the planes have to be so warm overnight?), not having anything to drink, and constantly trying to shrink so as not to be physically touching the people next to me. Can’t wait.

Thankfully, Jason can fly in biz so he can stay physically comfortable - doctor’s orders! 

Anyway, as I type we’re in Philly. We leave tonight for our overnight in Zurich and then we’ll take the train to Freiburg for the week. I’ll lead a 3-day offsite for my boss and our leadership team and then we’re off to explore cheese and chocolate and mountains in Switzerland! 

We have a terrific new ranch and creature sitter hanging at the house and we are so thrilled. What a mental load off to know she’s there loving on Jinx, Jeaux, Field, and Otro and making sure everything is fine. Cheers to Mary! (Shout out to Mark and Christiana, who are our normal ranch sitters in residence but who are working this summer in Colorado. Jinx and Jeaux send their regards and hope you can still come visit soon!)