Whew! I simply must stop trying to make up for lost time and just recount where I can. Short and sweet, that should be my new mantra. Again sitting this evening in my industrial apartment outside of Lausanne, let's see what's happened since I returned from Singapore way back in late May...• I forgot to mention the late May, 105th annual (my second straight) exploding of the gigantic snowman's head in Zurich to celebrate spring. Much better than last year's extended rainy episode, the Böögg's head completely exploded in under 8 minutes on a beautiful sunny day.
- A visit from Steph's parents, their second (!) in 18 months, way ahead of most people (hint). I have some excellent pics I really will post, from our consecutive weekend trips to Strasbourg, France and Mainz, Germany, including an historic boat cruise down the Rhine with nothing but castles and vineyards.
- Hosted the European equivalent of our annual blowout wine party, including nearly 50 guests and as many wines, food from six countries to match the wine (especially proud of the from-scratch empanadas), and the same messy result at evening's end. Guests from all over the world, kinda fun, and a big boost to our local popularity (because it really needed a boost).
- Returned all too briefly to the U.S. in June, primarily to attend my 20-year high school reunion back in good 'ol Green Bay, WI, with some brief time thrown in for Chicago (for Mexican food and iced tea) and Madison (for my new nephew! only six weeks old). Highlights included a GB sub-reunion of soccer buddies from so many years playing together, a 4-on-4 scrimmage that made me feel simultaneously young and old.
- Participated in a subsequent "try out" scrimmage of sorts with my Zürich-Mexican buddy on his predominantly Swiss soccer team. Ouch, didn't go as well but I met minimum requirements. Did I mention everyone is about 10 years younger? Am I crazy enough to play in a league in the fall? Sounds like an injury waiting to happen.
- Witnessed the phenomenon of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on stage in Bern, Switzerland, on Tuesday evening, about an hour train ride from Zürich. Truly a living legend, the guy just keeps getting better. He almost managed to shake an unbelievably lethargic Swiss crowd out of its stupor. Steph and I made quite an American spectacle of ouselves from the opening song. Wednesday was a long, "sleepy" day. We're voyaging to Vienna this weekend to see them again (do we qualify as groupies?)...can't wait!
- Swam across Lake Zürich yesterday evening with a few thousand others,
a typically-fantastically organized annual Zürich event. Just under a mile in length, and I swallowed just under a third of the lake as a final bit of open-water training for the Zürich Triathlon next weekend. Wish me luck there. The picture up top is from hundreds of swimmers conducting an aerobics "warm-up" before entering the water. Fantastically bizarre. I was laughing nearly out loud to myself thinking, "Well, there's something you wouldn't see in Chicago." But they're Swiss so they follow the rules, and the rules said you should warm up before swimming. This closer picture shows the end of the event, or Ziel ("goal") with everybody in their red swim caps (don't try a "Where's Waldo", I'm not actually in the picture)
1 comment:
It's wonderful to read the latest. I figure you've been so busy, that you haven't had time to blog and now I see why. Good luck in the triathlon!
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