Geneva Week 10 (7/12 – 7/18) – Vampire Tuesday, ‘Baboutcha’ and a Summer BBQ

After arriving home from sweltering Paris the weekend prior, Geneva did not disappoint and continued its unfortunate heat trend during our 10^th week of living here. Luckily, I had lots of relief thanks to frequent visits to my Hermance cove, where I swam with much enthusiasm.

Natalie even jumped into the water a few times and Jason was fortunate enough to take an overnight business trip to London where the weather was reasonably cooler.

Early in this week, Jason and Natalie celebrated their 8^th wedding anniversary, which was on Tuesday, July 13^th! On the day of their anniversary, they didn’t do a whole lot (well, they did one thing, which I’ll get to in a second), as Paris was intended to be the celebration event to mark their 8^th year of marriage.

Prior to Jason leaving for London and on the night of his and Natalie’s anniversary, he grudgingly obliged to see the newest Twilight movie, Eclipse (aka ‘Hesitation’ in Switzerland) with Natalie. I stayed home and let them have an enjoyable night out.

Now, Jason, like most men, is not a fan of the Twilight series – books or the movies. However, Jason is ‘Husband of the Year’ (a title given to him by Natalie’s sister, April) and quite frankly, the ‘Husband of the Year’ title is not easily achieved. To earn these honors, Jason often accompanies Natalie to movies, such as the Twilight series.

To both Jason and Natalie’s surprise, this particular Twilight installment was not that bad and they both agreed it was better than the previous two movies. Natalie liked the ‘horror-movie’ undertones (it is a vampire flick, after all) and Jason, well, he gave the movie a ‘2’ (out of 10) instead of a ‘1,’ which is what he granted the previous two films.

(Jason preparing for the always enjoyable Twilight movie experience!)

Twilight and London aside, the week was pretty calm. Jason and Natalie kept at their French lessons and I continued my regular visits to DDC. 

Apparently, on one of my DDC days, Natalie decided to try out the McDonald’s in a nearby town. I know this sounds strange, especially as it relates to someone who’s day is ruined if she’s consumed ‘wasted calories.’ However, the McDonalds here in Switzerland are different. The inside décor is actually trendy and it is a popular place for people to work on their computers. It is similar to a Starbucks in the U.S.

Since Natalie believes that no one should ever judge a book by its cover, she decided to try out the McDonald’s – who knows, it could be like In-n-Out burger in the U.S.

Natalie was pleasantly surprised. The hamburger was freshly grilled and the fries were crunchy and salty. Given the reasonable price point and the fact this meal did not count as ‘wasted calories,’ Natalie will definitely be back and maybe Jason will even have a try. The best part is I might possibly get a hamburger patty every now and then. I consistently got hamburger patties every time Natalie and Jason went to In-n-Out burger (which was a lot) and I miss it a little bit.

(To prove that Natalie actually ventured into a McDonald's for a reason other than to use the restroom, here is a picture of her meal.)

As what seems to be usual of late, my quiet, non-eventful week turned into one of new adventures – this time in the form of a houseguest by the name of Baboutcha.

On Thursday evening, Natalie got a call from her friend Karin, who lives in Hermance. Karin needed to take a last minute weekend trip Paris and was trying to figure out what do with her little dog, Baboutcha.  

Natalie offered to help out by inviting Baboutcha to stay at our house over the weekend. I, of course, was not consulted about this and, needless to say, was not thrilled when Natalie told me the news.

Therefore, on Friday evening, right before French class, Natalie and I took the short trip to Hermance and picked up Baboutcha.

(Baboutcha and me in the car after Natalie and I picked her up from Hermance.)

Baboutcha is a little female dog of mixed breed and probably weighs no more than 20 pounds. Baboutcha’s strength, energy and enthusiasm for just about everything was a much larger presence than what you’d expect for a dog as small as she was, though.

The first night of Baboutcha’s stay was an adventure in itself - by the way, since her name is so long, from now on, she is called ‘Baboo.’

Both Baboo and I went to French class with Natalie and Jason. In between Baboo’s yelps and yaps, I think I learned a few words. I now know ‘monter’ (to go up) and ‘descendre’ (to go down.)

After a somewhat unproductive French lesson (thanks to you-know-who), we all headed home. Natalie and Jason had a quick dinner, and we then made our way downstairs to Christianne and Silvio’s patio for dessert. Natalie made a vanilla pastry cream tart with fresh raspberries, peaches and groseille rouge (red currants or gooseberries) to bring to Christianne and Silvio’s.

(Berry-peach pastry cream tart)

Since Natalie didn’t have any maizena (corn starch), she attempted to make the pastry cream with flour. Of course, the pastry cream was a bit softer than usual; however, it would’ve held up in the tart just fine if Natalie hadn’t decided to blend it before filling the tart. She realized later that, by blending the cream, she broke down the starch way too much and as a result, it was more like a very soft pudding tart.

It was still good and edible, just runny. We now have plenty of maizena on hand to avoid future pastry cream issues.

I usually enjoy our visits with Christianne and Silvio, since I can hang out with their Golden Retriever, Eliot; however, our new friend, Baboo, also came along. At this point, I still wasn't sure of Baboo and the amount of energy bursting from this little dog. For the most part, though, Baboo was calm and I enjoyed lying outside on their patio in the cooling night air.

The next morning (day 2 of Baboo’s visit), Natalie got up before 7am to go for a 13 mile run in preparation for her upcoming half-marathon. On mornings like these, I would enjoy some good rest time with Jason and we’d usually sleep in until 9, or so. That was not the case with Baboo. At around 8ish, Baboo was up and bouncing around wanting her morning walk.

Jason and I grudgingly obliged, rolled out of bed and took Baboo out to do her business. Shortly thereafter, Natalie got home, we all got cleaned up and then we headed for one of my new favorite places, the Hermance cove!

While Natalie hung out with Baboo, Jason threw me the Frisbee. I chased and swam and splashed around in the cool Lake Geneva waters and in the (finally!) cooler weather.

(Baboo hanging out at the Hermance cove while I was off swimming!)

Saturday afternoon, Natalie and Jason decided to let Baboo and I hang out in the house alone while they headed downtown to pick up tickets for the evening’s concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival and run some errands.

Unfortunately, for Natalie and Jason at least, the tickets to the concert were securely locked at Jason’s work and since it was a Saturday, Jason had no ability to get into the office. Therefore, Jason and Natalie would not be driving to Montreux that evening to see the highly anticipated Broken Bells.

Jason and Natalie were, of course, bummed out about it; however, weren’t necessarily that keen on leaving Baboo and me alone for an extended period of time either.

That evening, after we all took another exhilarating walk along the vineyard trail, Natalie and Jason decided to go out for just a short time and had perfectly prepared wood-fired pizzas at Café des Marronniers in Collonge-Bellerive. I normally would’ve been able to accompany them; however, our houseguest didn’t appear to be as ‘calm’ in a restaurant setting; therefore, Natalie and Jason left me at home to keep Baboo company.

(Grapes starting to appear in the vines along my 'vineyard' trail.)

Sunday rolled around and we all slept in for as long as we could, at least.  Similar to the day before, Baboo was up bright and early telling us all she needed to go to the bathroom!

Besides our early rising, we generally had a lazy morning. Natalie prepared her famous ‘almond-potato cake’ for the evening BBQ in Christianne and Silvio’s garden and Jason worked on his computer planning out the details of Natalie’s parents upcoming visit in September.

(Natalie's almond-potato cake topped with red-wine poached apricots she received from Baboo's owner and fresh blueberries.)

Our afternoon was filled with more swimming, this time in Amphion, France. Amphion is a town close to Evian and has a number of pebble beaches that are perfect for my kind.

(A beautiful view of the lake and mountains from the pebble beaches of Amphion!)

While I splashed around in the somewhat rough waters (it was a bit of a windy and cool day), Baboo let us all know that she was not happy being on the leash and wanted to be in the waters, as well. In order to give Baboo some good exercise (while remaining securely on the leash), we went for a long walk along the waterfront in Amphion and later had lunch at a nearby boulangerie.

(Here I am on one of the docks in Amphion, begging to be let off leash so I can jump off the dock.)

(Baboo making new friends on our walk in Amphion.)

On our way home, we stopped in the quaint (yet, packed with tourists) town of Yvoire, France. Yvoire is very picturesque and seems to have an ice cream shop on every corner!

(The cute little town of Yvoire - since it is the ice cream town, Natalie and Jason, of course, enjoyed the frozen treat during our walk!)

Lucky for me, our day of outside adventures didn’t end there! That evening Jason, Natalie, Baboo, me, and Natalie’s almond-potato cake headed down to the garden to enjoy dinner with Silvio, Christianne, Eliot and two of Christianne’s children.

For dinner, all of the humans enjoyed sausages and we canines had fun begging for the sausages.

During my evening relaxing outdoors in the garden, Eliot and I did a little bit of digging, but mostly we all just hung out on the cool grass enjoying the evening air.

With Baboo resting on a cushy bed on the floor beside my bed (did you really think I’d share my bed with another canine?), I lay pondering about my week, our houseguest for one last night and the adventurous summer I’ve had so far in Geneva.  Although I look very forward to the winter and snow, I am enjoying every moment in the cool lake and every opportunity to dig in the fresh European earth!

Paws,

Sabrina

(Just because....a peaceful picture of the beach from St. Prex - one of Natalie and Jason's favorite places to rest and a great place to swim, I might add.)

Geneva Week 9 (7/5 – 7/11) – Vampire Weekend, a ‘Stage’ and an American (doggie) in Paris

As far as weather goes, this week did not start out any better than the last –it was hot. As much as I love Geneva and Europe, I do not love the heat.  I certainly hope this does end soon, or there will be one grumpy dog living at Route de Chevrens 132.

As far as playtime goes, though, my week started out great. On Monday, Natalie met up with her new friend Karin and her dog Baboutcha in Hermance and we all went on a long walk in the beautiful forest near Hermance and then for a swim in the lake.

I had a blast! I had never seen this amazing forest before and couldn’t stop running around, chasing butterflies, jumping in and out of the river…you name it!  Natalie of course, was nervous with me being off-leash and running all over the place; however, over the course of our walk she got a little better and promised me (and her friend) that she’d be less nervous next time.

Monday was also a fun day for Natalie and Jason. That evening, they left me at home to reflect upon my time in the forest and took the train to Montreux, Switzerland to see the Montreux Jazz Festival.

This festival is a 2 week long annual event on the lakefront in Montreux, which features many great musical artists, activities and, of course, tasty comfort food.

The band Natalie and Jason saw on Monday night was Vampire Weekend. Natalie and Jason got into this band during our Northwest road trip in September 2008. From what they told me when they got home late that night, the band did not disappoint and were very entertaining.

Natalie and Jason also enjoyed some nice views from the festival and also marveled at all the interesting food, including a 5 foot wide skillet of macaroni!

(One of the views from the Montreux Jazz Festival)

(Another view of the sunset from Montreux)

(The 5-foot wide skillet of macaroni!)

In this week 9 of our life here in Geneva, Natalie also got an exciting opportunity to ‘stage’ at a tea room (which is essentially a boulangerie and patisserie) in downtown Geneva. For those of you that may not know what a stage is, it is essentially a learning opportunity to work at a bakery for a day, or a short while and gain knowledge about the baker’s techniques, daily production at the bakery, etc.

Natalie interviewed with the owner of the tea room on Tuesday and on Thursday she went in and assisted one of the pastry chefs in assembling a mousse-filled cake. Natalie also helped with daily production. Natalie had a great day and is looking forward to her next opportunity to stage at this tea room (she really liked everyone there!) or possibly at another boulangerie or patisserie.

(The marzipan rabbit the owner of the tea room made as a demonstration for Natalie during her stage)

(A marzipan dog also made by the owner of the tea room - doesn't it kind of look like me?)

Besides my exciting discovery of the forest, Vampire Weekend and Natalie’s stage, the rest of the week up until Thursday evening was fairly uneventful. I did have to go see Dr. Luka (my vet) one more time to get a vaccination and a clean bill of health; however, other than that I just swam in the lake, went to DDC and did my best to stay cool.

(Retrieving the frisbee in the beautifully clear waters of Lake Geneva!)

(Enjoying a well-deserved rest after some intense swimming!)

On Thursday evening, though, the fairly quiet and relaxing week I had completely disappeared just like the cool air had done a few weeks ago.

After Natalie’s stage on Thursday, she picked me up at DDC and raced all the way home from DDC to our house (an hour long trip, I might add) to get Jason’s passport. He accidentally left it at home and, clearly, wherever we were going he must’ve needed it.

Natalie got the passport, jumped in our Nissan Qashqai and we raced back towards Geneva. We had to catch a train in an hour and the traffic was so horrendous getting to the train station that Natalie was worried we were going to miss the train. She did her best to drive as fast as possible; however, after receiving a ‘gift’ in the mail earlier in the week in the form of a $250 speeding ticket, Natalie was a little hesitant on driving too fast.

On a side note, Natalie is not a fast driver; however, the laws here in Switzerland are extremely strict – Natalie was only going 12 km or 8 miles over the speed limit and got charged with $250!!  Also, the police don’t pull you over. There is film in little boxes on the side of the road that will take your picture if you are caught speeding. You don’t even know you got a ticket until it greets you in the mail!

Anyway, I digress (I’m mainly avoiding trying to talk about this next part). We made it to the train station in the nick of time to catch our 7:17 train to…Paris! How exciting! I would be going to Paris for the weekend and would get to be a stylish ‘Parisian’ shepherd for a couple of days.

I was really excited about this prospect until we got on the train. As I was claiming my comfortable spot on the carpeted train floor under Natalie and Jason’s feet, Natalie pulled my face up towards hers.  Instead of giving me a kiss on the forehead, like I thought she was going to do, she put a muzzle on me! (I know, I’m gasping too at this moment and it’s been over a week now since I’ve had to wear the thing.)

Apparently, the French trains require my kind to wear a muzzle, since I could potentially be a vicious dog. Therefore, rather than going to Paris in style, I was going to Paris in very non-stylish black muzzle.

(To embarrass me further - Jason took a picture of me in my muzzle)

We arrived at the Paris train station late that night, the muzzle came off and I was ready to go explore this great city – however, most taxis wouldn’t take Natalie and Jason, because of me. Luckily, one nice taxi driver let me come along and soon enough we were racing through this exciting and glamorous city towards our hotel!

The hotel we were staying at was quite nice, comfortable, and cool. It was called Hotel Odeon Saint Germain in Paris’ 6^th Arrondissement.  After settling in a bit, we ventured around the ‘6^th’ and landed at what looked like a relatively tasty place for dinner. Natalie ordered the ‘safe bet’ of roasted chicken and Jason went for the Andouillette, which is what he assumed to be sausage, like Andouille in the U.S.  He was wrong, kind of.

Andouillette is a coarse-grained smoked tripe sausage made with pork (or occasionally, veal), chitterlings, pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings. Chitterlings are the small intestines of pigs.

The waiter placed the Andouillette in front of Jason and to be honest, it looked exactly like a ‘number 2’ when speaking in bathroom terms. Unfortunately, for Jason it also smelled and tasted like a ‘number 2.’ I, on the other hand, loved it and my dinner essentially consisted of Andouillette sausage fed to me under the table.

After that lovely meal, we slept very well in an extremely air-conditioned room. We’d need it, because our Friday in Paris would be a sweltering one.

The next morning, we all sufficiently slept in until about 10am. We then lazily made our way to a pleasant café near our hotel, called Les Editeurs, for coffee and croissants. It was very nice to sit outside and enjoy breakfast (well, for Natalie and Jason); however, the day was already quite warm and it wasn't even noon yet!

(A typical French 'breakfast' - that is quite a cappuccino!)

Natalie really wanted to take me to the Eiffel Tower and make a spectacle of me by taking pictures with me in front of the tower. Therefore, we all walked across town to the tower, in the 90+ degree weather  and made it to De la Tour Eiffel in the early afternoon.

(The Eiffel Tower - always an amazing sight!)

(Another view of the Eiffel Tower - you can practically feel the heat of that day from this picture!)

(Yup, here I am near the Eiffel Tower. We walked all the way across town in heat and humidity for this.)

Natalie got her pictures and I got a plastic bird – there are a lot of people near the Tower that sell many useless things, but these birds were not one of them. You wind the bird up and it takes off spinning into the air making for a good chase from the ground. Since I was ‘chasing’ the birds for sale, Natalie and Jason gave in and bought me one to chase later on in the day.

(Finally - a bird I could catch (no one has to know it was plastic :-) )

We slowly made our way back towards our section of Paris, with plans of visiting the 3^rd arrondissement, as Natalie had read about some good restaurants over there.

By this time (mid-afternoon), it was just flat out hot and we were all very grumpy.  We eventually made it to the ‘3^rd’ by late afternoon. We visited one of the cafes Natalie had read about, called CocoCook and picked up some snacks to take away. We then found a bench, slumped on it and rested our tired feet and paws prior to our walk back to the hotel.

Friday evening’s dinner was enjoyed in the ‘6^th’ at Le Petit Vatel and needless to say, it was much better for Jason than the previous night. Jason enjoyed stuffed veal and Natalie had steak. For dessert, Jason was especially excited because he had a slice of a very delicious (and authentic – the pits were still in!) Cherry Clafoutis.

Saturday was again met with sleeping in and coffee and croissants at the same café as the day before.

Since Saturday was expected to be as hot as Friday, we were all a bit smarter about how much walking we would do.  We decided to start our day in the Luxembourg Gardens (for me, of course) and then head back towards the ‘3^rd,’ which was not that far from our hotel. Apparently, the ‘3^rd’ is an up and coming district in Paris and is where a lot of artists live.  It reminds me a bit of the Mission district in San Francisco.

The Luxembourg Gardens were very beautiful and peaceful once we found an entrance that allowed les chiens (French for dog). We finally found an acceptable entrance and I pranced right in thinking there would be some fun off-leash chasing to be had, but, sure enough I could not go off leash.  To make matters worse, a garden patrol person kicked me off the grass.

(Jason and me in the Luxembourg Gardens)

We strolled around the park until a bit past noon and then started venturing out towards the ‘3^rd’. Luckily, Saturday hadn’t yet reached the same temperatures as Friday, so, we were all hopeful for a nice, non-grumpy walk.

For lunch, we visited another one of Natalie’s restaurant finds, called Tartes Klugers. This restaurant specializes in tarts – Jason had a very tasty tuna and mint tart and Natalie decided to have dessert first and enjoyed the apple crumble tart.

After a little more walking, being greeted by some welcome rain, and sitting at a café to wait out the rain, Natalie and Jason found a great store called Merci. This store had everything from a little café to clothing to home goods! It’s too bad for Natalie and Jason that they took the train, as there were many unique purchases to be had; however, no way to get them home.

(Walking around Paris!)

In the early evening we ventured back into the ‘6^th’, where Natalie and Jason had cocktails at a restaurant, which was trying just a bit too hard to be hip. After a slightly disappointing evening aperitif experience, we all made our way back to the hotel to clean up for dinner.

Dinner was again in the ‘6^th’ and was at a restaurant, called Restaurant La Mediterranee, which specializes in seafood.  Dinner was overall, very nice. Natalie enjoyed cod with chorizo and a saffron sauce and Jason had bouillabaisse, which is a fish stew. I got plenty of samples and with happily full stomachs, we all rested quite well during our last night in Paris.

Sunday, we couldn’t help but sleep in again. For breakfast, we went to a new place called Le Deux Magots.  We had the basics again (croissant, espresso, cappuccino, etc.) and according to Jason and Natalie, it was ‘okay.’ We should’ve stayed at Les Editeurs, which was, of course, the café we enjoyed breakfast during the previous two days.

After breakfast, we walked in Luxembourg Gardens for a bit and then lazily strolled about town until it was time to head back to the hotel and catch a cab for the train.

(Hanging out in the shade in the Luxembourg Gardens - it's a bit hard to see, but I am having a 'stare-down' contest with a cat in this picture.)

The hotel quickly found a cab that would take me and before I knew it I was back in the train with the muzzle on heading for home.

After a non-eventful train ride home, except for a little kid in the seats in front of us who kept staring back at Jason until Jason would speak to him (and he did, in French, no less), we arrived in hot Geneva that evening.

Jason and Natalie were kind enough to take me to Hermance to go swimming and we spent the rest of the evening resting at home and preparing for the week ahead.

I have to say that, although I was very excited about visiting Paris, the heat got the better of all three of us. Next time we go, it’ll be in the Spring or Fall and I'll also have figured out a way to get around that muzzle law by then.

For now, au revoir et bonne nuit! (good bye and good night!)

Paws,

Sabrina

Geneva Week 8 (6/28 – 7/4) – Too Hot for Comfort! and Discovering Wengen

As my paws type out this post to mark the end of our second month here in Geneva, I, for the first time, don’t have a significant number of activities to share with you.

Maybe it’s because it was extraordinarily hot this last week and we didn’t do a lot of exploring (I should mention it was hot for the three of us – it was in the high 80s, which, for San Franciscans is a respectable heat wave). Or, maybe it’s because we are starting to get fairly settled into a daily routine.

For Natalie, she stayed disciplined about her running routine and even put in a healthy 11 miles while hanging out in Saint Prex on one of my DDC days.

Natalie also did some more experimenting in the kitchen, this time with much better results.

Since the fourth of July was nearing and since Natalie had found some delicious apples at COOP, which is like the Swiss version of Safeway, but on steroids, she decided to make an all-American apple pie. It was a very simple pie – the crust was a recipe she had gotten out of the Tartine Bakery cookbook (a famous bakery in San Francisco) and the filling simply consisted of peeled, cored, and thinly sliced apples that were mixed with some sugar, cinnamon, flour and fresh lemon juice.

The pie turned out perfectly and Natalie and Jason both enjoyed apple pie for dinner (and breakfast!) throughout the week.

Natalie also decided lasagna with homemade meat sauce would be a nice homemade meal to have for the week. For the homemade meat sauce, Natalie essentially ‘made it up,’ but knew what she wanted to achieve – a thick, rich and tangy meat sauce that would hold up nicely in a mozzarella cheese lasagne.  The lasagne turned out well and made for a couple of dinners for Natalie and Jason and samples for me.

Natalie also had her first success with cupcakes. Natalie decided to try her hand at her never-fail and always-moist chocolate cupcakes, using European ingredients - Luckily, they came out as moist as ever! Also, the Italian Buttercream frosting Natalie piped onto the cupcakes was buttery, smooth and silky!

Believe me when I say this, and I’m speaking for both me and Jason - it is crucial Natalie start having some success in the kitchen, or we’ll be hearing about it, constantly, until she does something well.

As for Jason, he had a busy week at work and was also busy keeping up with futbol! Thank goodness Jason found the TV channel at home that broadcast the matches, or Natalie and Jason would've been regulars at the Lady Godiva Pub in the Plainpalais district of Geneva all week!

Last week, the remaining eight teams competed in the World Cup – it was a week of upsets with both Brazil and Argentina losing their matches. Both of those teams were expected to make it far. By the end of week, the final four were decided: it would be Netherlands, Uruguay, Spain and Germany.

For me, this week was all about having fun at DDC and discovering a perfect little cove in Hermance for me to swim around in Lake Geneva.

(Here I am on the deck at DDC with my friend the Ridgeback!)

On Wednesday morning, Natalie brought me to this cove in Hermance and I happily swam around and chased the Frisbee in this crystal clear water for almost an hour!

Afterwards, Natalie found a peaceful café and restaurant called La Croix Federale, where she had a delicate croissant and a perfect cappuccino. While enjoying her breakfast, Natalie met a very nice person named Karin, who also has a dog. Natalie also met the owners of the restaurant, Edna and Raoul Jean-Richard.  

Everyone had great conversation (I slept in the sun and dried off!) and Natalie and Karin actually made a date to meet sometime in the future to take us for a walk. I’ll never complain about walks, especially if I get to have a friend along the way!

I was able to cool off in the Hermance cove again on Friday and would need it as our home does not have air conditioning (most do not in Geneva) and I would be resting at home for the afternoon.

On Friday afternoon, Natalie, Jason and Jason’s assistant, Andre went out for lunch in downtown Geneva at Le Perron. According to Natalie and Jason, they had a lovely time chatting with Andre and also had the delicious plat du jour of salmon.

The workweek ended with what’s turning out to be Natalie’s least favorite part of the week - French lessons. This week was especially frustrating as Natalie was really struggling with trying to understand the instructor.  Jason, of course, is doing pretty well – I think he has a knack for languages. For Natalie, on the other hand, it might be more of a challenge.

I keep trying to tell Natalie that learning a new language is just like digging for gophers. You work and work and feel like you’ll never get there and then someday voila! you have caught that little gopher and everything is good. Although, I haven’t actually caught a gopher yet. I needed some sort of inspirational story to cheer Natalie up, though, and of course, I am always hopeful I’ll catch one.

Due to the heat throughout the night, Saturday morning was met with Natalie sleeping in the guest room to be near the large open window. Jason and I were lounging on the bed and when Jason had found out about Natalie’s great idea for getting the cool breeze, Jason then moved himself to the guest room and I was left all alone in the bed! I was not happy about this – I made sure to climb up onto that guest room bed and turn my 65 lbs into 500 lbs of dead weight as I literally slept on top of them both.

We all finally got out of bed on Saturday, packed and got in the car for our short weekend destination, which would be Wengen, Switzerland.

Wengen is a small town in the Jungfrau region of the Swiss Alps that can only be reached by cog train (i.e., essentially no vehicles are allowed in this town!) The reason we chose Wengen for this weekend’s travel adventures was because it was supposed to be significantly cooler.  According to the weather forecast on Natalie and Jason’s iPhones, Wengen was around 40F, which was perfect. Out of this 85+ degree weather and into some nice wintry conditions!

We made it to Lauterbrunnen in the early afternoon to take the cog train up the mountain to Wengen. Oddly enough, the weather hadn’t cooled off; however, we all hoped we would get the chill we were searching for once we got up into the Alps.

Well, although the cog train ride was fun and exhilarating (and a little bumpy!), unfortunately, the weather forecast on Natalie and Jason’s trusty iPhones was wrong. The weather was actually around 75 degrees once we got into Wengen and a little rainy, but at least it was cooler than Geneva.

(The view from the Cog Train)

After we all settled into the hotel Alpenrose, which had a peaceful deck and an absolutely beautiful view of the Alps, we walked around town a bit and had a nice lunch of ham and cheese Rosti. Rosti is a traditional Swiss dish of shredded, pan-fried potatoes (think hash browns), usually with some sort of topping, such as ham, cheese or eggs.

(The view from the private deck of our hotel room.)

We then embarked on our running/hiking journey into the Alps for the day.

Since Natalie is training for the highest half-marathon marathon in Switzerland, which will be at the end of July, she decided to run up the hill we all were hiking. Jason and I followed closely behind and soon enough, we all met up in a beautiful, remote part of the Alps.

I was in doggie heaven! There were plenty of new and fresh smells, I saw donkeys along the way, mud was aplenty for me to roll around in and there were endless miles of walking and running to be had. I would have no problem living in Wengen. 

(Checking out the other side of this fence in the Alps - there was a large cliff on the other side. It would've been safe for me to go down; however, my predicament was getting Natalie and Jason down it; therefore, we selected another route.)

(This is so Swiss! - here is a little restaurant we found on our hiking trail. No doubt we'll be back to this place come wintertime. You could already smell the hint of mulled cider in the air!)

(A beautiful path along one of the trails we took on our way back down the mountain.)

(I found another cliff! This time I really wanted to race down towards the rushing river at the bottom, but the leash got in my way.)

(A view of the Alps on our hike - it was unbelievably beautiful)

(Here's me in the shadow of the Alps taking it all in!)

After about 2 and a half hours of non-stop playing in the Alps, we found ourselves back in the hotel room cleaning up and resting before dinner.

For Natalie and Jason, dinner turned out to be a fabulous meal at a restaurant right near the hotel. Highlights of the meal included strawberry prosecco aperitifs, wild garlic soup, mushroom turnovers and succulent lamb. I, of course, got to try all of these (well, except for the prosecco).

(Natalie and her strawberry prosecco!)

(Natalie asked me to include this, because she thought it was so funny - this is the toilet in the restaurant's bathroom. Why Natalie brings her iPhone into the bathroom with her, I don't know. But, I do know that if she and Jason ever open their bakery, there will definitely be a sparkly toilet seat in the customer's restroom!)

My dinner was less than fun. Natalie and Jason forgot to bring my dog food bowls, so, they attempted to feed me my not-so-enticing kibble in a soap dish from the hotel room. They get to eat at a nice restaurant on fancy plates, while I’m sitting on the floor being tortured by all the smells and then they add insult-to-injury by feeding me out of a soap dish! Needless to say, I did not eat my dinner out of protest.

The next morning, we packed up and slowly made our way back home as we had dinner plans with our landlords, Christianne and Silvio, that evening. It was a nice drive and we even stopped in nearby Grindelwald for lunch and a walk.

(A view of the clocktower in Grindelwald.)

(Since I was boycotting my food over the weekend, I made sure to beg extra at every meal. This is at lunch in Grindelwald and Jason is clearly inching away from me, but I'm holding firm on my position!)

Once we got home it was scorching hot and Natalie only made matters worse by heating our oven to a ridiculous temperature for the apple pie she would be baking for dessert that evening.

Despite the heat radiating from our home (thanks Natalie!), Jason and Natalie enjoyed a cool, lovely dinner made by Christianne and Silvio on their back patio and I had fun hanging out with Eliot.

It was a perfect ending to my week and I had plenty of dreams that night about the Alps, my friend Eliot and the great time I am having here in Geneva.

Paws,

Sabrina

(Yes, those are my paws hanging off the couch - I am probably sleeping in this picture.)

Geneva Week 7 (6/21 – 6/27) – My playdate with Eliot and Vicky, Milano, and Futbol highs and lows

Deep into our second month here in Geneva, we have experienced many new adventures - from discovering beautiful towns, to great outings at doggie day care (DDC), and to Jason finding out he really loves futbol (or soccer as Americans call it). He is getting hooked almost as much as he is to baseball.

This week was no different – in fact, I’m not sure any week will be without an adventure of some sort.

Natalie kicked off the week with a good vacuuming of the house and the usual logistics (e.g., dry cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.) We also welcomed a new addition to the house set-up – a TV! Jason and Natalie purchased their TV a while ago; however, never got around to taking it out of the box and setting it up, primarily because they were trying to figure out the cable situation.

Well, they finally figured out the cable and how to install the TV. By Monday the TV was set-up and CNN was the primary source of noise in our home on Route de Chevrens. This is actually not that much different than what was on TV in our home on 18^th avenue in SF; for a moment while sleeping on my familiar couch I had a bit of déjà vu. All I needed was some fog to roll in and I’d completely forget where I was!

Jason and Natalie, through their research and talking to their landlords, found out CNN is one of the few English channels we’ll get and the rest are French and German. This is fine, as Natalie and Jason need to learn their French.

Speaking of French, Natalie and Jason also continued with their French lessons, which are now regularly on Monday and Friday evenings. The lessons are beginning to get more difficult; however, Natalie and Jason are slowly progressing.

I didn’t visit DDC until Thursday of this week, since I was still on antibiotics from my mysterious fever the week before. According to Natalie and Jason, my antibiotics would continue until Wednesday and I’d get to visit my Vet, Dr. Luka, one more time on Wednesday evening to make sure I was okay. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to the Vet visit, but I was sure glad to feel better and be able to eat and run around.

Therefore, instead of my usual DDC on Tuesday, Natalie actually had a special ‘non-food’ treat in store for me. I would get to hang out and play with Sylvio and Christianne (our landlord’s) dog, Eliot, and his sister Vicky!

Both Eliot and Vicky are very beautiful Golden Retrievers. Eliot is a nice guy who likes to get pets and will stay by his human’s side until he gets his proper fill of love. Vicky is a strong-willed and strong-minded girl who can dig with the best of them.

After some coaxing on Natalie’s part to get Eliot and Vicky out of Sylvio and Christianne’s house, we finally all made it outside, the leashes came off (for me, at least) and Eliot and I were in an all out sprint towards the digging ‘land-of-plenty’ (the horse pasture behind our house)! Vicky had to stay on leash as she takes stubborn to a new level when being called.

(Vicky! Waiting to go to Twilight Park!)

Natalie let all three of us dig for a short while and then we slowly made our way towards Twilight Park.  We were slow, because Eliot and I found new digging adventures on our way to the park. At one point, we both were camouflaged in the golden wheat fields.

(Eliot and I camouflaged in the wheat fields.)

We finally made it to Twilight Park and Vicky was let loose. There, we all went to town digging and sniffing and chasing and just having a good time, in general.

(A whole pile of fur digging away in Twilight Park.)

Finally, it was time to go home and of course, Vicky held true to form and didn’t come over when called. Natalie had to stoop under trees to leash Vicky and pull her out of her well-dug hole.

We all made it back safely and I had a lovely nap that afternoon dreaming about my recent adventures with my two friends from downstairs.

Also on Tuesday, Jason took a day trip to London for work and I got to see the train station for the first time - Natalie dropped Jason off so he could take a train to the airport and then picked him up late that evening.

On Wednesday, Natalie and Jason woke up well before any civilization should ever think to get out of bed. I didn’t move and based on what I could make out in my sleepy haziness, Natalie and Jason left the house at around 5am.

I come to find out later that Jason was taking Natalie to the train station to catch the morning’s first train to Milan, where she would be meeting her friend Stephanie!

Stephanie was in various parts of Italy, including Lake Como, with her family for vacation. Since Stephanie was somewhat in Natalie’s ‘neck of the woods’, Natalie and Stephanie thought it would be fun to meet up, and what better place to meet than in Milan – there’s good food, good sights and of course, good shopping!

Natalie and Stephanie met up with each other at the Milan train station at about 9:45am and were off!

The first place they visited was a nearby hotel to get a map – after standing around outside the station for a few minutes wondering where to go, they figured it best to have some sort of direction for the day.

The day would be short – Natalie and Stephanie both had trains back to Geneva and Lake Como at around 7pm - therefore, they decided to just focus on one part of Milan, the shopping part.

There is an area of Milan called the ‘Quadrilatero D’Oro,’ and is essentially where all the shopping happens. The stores range from mid-level, such as Timberland, to very high-end, such as Prada. Luckily, Natalie and Stephanie were able to walk to the “Quad” from the train station; therefore, needless to say, the day would be spent at this shopper’s paradise.

Most of the morning was spent browsing all the nice shops and enjoying the pleasant weather. Since Stephanie’s ‘dogs were barking’ (i.e., her feet were hurting) and Natalie’s feet could use a breather themselves, they both decided on having an early lunch at around noon – which, by the way, is early for Milanianss.

Since neither Natalie or Stephanie were up for doing a lot of research on where to eat, they decided to dine at the first place they came across, which, luckily turned out to be quite good.

They place they chose to eat at was called Martini. For lunch, Natalie and Stephanie had various forms of Italian sandwiches. Stephanie had a more traditional-style Panini and Natalie had a sandwich that was similar to a wrap.  Both of were good and were made even better with the cocktails accompanying their meal.

(The free 'aperitivos' Natalie and Stephanie received prior to their lunch arriving.)

(Stephanie and her Bellini)

(Natalie and her Cosmo)

A leisurely lunch and a couple of cocktails later, Natalie and Stephanie continued to wander around the “Quad” and just happened to come across a Louis Vuitton! For those of you that may not know, the only luxury brand Natalie will buy is LV. Natalie is on the lookout for a small messenger bag to use when she takes me on my long walks and it so happened that the LV in Milano had the perfect bag!

Natalie bought the bag (and Natalie actually found out later that Jason had predicted she would buy a bag in Milan!)

With her new purchase in hand, Natalie and Stephanie continued discovering the many available options for reaching the limit on their credit cards, but maintained control with the only other purchases that day being a nice dress shirt for Jason and a Prada purse for April (April, even though she’s all the way in California just could not resist the opportunity for a purse knowing that her sister and best friend were right in the middle of Prada-land.)     

(Milan - great stores and beautiful architecture all in one!)

Natalie and Stephanie’s late afternoon activities were greeted with a Prosecco break before venturing towards one of the most magnificent cathedrals they’ve ever laid eyes upon – the Duomo!

It is so difficult to describe, that Natalie asked me to include a quote from Mark Twain, which perfectly sums up the grandeur of the Duomo - What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems ...a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!...Mark Twain

(The magnificent Duomo - pic #1)

(Duomo - pic #2)

(Duomo - pic #3)

The day was finally winding down and soon it would be time for Natalie and Stephanie to walk back to the train station. Before they left this exciting city of Milan, though, it was only fitting they end their adventures with some of the most delicious gelato they’ve ever eaten.

The place they chose to enjoy this delectable ice cream is Sant Ambroeus.  Sant Ambroeus is a pastry shop Natalie found while doing some research on Milan – it did not disappoint.

Both Natalie and Stephanie had two huge scoops of gelato, along with cappuccinos – Stephanie had the mandorla (almond) and café gelato and Natalie had the mandorla and stracciatella gelato. The mandorla was so good that Natalie is still having dreams about it.

(Stephanie with her delicious gelato!)

Natalie and Stephanie reached the train station in plenty of time to say their goodbyes and have a couple last laughs before their journey home. It was a long day, but based on Natalie’s enthusiasm when Jason and I visited the train station again to pick her up late that evening, it was well worth it.

Jason, even though he didn’t go to Milan, also was enthusiastic on Wednesday evening. The USA futbol team had managed to secure a win against Algeria to secure a spot in the semi-finals! This was very exciting news and sure enough the next couple of days were spent in much anticipation of the USA’s semi-final game on Saturday evening against Ghana.

The remainder of the workweek was quite relaxing. I happily went back to DDC on Thursday and enjoyed the overall nice weather Geneva was finally having.

Unfortunately, the workweek ended on a sour note for the Swiss futbol team - they got beat by Chile on Friday evening and didn’t make it into the semifinals; therefore, all of our hope was truly resting on the USA team.

Since we had a busy week, Natalie and Jason decided to stay in the Geneva area for the weekend. Natalie ran with the Achilles International team on Saturday, while Jason worked out (I slept). Natalie and Jason also found a stand for their TV on Saturday – they are slowly finishing up the last to-dos on their house.

Saturday evening was the big night – the USA vs. Ghana. Natalie and Jason met up with their friend, Julie, at the Clubhouse Bar in Geneva and eagerly awaited the start of the game. Well, unfortunately 120 minutes of play later, Ghana won the match 2-1 and the USA was out of the World Cup.

Clearly, Natalie and Jason would’ve hoped the outcome of the game to be better; however, it was exciting just to see the USA make the semi-finals.

We all slept in a bit on Sunday, went to our favorite bakery in Veigy and decided to enjoy the afternoon in Natalie’s new favorite town – Chamonix, France.

On the way to Chamonix, we stopped in a town called Megeve. This was another ski town near the Alps and was similar to Samoens, France and Courmayeur, Italy, both of which we had visited in prior weeks.

The town was quite charming, yet interestingly enough, very trendy at the same time. For example, right next to a very traditional ski chalet-themed restaurant was a bar that looked like it came straight out of New York City.

(The charming town of Megeve)

We didn’t stay in Megeve long, just enough time to grab a coffee and walk around town.  On our way out of Megeve to Chamonix, we came across a small home decoration shop and Jason and Natalie picked up a couple of nightstands for our bedroom, as well as some lamps.

(Jason and Natalie on our walk in Megeve)

(Here's me in Megeve! enjoying the warm sunshine and cool mist from the rushing river below!)

We finally got into Chamonix at around 3pm and Jason and Natalie were starting to get hungry. Therefore, we stopped in at a brewery called Micro Brasserie de Chamonix, which is actually run by Canadians!  It was a very fun atmosphere, great food and according to Jason and Natalie, great beer. We also got a chance to watch England get beat up by Germany in the World Cup.

(A fuzzy picture of the beer tanks at Micro Brasserie de Chamonix - I think Natalie may have had too much beer at this point.)

(Jason with his beer at the Micro Brasserie)

(Natalie with her beer at the Micro Brasserie)

(A shot of the fries and french onion dip at the Micro Brasserie....does it get any better than that?!)

After lunch, we strolled around Chamonix and in the typical ‘Potesta-family’ tradition Natalie and Jason shopped for dinner, which would be a meal of herb sausages and a 32 month aged Vieux Comte Reserve cheese.

Natalie’s maiden name is Potesta and for those of you that don’t know, Natalie’s side of the family is so obsessed with food that they usually talk about the next meal, while eating their current meal. Jason, being around the Potesta family for over 10 years now has adopted this approach to meal planning.

(I'm enjoying some toss-the-stick-in-the-creek time before we leave Chamonix. This little creek was right by our car, so, it worked out perfectly for me to play in the water a bit and then get the car all wet!)

We arrived home later that evening, enjoyed a casual dinner and watched CNN until it was time to retire for the night. After another week of adventures and new discoveries I was ready for some good rest.

Paws,

Sabrina