Chur pronounced Koor ~ I'll never get it right

May 9 - 11

This weekend Tim and I decided to get away from TASIS and take a little trip to the North Eastern part of Switzerland. Tim was trying to find a place where Rumantsch, the first official language of Switzerland was still spoke. However, once we were on the train and then the bus we realized that it was the surrounding little towns that still spoke the language and not Chur, the capital of this particular canton.

Anyhow, Friday night we arrived in Chur around 9:00 or so and the town was bustling. There were people everywhere and all the bars had outdoor seating and music going. We dropped off our bags and found a place that still had the kitchen open and sat down for a tasty kebab and some people watching. During this time we were able to make some comparisons between Chur and Lugano. Lugano is very much a city where everyone looks like they have just walked off the runway, while Chur is still stuck in the eighties. I saw a women wearing pink leg warmers and an off the shoulder sweatshirt. There wasn't a scrunchy but you get the idea.

The next morning we caught a local train to Arosa, a tourist town an hour south of Chur which boasts beautiful hikes during the summer and a fantastic ski resort during the winter. We however managed to visit when it was neither season and nothing was open. The women in the train station who was kind enough to answer all of our questions looked at us kind of funny when we asked her about hiking. I think she really wanted to ask, have you noticed the lake behind you is still frozen solid and there is a good meter of snow still on the ground. Yes we had noticed all of those things, however we were hoping that she had the miracle answer and could point us in the right direction. Which she did.

We stayed on the road the entire way up, making it all the way to the mid station. Along the way we stopped to take many pictures of the random wood carvings of animals and the depth of the snow. At one point, we were looking at an owl carving and I believe Tim guessed four different animals, from squirrel, to bear, back to squirrel before settling on it's true identity of an owl.


Check out the cheeks on that squirrell. Or maybe Tim.

He doesn't admit it but it is because he can't see and really needs to wear his glasses all the time but is rebelling like my fifth graders.


The other object of my photographing skills was Tim's wonderful outfit of shorts and socks pulled up to his knees. He successfully burned the small portion of the legs that was actually exposed.



I wanted to test out my model pose in the middle of a snow drift. I know I am looking mighty hot.


A final pose in front of the frozen lake before heading back to Chur to warm up a bit.


After our trip up the ski mountain, surrounded by snow we went back to Chur for a little shopping, walking through the Old Town following the red feet (that actually didn't really exist) and a Mexican dinner. The temperatures were drastically different from one place to another. There was no snow on the ground and I was able to sport capri's and a short sleeve shirt till late into the evening.


I don't know the names of these two buildings but they were the major tourist attractions of Chur. We couldn't go into them or really walk around them. They were intresting but it only took us about 30 minutes to make the entire round of the city.
T
These happen to be the biggest menus anyone could possibly every use.

On Sunday, we headed for the mountains surrounding us. We started at about 550m and in two hours were 1650m up at the gondola station that was also closed because we were in the middle of seasons. This was probably the steepest hike that I have done since living in Switzerland. As we were walking up I was painting a picture in my head that was causing a lot of fear of what walking down was going to look like. I was getting extremely nervous about it because the path was narrow and we were able to make huge leaps in elevation with little walking.




On the way down, Tim found me two walking sticks so I would stop talking about my fear of tumbling down the mountain. We also lost the path a couple of times and were beginning to cut it really close to the time of our bus departure so we ended up running a large majority of the trip down in order to make it to the station in time. It was a good and tiring hike. I have to say I am proud of myself, because I am in much better shape now then I was at the beginning of the year and I found myself in the lead for a good portion, which is drastically different then this past fall.

Grotto Nazi

Saturday, May 3 - Carona, Switzerland

Carla, Shannon, Allie and myself took a little trip up the backside of San Salvatore to a grotto in Carona. We were really excited to get off campus and have a dinner somewhere new and outside because it was a beautiful evening. We tried our first choice, which was the grotto that I had gone to earlier in the year with my parents. They had no seats available so Carla lead us down a cobblestone path to find another grotto that she had remembered seeing when she had walked down that path. We were unsuccessful in finding it so we hopped back into the car and took a narrow winding path through the hills till it opened to two grottos with beautiful terraces that we could enjoy our meal at.



As soon as we sat down, the waiter walked by and pointed at a table saying "Wait a minute and I will seat you." Now all of this was in Italian, so of course I had no clue what he was saying and read the general body language, the pointing and head nod towards the table to translate the statement. Luckily the rest of the girls are not Italian school drop outs and had complete comprehension. We should have known that this abruptness was a sign of what was to come.

It turns out that our waiter spoke English. He was also very gruff. He would constantly repeat, "go,go,go" and "quick, hurry, what do you want?" At first we found it amusing and we were enjoying our wine and conversation but eventually we came to realize that he was about to say "No Soup for you!" because we were not quick enough for his standards. At the end of the evening we had to beg him for his bill, and his response was "Just wait a minute! Be patient."
A half hour later we finally were graced with his presence where I was able to snap his picture and catch him in his full enthusiastic self. To say the least it was an interesting evening, with a lot of laughs about our Grotto Nazi and just feeling like a normal person off of campus having a good time.

Romeo oh Romeo

Verona, Italy ~ April 25 - 26, 2008

Saturday morning Carla, Allie and I took off for a relaxing weekend in Verona, Italy. The home of Romeo and Juliet. There isn't a lot to see in Verona but their is good food, great bars, and the infamous spritz. So of course we had to see what it was all about.


We stayed at a nice home a little outside of the old city. I was having a problem keeping track of my keys so Carla took the room keys and Allie was in charge of the map. Eventually I earned some trust back and took over both at some point during the weekend.


From our hotel we walked to Plaza Era. It was surrounded by restaurants and patios. The weather was beautiful so everyone was sitting outside and walking around. It was also an Italian holiday so there were many tourists just enjoying the sights.





It is truly the city of balconies. I can see why Shakespeare based Romeo and Juliet here.

Roman Amphitheater

In Piazza Delle Erbe is the Arco della Costa, beneath which is a whale's rib suspended. Legend says it will fall on the first "just" person to walk beneath it. In several centuries, it has never fallen, not even on the various popes who have paraded beneath it.


Also in Piazza delle Erbe is a series of permanent markets. They sold everything and anything from traditional masks to fruit cups, which Allie and Carla enjoyed on Sunday.


The spritz...so good. We kept going back for more whenever we needed a break from walking. There was a wonderful wine bar that we sat in at the end of the day, overlooking Piazza delle Erbe that was filled with people mingling over their spritzs.

As we walked through the streets we continually saw men and women dressed in a variety of styles representing past armies. We are still not sure what the purpose was but in one of the squares they were doing a reenactment that we stayed and watched for a short period of time.

Carla and Allie at the theater where outdoor operas are performed. It was under construction when we were there. Not to much to see.

The view of Verona from the other side of the lake.

The walls at the entrance of Juliet's home are covered with notes and messages about love. Those that are really scandalous are stuck to the wall with bubblegum. The city tried to ban these notes and writings on the wall but with little success.

Juliet's balcony

It is said to be good luck to rub Juliet's left breast. The day that we went there was a line to do this so none of us pushed through the crowds.

The Roman Amphitheater

Last stop Sunday afternoon was for a fruit cup that we had been thinking about all weekend long. They looked delicious and Allie and Carla really enjoyed theirs. I had gelato instead. It was tasty as well.