Girls Weekend: Madrid

Back in May at a school coffee, I heard a group of women discussing a possible girls trip. I think the words I used were, "I'll go! Where are you going?" Didn't matter much to me where they were headed. When they finally decided on Madrid, I was thrilled. Madrid really wasn't even on my radar and I had wanted to go to Spain sometime during our time here, but hadn't gotten to it yet.

Famed statue in Plaza Puerta del Sol, called Bear and El Madrono Tree.
This is the symbol on Madrid's coat of arms.

We left Zurich on a Friday afternoon in September. It was slightly chilly as we left Zurich and downright hot when we landed in Madrid. After seeing more than our fair share of Madrid's airport and finding our car service, we were headed into the city to our rented apartments just off the Plaza Puerta del Sol, the square at the very center of Madrid.

The beautiful Mercado San Miguel

We dropped off our luggage and headed out in search of drinks and a nibble to tide us over until dinner. We ended up at the most fabulous place, Mercado San Miguel. It's a food market that opened in 1916, and then closed for many years. In the early 2000s the building was restored and the market reopened. Inside is a food lover's paradise. We all may have been a bit too hungry, but we decided to split up and each buy one thing to bring back to the table to share. Amazingly beautiful food stalls lured us in with empanadas, stuffed olives, beautiful cheeses, olive oil potato chips, and of course, sangria. After we'd had our fill of refreshments, we walked around Plaza Mayor and shopped a bit.

The girls trip begins with our first sangria!

On Friday night we headed to Cava Baja, a very famous street in Madrid that is lined with tapas bars and tavernas. The idea is to tapas bar hop from place to place, ordering a little bit at each place. I'm going to blame the sangria on this, but I am a bad blogger because I couldn't tell you exactly where we ate on Cava Baja. We went to two or three places and ended up at one bar with a delicious Rioja and the best chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream. Don't judge - turns out that is a fabulous combination!

Empanada, stuffed gherkins, stuffed olives

On Saturday morning we got up and out at a decent hour, considering we didn't get to bed until 1am on Friday night. We hit a lot of shopping on Saturday. We started in Chueca, which is now home to Madrid's gay community. I can't remember the name of the street, but I've never seen so many shoe stores in one place in my whole life. We easily went into twenty of them. A few of the ladies purchased beautiful boots made in Spain. We found another mercado to have lunch in, aaaaaand more sangria. 

Plaza Mayor

On Saturday afternoon, we got our art on! We headed to the Reina Sofia Museum. It's a beautiful museum housing much modern art in what was an 18th century hospital. The must-see work and highlight of my day was Pablo Picasso's Guernica. Having studied it a bit in high school Spanish class, I was interested to see it in person. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Picasso to create it for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. They wanted it to be an indictment on the Nationalist forces' bombing of Guernica, a village in northern Spain. However, Picasso's powerful work is more than that. It's viewed as an indictment of the atrocities of all war. I have to say that I was overwhelmed at seeing it in person. Its size is massive at 11 feet by 26 feet. It is a painting that elicits much emotion. It was truly a highlight of my experience in Europe.

Flamenco dancer and singers

On Saturday night we decided to try a Flamenco show. Nothing but the best for us ladies - we went to Corral de la Morería, the most famous flamenco show in Madrid. The place opened in 1956 and the walls are lined with celebrities who've visited, from Rock Hudson to Ronald Reagan; from Marlene Dietrich to Sarah Jessica Parker. I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure if it would be cheesy or touristy. It turned out to be an amazing display of music with the men singing and playing guitars, and pure athleticism and artistry on the part of the dancers. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. When the show was over, one of the dancers called a lady from the audience up on stage because it was her birthday. She and her boyfriend were seated just behind us and her boyfriend accompanied her up on stage. The whole place sang Happy Birthday to her (thank goodness for high school Spanish!), and then (!!!) her boyfriend knelt down on one knee and proposed! It was the sweetest, most perfect thing I've ever witnessed that I immediately burst into tears. The ladies I was with thought this was all very hilarious! After the woman said yes to her boyfriend, the whole place erupted into cheers - it was very, very sweet.

Those ladies could dance!

After the show, we headed back for another night on Cava Baja. We had a few tapas and some Rioja and found an outdoor table for some great conversation and people watching. We may be middle-aged ladies with kids, but we held our own and didn't return back to our apartment until 3 a.m.!

Just the ladies hanging out in Madrid. With El Diablo.

On Sunday we walked the city. We purchased some souvenirs for the kids we'd left behind in Zurich. We visited the Museo del Jamon for breakfast ("It's like a museum of ... jam." said our taxi driver, mispronouncing ham in English). We walked through the beautiful, historic Palace hotel, where Hemingway and Dali stayed. We walked past the congress building, up to the Parque del Retiro, Madrid's answer to Hyde Park. It was a beautiful, hot sunny afternoon as we walked through gardens and around monuments. 

Stephanie, Villy, Lara and Nancy at the Crystal Palace in Parque del Retiro.

Later on Sunday we split into two groups. Some still had some shopping to do and some of us wanted to visit the Thyssen art collections. The museum opened in 1992, showcasing the private collection of Baron Von Thyssen and his wife, Carmen Cervera (a former Miss Spain). The small amount of time we had to spend there did not do the museum justice, but we did see noted works by van Gogh and Degas, among others.

Villy, me, Lara, Stephanie, Nancy, and Anne

Not long after that, we had our last late lunch in Madrid and headed off to the airport. I had so much fun with these ladies. We laughed a lot, shopped a lot, walk a lot, ate and drank a lot. Some of them I didn't know very well before the trip. Traveling with people accelerates friendships and I'm so glad I have these five ladies to call my friends.

Salud!

Tiffany

   

Up next: Ireland

Normandy

I've tried, and failed, many times to write this blog post. I always end up in tears, shutting the laptop and vowing to try again another day. Normandy is, bar none, the most special place I've visited in my year and a half of living and traveling in Europe. I have amazing memories of our family trips to other lands, but the hallowed ground of the Normandy beaches touched me in a way I cannot possibly describe.

We left Paris with the intention to drive to Normandy and stay four nights. However, plans changed when Tobi was needed back in Switzerland for a meeting. Instead of scrapping that part of the trip altogether, we decided to go ahead, if only for one night. This is a bit on the crazy side, given that Google Maps says it's about a nine hour trip back to Zurich from Bayeux (hint: it was a lot more than that with three little ones). But we pushed on in search of historic sites.

We arrived in Arromanches in the early afternoon, after a four hour drive from Paris. We walked around the little town on the main street and picked a place to have lunch. What struck me right off the bat were the "welcome liberators" signs and the British flags everywhere (Arromanches is along what was designated Gold Beach and was liberated by the British forces of D-day). Let us be clear here: D-Day occurred 68 years ago. Clearly, much of this is intended for the tourists who flock to these towns each summer. But it still took me a bit by surprise.

After lunch we visited the Musée du Débarquement in Arromanches. This is a small museum with artifacts, models, and uniforms from the war. It was rather crowded, though that was to be expected in August. Grant is our little World War II aficionado and he was enthralled by the entire place.

After that, we left Arromanches and drove to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial near Omaha Beach. We got there late in the afternoon and it closes at 6 p.m. so we didn't have more than a couple of hours to visit. The first thing you do is go through security, complete with an x-ray of one's belongings. Then there is a guestbook if one wants to sign it. As I waited in line to sign the guestbook, I was contemplating that most of the visitors in line with me were not American. I heard German, French, Spanish, etc. The family before me went up to the guestbook to sign it and the mother of the group reached out and touched the American flag standing next to the table. I can't explain it but I think I visibly recoiled. At that same moment, the man attending to the visitor's desk said in a very loud voice, "Madame, please do not touch the flag." Then I suddenly wondered, are Americans the only people sensitive about the flag? The flag is to be revered, not touched. The lady was not touching it in some malicious way - maybe she just wanted to feel the cloth. I don't know, but it was an interesting moment nonetheless. (Tobi's note: No, other countries just like to burn our flag. Tiffany's note: See what I live and put up with?)

The basement of the visitor center is a small museum honoring the fallen American soldiers of D-day. It was touching and my only regret is that I didn't have more time to spend there.

I had Caroline in the stroller and Charlie walking with me, so we went on outside. Tobi and Grant took more time in the museum. As I got outside, I felt a hush fall over the crowd of visitors. With the serene backdrop of Omaha beach and the English channel beyond, the rows and rows of small white crosses came into view. Even now I can remember the simultaneous feelings of sorrow and gratitude for those men who gave their lives on that day. 

Every day at the end of the day the staff take the two American flags down from the flag poles on the grounds. They ask if there are any American veterans in the crowd who would like the honor of helping to lower the flags. If there are no American veterans, they ask for an American citizen. On this day, it was a young man, possibly of college age, who volunteered. After they lowered and folded the flag, a bugler played Taps. Other than that, you could have heard a pin drop. And I'm almost positive there wasn't a dry eye by the end. (You can view a similar ceremony here.)

The grounds are beautiful and immaculately cared for. We walked around the white cross markers, some dotted with small bouquets or a note. There is a small chapel at one end with a beautiful mosaic ceiling. At the other end is the memorial with names of the missing.

When the cemetery grounds closed, we walked down toward Omaha beach. There is a memorial for the 1st Infantry Division, the first soldiers to land on the beach, that is built atop a German bunker. There are a few bunkers that still dot the landscape above the beaches. Tobi and the kids went through some of them on our way down to the beach.

The beach of Colleville sur mer, known now as Omaha Beach, is the local beach for many residents of Normandy. There were many families playing soccer, having picnics, swimming and playing. The rational part of me knows that life goes on and these people must make use of their beaches. The irrational part of me wanted to scream, "don't you know what happened here??" It felt like walking on hallowed ground. No different, to me, than walking through the cemetery above the beach. The kids loved running through the sand and we all enjoyed dipping our toes into the English channel. But I was thankful we didn't have time to make it our play place for the next few days.

That evening we drove to our hotel in Cabourg for one night. The next morning we drove to Caen, the capital of Normandy, to visit the museum there. Grant was the one who requested that visit, if you can believe it. It was a very nice museum, and after a couple of hours, we started the very long drive back to Zurich.

We arrived after midnight, tired from the trip. But it was a very worthy endeavor and a trip I will never forget.

Cheers,

Tiffany

Up Next: Madrid

Paris is Always a Good Idea

After spending July in the U.S., we came back to Switzerland to celebrate Swiss National Day, and then we hit the pavement and took a family road trip . . . to Paris! We left Zurich on a Saturday morning and by Saturday evening we were enjoying the sights of Paris and Nutella crepes! 

Our first foray into the Tuileries

We stayed at the lovely Hotel Brighton. They were super kid-friendly and our room, a king suite, worked nicely for our family of five. The rate included breakfast, and if you've been reading my blog, you know how much our children appreciate that. The best thing about the hotel is its location. It is located right on the rue de Rivoli, directly opposite the Tuileries Garden, in the 1st arrondissement. Staying in Paris with small children? This is the location! We spent a lot of time in the Tuileries, as our children prefer green spaces to miles of concrete. August was also the perfect time because there is a fantastic carnival right across from our hotel, in the garden. The kids loved the games, the rides, and the cotton candy.

Caroline & Grant in the Place de la Concorde 

We triumphed!

We did make them walk, however. On Saturday evening we walked from our hotel all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. Caroline and Charlie took turns in the stroller, but they were all troupers and made it to the Arc. Because we had the stroller with us, the man let us use the disabled persons lift and Grant said, "I've never been so happy in all my life that we still use a stroller." The kids were very happy when we arrived at the top! And even happier when we took the Metro instead of walking back to the hotel.

We made it to the top!!

Then we rewarded ourselves with slushies at the Tuileries carnival

On Sunday we spent a good deal of time in museums. Grant was particularly keen to see Napoleon's Tomb and the Army Museum, so we spent much of the day there. Before we did that, we started in the Rodin Museum gardens, which the kids and adults alike very much enjoyed. 

Charlie has been terrorizing pigeons all over Europe

The four thinkers

The kids at Les Invalides, home to Napoleon's tomb

The children, with what appears to be a life-size statue of Napoleon.

Grant, our war buff, loved all the armor and canons at the Army Museum.

On Sunday evening we dined at 58 Tour Eiffel, a brasserie located on the first level of the Eiffel Tower. That was a true highlight for all of us. It was a "fancy restaurant" to the kids, but it could not have been more kid-friendly. Our waiter, Olivier, was amazingly kind to the kids. He brought them "cocktails" and offered to take a picture of us and was generally a lovely person. He actually made the experience for all of us. The food, which admittedly probably isn't the reason people dine there, was fantastic. After we ate, we walked around the decks of the first level and took pictures and pointed out our hotel, etc. The kids really enjoyed the evening and behaved amazingly well. Grant proclaimed it, "Probably the best dinner of my life." 

Dining in the Eiffel Tower. 

Cheers!

Charlie loved the special menu cards.

The children's starter ... Mommy ate most of it.

Chocolate Eiffel Tower Cake. I didn't even get 1 bite!

First level of the Eiffel Tower. Paris behind us.

On Monday we didn't really have any plans and consequently, we did not go indoors the entire day. We started out in the Tuileries and walked around the Louvre. We even did a geocache at the Louvre pyramids. We then walked up to the St. Germaine area where we sat outside and had lunch at a pizzeria (our kids will eat pizza anywhere!). Then we walked up by Notre Dame, but it was overrun with tourists so we did not go inside (I went inside on my first trip to Paris, last September). We walked to the Ile St. Louis for ice cream and a bit of shopping and then we walked to Place de Vosges, which was so lovely. It's a beautiful park and the kids played while Tobi took a conference call. Late in the afternoon we took the Metro back to our hotel and we decided to visit the carnival one last time for games and dinner. 

A healthy dinner.

Grant had asked months ago for us to visit Paris while we lived in Europe, but I will admit that I was a little skeptical of taking little kids to Paris. However, it was a fun trip for our family and the children really loved it. Charlie told me that when he gets older he's going to live in Paris and be an artist. I told him his mother will visit. A lot.

Au revoir,

Tiffany

Up Next: Normandy

Swiss National Day

The dictionary describes patriotism as devotion and support of one's country. When we were home in the States on the Fourth of July, I felt that patriotism for my country. I appreciate being from the USA now more than I ever did before living abroad. But when we returned back here in August, we attended our first Swiss National Day festivities and I experienced similar feelings that day for Switzerland. Can you be patriotic for a country that isn't your home country? Definitely. I'm not Swiss, but I can appreciate the love the Swiss have for their independence, for their land, for their customs. Even as outsiders, expats feel a love for Switzerland that you only feel after living day in and day out within its borders.

Swiss Family Laczkowski

View from the farm - Alps in the distance.

We ate in the barn. Note the donkey & accordion players.

The breakfast buffet was set up in the cow barn.

Cow-shaped cheese!

Swiss Miss with the cows.

The calves were too cute.

We started the day by attending a farm breakfast in Herrliberg. We met up with several other expat families from our school - friends we hadn't seen much this summer. It was a nice reunion with friends, with a traditional Swiss breakfast (and not-so-traditional brownies!). The breakfast buffet was situated in the cow barn. The kids played on the haystacks and got to see the most adorable baby cows. It was definitely a morning to remember.

Dinner at the beach - Ruschlikon, Swiss, and Zurich canton flags hang proudly.

One of the first lanterns

Beautiful lanterns light up the sky.

Fireworks and full moon over Lake Zurich.

In the evening, our families met again at the Ruschlikon beach for dinner and fireworks. There was a band taking requests (first song? Sweet Home Chicago - how appropriate) and there were paper lanterns for each family to set up into the sky. The fireworks were beautiful over Lake Zurich. It was a perfect night with good friends. One we will remember always.

Cheers!

Tiffany

Grandma & Grandpa's Swiss Visit

In June, Tobi's parents came to visit for ten days - their first trip to Europe. We tried to show them the best Switzerland has to offer! Below are some highlights of their trip! 

Grandma Sharol & the kids on the mountain train to Rigi

Grandma Sharol & Grandma Larry look like they belong in Switzerland!

The kids enjoyed the scenery.

On our hike through Gattikon

We took Sharol & Larry out on the town one night - ferrying to Zurich.

Walking around Old Town at night - Grossmunster behind them.

We took them to the kids' favorite - Lenzburg Castle.

One day we ditched the boys and had a girls' day in France.

We took another mountain train up to the Reichenbach Falls.

Caroline & Tobi at the falls

Sharol & Tobi walking to Buchenegg on their last night in Zurich.

Cheers!

Tiffany