so the last month has been pretty awesome, if i say so myself. i have been doing a lot of traveling - but this time for pleasure! the work travel has still been there, but i have been on vacation with my parents and a couple of weekends away with my friends, and it has been absolutely awesome! can i just say that i love my friends and love the trips we have made! i have a feeling that there will be more trips in the future.
So let's start with the family vacation. This time mom and dad came over and we spent 10 days exploring the alps/mountainside of Austria. AMAZING!! So different than anything we have ever experienced before. I mean its no secret that my family and i are more city folk, but being one with nature for 10 days was a really cool experience. We really enjoyed disconnecting from the city. Actually we had a bit of both - city and countryside, and it was so much fun. Mom and dad started out by flying into zurich and we spent the day walking around the city. had dinner at this amazing restuarant in seefeld - latino (thanks oli for the suggestion!). No matter where we go, i am always so glad to be able to share more and more of zurich with mom and dad. i think it is so important for them to see where i live, the places i go, just get to know the city i live in. i think it gives them so much more of a peace of mind to see the city where i am living. it becomes less foreign and eases any apprehension they may have of their daughter living thousands of miles away. and lets be real, i love when mom and dad are here because i get proper home-cooked meals and help with cleaning my apartment!!
so after our day in zurich, we headed off to vienna. We decided to drive - wasnt too bad. Took us about 8-9 hours to get to vienna. I love Vienna. It is such a cool city. I had an opportunity to get to know Vienna last September, when I made my first trip to Europe before the official move (see blog number 1!!). Again, just like our vacation to Spain, I was considered the local "expert" and advised on the sights to see. Vienna is a really cool city. We also visited the famous Weinerschnitzel place - Figlmuehler. SOO good! So if you are ever in Vienna and fancy a proper schnitzel this is the place to go! After Vienna, we drove to our countryside abode in maria alm. This place was breathtaking! It was a small village in the middle of the Austrian alps. The town was literally one street long by one street wide, and we definitely stuck out like sore thumbs...not surprising though. You could definitely tell that we were out-of-towners! So the first day we were there we hiked all the way up one of the mountain tops. it was a bit rainy and cloudy, but the hike was amazing! i am really proud of us. we were becoming one with the mountains and all of the nature around us. now our tour guide was incredible - basically takes different visitors for 2-3 hikes a day. i mean that is commitment to the cause! She was all prepared with all of her proper gear and backpack and everything, and i think she had to stifle a laugh when she saw us waiting for the hike. so maybe we dont fit the exact profile, but oh man we are troopers!! We actually had a great time. I really do like hiking, and as we found out in Ticino almost a month later, I am freakishly fast up the mountain.....hahaha.....after a few glasses of wine of course......hahahaha more about that later. So during the week we made different day trips around Austria. We spent a day in Salzburg and Innsbruck, and even spent an afternoon in the Swarovski factory store. Yeah, my dad was not too happy about that. My mom and i were like kids in a candy store...!! so besides the city tours we made, we visited two amazing sites in the mountains. One was Grossglockener - the highest point in Austria. We made the trip all the way to the top. Dad and i then hiked all the way down to the glacier's tongue. Wow. that was incredible. The whole glacier thing in the middle of summer was pretty amazing. What is actually funny is that this trip but to the highest point in Austria actually reminded me of my first trip to Europe, where we visited Interlaken in Switzerland and went up Jungfrau.....strange how things come back full circle! One of the other days we visited the largest natural ice caves in Europe. That was AWESOME!! All natural ice caves that we hiked all the way through. We had to use old school gas lamps to light the way. It was just amazing to see. I wish I could share pictures, but we couldnt take pictures inside the cave. Just use your imaginations...or just make the trip to Austria!! All in all the trip was really good. We had such a great time, and honestly being with my parents, even if just for 10 days, was exactly what i needed. And every time I see them, i cant wait to see them the next time. This time mom and dad also had the chance to meet one of my co-workers and a couple of my friends. I guess this is the theme of the last month, where my worlds are mashing together, and i love it!! Here are just a few pics of the trip to Austria:
OK now fast forward 3 weeks....i had the DISTINCT pleasure of having Satya Patel here!!!! Oh my gosh, I cannot tell you much it meant to me to have her here. Finally a piece of my life from back home was with me here....and I was able to mash my two worlds again. And it just so happened that my friends and I scheduled a couple of weekends away - a weekend wine tasting in Ticino and then a weekend in the beautiful Cote d'Azur....Satya could not have come at a perfect time. On top of that I was going to be in Barcelona (surprise, surprise) for work, so i was able to organize the perfect European vacation for Satya!! Haha modest much?! No in all honesty I think it was the perfect trip for her. And i could not have been happier to have her here and introduce her to my world. So we started the Jet Setter lifestyle in Barcelona. I was there for work, but Satya got the chance to see the city. And trust me, she saw all of the sites. We came back from Barcelona and drove straight to Novaggio in Ticino where we were meeting Ed, Ben, and Andrea. OK this weekend was awesome!!! So the basis of the trip was hiking and wine tasting. We stayed at this really cute bed and breakfast type of place. Andrea and I had found this cute hiking/wine tasting tour on the internet. We couldnt figure out how to make a booking in advance so we decided just to go there and make our own tour. Well, the term "wine tasting" is being used loosely. We definitely tasted a lot of local wines, but not quite at the vineyards we were expected. We basically just ended up making our way, hiking, and stopping at restaurants along the way ordering bottles of local wines! The hiking was very, very real.....we went up and down mountaintops and went around the town of Novaggio. And so this is where the super hiker in me came out! haha I dont know where it came from, but I was on fire that day! Oh the mountain had nothing on me. It was a great feeling. So we finally made our way back to the hotel and then got ready for dinner. We ate at Novaggio and then made our way to this awesome village party down the hill. Proper village party where there was a tent and a dj...it was pretty surreal. It was definitely good times. The next day we spent the day in Lugano. Rented a motoscafo (motor boat!!) to go around the lake, swam in the lake, hung out....honestly, it was a great day. It was so good to spend the time with my friends enjoying everything that Switzerland has to offer. Makes me so happy to be living here. The whole weekend was pretty awesome...another good discovery that all of us who traveled together actually could travel together. It was awesome!! Here are a few of the good shots from the aweesoooooommmme ticino weekend!!!
So after an amazing weekend in Ticino, Satya spent the week here in Zurich. That was a lot of fun. It was so nice to show her my city, the places i go, the restaurants I go. I didnt get the chance to take her out here in Zurich....well, maybe next time! So after a good week in Zurich, we headed to Nice the following weekend. I know, what a tough life, right?! Andrea and I had planned to go to Nice and it just worked out perfectly! Satya invited her three cousins along which was really cool. We spent Saturday in Cannes, which was pretty cool. And then we decided (or at least half of us decided!) to go back to Cannes to try out the party scene there. It was definitely different - what an experience though! A different lifestyle for sure, but it was fun to be a part of it for one night. The next day we headed to Monaco and again got a taste for life on Cote d' Azur. Man the luxury that is Monaco....pretty amazing. We spent the next day in the old town of Nice, shopping and enjoying the city. Again, another pretty amazing weekend - and i made some new friends in London - all in all, very successful weekend getaway!
So in the end, i absolutely loved having Satya here. Her visit seriously made my month, or year even. And the fact that she was able to meet a lot of my friends here. Again its the feeling of having the opportunity of both of my worlds to collide. It makes everything here real. I have lived abroad before but this is actually the first time that one of my friends from back home made the trip to come see me. It really is an amazing feeling. I think Satya got a good idea of my life here, and I think she understands now why I love it here and why I do not think I will be back to the US anytime soon. I love living here in Europe, and loved sharing that with one of my dearest friends.
So this jet setter 2.0 is so happy to have shared this couple of weeks with Satya here. And honestly, the proximity of everything and being able to travel to so many different places is really an amazing thing. i do feel so blessed to be able to have the ability to see the world in a whole new way. It is probably really cheesy to talk this way, but it is very true. This past month has really been awesome.
Life is good at the moment. Looking forward to see what the next few weeks have in store. Until next time and hopefully more tales to add to the jet setter log book...!
