Wonderland!

We picked up Teddi and Martin from the airport. without any problems and officially began our mountains and catherdals together. Such a delight to spend time together.

The unexpected began soon after we got out of the traffic in Zurich. It began raining and as we approached the mountains, it began snowing! We drove several hours thru mountain passes wondering if it was possible that we'd have snow at Sils Maria--ja ja, as our hostess Suzanne would say. It is the first snow of the season, not typical but not the first time...she grew up here and now runs her great grandmother's hotel, Sonne Fex.

So here we are at this incredibly beautiful spot in Upper Engadine. Nietzsche, Hesse, even Anne Frank visited here and loved it--we join the long line of people who come to the mountains for solice and restoration. It is exactly the right way for us to be starting this expereince: The surprise waking us up, the mountains inspiring us and the snow blanketing everything with freshness. We hiked along Sils see (lake) yesterday, had coffee and pastries, vistied the Nietzsche museum, a nice pace and a wonderful day.

Running with the Bulls

Emily warned me but I was still unprepared for our day on the autobahn in Germany. We left the ferry in Kiel and found the autoban with no problem thanks to the GPS we fondly refer to as Greta. She has been a lifesaver already.

We began cruising thru the idyllic German countryside, enjoying the green fields and rolling hills...then zoom--cars in the left lane blew past us. Before long we found ourselves cruising with the flow of traffic at 80 mph in the slow lane and the cars on the left were like hornets, on us before we even saw them coming. It was truly breathtaking, never seen anything like it. The raw surge of power in performance cars--bmws, mercedes is not wasted. We decided the Germans are just wired for speed.

We noted the surge in energy even when we stopped for gas and bathroom breaks. It was so instructive of the culture as men and women--well, shoved is too strong a word, but we felt slow none the less--just to get to the recently installed Sanifair--pay toilet system. From our limited sample, it appears that Germans seem torn between two twin values: clean or free? Truly A Solomonic decision. Ah but the tipping point leaned toward clean as you can redeem the fee toward a purchase at the store. We saw two old ladies take 4 tickets and buy ice cream cones...so there was some consolation.

Back on the autobahn, we ran into construction several times, extending or travel time just like at home. We finally made it to Switzerland about 9 pm, tired but well. Greta was a godsend as the main route to Winterthur was closed. She guided us steadily through little towns and got us exactly where we needed to go.

Etudes: Waiting and Resting

I äm not good at waiting--or at resting. I'm getting lots of practice with both. Airports are a wonderful place to practice waiting, which then continues once you board an international flight...Actually the flight was fine, about 10 hours, not too bad. Funny to think about how artificial it is to sit for so long crammed between strangers, pretending it"s night time--that is where trying to rest kicks in. Resting and waiting. Actually things went smoothly, a few hassles at the end where we had the opportunity to vist all three Scandiavian countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. But it is all good, our luggage made it too, we were grateful.

I LOVE Swedish coffee, they serve espresso by the pot, so delicious!!! Just my style.

We spent the night in Goteburg Sweden, lovely place, picked up the new Volvo this morning. Of course there were two sets of Minnesotans there also, so friendly and talkative, 2 from Rochester, the others from Andover. Small world. Marty LOVES his new car.
We skipped the volvo factory tour to go to lunch at this great seafood place. It was memorable! Now we're on a ferry headed to Kiel Germany--tomorrow we take the autoban to Zurich. This ferry is nearly a cruise line, we have a tiny stateroom to sleep in. Should be fine. We are tired, that is part of the resting

Suspending and Crossing Time

Well we’re at the airport, relaxing with a beer/glass of wine and just letting go. The airport is quiet, making our leaving very relaxed.

I’m thinking about time. The march toward leaving is building to a crescendo while our lives—work, family, friends—are being suspended in our minds at least while we explore the old world. We’ll cross time zones, lose a day in fact. But more than that, our lives are being put on hold so that we can explore other dimensions of life. The allure of mountains, vertical marking of the earth’s time and art, the cultural marking of beliefs beckons. We’ll soon cross oceans and time zones and end up in an entirely new dimension of life. Cool.

Then there’s time today. I recently used Marty’s beard clippers to buzz Danny’s head for him in preparation for his trip to Nicaragua (October 3). So Marty picked up his clippers today to trim his beard—and I’d changed the attachment. With one sweep across his face, Marty’s beard was gone. Oops! I thought of Phil Simmons in Learning to Fall when he shares the anecdote of his wife doing the same thing to his head ten minutes before the reporter from the NY Times showed up. Caught between the tragic and the comedic—isn’t that perfect. And the upshot is: Marty is going to Europe sans beard. He’s being a great sport about it and hey, he looks ten years younger I’ve reassured him. I think we’re off on the right foot. Asking forgiveness and taking whatever comes as a way to reinvent ourselves.

At Long Last

Over the years, Marty and I have chatted casually about taking a trip to Europe together. We each visited a lifetime ago (when we were 19/20 years old), and dreamed of one day taking a "museums and cathedrals" tour. Then a year ago last May, we mentioned our dream to Marty's folks, Teddi and Martin, when we met in Monterrey. One fantasy led to another as we chatted over coffee--or was it a glass of wine?

Before the evening ended we started spinning a web of dreams. We imagined visiting mountains as well as churches, enjoying hikes in the Alps as well as the art of Italy's cities. Totally outlandish--and just what we wanted!

So here we are, the night before Marty and I leave. Teddi and Martin will join us Wednesday in Zurich. Work is nearly done, still some editing on my reports to do before I can close shop but it will be done soon. We packed our suitcases last night--pretty light, not earning the Rick Steve's stamp of approval, but not too bad. And this afternoon we hugged Danny and Brian good bye--that was hard but a good role reversal they reminded us. We've sent them off many times; now it's their turn to wish us "arrivederci!"