Birthdays, Birthdays Everywhere!!

So in our house, March is THE month for birthdays. As you all know, the girls and I all have birthdays in the month so it stays busy around here what with birthday parties and birthday dinners and such. This year didn’t disappoint.

First came girl aged 7…who of course became girl aged 8 on the 13^th…and then it was girl aged 4’s turn to become 5 on the 21^st (which this year was also Good Friday!). But, before the parties and birthdays comes the choosing of the cakes. My host mum has a cake book specifically for birthday cakes and the girls each pick a new one every year…this year girl aged 7 chose a castle cake and girl aged 4 chose a rainbow cake…and when they were finished they were both masterpieces!! I’ve included pictures so you can see what I mean by this, they really were spectacular.

And then there is the other birthday custom in our house where the birthday child gets up on the morning of their birthday to find their “birthday tray” which is filled with presents, cards, candles and cake (and even a few things from Australia!). Every year it’s hidden in a different spot, so it’s a really fun tradition. The girls each got lots of things for their birthday but the big ones had wheels this year…no, no…not cars…hehe!! Girl aged 8 got those tennis shoes with the wheels on the heels (heelys) and girl aged 5 was so proud of her new roller blades. The sad thing about both of these gifts is that my feet are small enough to fit into both of their roller things and so they had fun making me put them on and roll around (and I almost broke my neck in the heelys…they are REALLY hard to use, for all you adults who have been wondering about them!)

I wasn’t around for girl aged 5’s actually birthday because I was on the road trip in Croatia for the Easter holidays, but I was there for everything else. We decorated the house and set up for lots of little girls to come over for the parties. They are always interesting with the games and the serving of the lunch (especially since most of these kids are not English speaking so they are suspicious of me!) Both parties went smoothly this year…no major spills or accidents and all the kids seemed to have a good time and the birthday children were of course happy with their gifts and the time with their friends.

My birthday fell on a Saturday this year which was perfect for me because all my friends were off work for the day too! First thing that morning my host family came into my room carrying the cake (devil’s food cake, of course...and the icing was done in the shape of Switzerland!) and singing. Then it was my turn to find my birthday tray. This year it was hidden upstairs in the girls’ tent. I have, over the last few months, developed an obsession for all things “Swiss”. I have been buying up anything with the Swiss Cross or things that say Switzerland on them to take home so I can show the pride I have for this country I’m living in. So…for my birthday the family put together a few things for me to “remember” Switzerland with when I get home…coffee mugs, magnets, pens, etc…AND a really cool bag with the airport symbols all over it!

Megz and I had been talking about doing a snow tubing thing for my birthday, down one of the mountains in the alps, but she had a small accident and as a result her knee was in a HUGE brace and she was walking with crutches…so the snow tubing was out of the question (though we found out that it isn’t even open at this time of the year, only in the summer months so we are planning it for later!) Instead I had a really great day just being with my friends.

First we met at the main train station just before lunch. It really surprised me which people were there. Some that I knew very well, some I didn’t know so well, and some that I didn’t know at all (friends of my friends!)…which was totally ok with me…I was in a festive party mood so the more the merrier!! Then we walked over to a nearby restaurant and stopped for a glass of wine and a nice chat…after that we made our way over to one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Zurich (Spaghetti Factory) where I proceeded to stuff my face full of my favorite pick on their menu-Jimmy Carbonara (it’s just spaghetti carbonara). While we were there Megan gave me my b-day present- a beautiful new Pandora bracelet…I’ve been pining after one for quite some time and just couldn’t afford it so this was quite a surprise!! After everyone attained that really uncomfortably full feeling we headed toward the lake, my favorite warm weather hangout, and stopped along the way for some girlie shopping and lots of pictures. We spent the rest of the day by the lake…it was just perfect! The weather was warm and nice and the company wasn’t too shabby either!

I spent the night at Megan’s and the next day we got up and went out to another nearby lake, the Greifensee, to meet up with two of our friends (one that we already knew and one that we met the day before on my birthday!!) for a picnic of sorts and lots of relaxing! It was an amazing birthday weekend…I know next year I’ll be missing my time here so much and those special days spent with friends, whether they be really important occasions or just an average Zurich day…

I guess I’m just getting all sentimental because I realize that my time here in the Swiss country is drawing to a close and every day goes by faster than the one before.

Until next time, I love you all…

LuLu

A Road Trip through Croatia- Huw says, “Just chuck a u-ee!”

Given that the Easter weekend here in Switzerland is a 4 day one we wanted to take full advantage. In Switzerland, Good Friday and Easter Monday are also given as public holidays. So Megan and I decided to join 3 of our guy friends (Huw, Christos, and Nic) for a road trip through Croatia, or more specifically the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. We’d been trying to plan a trip there for the last year or so and this seemed like the perfect time to take in the sights.

We boarded our 14 hour train ride for Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, at 9:30PM on Thursday night for an overnight ride. The beds were less than comfortable but it was a good party for the first 3-4 hours so we all slept fairly well because of that. Megz and I had two other friends on the train (they were headed to Ljubljana, Slovenia) so it was nice to spend time with them too! After riding for what seemed like 5 days we finally arrived and went to pick up our rental car.

And then we were on our way. Getting out of Zagreb proved to be a little scarier than I thought it should have been. I really think I nearly lost my life when the car stalled on the tram tracks with an oncoming tram! But, we were soon headed in the right direction- to the coast, to Zadar.

Zadar was a cute little city. We were only there one night but it was very charming. We walked around the well lit walled city and then enjoyed our dinner (pizza-not the first or the last we would have on that trip!) at a local restaurant. We stayed in a plain but nice hostel; it was the only hostel there as far as we could tell.

The next morning we hit the road again…this time in route to Split, another city along the coast. By the time we got to Split, Megan and I already needed “our time” away from the boys. We conveniently bowed away from the offer to spend yet another day we them and went exploring on our own. This, of course, included shopping but also taking in the sights. The old town of Split is in what is known as Diocletian’s Palace. The walls of the palace are still standing and are quite beautiful. The Roman Emperor Diocletian gave the orders for the building of this palace and it was finished around the turn of the 4^th century AD. Megan and I did the self-guided tour of the sights around the palace and surrounding areas and then settled in for a quiet coffee and relaxing afternoon. We went out that night with the guys and a few other people we met at our hostel. It took a while to find the place and we were on foot. While we were there it started to rain quite hard so Megan and I walked home in the downpour with Huw, as we all were ready to leave before the others. What a night!

The next morning we woke up bright and early to take a ferry out to a nearby island. We were lucky to get on the boat just as it was pushing out to sea and we were on our way out to the island of Hvar. I was not at all in favor of this little day trip. Being off season the ferries were not running very regularly so there was a distinct possibility that we would be stuck overnight on this island. However, like much of the trip, the guys voted yes and there was little I could say to persuade the crowd.

When we got there not one among us was bright enough to suggest we got on the bus that was taking everyone else to a city on the island (the port was not near a city!). So instead we decided to walk to the first city, which was Stari Grad. It was a cute little fishing village but it was deserted and after some thought we realized that it was Sunday, and after all Easter Sunday, so of course there was no one about. We walked around for a good bit taking pictures and chatting and then we found a restaurant that had just opened for business and we ate there. I ordered the sea devil which I was all excited about because I thought it was a sting ray but I found out later it was just monk fish and that makes it less exciting, I think, though it was REALLY good!!

When we left Stari Grad we decided to catch a bus (FINALLY!) to Hvar city. It was bigger and more to do/see than Stari Grad. We hiked up to the seventh century fortress which towers above the city on a nearby hill. From there the view of the sea was spectacular. There was beautiful blue/green water surrounding the island and a distinct old world feeling when you look down at the city below. I could have stayed in that spot for the rest of the day but the rain was starting to roll in and we had to hurry to make the bus back to port for the last ferry of the day back to the mainland.

When we got back to Split we very quickly went back to the hostel to retrieve our things and then on to the car. We mentally prepared ourselves for the long car ride we had ahead. I was not at all pleased at our tardiness. I’d made the reservations for accommodations that night near a very popular national park called Plitvice Lakes in the middle of the Croatian mainland. I’d seen pictures of this park and had heard stories about its beauty and I was certain I wanted to see it for myself! I tried conveying this to my fellow travel partners but got the usual response-no one listened to me expect Megz!

So there we were facing a multi-hour car ride. Somewhere around the middle of it we left the interstate, as instructed, and continued on a local road. It was then that the problems started. We’d been on that road about an hour when it started to snow and we could also see ice. We were packed in very tightly in the car and the snow was really coming down hard. We had two people taking turns driving and the one in charge at that moment was an Australian…What does he know about snow?? Nothing! So I became more than a little frantic and let it be known quite quickly!

The more we drove the worse the conditions became but we finally arrived in the village we were to stay in. There were roads blocked on the left and right…everywhere. At this point it was after midnight and we were all exhausted. We couldn’t find our accommodations at all. At 1AM we were going door to door looking for a place to sleep. (We aren’t completely rude though, this is an area where most houses have signs outside saying “rooms for the night”. We’d decided that if there was a sign outside and a light still on inside we’d knock.) It took us about an hour to find a place and finally this wonderful, wonderful lady let us into her home. She was just lovely. She took care of us and gave us two rooms to sleep in. Megan and I FINALLY had our own room!! It was very much needed after the day we’d just been through! I’ve never been so glad to lay my head down at night…NEVER…I really thought we’d end up sleeping in that car, or worse yet sleeping in the car that was stuck in the snow!

The next morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine and everything covered in snow. There was no way to see Plitvice Lakes and I was sad. The entry ways to the park were impassable so there was no way! I will have to go back... So instead we made our way toward Zagreb and the place where we were to return the car. We did so rather smoothly and then set out to explore the city a bit before we got on the train for our long ride home.

Our train ride home was even more uncomfortable than the first. I guess it was a combination of several things. We were all quite tired from the trip and I guess by then quite tired of each other! Also, we were 5 people in a 6 bed carriage so there was, of course, someone else with us and this someone else turned out to be 2 someone elses, the second being a rude little child that was about 5 years old. We were made to turn out the lights quite early, for our standards, around 8PMish so it made for a long night as we all just decided to go to sleep then anyway!

On the whole Croatia was a dream. A mixture of inland and waterfront…it has the old-world style of Italy without the hustle and dirtiness. I think we simply tried to see too much in the few days we had available. Next time I think I’d like to spend a week or more there and I would definitely want to see Plitvice Lakes and head down to Dubrovnik (which is considered by many to be the most beautiful place on the Croatian Coast). Also, I think I’ll just make it a girl’s trip next time. We were hopeful the adventure with the guys would be a refreshing and next experience but I think, in the end, it just made me an unpleasant person!

Ciao for now,

LuLu

Ps-just to explain the title of this post…Huw is my Australian friend and I’m told that use of the word chuck is much like American’s saying put, pull or make (ie-chuck a tantrum, chuck the meat on the barbie, etc.)…hard to explain…but we very often found ourselves going the wrong direction and Huw would always say, “Just chuck a u-ee mate.” (u-ee as in U-turn) We chucked many a u-ee on this trip!!