[2013] Leukerbad, Switzerland

A few girls and I decided to check out Leukerbad because we heard so much about the spa there. Unfortunately there was not enough snow (since it was early in the season) that we only hit the spa! This is an utter lie, we had no plans whatsoever to ski. We only took our spa-gear with us. We each got a treatment of some kind and enjoyed some poolside or rather spa side relaxation. The outdoor hot pool was amazing. We were surrounded by beautiful mountains and sat under the blue sky in bubble jets from every direction. The only downside was that it was not hotter.

We stayed the night in a nice hotel that slept 4 people in one room. Can you say slumber party? We did our nails, drank champagne and gossiped the night away. It was the perfect weekend getaway. We are already trying to decide where our next destination will be.

[2012] Epernay, France

We enjoyed a 2 nights in Epernay with our friends Mari and Liam during our spring break. We really liked the Moet and Chandon tour to their underground cellars that are massive! Supposedly they have F1 races down there?! Our minds were boggled trying to calculate how many bottles were stored in the one hallway we went through, let alone how much it was worth. The unfortunate part of the tour was the promo video they played for us right at the beginning. We were put in a room to watch a ~7min long commercial, while Scarlett Johansson narrated with key words like: luxury, fragrant, effervescence, etc. BARF! What a major turn off. They almost won us over when we were forced to pick up our two glasses of champagne at the same time, encouraging us to double fist white and rose champagne. Classy~

Our highlight was the restaurant La Grillade Gourmande. Wonderful food, great atmosphere, really really good wine pairings and an amazing owner that made you feel like special guests to his personal home.

We had another one of our meals at a Thai restaurant where local musicians performed. At the end of the evening I had the courage to asked one of them if I could try out their accordion. The accordion is my new favourite instrument. (I actually have a personal rule that if a street performer is playing the accordion I must give them some money--this is my attempt to ensure that accordions keep being played) I was able to push out a um-cha-cha beat while I made a simple melody with my left hand, even though it was my first time trying one out. I think everyone was impressed, or at least they feigned it when they applauded my efforts! **It should be noted that there were only a handful of people left in the restaurant at this point, mainly my friends and the staff.

Hopefully next time we go Perrier & Jouet will be open because it was NEVER open to sell us their pretty bottles of champagne. Or their pretty champagne flutes at that.

[2013] Gruyere, Switzerland

On our way home from Leukerbad, we decided to make a stop in Gruyere. It was magnificent. None of us had ever been before and now I understand why it's such a tourist destination. It is a quaint tiny village in the mountains. We picked up meringues with double cream to enjoy at home. This double cream is nothing that I've ever had before. It is the richest, creamiest and probably most jam packed with calories ever! You are almost eating the meringues as the side and the double cream as the main. Next time, I hope I get to eat some fondue. From the looks of it a lot of the little restaurants were fully booked with tourist buses. I don't know if I would take my guests to Gruyere just to go, but if it's on the way to another location, it's definitely worth a little detour.

 

[2012] London Summer Olymics, Great Brittain

We went to the London Summer Olympics in 2012 to check off something from my partner's bucket list: to watch the 50 free and 100 fly finals. We went to London on an Easyjet flight that cost exactly 9 GBP, less than the processing fee, stayed at our friend's brother's apartment and only had a ticket to the swimming daytime qualifiers. This was after scouring the Olympics website for re-released tickets only days before our flight. We ended up being able to get tickets for our friends too. We were basically in the nosebleeds for the prelims, but it was still really fun watching. Once we were in Olympic park the atmosphere was contagious, everyone was just so happy and positive.

About an hour or two before the evening swimming finals, we sat outside the aquatics center and made a sign that said "tickets?", within 3 minutes we were approached by an American and asked us to promise that we'd be cheering for Missy. We promised and purchased our first ticket. Another 5 minutes after that, a sweet Japanese woman asked us if we'd like to buy her ticket, except that it was very expensive. Her tickets were for the best section! We ended up getting a real bargain on the ticket and took it off her hands. Although the tickets weren't together, we ended up just sitting in the front section (because it was so empty). We took photos with Phelps' mom, threw the 50 free gold medalist our American flag and even got him to pose for us. Considering we went to London without tickets to the event we wanted to go to, we think we were quite successful, but we learned a real lesson, it's really easy to go to the Olympics, just show up! It's not as hard as you think. We spent a magical 24 hours in London!

[2013] Amazing Race: Basel

On May Day 2013 my friend Tess and I organized a race around the city called The Amazing Race: Basel. It was based off the American TV series: The Amazing Race. It was a scavenger hunt with challenges intermixed between clues. Each pair set off in the early morning to win the coveted first place win. One of their challenges was inspired by the Swiss; package your paper recycling into perfectly bound stacks. Another was to create a floating device that would carry an object for 1 min in the Tinguely Fountain. All the teams seemed to have a lot of fun, and the planning part was really fun too.

We hope to have our second event this coming May 2014, and maybe more people will join this year. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from the day because of the hectic prepping and officiating, but you can check out some photos from my friend's blog here.