Raleigh, NC - Jan 2014

"Crock Pot or Stove Top" Suppa Club

We were missing the NC gang and decided to visit them over MLK weekend - it was also JoAnna's bday so we got to celebrate with her.  Shawna had a trip to Hartford and Keith to CA for work so we both flew in on the Thursday night from our respective locations.

JoAnna and Shawna

Keith and Kate were leaving to go out of town on Friday so they came to pick us up at the airport with John and we all went out to dinner for sushi at Waraji.  After dinner, we went back to John's house for a couple of beers.

Julie and Teresa

On Friday, we worked from John's house.  Shawna met up with Beth and Lisa (former BCBS colleagues) for a few drinks at Trali and JoAnna joined her there on her way home from work.  That evening, we went out for Thai food at Sawasdee which was very yummy - we shared three entrees between the four of us.

Keith, Amy and Steve

On Saturday, John and JoAnna had organized Suppa Club at lunchtime at their house - theme was 'crock pot or stove top'.  It was quite the comfort food fest with the exception of Julie's healthy salad which was served in a pot!  We had pulled pork, sloppy joe's, con queso dip, mac-n-cheese, chicken tortilla soup and cobbler in a crock pot.  We were so happy that most of the gang could make it - Steve, Amy, Joyce, Julie, Kim, Jonathan, Teresa and Brandon.  John had also invited some of his neighbors as well as Mark and Anne.  We had basketball on in the background and chowed down on food.  We also got to try out John's new keg fridge - he had three types of beer flowing.  John had converted his garage into a party area with lights, tables and chairs so there was plenty of space for all of us.  Toward the end of the party, some of us attempted to learn 'Cups' - the Anna Kendrick song - we mostly got it down but only after trying many times!

John

On Sunday, we met up with Stephanie for lunch at Pei Wei.  We then went to see Saving Mr Banks at the movie theater in Brier Creek.  The movie was very cute.  Back at John's house, we did some research into our Caribbean vacation for March, trying to trade in our time share but there was not much available.  That evening, John made empanadas which we ate while watching a few episodes of True Blood and Mary Poppins.

John's Kegerator

JoAnna dropped us off at the airport on Monday morning - we got home on Monday afternoon and took care of some things around the house.  

Rome and Switzerland - Dec 2013 / Jan 2014

Rome - Colosseum

Kandersteg - Oeschinensee

For our annual Christmas/New Year's trip, we went to Switzerland to celebrate a scout reunion with the staff that worked with Keith at the International Scout Center in Kandersteg.  We decided to spend a week in Rome over Christmas before going to Switzerland for the week of New Year's.  Shawna was so excited to leave work to go on this trip but as she pointed out, she would have been excited to go to Ohio as long as she was not working!

Accommodations:
iQ Hotel Roma - After Shawna spent countless hours researching hotel options and changing her mind a ton of times, we finally settled on this place.  While not the same as an Aman, it certainly met the need of clean, modern, centrally located and fairly cheap.  The breakfast buffet is quite decent.  Shawna was able to get the hotel for mostly free using her Chase points.

Kandersteg International Scout Center - This one did not take a lot of thinking about - it is the Scout Center where Keith worked 25 years earlier.  The Center has gone through significant expansion in the last quarter century, with several new buildings for sleeping accommodation.  We stayed in the Maltese Room in the New Chalet.  Our room had three single beds, a closet and a table with chairs.  The beds were not the most comfortable and we did not have our own bathroom but you can't beat the rate - $17 per night!

Activities:
Italy

We flew in from Frankfurt into Rome.  We were able to sleep some on the flight but we were still quite tired when we arrived.  At the airport in Rome, it took over an hour for us to get our luggage - a true sign of Italian efficiency at it's best.  But we were quite excited that our luggage actually made it since we had not checked on luggage since our trip to Thailand when Shawna's luggage was lost the entire trip!

After checking into the hotel, we went for a walk to grab dinner.  We quickly were reminded that Italian restaurants do not really open until 7pm and do not get energetic until 9pm.  So, we had some time to kill before dinner and walked around the cobble stone streets of Rome.  We noted that we were quite happy that we had booked tours for the rest of the trip because if we were left on our own, we would walk around and just point out how old stuff was without truly knowing what we were looking at and what the significance of the building was.  We stumbled upon the Pantheon - it was fascinating to see something that was built over 2000 years ago!  The sculptures and paintings inside were quite beautiful and of course, the dome is quite impressive.  Following this, we went back to the restaurant for dinner and then went to the hotel to crash.

Pantheon

Basilica Papale Santa Maria Maggiore

Sunday was our first day of touring and we had booked a private tour with Liz who came highly recommended from Terry, the CEO of Keith's company.  We spent the day with her visiting some of the famous churches including Basilica Papale Santa Maria Maggiore (dedicated to Mary), Basilica de Santa Prassede, Scala Santa (where they have the holy stairs that supposedly Jesus climbed before he was condemned by Pontius Pilate) and Basilica of St John Lateran (which is the oldest Christian church in the world and was the Pope's sanctuary before the Vatican was built).  Maria Maggiore was quite beautiful inside while St John Lateran was enormous and had such a mixture of architecture and decorations inside as it was rebuilt multiple times during the centuries.  Following lunch, we visited the Colosseum and we were able to see the underground which is made up an intricate labyrinth of arches which was used to prop up the floor and contained over 40 trap doors during it's time through which they could raise props to be used during the games.  We ended the tour by walking through the Roman Forum which comes quite close to being the mother of all ruins (the title of which truly goes to Ephesus).  Liz was very informative and we soaked in as much history as our brains could handle given our jet lag.

Basilica of St John Lateran

Roman Forum

Monday was a long day. The tour company picked us up at the hotel and we drove to Pompeii located in the Campagna region known for their extra virgin olive oil and lemoncello.  We spend about two hours touring around Pompeii and we barely scratched the surface - we saw how some of the houses, restaurants, bakeries and temples were built.  We definitely need to go back to see the whole thing as the place is quite expansive and impressive.  We then drove along the Amalfi coast, stopping in Positano for lunch and then the town of Amalfi to walk around the pier and the main square.  We arrived back at the hotel at 8:30 pm.

Pompeii

Amalfi Coast

On Tuesday (Christmas Eve Day), we did a private tour of the Vatican, seeing a ton of art, Rafael's rooms, and the Sistine Chapel.  The Sistine Chapel was not as impressive as we thought it would be - pretty cool to see Michelangelo's paintings but that is truly all that is in the room.  Apparently St Peter's closed early (guess they had to prepare for the midnight mass) and our guide was not notified so we did not get to see the most famous church in the world - I guess it's like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.  After our tour, we walked to the front of St Peter's Square and took pictures outside.  We then walked across the river to grab lunch and then on to see the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain.  There were a bazillion people at both so we did not linger too long.  We certainly got our exercise today which hopefully will make up for some of the pasta we have been eating!

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

Christmas Day was a relaxing day for us since most everything is shut down in Rome.  We slept in, read, napped, and did some laundry.  In the afternoon, we went on a walking tour of central Rome but we left the tour early as the woman leading the tour was not very good - she mainly pointed out things we already knew without telling us the history.  We opted instead to have a glass of prosecco at a restaurant before heading over to dinner.

On Thursday, it rained most of the day but we did not let that stop us.  We started out the day with a tour of the catacombs, Appian Way and aqueducts which are about 30 minutes outside of the city.  The catacombs were quite impressive given that over 500K Christians were buried there and the site we went to is only one of seventy that are known in the area.  The aqueducts are equally as impressive considering they are still in great condition and were built over 2K years ago!  We then went over to the Vatican to do a 'skip the line tour' of St Peter's since we did not get to see it when we toured the Vatican.  It is well worth the extra money to skip the line!  The tour lasted about an hour - the guide was quite informative and was also very efficient!  After the tour, we walked around the church and then went down below the church to see where the Popes are buried.

Aqueducts

St Peter Basilica

On our last day, we got up early and did a day trip on a bus to Orvieto and Assisi. Both of the towns are quite cute - Orvieto is on top of a hill and Assisi looks like an old medieval town.  The bus stopped between the two towns for lunch - nothing special.  In Orvieto, we walked around the town and in Assisi, we had a guide show us around and visited the St Clare and St Francis Basilicas.  While we are not big fans of bus tours, it was quite easy to have someone else do all the logistics!  Unfortunately, when we got back into Rome, the bus was dropping off people along the way and we were among the last to be dropped off so we didn't get back until 8:30pm.

St Francis Basilica

Switzerland
Saturday was a very early morning - we had to get up at 3am to get a cab to the airport 2 hours before check in.  While we don't normally get to airports that early, thank goodness we did as it took us 1.5 hours just to check in; there were only two agents for the flight and we barely made it through security in time.  We slept the whole first leg and had a quick connection in Brussels before landing in Geneva. Swiss efficiency allowed us to quickly retrieve the luggage so we could head over to the French Sector of the airport to wait for the Bullocks.  Their plane was about 2.5 hours after ours so we just ate lunch and relaxed and read.  Steve had arranged a 9-person van through Avis - though the van did not have snow tires and they were out of chains.  So, we had to stop by the Carrefour by the airport to pick up the chains as well as some food for the road as it as a 2.5 hour drive to the village.  It was a good thing that we had a large van as it was quite stuffed with 7 people plus all the luggage and skis.  We had to put on the chains at the top of the S-bends on the way to the village.  We checked in at the Center and then headed to the Crystal to meet up with the gang and have some beers and chips.  Already there were Wendy and Dave (and their daughter Monica), Kato (with her husband, 2 kids, and a friend of the kids), Yoshiko (with her husband), Victoria (with her husband and son), Ermis, and Sue.  So, along with Steve and Jan (plus their 3) and us, it was already quite the reunion.  Others still to come over the next few days were Kerstin, Mia, Helena, as well as Mike and Connie and Marc who would be stopping by at times.

Scout Center

On Sunday, we headed to Alpine Sport to rent skis and then took the lift to Oeschinensee for a ski day there.  There are only a few runs so it is not a place we need to go a second time!  Shawna took the gondola up with the rest of the group and then walked down to the lake, in time to meet the skiers for a coffee/hot chocolate.  Shawna then started her way down to the village but went the wrong way, causing her to have to backtrack and get a LOT of exercise!  We all met for lunch at a restaurant at the bottom of the gondola and then Shawna walked back to the Chalet with Meg and Dave while the rest skied the afternoon.  Dinner was at the Chalet followed by (surprise!) a return to the Crystal for drinks.

Skiing at Oeschinensee

On Monday, the gang went skiing in Adelboden, while Jan, Mia, Kato, Sue and Shawna went into town and had coffee.  Jan and Shawna tried to get cross country skies but they were sold out so Shawna tried Mia's skis just to try them out!  We then went to the ice skating rink and watched Kato's daughter skate - she is quite good.  Jan, Mia and Shawna grabbed some soup for lunch and then Jan and Shawna walked back to the chalet.  The skiing in Adelboden was much better than Kandersteg - a proper resort with some really good long runs.  The group thought the lift lines were long but they were not much worse than those in Colorado during peak season - and the lines moved quite quickly.  The ski group was back just after 6pm, which was in time for a quick dinner at the Chalet and then Dutch pancakes made by Kato followed by a few beers in the International room.

Shawna's First Attempt at Cross Country

On Tuesday (New Years Eve), we all went cross country skiing in the village - the first time for both of us.  We both fell a lot - this sport is harder than it looks!  We stopped for a hot chocolate and cake at the Marmotte and then bought beer and wine for the evening.  Keith, Steve, Jan, Mia, and Kerstin continued on skiing up to Hur for a gorgeous view of the village, a snack, and a few group selfies (and much more falling over for Keith).  Dave found us at the top so he joined us for the second half of the trek.  Meg and Shawna walked around town and then walked back to the chalet.  Unfortunately, Jan hurt her knee while cross country skiing - she ended up getting surgery a few days later to repair a torn meniscus!  That evening, we had drinks in Steve and Jan's room and then went to dinner at the Chalet - dinner was a bit disappointing with a bunch of fried food.  The group took over the old Chimney Room where we dined and occasionally made it to the dance floor when a good song came on. At midnight, we rang in the New Year outside, toasting with champagne and watching the fireworks.

Cross Country Skiing in Kandersteg

Celebrating New Year's Eve at the Scout Center

On New Years Day, we started the day curling which was quite fun - 14 of us played and Shawna found a winter sport she is actually good at!  Yoshi stopped by the curling hall to say her goodbyes as she had to head back to the Netherlands.  We then spent the rest of the day eating and drinking through town - first coffee and cake at the Marmotte, then a beer at Hotel Adler and then a late lunch outside at the Bluemlisalp Hotel with Mike and Connie. After a nap and shower, Keith and Shawna had a romantic dinner at the Doldenhorn just as we did the night we got engaged almost 15 years ago.

Curling

By Thursday, there were a lot of injuries so it was a rest day - Steve and Jan headed to the Frutigen hospital to check their ankle/leg (Steve had injured his ankle ice skating) and Kato drove her son back home after he went to the hospital overnight with a ski accident from the prior day.   Shawna had a sore leg (and had a bad cold) and Keith's knee still hurt from the first day skiing - we are definitely getting older!  We slept in most of the morning and then Keith and Shawna walked into town for lunch - we ran into Mike and Connie on the way so they suggested we have lunch at the Ermitage.  After lunch, we walked back to the Chalet and relaxed before dinner.

On Friday, Jan was scheduled for her surgery so Steve and Jan spent the day at the hospital (Jan had to say overnight).  Some of us (Keith, Shawna, Kerstin, Wendy, Meg and Al) went to the thermal baths in Leukerbad where we soaked away our soreness in several hot springs and had a bit of an adrenaline rush going down the water slides while others went skiing near Frutigen.  We had made a last minute decision to go to Leukerbad so we had to run to the train station to catch the train in time - we just made it!  We had only planned on staying two hours at the thermal baths but it did not take much convincing on Kerstin's part to get us to stay another hour!  We all ended our day with a yummy dinner of fondue back in Kandersteg.

Thermal Baths in Leukerbad

Ruedihus - Fondue

On Saturday, we all went up to Oeschinensee for lunch and then we walked around the lake and had snow ball fights.  Some of the gang (Keith, the kids, Wendy and Victoria) also went sledding and made two trips down to the bottom.  The kids (and Keith) really enjoyed the sledding.  Shawna walked back to the Chalet with Wendy, Dave and Victoria.  That evening, we all ate at the chalet, packed up and had a few remaining beers in the Chimney Room where they had set up a bed for Jan who was on crutches at this point after her surgery.

Keith Sledding

Kid Photo: Al, Andreas, Lucy, Meg and Monica

We had to wake up quite early on Sunday to catch the 6am train.  Steve drove us to the train station and Dave came along for the ride.  We also had a wonderful farewell from Wendy who ran down the drive in her robe waving goodbye.  On our way to the train station, there was a young girl trying to hitch a ride so we gave her a ride into town - she was clearly still drunk and could not make sense so we had a good laugh at her.  Steve and Dave saw us off and we took the train to the Geneva airport and then flew home.  What an awesome trip - great to spend some time in Rome and then totally awesome to hang out with the gang in Kandersteg!

Chapel in Kandersteg

Drinks at the Crystal

Restaurants:
Italy
Vecchia Laconda - Recommended by Thad and Rebecca as one of their favorite places in Rome, we just had to give it a try.  It's near the Pantheon.  The restaurant is very cute with a warm, homey decor inside.  We had a very tasty meal of pasta with bacon and mushrooms, steak with wild mushroom and cheese for dessert.

Naumachia - We stopped by for lunch on our way to the Colosseum.  We had ricotta with honey for a starter and pizza to share.  The food was OK - nothing to get excited about.

Sora Lella - Located on Isola Tiberina (an island in the Tiber river) and recommended by Simran.  The decor is country fancy and was a bit quiet inside.  We shared grandmother's meatballs for an appetizer, gnocchi amatriciani, lamb in a rosemary wine sauce and a cheese plate.  We liked everything except the lamb which had more bone than meat and the sauce was a bit too tangy. 

La Pergola Restaurant - We stopped here for lunch in Postino.  The place is located on the water and has great food.  We started with prosciutto and mozzarella and shared a pizza margharitta.  We then had gelato for dessert. 

Hosteria La Vacca M'Briaca - Since we got to the hotel late from our trip to Pompeii/Amalfi coast, we decided to grab dinner close to the hotel.  This restaurant is quite small and quaint and has decent food.  We shared the rigatoni with bacon and cheese and the veal with potatoes.

Obika - Recommended by Simran.  This place located in Campo di'Fiori is a mozarrella bar.  We had lunch here and tried two types of mozzarella (one of them barata) with tomatoes, pesto and prosciutto - all very yummy.

Giolitti - Also recommended by Simran.  This is one of the many famous gelato places.  Ordering felt like we were with the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld.  Keith had the mango while Shawna had the caramel - very creamy and delicious!

Moma - We made reservations here for Christmas Eve.  When we arrived, we had a few glasses of prosecco (complimentary) at the bar before sitting down for dinner.  The restaurant is small and cute with the seating area upstairs.  For dinner, we shared two pastas (ravioli stuffed with lamb and pasta with bacon and pecorino cheese) and a lamb dish.  The lamb was the best we have had!

Ad Hoc - We made reservations here for Christmas night.  The restaurant is very cute with wine bottles on display all over the walls.  Keith had the truffle tasting menu while Shawna had the land tasting menu - that way we got to try more dishes.   The food was very tasty!

Trattoria Marcella - We stopped in here for lunch (near the Vatican) before our tour of St Peter's.  We had a pizza and pasta with pesto.  The pasta was pretty good.  Restaurant is nothing to rave about.

Indian Affairs - We needed a break from Italian food and decided to go with Indian.  The place is very cute and the food was very tasty.  We had our usual - samosa, lamb vindaloo, garlic naan, peshwari naan and raita. 

Sciue Sciue - Located close to the hotel.  Very cute inside.  We shared a mozzarella to start and had two pastas. Very yummy.

Switzerland
Crystal - Located close to the Scout Center.  We went here several nights for drinks.

Rendez-vous - Located near the Gondola in Kandersteg.  We had lunch here.  We ordered the soup of the day which was quite small and took forever to serve.  The waitress was a bit overloaded to say the least!

Zur Poste - We had coffee here as well as dinner one night.  The owner is awesome - very welcoming and funny!  And the food was pretty good - we shared a lamb dish which was OK and a rosti which is always very good.

Cafe Marmotte - We stopped here several times for coffee/hot chocolate and cake.  Their cakes are quite yummy!

Hotel Adler - We stopped by here for a beer.  Really good wheat beer!

Bluemlisalp Hotel - We had a late lunch here.  Very nice restaurant with a great outdoor seating area.  We shared a soup and rosti - very tasty!

Doldenhorn - We had a romantic dinner here which is where we went 15 years ago when we got engaged.  It is a very nice restaurant with great food.  We shared  a shrimp cocktail, truffle pasta and lamb chops with potatoes as well as a bottle of Pino Grigio.  Unfortunately, we were too stuffed to try the dessert cart.

Ermitage - We had lunch here - very yummy.  We had lasagna and rosti - both very good.

Ruedihus - The gang went here to have fondue for dinner - the fondue was great and the restaurant is very cute.  There is an option to dine in the igloo outside but we opted for the warmer option inside.

Hotel-Restaurant Oeschinensee - Located by the lake - awesome setting.  We had lunch here.  We had the spaetzli which was not very good as it was served with a bland tomato sauce.

For More Photos of This Trip:
Rome:


Switzerland: