December in California

Olaf and I made a pre-Christmas trip to California. I had canceled my October trip home because of Luca, so this was my first time seeing my family since the summer. I know I'm lucky- I visit a lot!

First we stayed at my parent's in Folsom. They had all of the family over for a very special dinner. I love when my mom does that. It's a lot of work, but I get to see everyone all at once. Otherwise I can easily spend my whole visit running around the valley trying to see everyone and never really relaxing. 

My mom and I with all the delicious food from the caterer, waiting until the family arrives

The rest of our trip we spent up at Lake Tahoe. I really wanted to spend some time up at my grandparent's condo, as it looks like my family is going to sell the place in the near future. It's really my favorite place in the whole world. 

We invited my best girlfriends and their partners to join us up at the lake for a night. We had a big dinner, chatted the hours away and played lots of board games from the 70's. Olaf kept the fireplace going the whole time, so the atmosphere was nice and cozy. The next morning we had a big brunch and played more board games until everyone left around 2. It was a very special, wonderful time, sharing my favorite place with my favorite people. 

Jenny, me and Johanna taking out the trash while clutching "warm beverages"

Olaf and I out on the windy pier

Serving up dinner. We had turkey meatballs with roasted red pepper sauce, miso salmon, sauteed asparagus, and brown rice

Katie made the most amazing caramel macadamia nut cheesecake from the Ottolenghi cookbook.

Brunch the next morning. We had steel cut oatmeal, fruit salad, scrambled eggs, apple cake and sausage

Our engaged couple, Katie and Stephen

Katie, Stephen, Britt and Eric

Some serious Yahtzee

With my girlfriends- Jenny, Britt, Katie and Johanna. Missing Ruby, Sarah and Kara

Copenhagen, Denmark

We didn't travel together much in the fall, with all of Luca's health problems. We'd planned and paid for a trip to Venice in October, which we abandoned the morning of our departure. I thought Luca was dying that day, so we took her to the vet and missed our flight. Turned out she was okay, but got some IV fluids anyways. 

In November we tried for another weekend trip, this time to Copenhagen, Denmark. Luca stayed strong and we were able to take our trip. 

We planned our trip to coincide with the first weekend of the Tivoli Garden's Christmas Market. We took the train from from the airport into the city, checked into our(awesome) hotel, the Hotel Guldsmeden, then headed to the Christmas market.

The market was very pretty, and of course a little kitchy. It was fairly empty, as the only people visiting Christmas markets in November are tourists. But we had a great time just the same. 

Entrance to the Tivoli Gardens

Excited to be in Copenhagen

Can you see Olaf?

Whimsical map of the Tivoli Gardens

At 3am on Friday morning my bar exam results came out. I was not very excited about checking, so I purposely slept through the night. At 7am I woke up to a text from Sharon, asking whether I passed. Of course, she didn't believe that I hadn't yet checked. So, Olaf and I logged on the Cal Bar site together, entered my applicant number, and waited to see whether I was on the pass list. I read "This name does not appear on the pass list," while Olaf got really excited and gave me a hug. I looked again, and sure enough, Olaf was right and the text actually said, "This name appears on the pass list." See what you expect to see, right? I was so relieved. We then had a big, organic, candlelit, celebratory breakfast downstairs in the hotel.

Olaf enjoying a German style curry wurst at another Christmas market in Copenhagen

Birdhouses decorating a Copenhagen doorway

Christmas decorations in a department store

Olaf playing with coy fish while I shop

We had a really wonderful weekend in Copenhagen. The city itself is very clean and well-organized, and our whole trip made sweeter by the good news and the fact that we hadn't traveled together in a couple of months.

London, Autumn 2012

Hello again! I've neglected the blog for a long time, but I'm back now and trying to catch up. Here are some snippets of life in London this past fall. 

Ruby came to London! Ruby is one of my best friends, former roomie and bridesmaid. She was jet-setting around Europe with her friend Sanna, but found time for brunch with me in Primrose Hill. We had some pretty awful food at the Engineer, outside in the rain. Great time, nonetheless :)

Me and Ruby

Most of Autumn was dominated by a kitty crisis. Luca almost died, like, three times. Our catsitter Sofia noticed that Luca had been losing weight, so we took her to a vet. Found out she had lots of bladder stones. So she had surgery, started dying, we switched vets, they figured out her kidney's were failing, Luca stayed in the vet hospital for two weeks, not eating, then she came home with kidney disease. It all started before Olaf's September birthday, and didn't end until mid-November. Poor Luca. And poor us- it was all really emotional and tiring. She's much better now, thankfully!

Visiting Luca at the Village Vet, where Jamie and Sean saved her life

Visiting Luca at Village Vet

Luca finally home and recovering

Autumn came overnight! Below are two pictures from Shepherd's Walk in Hampstead, taken one week apart. Crazy!?!

Shepherd's Walk in Hampstead, North London

Shepherd's Walk one week later

Autumn comes to Regent's Park

Foggy morning walk through Regent's Park

Hazel relaxing on our bed

Luca waiting by the door for Olaf to come home from work

Princess and the Pea, much? Luca sitting on clean laundry.

Olaf and Luca resting on a Saturday afternoon

Part of my running path in Regent's Park, with the Zoo on the left

Bern and Zürich, Switzerland

 

Olaf and I spent a week in Switzerland recently. We were fortunate with the weather and only got rained out one day. 

We have been to Zürich together a handful of times, so I decided to take a day trip to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. 

The city is just gorgeous. Perched on a ridge within a forked river. I took a slow train there and a fast train back to Zurich. The hills were bright green and the sky a vibrant blue. It reminded me of springtime in Northern California. 

Here are some photos from Bern.

Giant chess set in Bern.

Spooky stairs with no sign. Lots of spiders.

Old advertisement.

Olaf and I were discussing how nice it would be to live in Zürich. The residents seem to live well, despite the high cost of living. Winter weekends are probably spent skiing in the Alps, while summer weekends can be filled with any number of lakeside activities such as hiking, biking, swimming and sailing. It seems to perfect. Indeed, it may be changing as money drains out of Switzerland with the decline of the secret Swiss banking system.

Here are a few photos from Zürich. 

Seefeld Park

Early dinner on the lake before flying home to London.

Läderach, our favorite place to get chocolate in Zürich :)