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Thursday, November 14, 2013

Mürren

It's taken almost two months, but I've finally recuperated from Oktoberfest and am ready to start blogging again.  Kidding.  I've just been lazy and have rightly been reprimanded by family and friends to quit slackin' and get to postin'.  Blogging hiatus over, I bring you our trip to Mürren.  Back in September (when my brother and sister-in-law visited) we took a weekend trip to the Swiss mountain village of Mürren to check out the EigerMönch, and Jungfrau.  As always with mountain trips it's best to let the pictures do the talking...

On our first day Matt, Susie, Laura, Ben, Mya, and I hiked the Northface trail.  Poor Kevin was stuck in the hotel working (see I told you he works!).  If you are interested in the exact route here is the link for the trail map.
You can't feel too sad for Kevin...this was his view while he worked.
And we're off 
Mya the Mürren mascot.
Ben stoked to start the hike.
The EigerMönch, and Jungfrau






Day 2 - Schilthorn & Hike #2
We started Day 2 off at the Schilthorn summit for some breakfast at Piz Gloria - a revolving restaurant with insane views of over 200 Alpine peaks.  It also happens to be the same location where scenes were filmed for the worst James Bond movie ever made - On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  After breakfast we walked around outside before checking out the James Bond museum on site.  Filled with newfound movie knowledge we headed back down the mountain for lunch to fuel up for our second hike of the trip - Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg.  Here is a link for the trail map.
The 360 degree restaurant - Piz Gloria
Charlie's Angels/James Bond movie mash up

Wobs yah doin' it!


Heading back down to Mürren.
Kevin and Ben crushin' the rose at lunch. 
View from our lunch table.
Start of hike #2












Day 3 - Northface Trail take 2
We had an early train back to Zürich and were unable to join everyone else at Jungfraujoch.  So for our last day in Mürren, Kevin and I hiked the Northface trail again.  










Hiking is tough.
We had to hide Mya under my jacket to prevent the cows from attacking.























Friday, October 4, 2013

The Oktoberfest: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Last weekend we attended Oktoberfest in Munich.  It was a bit of a shit show of drunken emotions, but I suppose that's unavoidable after ingesting 5 liters of beer; at least for this girl.  I went through the gamut of drunken beer emotions - both tent days started off in beer induced elation and ended in drunken tears.  Jeez.  I am that girl.  But I guess it was worth it.  Now I can say I've experienced the craziness that is Oktoberfest.  I think the easiest and simplest way to relay our Oktoberfest adventure is via a list of the the good, the bad, and the ugly....
The Good
  • The Outfit
    • There's no way not to feel adorable in a dirndl, and I loved wearing my super girly pink and blue one. Added bonus - my boobs have never looked bigger and I couldn't stop looking at them.
    • Umm, and I got to wear a super cool hot pink fedora with feathers.  What?  I know.  It was awesome.
  • Good Times with Friends and Family
    • The first tent day was spent with my brother Matt, my sister-in-law Susie, Matt's BFF Ben, and Susie's family.  What better way to bond with your fam than with copious amounts of beer and singing?
      • Drunk sibling bonding resulted in a long over due heart to heart with Matt.  Hence day 1 ending in drunken tears, but positive tears. Love ya bro.
    • The second tent day we spent with our Zurich friends.  Again, no better way to bond with friends than through drunken silliness.
      • Day 2 drunken tears, unfortunatley, are not listed under the Good.

The Bad
  • Lost & (Not) Found
    • Petra lost her phone.
    • Sandra lost her jacket and ID card.
    • Marc lost himself for several hours.  Kevin went searching for him, and lucky for Marc Kevin did find him.  Otherwise Marc never would have experienced The Ugly.
  • Death of Jackets
    • Jenn's jacket drowned in beer.
    • My jacket drowned in puke.
      • At the end of the night I put on my jacket only to find as I slipped my hand through the sleeves that someone had puked all over my favorite fall item.  Gross and sad.  I discarded it on the ground, and it only took seconds for some Oktoberfest vulture to pick it up and claim it as his own.  All yours dude.

The Ugly
  • Injured Bodies
    • As a result of an overly enthusiastic Prost!, Kevin broke Steffi's stein, resulting in shattered glass cutting Steffi's shin. But never fear drunk Nurse Jen was there.  Using my Macgyver RN skills I grabbed a not-so-sterile napkin to apply pressure to the wound, and once the bleeding stopped secured my makeshift bandage with two of my hair ties.  Steffi - "I don't need stitches do I?",  me - "Umm maybe. Shit looks deep."  Yes she did end up getting stitches the next day, followed by daily visits to the doctor to insure it did not get infected.  Poor Steffi.
  • Injured Minds
    • Marc and I got into an altercation with the table next to us, resulting in a girl pouring an entire beer over Marc's head.  Oh no she didn't.  Girl then received the verbal wrath of Jen. Followed by Girl's douchebag male friend insulting me and making me cry.  Tears turned into drunken murderous rage resulting in more verbal wrath of Jen.  Lesson learned - don't mess with my friends or me after I've ingested my weight in beer.  It's not pretty.  Not sure if this exemplifies my loyalty as a friend who's got your back, or just that I'm a psycho drunk girl.  I'm still self reflecting on this, and am leaning towards the latter.
  • Injured Egos
    • While on the train home I noticed my ankle was hurting and took a peek.  It was red, warm, tender, and a little swollen.  Hmm that's weird.  Took a nap, woke up, and it was so swollen  I couldn't even bear weight on it.  When we got home I again dug deep for my rusty nursing skills, and proceeded to RICE and ibuprofen myself up.  I woke up the next day to find my ankle looking worse, and my ability to walk even more impaired.  We don't have a GP here, so I became one of those people who use the ER as their personal doctor's office.  I had a hunch that this was something that did not warrant an ER visit, so I turned to Kev and said, "Don't you dare tell them I'm a nurse".  Turns out I was right, and I went to the ER for a bug bite.  What an idiot.  Don't you want me to be your nurse when we get back to NY?  I'm pretty sure the ER staff is still laughing at me.  I would.
And of course no post would be complete without pictures....
Day 1 with the Fam
Inside was a mad house, so we sat in the beer garden.
It looks so big in my tiny hands....am I allowed to say that on here?
The first photo in Kevin's portfolio entitled Idle Hands.
Inside second tent of the evening.
Matt and Kev dancing on the benches.
Matt, his beer, and his heart.
Me joining the dance party.  
A guy at our table thought it was fun to swing the lamp around in a circle.  I'm pretty sure he got kicked out.
Prost!
To the windows, to the wall...
Day 2 with Friends
Petra and I welcome you to the Oktoberfest.
Hofbraü Tent
Our beer wench
We were totally diggin' our fedoras.
As did everyone else.
They love each other.
Scott and Kristi making funny faces.
Jenn and Steffi (pre drowned jacket and leg gash).
Pee pact!
Sandra, Jenn, and I made a pact to battle the disaster zone that was the girl's bathroom together as one.  No woman left behind.

Swiss ER
Oktoberfest claims another victim.
Mya's Oktoberfest
Our train arrived into Munich around midnight, and let me tell you, Mya was a hit with all the drunk Oktoberfest attendees.  She got her picture taken by 4 different people, and was dubbed "cat dog" by one reveller.   My favorite Mya admirer was this sweet Thai girl.  She asked me if she could put a picture of Mya up on her Thailand Shiba Inu Facebook Fanpage.  I was like, "Uhhh, of course you can."  Check out Mya's fanpage debut.