Spring is here (oh no)

Well, it has certainly been a while since the last post, but for very good reason. We have been busy – very busy. Our last post was about our skiing adventures throughout Italy and Austria, but I’m not sure it was made entirely clear the amount of time we have put into the winter sport. We have basically skied every weekend since December 1st. I got between 80 and 100 hours on the slopes, and Sarah about 50. In fact, we just returned home from our last weekend of skiing in St. Anton, Austria.

In addition to our fun with winter sports, I have been very busy at work. I was recently put in the position of Chief of International Law. This position is a combination of managing the work of the Italian attorneys in the office and doing legal opinions on issues regarding the Air Force and Italy – there are quite a few. I don’t feel like an expert in this area of law, but it’s great to expand my legal horizons. In law school they say there’s no such thing as specializing in any one area of law. I think too often attorney’s get caught in just one area when in actuality we are all qualified to practice in any area (if we study and learn what we are talking about before we say it!).

I have also had a busy courts martial docket. We try to spread the case load around the office, but lately I’ve had a couple pretty significant cases. The blog is definitely not the proper place to get into the details of my cases (and I should really never be talking about pending cases), but I think it’s fair to say that I am getting experience in the courtroom that a lot of attorneys don’t get. I do about 1 case per month with sentences generally ranging from 4 months to 2 years.

I try not to let my work week get in the way of fun on the weekends. I usually put in about a 50 hour work week – sometimes less, but usually a little more. Compared to my friends from law school, I get off easy; but then again, they’re making bank. I rarely put in a day on a weekend, which is important when there is some of the world’s best skiing within hours of home.

But now it’s spring (so sad). On our way home today we drove through a blizzard in the Alps only to find a beautiful 70 degree day in Aviano. I guess this means next weekend we should go to the beach – although Sarah claims we’re out of money and we need to spend the weekend at home – we’ll see who wins.

Skiing and Other Happenings

We have turned in to total ski bums. We get up every Saturday morning and head for Piancavallo, the ski area 20 minutes from our front door. It is so amazing to have a ski hill so close to our house and it leaves us no excuse to sit around the house doing nothing.

I had been using Andy’s skis that are forever old and I stuck out amongst the ever chic Italians. So, being the wonderful husband that he is, Andy researched extensively and ordered me the cutest, girliest, purple skis on the slopes. Of course, now he wants to buy new skis.

This is a really cute picture of Sophie and the cat playing with the toys that our very best friend Amanda sent them for Valentine’s Day from the fancy shmancy dog store in Chicago.

Andy and I have become the lay leaders for the Jewish community at Aviano Air Base. There are not enough of us to make a minyan, but we will not let that stop us from doing our best to practice our faith. The Chaplains here are very supportive of our small group and couldn’t be making us feel more welcome, which is amazing. We are having our first Friday night Shabbat dinner at the Chapel in a few weeks and G-d willing it should be a very meaningful evening for all of us.

And finally. Today I was in the front yard with Sophie. The little old lady from across the street came out to pet her and of course started in with her rapid fire Italian that I generally don’t understand a word of. Well today she said something I understood very well.

Her: Lavora, Lavora (work, work)

Me: Pointing at myself saying “No Lavora(Yeah, I don’t work, which is why you see me out here everyday in my tracksuit and my husbands too big puffy jacket waiting for my darn dog to pee)

Her: Oh! Buona Buona!(good, good) with a big smile on her face like well aren’t you just the luckiest girl in the world.

It is what it is. I clean the house like a neurotic person, I go to the gym, I read three books a week and I volunteer two days a week at Andy’s office. Yep, that’s my life and there is no defending it. And don’t even ask, my life is just too good right now to have a baby.

I also just came back from a walk with Sophie and found Andy sitting on the couch reading the book that I checked out from the library today, “Devil in the White City.” I checked the television and it seems to be working fine. Hmm, there is no explaining it.

Love to you all!

Sarah

Paris

Paris! I LOVE Paris! Street people, smelly subway stations, and cars with boots on their tires, it was like we were home. I spent a few days in Paris as a teenager and was in love with it and couldn’t wait to take Andy. I am happy to report that he loves Paris just as much as I do.

We left Thursday night and took RyanAir to Beauvais France which is about an hour and half away from Paris. We then boarded a bus and were driven into the city. By this time it was 12:00 a.m. and we had to walk to our hotel. Andy did extensive research to find a hotel close to where the bus drops off and he found the perfect location. We checked in and went to bed.

Friday we walked about four steps from out hotel to an amazing bakery where Andy devoured some gooey chocolate pastry and I had a banana. (It sucks to try and eat healthy) Then we walked five minutes and were at the Arc di Triomphe. We took the appropriate pictures and then moved on. We took the Metro to the Louvre and wandered around for a few hours. It is so massive that you really could spend days there. But, being that we are not exactly into old art, a few hours was just fine for us. Then I did the unthinkable and made Andy walk all the way from the Louvre back to our hotel. You would think I was torturing him(water boarding and that whole bit). He complained the entire way and kept telling me how many km we had to go. We finally made it back to the hotel and took a nap. We ate dinner at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant and called it a day. {Edit by Andy: Sarah complained the rest of the trip about how bad her feet hurt.}

Saturday we spent shopping and walking and eating. Saturday night after a Mexican food delight of Enchiladas we headed to the Eiffel Tower. It was beautiful at night and we went all the way to the top. It is truly am amazing structure.

Sunday we walked, ate, and headed home. It was the perfect vacation and we can’t wait to go back.

The Mona LisaMe in front of the Mona Lisa

Only the largest Louis Vuitton store ever!

Andy with the Eiffel Tower in the background and Andy at the top of the Eiffel Tower

Look, it’s just like Chicago!

Our last afternoon, and we couldn’t leave without having a baguette

Our Last Day

We spent our last day of vacation in Garmisch, Germany. It is a beautiful little resort town about an hour from Munich. Of course we arrived late and had to search for a hotel. We tried Edelweiss Lodge which is a hotel/compound built for American service members to vacation at. They did not have openings so we continued driving around. We finally found the cutest hotel with a swimming pool, sauna, and free breakfast. We decided to dine at one of the finest pizza restaurants in the city.

Italy is devoid of all American franchises with the exception of McDonald’s, so it was fun to find a Pizza Hut in the middle of a very quaint German town.

Here are the other pics from the area. Garmisch was a great final destination.

Andy was pretty proud of our dirty car. He drove it with his head held high, the dirt he felt a sign letting others know that we had traveled far and taken an adventure. (We mostly just shopped, but that can be adventurous).

Dachau

After our wonderful time in Zurich we headed to Munich. It was New Year’s Day and the city was essentially shut down. We had planned to spend the night in Munich and then head to Dachau the next day. Dachau is only 20 minutes from downtown Munich and we made the decision to drive on to Dachau instead of spending the day in Munich. Below are just some of the many pictures that Andy took.

It is a very eerie place to be. Four trailers house a museum filled with an overwhelming amount of historical information. After the museum you walk out unto a field where the barracks used to be. Two buildings remain that show the living quarters. After this you walk towards a brick building that house the ovens. It feels like the most silent place on earth. No one utters a word and you leave feeling speechless. Words cannot describe it. Below are the photos.

Zurich=Starbucks

When you think of Zürich, Switzerland I’m guessing that Starbucks coffee is not the first thing that comes to mind. But, if you are married to Andy, who has just a “small” caffeine addiction and giant love of Starbucks the two go hand in hand. Zürich, which is six hours away from home, has the closest Starbucks in Europe.

Zürich is also the destination we chose to spend and celebrate New Year’s Eve. We spent the day touring the city which is full of the kind of European charm you would expect(really hard to walk on cobblestone streets) but also offers modern touches.

Every city we visit I drag Andy into bookstores in search of the Foreign Language section(English). Milan was the first city we visited that actually had an entire English section. Once again Switzerland trumps Italy, because we found an entire bookstore with only English books. It was a day spent in marital bliss. Andy got coffee, and I found books. The Swiss really are all about keeping the peace.

After a full day of walking, shopping, and sightseeing we noticed the time(I couldn’t resist some sort of time related joke) and headed back to our hotel for a bit of a nap so that we would be able to stay up late enough to bring in the new year.

We headed back downtown at about 9:00 p.m. in order to make sure that we could find a good spot to watch the fireworks at midnight that go off over the Limmat River. There were tons of street vendors selling food other than pizza and panini’s. Andy found a falafel stand and was very happy.

Here we are minutes before midnight. This was our 11th New Year’s Eve spent together. Our life is very good, and we are grateful for our good fortune. We can only hope this new year will bring more love, joy, and happiness. Much love and Happy New Year! Sarah and Andy

The List Trip

If you know anything about Sarah, you know she can’t live without a list. She has a list for everything and has no greater joy than to cross an item off the list.

When we moved to Europe, Sarah created one of those lists of places and destinations we must see before leaving.

Well, I had a week off, and the list if fairly daunting, so no better time to start crossing the items off as now. I got my week off without having to take any leave provided I didn’t get on a plane. As long as I was ‘in the local area’ it was a free couple days. So, our task was to knock of as many items without leaving ‘the local area’.

We began driving through the Italian Dolomities on our way to Innsbruck, Austria. We had heard about the must-see Golden Roof and abundance of Schnapps. Well, we got there on Saturday and the city was dead. I mean, we got out of the car and there was nothing happening. We couldn’t find an open bar to get the Schnapps, but we did find the Golden Roof. . . nothing special.

Even though there was hardly a person on the street, there wasn’t a hotel room to be found in the entire city. Instead of staying in a town with some weird roof and tons of people locked in their hotel rooms, we decided to head to destination number 2; the town of Langenfeld.

Langenfeld is east of Innsbruck; only about 1 hours. We thought we’d be fine showing up mid evening. It’s a big ski resort area with all sorts of hotels and inns. We pulled in downtown at 7 PM, and sure enough, there were hotels everywhere. A very cool little town tucked in the valley of the Alps. Only problem, no hotels available. We went to every hotel in the village, and nothing. So we had to start going further down the valley. Finally, as we were getting seriously concerned and after almost spending 200 Euro on a room, we found a small inn with one room available. 100 Euro got us the following room that turned out to be perfect (although it would have been nice if we had found it about 2 hours earlier).

After waking up in the morning we toured the town. We saw the shops and considered skiing, but before we decided to go, we found out about on of the areas major attractions: a massive indoor swimming pool. So, we spent the majority of a snowy winter day swimming inside and out.

Our day and a half was wrapping up and we were excited to get to our next destination: Zürich, Switzerland. Stay tuned for more pictures and stories from the second half of our trip.

Cassa di Cherkasky

When you live in the United States you are led to believe that everything in Italy is of the finest quality and design. When you move to Italy you realize that anything of quality or good design is exported to the United States. Ahh, how I long to move back the U.S. so that I can buy fine Italian home furnishings. Here are the pictures from the downstairs of our home. We’ve added more artwork to the walls since our parents visited this summer, which I know they will appreciate.

View as you walk in the front door and turn immediately to your left. There really is a coat rack under that mass of coats.

I am working on another puzzle so the dining table is covered in 1000 pieces of a scene from the Cinque Terre.

This is my favorite part of the house. The Italians know a thing or two about the design of a really deep and comfortable bathtub.

I Love Milan

This weekend we drove to Milan which is about three hours away from home. Everyone I know who has been has given me their opinion and most people did not like it. I have no idea what these people are thinking. Milan is great! It is the closest thing to a real city that Italy has to offer. As I walked down one of the many streets filled with shops I commented to Andy that I felt like I was walking down Oak Street in Chicago. The people watching was great, which is why I love a city so much. The pictures of us below are in front of the largest church in Milan. We figured it was better than a picture on us in Milan in front of one of the five Louis Vuitton stores.

Chanukkah in Italy

Being Jewish in Italy has posed some challenges. The latest of those challenges was, where do you buy Chanukkah candles in Italy? I guess living in Chicago really spoiled us, because every year about 10 minutes before the holiday started I could run out to a chic little store on Armitage and buy them. This year we ended up with birthday candles. When you have about ten minutes to figure out what you are going to use in place of real Chanukkah candles, birthday candles seem like a genius solution. Take a look below at our first Italian Chanukkah.