Follow the Wilsons - The Weblog of Doug & Allison

A Sad Day.

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:42:00 +0000

After 10 years, three speeding tickets, multiple minor fender-benders, and 80,080 miles, I have finally had to get rid of Victoria - my beloved 1982 Volvo 240 DL Station Wagon. It was a very difficult decision as it is the first and only vehicle I have driven since I was 15, but it was time to let her go to greener pastures.

She will now be lovingly taken care of by the person that has serviced her for the past ten years. Hopefully at least some of her parts will live on in other Volvos for many years to come...

I have made a Flickr album in Victoria's honor here.

We Are Home!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:09:00 +0000

After a 13 hour train and bus ride, five hours of sleep, a rental car, a nine hour flight, a six hour delay in Newark, New Jersey, another three hour flight, and a three hour drive, we finally arrived home at 2 AM!

Needless to say, we are a bit tired, but very happy to be home!

Our Week of Traveling

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:42:00 +0000

After Davos, we spent the day in the tiny little country of Lichtenstein - the smallest German-speaking country in the world and one of only two doubly-landlocked countries in the world. It was really beautiful and a nice stamp to put in the passport!

We then took an overnight train to Vienna - which sounds all fancy and luxurious, but in fact the room was TINY! We could only lay down in our bunks or one person could stand in the room - no sitting was possible!

We took a day trip over to Bratislava - the capitol city of Slovakia. This was the first Eastern European country that we have visited and it had such an interesting mix of old-world and communist-bloc buildings and feel. We then visited our good friends Thomas and Mollie who live in Vienna - a beautiful city with WAY too much to see.

You can see a few more photos on our Flickr.

Zermatt, The Alps, and Davos

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:26:00 +0000

The past few days we have enjoyed the southern and eastern parts of Switzerland - especially what Switzerland is most famous for (after chocolate) - the beautiful Alps.

We took the train from Geneva to Zermatt to see the very famous Matterhorn Mountain. It is way more impressive than anything Disneyland could come up with and quite a beautiful sight.

The next day, we took the "Glacier Express" train through the Alps. They bill themselves as "The Slowest Express Train in the World" and it goes through some very spectacular scenery (as well as a fair share of tunnels). Despite being a bit on the foggy side, we still got to see some pretty impressive mountains and valleys in our panoramic rail cars.

We got in to the ski town of Davos last night and spent all of today hiking around the beautiful mountains and sitting by the shore of a small lake - then going to some friend's for dinner.

Tomorrow we head out to Liechtenstein before getting on a night train from Zurich to Vienna. We will take a day trip into Bratislava before visiting some good friends in Vienna for a few days.

As always, we put a few more photos up on our Flickr.

Visitor #5 and Our Last Post From Geneva!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Our good friend, Jess, just got on the train this morning after visiting us for a few days. He is a professional photographer and he was sent to get "people shots" of Europe, so he has the tough job of traveling around Europe for 10 days - not too bad if you ask us!

He arranged to fly into Geneva so we could spend a few days in Switzerland. We went around Geneva and also spent a day in Montreux - known as the "Rivera of Switzerland" - it is crazy beautiful and it even has a castle! You can see a few photos on our Flickr.

Also, this will be our last post from Geneva! We can't believe our time is coming to a close! Allison finished her internship this week and as I type this, our suitcases are strewn about the living room half full of things to bring home. We have loved almost every minute of living here (except maybe the awkward not-speaking-French times) and we hope to make it back again.

We leave on Monday for a week of touring through Switzerland and Austria by rail and then we fly back home to Springfield (and the heat!).

Visitors #3 and 4!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:29:00 +0000

Some friends from our New Zealand trip 2 years ago came to visit us this past weekend. Katy and Hans from England came down for a Swiss weekend, and Christina popped over from working in Zurich to see us too!

We had lovely, lazy time eating, touring, swimming in the lake, and just taking it easy - the way weekends should be. A few more photos can be seen on our Flickr.

Doug Prints Things!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:09:00 +0000

I thought I would let you, our faithful readers, know what I have been doing this summer beyond keeping up the apartment and carrying a ton of groceries back on the train. I have been letterpress printing at an art college here in Geneva and I have printed two different prints.

For those who do no know, letterpress is the old fashion way of printing that was invented by our good friend Johannes Gutenberg in the middle of the 15th century. It was the common way to print things until the 1960's when other technologies took over. I love letterpress because it is difficult, dirty, and extremely rewarding. The type physically impresses into the paper and is beautifully tactile. You can read more about it here and see a great intro video here.

I have been letterpressing for more than three years and I have an online gallery based in London, England that sells my prints online. It is called Keep Calm Gallery and they are very nice people. If you want to see more of my work, you can see it on their site.

Anyway, you can see a few more photos on our Flickr if you so desire.

Scottish Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:08:00 +0000

After two years, we felt that we needed to see the beautiful United Kingdom again so we jumped up to Scotland this week!

I (Doug) have been interested in Edinburgh College of Art for my MFA degree for quite some time and we felt it best to visit the school, see the facilities, and speak with people in the Graphic Design department. Don't worry, I'm not starting school this fall or anything, we just wanted to get a feel for the school and it is much cheaper to fly to Scotland from here than from back in the States.

As an added bonus, we got to see two sets of our good friends in Scotland and England from our YWAM days. We flew into Birmingham, England, rented (or "hired" as they say in the UK) a car and drove up to Scotland. We spent two days with our friends Conor and Lucia and toured around the very windy, very chilly (long sleeves, jackets and hoods in July?!) and very beautiful Edinburgh. We then drove down to Macclesfield, England to see Hans and Katy - who actually will be visiting us here in Geneva in a few weeks.

We don't know yet if Scotland is where we will end up for school, but we do know that the weather will be a big factor in our decision (both good and bad)!

A Flickr account? Yeah we have one.

"Frank and the City of Zurich"

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:27:00 +0000

My good friend, Frank Chimero, came to visit for a bit! He is a friend from my undergraduate design school and this is his first visit to Europe. We enjoyed tooling around Geneva and he even helped print a small edition letterpress print.

This past weekend, we all went up to Zurich to see the sights. Although it was rainy and cold, we really enjoyed the city. Changing from French to German was a bit of an embarrassing challenge, but we made it! Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the financial capital of Europe - which means it is very clean, efficient, and expensive. It is situated on a beautiful lake, has great old churches, a very fine art museum, and is easily walkable - all things that make Zurich a top-notch city in our book!

Like the big dorks that we are, we visited the Freitag Flagship Store which is made from old, stacked shipping containers. Freitag makes super-awesome messenger bags that are from completely recycled materials - mainly semi-truck tarps, bicycle inner tubes, and old seat belts. If you live in Springfield, Pastiche sells them downtown and they are worth every penny!

Our hotel was in a prime location and we just wandered around the city along the river toward lake Zurich. While we were walking we heard a brass band and polka music being played outside. As we got closer, we realized that they were playing music for a water jousting competition between different (very old and very exclusive) mens fraternal organizations - awesome!

More fotos on Flickr.

Daily Life in Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:38:00 +0000

We've really settled into life here and feel like locals (minus the fact that we still can't communicate in French). Some things we appreciate about being here:

- amazingly accurate public transportation
- the sun not setting until 10pm
- cool summer nights
- living within a 5 minute walk to the lake
- the Alps from our balcony
- little cars and so many people walking

However, we do miss things about home too, such as:

- friends and family (of course!)
- American keyboards (Allison - I can never find the parenthesis at work!)
- an oven
- clothes dryer
- Target (have to admit it)

So, lesson of the day, there are always positive and negative things no matter where you live - just depends on how you view it!

Summer Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:48:00 +0000

Books we are currently reading:

In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan (A)
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand (D)
A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken (A)
Lonely Planet Switzerland & Eyewitness Travel Switzerland (mostly D)
Bound for Glory - Woody Guthrie's Autobiography (D)
New Seeds of Contemplation - Thomas Merton (A & D)
Three by Flannery O'Connor (D)
W.H.O. books (obviously A)
And listening to the occasional This American Life podcast.

And for those interested, here's a recent article about one of the things the department I'm interning for is involved in.

Double Rainbow Over Lake Geneva

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:14:00 +0000

I feel like my dad on this one, but after a day of rain, we stepped out on our balcony and saw this! It was the brightest rainbow either of us have ever seen - the picture doesn't do it justice!

Our First Visitors!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:54:00 +0000

Doug's sister Angela and her husband Jon came to visit this last week! They came to Europe to go on a cruise of the Adriatic Sea and stopped off first to see Geneva. It was nice to have some English speakers with us!

We also got to walk around more of Geneva and visit a giant outdoor flea market - a goldmine of old posters, postcards, and the like!

A few more photos are available for your viewing pleasure on our Flickr.

Quintessential Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Allison and I got up early Saturday morning and took a train to the Swiss Alps. As you would imagine, they were extremely beautiful and awe-inspiring.

We first went to Interlaken - a city in between two beautiful, glacier-fed lakes. From there we took a train, bus, and gondola up to Gimmelwald - a tiny farming village of only 130 people on the side of a mountain.

The weather was perfect and we spent the afternoon hiking around the village and up into the mountains. We got to see the highest point in Europe and learned how to pronounce Jungfraujoch. It was beautiful - but I think I already said that.

Yep, you can see more photos on our Flickr.

Sunday in Greater Geneva

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:14:00 +0000

We spent our Sunday in two countries, France and Switzerland - which sounds all cool and exotic, but it really isn't as cool or exotic as you would think. We visited a church just across the border in France. The border crossing was simply the bus slowing down - so, it really shows that the Swiss and the French like each other (in full disclosure, on the way back into Switzerland, the bus did stop, but all the border-patrol officer did was glance at our passports for about one second each).

After eating lunch (Americans, eating at a Thai restaurant, in France) we went down to tour the United Nations. Really, it is just a bunch of conference rooms, but these conference rooms have held important world leaders making massively important decisions.

And now we are back home, preparing for the week and maybe watching some football (soccer) games on our tiny TV.

Want to see pictures of flags and conference rooms? See our Flickr!

Day in Geneva

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:11:00 +0000

Today we wandered around the city of Geneva. We sunned in complimentary city lounge chairs in a park, viewed a monument to the Protestant Reformation, walked the Old City, and climbed to the top of the Cathedral St. Pierre for a panoramic view.

You can see more pictures on our Flickr.

IKEA!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:47:00 +0000

I think the title says it all. We spent our Friday evening in glorious IKEA - first had dinner, then shopped, enjoyed the familiar and marveled at the "Swiss only" items, and then checked out and packed our stuff in our backpack and bags and came home to a happier apartment.

Our $100 was well spent:
2 pillows
1 pillowtop mattress cover (our bed isn't so comfortable)
1 fitted sheet (most people here just use a duvet, we miss the sheet)
1 desk lamp
mixing bowl set (tried to use a saucepan and it was disastrous)
1 whisk
1 square platter
silverware organizer
6 sets of silverware
2 plates (we need more for when our friends come)
1 pitcher
collapsible fish hamper
2 hand towels
2 dish towels
hand soap
body wash
wet wipes

Doug Goes for a Walk!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:45:00 +0000

I spent yesterday walking around Geneva getting my bearings of the city. There is a nice, big lake, a giant jet fountain, a nice river, lots of old buildings, and nice public parks.

I put more photos up on our Flickr for your viewing pleasure.

Birthday Celebrations

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:34:00 +0000

Thanks to all who sent birthday greetings my way!

After work, Doug and I went out to eat at a wonderful restaurant in our town. I got a kebab (like a gyro or sovlaki) and Doug got a pizza. We then decided to brave the crowds and go into the heart of Geneva to watch one of the Euro2008 games on the big screen in the park. If you aren't aware, the unity over soccer in most places in the world is rather amazing.

After an exciting and crowded 45 minutes or so (and just after the mayhem of the Swiss goal) we decided to go get ice cream and then walked down over the river by the Jet d'Eau at night. It was beautiful and no one else was around.

Birthday Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:36:00 +0000

On Allison's birthday we were given a nice surprise - seeing the famous Mount Blanc from our balcony.

We didn't realize when we posted the other photos of the alps from our balcony the other day, that the biggest surprise was still to come - a beautiful view of snowy Mount Blanc. Want to know more about Mount Blanc? Sure you do - go here.

Home Sweet Home

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:44:00 +0000

We are now fully settled into our apartment here! Allison had her first day of work at WHO and it went well.

It is taking a bit longer than we expected to transition to living here. We have noticed all of the small things that you never think of (from butter to cell phones to bus routes) are much more difficult when they are not in your language. It is fun, but at times, pretty frustrating and everything take three times as long as it would take back in the States.

But, we don't want to complain - the clouds lifted just enough today to see the Alps from our balcony.

Just can't get enough? More photos on our Flickr.

Grocery Shopping in French, German, and Italian!

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:39:00 +0000

We made it to our apartment today, and after some brief tidying and starting to unpack I remembered that one of the many travel books Doug checked out from the library talked about how most everything is closed on Sunday.

I fully support closing for a day of the week, but I also support having food to eat for the next few days. So Doug quickly looked up on the internet (amazing thing that is) and found that our grocery store (located 2 train stops away) was closing in 2 hours at 6pm and would not be open tomorrow. So we promptly grabbed our train passes and canvas bags and were off.

I forgot the list, but I don't know that it mattered. This grocery store, called Migros, is located throughout Europe. I didn't expect them to have my language, but I thought I would be able to figure a bit more out on the packaging from the French, German, or Italian wording. Needless to say we had a lot of laughs and did a lot of guessing and just tossing things in the basket.

Doug stood in awe of the cheese aisle. Thankfully, I could still do my usual comparing of price per gram and which deal was the best. "Action" means sale or discount. And the hardest thing to buy was butter - there were so many unfamiliar choices. I finally decided on the Bio or Beurre or Burro Butter - it had the least amount of extra wording so it sounded safe.

I do like the idea that grocery stores aren't completely "convenient" and that they close at a reasonable time. I also like that the bread aisle was almost empty as they get fresh bread in each morning, which means we will be shopping in the morning from now on.

As will often be the case, more photos on our Flickr.

Packing Tip

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:31:00 +0000

So, when packing for a trip you should NEVER pack more than you can carry. Or, don't pack multiple suitcases that you can lift individually but then when you add them all up will weigh more than you. I think we briefly thought about this - and although we are normally known as light packers and we managed to backpack around the world for 8 months with one pack each - somehow this time we thought since we were coming to live in one place we were exempt from this rule.

Not true. Especially when you find out the place that was going to store your bags while you then take 2 trains and 2 buses and walk about a mile total to get to your 3 day destination is actually closed because of the Euro 2008. So yes, we ended up having to take our 2 backpacks, 2 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, and 2 purse/small backpack up to Lausanne and then back to Geneva with us. We may save $100 in groceries and toiletries costs, but I don't think the extra luggage and back pain was worth it.

Moral of story: pack 1/2 of what you think you need, be sure you can carry it, and bring multiple sweaters to Switzerland no matter what time of the year you come.

Lausanne

noreply@blogger.com (Allison) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:13:00 +0000

Lausanne was amazing - actually we were in a small town outside of Lausanne. The weather was cloudy and cool, the place we stayed was IKEA furnished, and we had no specific schedule to follow.

On our anniversary, we took a hike through the forest. We had to be especially careful of the stray snails along the cedar path - they were surprisingly not disgusting. Another day we visited the Olympic museum (as the committee resides in Lausanne) which had all sorts of history and information about the Olympics as well as special Beijing exhibits. Hard to believe we were in Beijing 2 years ago and saw the beginnings of preparations - and now it's only 60 days away!

Now on to Geneva to settle in to our summer home...

More photos on our Flickr.

We Have Arrived in Switzerland!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Just wanted to post a quick update to let you all know that we have made it safely to Switzerland! The flights were long, but we made it!

We are currently in Lausanne (about an hour from Geneva) and it is beautiful! We move into our apartment this weekend and once we are settled in, we will be posting again.

Thanks to all of you that made it to our going-away party - it was so great and we already miss all of you!