Taryns House

Kaley arrived, without being delayed (an Air Canada MIRACLE) and got to Baden safely, where I let her sleep for a whole day while I was at work... UH OH!  We hung out in Baden and took a day trip down to Locarno in Ticino to check out the Verzasca dam.  Kaley experienced her first praktikant lunch... sandwiches made by Swiss Army Knife on the train. Went out for pizza with Kim and some of her visiting friends after exploring Locarno for a bit.  After hanging out in Baden we finally left for London!  From London we went to Paris (Vimy Ridge and Mont st Michel from here) from Paris we went through Belgium and Luxembourg en route to Aachen and Trier in Germany.  Then on to Amsterdam and finally to Dublin, returning to Zurich for one last weekend and shin dig with my ALSTOM team.  And home... after spending the night in the Zurich airport due to an early flight... but mostly due to brokeness, our flight was THIRTEEN hours delayed, but we got home eventually :)    

I couldn't resist going to visit Adelaide and Justin who were living in EDINBURGH, Scotland.  I flew in and hung out in Edinburgh until they were off work, then my Justin took my backpack back to their place and started cooking (well trained Adelaide, well trained) while Adelaide gave me a tour of Edinburgh.  What an awesome little city!  So PRETTY!  We had a little potluck dinner in their WICKED apartment building, then the next day we left in a rental car and drove up to Inverness, via some stops at the Yew tree (very old) and a cute little lunch spot.  Wandered around Inverness, then were off to Loch Ness the next day.  Took a boat ride to Urquhart castle, and managed to escape the clutches of Nessie.  We went to a Loch Ness interpretive center where I learned just how obsessed some people are with finding Nessie... WOW.  Apparantely there isnt really enough food there to support a monster that big though.  Anyways, we dipped our toes in and then drove on, and went through some pretty crazy landscapes... almost Martian!  Weiiiird.  Back in Edinburgh Adelaide and I went on a hike to the top of Arthurs seat which gave us a great view over Edinburgh.  We went to the science center and chilled for the rest of the afternoon. :) 

 AKA not working at ALSTOM any more party.  Brian and I had a little BBQ in a field and played Indiaca and cricket and had hotdogs and bannock. 

 Immediately after being cleared to ride a real bike by my physio, Andy and I went on a Ticino Bike Ride Adventure.  We started in Airolo and went to Locarno... not realllly sure how far this is.  It was downhill most of the way and took us allllll day... our first guess was 60km but it might have been as much as 80km.  We ended up meeting some other praktikants in Locarno who had just jumped off the dam, and then headed back to Baden for a housewarming party with a bathtub full of Muellerbrau. 

 Hahahahaha... so this was like around Easter and I am just putting up pictures now :)  Anyways, better late than never.  Long story short Jon came and we hung out around Baden/close to and he carried groceries for me while I was still on crutches.  We went to Luzern, the Ballenberg Open Air Museum (built a la Switzerland, with an Italian part in the South, German part in the East and French in the West), and a castle close to Baden... Hallwyl castle I believe. 

Wow... you'd think with being on crutches I would have more time on my hands than usual, but it seems like the days got shorter!  And the weeks... I can't believe that I am almost finished working!  Anyways, last weekend Kim and I headed to Rapperswil to go to the Kinderzoo to see the baby camel that I read about in the paper.  HE WAS ADORABLE!  But, he was just lying down he wouldn't get up so we didn't experience the full awkwardness of his legs hahaha!  There was also wallabees and one had a baby in its pouch, and the baby must have been folded in half because only a paw and its nose were sticking out.  There was also a lemur with a baby in its pouch, and it was climbing around and then stopped to clean it and show it off... adorable!  After the zoo we walked around the lake for a bit, found a sweet bridge, some sweet old buildings, but unfortunately no gardens with roses in them (like my Dad saw while he was there), it must have been way too early in the season.  We also didn't find the rose garden for the blind, but we DID find the deer in the park outside the Polish museum haha. 

On Saturday Me, Krispin, Brian, Louise, and Pat headed to Geneva for the 77th Auto Show.  This is the longest running, 3rd biggest Auto Show in the world!  Aside from New York, I'm pretty sure this was the most cars I've ever seen in one place at the same time.  INSANITY!  I'm pretty sure that everyone in Switzerland and all their relatives was there yesterday, its a darn good thing I had my crutches so I could push my way through the crowds :)  The show was insanely huge, we're talking like.... maybe 5 times as big, area wise, as the Calgary show.  And I didnt really go to the accessories parts... so maybe even bigger.  The room it was in was absolutely huge.  And there was fountains and flashing lights and music goin on just everywhere!  We walked around for like 5 hours, and by then we were just like uuuuuuuhhhh all the cars are blending together in my head!!!  I took a lot of pictures, because all the cars were so pretty :)  I even managed to sit in one, a Toyota Prius.  I could DEFINITELY drive one of those!  It is a great size, and although I am not sure I want a hybrid, I could always go the Matrix instead.  Anyways... not that I want to own a car, I love public transit.  Although I hear it sucks even more in Calgary now.  Anyways, after crutching around for 5 hours my hands were absolutely destroyed, and I have some serious blisters today.  But it was definitely worth it.  The chance to see a bunch of Aston Martins and Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Dunkervoorts (haha still makes me laugh) and a bunch of other manufacturers I've never heard of was well worth the pain and suffering going up and downstairs doing my five freaking loads of laundry today!  I did score a new laundry bag from the Ford exhibit yesterday, and its sweet cuz I can wear it as a backpack!  Anyways, I know that all the pictures will start to look the same after a while, but I liked all the shiny cars so I am very sorry.  There is ONE of me and my beautiful red cast somewhere in there, so have fun finding it!  The only thing that was a little disappointing at the show was the VW exhibit but I think thats because I was so stoked and had really high expectations for it... ie an army of Rabbits and Cabriolets.  But, there was just a lot of Passats and Passat wagons and Golfs and "Golf Variants" and Polos and vans... no Jettas or Cabrios!  I guess I forgot I was in Europe for a minute there... oops!