1 Month In! Wine festivals, work space and more...

This last week has been pretty uneventful in the sense that I have not traveled to another country or gotten lost on a train ride.  That being said it has been great that work is starting to pick up, our group is getting closer and we've gotten to know Vevey just a little bit better.

This week in pictures:

My new "office" - trust me it's super quiet with the 10 girls on my team :)

We took the funicular train up to a little town called Chardon in Vevey for a wine tasting event.  Yes, those are wine wearing necklaces = amazing! 

Interesting display of music.

These pictures above were from my run today.  It has been quite rainy so far, which everyone says is unusual for this time of year.  I was pretty down about it this weekend, but then when you have days like this, it makes up for the rain 100%!

Lastly, I had to go into Lausanne, (which is a city that is about a 20 minute train ride from Vevey), to get my fingerprints, etc. taken for my work permit.  I have been wanting to take the double decker train to see what kind of view I could get, and this is it!  It was a quick 20 minutes but so mesmerizing the whole time.

I hope everyone back home has a wonderful 4 day week!

First trip to Italy, but definitely not the last.

Florence is a quick 5 hour train ride from "home" so made sense to book a trip ASAP.

We did a good deal of reading up on what to do, took many suggestions and a friend planned the majority of our days, which was great because we enjoyed every minute. We pulled into town around lunch, went straight to our hotel to drop off our bags and got started.

We toured the market place full of "leather" handbags, ate lunch at Trattoria Za-Za (pasta of course), passed by Santa Maroa Novella, Piazza Duomo and climbed to the very top of Piazzale Michelangelo, all truly spectacular.

On Sunday we decided to grab some quick but delicious cappuccinos and head straight to the train station. We took the train to Pisa which is a quaint but fun little town and of course we then tested out our photography skills with the Tower of Pisa. We returned to Florence and browsed through the market again, then we headed to this little place called I'Mangiarino, and discovered the true meaning of slow food and tiramisu.

We decided to end the night heading to the local nightlife hotspots - Piazza Santo Spirito, where we of course stuck out given our lack of Italian, but we did experience some of the amazing sights on that side of the bridge. Then we took a stroll back over the world famous Ponte Vecchio bridge and discovered gellaterias and even live music. The bridge was incredible! The views, the locks of love story (see here if interested ) and the ambiance were breathtaking.

On Monday, I only had a few hours before my train departed at 1:00pm. I also learned through a lot of reading that many of the most famous museums are closed on Mondays. Come to find out, that was perfectly fine, I chose two things that turned out to be amazing!

First, I climbed 463 stairs to the very top of the Duomo.  The Duomo according to my reading, means the most important cathedral in the area and this one is particularly well known in Florence.  All of the paintings have been removed from the building, except for one...at the very top! This was so incredible. You can see the entire city and all its' beauty! My favorite part of the trip.

Before heading to the train station, I stopped at the Bargello.  An art museum that is only open on Mondays and is said to hold Michelangelo's first piece. It was remarkable, the whole experience, unlike one I have ever had.

I can't wait for my next trip to fill you in on! Uncle Tom, I hope you enjoy these few other photos, I hear Florence is your favorite!

Town of Cheese and Boat Ride to France

I'm three weeks in and so far, so good.

Last weekend, the weather was still a bit dicey so we decided to stick close to Vevey and take in the Swiss sights.  We had figured out most of Vevey so we decided to take some suggestions from others and visit the town of Gruyeres and also take a boat ride over to Evian France.

Gruyeres is about a 1.5 hour train ride.  The trains in Switzerland, I have decided are the best things ever.  They're never a minute early and never a minute late.  When you have an hour and a half train ride where you switch train rides, it flies by.  The views are just incredible, you could become mesmerized by the sights and miss your stop if you don't think about it!

Gruyeres, was okay, not sure if I would go back, but there are a few sights to see.  There of course is the house of cheese (which smells terrible, even though the cheese is delish!) and then the coolest part is to hike up a bit and see the medieval town.  You can see everything from the cows with their big cowbells to the cobblestone roads, castles, little shops and of course lovely food with fondue!  We tried authentic fondue for the first time at this little place and discovered they have the best macaroni and cheese we had EVER tasted.

the famous mac & cheese

first taste of fodue

my photographer snapping pics outside the castle

beer break while doding the rain

Another tip we received, was to take a 25 minute boat ride over to France.  Crazy that you can just hop over that quickly.  The boat ride itself was awesome!  Just being on Lake Geneva on a sunny day is enough to make me content.  Once we got to Evian, there's not a whole lot to do.  You can go see the Evian "spout" where the water is bottled, visit a few shops, grab some crepes and take in the sites.  

from the back of our boat

gorgeous flowers...EVERYWHERE

bye bye France

Hardest part about the weekend ending was this guy leaving.  Can't wait until July fiance!

I'll leave you with this video...

Running along Lake Geneva on a regular basis, is not going to be a problem.

My flat and work week #1

Time is going to fly! I can't believe I've already finished my first week of work, granted it was a short week, due to the swiss holiday, but still!

Work is great so far. I can't wait to get underway with our training and projects. Our team space is incredible and is going to bring a whole new meaning to collaborative workspace for me. New bonus I learned about work - we have a tea lady who comes everyday at 9 and 3 to break up meetings and bring amazing tea/coffee. We should really look into this for the US. Only struggle so far, a French keyboard. The US 'y' and 'z' are switched and many of the symbols and punctuation. Needless to say, my habit of overusing exclamation points is going to decrease drastically (probably a good thing).

my "new" keyboard

view from my outside my new workspace

This week at work we met a number of people, including our new immediate team...9 women! We're already becoming fast friends with picnics, Geneva trips and other outings. A few of us even have a trip to Florence planned for next weekend.  I'm really looking forward to spending the next 8 months of my life with these intelligent women.

new friends and a picnic at sunset

My apartment - This has been an adjustment, but a great learning experience. I'm a 10 minute walk to work, but have an amazing view! Definitely a change from my downtown STL loft but I feel very fortunate to have a sizable flat, with plenty of space for me and my very own balcony. I envision many coffee mornings out here.

view from my balcony (ignore the crane)

Here are some quick shots of the rest of my place. I will become very educated for one of two reasons: 1. My only English speaking channels are BBC and CNN or 2. because I'll learn French and be able to watch the other channels.

As you can see I have some amazing future nieces who have sent me the most amazing wall art. It needs some fresh flowers and a splash of color here and there but overall, home sweet home for the next 8 months and it's going to be great!

Montreux - x2

We couldn't get everything accomplished in one day, being the beginners that we are, so we went back to Montreux today.  This time, we decided to take a wooden cog train up 6,600 feet to the top of Rochers de Naye.  The train takes 50 minutes to get to the top and then supposedly you can see all the way to Geneva...on a clear day (take note).  Although there were only a few clouds when looking out my apartment, once we got to the top, we were in one giant cloud and couldn't see anything!  You live and you learn, the train ride itself was worth it and I highly recommend, don't be self conscious about being a tourist, take the pictures on the train.

On our way up, we could see houses on the hills, multiple train stops, most of Lake Geneva and even hang gliders!  We started at the bottom in t-shirts and by the time we reached the top, we had on our coats and we were looking at multiple feet of snow!  Once you get to the top, if you're stuck in a giant cloud, there is always wine.  Highly recommend taking this trip, just go on a crystal clear day.

Week 1 and First Outing

So, our first week is complete, and it went so fast!  A little bit of jet lag, a little bit of orientation and our first field trips, all in all, I would consider a great success.

Our first field trips were to Montreux.  Given we don't have international plans yet, my Gen Y was coming out and I was too anxious to go too far without a data plan, lame I know.  Montreux is a beautiful town just a ten minute train ride away.  Here is our first train ride, which can be a true test of a relationship if you don't speak any French, let me tell ya!  The train system is fantastic, but it's just an entirely new process to be learned.

Once we got to Montreux we asked these nice women at the stop how to get to Chateau de Chillon, and thankfully they told us where/how to get tickets for the bus (201), where it would stop (right in front of the castle), etc.  The castle was top on our list because we had heard such wonderful things and boy did it live up to the reputation.  This castle dates back from 1150 and has had many restorations but was so incredible.

Afterwards we walked along Lake Geneva, which is just breathtaking in every direction.  We even made a little pit stop at a place called Chez Gaston to have a drink and take in the scenery.

In summary, I would say a successful first field trip.  I can't wait to see what's next!