Hey friends and soon to be friends. I am super excited to share my exciting new venture and adventures with you. My birthday is in December and every year, my husband (Paul) and children (Alexander and Bailey) start to ask me what I want for my birthday and for Christmas. As I have gotten older, I have come to the realization that I don’t want stuff….I want memories.
With birthday 51 just completed, I was thinking about the second half of my life. Paul and I are basically empty nesters now. As this empty nest realization really sunk in, I concluded I want this second act of my life to be filled with just as much excitement, joy and wonder as the first 50. In theory we should have more free time, so why not take that free time and do something really cool with it.
The idea came to me to celebrate the year I turn 52 with doing 52 things I have never done before. I have been tossing this idea around in my head for about two years and I like the symmetry of 52 weeks in the year with my 52nd birthday in December of 2018.
I brainstormed with a few close friends, and have a partial list of things I would like to do. Now obviously, I am not a Kardashian so this list is a list of things a reasonable person can afford to do. I do have a job so I can’t travel the world all year. I also have bills to pay so I can’t do 52 exotic, expensive adventures. My list includes some things that are more “out there” but it includes many local things have just never taken the time to do. Here is a small sample of things on my list, so you have an idea of the variety and scale of my project.
• Acupuncture
• Take a tap dance class
• The Kentucky Bourbon Tour
• Spend the night in the woods all by myself
• Sing karaoke in public
• Visit a new state
• Learn to surf
• Donate plasma
As you can see, some things on the list can be done locally and only require a few hours, like acupuncture or a tap dance class. Some will take a day or a weekend, like the Bourbon Tour or a night in the woods alone. Some items on the list require courage (or maybe liquid courage) like singing in public. Some take some planning, time and money, like taking a vacation to a new state or learning to surf. Many items on the list are for my own personal pleasure, but some are acts that serve others, like donating plasma.
I hope this short list gives you an idea of where I am going with this blog. Stay tuned for my next blog for a more complete list. I hope you will join me as I do some fun stuff, learn more about myself and my community, and keep my brain and body active for the next phase of my life.
I don’t know if you get this way, but I can sometimes get sucked into “the world is going to hell in a handbasket” mindset. The news is filled with stories of all the bad in the world. We are inundated with tragic stories about the horrors one human will inflict on another. Of course, I bring some of this on myself because I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts, but that is for another day. (NCIS and Law and Order are not true crime podcasts)
If you are feeling this way, do something brave and vulnerable…put yourself out there and watch how the world reacts. As you know, I co-authored a book which launched on Amazon in July. My co-authors and I really wanted to reach Amazon best seller status, so I told family and friends about the book and shared the information on social media. The outpouring of support was beyond anything I could have imagined. I knew my immediate family would buy the book to support me, but I never anticipated the lengths they would go to or the encouragement I would receive from people I haven’t seen in years. Friends and family liked the post, shared the post, texted friends about the book, bought the book, and uploaded reviews to Amazon’s website.
Writing this chapter was a scary thing. It is a daunting task to share your experiences and insights. Imposter syndrome and self-doubt are real momentum and joy killers. What if what I have to say sounds stupid? What if my experiences aren’t valuable to anyone else? I am not as accomplished as the other authors. What if no one appreciates my writing style? (The only time I don’t appreciate your writing style is when it’s a “Honey Do” list. Maybe add a little more description?) What if I share this post and no one buys the book?
As is usually the case, none of my worries came true. I received so many kind comments about the book and my chapter. One friend read the book and bought a copy for her granddaughter. I can’t imagine higher praise. (I’m holding out for the pop-up picture version)
To be honest, until launch day, reaching Amazon best seller status sounded nice, but wasn’t crucial to me. As the day went on, I realized it was really important to me. Thank you everyone for making it happen.
If you are interested in buying the paperback, please reach out to me directly. The book price on Amazon is $24.95, but I will sell it for $20. No need to keep giving the money to amazon! If you are looking for a speaker, my co-authors and I are great options. Comment on this post if you want to discuss speaking engagements.
Thanks to everyone for helping me reach a “52 To Do” of being a published author and getting to add best selling author to my list.
The book I co-authored, Joy@Work: When Women Lead, is now live on Amazon!
I would greatly appreciate your help!
We are working hard today to achieve Amazon best seller status. To help me and my co-authors achieve our goal, we have reduced the Kindle price to just 99 cents today only!
This is for the 99-cent Kindle version, which we have priced just for this Kindle launch. Whether you read Kindle versions of books or not, your purchase of the Kindle version will really help us out, and you can read Kindle books on all smartphones, tablets, and even on your computer! And if you really want the paperback version, buy them both!
If you have trouble buying the Kindle version through the link above, just look it up online at Amazon.com. If you look it up on the amazon website, you need to type it as Joy@Work When Women Lead. Be sure to use the @ symbol, not the word “at.”
You may also copy and paste this link into your browser:
Please take advantage of this today, preferably in the next few hours.
Also, if you know anyone else who could benefit from this empowering anthology about women’s leadership, then share this email and link with them. I would greatly appreciate it, and I’m sure they would too!
I am VERY behind in writing this blog. I didn’t realize how much catching up at home there would be when we returned from our trip. Things are calming down a bit now and I am making the time to write. I was with a friend recently, Patricia Weinzapfel, who reminded me, that as women, we have to make it a priority to do the things that bring us joy, feed our souls, and renew our spirits. Writing checks all of those boxes for me. (and all this time I thought it was me…..)
Which leads me to this week’s To Do. Last fall, I was approached by JoDee Curtis about co-authoring a book with her and four other women authors. The book, Joy@Work; When Women Lead, is an anthology offering wisdom from accomplished senior-level women professionals and entrepreneurs who share their experiences and proven strategies for embracing your authentic strengths, fostering resilience, and creating thriving work environments filled with genuine purpose.
Presenting AuthorJoDee Curtis writes about finding your superpowers and learning from the superpowers of others. JoDee is a proponent of the Clifton Strengths Assessment to help you find your superpowers. This assessment defines your top 5 signature themes and helps you discover what they mean for you. I will be honest, I took this assessment years ago, read it and then put it aside. As part of writing our book, I pulled the assessment out of my file. It was very insightful. 4 of my 5 themes are in the Strategic Thinking domain. It very much aligned with my need to learn and to plan. While my husband is very much a “winging it” kind of person, I am more of planner. (She has a spreadsheet for everything!) JoDee also shares some experiences from working with the incredible Roxy Baas. Roxy was an inspiration to me in my career. Roxy was a bold and confident trailblazer. She worked her way to the top of the accounting field at a time when it was heavily dominated by men. “Wish I could be more like Roxy” was something I thought often. (Heck, I’d like to be more like Roxy!)
Jill Lehman writes about the dangers of allowing your career to drift when you don’t make “you-powered” choices. From my own experience, I find my life and my career to be more satisfying when I am exerting control over my decisions.
Just is the title of MeChelle Callen’s chapter. Just is a very limiting 4 letter word. We diminish ourselves when we qualify our accomplishments with this word.
“I just authored one chapter of the book.” Nope, I am the co-author of a book.
“I’m just a small fish in a large pond.” Small fish can make big waves.
“I’m just a mom.” You are the most important person to your child!
Don’t minimize your impact, your accomplishments or your goals.
Powerful is the word I would use to describe Gretchen Schott’s chapter. The first two sentences stole my breath. Choosing to process loss by focusing on joy and love had to be tough. She writes about feeling exhausted and doubting her capacity to feel joy. Leading with love requires bravery and vulnerability. But I think leading with love also provides the most capacity to inspire others to feel their own worth.
The Word of the Year for 2020 was Resilience. Sarah Turner’s chapter, Joyful Resilience: A Productive Response to Life examines the positive impact of developing the skill of resilience. Flexing the resilience muscle helps us better respond to challenges in life. When we face challenges with commitment and the belief we can influence the situation, we are more likely to succeed, and also greatly reduce our stress level during the challenge. Sarah also talks about the need to say ‘no,” something the editor tells me I need to practice.
My chapter is titled All’s Well That Ends. I write about the three stops on my career journey and the tools I used to move forward from each ending. Retirement is an exciting end to a career… a time when WE make the decision to step away from work and focus on our personal goals and bucket lists. There are times in our careers (and in life) when good things end before we are ready for them to be over. There are also times in life when things that were once good for us slowly evolve into something that no longer is best for us. No matter where you are on your career or life journey, when things end, I encourage you to look back on the joy you once felt and use that as a launching point for continued growth, satisfaction and even deeper future joy.
Writing a book has been a 52 To Do bucket list item for me for a very long time. Collaborating on this book was the perfect introduction to the process. I would not have known how to find a publisher and editor on own. I am so thankful that JoDee already had these established relationships to guide me as I wrote.
I do have a favor to ask of my readers. You may not know this, but the success of a book is very often determined by what happens in the first hours and days of the book’s release. In order to impact more people with our message, our publisher and we (all 6 authors) are aiming for Amazon bestseller status for this anthology. To accomplish this, we are doing a special Kindle launch starting Tuesday, July 29th at 11 AM Central.
I would greatly appreciate it if you will help the launch by buying a copy of the Kindle version on that date. PLEASE do not purchase the book in advance. And to make it easy, we are going to set the Kindle price at only 99 cents!
(By the way, whether you read Kindle versions of books or not, your purchase of the Kindle version will really help out—and Kindle versions are readable on any computer, tablet, and smartphone!)
So please mark your calendar for the official launch on Tuesday, July 29th at 11 AM Central time. I will post again on July 29th with a link to buy the Kindle version. Again, it will only cost 99 cents.
After the book launch, the blog will return with more stories of our time in Europe. I really appreciate all the positive comments I have received on previous posts. I hope they have inspired you to add some new destinations to your bucket list.
As always, comments from Paul/my husband/the editor are in bold
One of the great parts about our trip is when family and friends come over from the U.S. to visit us. No offense to other visitors, but our daughter, Bailey, the most important visitor of all, (I’m pretty certain that includes me) arrived on April 27th. I knew I missed her, but didn’t realize how much until I started crying when I saw her at the airport.
When traveling across time zones, we find it best to fight through the time difference on day one. While Bailey had already been awake and travelling for two days, she was a trouper and stayed up until French bedtime. Since she needed to keep moving, we decided to visit the Domaine Weinzaepfel winery on her first day. The 70,000 bottles produced every year by Domaine Weinzaepfel are served in Michelin starred restaurants in France. It is always a treat for us to get to enjoy a bottle (even more of a treat to go to the cellar, built in the early 1600s, and drink more than one bottle.) Our French cousins Mark, Kathy, Audrey and Loic Weinzaepfel gave us such a warm welcome. Wine tastings here are fantastic as the wine is outstanding and Audrey provides so much helpful background information about the winery, the grapes, and the wine making process.
Mark Weinzaepfel, Paul, Me, Audrey Weinzaepfel and Kathy WeinzaepfelWine fermentation vessels
Beautiful wine barrel
All new visitors must visit Paul’s favorite village, Kaysersberg, so we headed there for a day. We returned to my favorite hiking trails at Lac Vert. We also visited the town of Ungersheim, from where the Weinzapfel family emigrated to the US. We wanted Bailey to be able to see this important part of our family history. (I really think her willingness to visit Ungersheim was less about family history and more about the boulangerie she had heard great things about.)
An afternoon stop at a cafe is a must.My favorite hiking trail.A Weinzapfel head stone at the cemetery in Ungersheim
On Wednesday, we visited another ferme auberge, Glasborn Linge. A ferme auberge, translated to English is “Farm Inn,” is a restaurant on a farm that serves farm to table meals. ( My favorite type of restaurant in France). We have dined at 3 in our travels, and the meals are always delicious and hearty.
This location was particularly interesting as it is situated in a World War I battle area. You can still see the impact of the war on the landscape with trenches and shell craters. We visited the Linge 1915 Memorial Museum. Over 6000 men died in the Battle of Linge. We hiked through the WW1 trenches. This was my first time to actually be inside a trench. The maze of trenches was very disorienting and made me a little claustrophobic. Imaging that men lived in these trenches during the war, with the constant threat of bullets, shells, and grenades, in the heat, cold and the rain…the misery is unfathomable to me. Every time I visit a sight like this, my heart hurts. When you visit a small town and read the names on a memorial to those lost in a war, you realize how many families lost multiple members, sons or cousins. Imagine a small town losing basically an entire generation of young men. Heartbreaking.
Thursday was on to happier thoughts as we visited a new town for me. Ribeauvillé Is a gorgeous village filled with flowering wisteria, a flowing stream, shops and cafes. All three of us did our best to help out the local economy by shopping.
I will let you decide who had the beer, who had the wine and who had the coffee
I am going to leave the rest of this week for next week’s blog, as those days are the start of our time in Germany.
New To Do’s this week:
Battle of Linge sites including the Linge 1915 Memorial Museum
Week 5 of our trip includes a special guest appearance by Paul’s cousin and my friend Jeanna. The three of us stayed in the charming town of Eguisheim, France this week. In the post about week 4, I mentioned that fans of musical theatre would be interested in this week’s post. Eguisheim is the inspiration for the town in the Disney Classic Beauty and the Beast.
The village fountain in Beauty and the Beast is modeled after this fountain in Eguisheim.
This was Jeanna’s first trip to France, so we revisited some of our favorite spots such as Schoenberg, Colmar, and Kayserbserg. We got 23,000+ steps the day we visited Schoenberg, a new record for the trip. We also had some new experiences. Hohlandsbourg Castle was a new stop for us. From the Castle, you have a fantastic view of the Vosges mountains and all the villages in the surrounding area. The museum is very informative. We visit castles often, but I learn something new with each new castle. (Since I am no longer allowed to pick up sticks to use as swords, I have taken to using the parapets of these castles to make proclamations. These proclamations are generally ignored by Kerrie.)
One of our typical picnic lunches while hiking, Please note the improvised wine glass,
Claude arranged a very special treat for us. Thursday began with a visit to a textile museum in Husseren-Wesserling. Claude, who knows everyone, arranged to have our tour guided by the museum curator before the museum opened for the day. I was so enthralled by the vibrant fabrics and the design process that I forgot to take photos. We then had lunch at Ferme Auberge du TREH. A meal in the French countryside, high in the Vosges mountains, never disappoints.
Alessandro was excited about our adventures this day.This was just the first course!
Another French Weinzapfel cousin, Jean-Luc, is the president of a hiking club in France. Claude knows how much we enjoy the outdoors and hiking, so he arranged for us to meet Jean-Luc to visit the camping chalet managed by his hiking club. The chalet includes rustic sleeping quarters, a full kitchen and showers for hikers to use as the traverse the gorgeous hiking trails in the area. (There are miles of trails through the mountains. They take you from village to village while passing WW1 trenches, dark forests and beautiful mountain views of the valleys below.) For any fellow backpackers out there, you know how precious a shower is after days on the trail We got to ride to the chalet in Jean Luc’s vintage Land Rover Defender 110.
Funny story…There was another man from the camping club there passing out egg cartons filled with eggs. The week before, his wife sent him to the store to get eggs. She said we need 24 packages. So, as any good husband would do, he brought back 24 dozen eggs. She meant 24 chocolate eggs for Easter for the kids and grandkids. Too funny!!
I got a wild hair and decided the three of us needed to head to the country of Liechtenstein. ( It’s fun to say if you use the same accent Sgt. Schultz used in “Hogan’s Heros”! Jeanna and Kerrie may disagree.) Liechtenstein is bordered by Switzerland to the south and the west and Austria on the north and the east. It is only about 62 square miles and is the 6th smallest country in the world. We visited the capital, Vaduz and Vaduz Castle.
And that ends another fantastic week. Thanks to Jeanna for joining us. It was absolutely wonderful to share this time and place with someone we love and to get a hug from someone from home.
For the most part, I am posting the blogs in date order. But today, I am going to go out of order with a special edition of My 52 To Do. Monday May 26th was Memorial Day in the United States. It is the holiday when we honor and mourn the U.S. military veterans who died while serving in the US Armed Forces.
In advance of our trip, Paul researched my Grandfather and his service in World War II. We have been deliberate on this trip to visit some of the places my grandfather was stationed during the war. We visited the city of Metz, France a town my grandfather’s unit helped liberate. Metz has been strategically important for centuries. Before World War II, the town of Metz had never fallen to invaders. German soldiers occupied Metz as part of the German occupation of France. The battle of Metz began In the fall of 1944, and for the first time in history, Metz fell. The men of the 95th Infantry Division were given the name “The Iron Men of Metz” in recognition of their courage and resolve during this ferocious battle. The American victory at Metz gave the Allies a path to the German western wall and ultimately, a route into Germany.
We also visited the beaches of Normandy. My Grandfather’s Division arrived in Omaha Beach shortly after the D Day invasion. Seeing the defenses the American, British and Canadian armies faced on D Day is awe inspiring.
Touring places my grandfather walked was a really moving experience for me. While I always knew he fought in the war, I never really thought about the many countries in which he was stationed, the cities he lived in, the battles in which he fought, the things he saw.
My grandfather survived the war. During our travels, we have visited several American cemeteries in Europe. We spent time at the cemetery where soldiers from the Battle of Metz are buried. The American Battle Monuments Commission does a beautiful job of maintaining the burial grounds. At all three cemeteries, we happened to be there late in the day when taps was played. If you can stand in a war cemetery, seeing the thousands of graves, while listening to taps and not cry, you are a tougher person than I am.
We visited the American battle sites in Normandy with a guide and six other travelers. Two of those travelers had come from the States to visit the grave of their great uncle, who died during the D Day invasion. I believe it was the first time any of the family had been able to come to France to visit the grave. While I know I will never see this family again, the look on their faces as they prepared to visit the grave is forever seared in my brain.
So this Memorial Day feels different to me. Paul and I have both had and have family members and friends who served/serve in the military. I like to think I am always mindful of their service, but I am not sure I have ever really told them thank you. To all who have served or who are serving, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t have the words to thank you for your courage and sacrifice. To those who paid the ultimate price, in the words of General George Patton “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived” ( Not much to say here …..and so much to say here. After researching Kerrie’s grandfather I had a better understanding of where her toughness and resolve comes from. He was forced to be a hard man because of hard times. God bless him)
As I am late in posting, today’s blog may leave you feeling that you have gone back in time…. back to Easter. Sunday April 13th is Palm Sunday. We attended church in Rouffach. I always think it is interesting to see how other countries/cultures celebrate familiar events. At our churches in the United States, worshipers receive palm leaves on Palm Sunday. In Rouffach, we carried various types of greenery decorated with colored ribbons. The pinks, purples and blues add a really festive look.
After Sunday lunch, we headed with Alessandro, Max and Lise to Colmar. The city is so beautifully decorated for Easter. Most of the towns and villages in Alsace have very elaborate Easter displays with flowers, eggs, bunnies and chickens. (…..and more eggs, bunnies and chickens. Then you walk another block and guess what? More eggs bunnies and chickens. I’m still a bit confused about the whole bunnies and chickens laying eggs together but who am I to question the life styles of small French animals. I’m also a bit perplexed as to where the egg trees come into the equation? It was just a confusing time for me.)
Monday was a real treat. We travelled to Germany to visit the thermal pools at Bad Bellingen. The spa includes one inside pool and two outside pools with thermal mineral water. The pools have various features like massaging jets along the walls, a lazy riveresque area that floats you along, lounge chairs in the water with massaging jets, and a thermal water shower. There is also a cold pool, which is supposed to be very good for you but felt like torture to me. The mineral water does wonders for your skin. We spent the entire evening at the spa. Floating in the thermal water while looking at the stars was so relaxing.
We spent a rainy Tuesday at the Eco Museum. For readers from Southern Indiana, think about the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial, on steroids. The Eco Museum is France’s largest outdoor museum. The museum consists of 80 buildings, set up like an Alsacienne village. The buildings are old buildings that have been moved to the museum from other locations. It is a fantastic way to learn about history and preserve these beautiful structures. We first visited the museum in 1991, and it has really been expanded since that time. ( Warning: to any of you that visit the museum, the billy goat is an asshole and doesn’t like it when you pet him. I had a similar experience with a potbellied pig, once but I don’t like to talk about it.)
Paul and I again found ourselves with a few unscheduled days, so we decided to venture to another new country…Austria. Salzburg was a 6-hour drive from our home base. Salzburg is an amazingly beautiful city. Paul is a master at finding interesting places to stay and we stayed at a fantastic boutique hotel the Bloberger Hof. For a very reasonable price, we had a two-story room. The first floor was a living room with a balcony overlooking the mountains. Up a spiral staircase, you enter the bedroom and bathroom. It was so spacious, and the views were outstanding. The hotel was conveniently located near a bus station, for easy and stress-free access to the center of town. While in Salzburg we visited the Salzburg Cathedral, including an organ concert, the gardens at Mirabell Palace, Hohensalzburg Fortress and did a bus tour to nearby Hallstatt.
The gardens at Mirabell PalaceThere are 4 organs of this size in the church. The music was amazing.
Hallstatt
I am not one who normally wants to do hokey touristy stuff, but we had to do the Sound of Music Tour. (There is nothing hokey about singing show tunes with a bus full of strangers!) We visited sites from the movie such as the location for the scenes filmed as the backyard of the Von Trap house, the gazebo for the famous 16 Going on 17 song, the church used in the wedding scene, and the fountains and arbor for Do Re Mi. (The best part of this was Kerrie reenacting the Von Trapp kids running through the arbor. I can only assume that none of them had a knee replacement.)
This house is was used for the backyard of the house in the movie.This is the church used for the wedding scene in the movieAnyone want to dance to I am 16 Going on 17!
While Salzburg had not been on my radar in advance of the trip, I highly recommend it. The city is absolutely beautiful with activities that would appeal to almost anyone. Music lovers will enjoy it as it is the home of Mozart. Musical theatre lovers can appreciate the Sound of Music sights. There is beautiful architecture, historical sites and great shopping.
That is a wrap on week 4.
New To Do’s
Relaxed in the thermal pools at Bad Bellingen
Visited the country of Austria, in particular the city of Salzburg.
Coming up in week 5, another site of interest for fans of musicals, another new country, and a new castle
I love birthday parties. It doesn’t even have to be my birthday. (It especially doesn’t have to be your birthday since you haven’t had a birthday, according to you, in almost 20 years.) I love the anticipation in advance of the party. I love hosting parties and all the preparation. I enjoy seeing the delight on the birthday person’s face as they are surrounded by people they love. Today is a VERY special birthday. Cecile Weinzapflen turns 105. You read that correctly, one hundred and five! (The story of her life is amazing. Living through one of the worst times in history in a place that saw more than its share of death and destruction, you could expect her to be a very bitter lady. But not Cecile, she is the epitome of love and kindness. Just being around her makes one a better person).
The celebration began with lunch and continued with cake and crémant (Alsacienne champagne).( Is anyone else catching this theme of Kerrie and wine?) A representative from the Mayor’s office stopped by to wish Cecile a happy birthday (She has been after the Mayor to replace the cobblestone street between her home and her favorite restaurant. Apparently the ride in her wheelchair is a bit bumpy.) She was surrounded by her daughter, granddaughter, great grandsons, other family members and friends.
Her smile was contagious as she enjoyed the delicious cake and the visits from so many who love her. It was a very special day, and Paul and I feel very honored to be included in the celebration.
At 105, Cecile spends every day with a smile on her face, especially when eating chocolate. We have been able to spend time talking about her trip to visit the United States and our previous visits to her. She is a delight!
New To Do this week:
Attend a 105th birthday party,
Paul, Kerrie, Cecile and Max
Cecile, Stephanie and Alessandro
Of course you have Domaine Weinzaepfel wine at a Weinzapflen birthday party
Saturday was an easy day around the house and then out to dinner for tarte flambe. Tarte flambe’ is an Alsacienne specialty. It is kind of like a flat bread pizza with ham and a white cheese sauce. You can make additions such as other kinds of cheese, onions and mushrooms. I am not a real cheese fan (basically a crime against humanity in France). (That also explains why you don’t think my jokes are funny) but I do enjoy a good goat cheese (chevre in French) so that was my selection. Delicious. I can’t believe I have been to Alsace 3 times before and have never had this??
Paul and I made our first trip to France in 1991. On that trip, we met our cousins Jean Jacque and Marie-Laure Weinzapflen and became instant friends. ( zay are zee best) We have stayed in touch over the years and have visited back and forth several times. They invited us for lunch on Sunday. Their friends Tonio and Rachel, who have become our friends, joined us. Marie-Laure sets a beautiful table and is an amazing cook. Jean Jacque always keeps the aperitifs and wine flowing. I often end up with the giggles after spending a day enjoying JJ’s drink selections! (I could tell you stories, as could anyone else who was trying to sleep in the same house) We had a fantastic afternoon catching up in person.
an aperitif
We mentioned to them that we had a few unscheduled days in the next week and were tossing around some ideas. Marie-Laure is Italian, and she jumped right in when we threw out the idea of visiting Italy. We were a little nervous at first. We speak zero Italian. Marie-Laure assured us we would be fine and helped plan the driving route and made a suggestion on cities to visit. So….after our very enjoyable Sunday lunch, we headed back “home” to pack for a three-night visit to Milan.
We (by “we” I mostly mean I) ( as conveyed by the numerous gasps and stifled screamsas well as the finger nail marks in the dash and the worn out carpet where the car manufacturer apparently forgot to install a brake for the passenger) wasnervous about driving into a large city like Milan so we made reservations at a hotel in a town just outside Milan and planned to use public transportation for our travels into the city. Our first challenge was to figure out how to acquire the necessary permit to drive through Switzerland (one must pay approximately $50 dollars each year to drive a car in Switzerland). Challenge Two was figuring out road signs first in Switzerland and then in Italy. Driving challenge three was that at this point in our trip, our car was still speaking French to us. We had not yet figured out how to change the language on the driving assist. Imagine driving 80 miles an hour in New York City with your car occasionally yelling at you in a language you don’t speak. (The car was just telling me that I might want to pull over and rest because I had been driving for so long. It just sounded so much more important in French. “ATTENTION!”) By the time we completed the five hour drive and arrived at the hotel, I needed a serious nap to reset my stress level. (apparently the word “nap” can be used in place of “large glass of Chanti”?)
We spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday exploring the beauty of Milan. We spent almost a full day visiting the Milan Cathedral. We went all the way to the roof top for some amazing views of the city, visited the crypt of St Charles and explored the archeological dig under the church. Another highlight of the trip was seeing Leonardo Di Vinci’s The Last Supper painting. Most of the other paintings in this church were destroyed in World War II (On a serious note, we all know that Hitler and Mussolini were frggen idiots, with over 65,000,000+ dead because of their actions, but I continue to be amazed at the amount of destruction they caused. Some of the most beautiful cities and villages in Europe completely decimated! Thousands of years of beauty destroyed in the matter of a few years. War is so stupid….)but they were able to preserve this painting by surrounding it with sandbags. We walked to many other monuments and sites in the city. On the drive home, we spent part of the day driving around Lake Como. Lake Como is a beautiful lake surrounded by picturesque Italian villages. It is so charming.
Model of the Cathedral in Milan
Look at the amazing architectural detail
Lake Como
After three weeks away, Friday was laundry day. It is also the day that Christianne, Stephanie, Stephanie’s sons Max and Alessandro, and Max’s girlfriend Lise all arrive at the Rouffach house to prepare for a very special event on Saturday. There will be more about that in my next post.
I had not seen Stephanie in person in 23 years. Being able to hug her and see her smile in real life was a really special feeling. Stephanie prepared a delicious meal Friday night, and we all stayed up past midnight reminiscing about our past times together and catching up on life. It was the perfect end to the week.
As usual, comments from Paul/The Editor are in bold
New things this week: Visited a new country -Italy and the cities of Milan and Lake Como
The 3 towers date back to the 11th and 12th centuries and are now a ruin. All 3 castles were destroyed in 1466. This area is part of a longer hike that includes two other castles. We hope to do that hike a little later in our visit. (I’ve learned it irritates my wife when I run around with a stick for a sword and act like a knight. I think it was the second time I poked her and threatened her with cutting off her head that it began to wear on her.)
On Sunday, we attended the Gregorian mass at St. Anne of Thierenbach. The church is really beautiful, but my favorite part is the ringing bells to start mass. Paul and I know very little French ( I am learning) so we can’t understand the sermon, but we can sing along with the Gregorian chants. My hope is that I can understand a sermon by the end of our trip.
Monday was a really special day. We visited with Cecile again and we had dinner with another cousin, Claude Weinzapflen. Claude is the French cousin responsible for our family reunions in France and the visits of our French family to the reunions in the states. He spends countless hours ensuring the French and American sides of the Weinzapflen/Weinzapfel family stay in touch. I hope he knows how much this is appreciated.
As I mentioned in the post about our first week, week 2 involves train travel. Our cousin Max lives in Lyon and is about to conclude his studies there. We made a quick, two day trip to see his place before he finishes the semester and moves to Paris. We made the trip by train which was absolutely wonderful. I LOVE train travel. It is economical and mostly stress free. Paul and I had to relearn how to navigate the French train system, and we killed it! (The “killed it” part kind of concerned me here. These are high speed trains travelling in excess of 300 kilometers per hour. All I could imagine is Elka the family milk cow standing on the track, and its curtains for the Kerrie and Paul show.)
Max and his college roommate Hugo took us to a great Lyonaisse restaurant called Chez Paul. The first course consists of 7 salads served family style. The salads include:
mustard potato salad (my favorite),
black eyed peas
pickled herring
green lentils
beets
cooked ox muzzle ( Not really an ox muzzle, probably the face of Elka the milk cow after getting hit by a high speed train)
pickled calf’s foot ( I tried but I couldn’t do it. The texture just didn’t work for me.)
Each person selects their own main course. There are three desserts, again served family style. The meal was delicious but SO MUCH FOOD.
Our second day in Lyon was spent touring the city, mostly in the old town area. We had lunch overlooking the city, toured the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere and rode the steepest subway in Europe.
I know everyone returns from Europe with photos of beautiful churches, and I know that photos don’t really do them justice, but this is absolutely stunning. It always mystifies me that buildings like this could be built without today’s technology and equipment.
We spent Thursday doing a hike around Rouffach. We hiked through vineyards, visiting shrines and a little chapel along the way. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed a picnic at the chapel. The number of religious shrines along pathways in the rural countryside fascinates me. I would love to know the history of each one. Did the person have the shrine built in honor of an answered prayer or as a request for safe passage on a journey?
Shrine near Rouffach
Friday was spent touring the Chateau de Haut-Koenigsbourg. I am not going to bore you with a million photos of a castle, but…
The scope of buildings like this is just incredible. The castle was originally built in the 12th century and restored at the beginning of the 20th century by German Emperor Wilhelm II. I love walking around buildings like this and imaging what life was like for the original inhabitants. Was it miserably cold in the winter and hot in the summer? How many servants did it take to keep the kitchen running and the residents fed? How many attacks on the village were thwarted by the safety provided by this castle? (apparently the grounds keepers pick up all the sticks at this castle)
That wraps up week 2 of “My 52 To Do.”
New adventures this week
3 Chateaus hike in Eguisheim
Visited Lyon
Tried new foods like pickled calf’s foot and oz muzzle
Paul and I found ourselves with a few unscheduled days so Week 3 includes visiting a new country. I hope you enjoy following along.
My52ToDo.com 