So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

Grüezi,

We're at a loss for words right now, as it is our last day in Deutschland slash (actually) in der Schweiz, which means that this is our last blog post of a lifetime. #weknowyoullmissus #wealreadymissustoo

Today we spent the day with Idalia's Oma, the woman with the best laugh in Switzerland. We had a long morning of packing and listening to music and then went on a nice long walk with Idalia's Oma. We happened upon this weird lookin' (but awfully cute) goat:

#wewantone

On our way back home, Idalia's Oma decided it was time to surprise a family friend by bushwhacking her way through the shrubbery in the backyard of his house and then jumping down a wall to get on his level. #agileOma #shedoesgymnastics #itshersecret

We followed behind, not quite as stealthily and then had the quickest visit ever (aka just had enough time to say hello and get three kisses on our cheeks). It was really nice to see a glimpse of Edgar, next time in New York!! 

#thankscandidphotographerZia! #employher #shecapturesthefinestmomentsinlife

We finally made it back home and decided it was time for some serious card playin' and we whipped out the Elferspiel. After the first two rounds where Idalia kicked some serious butt (she takes all games, especially card games, very seriously... "too seriously" according to Zia and others, including Idalia), Idalia's Oma gave Zia some strict advice. She said in German, "win this game!" Zia followed through and won the next two rounds #cantsaynotoanOma

Look how happy we are despite all the card game tension!

Then, Idalia's Oma took us out for a really nice dinner at a restaurant where they have two different menus: one "normal" one and one that's completely vegan, including desserts! We both got some classic Swiss Rösti (the Swiss version of hash browns) and soon our bellies grew.

Now we come to the hard part. Saying goodbye... 

Before we leave you forever, we want to leave you with some of our Take Aways from our trip:

1. We're great travel partners! Here we come, the rest of our lives together! 

2. Things would have been more beautiful in the Summer, but Winter rocks for Glühwein, among other things too.

3. Fact: everyone in Germany is in a relationship (besides our cardboard husbands...well now they are).

4. And they love PDA. Couple of all ages (seriously, all ages) in Germany make out anywhere and everywhere, always and all the time forever and ever in public always.

5. Zia loves swans. A lot! She also loves taking photos of them. A lot! In her defense, they are good models.

6. Idalia has sharper canines than Zia, but Zia can roll her r's. 

7. Our Oma's are amazing and super funny too. Yay being able to finally communicate with family!! 

8. It's normal for people our age (and older) to stay out past 6am! Whaddahuck?!

9. Discount shoe stores are all the rage in MG and in the Netherlands.

10. Shoe stores (not discount) are the rage everywhere else.

11. We have great siblings who are both interesting tour guides, though they have very different styles.

12. People here eat so much bread, cake, and tons of cookies all the time, for every meal and in between! But, here's the tricky part, no one is overweight!

13. Zia steals the blanket and Idalia showers first.

14. We don't want to leave, but we are going to be driven to the airport tomorrow, so we don't really have a choice, unless we #takeourchocolateandrun 

"The small child and her loving grandmother"

Thanks so much for reading, we've had a ton of fun and we hope that you have too! 

Tschüßli, Küssli, Nüssli,

Zidalia

Word of the Day:

Tschüss = Goodbye

Wir müssen jetzt Tschüss sagen. Tschüss zu Altstädte, Deutschland, und der Schweiz. Tschüss zu Alkohol mit Abendessen. Tschüss zu immer auf Deutsch reden und auf Deutsch schlecht schreiben und nicht zu verstehen (Fall in Punkt). Tschüss zu unseren Omas, Tanten, Kusinen, Freunden, und Geschwister. Tschüss zu vielen Zugfahrten und zu unsere Gepäck. Tschüss zu der besten Schokoladen und zu Haselnussmilch, wir werden das Essen und Getränke am meisten vermissen. 

These are our last words

Happiness is having an empty bladder

BREAKING NEWS:

We're in love, but not just any love, true love backwards!

Hello World, 

Today we started off by going to the Freitag tower, a store of recycled bags made from old trucks. The actual store is also a bunch of freight containers stacked on top of each other, which you can then walk to the top of to see an awesome view of Zurich. We also checked out the garden next to it and saw some really innovative containers for growing plants (the garden is much more beautiful in the summer, but totally worth seeing now too). Then we walked through a bunch of cool streets and met up with Idalia's friend, Corinna, a flight attendant extraordinaire with the softest looking hair in town! 

Corinna showed us all around the city. We walked by the lake, in the old part of Zurich, and also by the university which had this great view:

We then got coffee with Corinna and discovered the newest, coolest thing: HAFER MILCH (aka oat milk). To kick your coffee up a notch, try Hafer Milk, a sweet and delicious milk substitute that will warm up your tummy! #oatmealandcoffeeinone #inagoodway #butactually 
Coming to the states soon...we hope. #dreamscancometrue #makeithappenamerica 

Spending time with Corinna was so great, we just couldn't say goodbye! So, after dinner with Idalia's Oma back at Ragadagadingsdorf, we headed back out to see her again, this time moving to a bar setting. She showed us two really cool bars. It was the first time for both of us seeing the Zurich night life, but we couldn't come back tooooo late since we had to make the last S-Bahn at 00.09. 

It was so nice seeing Corinna, hopefully it won't be too long until we see her again. Maybe next time in Las Vegas, California, or even Laos! 

Goodbye for the penultimate time (we know, we know, we're crying too).

-Zidalia

Word of the Day:

Der Szeni: Hipster (in Zurich)

Es gibt viele Szenis in Zürich. All Szenis haben geil Fahrräder, eng Hosen, und große Brillen. Wenn man einer Szeni ist, man kann dass nicht sagen. Es gibt viele Szenis in Oberlin auch, aber das Wort "Szeni" ist nur in Zürich Deutsch. In Oberlin und Amerika, heißen Szenis "Hipsters."

What does the fox say?

 Ladies and Gentlemen,

The picture you've all been waiting for....the most breathtaking and stunning picture of the trip has finally been taken. AND HERE IT IS: 

The crowd goes willlld with excitement! WE ARE KNOCKING ON CEMENT. anyone hommme? 
So actually today we were planning on going to Mt. Pilatus, but then Switzerland decided that the cheapest way to get there would cost over 50 Francs per person. Aka way too much. #wearentmadeofgoldyaknow. #booo #lovethatdollatofrancratio #justkiddingwehateit #lookitupandcrywithus

Instead we spent the day walking around Lucerne, a beautiful city about an hour away from Zurich with a view of the alps (at least when it's not super foggy).  

While walking around we made a discovery. It turns out that Zia's favorite chocolate place (which she has never gone inside of) is L'occitane, a really nice lotion place. Turns out Zia thinks that every place with a french name sells chocolate. #mindblown. In case you don't know how to pronounce it, here's some helpful instructions we found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpz_4S3ohZw

We also found this lion chillin in a piece of rock. 

 #noughsaid 

You know that feeling when you're getting coffee and a pastry and you suddenly stop and think, "I could really go for some hiking gear right now?!" Well, you're in luck because Tchibo is the hottest coffee store/bakery/dog apparel store/sportswear store/yoga accessories store/expensive jewelry store in town! So, if you ever need a weird combination of caffeine and high class shopping, you know where to go. Lucky for you, they are all over Switzerland and Germany! 

While we were walking on one of the many bridges in Lucerne, we learned another thing about Zia's math skills as a boy walked past her, changed directions and she exclaimed, "That boy just did a 160 on me!" #thatsnotright #idaliashouldalwaysbeinchargeofmath 

Idalia tried to imagine what turning 160 degrees might actually look like and did almost half a turn while erupting in laughter. #atleastwecanlaughaboutit

P.s.- this is our jam today. #Idalias6thgradersshowedherit 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE

-Zidalia

Word of the Day:

Die Rübe: beet

Heute Abend haben wir Rübensalat gegessen. Idalia's Oma hat gesagt, dass sie "Rote Bete" heißen. Ein anderes Wort für "Rote Bete" ist "Rübe." Wir haben die Rübensalat mit Kümmel gegessen. Es war sehr lecker. Wir haben auch Kartoffeln, Blumenkohl, Kohlrabi, und Reis mit Tomatensauce gegessen.  Danke Idalia's Oma für das lecker Abendessen! 

~The Day of Goodbyes and (kind of) New Beginnings Part 3~

#bagsarepeopletoo #theydeservetheirownseat

#beginningof7hoursoftrain #whatshappeningwithourmouthsandhands

#theresnoaftertrainpic #pajamalife #thegoodlife

Hello World!

Today was less of a hello day and more of another sad goodbye day (though the day itself was less of a goodbye day and more of a train day). Idalia's lovely sister, Sophia, escorted us to the train station in Mönchengladbach and saw us off this morning. She even got to see Zia's failed attempt to sit in a fold-down seat when the seat was up, so Zia just slid right on down to the ground. Sophia's horrified face was the last glimpse of her we saw before the train started moving. Tears of laughter and sadness filled all of our eyes. 

Our second train of the day, which began with Zia's enthusiastic comment, "and seven hours later, we're there!" led us to our next goodbye. A couple hours in, we had to say Auf Wiedersehen to Germany. Forever. Well, hopefully not, but at least for now. We also waved to Kara again when we stopped in Karlsruhe, we hope she got our telepathic hello and that our waves were grand enough for her to see, wherever she might have been. 

On our train we also had a HIMYM moment. A middle aged American lady was sitting across from us and at one point said "I don't even know how to open this door." It was an "Oh, Honey" situation. We were more concerned about her situation and her meeting a mysterious colleague that she had never seen before than about our travels this whole month. 

There were some happy goodbyes today too! We finally said goodbye to the drool-inducing sleeping bag that we'd (Zia) been carrying around with us since last time we were in Zurich. We also got to say shalom to our wet towels that we had borrowed from Idalia's Oma and that had never seemed to completely dry after we had used them the first time. #moisture #wettowelsinsuitcasesnotagoodidea 

Best of all, we got to say goodbye to lugging around our fifty pound suitcases on trains in Germany and Switzerland during rush hour. Not gonna miss that one. 

So, a big hallöchen once again to Idalia's Oma and die Schweiz. #hicows #hialps #hichocolate #hhiiiiiiiiiiiii 

Get ready for (dare we say) the most stunning and breathtaking selfies of us thus far on tomorrow's post! The beauty might not be just because of our faces.... #foreshadowing #hints #canyoufigureitout?! #COMMENT

-Zidalia

Word of the Day:

der Bauernhof = Farm

Heute, am Zug, haben wir über Bauernhöfe gesprochen. Letzter Sommer, haben wir an einem Bauernhof in Vermont gearbeitet. Wir lieben den Bauernhof sehr viel. Die Bauern sind fantastisch und jetzt sind sie unsere Freunden. Wir wollen unsere eigenen Bauernhof mit Hühner und eine Kuh haben. 

MG, the city that never sleeps

Hello again from MG,

Today your favorite bloggers had another tearful goodbye. Kara left us this morning after some romping around in MG. We hit up all the classic spots, the Alter Markt, the pedestrian zone which cars can actually also go in, the famous church with no doors that work, and Mr. Vuong for lunch. #goodpeoplegoodfood #lastdayhere

It was so wonderful to spend more time with Kara today! We had some really lovely conversations and felt so sad to see her go. #we'llmissyou. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Germmmannny! 

The rest of the day we spent some nice quality time with Sophia. Had some lunch, did some grocery shopping, watched some HIMYM, and got into our pajamas early! Thank you so so much for having us in your small, but really lurvely home with the space heater, hand-held shower in the biggest bathroom in the world, and small twin bed that's not really made for two people. It's been so nice to get to spend time with Sophia and see her as a true European woman, livin' it up in Deutschland. #sisterlylove #Ziatoo #wecanallbesisters

Three cuties, one bed

Love from the pajama world,

Zidalia

Word of the Day:

die Fremdsprachenassistentin = Foreign Language Assistant

Sophia und Kara sind Fremdsprachenassistenten in Deutschen Schulen. Sie arbeiten vierzehn Stunden in einer Woche. Sie arbeiten in verschieden Klassen mit vielen Studenten.  Die Studenten und die Fremdsprachenassistenten lernen sehr viel. Kara und Sophia werden  gute Lehrerinnen!

That's My Middle Name, Danger *wink*

Halli Hallo!

Today we country hopped. Unlike bar hopping, it involved more train rides and more languages, but just like bar hopping, it involved a lot of peeing and required no passports. We went to the Netherlands!!! 

But, before we got there, we stopped in Aachen, a quaint little town by the border of Germany and the Netherlands. On the train there, Kara thought she struck gold when she saw a closed bottle of beer on the shelf above our heads on the train. Zia found out the hard way that there were only, in fact, a few drops of beer left in the bottle. They ended up on Zia's pants, but this time it wasn't her fault! #westillloveyouKara #Ziasjusthappyitwasnther

After that, we spent a good hour reminiscing about stories involving throwing food, soda explosions, and weird sister sleeping stories. #youlearnnewthingseveryday #cryingoflaughter #everysingledayforIdalia #Americansareloud #dontworrywewereinthetalkingcompartmentonthetrain

When we got to Aachen, we walked around and saw some sweet statues, checked out a chocolate and cookie store (one of the few stores actually open on a Sunday #religiousGermany #stillneedthatchocolate), and saw the main attraction of Aachen: the holiest church with the most beautiful and not too over-the-top mosaics. As we were walking out, we noticed the light coming through the window and our lives changed forever. 

#soakinupthesun #HOWISTHISREALLIFE?!

On the way back to the train station, we ran into these bad boys chillin' on this fountain. They asked us if we could join them and we soon each saw ourselves in one of them. We became one with the fountain. 

#temporaryexhibition #limitededition #wishitcouldbepermanent

The second train ride of the day was just as eventful as the first. Our favorite quote was "mistletoe is the opposite of consent!" -Idalia Rose Bamert, who looked like a couch from the 1970s today. #goldvelvetshirt #checkitoutinthelastpic

Sophia cleverly added in that mistletoe is the opposite of consent in biology too since it's a parasite of trees, slowing sucking their life juices out of them (even though they look like disco balls in trees). #partynotparty

["Are you adding my joke about the mistletoe?! WOO!" -S Bamert]

Another highlight of the second train adventure was seeing a man wearing, we kid you not, wooden clogs. #inthenetherlands

Zia is a doll and Idalia is homeless

We spent the second half of our day in Roermond, a town in the Netherlands that none of us knew anything about, but ended up being the best city in the world. It had a church, a river, a cafe, and a gazebo (like the one in Stars Hallow #whaddupgilmoregirlsfans), what more could four American tourists ask for?! 

We like columns 

Not only is Dutch a sweet combination of German and English (and casually uses double a's in many words), we found the Netherlands to be a relaxed and welcoming environment, with really yummy peanut butter too! #oneuppedGermanyonthatfront #favoritenewcountry #butactually #westillloveyoutooGermany

We were able to cross off another thing on our bucket list (and Kara and Sophia's Germany bucket list too) on our last train ride of the day: TRAIN BEERS! You see, in Germany, you can drink ANYWHERE. On the street, on your way to work, riding your bike, and even on the train!

#mostlovingprostever #eyecontactiskey

We got back to Sophia's jank apartment and (kind of) collectively made the most dank fried rice ever. #Englishwordsoftheday 

It featured 1 Euro fresh tofu from an Asian market nearby. 'Twas insanely delicious. 

Tomorrow's our last day in da big MG! We'll try to pack in as much ridiculous German TV as possible. 

Less than one week left of blog posts! #cryingourselvestosleep #weknowyouaretoo

Love your sentimental bloggers,

Zidalia

Word of the Day:

fremdschämen = to be embarrassed by your friend(s)

Einer Freund Idalia's hat ein Wort auf English erfunden. Das Wort ist "yully" und man kann "to be yulled out" auch sagen. Aber, Deutschen haben eines Wort mit der gleicher Bedeutung wie "yully" schon erfunden. Das Verb ist "fremdschämen." Wir finden, dass das Verb sehr praktisch ist und wir brauchen es jeder Tag. Danke Deutschland! 

Schlager Musik

Hi you,

We're back from our long day trip in Düss Düss (a.k.a Dusseldorf). About 30 minutes from MG, this beautiful Stadt is a wonderful location for some casual sightseeing! And that's exactly what we did, soaking up the sun as we walked all over da city. 

 This ^ is a beautiful (NON-selfy) of your fav gals. Check out the Flossies (people climbing on the building) behind us! We even found some manicured trees for Idalia to mimic. She does a spot on impression, wouldn't ya say? 

After the river side jaunt and a walk around the bustling Alt Stadt, we stopped for a delish vegan lunch- complete with hazelnut milk coffee and vegan chocolate cake.

#fourgirlsonewindycity #Idaliasheadisn'treallythatmuchbiggerthanZias #perspective #duh

We then made the mighty trek to a local brewery. After some disapproving looks from our  large German man waiter, we got these nice Alt beers. This picture was taken right before Idalia and Zia's fatal high five, which Zia took *a little* too far and ended in tragedy when her beer spilled all over her and the floor. No one seemed to mind the mess on the floor, they must be used to it. And no one seemed to mind the mess on Zia either, we must be used to that too. 

#altbeer #classicdussduss 

Despite the great day, the highlight was an unexpected TV show featuring the best Schlager artists of 2013. For those of you who don't know german, Schlager is a popular pop genre of music that's completely over the top from costumes, to sets, to creepy dancing snowmen and human jelly fish floating in the air. And some badly dubbed over Harlem Globetrotters between some river dance and a 6 Lederhosen-wearing-men boy band. #onemantoomany #don'tyouknowitssupposedtobe3-5men? #boybandrules 

An added bonus of the show, was the host who was actually a neck/pinky finger sporting a leotard under a blazer showing off his hour glass figure and completely waxed chest/neck who also seems to be dating one of the performers who wore a hot pink sparkly alien jump suit. Don't believe the tabloids, they aren't actually married. #EVERYONEINGERMANYISINARELATIONSHIP.  

Still watching- can't talk long. DJ BoBo just came on. #hopeitneverends.

-Zidalia

Word of the Day:

Das Treberbrot: Brewer grains bread

Das Restaurant, wo wir haben Bier getrunken, hat Treberbrot auch. Wir haben den Kellner gefragt was Treberbrot ist. Er hat gesagt, dass sie Treberbrot von Bier machen. Er hat auch ein Treberbrot zu uns gezeigt. Es sieht lecker aus, aber wir haben das nicht probiert. Wir haben kein Hunger und Zia hat ihrer Bier ausgeschüttet.