Bon Voyage!

So we couldn't believe it. Our amazing Swiss adventure has come to an end.

The "plan" had been to stay through Summer, 2012, but a new job opportunity presented itself for me back in San Francisco, so, 6 months early, we turned in our tram passes, packed our bags (oh, and all our stuff), and asked our renters to kindly find another house to live in. This all started back in early October, and now, sitting here just shy of the New Year in Eric's childhood home in Ohio, the transition is almost over - or is it??...

The last three months have been a whirlwind. I started the new job November 1st - and spent the month of November in San Francisco getting familiar with my new team and all of the new job responsibilities. And if San Francisco alone was not enough, there was also a trip in the middle to Singapore to meet with my boss' new leadership team. The hotel was insane, like you can only find in Asia: an infinity pool 56 floors high, with a stunning view of the Singapore skyline! And while in the neighborhood I also tucked in a weekend in Kuala Lumpur to visit fellow expats Sooze and Didi, which included a crazy night of ABBA music and drag queens (you won't see any pictures of that...). And last but not least, on the way back to Switzerland I tucked in a quick detour to Kentucky to meet my new work group there. I was wiped.

Eric, meanwhile, held down the fort in Basel, making sure the kids got through school and activities with a minimum of issues (there are always issues, it seems), and at the same time organized the house for being packed up and shipped out. By early November, the whole house was cleared out and replaced with temporary furniture and kitchen items, all of our stuff put on a boat and (hopefully) reaching California by the end of December so it will be ready to unpack when we move back in. He then had to tackle exiting the international school, entering the schools back in California (where are those immunization records? Did they get put in the shipment?); organizing how we will time our "air shipment" (last items we kept with us that would be too big to take in suitcases), figuring out how and when we turn in our car, taking care of what can be left behind in our house, what needs to be given away, thrown away, eaten, and on and on... He was wiped.

And the kids? They were excited to get back home. Though they waffled a little around early December as the reality really struck them, they were strong, managing the change really well. They said goodbye to their new friends, and are looking forward to seeing all their old friends when we get home.

Despite it all, our December was actually quite pleasant. We took a few trips to the Basel Christmas Market, drinking Gluehwein and Punsch, buying more Zwerges for mom's collection, and some beautiful star lights for our minimal holiday decorations back at our house (with the hope to add a European touch to our holiday decor back at home next year). We had a beautiful tree, kept many of our Christmas decorations to help soften the WHITE of the empty house, and with some cookie-baking along with chocolate-filled advent calendars from Oma, the holiday feel was quite complete.

We took advantage of our last few weeks in Basel with lots of walks through town and lots of museum visits to take advantage of our annual museum pass that we had neglected most of the year - anyone in Basel who hasn't been should go to the Papermill Museum: it is unbelievable, with lots of hands-on activities, fun for kids and adults alike! We were taking it all in - not with a feeling that we had "missed out" on doing it more previously, but a nice finish to complement all the great experiences we had had here over the last 21 months.

We also tucked in a week to go skiing again, back in St. Anton, Austria, back in the same charming hotel (the boys in robes, taking advantage again of the sauna). We hooked up again with the same ski instructor, Tom, who we had lessons with back in 2010. The weather was snowy, but the powder was amazing, and everyone had a really great time (ok, truthfully Eric had the crappy cold for 3 days, but he weathered it well, only missing one day of skiing - with that powder, how could he stay off the slopes!).

One of my goals, upon coming to Europe, was to try and learn to ski. So many of our friends at home are perpetually in Tahoe and I wanted to be able to keep up - so I promised I would take lessons, and if after a week I still hated it, I could at least say I tried. Tom was amazingly patient last year, teaching me from the very beginning; I was amazed to be back in the same place a year later, and hills that had terrified me were now totally manageable. I can't say I have perfect form - but I "get" what I am supposed to do, and have fun with the challenge of trying to do it better. I can now ski!!

Back in Basel we had friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve (with a turkey that literally had to be wedged into the little oven), and then a relaxing Christmas day packing it all up so we could get on a plane the morning of the 26th to come to Ohio. It actually took all day to wedge everything into suitcases and carry-ons that both met the airline limits and our ability to carry -it all seemed to have grown in volume and weight in the last few days!

And I had to include this picture of the kids on Christmas day - this year really felt like a shift from little kids to the beginning of our pre-teen to teen adventure - the laughing after this picture by the two of them must have gone on for minutes due to Bennett's positioning of his Kinder Egg - potty talk abounds in the Somerville household, and with two boys something tells me that it isn't going to end until they move out of the house...

The day after Christmas, before it was even light, we left our home of two years, got on a train to Zurich, and got all the luggage and us on the plane to arrive in Ohio that same day. It has been great visiting with Grandpa - with a highlight being a chance to test out the BB and pellet guns that he had from his childhood! We got a late Christmas present here of 3 inches of snow that provided lots of fun for the boys (all three of them). We really enjoyed visiting, and will be sad to leave Grandpa tomorrow as we complete our last leg to California. But the long journey will finally be over...

Over. I remember when we first arrived in Switzerland, I thought two years would take forever. Now it seems they went in a blink of an eye. We packed in fun and adventure and new experiences - a real lesson for life after this - but can't believe it is already over.

We have been told repeatedly that returning home is harder than leaving - it will be interesting to see how the transition transpires. We are trying to set a low bar - expectations of struggles at school, a few more squabbles between Eric and me,
distance from old friends, but in all truth we feel excited and expect it all to go great. The story is still to come...

And still on my list to do is a Bobby Flay-style "throwdown" between California and Switzerland - what will we miss? What are we happy to be back to? Stay tuned for our ratings of the best of both worlds, and how we manage the transition...

Amazing Egypt

Eric had always wanted to go to Egypt. He and his ex-sister-in-law had always talked about going together. I don’t think I had ever imagined going to Egypt because that is what “other people get to do”. I don’t know why, but somehow I grew up assuming I would never get or do special things in life: I would never own a convertible, would never own a house with a pool, never see the Taj Mahal, never live in Europe – and yet somehow, one after another, it has all happened. Because I have been surprised so many times now, it definitely seems that anything is possible!

Since we got to Switzerland, with it being only a 4 hour flight away, we put Egypt on our list to try and visit. We tried to go in October 2010, but due to no advance planning the costs were crazy expensive, so we made a point in January to book a trip for October 2011 during the kid’s school break. However, the timing of our plans did not serve us well: the country went ahead and had this "revolution" in February – fantastic for the people, but gave us pause – would it be safe by October, especially with our kids in tow? And it wasn't just us giving this consideration: my mom was not a happy camper, and called every week up until our departure begging us not to go.

But we were determined - how could we miss out on this opportunity to go while we were so close; we had heard stories of huge drops in tourism that the country so vitally depended on, and had heard stories of the locals taking care of tourists to ensure they come home with great stories of their visit to encourage their other friends to come. Even with a demonstration the weekend before that left 25 people dead in Cairo (our interpretation was an isolated religious incident), we packed out bags and headed out…

And let me just say here: we were right. Egypt is amazing, safe, and a place everyone should visit in their lifetime. The local people were so helpful and accomodating, and they desparately need your tourist dollars (or whatever currency you work in). Plan to go now, or figure out when you should go - our experience was so great and tapped so into the history of mankind on this planet, that you shouldn't miss out on this.

We started our trip in Cairo, and I would characterize it as the “anti-Switzerland”: dirty streets, piles of garbage, and numerous half-finished construction sites or just broken old buildings (our guide the next day told us that people purposely don’t finish their buildings but live in them anyway to avoid taxes). There is chaotic street traffic, with no defined lanes and pedestrians crossing freeways lane by lane as cars fly by. Honking is a national pastime – to let the other car know you are there, to just say hello – who knows. It is constant and actually rather charming – actually all of the chaos was calm and enjoyable. Eric and I both noted that it brought back fond memories of India – there is a strong and warm spirit that just makes you feel safe and somehow conveys an optimism in life…

The first night we hooked up with our guide, Mohammed, who took us to the old market – I have to say it might be one of the most special nights I have ever had. The comfortably warm evening, the warm spirit in the air, the beautiful trinkets and charms, the lights, the random call of the guys hawking all the stuff – pushy a little bit, but as Mohammed explained, if you just ignore them they go away. We stopped for mint tea, mango nectar, and pomegranate juice (complete with pomegranate seeds) at a historical old café, complete with men and women smoking on their water pipes. The kids loved it!

Mohammed walked us around, explaining the history, pointing out beautiful mosques and actually getting us in to a free marionette show. Eric even got a haircut and a shave – which Mohammed got really mad at the barber due to charging Eric an “tourist” price of ~ $17 instead of the $9 it should have cost – serves us right for not negotiating the price ahead of time!

I have to say, before we came, that I wondered if it would be safe going the the open market – what if someone set off a bomb? What if people tried to rob the obvious foreigners? But instead it was the opposite – Cairo is a huge city of regular people doing regular daily life kind of things – and yes we were tourists that stood out, but tourist stand out in San Francisco, too, no? Mohammed actualy said that Egypt is known for very little street crime – there are just not muggings and such as we find in the US. The revolution had nothing to do with tourists, and like we were told before we came, the locals want us to feel at home so we send our friends (and their wallets) over in short order.

After a great night’s sleep we met up with Mohammed again for a drive out to Giza to see the pyramids. If I remember correctly, there are 116 pyramids throughout Egypt, but we were going to see the “great” ones. Again, the whole time Mohammed is giving advice on how to avoid the annoying hawkers, and make sure we had a great time.

Albeit it was hot, and dusty, it was AMAZING! Just like the Taj Mahal, it completely exceeded my expectations – and the kids were loving every minute. Mohammed frequently took our camera from us and made us pose for pictures – he knew all the great angles and kooky shots. He wanted to ensure we had great memories of Egypt.

From the same location we drove down to the Sphinx – again, AMAZING! Mohammed showed us pictures in a book store afterward that showed how the Sphinx was discovered buried in sand up to his neck, and how archeologists have unearthed him since. It was all too good to be true, and rivaled the specialness of the evening before.

And if that was not enough, we then drove back to the hotel to walk across the busy streets (yes, between cars and lanes of moving traffic!) to the Egyptian Museum – where we got to see amazing artifacts, especially the treasures from King Tut’s tomb. We could not have asked for a better day!

Kudos go to Mohammed – great historical facts (I don’t think we found a single question he couldn’t answer), great advice, great pictures, fought to ensure things were fair and nice and comfortable for us the whole time – anyone who goes please let us pass on his name – he made the 1 ½ days in Cairo about 10X better than if we had done it alone…

That night we flew to Luxor, where the next day we met up with our next tour-guide George – nice, nice man, but Mohamed had really spoiled us… We went to the Valley of the Kings to view the amazing tombs of a few of the Ramses, and then off to a few temples – all 3000 to 4000 years old. I have to say Egypt should do a better job promoting tourism – the ruins here were mind-boggling older than anything in Rome, and in many ways mind-bogglingly better preserved. The magic, we discovered, is that there is no rain to be had in Egypt – so even though the pyramids are made of limestone, they have all not dissolved away as Cairo gets 1 day of rain A YEAR.

So Luxor was painfully hot – at least 38C, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was even hotter than that. Some of that wonderful street café food I had eaten in Cairo was starting to disagree with me (or maybe some stomach conflict with the Luxor hotel breakfast?), and with the mix of heat I could barely stand up by then end of the tour of temple #1. Eric and the boys felt great, and forged on, while I literally slept in the van. Now it crossed my mind that children kept in cars have died from the heat that builds up in there – and it did cross my mind that it might not be the best choice – but I had no other choice, as we had checked out of the hotel to fly that night to our next destination - and my body was not going to budge another inch. I survived – actually the sleep felt fantastic – and though I missed two great temples, Eric has the pictures to prove we were there. I see it as a reason to go back some day…

So that night we flew to Sharm El Sheikh, a resort town on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula that was quite reminiscent of the Canary Islands: hotel buffet, lounging by the pool, beach nearby…and we were not going to do ANYTHING. Time to start the complete relaxation: sleeping, eating, watching movies, lounging poolside… I was still suffering from a sort of toxic fatigue from whatever it was that disagreed with me, and even both boys had bouts with something that caused the offending food to come out top or bottom – but dozing half the day seemed just fine – after our world-wind tour schedule the first three days, I think we earned it. Karl and Bennett made sure to take full advantage of the game room, and Eric (who felt great the whole time) got in some good workout time. A good time was had by all.

But on day 4 of the relaxation schedule we decided to put in one more tour: an excursion to Petra, Jordan (just watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Now normally there is a flight tour from Sharm that takes you to Jordan and then by bus to the site – with the drop in tourism the flight has been cancelled, so the only choice is a bus/boat/bus tour that requires you to catch leg #1 at 4 am from your hotel. Being so close we couldn’t pass it up, and knew we could all sleep on the bus…

So with true things-go-wrong-on-vacation precision, Eric gets an email the day before saying that the pick up time has changed – TO 1:20 AM! Eric hits the roof on this, and is virtually cursing to the guy on the phone, who has no explanation, and eventually gets the hotel concierge involved as well.
Turns out the boat schedule is messed up due to some conflict with Israel (Jordan only has a tiny bit of coastline tucked between Israel and Saudi Arabia) or something like that – so 1:20 AM it is. In a strange twist of fate, I think this was really a blessing in disguise, as I told Eric that he should now just let everything go, and whatever was to happen the next day is what happens – no point in getting angry anymore. And so both of us gave in to the lack of process, unclear logistics and passport processing, and paid enough attention to know what bus/boat to be on so we were not left behind. I don’t know if all the tourists were so lucky…

I won’t bore you with the travel details, besides this fast summary: 11 hours to get there, 3 hours at Petra, and then 1½ hours for lunch only to do another 10 ½ hours to get home – and if you did your math correctly, you would know that we got in bed at 3:30 AM the next day.

Was it worth it? This is an interesting question, especially one month later. The long hours of boredom are faded memories; the frustration of waking up our kids for passport checks at midnight is long gone; it was in all truth a lot of hassle for three hours, but it was amazing to see and experience, and did get us a feel for a part of the world and a time in history that is different than Egypt and truly a special natural wonder. Will we go back again? Not likely...

So with that we did a few more days of relaxation before finally heading back to Switzerland that was starting to head into winter. It was an amazing experience, especially with Karl and Bennett, to see parts of the world we had never imagined ever experiencing before. It was a fantastic climax to all the travel we had done in the last year and a half. I am so thankful to Eric who diligently planned all the trips, and who kept the energy going to keep us traveling.

And ironically, as the picture from the Jordan bus ride shows the beautiful sunset, so too, our story is now starting to come to an end. We had just found out that I got a new position back in the US, and we would be coming home at the end of the year. What an amazing ride these last two years had been, from finding out we were coming, to now thinking about going home. How fast would these last three months be?

Family, Friends, and Memories

I once read an article about a couple in their 60s that were traveling the world. The man had made a comment about his life: he spent his 30s focused on making money; his 40s focused on "making"/acquiring things; his 50s focused on making friendships; and his 60s had been focused on making memories. I think Eric and I have put our 30s and 40s well behind us in this context (we have actually been trying actively to get rid of things!), and have definitely been cherishing our family and friends, while packing in a lot of memories!

August and September had been planned to be quiet - my mother was going to come to visit, but after trips to the US, Sweden and Norway (and a packed spring schedule) Eric and I left the rest of the summer empty. We knew we would be "traveled-out", and I would have a work trip to California in there as well. Just hanging out in Basel with the kids seemed like just the right prescription. But alas, as much as we love planning, one must always be ready to change plans to take advantage of great opportunities...

So it started with Eric. He has joined a group of "Housemen" here in Basel - due to the large ex-pat community, with many women sent here on assignments, there is a large group of men who stay at home to take care of the kids and to keep the households running. Ironically, being in "conservative" Switzerland, Eric finds it is much more acceptable to be a stay-at-home dad here. As work visas provide extra complications, no one asks him here when he is going to find a job - these housemen can have stay-at-home roles without a lot of expectation / judgement that something else has to come to validate their choice. It will be curious to see how this goes when Eric comes home...

Anyway, the Housemen were the first to break into our September calm - in late spring a trip was put on the calendar for the guys to take a weekend visit to Amsterdam. I was excited that Eric had a "boys" weekend planned, so seemed like a good reason to change our plans.

Next came Eric's visit to Ohio in July for the wedding of his ex in-law niece. Eric had been married before, and was very close to his ex-wife's family (with 12 brothers and sisters, there was lots of family to be close to!) At the wedding, Eric got invited to a final family hurrah at his ex brother-in-law's house in France before he sold it - everyone was going to come, and it could not be missed - put that one on the calendar for early September!

So now our quiet September included a trip back to California, a trip to Amsterdam, and a trip to France - what had happened? Ah, if it had only stopped there...

Jumping to August: my mother arrived to all of our delight. She had been having problems with her knees, and with all of our steps in our house we were really worried that she would cancel. Luckily the knee got better to get her here; unfortunately, it acted up when she got here. It did not stop us from getting a chance to show her Basel, but the best times were just visiting, cooking (she made 5 cakes in less than a week!), doing puzzles - hanging out with Oma was a real special treat for all of us.

We also tucked in a few visits with nearby relatives, the first being an excursion up into the Black Forest to visit my cousin/my mom's nephew and his family - meeting in Rottweil (home of the beloved dog) for a great traditional german meal. My mom was figuratively (and maybe literally...) drooling into her spaetzle with fresh pfifferlinge sauce (homemade pasta with chanterelles). It was awesome to have our third visit since being here with Michael and his family - it is always great to get together and connect.

It is interesting to note that I grew up with my family in California, but every living relative we had was in Germany. Back in my childhood, travel was beyond my family's means, so I grew up without seeing my relatives except for rare visits when they came to see the golden state. At the time I thought this was great - no boring visits to grandma and grandpa or distant aunts and uncles(remember, this was an era of kids being seen and not heard). Now I can imagine what was missed, but a nice outcome is that we all really cherish our visits together, and there is no historical baggage to weigh down the experience.

Next up in August was a last-minute planned weekend trip to my aunt, uncle, and cousins north of Frankfurt. An easy car ride with my mom brought us to a weekend of great food, demonstrations of police dog training from my cousin Antja (always a big hit with the boys - all three of them!), and a great visit with my other aunt and uncle who came down for Saturday lunch. It was great to see everyone - especially as my Onkel Klaus is having a difficult time recovering from heart surgery 9 months ago; my Tante Gerda is the inspiring vision at 85 going strong, despite her role rehabilitating her husband, and overcoming the loss of her daughter to cancer just a few years ago. I am so proud of the women in my family, and I hope I have inherited even a fraction of their energy, drive, and positive outlook in life so I too can stay fit and active well into my later years.

So then here comes another blow to our September calendar: my Tante Gabi and Onkel Gunter are going to Croatia for the month of September - can't we possibly come down and visit them on their sailboat? How could we say no? So now with the month positively overflowing...

Trip #1: Loubressac, France. We carved out a long weekend to join Eric's ex-relatives (20+ strong) in a visit of eating, hiking, catching up and card tricks...Loubressac lies on the edge of the Dordogne Valley - neither Eric or I had been here previously, but I have to say it is one of the prettiest places I have ever been to in France. Tiny medieval villages strung across rolling hills; this area is know as the "stomach" of France: one of our many hikes had the kids eating grapes on long forgotten vines, apples, blackberries, walnuts, pears; every morning our hosts, Ronnie and Ed had bags of fresh croissants and pan au chocolat waiting at each house. Ronnie is a professional chef, and so the event would not be complete without a special made dinner of duck breast and potatoes cooked in duck fat (they were so good that I said I was taking them to bed with me to sleep with...) - diet be gone!


The weekend was also special for the boys - a family friend also along on the trip took the time out to teach the boys their first card tricks - but in true magician spirit he showed them a few tricks where he refused to show them how it was done. This drove them crazy, but still left them with enough tricks to practice to keep them busy for a while to come... It was great to catch up with the Ferrato family, and we felt very honored to be invited to this family event.

Trip # 2: Punat, Croatia. We practiced our great "amazing race" skills on this one: I was returning from California, and met Eric and the boys in Zurich to catch our flight to Zagreb. We have had a bad set of luck lately with missing flights, mechanical difficulty, but we decided the risk was worth it, and Eric had instructions if I didn't make it to go without me...

But all worked out with Swiss precision. We made the flights, spent the night in Zagreb, and then got down to Punat the next day. We got two almost too-hot days that meant the only releif was to go in the water - which was amazingly warm (29C/85F)and amazingly clean. Going out on my aunt and uncle's sailboat was an amazing treat, getting to enjoy the Croatian coast line and swimming in a hidden cove. This was the way to live life...

On day 3 we had forecasts for rain, so said goodbye to the coast and my aunt and uncle and headed inland to Plitvice National Park - and our pictures can not do it justice. Eric thought it might be the most beautiful park he has been to in the world - turquoise water and endless waterfalls - it was unreal, and truly unexpected in this part of the world (not that I would not expect beautiful things in Croatia, but it seemed like we were in Hawaii...). The only downer was the rain - we had started the day avoiding the downpours in caves or shelters - by afternoon, coupled with the fact that we lost our way, we just had to keep moving despite the now constant downfall. Karl lost it - he broke down crying that his new shoes were ruined, with me and Eric ready to rip his head off as we needed to keep going. Promises of new shoes - multiple pairs! - finally got him through his low point and kept the family progressing to the car - we ended up driving with a tight timeline to get to the airport, all soaked to the bone. We drove in various states of undress to catch our flight and gain back our body heat - funniest of all is that we had to repack so all of our carry on was just soaking wet clothes and shoes. If security had looked, I don't know what we would have said...

Trip #3: Amsterdam. Now I am not stupid - I know what goes on in Amsterdam - but was glad that Eric could get a break from the kids (and me!) and have a relaxing weekend with the guys. They had a great time renting scooters and touring a great city. I am sure they also had a little more fun, but what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam, no? Eric now has a set of friends that span the globe...

So where does that leave us? Great times with family and friends. LOTS of new memories - amazing places, amazing experiences. We truly are blessed. But can we slow down in October? Afraid not, as here comes our long planned trip to Egypt...

Norway: Land of Oil and Money...

Norway surprised us, but for a reason that isn't so great: I think, as ignorant Americans, we often don't think beyond our country. Remember I told you many blogs ago that smart, educated American friends of ours were confusing Sweden and Switzerland when we first told them we were coming here. Well, put us on the list of not having thought much beyond our country in terms of history, commerce, and culture. This stay in Europe has definitely opened our eyes, and hopefully the eyes of our children as well to all the interesting (and perhaps world important) histories and economies outside our own borders.

"Norway?", you are asking? Why did Norway trigger this guilt of Americo-centrism? Switzerland, sure, they have all the money. Germany, as it is really the anchor that is keeping the Euro from sailing into the sunset...

Well interestingly, I think Norway struck us because - who thinks of Norway? What do they have to do with anything? The only thing we knew coming to Norway was that it was expensive, and we thought, as long as we are used to Swiss prices, Norway could not be that bad (ha - never assume anything...). Upon arriving, we saw immediately how expensive everything was, and that got us asking a whole lot of questions...

So first, how expensive is expensive? Let's see:

A standard beer in a standard restaurant costs $13 - no joke, and not special places

A large pizza cost $50

Standard dinner entrees seem to range from $40-$60 - at places we would take our kids, mind you...

So all the expensive stuff got us thinking, why? And then, through a bit of Rick Steves mixed with the total truth of the Internet started shedding new light and education on this wonderful Northern country:

Norway is sitting on a gold mine of natural resources: oil, natural gas, fish, lumber, etc.. Norway is in a two way tie with Venezula as the 7th largest exporter of oil, and if measured by capita then they are the largest outside of some countries in the Middle East.

They have the highest human development index in the world ( I guess if we call ourselves the 1st world, compared to the 3rd world, then Norway might be 0.5th world)

The country was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II (I love the line from Wikipedia: "King Haakon and the Norwegian government escaped to Rotherhithe, London, England, and they supported the fight through inspirational radio speeches from London..." - would you be motivated by "inspirational" speeches from your leader sitting in the comfort of a foreign country?...)

They only have a population of about 5 million people - less than the whole Bay Area. Imagine, for a moment, if the Bay Area was the 7th largest exporter of oil in the WORLD - we would be mighty rich folk, no? So...

Norway ranks as the second wealthiest country in the world in monetary value (I think behind Luxemborg), with the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation

And getting a bit lazy here, to cut and past from Wikipedia: The Norwegian economy is an example of a mixed economy, a prosperous capitalist welfare state featuring a combination of free market activity and large state ownership in certain key sectors. The Norwegian welfare state makes public health care free, and parents have 46 weeks paid parental leave. The income that the state receives from natural resources includes a significant contribution from petroleum production and the substantial and carefully managed income related to this sector.

Norway has a very low unemployment rate, currently 3.1%; 30% of the labour force are employed by the government; 22% are on welfare and 13% are too disabled to work, the highest proportions in the world. The hourly productivity levels, as well as average hourly wages in Norway are among the highest in the world. The egalitarian values of the Norwegian society ensure that the wage difference between the lowest paid worker and the CEO of most companies is much smaller than in comparable western economies.

So the moral of this story is: live somewhere that has a ton of exports, and then share the wealth with everyone. Works for me...

So the country fascinated us - is it a picture of what can work well in the world? Yes, but it comes with sacrifice. No one is SUPER rich (oh, I am sure someone is somewhere, but if they are they don't flaunt it), and even they had to stop free immigration in the 70s - don't think those fit with the American dream - but again, it was fascinating to observe how it can work...

So what did we do while we were there? There is a standard "Norway in a Nutshell" tour that we did- though we strung it out over a few days: Start in Bergen, where we got lost in a Norwegian Wood (how could you not hum the song...), took the ferry down the fjord to Balestrand, squeezed in a side trip to hike on the Nigardsbreen glacier (and even go into an ice cave they said had only formed that week and we were the first day to walk through it...);
another boat ride to Flam to take the train to Mydral (where you can rent a mountain bike for next to nothing from the cafe and ride it 20 km all downhill to Flam where they will return it on the train - what a missed opportunity!); and then on the train to end up in Oslo. On the way we stayed in the sleepy town of Geilo - a ski resort in winter, but accommodating in summer with bikes to take out from the hotel and lakes to swim in. I am tired just thinking about it all...

It really was all beautiful. Every minute.

So we ended in Oslo, just five days after their massacare shooting. It was incredibly tragic, and having learned how small the country was, and how great it was working, it was really a blow. They had been accepting of immigrants, they did take care of their people... but for some people (or shall I say a person) that wasn't good enough. What was most impressive, and hopefully powerful for the people of Norway, was that the event brought even more resolve to the people's beliefs and unity - you could feel it everywhere in Oslo, and was most visible in the enormous placement of flowers - everywhere. It brought back images of 9/11, and though you don't ever want to revist the pain and misery, the unity and conviction of what is right is an amazing sight to see.

OK, I have rambled on too long. What else to mention? We went to the art museum and got to see The Scream (or at least one of them - there are more than one!) - by Munch, a Norwegian painter(the kids loved it - interestingly, the painting was an expression of a man in the late 1800s who was full of anxiety over how the world was changing too fast - parallel to the shooting?);

we then partook in grilling in the park which is a local pastime, as eating out is so expensive (they actually have disposal stations for the hot coals, and burn marks in the grass from past grills). And then there was all the sculpture of Gustav Vigeland: the story goes that he convinced the city of Oslo to pay his room and board, and then he would create sculpture for them for the rest of his life - I don't have any pictures here, but look on-line - they are truly amazing, and Frogner Park, where they reside (all 212 of them) is really worth a visit...

So there you have it - an amazing journey through nature, history, economics, and the world, all in one summer vacation. It was time to get back to our own beds, rest, and prepare for the start of school in a few weeks.

Sweden: not just meatballs and herring!

To say we had a good time in Sweden would be an understatement - dare I say it was the best vacation in the last 10 years???

After three truly amazing weeks in the love blanket of our friends in California, Eric, the boys, and I flew from San Francisco straight to vacation in Sweden - connecting through Frankfurt to Stockholm, and then renting a car to really get truly lost in the middle of Southern Sweden. Eric had researched for months, and booked us a room in a hostel in Vartorp - you won't even see it on Google Maps - is that even possible in this day and age?

Now, because of our late arrival, we had decided to only drive 2 of the 5 hours on day one; spend the night and then keep on the next day to our week-long stay - so it is only fitting that our flight from SF was delayed, so we had to be booked on a later flight that would get us to Stockholm at 10:00 pm, only to find out that the suitcase with Eric's and my clothes did not make the switch (which took another half hour to register the missing bag)and end up checking in to the hotel near 1 am - which with the late sundown combined with jetlag was really strange - I even took a work phone call when I got there (only 4 pm in California).

The real bummer was that we were off to the middle of nowhere, and weren't sure how Eric and I were going to get our bag - the airline promised they would get it to us, but somehow we had a bad feeling...maybe we weren't giving Sweden the credit it deserved - what we thought was out in the middle of nowhere (again, you won't find it on Google Maps) is actually really easy for them to find - stop putting our "U.S." minded attitude on everything, no?

The next day on the second half of the trip to Vartrop we stopped at a H&M and Eric and I bought a shirt, shorts, socks and underwear each - assuming that the bag would appear the next day (Sunday) - or Monday at the worst.We arrived shortly after lunch (and after a few phone calls with the owner due to lack of ability to use our Google Map instructions) to all our dreams had imagined: a rustic granary converted to a hostel, 200 yards from a lake, beautiful forests, fields, and rivers surrounding us. It turns out most of the hostel residents the week we were there were from Denmark - and even they were asking us what the heck we were doing there in the middle of nowhere!

We spent a week doing: a whole lot of NOTHING! Now nothing means something different to each of us, and I think we all had such a fabulous time: Eric and Karl really got into fishing; Bennett and I had a few afternoon naps (which, combined with jet-lag and sunshine until 11 at night is just lethal to getting any semblance of a normal body rhythm...); picking rasberries in the forest; practicing tightrope walking on the straps set up for the hostel (would NEVER be allowed in California...); soccer on the huge field; reading endless books; going jogging, and in Eric's case getting lost along the way;afternoon coffee and cake set up by the hostel owner's daughters; a visit to a Swedish "Pancake House" outside on the lawn with live music and American style pancakes for dinner with all the Danes; I could just go on and on... it was a blissful combination of things to do, but really nothing on the schedule and no hurry - who needs to hurry when it stays light until 11 pm?

The funny thing about the long days was that I was afraid my kids would never go to sleep - they go to bed late already, but to have it stay light just seemed like it would be impossible to ever get them down. But the real curse ended up being the "other" side: the fact that it was bright daylight at 4 am actually got them up EARLY - wasn't expecting that! Perhaps a bit slow to figure it out, it happened twice before I made sure they slept with their airplane sleeping masks - took care of it quite nicely...

Now back to that missing suitcase - I took over talking to the airline (as Eric would have ripped their head off, and having heard Swedes are conflict-adverse, it didn't seem like that would get us far). On Monday she said they tried to get it on the flight to Kalmar on Sunday night, to then drive it the final two hours - but the plane was small and at their weight limit; they would try again on Monday night. What made her think it would be any different, I asked - not sure, she said. I told her I wore the same shirt now three days running (I really didn't care, as I wasn't doing anything, but it was getting a bit sad to think if we were doing lots of stuff this would not be ok). She said she was sorry - and clarified to me that we should go out and buy more clothes - with a limit of $100 per person, we could spend up to $400 (even though the kids were afloat in clothes: I actually, despite his protests, wore a shirt of Karl's as a night shirt). Not that it goes far in Sweden, but Eric went to the store and bought us striped shirts that really made us look Scandanavian; running shoes and bathing suits for both of us - combined with the previous purchases put us right up to the $400 limit. When did the suitcase arrive? Wednesday - when they finally drove it down (which they could have done on Saturday - oh well...).

But the real treat to our week of isolation was learning the card game Agurk - or in English, Cucumber. It is a Danish card game, but we didn't learn it from the Danes - we had taught Karl and Bennett Solitare, and Clock Solitare (a favorite from my childhood), and Bennett wanted to learn something new. So, with my sometimes-on sometimes-off cell reception I searched on my iphone for card games, and came across an alphabetical list that showed Agurk, and the rest is history. It is a really strategic game, and to our shock both kids learned it immediately - I don't think Eric has won a game yet. We would watch Bennett, and he would do something that appeared really stupid, and then he would end up winning the hand. The rules seem complicated, but truthfully are easy and it is so addicting - learn how to play because next time we see you we are going to ask you to... This might be the first game we played with them that playing our best we still can't win - ah, yet another milestone in our kids growing up...

So our week of nothing came to a quick end. We then made our way back up to Stockholm, where we finally sampled the local cuisine: herring 5 ways, licorice ropes, the standard cinnamon rolls with coffee. We actually had Swedish Meatballs as well - but confused the waitress who spoke little English, as we tried to show her what we wanted on the Swedish menu by matching up its position on the English menu - but, hysterically, they don't offer the meatballs on the Swedish menu - only tourists would be dumb enough to order them!

We got to tour the city which was quite pleasant, and spent one day out in the maze of islands outside of Stockholm hiking and swimming in the Baltic Sea. We visited Skansen, this set of old Swedish houses complete with people in costume who would explain (quite nicely) what it was like to be a farm worker at the turn of the century, or a soldier in the middle of the 19th century - suffice it to say, it was yet another reminder that we are SPOILED today with lots of room and indoor plumbing and lives that don't require hard labor from dawn until dusk just to survive... but we did get Karl in an apron to grind his own flour (discovered that wheat does not grow well that far north, but rye does - explains the difference in regional breads...) and make his own flat bread, the old fashioned way over an open fire.

We then had to say goodbye to Sweden, and moved on to Norway with mixed emotions - the tragic bombing and shooting had happened three days before we were to arrive - how could such a small and peaceful country be submitted to such tragedy? Suffice it to say that it was an amazing country, both in its history and its landscape. Story to come...