First full day in Basel

We had a really nice day today.  We spent the morning relaxing around the apartment and then we got on a bus to go to where Martina works so we could meet her for lunch.  We got to her place a little early so we walked around the neighborhood where she works for a little while to pass some time.

There were many interesting buildings and things to see.

Andrew and Guillermo standing around while I took pictures.

So many pretty balconies around.

We met Martina at her place of work and then we walked to catch a tram to the train station in Basel, where there were several things that needed to be done.  We got a prepaid card for an iphone that Guillermo and I are going to be able to use while we're in Europe.  Then we had lunch at a little diner in the train station. 

Here's another interesting building we saw while on our walk.

Afterwards we took a tram out to the car dealership where Andrew and Martina were going to pick up their new car!  We spent quite a bit of time there because after all getting a new car is a big deal and there are so many things to take care of.   Here they're about to learn about the gadgets 

Listening to the salesman explain things in the car.

But once the car was in their possession, it was a very happy feeling.

With a car then, it was so easy to zip around to different places.  We went to two different hardware stores and then to a big supermarket.  Then it was time to head back home!  Of course, there was ONE thing we forgot to get at the store, so Andrew and I took a bike ride to a store near to them.  Andrew got this action shot of me on Martina's bike.

It was fun riding the bike, but there are a lot of rules around here to remember and keep in mind, all the while keeping an eye on traffic!

On our way to Europe

Well, we're sitting in the airport in San Antonio as I write this.  We went straight from our hotel (good breakfast there, by the way - they actually cooked the eggs and hash browns right there in front of us!) to John Fardal's house.  He went with us to the airport and when we saw that we were set to go with luggage and stuff, he drove our car back to his house where it's going to stay.  So, we got past checking-in just fine.  My suitcase was 2 pounds overweight but the guy let it slide.  Guillermo's was exactly 50 pounds and the box with Andrew's voltage transformer was only 39 pounds.  So, we cleared that ok.  Whew!!  One concern down, and one more to go.  Now the question is, will they take any of our carry-ons away from us as we're getting on the plane.

Our wait for the flight was 2 hours and when it was time to get on, no one looked at our carry-ons so we got past the last concern we had.  It was a good flight to Minneapolis.  Minneapolis looked so nice from the air - the trees were turning colors and all the neighborhoods looked so clean and pretty.  From the air, it looked like Minneapolis would be a wonderful place to live.  We didn't have much of a wait at all in Minneapolis and then we were on our way to our next stop, an airport in Paris.  The flight was quite bumpy and very very long.  Once in Paris, we had an incredible wait to be processed through customs.  Under ordinary circumstances, it wouldn't have been all that bad, but we were tired and things just seem to be more annoying when you're tired.

Finally getting through customs, we had a really hard time finding how to get to our next terminal.  Of course, it never is easy.  Terminal G through these doors!  Ok, so we go through the doors and it takes us outside and no sign of a Terminal G anywhere in sight or even if we could see where Terminal G was, it didn't look like there was any easy way to get there.  We finally learned that a bus comes by periodically to pick up people to take them to the terminal.  When we got to Terminal G, there was no indication of which gate to go to for our flight so we went through the boarding area, hoping we were doing the right thing.  Even when we got through that, there STILL was no indication anywhere of what gate we needed to go to.  Eventually we learned that gate numbers aren't posted until 30 minutes before departure.

The flight to Basel was quick and easy.  Andrew and Martina met us at the exit and it was so exciting to see them again!  It is so hard to believe that we are finally with them!  They drove us to their apartment where we rested up a little, then walked to the nearby grocery store to pick up a few things.  For dinner Andrew fixed a delicious Spaghetti Bolognese which we had with some good wine.  It was the perfect relaxing ending to a tiring day.  Some pictures of the nice evening with them.

Andrew fixing the Spaghetti Bolognese

Serving the spaghetti

Martina getting the table ready

Andrew taking this picture

Guillermo taking this picture

We spent the last two nights in a friend's house by the airport and tonight we are enjoying being in a nice hotel room.  We got all our last minute things done during the day after moving out of that house, moved into this hotel and at the end of the day, had dinner with Mom, Linda and Jacob.  This is our last night in San Antonio for a while - tomorrow morning we fly to Europe!

So we're now, once again, on El Verde Rd.  It's kind of nice being back in the same little house.  After moving some of our stuff in, we drove to Kathy's house (picking up dessert along the way) for a little get-together.  Anthony fixed his famous shrimp and we all feasted on that, garlic bread, drinks and dessert.  Delicious!      Peek-a-boo, Jacob......

Then Guillermo took this one of us.

We miss living at the lake house already, but the good part was after leaving Kathy's, we didn't have to drive anywhere near as far.

A scene that always made me smile when we walked outside.  This is across the road from the house.

We took our last walk yesterday evening in this nice area.  Sure do love the smell of the cedar as we walk through one section of the country road.  Last evening we saw several jack rabbits, but not much else, although Guillermo did identify a Scrub Jay.  There were plenty of thunderstorms in the area, but none right where we were.  When we got back to the house, we went out on the back deck one last time to enjoy the view with the view being enhanced this time with good displays of lightning.

Today we're packing up and getting ready to leave the lake house.  A front has come in so it's really windy outside and there are whitecaps on the lake.  We saw a black blob on the lake so got our binoculars and realized that the black blog was really a tight group of what we think were coots.  They were going up against the current on the lake, against the wind, so it was very slow going for them.  Then later we saw a grebe also seeming to swim against the wind and the current.

Our plan for the next 5 days:  Friday night and Saturday night we are staying in the same little house we stayed in for 3 months on El Verde Rd.  We leave there Sunday in the early evening for the other house that our friends just bought near the airport.  We will stay in that house Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evening and then Wednesday morning we head to the airport!

All bluster, not much rain

Storms developed earlier in the day today, so I was able to get a picture of it approaching.

The last two storms that came through, it was already dark so we didn't get to see much.  This storm came through shortly after I took this picture and once again, the wind whipped around like a hurricane.  There were actual waves and whitecaps on the lake.  The owners of this house had put up two ceiling fans this past weekend on the deck outside and the wind was whipping those ceiling fans around so hard we thought they were going to break off.  Guillermo got some cord and tied one of the blades on each fan to the ceiling and that sure helped a lot!

The storm was mostly strong wind, and just a little bit of rain.  We thought we wouldn't be able to take our usual evening walk, but we went out anyway when it looked like the bulk of the storm was to the east of us.  There was still plenty of lightning going on in the distance and since it was almost dark, we were able to see the lightning really well.  The air was nice and cool but we didn't walk as far as we usually do since it was so dark already.

I'm writing this post on a Tuesday and I forgot to write about our past weekend!  On Saturday, John and Angie came over and Connie and Bill came over shortly after them.  They were all going to spend the weekend with us again!  Saturday afternoon several of us went to the Cajun Festival near here and that was very interesting.  All of us got gumbo from different booths so that we could compare the tastes.  Cajun music was playing in the background and we sat around eating our gumbo, watching people and listening to the music.  We had fun at the festival.

On Sunday, John and Guillermo grilled chicken and vegetables out on the deck, which were delicious!  Then the guys put up the two ceiling fans.  John and Angie left in the late afternoon, and Connie and Bill left Monday morning.

Going to town

Well, it's Friday and Friday is the day we drive into San Antonio each week.  We had plenty to get taken care of - haircut, re-pin our debit cards, pay bills, etc.  Once we got some of those things out of the way, we went over to mom's house  to have lunch with her at Taco Cabana.

After Taco Cabana, we drove out to the airport to do two things.   One was to weigh our suitcases and the other was to pick up Anthony who was coming in to spend 10 days in San Antonio.  We got to the airport early to weigh our suitcases because we were afraid they were over the weight limits.  Sure enough they were.  Guillermo's suitcase was over by 3 pounds and mine was over by 7 pounds.  So, we pulled some things out and got it down to the required 50 pound limit and now we know how we need to pack those suitcases for our trip.  We finished with that and 30 minutes Anthony arrived.  We got his suitcase and then drove to the southside where we got a little something to eat at Bill Miller before dropping him and Mom off at her house.  Then it was time for us to stock up on groceries before heading back out to Medina Lake.  Today we drove back while it was still good and light.  Last week we got back kind of late (it was almost dark) and that was scary because of the deer - one almost ran into the side of our car!!!