Saturday Night In and a Birthday

We're in town this weekend and loving every quiet, non-traveling moment of it! Tonight we're going to make a (hopefully) delicious Indian home-cooked dinner and watch Dexter.

Right now the chicken is marinating ("I'll have the Chicken Mar-i-na-dod, please")...



But soon it will turn into Chicken Makhani. YUM! It looks a lot like Chicken Tikka Masala, but we're interested to see how the taste differs.

We can't wait for our nice, quiet Saturday Night in.


Let's not forget about ol' MJC...here's a nice, big Happy Birthday to my Dad!



This wing nut's birthday is today, February 27th! We hope you have a lovely time in Atlanta, Dad. We're thinking of you!
Love - C & B

True Life: The Marriott "Spa"

Another fun perk of living at the Marriott is the "spa" experience. Above the gym is the pool and steam room. Here's a shot of the medium sized pool:

There isn't a hot tub, but there is this:

We're still not totally sure what the Germans call this, but at first glance we thought it was the hot tub area of the pool. Close, but no cigar. It's just a semi-enclosed area with water jets that shoot cool water. The jets are so powerful that if you don't anchor yourself down to the tile bench, the current is likely to push you back into the pool.

The pool is extremely clean and heated to a nice comfortable temperature. The best part about the pool...there's hardly ever anyone swimming so we generally have the place to ourselves!

Next to the pool is the steam room:

The steam room has proven to be a fantastic way to combat the extremely cold, dry winter. 15 minutes in the steam room and your skin feels brand new! As good, old fashioned, clothes-loving Americans, we always wear our swimsuits in the steam room, but we get the vibe that that is not necessarily the norm. So we're EXTRA thankful when other people aren't using the steam room when we want to. Ew!

And just in case we were interested in getting a nice, fake glow in the winter, there's also this:

We have yet to see anyone actually use the tanning bed, but still pretty funny that they offer one! I especially like the little tanning bed icon on the wall...those squiggly UV rays really hammer home the "benefits" of tanning.

Tanning bed aside, our little Marriott spa is a great place to unwind and splash around!

Before We Know It...

...it'll be St. Patrick's Day! Here's our cute little Holiday tree all decked out for the fun day:

I'll be back in the States for St. Patrick's Day, so Brian and I are going to have an early celebration when we're in Dublin in a week and a half!

Em & Sara - Thanks for the fabulous tree topper sunglasses.

DMB

Our trek to see Dave started around 1100 on Saturday. After sitting through some silly traffic, we finally reached Munich. We got checked in and then rested a bit before getting ready for the concert. The concert was scheduled to start at 1900, so after we loaded up on some food and drinks at our hotel we hopped in a cab for the 5 minute ride over to the Zenith.

As soon as we walked in to the concert hall we knew we were in for a treat. Instead of assigned seating or even seating sections, there was just an open hall. It was a much more intimate setting compared to the massive venues we'd seen Dave at before. No need for jumbo-trons here.

We grabbed a beer and then picked out our "seat" and by seat I mean, we picked out where we wanted to stand. There really wasn't a bad "seat" in the house. We opted to stand more to the side of the cluster of people since we didn't feel like pushing our way through the throngs. The opening act, Alberta Cross, came on right at 1900 and they were surprisingly good. 30 minutes later they were done and the crew was setting up for DMB.

Finally the lights go down and we know Dave's on his way. The green room happened to be above and behind us, so we wheel around and get to see the band make their way from the green room towards the stage. Dave is the 3rd person in line:

Once they were settled on stage they absolutely nailed every song they played.



Although they played a lot of songs from their most recent album (which neither of us like very much), we did get to hear each of our favorite songs.



There was no intermission, just awesome music for 2 hours straight.



This was, by far, the best Dave Matthews Band concert we've ever been to!

(Apologies for the low quality images, we didn't bring the big daddy camera in fear that they might not let us bring it in...so we went with the back-up that easily fits in Brian's pocket).

The Best of What's Around

Today we're going here to see them. Can't wait!

We'll see you on Sunday!

Photo Essay: Wednesday Night Bowling Date

We've Been Greeted...

...by this magnificent sight for the last 3 (count 'em, 1 - 2 - 3) mornings in a row:

This is the longest run of sunny days (and blue skies) that we've had since we've been here!

Not only that, but that glorious ball of joy that we call the sun, is rising earlier and earlier every day and setting later and later every night.



It's truly amazing what a little sunshine can do for the soul.



Wherever this post finds you, may the sun be shining bright there as well!

Zurich

We headed out for Zurich on Friday morning around 1000. The weather was a little dicey, but luckily the Autobahn roads were nice and clear. The drive took just about 2 1/2 hours. With our trusty GPS we easily found our hotel, the Zurich Marriott. Since we've been earning Marriott points like crazy, we were able to cash some points in for a free stay. On top of that, we were upgraded at check-in! Our fantastic room was on the 28th floor with a nice view of the river and downtown. After we settled into our room we headed out on foot to explore Zurich. The city center was an easy 10 minute walk from the hotel. We walked down the main pedestrian-only street, Bahnhofstrasse. There were jewelry stores (with 10 carat rings displayed!), upscale shops, quaint storefronts, and so much more. Here's a peek at a cute narrow street off of Bahnhofstrasse and an adorable florist display:

We had read that one of the most famous chocolate shops in Zurich is Sprungli. We knew we had to find one while we were in town. Luckily, Sprungli stores are ALL over the place. We could actually smell the chocolate before we even entered the store. Once we did enter, it was sensory overload. Have a look:

Beautiful sweet treats galore! We decided on truffles. We bought 6 and then I started to snap some photos of the gorgeous display cases. Not too long after I took these 3 photos I got busted. Apparently there's "No Photography Allowed" in Sprungli. We ducked out the door, gobbled up our first Swiss chocolates and immediately had our world rocked by the remarkably delicious truffles. Melt in your mouth goodness!

We walked around a while longer and scoped out our restaurant for later that night. After some more traipsing around we made our way back to the hotel for a quick cat nap before we got ready for dinner. We headed back out around 1730 for our 2000 reservation at Zeughauskeller. Zeughauskeller was an awesome restaurant. The dining room was a huge open hall with large wooden tables. As soon as we sat down we saw that they offered a flaming beer. Brian was sold. I present to you the flaming beer:

Don't you love how HUGE the glass is?! After enjoying some tasty Swiss beer we moved on to the main event. The Mayor's Sword. Beef steaks pounded thin, wrapped around the blade of a sword, and then cooked. I kid you not. It was just too wild NOT to order. Here's a shot of the three of us:

A darling couple from South Africa sat next to us and graciously took our picture with our sword of meat. The Mayor's Sword was served with a to-die-for curry garlic mustard sauce. Needless to say, we ate up everything in sight!

Bellies seriously full, we wobbled back to the hotel. The next day we had a lazy morning then headed out for a sushi lunch. We then hopped on a 1 1/2 hour boat tour of the lake. The weather was a little gloomy, but it was still so nice to be out on the water. We had packed a few snacks and mini bottles of wine for a mid-lake "Cheers".

After our boat ride we walked around town a little bit more then hit the hotel for some rest before dinner. That night we dined on thai food at one of the Marriott's restaurants. It was lovely!

Our trip to Zurich was full of wonderful food, lots of walking, and plenty of laughs. We both really enjoyed the Swiss people; they all seemed very friendly and jovial. Since the weather was a little gray while we were there, a repeat visit this summer is a must!


If you'd like to view the rest of our photos from Zurich , please click on this link:

Zurich Photos

Happy Valentine's Day!

Smooch someone you love today!