air bnb

The other day my mom told me this blog was getting to be a bit - well - over the top.

"You make it seem like your life is SO wonderful ALL the time.  You need to reveal the real parts of your life too - like doing laundry and sitting at home watching TV and having your car break down."

While I won't bore you with details about 
laundry (we don't have a machine in our building so we must schlep our bags two blocks to do the deed), 

sitting at home watching TV (I have a real weakness for Married to Jonas), and 

having our car break down (our 2nd clutch is on its last legs - oh San Francisco hills...), 

I will tell you a story that is not nearly as glamorous as the globe-trotting posts of late.

Have you heard of air bnb?  

Similar to VRBO, it allows people to rent out their home or apartment.  Air bnb, however, specializes in smaller chunks of time so you can have people stay (or rent out their place) for only a few days.  It's super easy to sign up (you just post some pictures and a description of your apartment) and then you get decide when and for what price and to whom you rent your space out.  
Seemed easy enough.

Stefan was skeptical (he didn't like the idea of someone else sleeping in our bed - different sheets or not), but I convinced him that given that we'd be gone for such a long chunk of time while in Germany and Switzerland, it was worth a shot.  Especially since San Francisco prices could allow us to collect a nice thousand or so dollars while we were away.  I assured him everything would go off without a hitch and agreed to be in charge of the whole thing.   

I took some jazzy photos of our place and posted them along with the dates of when we'd be gone.  

do you like my little mock wine and cheese set up?

(that bread is a week old)

it's ALL about the details

It didn't take long for me to get a plethora of reservation requests.  Each one came with information about that person's favorite hobbies, references for me to check them out, and links to their website or blog.  (Because everyone has a blog these days.)

After some serious due diligence, I settled on a gentleman who planned to have two sets of guests stay in the place: for the first few days - "The Colleagues", and then for the last few days - "The Parents".  He seemed nice, responsible, and all his references gave him glowing reviews - how bad could his colleagues and parents be?

We have a code to get into the front of our building, so I sent that along as well as details on how to get into the key box I left hanging on the door.  I left clear instructions on how to access our wifi, where to take out the trash, and where to leave the keys when they left (in the key box!).  Plan was to have Oscar (our cleaner) come into between the two sets of guests to clean the apartment, change the sheets, and get everything all set for "The Parents" to arrive.
Seemed easy enough.

But around 10pm Germany time on this day:

(post numerous wine tastes, 1 beer, and 2 glasses of wine at dinner)

I got a call from Oscar:
"KK - I see no key."
In my broken Spanish (and his broken English), we came to the conclusion that the key box was nowhere to be found.  I quickly placed a call to "The Colleagues" to check in.  

"We took the key with us," they said matter-of-factly.
"You TOOK the key WITH you??????" I blared into the phone.
I was irate.

After some minutes of discussion extreme argument, he admitted his wrongdoing and agreed to do whatever it took to rectify the situation.  Given that he was still at the airport, Tobias (our host) had the idea to have him pay a taxi driver to drive the key to our apartment (where Oscar was waiting).  We had him tell us the taxi driver's cab number and phone number and then we called him to confirm he knew where he was going / was on his way.
Seemed easy enough.

Except for after 1 hour, the taxi driver still had not arrived.  (And our apartment is a 30 minute drive from the airport.)  Tobias kindly explained that he likely just stopped to make a copy of the key for future use.  Ha. Ha.

Eventually he did arrive and he did give the key to Oscar and the rest of the week went off without a hitch.  But I spent quite some time wondering if I'd return to an apartment that had been completely cleaned out.

Luckily, it was still intact when I returned home, but I'm still debating about changing the locks - would you?  

Have you ever tried air bnb?  Any horror stories?

xoxo
KK

a swiss wedding

So the last (and final) post on our Swiss adventures: the wedding!  
(The reason we were there in the first place.)

In Europe, when it comes to weddings, people like to take advantage of the FULL day.  Ceremonies are often in the morning so guests can spend the whole day hanging out with the happy couple.  Stefan's sister's wedding was no different.

We arrived at the dinner locale (a local winery) around 12:30pm and hopped on a postal truck that transported us, along with the other guests, to the ceremony site (a farm, hilltop church).  After a nice, short but sweet 1pm ceremony, it was time for a traditional Swiss apero: wine, local meats and cheeses, and other traditional Swiss snacks.  From 2 - 6pm, we drank, ate, chatted, and had LOTS of pictures taken.

Did you know Europeans don't have bridesmaids or groomsmen?  Only a best man (the groom's brother) and maid of honor (the bride's best friend).

Around 5:30pm, the best man and maid of honor surprised the happy couple (who has an adorable 8-month-old baby who was baptized during the marriage ceremony as well) with a horse-drawn-carriage ride through the countryside to our dinner locale.

The guests rode the postal car back (a Swiss tradition!), arriving around 6:30 - just in time for another drink (and some more pictures) before the bride and groom made their grand entrance.

Between the copious spread of dinner offerings (lamb, prawns, steak, salmon and chicken - all fresh off the grill) and the lovely, heartfelt toasts, dinner lasted well past midnight.  A normal occurence in die Schweiz.

sending off lanterns with messages to the happy couple

THEN it was time for some dancing.

the mother of the groom (green dress in back) was clearly 

really impressed with how I was shaking my booty

(not sure what I am doing with my mouth)

While I loved all of the songs, the highlight was the macarena.  

Several guests came up to me afterwards to comment on my performance:
"How does an American know the Macarena!?"
"WHERE did you learn THAT dance?!"
"How do YOU know how to dance the Macarena?!"
(One guest was so shocked she even took a video of me and sent to her friends.)
I was obviously beyond flattered and totally soaked it all up.

By 3am, Stefan and I were totally spent and decided to head home to sleep, but I was told the party raged on until after dawn.  All in all - a successful night!

xoxo
KK

a secret swiss day

If you know a Krieg, you know we love a plan.  While I have the best intentions of being a spontaneous, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of gal, I am happiest when I know exactly what's on the agenda minute by minute, 7 days out.  

So when Stefan's dad agreed to organize a day somewhere, doing something - both of which he was determined to keep secret, I was naturally uneasy.

We were instructed to meet him at his house at the ripe hour of 7am.  We hopped in his car and winded our way through a trail of mountainous Swiss villages to Lucerne -  one of Switzerland's most famed and scenic towns.  Without saying a peep as to what was in store for the day ahead, he led us to one of the historic hotels lining the lake for coffees and croissants.   

Post breakfast, he led us to a boat, which proceeded to head down the lake towards the mountains.

After an hour or so of breath-taking views, we hopped off the boat and hopped onto an old, classic steam train.

The train then proceeded to chug straight up one of the mountains (a la The Little Engine That Could.)

 

The train led us right up into the cloud cover, where we enjoyed some vegetable soup and bread, before beginning our hike.  After some serious Swiss hiking, he led us back down to a gondola, which we took back down to a neighboring village.

We enjoyed a quick, lake-side ice cream before hopping on the boat back to Lucerne.

All in all, a spectacular day.

As Stefan's dad drove us back along the lake and through the mountains (and we dozed a bit from the excitement of the day), I whispered to Stefan: "I guess I can do without a plan if the days end up like this."  

xoxo

KK

on empty (and very full) invitations

One of the many things I adore about Stefan is that he can make friends anywhere we go.  On our honeymoon alone, he exchanged emails and phone numbers and invitations to come visit with no less than 30 people (from Colorado to Canada to Buenos Aires to Germany to India).  While I loved meeting every single one of them, I assumed we'd likely never see them again - they'd each be a face in a photo book, a name scribbled on a paper tucked away, a lovely memory in our romantic first trip as husband and wife, 
but nothing more than that.

Whiskey on the rocks (of the glacier)

with some new friends from Germany

on our honeymoon in Argentina

But Stefan had it in his mind differently.
You see, often times us Americans dish out empty invitations we know will never happen:
"Let's do lunch sometime!"
"You should come over for a coffee!"
"Come visit us at our home in Hawaii!"
A lot of times (though not ALL), we'll give or receive an invitation knowing full well it will likely never happen: we're only saying it to be nice.

But Europeans (like Stefan) aren't like this at all.  
Europeans only extend offers when they are serious.  Unlike Americans, when they invite you to do something and you accept ("We should grab a drink one of these days!" "Sounds great!"), they expect you to follow through.  When you don't, they're not relieved, they're offended.  

So when we were on our honeymoon, and some Germans (the very ones in the picture above) invited us to come visit them at their house in the Mosel wine region of Germany and we accepted, Stefan knew we were going to go.  And go we did - visiting them post Karlsruhe in Germany last week.

In addition to being super nice in extending such a generous offer to a couple they had met just hours before, they are a total power couple.  He runs his own software company while she is one of the top wine merchants in the region (exporting copious amounts of Germany's sweet nectar to Asia and the Middle East).  Knowing that Stefan and I are wine aficionados, she hooked us up with appointments with all of the Mosel's top winemakers.

learning about Dr. Loosen's wonderful wines

(in the living room of his personal home)

She also treated us to a top-notch tour of the very vineyards where those top winemakers' wines are produced.

the "spice garden" vineyards - 

one of the most coveted in the valley

the extreme incline of the terrain makes the grapes 

work extra hard resulting in an extra delicious wine

But their generosity didn't stop there.
After a night of homemade wiener schnitzel, pumpkin seed potato salad, local cheese, and incredible wine, they gave us a first-class tour around Trier, a nearby historic town - the very one where they had first met.

The tour included seeing the city's historic churches and monuments as well as a four course alfresco lunch.

With wine.

(Obviously.)

Amazing.

Their invitation was clearly not an American one - it was FULL to brim with genuine kindness and generosity.  Before we left, we were sure to extend them many a non-American invitation to come visit us so we could return the favor.

xoxo

KK

fischer wine & fischer beer

While the real reason for our trip to Switzerland was Stefan's sister's nuptials, we opted to make the most of our transatlantic flight and go over a week in advance.  And because he knows I love a good plan, Stefan orchestrated a week jammed full of activities for us to maximize our time in the Eurozone.  

First up on the list was a trip to Karlsruhe, Germany to visit Tobias and Lotte - two surgeon friends who are SO wonderful (and such jet-setters) that they flew over to our wedding despite only having 3 measly days to spare.  They spent almost as much time in the plane as they did on the ground!

They had given us a weekend of wine tasting in the Pflaz and Alsace regions of Germany as a wedding present, so we decided to use this trip to cash in.  But since Stefan is training for the San Francisco marathon (which is only 1 month away!), we asked them for a wine-free weekend filled with hiking, healthy foods, and city exploration instead.

But as we drove through the German countryside to a nearby castle in a prime locale for hiking, we passed by a Stefan Fischer Winery.  And (if you didn't know already), my wine-obsessed husband's name is - you guessed it - Stefan Fischer.

We obviously had to stop.

And we obviously had to try all 14 of their wines.

And we obviously had to buy a case of each.

After that, we were fully committed to getting back on our healthy track.

But on our way to our hiking trail, as we drove through an adorable little French village,

we spotted a Fischer Beer Pub.

We obviously had to stop.

And we obviously had to get some beers.

And we obviously had to drink them all.

Oh well.  Healthy (and marathon prep) can wait.

xoxo
KK

while i was gone

A lot has happened since my blogging break began.
Besides having the fabulous Charlotte in town for a weekend in Dry Creek, I've been in Florida, South Africa, Palm Springs, and Switzerland, for a second time this year.  I know, I know: totally and completely spoiled.

But - in my defense - no trip was without purpose:

Florida for a much overdue family get-together (my brother's last spring break before entering the real world),

playing gin with pops

soaking up some sun

South Africa for an investment conference,

pre-conference cocktails on table top mountain

power breakfast on my patio before sessions

Palm Springs for a bachelorette,

before a night out dancing

and Switzerland for Stefan's sister's wedding (and some other European escapades).

More on these adventures to come.

xoxo
KK

charlotte

Gosh, it's been awhile hasn't it?
I didn't mean to take such a big blog break, but stuff just kept - well - getting in the way.  And the longer I waited, the bigger the bar became for what I should post about when I finally emerged from my blogging burial ground.  

But today is a day worth reemerging for.
Because today marks the birthday of my very best friend: Miss. Charlotte VanWagenen.

char at range

While I couldn't be with her to celebrate the big day today, I was lucky enough to have her come visit for an entire weekend a few weeks ago.  If you know her, you know she is the absolute easiest guest in the entire world.  She is game for anything (any activity, any restaurant, any schedule), she is totally fine sleeping on the couch (which she had to do because our air mattress has gotten in the habit of deflating over the course of a night leaving its inhabitant waking on the ground), and she's the definition of easy going.  

So easy going in fact, that when our bathroom tub decided to clog while she was here (and by clog - I mean, to the brim, not draining one little bit), and we had to spend 2 hours on Saturday waiting while a heavy-duty plumber snacked out our drain, she pretended as though the event was the most exciting and fascinating thing that had happened to her all year.  (She leads a very adventurous, travel-filled life, so I know it most certainly wasn't.)

Thankfully, the plumber sorted it out and we were able to take showers and get on with the rest of our weekend.  Stefan managed to finagle an appointment at A. Rafanelli - one of our absolute favorite wineries that is close to impossible to get into.  While their wines are out of this world and could easily go for $150+ a pop, they refuse to raise their prices, leaving their amazing Zinfandel at the absolute bargain price of $30.  While that's awesome if you can get them, their wine club has a multi-year wait list and requires you to hand write them a letter requesting to be put on it.  Luckily, our time had come so they were willing to let us new wine club members come show "our extra special guest" what they were all about.

After some decadent tastes, we opted for a European-style picnic overlooking the nearby Sonoma Lake.  

Char carried the essentials:

wine and water that is

We sat and chatted and ate and drank and before we knew it, it was late and time to head home.  The weekend was over before it felt like it had even started - a common occurrence with Charlotte.  Even though she lives in New York while I'm in SF, she's the type of friend who I can not see (or even talk to) for weeks, and then when we get together, it feels like not a single second has passed.  You know: the type of friend whose presence alone rejuvenates you.

Happy Birthday Char! Hope you're being spoiled rotten.

xoxo
KK