We had been lugging around a bottle of wine since our time in Italy but found ourselves one corkscrew short of a party (what’s else is new).  However, we did have a little paring knife so I set to work cutting bits of cork away in an effort to dig it out.  Genius!  I was about half an inch in when a pressure vacuum inside the bottle caused the cork to suck itself inward, causing wine to spray everywhere.  The aftermath looked like a scene from a horror movie.  The furthest splatter mark was five feet up the wall on the opposite side of the room. That’ll teach me to play MacGyver!

…and yes, my head really is 500 times larger than my body.

Our time in Grindelwald was limited to an afternoon, but we could have easily spent days frolicking in the wildflowers and hiking through the Alps. Of course no trip through the Swiss countryside would be complete without a pack of fuzzy little deer. Maybe they were animatronic and this was all just one big Disneyland ride.

Our two-hour scenic train ride from Lausanne to Interlaken included, of all things, being filmed by a Japanese travel TV show. We played ourselves – the happy couple watching the panoramic scenery go by from the comfort of our seats.

Day one in Lausanne.  The train ride from Italy to Switzerland had spectacular views of Lake Maggiore and the hillside vineyards in the Alps.

European work/vacation extravaganza ’08!!! Over the next few days I’ll be recapping our trip, which sadly is now over… sniff, sniff. I meant to post while I was on the road, but finding wifi (and finding the time to find wifi) was a pain, and when we did Ali had to telecommute for her work.

This batch of photos is from our one free day in Florence, Italy before Maria and Kalon’s wedding. Unfortunately Ali had to wear the same clothes for 48 hours because the airline lost her suitcase, but they eventually tracked it down so she didn’t get to go on a Gucci/Prada shopping spree.

Thanks to jet lag we woke up really early and wandered around town before the masses of tourists showed up. By mid-morning we headed into the suburbs on foot to explore the quieter side of the city. The endless cobblestone streets made for a spectacular walk! Ali and I have been to heaps of museums and tourist attractions over the years, so these days we get the most enjoyment out of people watching and soaking up the everyday culture (a.k.a – eating lots of good food).

This year Allison and I decided it was time to explore the wild and crazy world of holiday cards.  Since we are still in denial about being adults this was our attempt at crossing a distinctly “adultish” milestone in style (or lack of style depending on how you look at it).

Mom, basking in the glow of her Christmas tree, complete with real candles.