My Civic Duty

After twelve years of living in San Francisco, I was finally called upon to pay my dues.  I had been summoned for jury duty.  And deep down I was kind of excited!  I mean, when else would I be able to see the inner workings of our judicial system and see what I had missed by not becoming lawyer?

In San Francisco, you are required to call in each afternoon to determine if you are required to show up the following day. Each evening, at promptly four pm, I called in to see if I had been chosen.  And Tuesday night, I was given the news, my services were needed that Wednesday morning.  I was finally going.

I showed up early, prepared with a good book to read (the small novella Infinite Jest) and found a good location to soak in the experience.  Don’t’ get me wrong, while I was excited on the inside, I played it cool externally, not wanting to come off over eager or mentally unwell.  I acted busy/important, rolled my eyes at the authority, controlled my voice level when called for role and only half paid attention (ok I was all ears) to both the informational videos and various announcements.

One hour in, my dreams of going through jury selection were put to the test, the trial was expected to last 6-7 weeks!  And while I know I am replaceable at work, being gone for that long was just not an option.  So based on the judges guidance, I followed approximately 50% of the potential jurors to an adjoining room to claim a “hardship” and hopefully be excused from the process.   In order to claim a hardship, we had to complete a questionnaire for the judge to review and apparently I qualified.   I was devastated and relived at the same time.   I didn’t get a chance to participate in the Beauty Pageant question round where I could demonstrate that I would have been the best impartial juror ever (I would have nailed it), nor did I  get the chance to show case my debate skills ala 12 Angry Men in the deliberation room.  Instead, I left the process torn between my inner dork being passed over in picking teams at dodge all and the relief of not having to work two jobs for 6 to 7 weeks.

In the end, my jury duty was deferred, so I get another chance and in the meantime, and I happily collected my $17 for my day of service. 

Back to Where It Began

The last two weeks of July were spent euro-tripping through Germany and Switzerland, meeting up with friends, family and heading back to where it all began, Switzerland. Our friends Kim and Nick (plus three kids) had informed us in December of last year that they were going to spend a month in Switzerland during Kim’s maternity leave.   No persuasion needed, Martin and I arranged our annual trip home to Germany to line up with theirs.   We were to spend a few days in Dortmund, visit Martin’s sister in Chemnitz, head to the Italian Alps for a crazy bike ride, the Swiss Alps for a crazy hut hike and then our original home together, Zurich for a few nights with friends and our old haunts.

And while the trip was only two weeks and incredibly memorable, I have spent the last two months trying to write about it; it is truly a writer’s block!  The trip was amazing, more than what I could have hoped for, but also so familiar, it has been like trying to pen an interesting blog about two weeks spent in North Beach.  I know, poor me.

So instead of trying to write about it, I will just be sharing a few snippets and photos; the cliff notes version if you will. 

As a side note: with all of my technical knowledge and ability, I accidentally deleted all photos from my iPhone.  So while I lost a few amazing shots (including those of the German Carniva)l, I thankfully still had some beautiful photos from the real camera.  Lesson learned…. Here it goes

I met and got drunk with two twenty-something girls on the flight over to Frankfurt who were on their way to a two week European vacation.  The flight attendants were kind enough to hand us the unfinished bottles (liter boxes to be exact) of wine after dinner service to help us get in the vacation mood.  While slightly jealous of their planned escapades thinking about my previous euro- trips with my girls, I was proud of my maturity at stopping after the third glass.  Aging like a box of fine wine.

Martin and his family took me to the Kermis Festival an annual event which I originally thought would be a low key arts and crafts fair.  Turns out it is a full blown “county fair” complete with massive rides, fun games (the best being the frog thrower), German Carnies and street food including spiced nuts, gingerbread cookies, crepes and beer.

We enjoyed a few BBQs with friends in Germany before heading to Chemnitz to spend time with Martin’s sister and see where she lives.  Previously known as Karl-Marx-Stadt, I embraced my inner socialist during the tour and dinner that night.   

From Cheminitz we drove to Dresden for the day, where I hate to admit, I was slightly disappointed.  Yes, the city is beautiful and has been rebuilt brick by brick.  But similar to the Summer Palace in St. Petersburg, it left me unimpressed and cold.  My impression and idea of Dresden relate back to WWII and it would have been great to hear about the city rebuilding itself and the spirit of perseverance rather than the grandness of years past.   

Hanging out at the Zwinger, an old Palace in Dresden which was mostly destroyed during WWII and has been fully restored

The view from Canaletto's most famous painting. 

My favorite part of the city was finding a random market hall outside of old town that was completely off the radar and felt local.  As a side note, I kept thinking about Slaughterhouse Five while in Dresden so I went back to read the synopsis to refresh my memory.  Based on Wikipedia, I must not have read the book at all (no big surprise there); aliens, time travel, etc.?!  This guy must have been on some serious 1970’s drugs while writing it! 

From Dresden we headed south to meet up with the family and the Lawry Crew from Australia.  The more athletic people of the group (Meike, Ernst, Martin and Nick) had a date to bike up and then back down Stilfser Joch that weekend, the second highest paved pass in the Alps and includes 48 switch backs. The ride was a 70^th birthday present to Ernst from his two kids…only a Breuer could appreciate that kind of “gift”.  The cyclists set off on Saturday Morning and the rest of us caravanned up to the top to join them shortly thereafter.   

The riders are off!

Kim, the kids, and I drove in their minivan and we took the opportunity to catch upon life, work and family.  Driving through the little Italian villages and up the mountain having a heart to heart like old times was exactly what I needed; we were the European equivalent of Thelma and Louise; minus the crimes, suicide ending and plus a few kids in the back taking naps… minor details though.   

We passed Meike, Ernst and Nick on the various switchbacks on the way up, cheering them on as we drove past; and we found Martin at the top relaxing and waiting for us to arrive.  Such a show off.  

Just your normal Saturday morning bike ride.  This is the view from the top and only captures about 15 of the 48 swittchbacks

From the Italian Alps to the Swiss Alps; Martin and I hopped the train and headed to Zermatt for a night on our own before being rejoined by the Aussies.  But first we drove by the famous church in the water that I made Martin search for during our honeymoon.    It does exist! 

We took the opportunity of a night by ourselves in Zermatt and had a great date night enjoying pizza and pasta at a cute little restaurant in the pedestrian only town.  Being the off season, our hotel room was upgraded and we fell asleep in a comfy bed with views of the Matterhorn.

No joke, the view from our room.

The next morning we were back to work!  Martin, Nick and I were heading up to Tauschehutte a true Swiss Alpine Hut; which come to find out was straight up the mountain.  Three hours of solid uphill hiking was not ideal, but I wasn’t going to turn around; my reputation and pride was on the line.  We later found out that it was the most difficult hike you could take in the region without ropes and harnesses.  Thankfully Martin’s promises of gorgeous views, modern facilities and cold beer held true,   

The first and only flat part of the trail... 2 hours in, 1 more to go

Still not there yet...

I would have been happy to spend the night here.

 

Almost there..you can see it in the distance.

I was promised a cold beer...it was probably the only thing that kept me going,

We walked back down the mountain on Wednesday and met up with Kim and the kids in town to take the train from Zermatt to Zurich, our final destination for the remaining four nights in Europe. 

And back down the next day.

Officially back in Zurich and still tastes as good as I remembered it

Martin and I stayed in an apartment in the Niederdorf and found Zurich exactly how remembered it.   The days were spent wandering the city, exploring our favorite old spots, lunches with the ladies and sunning by the lake.  And the nights were spent with good friends at great dinners and fun BBQs.  It would be so easy to move back and slip back into that easy lifestyle.  As our friend Sean puts it, there are First World problems and then there are Swiss Problems.  

Dinner with the Lawry's, Peyer's and Breuer's at See Rose

Missed my organized chaos

After lunch with the ladies, we took the obligatory lap through Spruengli for a few Luxemburgerlis

Martin and his new best friend Tom at Bauschaunzli, our favorite beer garden in Zurich

After two weeks of traveling through Europe and feeling more at home than ever I realized how special and privileged our lives are.  And after eyeing a ridiculous amazing, slightly tacky, completely 80s, where would I wear it, only in Europe dress, I realized it was time to go back to home and reality.  Until next time Zurich!