The Big Finn's Big Blog!

We're back home. Actually, we came home on Monday, but it took a couple of days for me to get things back in order. So, blogging had to take a back seat.

Not only are we back home, but we're back home for an entire month before our next trip. BELIEVE IT, OR NOT! We haven't been at home for an entire month since August.

So much time on our hands. Whatever shall we do???

The trip to London/Scotland was really nice. There was a little hiccup when our brand new hotel in Glasgow where we were supposed to stay on Saturday night called us on Thursday afternoon - TWO DAYS BEFORE OUR SCHEDULED ARRIVAL - to let us know that the hotel had not yet opened and that we wouldn't be able to stay there OR eat dinner there. However, all ended up well in the end when they set us up in a nice hotel in Edinburgh, albeit an hour drive away from Glasgow.

The itinerary went like this:

Friday: Flew to London, checked in at the 51 Buckingham Gate Hotel (highly recommended by me), shopped a bit, had some lunch, took a nap, met our friends Simon and Rosemarie for dinner at Quilon (Michelin starred Indian restaurant next to our hotel), and zzzzzzzzzzzz!

Saturday: Met up with Jeanette, Mark, and Lisa at Heathrow and flew to Glasgow, rented cars at Glasgow Airport, drove to Edinburgh, checked into our hotel, high tea, shopped a bit, had a nice dinner, and zzzzzzzzz!

Sunday: Drove up to our palatial rental house outside of Inverness, got settled in, went out to stock up on supplies at Tesco, dinner/roaring fire back at house, and zzzzzzz!

Monday - Saturday: Sightseeing (Loch Ness, Inverness, Isle of Skye, Ullapool, etc., etc.), shopping, relaxing, eating well, etc.

Sunday - Jeanette, Mrs. TBF, and I drove back to Edinburgh and flew back to London. Mark and Lisa drove back to Glasgow. We said goodbye to Jeanette, and then Mrs. TBF and I spent the night at Simon and Rosemarie's house outside of London.

Monday - Early morning taxi back to Heathrow, A.M. flight back to Basel.

Enough about all that. Check out all 150+ pictures HERE.

Labels: 51 Buckingham Gate, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, London, Quilon, Scotland

I'm not really sure what was going on here, but...

...my dad certainly had an Elvis thing going on at breakfast on 10/28/2009.

Labels: my dad a.k.a. Finn Elvis

As usual, Mrs. TBF and I stayed at Jo the mother-in-law's townhouse while we were in Chicago. Mrs. TBF flew to Chicago with me, left on business for a couple of days the following week, came back for my 25th reunion, and then flew back out on business again. That left me with some quality "alone" time with Jo Mama.

One evening, I told her that I'd take her out for dinner. Of course, a negotiation ensued which resulted in us having to go out to eat at 5 p.m. (I obviously lost the negotiation) at a place where she could eat a salad. We agreed on California Pizza Kitchen, and off we went. And... let me tell you: I earned some big-time son-in-law points parking in the spot right in front of the door instead of my normal parking spot: far away, requiring her to walk and get some exercise.

Jo Mama is doing well. Although she complains about every and all possible ailments throughout the day, she's really in very good health considering that she is nearly 80. You'd never guess it by looking at her.



Also as usual in the fall, I rendezvoused with my parents (on their way from Canada to spend the winter in Florida) at my sister's house. I only saw them for a couple of days because they didn't get down to Chicago until the tail end of my stay, but we managed to spend a decent amount of time together.

They, like Jo Mama, are also doing well. They look fit, happy, and ready to spend the winter living the good life in warm, sunny Florida. I plan on going to Florida again this winter, so I'll see them again soon. This will be my third year in a row going to there during the dead of winter.

Does that now count as an annual trip?

Labels: healthy parents, Jo Mama, TBF's parents living the good life

Here were my favorite pictures of the nieces and nephew from our trip.

In this first picture, we had gone to see my sister run in a 5k race. Music was blaring over the speakers, and I thought it would be a great time to torment the nieces with some public robotic dancing. Fiona tolerated Uncle TBF, Kiera was mortified, and Sinead pretty much just ignored me.

I took this picture of Finn immediately after he walked in the door after football practice. I don't think there was enough Shout in Chicagoland to get all those stains out.


Finally, my little niece Sinead whipping around the yard on her little Barbie 4-wheeler. I told her about how when her mom and I were here age, we made bowling pins and a bowling ball out of aluminum foil, and used our hallway as a bowling alley.

She didn't care.

Kids these days! Sheesh!!

Labels: Chicago, kids these days, the nieces and nephew

We sure drink a lot of coffee when we're in America; a lot more than we drink in Basel. Why? I'm not really sure. Maybe it's the jet lag. Or... maybe it's the fact that it's so damn cheap.

Example:

We usually get lungo and grande Americanos at Starbucks. In Basel, it costs the equivalent of about $12 or $13. In Chicago, it cost something like $5.50. Plus, in Chicago, I order them, and I have them in my hand in about 30 seconds. In Basel? It usually takes at least five minutes.

What's up with that?

Labels: Dunkin' Donuts, U.S. vs. Swiss Starbucks

Ok... it was actually the fourth row, but why split hairs?

Why are we so happy in these photos? One: they were taken just after we arrived in Chicago. And... Two: they were taken just after we arrived in Chicago after flying in first class!

That's right, folks: complimentary first class upgrades yet again!

While going through security at Heathrow, the agent told Mrs. TBF that her seat had been changed. She had been upgraded to first class. Unfortunately, I hadn't been. Mrs. TBF told the agent that she wouldn't take the upgrade unless we both received them, a quick phone call was made, and... Bob's your uncle, as the Brits say.

A little while later, we got on the plane, turned LEFT, and were escorted to seats 4E and 4F.

YES!

Mrs. TBF used miles to upgrade me to first class for the return, and we're already booked for first class when we go back to Chicago for Christmas. I'm just thinking...

Can I ever fly in anything but first class again?

Labels: Chicago, First Class on BA

Hi!

This is the point where I should be apologizing for not blogging, but... I'm an adult, blogging is an optional activity, and... I don't have to apologize if I don't want to, DAMMIT!

So there! HA!

Rather than bore you with a long post, I'll be brief right now and then catch up with multiple mini-posts.

Chicago was great! Family, friends, shopping, eating, 25th NU reunion, etc. We were gone for 12 days, and we didn't return until last Thursday.

Last weekend was our friend Rammy's 50th birthday celebration. I called it Rammy-O-Rama! It was pretty much a 24-hour extravaganza, and we're still recuperating.

This Friday, we're off to London. We'll spend the night there, and then we'll spend the entire next week in Scotland. Who goes to Scotland in November. Well, apparently WE DO!

More posts coming up soon. I promise!

Labels: 25th college reunion, Chicago, London, Rammy, Scotland

Since we last spoke, we went with a group of friends via private shuttle bus to a wine tasting about 30 minutes from here. It was a great evening, but... I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera. Sorry 'bout that. Then, last weekend, we went to Paris. No, I did NOT forget my camera this time. You can view some of the pictures by clicking... right... HERE.

Paris, as usual was great. We relaxed well, ate well, and shopped well. I came home with some new shirts and bathing suits, and Mrs. TBF came home with a new handbag, a new pair of sunglasses, and probably other things that I just can't remember at this time. We had such a good time, in fact, that we booked another trip to Paris for February while we were online in the lounge at our hotel.

Right now, I'm taking a break from packing for our next trip: Chicago. The main reason for the trip is to attend my 25th college reunion. However, I'm sure that I'll have time for family and friends too. Mrs. TBF will fly over with me, head off on a business trip next week, come back to Chicago for my reunion, and then head off on business again the following week. If all goes according to plan, she will depart for London from the East Coast around the same time I am departing for London from Chicago, and then we'll meet up in London for the flight back to Basel. But enough about that...

I still can't believe that I GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE MORE THAN 25 YEARS AGO!!! Sheesh!

Labels: 25th college reunion, a weekend in Paris, Chicago

...and style.

We received a package from Italy today containing assorted pottery we purchased while we were in Amalfi: a few plates, a vase, a couple of other odds and ends, AND...

A proper resting place for Dominique and King's ashes. Finally!

Up until now, they've been in the little white boxes in which we received their ashes from the vet. Also, they've been on a shelf right above our TV.

Not very appropriate.

Now they'll be in this beautiful "urn" we purchased last month in Amalfi. And, they'll have a new place of honor in our bedroom so they can sleep with us every night we're at home just like they did for so many years.

It was a bit of a trick getting the bag containing Dominique's ashes through the opening, but I managed. Also, I'm sure King would complain about having to spend all of eternity in the same urn as Dominique, but...

...he'll get used to it.

Labels: Dominique and King's final resting place, Italian ceramics, rest in peace

I went to IKEA yesterday with my "Wednesday Wife" - Dr. Di.

On most Wednesdays, I walk our friends' two dogs, and then I walk over to my "WW's" home. We talk for a couple of hours, I drink coffee, insist on her NOT putting out any snacks, watch as she pretty much ignores me by putting out a bunch of snacks on a lazy Susan, and then proceed to happily spin the lazy Susan and... systematically devour every last crumb.

Yesterday, we mixed things up a bit.

Dr. Di picked me up at home, and we went furniture shopping. Of course, I had to wear a pair of Mephisto walking shoes I have because the leather perfectly matches the leather furniture in their living room, and Dr. Di wanted to buy some throw pillows. That was a bit weird, but... whatever.

Our first stop was IKEA. I bought a pair of scissors, and Dr. Di proceeded to buy a couple of gigantic bags of stuff - neither of which contained even one throw pillow. After going through the checkout (with my pair of scissors, and Dr. Di's two gigantic blue bags) I decided I "needed" a couple of hot dogs, as I normally do on one of my 3-4 visits to IKEA per year.

Let me just say: I don't know what you're up to, IKEA, but... I DON'T LIKE IT!! IKEA has obviously changed their hot dog recipe. The hot dogs don't look the same, they don't taste the same, and they do NOT have that nice snap when you bite into them like they always have in the past. Plus, when I bit into the wiener, the inside poked out of the casing on the back end, and it pretty much reminded me of when a male dog sits down and shows himself off in all his glory.

Um... I finished the hot dogs anyway, but... I'M ON TO YOU, IKEA!!! I'm boycotting those wieners from now on!!!

After IKEA, Dr. Di and I went to Möbel Pfister (nothing purchased other than coffee and coffee cake in the café) and then OBI (nothing purchased). Finally, at Micasa, Dr. Di found some pillows. Of course, she had to have me stand in the aisle where she repeatedly put different arrangements of throw pillows around my shoes until she found a combination she approved of.

Thankfully, there were no witnesses!

Finally, we ended up at Office World.

Let me just preface this by saying that Dr. Di's husband, Dr. Andy, often calls Dr. Di on her mobile phone on Wednesdays while he's half-way around the world on some business trip. Usually, when he finds out that I'm sitting in his dining room, talking with his wife, drinking his coffee, and eating his snacks off of his lazy Susan, I end up hearing a loud "Neeeeeesht guet!!!" (not good!) coming from Dr. Di's phone. I can pretty much predict what he'll say when he reads the following:

At one point, while at Office World, I actually accidentally called Dr. Di "hon'" (short for honey) like I call Mrs. TBF.

"Neeeeeeeeeeeeeesht guet!!!!!!!!!"

Labels: boycott IKEA hot dogs, Dr. Andy, Dr. Di, IKEA, Kaffeeklatsch, Micasa, Möbel Pfister, OBI, Wednesday Wife

We paid some of our Swiss taxes this week. Unfortunately, it happens every year around this time.

There's a reason why I said "some" of our Swiss taxes. You see, for the first time ever, I actually read the footnote on the tax statement from our accountant. Here's what it says:

Cantonal taxes are payable by 30.09.2009
Community taxes are payable by 30.09.2009
Federal taxes are payable by 01.03.2010

Wait a second!

Federal taxes aren't payable until March 1, 2010?????

You mean to tell me??? Doh!!!!

I came to find out that I've been paying our federal taxes (31% of our tax liability) FIVE MONTHS EARLY EVERY YEAR FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS!!!!!

According to our accountant, the federal tax authority pays us interest on early payments. But when I asked him how I could verify that they had actually done so, he pretty much just shrugged his shoulders. Oh well...

I won't make that mistake again.

Labels: better early than late, not reading the fine print, Swiss taxes

Just a few words about our hotel in Copenhagen - 71Nyhavn.

First of all, I misread my confirmation when I booked the hotel on their website. I read CHF600/USD 582 per night, and that turned out to be the cost for our entire stay - two nights. So, while still expensive for what it was, the hotel ended up costing half the price I had originally thought it would cost. So, that was good news.

The hotel is decent, but it's not fancy by any means. I guess the best thing about it is that it's in a great location right in Nyhavn. However, if you ever plan on staying at this hotel, I have one big tip: REQUEST A ROOM IN THE NEWER PART OF THE HOTEL!!!

The old part (pictured here), is the part that faces the canal. While the view is much better, the rooms absolutely suck. They are small, and the bathrooms are tiny. In fact, the shower is just a shower head coming out of the corner with a shower curtain that hangs from the ceiling. The shower floor is pretty much the bathroom floor with a drain. If I had had to shower in there, I would have been standing there with a shower curtain stuck to my body with water pouring down on my head. Not good!

Mrs. TBF took one look at the room, said "NO WAY!", and then went down to the front desk to POLITELY voice her complaints. We ended up being switched to a room in the newer wing. Although it had a view of the street instead of the canal, the room was much better. Also, the bathroom was a real bathroom with a bathtub shower combo.

What I find interesting is that the man at the front desk told Mrs. TBF that a lot of people complain about the old wing, however "....we are not allowed to make any changes because the building is protected," which I take to mean that it has protected landmark status.

That would be fine except for the fact that the restaurant we ate at on Saturday night is in the oldest building in Copenhagen, which I'm assuming must also be protected, AND... THEY HAVE A GLEAMING, MODERN KITCHEN.

What's up with that?!?!?

Labels: 71Nyhavn Hotel, Copenhagen, it sometimes pays to complain

Last weekend's visit to Copenhagen, our first in eight years, was a triumphant success!

Our friend, Dr. Andy, who lives here in Basel, actually works for a Danish company and has a studio apartment in Copenhagen where he occasionally sleeps when he's not living here in Basel OR circumnavigating the globe on one of his many business trips.

Got that? Good!

Here are a few bullet points from the trip:

Copenhagen is a really nice city, and I could definitely live there. The locals seem happy and worry-free, they probably speak the best English of any non-native English speaking country in Europe, the shopping is good, the restaurants are good, and the quality of life seems exceptional. Zürich and Geneva usually rank higher than Copenhagen on the "most livable cities" list, but I personally would probably choose Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is very expensive. We stayed at a place called 71Nyhavn Hotel which was a five minute walk from Dr. Andy's apartment. It was nice, but it wasn't fancy or luxurious, AND it cost about CHF 300/USD 290 per night - NO breakfast included. The VAT is something like 25%.

Liquor is expensive. A 50 cl/16 oz beer costs about CHF 10/USD 9.70. A glass of wine at dinner cost something like CHF 30/USD 29 PER GLASS!!

We went to Christiania (you can read about it here) on what just happened to be its 38th birthday. Lots of hippies, flea markets, people openly smoking pot, dogs roaming around without collars - cool place!

The World Cup of Archery just happened to be taking place right by our hotel. A Venezuelan woman won, and a Danish woman came in second (awwww!). We sat and watched the exciting competition, mesmerized for hours with tens of thousands of archery fans. Ok... there were only a few hundred people watching... we watched for a few minutes, and... well... archery pretty much sucks as a spectator sport.

Tuborg is better than Carlsberg!

We had a great dinner at Kong Hans Kælder. Top-notch/friendly service, the food was great (other than the minor issue of Dr. Andy biting down on buckshot while eating his wild mallard course), and we happily wined and dined for 4+ hours in the oldest building in Copenhagen!

Click HERE if you'd like to see all of the pictures from Copenhagen.

Labels: 71Nyhavn Hotel, Christiania, Copenhagen, Dr. Andy, Dr. Di, Kong Hans Kælder, World Cup of Archery

We're off to Copenhagen this weekend. It'll be our first time back in a little over eight years.

What makes Copenhagen special for us is that it was our first "real" trip after moving to Switzerland in October 2000. For the first ten months, we pretty much just stuck to traveling around Switzerland by car or train, or we'd drive into the Alsace or the Black Forest (which I despised!). Having found a good kennel for Dominique, and a couple of neighbors who were willing to stop by and throw some food down for King, we decided that it was time to actually jump on a plane for a weekend getaway outside of the clean and safe confines of Switzerland and our immediate neighbors. I looked online, booked a last-minute trip, and off we went.

The highlight of that trip eight years ago was probably the canal boat cruise where I took this self-portrait. The weather was hot and sunny, a waitress served ice cold beer on the boat, and we just relaxed and watched the Danish scenery pass us by. We also visited Tivoli Garden, and enjoyed a couple of really nice meals in Nyhavn.

This time, we're going with friends who used to live in Copenhagen. Not much is planned (other than dinner at a nice restaurant on Saturday evening), but I have no problem with that.

What will we do?

You'll just have to check back next week to find out.

Labels: canal boat cruise, Copenhagen, flashback, Nyhavn, self-portrait

After 22 YEARS, we FINALLY have a new mattress!

I'm not sure if you remember or not, but I first spoke about our mattress woes in early 2007. If you like, you can refresh your memory by reading about it HERE.

So, going back to that trip to Chicago in early-2007...

We actually went to IKEA, looked at the mattress, and decided that it wasn't packaged well enough to survive trans-Atlantic transport to Basel. Sure, we could have gone about the trouble of getting extra packaging, but neither one of us felt like going to all the trouble, so we just decided to explore other options.

After returning to Basel, we went to a local furniture store to see if we could actually order a custom-made American size mattress. It turned out that we could. However, the store quoted us a price of CHF 3800 which is currently about $3,700 (How about that weak American dollar, huh?). I was all prepared to just go ahead, bite the bullet, and order the stinkin' thing, but then I made a HUGE mistake...

I went online to see how much the exact same memory foam mattress would cost in the U.S. As it turned out... $1,600!!! There was NO WAY I was going to pay more than double for the stupid thing in Switzerland. Just wasn't! Nope! NO... WAY!

Zip ahead a couple of years...

Now, it's Spring 2009, and Mrs. TBF and I are waking up every morning with stiff backs. Our mattress has developed a big lump in the middle which we have affectionately begun calling "the terp" after hearing the term during our weekend trip to Amsterdam, and something needs to be done... SOON! But what???

That's where pure luck comes into the picture...

One evening a couple of months back, while dining with friends, I began talking about our bed woes and how much the local furniture store wanted to charge us for a custom made, American queen size, memory foam mattress. Suddenly, like the voice of an angel, I heard our friend say: "Our company makes a competing product. I'm sure I could get one for you for much less. Let's see what I can do."

Oh... and by the way... in order to avoid getting in trouble at work, our friend will remain anonymous.

Anyway...

It turns out that he did indeed get us the proper size mattress, for about EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT less than what the furniture store quoted us, and he delivered it to us last week. In fact, he even hauled away the cardboard.

How's that for service???

Since then...

WE'VE BEEN SLEEPING LIKE ROCKS!!

Mrs. TBF says that she can barely wake up because she's in such a deep coma. Me? I don't even hear Mrs. TBF's alarm go off. We've been going to bed early because we can't wait to get into bed. In the morning, about a minute after waking up from my coma, I feel completely wide awake and refreshed! Our lives have been significantly changed for the better!

Anonymous friend... YOU ARE OUR HERO!!!!

I emptied and threw out all the water bed tubes last Friday. Tomorrow, I'll be going to the dump to throw out the mattress cover/etc. that's all wrapped up with duct tape in our storage area.

Good riddance!

Labels: a new mattress, blurring the line between sleep and coma, IKEA, life transforming events, terp