Homemade sushi

Ready to dig in on the homemade sushi. 

Andreas got inspired by the equipment in the kitchen so coming home from work Jennifer had to spend her Monday evening helping him making sushi. Not so easy and not all rolls turned out nicelooking, but it tasted good! 

Easter in Austria

Salzburg

We are a little slow getting around to posting this entry. Probably testimony to how busy work has been since we got back and how little energy I have left in the evening. My bedtime is about 9pm these days and I am ready to get horizontal already about 8pm. But better late than never...

Over the Easter holidays we went to Austria. I took off a few extra days from work so we had a week. The first 3 days we spent in Salzburg. Andreas had booked us into a nice bed & breakfast not far from the center so we were well placed to explore. We got a Salzburg card so had free entry to all of the museums and other activities, like a boat ride on the river. The weather was not great so we did not get up to the nearby mountain top, but saw plenty of museums, churchs, and old houses. Our favorite was the trick fountains at Hellbrunn Palace. The last night we attended a Mozart dinner concert (concert are better when there are food breaks says Andreas).

Hellbrunn

Hellbrunn 

On a snowy Easter Sunday we headed to Widenhofen an der Ybbs to visit our friends Thomas and Monika.

Thomas grew up in Waidhofen and was visiting his family for the holidays. They had invited us to join them for a few days. We enjoyed a relaxing Easter avoiding the snow and cold over good food and conversation. Although the day after was nicer and we visited Dürnstein and the ruins of the medival castle where Richard Lionheart was once held captive.

Our final two days we spent in Vienna. We say the fancy buildings along the Ring road, enjoyed the gardens at Schönbrunn, and biked along the Danube. All in all a nice get-away.

First Swiss race

Today I ran the first 10km of the season. My expectations were not very high (despite my 2 months of focused training). Okay - there are differences of opinion on this. Jennifer thinks I have only been training the last 2 months here, but we have been traveling, sick for a bit and the hills made my knees hurt in the beginning. Anyways, the race went well. It was the flatest 10km I have ever run that was not on a track. It was two 5km loops at the Dübendorf military airport. Not there most scenic of places but the weather was good for running.


I came in 3rd after an African with legs like toothpicks and a fast Swiss guy. The time 32:09 was only 20 seconds from my personal best. A good sign for the coming season. I was also first in my age class - old boys over 30, so I got 2 trophies!

Moving

Swiss icecream (Mövenpick) at our new place

Yesterday and today we have been moving from our 18m2 room in the Studenthouse in Witikon to a house with 3 bedrooms close to Stettbach. Except from the fact that we get a lot of more space the really big advantage is that Jennifer now will have 10 minutes to work instead of 50 minutes. Almost 1½ hour per day of less commuting.

This is only a temporary living situation though. In 3 weeks we will have to move again. The reason we got this place is that one of Jennifer's collegues is away with his family to Ghana and they are letting us to stay here during this time.

27 weeks

In the middle of May we will be moving into another house in the same area where we will stay until we are moving back to Sweden. The small problem is the 10 days between moving out of here and moving in to the other place. But we are sure that problem will be solved in some way.

Week 26

I am approaching the end of the 2nd trimester and my pregnancy honeymoon (if the books are to be believed). The last three months have been really good = not feeling sick and wanting to throw up (although that did happen a few times), more energy and pretty much normal movement. However, in the last week or so I have noticed a few changes. My belly is definately bigger and noticable. That means I get more people asking how it's going, when I am due, etc. As well as a few "You're pregnant!" reactions, as at the party last Friday. It also means that getting vertical in the mornings requires a bit more effort and I can get out of breath tying my shoes. No stretch marks yet, but it definately feels like the skin is being constantly stretched. I find giving myself belly massages seems to help (hence the picture). It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months.

Rhine Falls

This Saturday we took a day-trip to Rhine Falls, the largest waterfall in Europe (based on water flow). It is not very high, only 23 meters, but still it is a bit impressive to be standing right below it and look at all the water flowing down.

It is a big tourist trap and we bet it is really crowded during tourist season. They have built a few platforms right next to the falls so you get a good view. It is also possible to take a boat out to a cliff in the middle of the falls - which of course we did.