2nd Honeymoon in Dubai

Odie and I travel a lot. But I realized that we haven't done "private holiday" just two of us for a long time. I love to visit friends in other countries but this time, the purpose of the holiday was purely spending private time each others.



The place we have chosen to visit was Dubai. A totally new place for both of us.

Dubai is crazy. They have pretty much everything in the city.



Not to mention beautiful coast..



Huge shopping mall with world biggest aquarium.



Who can imagine sharks in a shopping mall? Not only one or two of them!



What you can enjoy not only watching fishes but also..



ice skating in damm hot Dubai



or even skiing! Odie, who grown up in a Winterwonder land, cannot believe what he see. "This must be some kind of arabic joke!".



Craziness of shopping mall in Dubai continues. There is even a world biggest fountain in the area. The performance with arabic music was like a belly dance show.

Another world number one is "the longest metro without a driver". This train reminds me of "Yurikamome" in Japan.



In fact, these train are "made in Japan". This is a gold class which is equipped only one wagon in a train.



There are still lots of building under construction. I'm sure city looks different in 5 years..

Talking about "Japanese made", there is a reclamation land called "Odaiba" in Tokyo where also a monorail without a driver are running.



There it is, "The Palm", a reclamation district shaped like a palm tree has opened in Dubai this year. A castle like architecture ahead is a hotel called "Atlantis" which holds amazing water theme park in the preperty.



Tthere is even a dolphine lagoon in the park.



Odie played with a dolphine.

Odaiba in Japan holds theme park of Onsen but there is no lagoon with dolphine. Dubai is just amazing.


City Dubai is never ending entertaiment park but what I liked the most in this trip was an experience in desert.



"Bab Al Shams". A luxurious hotel standing like a mirage in the middle of the desert.



You can easily accest to the desert behind the goergous swimming pool.



It was my first desert experience.



and I absolutely needed to try riding on a camel!



Was quite scary than I thought. I never knew how you get on and off from a camel. I thought you will climb ladder or something. But the fact is, a camel bend their forelegs and sit down. When they bend their legs, the saddle inclines. I thought I fell off. Camel was also taller than I thought. Therefore, the suggestion from Odie riding on a camel for 3 hours was easily declined by me:)



There are many things to go in this desert except camel ride. For example greeting to falcon..



Have a short walk in the desert..



and feel that earth is really round.

When Odie suggested to stay in this hotel for 3 nights, I thought I will get bored. But I was wrong. I could have stay here for a week a relax.



A morning in desert started from a delicous breakfast under blue sky.



and we hang out around the swiming pool for whole day.



There were two pool, one is cold water and one is warm.



Odie played killer whale in this pool. I rode on a killer whalre. It was great fun.



Hommos was my favorite arabian food. We had great snack at pool side.



Fun time goes by fast. Sun is setting again..



We had a drink at the bar "inside" swimming pool



and was relunctant to leave this beautiful day.



But we still have fun time left.



Special arabian dinner at the restaurant in the middle of desert!



We walked red carpet..



and being escorted to the unknown world..



It was the dinner I have never experienced.





Huge arabian buffet



and a show of belly dance and arabic music.



This carivan show was also fun. Even camels and horses are acting.



Odie became friend with one local man who was dining next to us.



He was really a fun, friendly dubai man who is a first local person we spoke to.



It was unforgettable night. We had 10 minutes romantic walk back to the hotel



and had a last drink at roof top bar again.



Our last night in desert.



Conincidentally, it was exaclty 5 years since we met. Too many things have happened in last 5 years and I feel like we've been together for 10 years. Also for this reason, it was perfect time to go for a private holiday to refresh the relationship.

This holiday will stay in my memory forever just like a honeymoon.


Which cosmetic matches to this event?

Santaverde Aloe After Sun Emulsion

Dubai is one of the most dry place in the world. Not to mention desert, but also air conditioning inside of building dry your skin drastically. In addition to suntan, skin needs urgent moisture care.



Santa Verde contains Aloe Vera instead of water. This smooth cream easily absorb to your skin and prevent skin irritation.

You can get it here.

Wedding of dentist couple

From my previous post, "Unbelievable Polterabend", Caro became one of the popular characters in my blog.



and she has finally married! Caro being escorted by her Italian papa.



I was so touched and amazed how beautiful she is in the white dress.



The ceremony in church has started. In Europe, "best man" and "best woman" play a big role. A best woman of Caro, who professionally organized the Polter abend was also supporting bride on this day. Her pink dress was cute.



A flower girl took an important role as well.:) She was brave enough to show up on the stage all by herself.

While bride and groom say their vows, hands of best man and best woman were on their shoulder just like they are joinng the vows. This scene was very special for me and impressive. Sharing important moment in your life with your best friend or best brother or sister is nice. But I would have difficulty to chose only one if I had a best woman:)



Ceremony has finished. New married couple has born!



As we went out from the church, I saw something never seen in any other weddings..
An arch was built by girls from their dental clinic.



Teeth are standing in front of their feet!



at the end of the arch, I found this decorated two teeth, just like this couple. Gee, this is so funny.



Moreover, among the flower shower, tooth brush and tooth paste were lying. Unbelievable!! This made me so laughed.



After the ceremony is cocktail party.



Godzilla, who was also a patient of this couple, joined to celebrate their wedding.



Unlike the wedding in Japan, guests make a queue in order to greet and celebrate bride and gloom. In Japan, we make a queue after the party since the ending time is fixed. In Europe, guests join the party and they leave after a while, whenever they want. That's why usually no queue upon the departure.

Bride and gloom are very busy in the beginning since they have to greet all the people. (and of course, 3 times kisses to every guests!:)



After a cocktail, party move on to dinner. Cocktail are quite open to many people but the dinner is only for selected friends and family.

This is again, other way around from the system in Japan. In Japan, you invite limited people for banquet, and in the evening, you make more casual party open for many friends. It is always interesting to find these culture differences.

Caro and Sven chose venue as a hotel in Zuriberg. A beautiful european hotel up on the hill in the city.



Nice table decoration.



Bride and gloom are both relaxed and enjoy dinner with guests. This is great. (i had no time to eat at all by my wedding,-).



Photo presentation by family and relative.



A gloom in his young time, trying to be Macchio. All the guests have cracked up.



Guess what the present was.. Iphone shuffle! Perfect whey you go jogging!



Wedding cake performance time. Gloom and bride cut a piece together and this actually means "first work together as a married couple". In Europe, guests can really eat this cake. In Japan, this "performance cake" is not for eat. At least in our wedding, we were not allowed to serve this cake to guests. The cake which really being served looks similar with the one made for "performance" but actually not the same. This is due to hygiene reason since "performance cake" have to be prepared in a day before. Strange..



I was happy that we were allowed to eat this cake. Symbolic puppet of bride and gloom is on the top! So sweet!!



Party-part 3 began with the dance performance of bride and gloom. Caro and Sven was taking a private dance lesson and they showed us such a perfect salsa show! My god, I can't believe we were taking a same dance course. They are now way ahead to us. It was indeed a great dance!

Time for dance party for all. Live band play many different kind of music.



Odie was totally drunk and acting silly. He was wearing blue band which was actually a part of decoration. Odie was exactly like Japanese oldies in drinking pub who are wearing ties around their head and drunk!



With similar crazy type of his friends, Odie was out of control. I let him free his energy.



Party continues until late. Music was very good. I'm glad that we booked a room in this hotel..:)

On the next morning, we supposed to have a brunch as a nice ending of the party. But we somehow screwed up with our plan and didn't make it. In Europe, the wedding party usually ends with Sunday breakfast with guests. I like this culture.



I clearly remember when Caro and Sven invited us for dinner. That was the time I was visiting Odie in Switzerland. It has been already 4 years since then. Now, I'm living in Switzerland and being invited to their wedding party. You never know what your life brings to you..

Anyway, I'm so happy to have such a GREAT friends here and thank to Caro and Sven for a beautiful party!

Which cosmetic matches to this event?



Athanor Edelweiss Cleansing Lotion

Gently wipe off the make up you wore for a whole day. Swiss made Edelweiss extract calm your skin down and prevent irritation.

You can get it here.

Oktoberfest 2009

It was another GREAT weekend in Munich!

But before you get there, it is always question of "how". We usually like to take train since we can both relax and read, have coffee in restaurant car and so on. However, taking train to Munich during Oktoberfest is not always the best choice.



These drunk Swiss people were continuously singing and shouting as they were already in a tent. When you happen to be same wagon with these kind of people, 5 hours ride to Munich becomes nightmare.

Anyway, we survived.



This time, we stayed by Thomas, a friend of Odie. I see him like a cousin of Odie since they know each others for a long long time. Thomas cook fabulous.



Ohhhh this pasta was gorgeous. After experiencing hell in train, I jumped up to heaven. It was really delicous.



He was like a professional cook.


Since we took it easy on the first night of our arrival, we were in full power on the next day.



I explored the city, where my father used to live. I have some memory that I walked the city with him.
It was a beautiful day.



I love Victoria Markt.



Munich is great, even the city is locating inland, they have variety of fresh seafood!!



I had really nice lunch.

Our weekend of Octoberfest is little bit different from last year. Last year, we stand in a line in front of the test at 9 o'clock in the morning. I was so exhausted in early afternoon. This year, we enjoyed the city for a while and headed to Wiesen around 3 o'clock.

I think this is the best to start a party.





Thomas is also in Lederhose.



Odie bought me a Lebkuchen as usual...



with strange sentence as USUAL!!:) "My funny bunny".

He prefer finding these unique phrase than simply "ich liebe dich" and so.



Thanks to our friends who we met by wedding, we managed to get seats in this tent.



It was very kind of Anna and Christian. Without their kind offer, we could never find a seat.



As usual, it is sooooo amazing how many people are squeezed in a tent.



What great about the test is live music. If you just want to drink, there are seats outside as well where you don't have to reserve. But this live music is something encourage the atmosphere of Octoberfest.



Jumbo pretzel.



Traditional German food..



Beer, beer and beer...



Although I cannot drink beer, I enjoyed the fest year by year. It's because I getting know these "Octoberfest lied" better than before. I can slowly sing even with gesture! Indiana song is my favorite.



But later in the evening, more people get drunk. Sometime I had to dance with a stranger whom I even didn't want to.



and a German guy in my neighbor never allow me to toast with water glass anymore. Every time we toast, he forced me to take a beer. Ohhhh nooooooo.

I never stayed Otcoberfest so late. We stayed until the test close.



Thomas is half dutch and he is the strongest in alcohol. Even though he had lots of beer, he was sharp enough to shoot the targets:)



and I got many flowers! Thanks Thomas!

But afterward, Odie and I have been dragged to roller coaster. We were knocked out:) Roller Coaster after drinks..What a tough man..



On the next day, we had a beautiful Sunday brunch and nice walk in a garden. I'm sure people in Munich are happy to have such a wonderful, big garden in the middle of the city. We have visited Octoberfest twice in the past but I think this year was the best. We concentrated on the party from Saturday afternoon but the rest, we've just relaxed and enjoyed the city. Yes, Munich is the city worth to stay and hang out.



Although we were annoyed by drunk people in the train back to Zurich, sunset at Bodensee was beautiful as usual.

Which cosmetic matches to this event?



Weleda Sloes Fit Juice 200ml<br>
After many glasses of beer, you need to detox and bring your body condition back to fit. Weleda Elixir will help you.

You can get it here.

Visit of my friends in CH

I usually take a holiday in September in other to go for a family vacation in Greece. This year I took 2 weeks holiday. One week is for Greece and one weeks is for

my freinds!!!



Three of my girl friends came to visit me. We call ourselve "S&M Club". Well, this name sounds quite something but it actually means "Sales&Marketing Team". Yes, we were colleagues in my previous job. We all joined the company at same time as new graduates.



Four Tokyo girls (although one is start getting partially Swiss) are hiking from Roten Boden to Riffelberg!





During these 5 days, while my friends were here, I had to laugh until I get muscle ache on my stomach.



One has totally wrapped herself up and led the team. She was just like a local guide who knows everything about the mountain.



One was pausing as she is an actress



and the other one was totally not in a hiking wear but carryied on the way just like she's walking in a city.



but we all amazed.



This is just like a post card..

Even I, who is living in Switzerland, never seen such a scenery.



Although we were complaining that the distance to the destination never shorten even we walk a lot..



We managed to reach the goal, Riffelberg!

From here, we took a train back to Zermatt.



With girls who I know for a long time, I can be crazy like a teenager..

Performing synchronized swimming in a swimming pool in hotel;-)



All my girls liked Roestli better than cheese fondue. Fondue is always too heavy for Japanese..

Next morning, we headed to Leukerbad, a famous hot spring resort. As we planned the trip, I have suggested some tour and asked a preference of my girls, such as taking a scenery train, visiting French area or Italian area.. and so on. They absolutely wanted to visit Zermatt and relaxing hot spring Spa. Therefore, we went Leukerbad straight from Zermatt.

I checked the website of Leukerbad and thought that "Roman-Irish bath" in Lindner Alpentherme is interesting.

"Roma-Irish bath" is a special bathing area where you have to follow the course of sauna, jacuzzi and massage in order to encourage the blood circulation and metabolism. Since there is a massage session during the process, you have to make reservation. I informed my girls in advance how much the price is and made a reservation.

However, what I have totally forgot is that "in Europe, sauna can be NAKED and MIXED"!!

Because of my family who go this kind of Sauna everyday, I totally got used to this European system and didn't pay attention.

Upon we girls stepped into this bathing area, we have been informed that we have to take off our bikini. My girls, quite puzzled. But we've already paid for this, no choice.

One of the girls, opened the door of sauna... and she closed without stepping in. She was shocked that a man lying on the sauna without hiding anything:) In Japan, even in Onsen (hot spring) where men are women are separated, we at least partially hide ourselves.

Sorry, my girls,, it's my fault without informing you this European culture. For me, it was already a normal situation:)

Anyhow, my girls were brave enough to step into to Sauna and proceeded the course by trying not to see other people. However, there was one last challenge.

"Rubbing soap massage". This is also included in the price. We packed ourselves with special treatment gel and next stage was massage.

The person who is in charge of massage showed up.... which was a MAN!!!

This is very impossible for us, lying in front of a man naked. My girls considered if they should let themselves adjust to European culture or keep their Japanese mentality.

Although the man hardly understand English, they tried to explain.

"We got a problem here"

"You are a problem"

"Me? Problem?"

"Yes, you are a problem"

and they explained how difficult it is for them to being massage by man naked.

Like this, they have overcame the challenge, the man has being substituted by woman.



This is a non-naked bathing area of Lindner Alpentherme. Leukerbad is beautiful, quiet hot spring resort. If you want to experience European Wellness, please come and visit:)



Even a city Zurich looks difference when I walk together with my friends from Japan.





What is this looks like?? We girls went crazy again along Lake Zurich:) Trying to make letters G H T which is an abbreviation of our previous company..

The last night of their trip is surprise birthday party for one of the girls. Planning a "surprise" while we hanging out 24 hours together is not easy. I made a reservation at Italian restaurant in Zurich which told me that they do not arrange special birthday cake.

We also secretly bought present for her while we are in souvenir shop together. It was definitely not easy without being seen by birthday girl. Once we found a "Cow Bell" with her initial on. We were so happy to find a perfect gift but a birthday girl came over to us saying "hey-, what did you find??". We all had to hide this "Cow Bell" and showed her a strange magnette telling her "yeah this could be a good gift for my father!". Phew, organizing surprise in front of birthday girl is tough! I also secretly rash out from this shop to buy a cup from Bodum. Birthday girl wanted to have the one with Swiss Cross design.

Last challenge was Odie. Even though we tried so hard to make this "Surprise party" success, Odie never understand what is going on. I told him over and over that he is now allowed to mention about her birthday but he manage to say "so, how old you gonna be tomorrow?" and so on. Luckily, this birthday girl didn't understand what Odie says immediately. Therefore, other girls and I quickly translated and asked her, "You boyfriend is same age like you, right?"

I really thought she already realized that we are planning something.



But actually, she didn't! Since the restaurant won't organize cakes, we started to put on fire on candles we have prepared. Behind the candles is a present which she wanted.



It was a big success!



But surprise was not yet over! Even though I have been told that no birthday cake will be arranged, a waiter saw the situation and brought Tiramis with candles! What a kind arrangement!

On the next morning, they left. During this 5 days, I really laughed for a year until by stomach twisted:) There was absolutely no distance and time difference among us. We were together just like we were in Tokyo.

I'm so thankful to my girls who visited me during their short holiday.



Artistic cooperation with Matterhorn made by birthday girl;-)


WHICH COSMETIC MATCHES TO THIS TRIP?



Lavera MOISTURIZING MASK BIO-WILDROSE

Light, slim facial mask which you can bring with you anywhere.



Too much sun from hiking? Too dry in sauna? Or laughed too much with friends? This deep moisture face mask will help you.

You can get it here.

Unbelievable Polterabend

"Polterabend", I translate as "Party of pre-marriage". Which simply means "Let's have fun and gone crazy before getting married!". Engaged girl go out only with her girl friends, boy, of course only with boy friends. It is known as "Bridal shower" in US but here in Switzerland, it is even more extreme..



A girl, who plays main role this time is "Caro". She will get married on October.

One of the features of Polterabend is a costume. Most of the case, girls (or boys) dress same.

Caro, who is super sporty girl, she has been specially organized a NIKE liked T shirts, which says "Caro" in stead of "NIKE". This is a great idea.

The party started from a cafe name "bistro&wellness".

As you notice from it's name, it is a place where you can have apero (cocktails) and in the same time, can pamper yourself with massage. Hmmm tempting. Caro had neck massage. Well, she has to be fully charged in order to prepare for her upcoming assignment...



While I was being massage, Caro's first assigment has started!　Caro has been suddenly blindfolded!

And there is a tiny piece of many different foods were prepared and she had to guess (even eat!) just by smelling them. Once, there was a hand cream which smells like a caramel and caro has eaten it without knowing that it's actually a hand cream. Poor her..:) But she did great job! She guessed almost all of them. Her 1st assignment has completed.



12 girls dressed same in a town!! This is awesome! Swiss people usually know that this is a group of Polterabend.

So, her next assignment is...



An Iron.

What a hell she wants to do with the iron?? Well, it's not SHE wants to do it. She has been ordered from us:)

2nd assignment. Go and get shirts from men and iron it. Plus, ask for a tip!!



Caro, without hesitating anything, she started asking to a man in cafe for his shirts.



Successful!! She ripped off his shirts and went into a bar...



A classic nice cafe. The end of the bar counter is..



Caro ironing!! She even secured a electric power in the cafe!! Unbelievable!!

Her first ironing is completed. She even got a tip as a reward.

Since her first attack was such a success, she became full power.



She ran and found a next target from even from another restaurant!



Caro helps him wearing a t-shirts on which has been ironed. I really amazed how supportive the people are for Polterabend.. Caro got a tip again. Her "mission of iron" is completed but here comes the next one without break.

3rd Assignment: Find out how to say "I love you" in 12 different languages.

Danish, Dutch, Finnish,Croatian,,, there is a list of languages that she has to conquer.



Chinese???



Finnish?? Damm, he's not!!



Caro even broke into the kitchen in one restaurant! Yes, we got Croatian!!

While we continued looking for another language, we bumped into to the another party of Polterabend..



Which is men!!

The man in rabbit is a polterabend boy. Caro asked him, "you, I have this huge mission to find out how to say I love you in these languages, you have to help me!". "Damm, what a hell huge mission.. You have such a cool T-shirts, look at me, man"



Yes, he IS a poor man. Here even has cans tightened to his feet, which makes perfect noise whenever he walks.

Anyway, Caro finally found how to say "I love you" in all the languages on the list. 3rd assignment is also finish.

4th Assignment: Sell roses to cute boys in high price

Ohh, there are quite a many good looking men in this terrace.



When Caro finds target.. all the girls go around him and surround. Gee, nobody can't say no in such a situation.　Girls are such a threat:)



Caro even ran and stop a man riding bicycle when she finds target!


Poor man, being stopped his comfortable ride on the bicycle and has to pay:) This is really fun to observe.

Well, not only a threat but her personality and sweatness don't allowed them to say no. She managed to sell all the roses!!

Caro, even voluntary went into bar in order to get a free drink.



A bartender called the boss. As soon as boss saw Caro and her smile, he said,
"Ok!! Two Caipirinha!!"



... it seems like everything is possible when you are having a polterabend.. Caro is now in bar side, making her own drinks.


But this last assignment is quite tough one.

5th Assignment: Grill Chipolata and sell them.

"Chipolata"="Small sausages". Grill and Sell?? Where and how?? Oh, even for Caro, this is too difficult.



Look at her serious face.. Will she give up her last assignment??

NO!!!

There is a no word like "impossible" in Caro's dictionary!! She went into this popular sausage restaurant in Zurich where everybody grab sausages quickly.



and she negotiated with a manager and got a permission! She is now behind the counter and grilling sausages!!



She sells now not only her Chipolata but also sausages of this restaurant. Look at her, she wear hat, just like her colleagues:)



"What would you like to have today~?". Caro, you really like a real sausage seller:) She successfully start grilling her Chipolata but she also has to sell them all. She ask if the guests also want to purchase Chipolata but up to this point, nobody wants such a small sausages.

So, it time for girls to help her out. They went to look for a fun, generous man who willing to pay for Chipolata. And we found one.

One guy, he pays CHF5 for one Chipolata and bought all of them! Whichmeans, he paid CHF30 for us!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!

As we leave this restaurant, Caro got a free sausage as salary of selling sausages:)



SO, now she is fully completed her all assignments! Now we can go for a dinner!

Due to Caro's good work, our girls need to pay only CHF15 for Mexican dinner with Margharita!



After dinner, the party continued and we went clubbing. There was a small surprise there. While we are dancing or talking, men come one by one and give Caro roses. I wondered why.
This was a small surprise organized by girl. They posted Caro's huge picture on men's bathroom with a message saying "this girl is having her Polterabend tonight. If you see her on the hall, please give her a rose", and there is a vase of roses next to it. What a sweet surprise.

and we stayed there until 4 o'clock.


After all, this polterabend was more than a huge success and I was surprised by these 3 points.

1. that Swiss people have such a unique a fun idea to enjoy party.

2. that Swiss people accepting Polterabend and supporting all these crazy things.
3. that Caro such a talented entertainer is. Everything she has done went beyond my expectation.


Again, I got to know a new aspect and new culture of Switzerland. You know, Swiss people is not necessarily conservative. They can be so fun and crazy which you never see in any other countries in the world! (who will iron in cafe!?)



TODAY's MUST

Weleda Birch Cellulite Oil



Absolutely necessary to refresh tired feet and legs after running around and party around whole day!

You can get it here.

Swelled legs get tight and thin!

Family trip in Andalucia

Here you go, our family trip in Spain. I was very much looking forward to this trip. A sister of my husband is living in Madrid and it was her "birthday trip" together with family. First of all, it's always fun with her, secondly, south spain is the place where I long wanted to visit. It's always great to see this reunion of family but the problem of this family is their agressiveness. This, you can refer to my old post, when we traveled to Garicia together 2 years ago. This time, I was telling family "please don't fight".

However, there was lots of action already from the beginning. Our flight has been cancelled and we were stucked in Zurich Airport for 6 hours. We missed one nice Tapas night in Madrid.

But at least we were able to fly to Madrid on this day. We have already organized the train ticket down to Andalucia on the next day so if we couldn't arrive on same day, whole trip would have been ruined.



We missed Tapas dinner but we have fresh, powerful breakfast at hotel Oscar. See my hotel's blog.



Morning in Madird. Waiting for Fay to arrive. Look how similiar these father and son are standing. It seems like they are sending SMS to Fay, telling her "where are you!? Come here as soon as possible!!"

Fay came by taxi. She was already half pissed being stressed by father and brother. I took same taxi with her and she said "yeah, yeah, my family... always stress:)".

But up to this moment, I was fully excited. Soon I can visit Andalucia... where I was dreaming of!!



Cordoba!! Amazing sky!! I have never seen such a blue sky for a long time. What a bright colour!!

But what's makes even more bright is...



Colorful clothing of this family!!



South Spain is one of the interesting lands in the history. It was orginally a catholic land but has been conquered by Islams and belong to them for 400 years until reconquered by Christians.

In the city, you still see many interesting mixture of Islamic culture and Christians. This Mezquita is a good example.



Can't believe that this is a Cathedral.



It was originally a church before Andalucia has been conquered by Muslims. Under the King of Muslim, it has been rebuilt as a Mosque, as gorgeous as the one in Bagdhad.



What's also interesting is that Christians didn't destroy this building after the reconquer. They rebuilt again as a Cathedral. Unlike Mosque, Cathedral must be dark. That's why they closed many windows which used to allowed sunshine in the hall.



Hmmm I love Tapas.



First day in Cordoba went so well. Godzilla soak himself into water whenever he founds fountain.



Now he completely enjoys feet bathing:)



No matter where he is, he goes to the water.



As we walked along the main street, women and men are separated, I was sooo shocked when I see them in fountain! Oh my god!! Is Godzilla now fully in a shower??



Oh, aren't they wet?? It was fun, refreshing fountain in the city where people can cool down. That's something perfect for this family..



Because we can go more crazy after this refreshment from fountain..



I also tried this unique experience with Fay.



After the dinner, we went to check this special event held near church capucinno.



Our first night in Cordoba turned out as such a romantic one..
It was really tempting to have another drink, however I had to prepare for the next day and sleep early. Next day is a big day...because it's a day that I go Granada!!!

Ohhh Granada,,, I can't believe that I finally visit this city. Since I read a book of "Alhambra" this was a place of dream..

We will drive down from Cordoba to Granada. Ok, let's have quick breakfast and go directly to Granada!!!


........however.......as we finished a breakfast at 9pm, Godzilla suddenly stopped in front of the shop. A shop for "Taylor Maid Suits". Although the shop opens 10 minutes later, Godzilla pushed him into this shop and started trying suits. I thought it's a some kind of joke.

Trying trying trying,,,, it took 1 hour and finally other shop in neighbor started open as well.

Now the family moved on to shoes shop. My god, everybody bought pair of shoes!!



....whatever, I have to kick their axx to move on. Let's go NOW to Granada.

and here we are.



Baeza. A small local town. The town was written only for one page in my Guide book. It is a sister city of Ubeda.

We had lunch here.

and here we are!!!



Granada? No.



Ubeda. I admit that this is also a important town in Andalucia. As Christians reconquered this area, they was based in this town and tried to attack major towns such as Cordoba and Granada.



we had coffee here. Ok, it IS a nice place. But now we really have to go to Granada!! It's already 3pm!!
Just take a highway a go straight!!!!





I mean, where the hell it is..



When exaclty did we cross the continent and reach to Africa...?



Guess what, we are driving through a winding winding National Park, through the mountain!!



OH MY GOD!



Me myself, slowly giving up enjoying the city Granada and taking photo with family.

and this was it!!



We found a huuuugeeeeeee ocean between the mountain!!

As you know, our family goes into water no matter where they are. If they find such a great "ocean"..



You cannot stop them getting into it.

THIS IS IT.



It was already 21PM when we finally arrived in Granada... No time to check this special Arabic town, no time to enjoy Chai in Arabian Cafe..

Whatever,, all I wish now is to see the palace. Fay made a reservation at 22pm.



As far as I could see the beautiful inside of this magical palace, I could be happy!

We arrived at the palace around 21:30. I was looking for a ticket counter but couldn't find anything. Since it is sooo beautiful from outside, we all took photo and were not sensitive about the reservation time. Godzilla finally find the entrance, it was 22:30.

we showed our ticket and try to get in...

Suddenly a lady at the entrance start saying something in Spanish. Fay, who speaks Spanish , she got pale.

She translated to me saying "we are too late and we cannot get in".




What???


Can't we get in??

Cannot be!!!

Bomb!! From this point, big family fight has started, claiming what was wrong, who was wrong.

Me, I couldn't think anything anymore. I gave up everything I wanted and this palace was my last hope.

We went back a same street,,,fighting.

I knew this happens. If this whole family travel, it never ends peacefully.

I couldn't believe I'm in my dream town "Granada" seeing nothing. It is such a romantic place, you can see probably the carpet flying in the air.. but I was just being disappointed.


If we had enough time in Spain, it was not a big deal. We can prolong our stay and try the palace next time. The problem is, we have to go back to Zurich already on the next day.

I also wanted to have a birthday dinner of Fay.. That was also not possible. We were all just fighting.


I had to sleep, dreaming of my palace...



On the next day, by breakfast, unbelievable word came out from Godzilla.
"I could arrange Palace' tour for this morning. After breakfast, we go".


What???



And here we are finally. AMAZING.



Dream came finally true, we went in to Palace.



It is a Palace being loved by Muslims and even the Christians preserved later after reconquer.



I couldn't roam around this arabic town, but I was able to see the palace, my fantacy.


It is always a question of your travel style. Obviously, family prefer checking more local places, the culture and the life style of local people. I'm still a person who wants to check a well-known area.

If I had plenty of time, of course I also wanted to enjoy small local villages. I just didn't have time for everything and Granada was too special for me.

After a while back from the trip, I appreciate so much that I could see thos unknown places which is not accesable to everybody. Family travel is not always easy but this one is another unforgettable trip in my life.



and our family is again today, all together enjoying bathing in Zurich Lake. Soon, Fay is coming back from Madrid!


TODAY's MUST HAVE!!



Absolute moisture against this dryness. An item which also has a slightly of UV protect is the one.

Martina Evening Primrose Facial Oil 30 Capsules

Lots of VitaminE, A has an effect of SPF5 and also anti-aging. You better be aware for the skin care under such a strong sun...

You can buy it from here.

Wedding Party in Switzerland

On the little bit cloudy Sunday afternoon.



Odie and I headed to the venue where wedding party will be held.



Nice small back yard of farm house!!



It was a casual wedding party only among freinds. Since I have been not well informed from Odie, I think I was over dressed for this situation:)

Again, it was one of the wedding party which is VERY special for Japanese..



Live music is from a man who is actually a friend of Groom's father. The T-Shirts they are weating is saying "Ja"="Yes". "yes! We marry!". I like that.



Dining is also decorated as "yes":)



What I like about Swiss culture is this unique idea for parties. For example, guests paint each square in the campus and complete one whole picture.

Odie, who is a son of artist, is concentrating.



The picture should look like this.

Unique and what a sophisicated idea!!

Party fun in Japan can be extremely silly.



Guests also had to blow a ballon with one note inside. The note is actually a present.



If the bridal couple can hit the balloon, they can get the present written inside! Such a wonderful idea! It is so heart warming and fun for everybody!



What present did the groom get...?

Another special idea on this night "play and kiss!". Music has been played whole evening but when this one special music comes, bride and groom have to kiss no matter what. Even one is in dining, the other is in the middle of conversation,,, they always have to find each others and have to kiss in front of everybody. That was soooo sweet.This is not possible in Japan since Japanese usually don't kiss around in public:) Even on the day of wedding, you see them kissing just one time in church.



In Europe, I really feel that the wedding party is mutual happiness, both bridal couple and guests. While guests have organized many fun game and idea, bridal couple has organized great dinner.



Dinner was also special this night. It was a "stick barbecue!!"



You choose meats from variety of offer and put them in oven.



While waiting for your dinner get ready,, you can chat with other guests who also waiting for grill. Since my German has got better, I really enjoy socializing with other Swiss people. It's a great occation to get to know them.



I drunk some wine and was fully enjoying the evening. Small cupcakes above is fortune teller. There is a note sticked to the every cupcakes. Upon I open my fortune, I was joking to Odie saying "garfy is intelligent and beautiful than Odie bla-bla...". and then I opened it... and SHOCKED!!

"FRAU IST DIE KAMEL".= "Woman is a camel". Whattttt!? Am I a camel!???? I didn't fully understand. Is it some kind of German proverb!? I was not satisfied!!



But I was fully satisfied with the evening and had great fun with other guests. Odie's friends are all nice and fun. One of the friends gave me a tip the if I want to get pregnant, I have to do "handstands" after "the night activity":) I thought 1 minute will be enough but they told me that the girl who was succesful stayed being head down 20 MINUTES long! Oh my god!!

Socializing is fun and profitable...



The picture we have drawn looked like this afterall.



On the right small corner on the bottom.. there is a Garfield sitting drawn by Garfield who has no talent in art:)



TODAY'S MUST



Tautropfen Rosen Öl

Gently massage face and relaxed by luxurious rose aroma..



to wipe out the tire looking face after long party on Sunday and kick off your axx to Monday morning!!

Wine and Grill

That was the evening I have learned a lot again.
I was not good informed from my husband about the party. He just told me that we are going to have a dinner with his client. I thought it would be a dinner of small group.
But when we arrived at the place, I was schocked!!!



My God!!! Sticked raw piggy!!!



Look at this, this pig is biting an apple! Nooooooo!!!
I'm not a vegetarian but I was schocked!!



and it has been started grilled.. My husband teased me that Japanese smash fish in front of the Sushi counter and eat them up while they are still half alive. That's true.

But this raw pork and lamb are too realistic for me...If they are already grilled and burned, I'm fine.

So I slowly understand the concept of the party. It's not a "Barbeque" night but actually "Wine" night!



Many people came, 40 people or even more. The client of my husband is hosting party and he invited many people. His speach was followed by fun but warm welcoming speach by a man from New Zealand. (a man with blue shirt). I have never seen such a humours man like he is:)



and these people are all owning grape fields and producing wine!! It is a gathering of wine lovers!!



While the pork being grilled, all the guests are escorted to the upstrair in the restaurant. Bottles and bottles of wine have been opened and served together with appetizer.



We had to taste so many different wines. There was a can provided on the table where you can pour away wine if you can't finish them. You can continue tasting next one.



We have been surrounded by all these wine producers. What interesting was one of them has a huge grape field in Geogia. He usued to sell wine to Russia but due to this polical situation, he cannot sell them to Russia anymore. So he decided to make Brandy in stead. We were very interested in thie georgian wine. The man kindly offered us a bottle. It was very good.



We have to go down and check if our main course is ready or not. Pork and Lamb, they are grilled tender.



So here comes action. We had to get rid of this stick out from the meats.





So, this was our main dish. Of course, match perfectly with red wine.

The party has started at 4pm and went on until 12am!! There was always a humours speech from this man between each dishes and he tells how much we love wine:) I'm not a big alcohol drinker but this night, I enjoyed drinking a lot.

It was also interesting that I didn't have any headache next morning. Usually I suffer from huge headache if I drink too much. It's because those wine I drunk last night was all natural. They don't contain any presevation. The wine are "BIO"!

We have also been informed that there is a restaurant in our neighbor where offering varieties of wine including Georgian. Since Godzilla and Ursla are also fan of Gergian wine, we decided to buy a dose of wine and at the same time dine there. This report will be found in my VOX blog.

Restaurant QN-WORLD
http://www.qn-world.ch/


TODAY's MUST!!

Mild but refreshing shampoo and conditioner after being exposed to the smoke from grill!!

Aubrey Green Tea Clarifying Shampoo

Aubrey Green Tea Finishing Cream Rinse



Shampoo made from soap and won't damage sculp and hair. Allowed full, healthy hair to grow.

After enjoying natural wine, hair care must be also organic!!

Japanese challenger

It's been a way too long since I posted last time. It doesn't mean that I was spending boring days. I was just too occupied by many other things.



But now it's summer again! Odie and I are back in Zollikon..



with new Japanese guy!!

He is actually my new boss, who moved and joined the office since this April!!

This day was his birthday! I convinsed him that he should leave office early today and go swimming with me.

He had his "Lake Debut" with us last Sunday.



See this wooden deck on the water? People love to lie down on this deck and enjoy sun. Sun bathing on this deck is so comfortable, but the problem is that I have to swim back to the shore again in the cold water.

My boss didn't have any problem with it. Moreover, he dived from the deck many times before he gets completely dry. Unbelievable!!

In this moment, I felt that he is not a normal Japanese guy..



On the day of his birthday, as soon as we arrived in Zollikon, he dived from the platform!! The water is 19 degrees in temperature! I always slowly get into the water but he just dived! I was afraid he might get heart attack.



But no problem for this big Japanese man! He even climbed up to the higher platform..



and jumped.



Odie usually doesn't like to dive from head. Even when he dives, he jump from his feet, just like a frog. But this day, since my boss diving around like crazy, Odie said "now, I will go from head!". I think he said that from his pride as "waterman"....



and he did. But compare to the beautiful dive of my boss, Odie still looks like a frog.

My boss, continued being crazy and he finally went for a slide.



I've never seen someone sliding here, except children..

After having fun, we had coffee and a cake.



Odie and I sung birthday song.



It was such a beautiful summer evening. Gee, my boss, it seems like he doesn't have any problem adjusting to Swiss life style. Even Swiss people can't dive into lake he did. This summer, Swiss people will surprise by Japanese spirit!!


Today's MUST!

Börlind SUN Anti-Aging Cream LSF 15 75ml

for your face..

and

Börlind SUN Sonnenmilch LSF 30 125ml

for your body..



Protect your skin from strong UVA!

Operabal Budapest 2009

Year by year, I have more fun in Operabal in Budapest. Four years ago, when I first time joined this fancy event, I even didn't have right dress.



I also didn't know how to set my hair:)
But now at least I know how everything goes. I'm totally relaxed than before..



The dress of my mother-in-law is getting powerful year by year:)



We always gather at Godzilla's house for cocktail before going party. These are the women team for 2009. Green dress represents "spring", Ursula, the pink one is "summer", orange skirt is "autumn" and my blue dress is "winter". People call me "ice princess":)



Men are in boring colours but look better in front of colourful Godzilla's art:)


Godzilla wore Keyboard-made cafus ring! It was a Chrsitmas present from us. We knew he will where them for Operabal!



So, an exciting moment of the entrance. As usual, there is a demonstration across the street. People play rock music and try to annoy the participants of Operabal. Which I think good performance:) Because of the recession, demonstration gave bigger impact than last year. I also receognize the affect of recession at the entrance. This year, there was no beautiful ice-made castle in front of the entrace.

But dance hall is beautiful as usual. What important is music and drink!


Four years ago, we just rash into this hall because we were almost kicked out, due to my unproper dress. Now I have one on the most PROPER dress:)

Opening ceremony. The performance of Debuetazen und opera singer are always impressive.



But what impressed me the most is this moment. A Chorus of hungarian National lied. Once the music started, everybody stood up immediately.. Recently, I deeply touched by the spirit of loyalty to the country. I cannot imagine Japanese being so loyal to our national lied.



After a beautiful performance of Debuetanzen, it's our turn to dance!

It always starts from a Walts. But Godzilla and Ursula are already dancing in their origianl style.





After we danced for a while, I was schocked!!



Oh my god!! Godzilla and Ursula are interviewed!! I rash torward them!!



Ursula is explaing about how dress, even where they from and what she does.. I"m sure she gave huge impact to Hungary:)



People might think that Operabal is such a classic party, but actually it's not. After 12 o'clock, even a main dance hall becomes as a rock'n'roll disco:) Three girls, getting wild:)



Even a fiance of my friend, joining this crazy dance session!



Once when Ursula has joined, our dance got even more agressive. Since Ursula's dress stands up a lot, we three drag attention of all:)



Ursula's dress is perfect for spinning dancing!



We danced until 3am in the morning. It was my fourth operabal but I've never stayed so late and never had so much fun. Of course, I had fun everytime but this year was again different. The more I got to know the culture, more fun the party is.. And a BIG THANKS to Godzilla who makes effort to organize the ticket every year!