Do you know the way to Saas Fee?

11.2: SWITZERLAND

Switzerland had been a dream place of mine to visit for many years now. In March, I was accepted to a small chamber music summer festival called Talis in Saas Fee (pronounced "sauce fay"), Switzerland. I took it as a sign to go to Europe and finally see Switzerland! The festival was 10 days long, with performances almost every night starting on Day 3. After the festival ended, my oldest childhood friend Julia flew over to do some hiking in the Alps and continue exploring with me in Berlin. Our conversation regarding whether or not she should come over to Europe went something like this:

Julia: So based on your Facebook posts, we should all obviously join you in Switzerland. Are you going to do some traveling in Europe after the festival?

Me: Yes, I really want to, I'm just not sure about having my violin with me. But I hope it will work out! I'd love to go to Italy.

J: Well, I've never been to Switzerland, Austria, or Germany, so if you decide you want a friend...

M: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Omg are you serious. Because that would be amazing! Austria and Germany are also on my list of places to see.

Three days later

Julia: Saas Fee, right?

Me: Yep!

Julia: Sophie. You didn't tell me. They have summer skiing.

Me: So...what are you saying?

Julia: #TeamGoToSwitzlerand

And that was how I got Julia to come visit me in Switzerland!

Saas Fee is a tiny little mountain village that is surrounded by the Alps. To get here, I flew into Geneva, took a train to Visp (2.5 hours), and then took a bus to Saas Fee (45 minutes). I wish I had been a little less jet lagged during the travel after the flight. It was an unbelievably gorgeous train ride through Switzerland and the bus ride through the valley, but I was so tired my eyelids kept drooping!

People seem to overwhelmingly speak German here, even though we're very close to Italy and I thought I read somewhere that we're in a French speaking region. We were housed in little hotel apartments, with a kitchenette and a balcony, and most of our rehearsals take place in the hotel's main building, in the room where we also eat all of our meals. The climate was like a more dramatic Colorado: cold in the mornings and evenings (cashmere has been my friend) and sunny and warm in the afternoons. It's a ski town very much like Vail or Breckenridge, with cable cars going up the mountains and Swiss chalets everywhere. On our "day off," we took a cable car about 3/4 the way up the mountain, and hiked across and down the slopes. The weather held out and we were able to get some really fantastic views of the mountains.

After the Talis festival was finished, Julia and I hiked out into the Alps (we took a cable car up to ~3000m first) and spent a night at the Britannia Hut, a modest sized hut that has 166 beds but is dwarfed by the mountains surrounding it.

On our way up the cable car, at the beginning of our adventure!

Pointing at the hut in the distance!

We made it!

We had originally planned to spend two nights there, but the weather worried us, so that morning we packed up our things and headed back to Saas Fee, where we spent the National Day of Switzerland enjoying rainy Alpen Horns and fireworks.

On the glacier heading back to the lift

The next day, we rode a cable car up to ~2800m, and hiked partway down before taking the cable car back to town.

After days of hiking and trying to ski but the weather not cooperating for Julia, we left Saas-Fee for Zurich. Being in the Swiss Alps was AMAZING, and I would love to go back to do more hiking and exploring of the country. Oh, and for the cheese and chocolate, too.

Thanks for being my adventure buddy!

Bonjour mes amis!

#11. Visit 10 new countries.

One thing I knew I had to put on my list while making this 30 before 30 was traveling! While I was in youth orchestra, I was lucky to go on three international tours that showed me Spain, Australia, New Zealand, and China. I thought that continuing to see the world would be a great thing to do before I'm 30, though of course it doesn't have to stop there!

11.1: FRANCE

Luckily, this summer my parents decided to treat the whole family to a trip to France! They visited Paris last summer, so this summer the destination was Aix-en-Provence, a region in the southern part of the country. This was my first time in France, and seeing as I don't speak a word of French, it proved to be very interesting indeed!

So, on Thursday May 25, we all piled into the car and drove to the airport. Firstly, I forgot that international travel is time consuming. Flying from Denver, we connected in Cincinnati, flew into Paris, took a train to Aix-en-Provence, then drove 20 minutes into town. Whew. It was exhausting. And stressful. Very glad we left the driving to my dad (though I'm not sure he's so thankful for that.....)!

But, once we got into our apartment (which is right downtown), it was like a dream. Even walking down the streets to get to the apartment was really incredible. We had a late dinner at a little cafe called Chez Laurette, where the guys had burgers, mom had a seafood stew, and I had a salad/quiche/goat cheese dish, which was excellent. We waddled happily back to our apartment, and promptly dropped into bed.

First French meal!

Day 1, May 27: We grabbed breakfast at an adorable little bakery around the corner called Paul and brought it back to our apartment. The other three had a half baguette with jam, coffee, and orange juice. I got a chocolate croissant with tea. After breakfast, we set out to explore Aix! Since it was Saturday, there were tons of markets going on around town. We stumbled upon an amazing farmer's market first, then went to a flower market, and then ended up at a textile and crafts market. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the markets--the produce at the farmers market was beautiful and so delicious, the clothing at the textile market was varied and cheap, and the flower market was just magnificent.

Very famous fountain in the middle of Aix.

We had deliberately left this day to exploring without a schedule and it did not disappoint! We took a short sieste (mid-afternoon nap) from 4-6pm, then had our charcuterie dinner at home before venturing out for some cookies, wine, and people watching. First full day in France was a success!

Day 2, May 28: We got breakfast at a different adorable bakery down the street from us (this will continue to be a theme) named Jacob and brought it back to the apartment to eat. After breakfast, we hopped into the car and drove to Pont du Gard to see some ancient Roman ruins. First up was the museum for the aqueduct built in the 14th century. The museum was good but I quickly got information overload and was anxious to see the actual thing. We got lunch at the museum cafe (crepes all around) and then walked about a 1/4 mile to the actual aqueduct. It was extremely impressive, and a beautiful day to experience it.

Being in France after all that has happened to them
recently was a very sobering experience.
This plaque was next to an olive tree planted outside the Pont du Gard.

After exploring, we got back into the car and went to Avignon, a city 30 minutes away where we explored the Popes' Palace. Also built in the 14th century, this palace is MASSIVE. WOW. I would've been content just wandering around for hours, imagining what went on in the gigantic halls!

Popes' Palace from the outside

The Great Hall

Views of Avignon from the top of the Palace: 

For dinner we found a cafe that had outside seating in front of Basilisque Saint-Pierre. What an amazing experience to dine in the shadow of a church that has been around for hundreds of years!

Day 3, May 29: Today we walked over to the car and drove 40 minutes to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, a little village that Rick Steves called "a vacation away from your vacation." Not much was going on here, since it was Monday (apparently markets happen on Sundays, so everyone recovers on Mondays), but we walked around, saw a giant church, had some lunch, and then headed back to Aix. The afternoon saw another sieste. Dinner was at an Italian restaurant, which we had wanted to try since we're so close to the Italian border! It did not disappoint!

My beautiful mama in some gardens!

These waterwheels were all around town. Mom and I only found one, but Max and my dad found ten!

My spaghetti carbonara. Delicious!

Dad loves his strawberries!

Day 4, May 30: This was the day of our wine tasting and vineyard tour! Since this was a separate item on my list, check out my full account HERE.

Day 5, May 31: Today we drove to a little port town called Cassis, where we were also hoping to do some "hiking" in a French national park called Calanques. Cassis was a beautiful if somewhat snobby port town, and the view of the Mediterranean was stunning. We had lunch next to the water (where we found out it's frowned upon to just drink without ordering food, as my brother and dad did), and then started our hike, which we should've started hours earlier to get the full effect. But, we were able to view some fjords and get a better view of the Mediterranean, which was definitely worth it!

On our hike in Calanques

Sailboats up the fjord

Portside!

Once getting back to Aix, we rested a bit and then set out around 8 o'clock to find dinner. We walked around for an HOUR before finding a place (partly looking for a specific dish, partly because places were full) and finally settled into a restaurant at 9pm. The food was unbelievably good, and we found out they had only been open for 3 weeks. We ordered two bottles of wine, then some limoncello, and another round on the house. An excellent find!

Day 6, June 1: Our last day in France! We spent today shopping, where I bought souvenirs for others and myself. Lunch was at a cheese shop; probably one of the best meals we had. Dinner was at a tiny little restaurant off the beaten path which was equally amazing.

Charcuterie board from the cheese shop!

Amy the cat (so named for Amy Winehouse) joined us for our last dinner.

It was an absolutely amazing trip to France and you should all go because French culture and cuisine is just magnificent. And I'd be happy to join you!

Vino vino

#10. Tour a vineyard and do a wine tasting.

Having become a wine aficionado over the last couple of years, I knew one of the things I really wanted to do was learn more about this magical grape juice. There are so many places to do winery tours in Texas, but I wanted to see a true vineyard--and our France trip provided just that opportunity when we went to Chatenueunef-du-Pape ("The Pope's New Castle") in Avignon. We started by getting up REALLY early on Tuesday and driving an hour to Avignon where we were picked up by our guide Jean Baptiste (hereafter JB) at 9am in a minivan. We were on the tour with a couple from Houston, but there were only 6 of us which made it very personal and fun.

We drove to a vineyard in Chateneuef-du-Pape, about 25 minutes away, as JB spouted off all kinds of trivia about the vineyard, the region, and the grapes. We learned there are four different types of soil that the grapes grow in (at least in that region): limestone, river rock, sandy soil and gritty soil. There are 13 grapes that grow in that region, and the wines are made of blends of these. We were given a tour of the winery, including seeing all of the barrels where it ages and where they label the bottles.

Limestone and grapevines

Chateneuef-de-Pape vineyard

Lastly, we were taught how to taste wine! For the first tasting, we had 3 different wines: 1 white and 2 red. I felt like I could start to understand and actually taste some of the flavors described (currant, earthy, leather, etc). The family ordered 6 bottles mix and match to our house, and then we climbed back into the van. JB drove us to the top of the village, gave us 45 minutes to wander around and do more tastings in town if we wanted, and then we would meet for lunch.

More ruins at the top of the hill village!

Wandering down through town

Lunch was at a castle. No, seriously. We ate lunch at a castle-turned-chateau and I kept having to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

The view from our lunch table. Unreal!

After lunch, we drove to another little hilly village and walked through (just to sightsee--amazing!). I've definitely found my backup plan in life...or possibly my retirement plan...

At the next winery, we tasted 4 wines which were very different--I felt like I could actually taste the differences this time! We also got a tour of their facilities, which were very modern: they used metal caskets and gravity for making the wine. The third and last winery was Gigondas, about 10 minutes away from the second one.

I enjoyed the first winery the most, but the overall experience was just fantastic. What a great way to experience this on my list!

7.5 down. 22.5 to go!

Tax Time

#6. (Part 3) Figure out how to do my own taxes, including all terms/definitions.

Last year, I wanted to finally make the leap into adulthood by doing my own taxes. Well, for some reason it ended up being easier for my parents to take care of them, but this year I was DETERMINED to figure it out. Add in a problem with a data breach, and that really add the fuel to the fire to get them done.

So, on one night after a loooong day of teaching, practicing, and class, I decided to start my taxes (note: I do not recommend this. Start when you're not already exhausted!). I gathered all my receipts and all my forms that employers sent me in the mail, and I got started on TurboTax. Inputting all the forms wasn't hard work, and half of them auto-filled somehow anyway. Ok, this wasn't so bad.

Then, I got to the complicated stuff. Deductions. Expenses. Assets. Health insurance. Where do I list my car? My violin? Why did I not keep better track of my income through private students and gigs??

AHHHH. I promptly gave up after realizing this was going to take a good chunk of time.

Night #2: with a glass--nay, bottle--of wine, I was on my way to getting these damn things done. As I listed all my deductions into TurboTax, suddenly it told me I owed $800 in self-employment tax and I was now getting no refund. On the verge of tears and resigning myself to the fact that I may indeed need to find a cardboard box to live in for next year (or just live at Butler...), I frantically texted my dad before giving up a second time and cursing the day I said I wanted to grow up to be an actual adult.

Fast forward to last Saturday. Ok, this was it. Marisa and I had set aside a chunk of time where I could finish my taxes and she would catch up on other work, and then we would reward ourselves with donuts and Gossip Girl. Replacing all of purchases into my expenses (1099 income, where it ACTUALLY belonged) rather than deductions (W-2 income) helped me get a refund that was much more like what I was expecting. After some quick debriefing with my dad and letting TurboTax do most of the work, I sent them off through the internet to be filed. And, they were accepted! Now I'm just waiting on my return. I guess that wasn't so bad after all!

6.5 down. 23.5 to go!