So long, farewell, Auf Wiederseh'n, goodbye

The awesome part of expat-ing is to get to meet people from all over the world and to get to know them while you’re both trying to figure out this part of the world together. 

I've been blessed by this group of Mom's who love and support not only each other, but each other's kids too. We couldn't have asked for a better away-from-family network.

The sad part is then when your time together in a magical place ends because it’s time for their assignment to end.

We've had to say goodbye see you later soon to several families this winter & spring. Not going to sugar coat it. It's been hard.

Knowing it was our “lasts”, we celebrated hard the last few weeks with playdates, learning to roller skate, baking in the play kitchen and the real one, reading on the patio (which is apparently a full contact activity), and preparing to pack.

 

Oh, and I’d be remiss if I don’t mention the fact that you have to sprint for one last bus ride together.

We had plans to go out to one last girls night and were meeting friends ON THE NIGHT HER MOVERS CAME. Needless to say, the movers ran late, children were melting down and it took longer to get out the door than we’d planned. So, what is normally a rather nice 15 min walk to the bus stop became an all out sprint to see if we could make it in 7. Maybe the bus will be late today. Ha. Swiss busses are not late. EVER. And there’s not another one for 45 minutes.  

Presprint, we'd both touched up our make up. Don't let the photo fool you.

We made it.

Barely.

We are so blessed by these crazy crews.

Until we get to come together again!

Free Wine Date Day

Wine, is amazing! A gift from the gods in ancient mythology. It's also one of mine and Amanda's favorite excuses to get away for a little bit.

Liechtenstein is also a pretty amazing place with beautiful mountains, moderate climate and a generally lovely place to raise a family.

So what do you get when an amazing place comes together with an amazing beverage. Well hopefully amazing wine, and if your lucky FREE amazing wine!

When we first moved here, Amanda joined a small but energetic community of expats wives and moms. Through this group, she discovered many great activities for our family to enjoy throughout the seasons. From easy vacation spots to best hikes for kids under 5 to restaurants and grocery stores opened on Sundays -- this group imparted priceless knowledge to all who joined. But by far the best information this group shared : Free Wine Night at the Prince's Cellars.

Twice a year the Hofkellerei Vaduz (the Prince of Liechtenstein's family winery) holds a free wine tasting event for anyone of legal age who shows up at their doors. Normally, the expat ladies reserve these nights as their evening away from kids to drink some amazing wine and enjoy a little well earned freedom. At the end of the evening, I get a few good stories about the most popular wine of the night or a rundown on the accompanying charcuterie options. But I've never gotten to go before.

Until this year! It turns Amanda was hiding a small secret...free wine night isn't just one night. It actually runs Friday AND Saturday. With great no arm twisting, Amanda agreed to go twice in one weekend and even arranged for one of our friends to babysit the girls for the afternoon so we could take our time and enjoy the experience.

On our arrival Amanda took me back to the cellar tasting room which featured predominately white and dessert wines mostly from the princely vineyards but a few from neighboring wineries as well.

Since whites aren't really our color of choice, we moved on to the next room after a few sips and into a smaller tasting room that had a few local reds that were all good to very good. However, we quickly became overwhelmed by the crowd and Amanda wanted to show me her favorite selections.

 

This is our speed!

By this time it was approaching mid afternoon and since gurgling wine can be a hunger inducing activity we picked up one of the charcuterie boards (these you pay for) and slowly made our way down the Table of Joy in the main dinning area.

Here were wines from all over Europe and all free to try. Some of them exceeding 150 CHF (170 USD) per bottle! But we started with a few simpler wines from Austria and Germany while we finished off our food.

Before finishing with the most expensive bottle on offer.

I can't recall the name of the wine, but it was excellent!

And with that our free wine tasting date at Hofkellerei came to a close. And now all other tastings have a great deal to live up to!