BFA Spring Break

For those left on the edge of their seats at the end of my last blog I did make it to Germany. With a huge bag I walked across the city of Basel, Switzerland and hopped a bus at the border of Germany that took me all the way to Black Forest Academy, home of the illusive Mike Greenhoe. (Turns out I did not specify that I was coming via night train and it was my fault, oh well). Above is Greenie and I having too much fun – it’s what we do. Below he's checking his watch to see if it's time to pick me up from Basel, 12 hours late.
I stayed with Mike for a week. He is a resident assistant/director at BFA and is on a well-deserved two week spring break. We did nothing of great note the entire time. We just hung out. We hiked to the top of Hoch Blauen. We watched some NCAA tourney basketball (very late at night I’ll add). We watched movie after movie. And we just hung out.
A common thread of my travels so far required that we prepare, we cook, and we feast. Mike threw an Easter Eve dinner for many of his friends and coworkers – I helped with the main course as Mike and another guy struggled for over an hour to make pasta from scratch. Flour covered the counters, walls and floor, but the pasta was a success. The tiny kitchen, insufficient for a small family and entirely inadequate for a 16 person meal was the night’s biggest loser. Tornado Chef Mike took his toll. It was a sweet time.

As a precursor to the Freiburg Marathon, which I am attending on April 6th as a fan for Mike, he and I visited the old German town. My friend, Morgan, who lives in Bend, is spending a year there studying at the University. Morgan led us around her city (shown on the right) as we walked key parts of the race.

Finishing my trip I trained to Zurich. On a long layover I braved the inch or so of snow and spent a few hours walking the well-lit metropolis. A surprising amount of fancy cars whipped their way past me. Zurich (shown below) may well be the capital of the expensive and the rich.