My secret guest

Okay, so kill me for being nice.  It has caused me a lot of trouble over the years, to tell you the truth.  

So when we met Mom in Ireland this Spring (blog post 2x back) one of her big wishes was to stay in an Irish castle.  We did it..and it was so fun and a night we won't forget anytime soon!    

At the castle, a creaky old stone building centuries old and lovely, we were on the third floor and the internet didn't work there or most anywhere in the stone castle. This wouldn't be an issue if we had found a hotel to stay the following night beforehand.  We didn't have a room, so we needed to figure it out via technology.   Sarah left our room that night to find an internet connection to get a place to stay for the next night.  

Here is where Sarah and my stories differ:

Jaime's story:  Sarah comes back to the room and says "I met this girl in the lobby and I sat right in front of her chair and that is the only wifi connection on this floor.  She was really nice and we talked.  My IPad died, can you get us a room for tomorrow?"

Sarah's story:  Sarah comes back to the room and says, "The only wifi spot in the hotel is in front of the girl in the chair."  End of story.  

I met "Girl in Chair" as I sat in front of her and found internet access to find a hotel room and we struck up a conversation and she was nice, volunteering as a landscaper for free at the castle for her room and board for three months, from Colorado, originally.  She was cute, early-30-something, out seeing the world and living large (especially exploring castles of all kinds).  We said a few sentences to each other and when I got up to leave I said, "If you ever make it to Switzerland you have a place to stay."  Oy, those words came back to bite me. 

How many people have offered that invitation to people they had just met?  Millions I bet.  How many fewer people have taken someone up on that?  More in the hundreds, I guess.  So, you can imagine our conversation when Lisa decided to stop by for a weekend in Switzerland:

"Hey Sarah, remember that girl we met in the castle?"

"What girl?  You mean the one with the internet?"

"Yes, that one.  So, er, she is coming to Switzerland in May and would like to stay with us."

"What?  You invited someone we don't know to stay at our house?"

"It's the European way.  Everyone does this."

"Are you sure all Europeans do this?"
"I don't know"

"Okay. When is your 'Mystery Guest' arriving? " 

Awkward, and then some.  

The week before "Girl in Chair"(Lisa) arrived, we realized that Sarah had made other plans with our Swiss friends for dinner.  Sarah, the lovely host, invited Lisa to the dinner she planned with our local friends.  So she told Arnold and Karin that we would have a mystery guest for dinner that night.  Arnold, very curious and French, thought it quite intriguing that some strange woman was coming to our house to stay.  "Is she beautiful?" he asked.  "Will she stay longer than a month, you think?"   "Are you upset about having a young, lovely woman in your house?" No comment from Sarah.

Before dinner, Sarah asked Karin if she would invite someone to her house that she met on holiday to her house to stay and said, without pause, "We would not do that."  So much for the "European Way".

Sarah, as you all know, is more than a wonderful host and friend.  In the end, we had a lovely Spanish Tapas dinner with many bottles of wine and winks and nods from our Swiss friends, and we finally put the issue to bed, figuratively speaking. 

Lisa was such a conscientious , wonderful guest!  We loved having her and we told her she can stay with us no matter what country we are in down the road.  Be ready for Lisa, part deux!

Here is her Facebook post after she stayed with us..so nice!  

Back in April, I had met a lovely couple at the castle, originally from Seattle, currently living in a little village outside of Geneva, and after only having a half hour or so chat with me, they had graciously offered their guest room for me to stay in. Fast forward to May 12th. The train ride from Stuttgart to Geneva, Switzerland was breathtaking. I was glued as far into the window as I could press myself the entire way. When I arrived at Jaime and Sarah’s very welcoming and adorably decorated place, I realized how true it was when they had said if you reached across their backyard fence, you could touch France. Given how I was almost a complete stranger in their house, it awed and humbled me by the levels of hospitality that they went to for me. I was immediately invited to a home cooked Tapas dinner with their two friends and daughter, who was a matching age of their little girl, Lucy. I had a couple hours between being invited and the dinner, so I decided to spend it running back downtown to Geneva to try and see a bit of it and find a present to bring to the dinner. I was a bit boggled. All of my experiences with tapas have been a disaster. What should I bring? I don’t drink wine or champagne, so I had no clue what wine I could bring that wouldn’t be crap or offensive. I didn’t know what to do! So I settled on vodka, and then at least I could get a really nice vodka, and not be drinking their alcohol. The only alcohol store I found, I had no idea if it was an upper class or dodgy store, but they only had one kind of vodka, and of course one I had no clue about. So I sheepishly brought it to the dinner, hoping it wasn’t a major slap in the face. As I’m on the bus, riding back to the dinner, I’m thinking Ugh, I’m such an idiot. Tapas is Spanish. There’s no way anyone except me is going to want vodka with dinner. They accepted my gift wonderfully anyway, but I still don’t have a clue if the vodka is nice or not, as I did end up (gasp) drinking wine throughout the night, anyway. Sarah blew my mind with her cooking and creative ability, everything from delicious appetizers, cheese inserted with espresso covered in honey, to various delicious meats, mint eggplant, bacon wrapped dates, to a chocolate dessert cup!! It was great to learn more about my hosts, as well as the winky French man and his adorable Swiss wife who were also highly entertaining. As I was getting ready for bed, Sarah came to me and informed me that Lucy had requested that I brush her teeth. That was one of the many moments that coming from a large family had prepared me for!! Per Jaime’s recommendation next day, I took the train to Chillon Castle, which was a pretty dang cool castle…quite extensive and I took my time wandering through and actually enjoying it from a museum standpoint, as it was apparent it wasn’t an exploring kind. Jaime had also told me about Gruyere Castle, and their friends had recommended the fondue in the neighboring chalet to Gruyere, so next, I took the train there. I thought my other train rides had been beautiful… I almost didn’t breathe the whole way. 

Pics of Lisa in front of Chillon Castle, Luc and Pen watching a movie while we did Tapas and Sarah and me putting the food out for the gang.  By the way..one of the most amazing meals I have had in my life..Sarah..you rocked it!  Er.. and thanks for letting me invite a stranger to la casa.  :)

Be well, and hope that the "European way" still exists somewhere and if not, we should bring it back because it has been one of our favorite episodes lately...long live hospitality and love for the people we meet here and there..





Jaime