I have been so busy taking advantage of this beautiful spring weather. We have done a good half of our spring clean up at our house and will start on the Inn soon. We did have quite a few trees down both at the house and at the Inn about 9 days ago when we had a big storm with very high winds and rain (still no snow). We were without power for 2 days, although we do have a generator at the house so it was fine. The other thing that kept us busy was watching the Olympics. Every night we stayed up until about 1am watching….what a show they put on.

Come alone or with a group of friends and spend 2 nights in one of our large rooms at our Maine Inn from April 20th to mid June (excl. Memorial weekend) and enjoy a little of Switzerland. Mario will give a cooking  lesson (incl. in the price of the room) on some of the well known Swiss specialities.

I had a wonderful time for 12 days in Germany in January. I started out by flying from Boston to Munich where I stayed for 5 days. The 1st 2 days I spent catching up with a friend that I have known for about 15 years,  and then met up with another ‘old’  friend whom I have known for 45 years. We spent a day going around Munich, window shopping most of the time  (the prices are so high it takes the temptation of buying away!). Another day, we were blessed with  beautiful blue skies and sunshine, so we drove south of Munich to an area around a lake called Tegernsee. The last day we went to the Nymphenburg Schloss in Munich which was used as a summer residence for the royals. The day ended with a delicious dinner in downtown Munich. From Munich we drove to Nuremberg, an amazing old city, though a lot was destroyed during the 2nd world war which has since been rebuilt. From there we went to Bamberg where we spent the night. This town had some amazing history some of which dated back to around 1100. The next morning, after touring the cathedral, we headed north to Schwelm where my friend lives. Schwelm is a small town between Dusseldorf, Koln and Essen. We took it easy the next day just taking a walk and going around a few of the little towns in the area. Thursday we took the train and went to Munster, a university town and yet another amazing old city. This was my last full day with my friend so we had a farewell dinner before returning in the evening to Schwelm. Friday she took me to Duesseldorf airport where I caught a flight to Berlin to see my niece. There I met my 2 year old grand niece for the first time. She is sooo cute and I had a lot of fun with her. Berlin was freezing and it was tough getting around too much outside, so I did a bus tour and found that very interesting as I had lived there twice in the sixties; once for 3 months and once for about 9 months. Needless to say since the wall between the East and West came down in 1989, I saw a huge change. A lot of the ‘East’  has been renovated though there is still a lot to be done. It is great to see the beautiful old buildings coming back to life. I stayed in Berlin 2 1/2 days and flew back to JFK on Monday January 25th to a rain and wind “storm”,  and then up to Maine. So that’s my trip in a nutshell. Enjoy the history of the places I went to.

We closed our doors again January 1st 2010 having completed out 8th season. I don’t know where the time goes!!! Christmas was quiet, spent with our son Kyle and his new wife Angie (though she has been part of the family already for years). They gave us the best gift of all….they told us we will be grandparents in August. We are absolutely thrilled. Now we are cleaning up the Inn although most of that will be done in April before we open for our 9th season, though the paper work is never ending. I (Roni) am planning to go to Germany next week for about 10 days to see “old” friends as well as go to Serbia for 2 days to see our exchange student from last summer. Mario will stay home with the dogs and cats, and shovel and snow blow the snow whenever it comes. Last weekend we got a good 18 inches of snow! Hope everyone has an healthy, prosperous, & happy new year. Don’t forget to come and see us.

Tomorrow is our last Swiss night of the year so call and make a reservation. Cozy atmosphere, fire burning, mouth watering smells of cheese cooking, what more could you want?  Come with a group and have both the Raclette and the cheese fondue.

Come and celebrate New Year’s Eve at our cozy historical Midcoast Maine Inn. What could be more romantic and memorable than to stay in a lovely large room with a king bed and fireplace. Sit in the carriage barn sitting room in front of the fire and enjoy a cocktail before you enjoy a gourmet meal prepared by Mario our Swiss chef/owner, along with a bottle of wine. (Don’t forget you don’t have to drive as all you have to do is get back to your room). Lastly, enjoy a wonderful breakfast the next morning before you head out, with eggs fresh from the farm along with locally made granola, homemade croisants and breads and fruit. Call today to make a reservation.

Don’t forget to come in for a cheese fondue or raclette. Always a great meal to enjoy with a group of friends. Relax by the fire before getting too stressed by the holidays.

Don’t forget Maine, especially the Mid Coast area, still has plenty to offer at this time of year. Get your Christmas shopping done in Freeport as well as in the little boutiques in our beautifultowns in the area. Then come and stay at The Squire Tarbox Inn right in the heart of Mid Coast Maine. Relax and unwind with a glass of wine and dinner by the fireplace. Damariscotta and Bath have plenty to offer during the holidays. Check out Treats, a fabulous lunch place and upscale gourmet shop, as well as In the Clover  in neighboring Wiscasset.

I am way behind in writing any Blog news but I just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays. I can’t believe it’s only just over 4 weeks until Christmas. Just heard on the news today that the LL Bean is having their tree lighting ceremony tonight. Check out all their other upcoming holiday events.

Last week chef Mario gave a cooking lesson to 3 ladies. They wanted to learn all about the different fondues so he taught them how to do cheese fondue, meat fondues consisiting of Chinese fondue and fondue Bourguignonne, and chocolate fondue. A good time was had by all especially the tasting and a glass of wine.