A Beautiful Thursday

Thursday, May 1, was a holiday and Steve and I took advantage of the day off to explore. The above picture is one which we saw as we were driving to Fribourg. It is looking across the lake to the Vallee with the Alps in the background. I decided that during our car rides we could review some of our French phrases and thus get a little extra study in. It was while I was going over a verb conjugation with Steve that I realized where the term "mayday" in reference to a call for help originated. If I were to ask someone for help in French it would be M' aider, or the phonetic equivalent of "mayday". I'm sure most people already knew this but it was a "discovery" for Steve and I. We also discovered this weekend why so many people take to the streets to stroll and eat when the weather gets warm. None of the buildings are air-conditioned and it gets really H O T inside. Especially when you live on the fifth floor. It only has to be 74 degrees outside to generate temperatures that feel like 90 inside one's apartment. Opening the windows seems like the answer until the rooms begin to fill with mosquitoes and tobacco smoke from everyone who is eating outside right under your window. We've noticed that everyone just opens their windows wide and doesn't worry about bugs. There are no screens here anywhere--even in new construction. This is just one of our challenges to figure out. "The price of living in Europe" as Steve puts it.

Fribourg is an ancient walled city with a lot of architectural character and natural beauty. This shows some of the old city wall.
The clock tower of the Fribourg city hall. There is a statue of a "bell ringer" in the bell tower. You'll want to click on the photo to enlarge it.
Fribourg is built on several levels with a canyon which the river has carved separating some of the areas of the city.
The river which runs through Fribourg.
After we went to Fribourg, we drove to Sion. There are two castles in Sion--an old one and an older one. The above picture is of the Chateau Tourbillon the older one from the path which ascends to it. Steve and I didn't go all the way to the top, which you can see in the right hand corner of the picture. We are waiting for some of our energetic grandchildren to help us get to the top.
A view of the Chateau Valere from the ancient ruins. This was a fairly steep climb.
In the late afternoon Steve and I just sat on some of the rocks of the ruins and enjoyed the wonderful air and beautiful views. There really is no picture that can do justice to the beauty of the area. We are using every opportunity to check out the various sites--architectural, historical and natural beauty so we will be able to serve as your tour guides when you come to see us.

Finally--Up Close. . .

Ever since moving to Geneva I have looked across the lake at Mont Blanc in the far distance whenever it decided to show itself. Now I have been able to see it's majesty and grandeur from a much closer perspective. This is the tallest mountain in western Europe and is taller than Mt. Whitney in the United States. Maybe sometime this summer we will take the tram up as far as it goes on the Mountain. Even in the summer it can be really cold especially if the wind is strong.

This is a view of Mont Blanc from a distance as we were driving to Chamonix.
View of old town with the Annecy castle in the background.
Tulips are in bloom everywhere. The towns here are big into planting flowers. All winter I looked at the signs in the empty flower beds of Geneva which asked people not to step in them because the tulips had been planted.
When we drove into the town of Annecy early Saturday morning the market was set up . It was an extensive market, going on for blocks and blocks with everything from clothing to food. Choosing the right cheese was difficult with so much from which to choose.
Cheese shop at the Saturday Market in town.
Steve and Karen on bridge in Annecy. The building behind and to the left of Steve is the old prison.
View from Annecy across the lake
Old town in Annecy, France. This town is about 45 minutes from Geneva. It is a very picturesque town with views in all directions. We visited here the same weekend that we went to Castle Chillon which was on last week's blog. There were enough pictures from last week to create several blogs.

Fascinating Chillon

It's been a while since I last posted a blog. I spent two weeks in Pinehurst and two days after coming back to Geneva we had a visitor, cousin Karen from California. What a treat to be able to take someone to the wonderful sights and share the experience we are having here. We went to Chillon on Friday. Chillon is a few kilometers past the town of Montreaux (home of a great summer jazz festival). The castle dates from the 1100's and has been beautifully repaired and restored. Some of the inside wall painting is original. The House of Savoy occupied the castle and used its ideal location to be able to see anyone coming into the area. They were big on levying taxes and didn't want any traders to get by without paying. The Savoyards occupied the castle until the 1500's when the Bernese took over. Detailed records had been kept of every aspect of life in the castle and the Savoyards took all the records back to Italy with them. The Savoyards are the same which attacked Geveva unsuccessfully in 1603. Having these few facts now when I see the word Savoise as it refers to a type of cuisine, it means something. We really hope a few more of you will jump on the visitor bandwagon. Our first guest said that she would call the Michelin travel guide and recommend us for a four star out of five rating. I think having to share a bathroom had something to do with the deduction of a star.

Love to all
Mary
Interesting chimney vent. This shot illustrates how the castle sits right on the water.
This is the fireplace in the large dining hall of the castle. They would roast whole animals such as wild boar or deer on the spit. The chevron design on the walls is painted on and is the ancient equivalent of wall paper. That red and white chevron design is found all over Switzerland.
If you click on the picture you will see me and Karen in the tower window. Steve's cousin Karen has been our first house guest and we had a great time going to see wonderful places.
The castle sits on a small rock island at the edge of Lac Leman. This is the same lake that Geneva sits next to only at the far end of the lake which is 45 miles long.
A view from one of the castle towers. The mountains are on the right and the lake on the left.

It's Still Snowing

A stop in the old town of Murten
The main street of old town was all cobblestone and some of the shops had interesting guild signs hanging above the door of the establishment.
We stopped at a little town called Murten. We found out that it is a mixed region, meaning that it is right between the French and German speaking area of Switzerland. About 80 percent of the people speak German here and call the town Murten on the Murten See. The others, speaking French call it Morat on the Lac du Morat.
We drove back on a country road where the farm houses/barns were just off the road.
This is from the cathedral above the town of Neuchatel
Despite the inclement weather on Saturday we took a car ride to an area neither Steve nor I had yet explored. We traveled north of Geneva to an area called Neuchatel. The town of Neuchatel sits on Lac de Neuchatel. The region is a grape growing area with mountains on one side and the lake on the other. We are right now in a weather pattern of some rain/snow every day. We have none on the ground where we live but there is plenty just a few miles away. Still I am sitting at my desk looking at the snow fly and happy in the thought that I will soon be in Pinehurst.

Looking For . . . .

Knowing how beautiful Pinehurst North Carolina is at this time of year I have been looking for signs of spring. I'm afraid that they are not so overt nor easily discovered. I did find it interesting that many small flowers just seem to pop up in the middle of lawns. A friend asked me if a certain one she had in her lawn was a weed. After carefully analyzing it and showing her examples of the same flower in pots for sale in the market, I told her it was a primrose. Although the picture here is not one of primroses, it is just another example of the "lawn flower". These pictures were not taken this week, but rather last week. This week we have had a return to winter. Actually it is colder than it was in December, January or February. Today, on Good Friday, we awoke to our first snow since we have been in Geneva. It was coming down thick and white, yet none stuck to the ground. A while ago Steve had made reservations for us to go to the Interlaken region to Grindenwald and spend a couple of days. However, we were thinking of temperatures a little warmer than the 30s and with a little less precipitation. We therefore put off the trip until the middle of May. Whenever we sit in our little living room and can hear the wind howling down the chimney, we know that it is a little too raw for an outdoor adventure. We have also discovered that the Swiss take their holidays very seriously. Everything--shops, schools, businesses are all closed on Good Friday. We don't know about Saturday, but definitely Sunday (they are always closed on Sunday). We have not found Switzerland to be devoutly religious-- just devout about time off and holidays.
I will be in Pinehurst from the 28th of March to the 14th of April. I need a "home" fix every so often. Steve told someone this past week that my trips home are the cost of him working in Europe. How true.


Not your typical chocolate bunny. This week when I went to a department store to get a few things I entered on the "food" level. There is a whole section of the store dedicated to Swiss chocolate. There were "Easter" chocolate displays everywhere. The amazing thing however was the crowds of people. I couldn't make it down any aisle and the lines at four different cash registers were 15-20 people deep. It's not like this is the only place to get chocolate in town, or even the best place. I can picture this scene replicated all over Geneva. After witnessing the extent to which people love their chocolate here, I feel that I am on the low end of the scale of chocolate obsession.
This is an apartment building that looks out over the lake. The architecture is pretty typical of the period that many of the buildings in Geneva were constructed. We do not live in this apartment. We don't want any of you to get the wrong idea of our life here in Switzerland

I Didn't Know One Could O.D. on Chocolate---

Did we mention that chocolate was important in Switzerland? This past weekend we experienced the Chocolate Festival in Versoix. The train to Versoix from Geneva runs every thirty minutes and it was packed as I have never seen it. The crowds at the festival were unbelievable. Steve and I visited each vendor and sampled from every one who would offer samples. We bought a lot of very fine chocolate and knew it was time to end the experience when we actually did not want to sample one more item. I really didn't know that I could O.D. on chocolate, but apparently it is possible.
The other fun event of the weekend was to attend the Geneva Auto Show. It is one of the largest auto shows in the world so we had to go, just to say we had experienced it. The concept cars and zero emission cars were quite interesting. The actually had three functioning hydrogen cars. I wonder if we'll actually see them in the future?
Take care everyone, and know that I love and miss you all.

This guy was really interesting. He made the "rats" completely of chocolate before he started the artistic decorations. By the way, they love the movie Ratatouille here, I guess it's the French association.

The train was fantastic and the chocolate was even better. We just kept trying more different artisan's products to find what we considered the best flavor.
Sorry about the double image entry. I'd get rid of it if I could figure out how.
I included the pictures of the trains (both chocolate and other) for my grandson, Andrew. I wished he could have been here to get excited about it.
How's this for a really big car?

Classic beauty never gets old
This is a four-wheeled motorcycle--fully enclosed. What next?
The Geneva Auto Show was very interesting--lots of things to look forward to in the future.

A Visit to Evian

We spent this past weekend in Evian, France. We took an hour train ride to Lausanne, which is about the middle of the Lake. Geneva is at the south-western tip of Lake Leman. In Lausanne we boarded a boat for a ride across the lake to Evian. Evian is famous for (What else?) Evian water. It is also a resort town with thermal baths. It is like Baden Baden in Germany. These places became popular around the late 1800's to early 1900's as vacation spots with thermal baths, opulent hotels and a grand casino. Many of the old buildings remain and the places still draw large crowds in the summer, but are pretty quiet during the rest of the year. The road along the lake is the only flat road in the town. From the lake, the town rises pretty quickly up the mountain-side. It is the site of the Evian Master's Golf Course which hosts an European Women's golf event I believe. On our way over it was cloudy and rainy and we couldn't see just how magnificent the Alps are as they appear to rise up out of the lake. On the way back we were blessed to have a beautiful sunny day.
We stayed here at the Hilton which has a nice spa.
View across the lake to Lausanne (you have to look closely to see the buildings of the town)
A great example of Art Deco--notice the tiled roof and the stained glass windows
Hotel de Ville. In France, the Hotel de Ville is what they call the city hall. It's not really a hotel at all.

Evian is full of interesting architecture from the late 1800's to early 1900's.

These mountains are on the Evian bottled water label. There is another row of mountains behind these, but the clouds kept them hidden for the most part.