Having Fun

Emily and Damion have been visiting us here in Switzerland. We have spent the last ten days traveling to interesting sights and recuperating from our travels by just hanging out in Geneva. We went up to Mont Blanc, took the train to Lyon for the day, and spent two days in Grindelwald and the Lauterbrunen Valley. There is so much beauty to be seen here and we relish the opportunity to share it with others.
We were bundled up as we set out, but after a little bit of hiking, the jackets were shed and we enjoyed the warmth of the sun.
We hiked up to this lake from First. It was cloudy in Grindelwald when we got up so we decided to take the gondola up to First and get above the clouds. We were rewarded with such clear air and sunny skies at 7400 ft elevation.
Aview of the Alps from the beautiful little town of Murren in the Interlaken Region
We watched as this hiker walked on the narrowest of trails.
It's so much more enjoyable to share the beauty with those we love.
Damion definitely enjoyed the whole experience.
What a view through this "ice tunnel".
Back to Mont Blanc. We enjoyed another beautiful day on top of the world, so to speak. It was less than a month since we made this trip for the first time and yet the temperature was significantly cooler. This time, however, there was no wind to speak of. I also had a companion in my dislike for the tram ride to the top. Emily also is a little nervous on the tram rides. This time, however, the tram actually stopped about half-way down and it seemed to me like we dangled there thousands of feet in the air forever. In reality we were moving extremely slowly, inching our way into the terminal. White-knuckle time once again for me.

Same Game--New Setting

When Steve and I moved to Switzerland I did not bring any of my golf equipment. I really did not think that I would play while I was here. It would be far too difficult to get to any courses without having a car. Then one Sunday I was introduced to a lady who works at the United Nations with the High Commission for Refugees. We were introduced by an acquaintance who knew that we shared a common interest--we both like to golf. Moira, my new friend, first took me to a charming little driving range/nine-hole executive course that was part of someone's farm. The guy had extensive acreage and had built this golf facility on part of the farm which included corn fields, orchards, along with grazing bison and elk. This past Thursday was a Swiss holiday and Steve and I joined her at a beautiful 18 hole course called Signal De Bougy. Walking the course is expected in Europe, but Steve and I also ended up carrying our clubs that we rented. It's been ten years since I carried my clubs (that was in Scotland), but we survived and are anxious to find new courses to play. Moira has been kind enough to take us in her car--maybe we'll have to rent a car for our next outing.
I felt like I was back playing in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA. One needs to be part billy goat to deal with the extreme ups and downs of this hilly course. Also, there was a constant misty fog that settled in for most of the round--only to be interspersed with actual rain showers. These weather factors would explain the way I look. I still had fun.
We really did not stray off the course to take this picture. The tee is directly in front of us. It wouldn't be golf in Switzerland without the cows.
The sun finally came out after we finished our 18 holes. We have come up with an admirable quest--to play one new golf course every month.

A Saturday Drive

We woke up on this particular Saturday and it was raining in Geneva, but we had a car rented for the day. My suggestion was "let's head for the Valais, and Sion, if there's any sun, it will be there." It turned out to be true and we had mostly sunny skies until we reached the top of the Grimsel Pass and it was clouded over and began to rain which continued all the way back to Geneva. The river you can see in the above photo is coming off the glacier which is also visible.


As we drove toward the Grimsel Pass over the mountains we came to the village of Gletch. It is interesting to me to imagine what it would be like to live in such a place.

We were dealing with lots of clouds and some sun on this particular day. However, the sun came out and lit the church in this village at the right moment.

I find it amazing that the Swiss like to "perch" their villages on hillsides up in the mountains. It takes quite a while to wind up the steep little single lane roads that will take you to the village. The views, however, once you get there are always worth it.

We Finally Made It!!

We've been in Switzerland since mid October 2007, and this past weekend we finally made our trip up the highest peak in Western Europe. We needed the perfect day weather wise and the motivation of entertaining a guest to bring it all together. It takes two tram rides to reach the the Aguille du Midi, the lookout to Mont Blanc. The tram rides were "white knuckle" time for me as we rose almost 10,000 vertical feet from Chamonix where we started. Even if the cliffs are steep, I would rather have my feet on the ground than hanging from a cable in the air. But I would and will do it again to see such breath-taking natural beauty.
Time to soak it all in together--this is as good as it gets.
Words really can't describe the majesty of this place. I think I could have take in the scenery all day and never gotten my fill.
Got Mountains? One of our sons-in-law said that having mountains was a criteria for a place to live. Would these mountains qualify?
Great photo of hikers on the ridge-line. This photo would definitely make it onto the wall of our Swiss Chalet, but alas, we don't have one.
Rock climbers with Mount Blanc as a backdrop
Henry Dirkmaat on the look-out at the Aguille du Midi Mont Blanc. Having people visit brings us to the best places. There are not many days this spectacular on the Mountain.

Beautiful Lake Luzern

Luzern continues to be one of my favorite places in all of Europe. A few Saturdays ago, Steve and I took the train from Geneva to Luzern--a three hour ride. Steve arranged ahead of time to meet a long-time friend and his wife in Luzern and spend the day with them. Due to the need for Arianne to fulfill some grand mothering duties for their newest grandchild, she was unable to join with us on our wonderful trip to the top of Mt. Pilatus and back down to Luzern. It was a beautiful day as you can see from the photos, and on my next post I will include pictures from the unique "old town" of Luzern.
We met our dear friend, Reudi Blattmann, in Luzern and he took us on an adventure.
There were great views from the boat as we crossed the lake.
We sailed across Lake Luzern to a port where we disembarked the boat and boarded a cog-rail train which took us to the top of Mt. Pilatus
A boathouse we passed on our sail across the lake.
If you look carefully (or just click on the picture) you can see the cog train about to enter the tunnel. You can also hike to the top of Pilatus.

We took this cog rail up to the top of the mountain. It is the steepest cog rail in Europe. What views!
A view down to Lake Luzern from the top
The peak of Pilatus as we began the descent in the tram.

Living Without

The June Gloom is definitely gone and it has been 90 degrees for the past three days. I'm sure that there is some reason, yet to be revealed, why I need to discover all the ways to stay somewhat cool on the 5th floor of an apartment building with no air conditioning. No air conditioning is really the normal way of things in Europe so I am not surprised, but I am challenged to deal with the feeling that at any moment I might become a melted puddle on the floor. I should have known we'd be in trouble with excess heat in the summer, when we hardly had to turn any heat on in the winter. The hottest part of the day (between 4-7 p.m.) is when the sun is directly on our front window. This makes it necessary to roll down the outside shade but when I do that, no air is able to come in. We do have fans--thankfully, and have found that if we don't turn on any lights at night then the bugs don't come in our screen-less windows. At least there is usually a pretty good breeze coming through either the front or the back windows. We've found that the newer buses have air conditioning, but the older ones do not. I told Steve on Sunday on our way home from church that I would rather walk all the way than get on a crowded, non-air conditioned bus again.

Lest I sound ungrateful for all of our wonderful experiences, let me clarify that I am merely challenged to learn new ways to handle living without some things which we sometimes take for granted. What is interesting to me is that so far I have been successful in adapting. An "Old Dog" can learn new tricks.

Our pictures from this weekend in Luzern are on Steve's lap top which is with him in Boston. It has crashed, so we hope that all the pictures were not lost.

Love to you all,
Mary

TIME FLIES!

We had a great view of the Lake and sunset as we enjoyed our Anniversary dinner.


This past Wednesday Steve and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. I remember clearly the day we were married and I don't think I could have looked forward and imagined the kind of life that we would have together. I don't think that I could have imagined actually turning 40 years old, let alone being married for 40 years! Though some days with five children seemed to last forever, forty years have sped by. As I look back I am amazed at what we have learned from our relationship with each other, from our children and their unique personalities, and now from our precious grandchildren. I won't lie and say that I've enjoyed every minute of our life together but all our experiences have worked together for our good, and now I will say that it was definitely worth it.

Chad complained last week that we never put any pictures of ourselves on the blog. At our age we really don't like to look at pictures of ourselves--"Who are those old people?" I don't think we should have to look any older than we feel. We still feel young. So we have given in to Chad's request and included some pictures we took at our Anniversary dinner.

Love to you all wherever you may be---