Family Fun Time

 

Last Sunday we took a beautiful autumn ride up towards Mount Blanc, turned down toward Albertville, drove over to the bottom of Lake Annecy, around the Lake to St. Bernard de Menthod, and finished at the town of Annecy.  It was a brilliant day with spectacular fall colors everywhere.  We love it when visitors give us all the reason we need to go exploring.  Every time we reached a "pull-out" on the side of the road we would stop to take more pictures.  We hope Chad and Danielle had as much fun as we did.

 

One of Danielle's requests was to see a castle.  This is the Castle St. Bernard de Menthod across the lake from the town of Annecy.

 

We ended the day in the town of Annecy.  Danielle said that Annecy was her "favorite" of their whole vacation here.  It certainly is picturesque and was the perfect ending to a beautiful day.

 

 

An Autumn Afternoon

The weather will always make a liar out of you. After last week's post when I talked about how cold it had gotten here all of a sudden, we have had a very moderate week, temperature wise. The snow on the Jura is melted, but I'm sure it will be back soon. I felt like taking a walk this afternoon and taking some pictures of Autumn in Geneva. What won't show up on pictures is the fairly dense fog which shrouds everything each morning. I told Steve today, that I feel like I live in San Francisco or something. I'm content as long as I get at least some sunshine every few days. Enjoy the scenes from our walk.

This vine grows on walls all over around here, but it becomes spectacular during the Fall.






On a different theme--This huge three-legged chair stands across the street from the United Nations building. It represents all the children of the world who have lost limbs or been killed by land mines and cluster bombs. It is quite a statement. This square is also the site of many demonstrations by various groups with different agendas. I have just finished reading the book, Three Cups of Tea --A true account by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I would encourage everyone I know to read this inspiring account.

FALL CAME FAST

It seems like only two weeks ago that all the trees were still green with no color and then, as if overnight, the colors appeared and some trees have dropped all their leaves. It snowed already on the Jura (the low mountain range that I see from our front window). Wow! Everything changed quickly. I'm more used to the rich colors that develop slowly in North Carolina and stay till almost Thanksgiving. It's not that way here. This morning when we got up the temperature was in the low 30's. (Fahrenheit, not Celsius) It did warm up to the mid 50's, but coat-less days are gone. As we approach our one year mark here in Switzerland I can see some progress in the communication area. Our "only-French-speaking" neighbor feels like she can talk to us in simple phrases now and knows we will understand and respond in rudimentary French, but she seems to understand. A lady on the bus next to me told me something in French and I knew exactly what she said. It would be so easy here in Geneva to just depend on our English to get by, but then I would not feel like I had taken advantage of a real opportunity to learn something new. We have met many wonderful people at our church and are enjoying more social activities with some of them. Our experience here, so far, has validated my view that you can learn to adjust and be happy anywhere. There are still holes that only children, grandchildren, dear friends and perhaps a dog can fill. Aside from that we consider ourselves very fortunate for the experience we are having.

I've Been Tagged

Apparently, I've been "Tagged".

A. Attached or single?--attached
B. Best Friend(s)?--Steve
C. Cake or Pie?-- Cake (chocolate of course)
D. Day of Choice? -- Thursday has always been my favorite
E. Essential? -- A project to work on, preferably hand quilting
F. Favorite Color?--Green
G. Gummy Bears or Worms? -- Bears (only red ones)
H. Hometown? -- Berkeley Ca.
I. Indulgence? -- Chocolate
J. January or July? -- July. Who likes January?
K. Kids? -- Five (Troy, Chad, Lara, Ben & Emily) There's no need to include ages here.
L. Life is not complete without? -- Family
M. Marriage Date? -- June 11
N. Number of Brothers and Sisters? -- One brother, three sisters
O. Oranges or Apples? -- Apples. I eat an apple everyday.
P. Phobias? --(just one?) Snakes, dirty things run a close second.
Q. Quotes? -- Happiness is a choice.
R. Reason to Smile? -- too many to name, but let's start with the natural beauty of the world
S. Season of Choice? -- Fall
T. Tag Someone -- Lara, this is for you.
U. Unknown Fact? -- Where I'll be a year from now.
V. Vegetable? -- Red Cabbage
W. Worst Habit? -- (only one?) Procrastination, I guess
X. X-Ray or Ultrasound? -- Neither, it might mean I'd be sick
Y. Your favorite food? -- Fresh-baked bread
Z. Zodiac sign? -- Cancer

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.