Fun Things Lately...

Above and below, this is the lovely little 15th Century church just around the corner from my house. In Europe, it seems like there is history just everywhere. Note: Victoria's sister lives in a 600 year old house--that's nearly 3 times older than the US.

Here is the lovely town nearest to my village, where we do small shopping and little stuff like that. Just wanted to give y'all a visual of my existence...

I had to stop on the road (safely of course) and take a picture of this sunset. Seriously, it's picture-worthy most nights, I just don't always have my camera.

This is Montreux, and absolutely beautiful Swiss town about an hour from my village.

Hey, long time no blog (surprise, surprise, I'm really bad a keeping up with this kind of thing).

I've actually been doing a lot of fun things lately--nothing gets you motivated to start taking advantage of your surroundings like an impending exit to Asia. Speaking of that, I'm super excited about moving to China!! We leave in about 4 and a half weeks, which is amazing to think about. Ben just left for Hong Kong, so we won't see him until he comes home right before the big move. His absence will probably make this next month trying at some points--the boys tend to start acting out when he's gone for a chunk of time, especially Henry, so I anticipate some tantrums and a constant (incredibly frustrating) attachment to Mommy Mommy Mommy. We'll deal with it, but I'm sure there will be moments where I just want to tear my hair out. However, I have a truly amazing trip to look forward to, so maybe I'll use that as my happy place--Chris is going to come to Hong Kong in November, and we're going to take a 9 day trip from Thailand, through Cambodia, and into Vietnam. How incredible is that?!?! Really, I can't wait.

Today I took a lovely day-trip to Montreux, a town about an hour away in Switzerland, with Pam, Lauren and Christine. We're quite the United Nations of friends--a Chilean, an Australian, a German, and me. The day was gorgeous--the weather couldn't have been better this weekend. Montreux is one of the most beautiful places that I've ever seen. It's situated at the very end of Lake Geneva, and is nestled inside all of the surrounding mountains. The lake is so huge, and so calm there--it looks like you should be able to step on the water like glass and walk right over to the nearest peak. I really wish that pictures could do it justice, but it's so huge, so expansive and awe-inspiring, that my pedestrian photography efforts can't capture it. But believe me, it's a sight to see.

I enjoyed the lake in a more physical way on Friday morning. Ben wanted to go skiing one more time before he left for Hong Kong, so we took the whole family out on the boat. The water was surprisingly warm. By which I mean that it was definitely cold, but not nearly as cold as I expected a Swiss lake to be. My skiing, unfortunately, did not go well--I think Ben's ski was too big for me, so I had a lot of trouble getting up. My forearms are still (nearly 3 days later) incredibly sore from my efforts. Still, though, I have now skied (sort of) on Lake Geneva, and I think that's pretty cool.

Activities here tend to revolve around the lake, so the other cool things I've done lately also involve Lake Geneva in some way. I went to a jazz festival in Hermance called Jazz Sur Le Plage (Jazz on the Beach). Hermance is a tiny village, the first just over the border into Switzerland, so it was a small festival with one stage set-up next to the water, and some food and wine vendors set up. Sharron, Johanna and I packed up a pic-nic of baguette, gruyer cheese and wine, and sat down for a few hours on the shore to watch the music, which was fantastic--there was a guitar player who did amazing things on the Spanish guitar, and a lot of the songs bordered on blue-grass more than jazz, I thought. I had just about the most cliched French thought possible (I must be converting) when I found myself annoyed that the night had become colder and it was making my Bordeaux cooler than it should be to be enjoyed properly. I warmed it up in my hands as best as I could and laughed at my wine-snobbery. 

Later in the week I went to the outdoor cinema to see the new Steve Carrell movie (the name is escaping me at the moment). Thank goodness they show movies in English, though apparently even the French aren't a big fan of French movies. The massive screen is set up in one of the harbors in Geneva, with the lake at its' back so that the audience can watch the sun set on the mountains right before the movie begins. Truly, truly amazing--the view more so than the movie, but the movie was good too. And you get free ice-cream with your ticket!! Could it be any better?

That's about all of the blog-worthy things I've done in the last couple of weeks. There may be some exciting things coming up: some girls and I are planning to take a road trip to Munich in a few weeks for the opening weekend of Oktoberfest (I'm not sure why it opens in the middle of September, but who am I to question?). That should be interesting, and I'm really glad that I'll get to do it. I'm also trying to find the time for a weekend trip to Interlocken, in Switzerland, which has been highly recommended to me. Time is going quickly though--4 weekends left before China, but more like 3 since I'm sure I'll be running around crazy trying to get ready on that last one. God, isn't life interesting?

A Weekend in Paris

So I finally took a trip! I went to Paris for the weekend. Lauren, a new friend of mine from Australia who has taken an au pair position on the other side of Lake Geneva, and I took the train from Geneva on Saturday morning and were in the center of Paris by 10:30 am. Here is a photographic chronology of our time there:

As with any good tourist in Paris, we began with a trip to the Eiffel Tower. The number of people there was incredible--I heard more languages than I have ever heard in one place in my entire life. The line to go to the top was ridiculous, so, both Lauren and I having been before, we didn't go up. But there is this fantastic spot just a short walk away with this amazing, full view of the tower. As you can see, the day was absolutely perfect--the weather couldn't have been better, making the entire day seem like something out of a movie.

This is the Luxembourg Gardens. Absolutely beautiful. It looked like a lot of locals come here to read or sun bathe on a nice afternoon--that's what I would do if I lived there. There was a pond where kids were sailing little boats, and, for some reason, donkey rides around the park...There is also the Luxembourg Palace there--grand and very French--where I assume at some point a small group of rich people stayed and kept all of this splendor to themselves.

This is the Pantheon. This place is truly amazing, breath-taking, especially when you consider that it was all built by hand hundreds of years ago--how is that possible?!

A picture can't really capture the scale of this place--just consider the average height of the people in the bottom of the picture, and imagine how large and impressive this place is. 

I was so amazed that I had to take a video to try to share this with others and remember it forever for myself. Sorry it's a bit shaky--I'll never be a surgeon :)

Following the Pantheon, we moved on to Notre Dame. Again, the lines were crazy so we didn't go inside, but, even though I've seen it before, I just have to marvel at the architecture. 

Can you imagine how long it took to carve each of these figures? And apparently, each is the face of an actual person--a rendering of a saint or someone that the artist knew. This is just one of the doorways--the entire building is covered in this much detail.

Okay, look at the 4 figures...what's amiss here?

On Saturday evening, we made the trip to Mont Marte--where the original Moulin Rouge is--and climbed the many, many steps up to the Sacre Coeur. The church itself is obviously incredible, but it's position on the hill gives an amazing view of the Paris skyline.

This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. There was a band of Senegalese men playing random songs on the steps leading up to the Sacre Coeur. It was just getting toward evening, the weather was perfect, and we sat on the steps facing the Paris skyline and listening to them play. It was truly, truly wonderful.

After dinner in Mont Marte, we took the Metro back to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up for the night. It was even more crowded that it had been during the day, but it was absolutely worth it. I'm still not sure what the circle of stars is for--French national day was a few weeks ago, so maybe for that? Whatever the case, it sure is purty.

In a moment that everyone waits for, the tower lights up for about 5 minutes. Lauren and I sat on the grass in a park next to the tower, ate chocolate crepes, and enjoyed.

The next morning it rained, but a rainy day in Paris is better than a sunny day most anywhere else. Lauren went to the Louvre, and I walked over to the Musee D'Orsay. This is a bridge on the way--quite impressive--leading toward the tomb of Napolean. 

I will spare you the many, many, many pictures I took of French Impressionist paintings at the Musee D'Orsay--Van Gogh, Monet, Pisarro, Rinault, etc etc, which I stood in awe of for a couple of hours. But here's a picture of the museum inside--a work of art in itself. 

Not having to go far, I next walked over to meet Lauren at the Louvre. This is the entrance. It's housed in a former palace, so it is quite large and impressive.

The Obelisque, just a few hundred yards from the Louvre. If you look behind it, you will also see, along the Champs Elysee, the Arc de Triomph. I had a lovely afternoon strolling along the Champs Elysee with a ham and cheese baguette.

Unfortunately, at this point my camera battery ran out, so Lauren has the pictures from the rest of our afternoon. Following this, we went to the Rodin Sculpture Gardens--one of my favorite spots in Paris, and another place where I would probably just go hang out with a book for an afternoon if I lived there. After that, time was running short, so we had a quick cup of tea at a sidewalk cafe and then checked out of our hostel and caught the train home. 

So that was my weekend in Paris. Honestly, it could not have been better. Contrary to popular belief, the French people there were, for the most part, very nice. I tried to practice speaking French, but in an effort to make things faster and easier everyone would respond to me in English, which was a little bit frustrating. I bought some art at one of the street vendors along the left bank of the Seine--I even haggled in French, and, I think, managed to get a pretty good price. I will have to return to Paris sometime, I love it too much not to; and if I can manage to live there, just for a little while (sorry, Mom, I know how that prospect terrifies you), so much the better...

Evian, the Kids, the Fete, recent pics, etc.

Here are some recent pictures of what I've been up to:

Sharron and I went to Evian last weekend--yes, the actual place where they bottle Evian water. It's about 45 minutes from my house. It's a cute little town, but there wasn't really much going on. The bottling plant was closed, so we didn't really get to see it. We had some great Morrocan food, walked around the lake a bit. This picture is from when we saw some guys randomly sleeping beside the lake, and we thought it would be hilarious for me to lay down next to them and take a picture. We giggled about it for about 10 minutes. I'm also still laughing over the idea that people (myself included) pay so much money for Evian water when it's pretty much what comes out of the taps at my house.

This is a car that I saw on fire. I had Wednesday afternoon off, so I went into Geneva to wander around a bit. I happened to wander into the Red Light district--I knew that's where I was when I saw several poorly kept women in really really cheap, incredibly revealing clothes standing on the street at 3 in the afternoon. Prostitution is legal here, but it's heavily regulated and kept in this one area near the center of Geneva, so it's easy to wander into. I'm told that it's a perfectly safe area, and that there are even some trendy restaurants around there. When I realized that I was looking at aging hookers, I just kind of laughed to myself and turned around. That's when I happened to see this car on fire--just another odd twist to that section of the afternoon. The fire department came and I assume all was taken care of and the ladies got back to work :)

This is just a picture I took out of my bedroom window. It stormed a bit last week, and I've seen some great rainbows. 

That's Henry, my older one, on the left, and on the right is Louie, the boy Sharron takes care of. Aren't they adorable?! We took them to the baby beach for an afternoon. The weather has been really great, for the most part, lately, so we try to take full advantage and occupy the kids outside. It has the added benefit of wearing them out so they nap/go to bed really easily. I never thought I'd so look forward to nap-time every day--no matter what has happened in the morning, sanity can be restored if they just nap well and give me a couple of hours to regain sanity before it all starts again.

Alessio, my younger boy, is just about the cutest kid I've ever seen. He really thinks he's older and bigger than he is, though, so he tends to try to jump in water or climb ladders or go down slides all by himself--he has no fear. We have to keep a very close eye on him or he would hurt himself several times a day. 

Other than all of that stuff, things have been pretty low-key. The Fete de Geneve is in town--basically there is a carnival set up along the shores of the lake, including rides, stages for music, and bars. I have noticed that the Swiss do festival food really well. At an American festival, you're pretty much going to only be able to get hot dogs and hamburgers, or other variations of fried or barbequed food. Here, I guess because Switzerland is so international, there are booths with every type of food imaginable--Thai, Chinese, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian, Mexican, Morrocan, Russian, Polish, Czechoslovakian, and the list goes on. It's amazing. There was even a Tex Mex booth!--I had just eaten, so I didn't try it, but I was very impressed that it was there. Summertime is notoriously great here weather-wise, so they take full advantage and there always seems to be a festival going on. Another odd thing resulting from the good weather is that there are tons of Arab people here--it's too hot in the Middle East in the summer, and Switzerland is a very neutral, welcoming country, plus Geneva is an expensive city with all of the finer things that these rich Arabs expect, so they bring their entire families for the whole summer. It is interesting to see all of the women in their various forms of dress--some just have to cover their hair (some get to use bright scarves while others seem to only be allowed to use black cotton), some cover hair and face, I've seen a lot of them in full burkhas with only their eyes showing. I wish that I could ask each of them where they are from so I could learn which country each dress-type comes from.  

I'm really hoping to take some trips very soon. Time has seemed to fly by, and suddenly I've been here over 2 months and haven't really travelled yet. I may take the train to Paris next weekend, and some friends and I are considering a trip to Portugal in September. I leave for Hong Kong on October 2nd, so time is quickly running out. I'm hoping to travel a bit in Asia as well, though, so it's not as if I won't see anything interesting come October. I'm still really excited about Hong Kong, but it's a bit surreal. Who ever thought I'd move to Hong Kong?! It just seems like such an odd thing, but it is my current reality. 

I've been a bit homesick, but nothing too bad. I really enjoy being here, and I don't at all regret coming, but still there are times when I'm homesick. I've realized that homesickness, for me, comes mostly from a want to be in my comfort zone--to be where I know the city so well that I can always figure out what I want to do and where to do, and to know my best friends and family are always there for entertainment or support or whatever. Being in a foreign place, with a foreign language, and none of those comfortable people around can be very uncomfortable.  But, I've also realized that this discomfort is a major part of why I'm doing this--I think there is growth in discomfort. I think I'll be a better person for having faced it. And, of course, a little discomfort is nothing compared to the opportunity I have right now to see the world. If only I could just get a little bit of proper mexican food...