Day: November 14, 2010

Halloween in the City of Light

We decided to utilize the long weekend of Halloween (All Saints Day is a public holiday in France) to visit Paris.  While there, we stayed with our friend C.C. who hosted a great Halloween Party.  We were also able to meet up with Tom, who was able to come down from Belgium for the weekend.

We spent a little time going to see a few sights.  For example, Anna requested we visit the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Monmartre.

Thanks to Tom for making this excellent image for us.

Monmartre is a great hill, with all of Paris laid out before you.

Tom and I,  while X was munching on my finger.

The three of us.

The Eiffel Tower

Now, back to the party and reason for being in Paris … Halloween!  These images are almost all made by Anna again.

The Pumpkin Patch!

The best looking part of the patch.  The big, squishy one isn’t here.

A fluffy pumpkin and Chiquita.  BTW, it was very good to see, Tom completely embraced his role.

Marilyn and Isaac from the Love Boat. (good catch!)

A Giant Pumpkin, the Wicked Witch of the West (AKA Elphaba who is just misunderstood), and a Cowboy.

Glinda the Good Witch of the South (in her HANDMADE dress).

The Queen of Hearts  (Alice had already gone down the rabbit hole).

Our little monkey (or petit singe in French).  Thanks to John and Jenni for the costume!  It’s perfect.

Our niece Gracie had a school project with a guy named Flat Stanley.  His mission is to travel all over the world and get his picture taken by unique and interesting landmarks.  So, we thought Flat Stanley might enjoy Paris.

He began with a stroll in the Tuileries Garden.

Then, played in the grass in front of the Louvre Art Museum.

Looked for someone’s hand to hold in front of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel with its Godess of Victory built in 1808 to commemorate Napoleon I’s military conquests.

Finally, he cruised past the most famous icon of Paris … the Eiffel Tower.  He made quite a little tour of the city.  Where will his next destination be?  Well, that is up to Flat Stanley.  Only he can say…

That also concludes our trip to Paris.  It was a great way to celebrate Anna’s golden birthday.

Until the next adventure…

–Jim

Lyon — a teaser post

A work trip took me up to Lyon.  Since it was pretty close, I could drive, which meant that Anna and Alexander were able to come too.

Although I had to work most of the time, we were able to enjoy a little of the city.  Enough to know we need to come back!  It’s known at the gastronomic center of France… we had a great meal the first night, but missed all the Lyon specialties.  While I was working, Anna and Alexander were able to explore the city.  The pictures in the post are all Anna’s.  I didn’t even have a camera with me.

They took a boat ride on the mighty Rhone.

Lyon has all the big city feel, but not as many of the problems.  Overall, it feels like a nice place to be. On the hilltop you can see the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière.  It was built shortly after France’s defeat by Prussia in 1870.  Some would say the Roman Catholic church built it simply to emphasize their strength.

A better view of the basilica.

On a boat.  They’re on a boat.

If you look close, the windows on this building are merely painted on … classical figures, artists and explorers.  Oh and a camera man toward the bottom.

The hills surrounding the Rhone valley and central Lyon provide great vantage point and make the city feel a little smaller.

The Man of the Rock, Jean Kleberger.  He was known as the “Good German.”  He was born in Germany in 1486, citizen of Geneva and Bern, Switzerland and died in Lyon in 1546.

So, that covers our brief time in Lyon.

Until the next time…

–Jim

Switzerland — First Snow

So, we took a weekend trip to one of our favorite mountain villages, Mürren.  While there, we had the good fortune to coincide with the first real snow of the season.  That meant that we spend most of our time indoors.  However, we did venture our for one extended hike.  These first images are from that hike.

As you might be able to tell from the image … Alexander was tucked inside my jacket.

The Fam. Out for a walk in the snow.

Here’s the desolate trail/road we walked along.  Although it’s about the width of a nice trail, it’s actually the road.  They don’t worry too much about wear and tear on the road.  Officially, cars are not allowed in Mürren … except the snow plow and occasional truck.

It many ways, the area is a throw-back to the 19th century.

Still gorgeous, even during the snowstorm.

As are all the waterfalls.

We solved the problem of Alexander’s cold hands with Anna’s gloves.  A touch too big still, but we’re working on right sized snow gear.  As you can see, he was pretty chill in the snow.  The snowflakes were hitting him in the face, and he didn’t seem to mind.  In fact, he fell asleep on the hike home (he’s pretty tired in this picture).

After a couple days and a foot of snow, we got back in the gondola and headed down the mountain.

This is the view that met us at the bottom.  We were right at the line where the snow turned into rain.  It made for an interesting contrast.

It almost seemed like a surprise spring snowstorm … but instead, it was the other end of the seasons.

A little further down the valley toward Lauterbrunnen, the fall colors were shining through.

Everything seemed lush and heavy.

The visible snow line.

More of the fall color.

The banks of the river were ablaze with color.  It was simply beautiful.

That concludes our brief sojourn to Switzerland.  Most importantly, now Alexander has been in snow … and liked it!  (this time, at least).

Until the next trip…

–Jim