Saturday, 23 April 2011
Happy Easter and off to Greece!!
It's Easter weekend, and to celebrate we are off to Greece. When we booked the tickets we weren't remembering it was actually Easter Sunday however the Easter bunny came early and in fact we are celebrating Easter with our friend Pantelis Andreou. He and his wife Susanne and their three kids are friends from Halifax but Pan is Greek and will be in Athens over Easter visiting his family. We are arriving midday tomorrow and Pan is meeting us and taking us back to join in the festivities with his relatives. Lambs will be roasted!! We are then going to spend some time in Athens, visit Sifnos, one of the islands, and are then staying at a friends condo about one and a half hours from Athens. We are hoping to do quite a bit of sight seeing using the condo as a base. The kids are on a two week holiday from school so we are trying to make the most of it! We are actually extending the two weeks a little to do a side trip to Rome. There should be lots to report over the coming weeks.
Last weekend we made a day trip to Morges for the tulip festival. It was quite spectacular and the weather was lovely. We also managed to attend a Palm Sunday service in Geneva, in the old, central Presbyterian church. It is beside the cathedral, and much smaller, but a beautiful church all the same. We came out to the ringing of bells throughout the city. That afternoon we got a close up view of the Jet d'Eau. If you see pictures of Geneva, the big jet of water in the middle of the lake is a landmark. You can walk along a jetty to get closer to it. If the breeze changes direction the spray can be quite dampening! Last night we had our neighbors over for dinner (they are Austrian and Brazilian) and today we lounged around in our other neighbors back yard eating cheese and drinking wine (they are German). They have a little creek running through their garden, rabbits, a guinea pig, a cat and kids the same age as ours, so lots to entertain everyone.
We are getting up tomorrow at 4:30 am so I am off to bed!!
Heather
Last weekend we made a day trip to Morges for the tulip festival. It was quite spectacular and the weather was lovely. We also managed to attend a Palm Sunday service in Geneva, in the old, central Presbyterian church. It is beside the cathedral, and much smaller, but a beautiful church all the same. We came out to the ringing of bells throughout the city. That afternoon we got a close up view of the Jet d'Eau. If you see pictures of Geneva, the big jet of water in the middle of the lake is a landmark. You can walk along a jetty to get closer to it. If the breeze changes direction the spray can be quite dampening! Last night we had our neighbors over for dinner (they are Austrian and Brazilian) and today we lounged around in our other neighbors back yard eating cheese and drinking wine (they are German). They have a little creek running through their garden, rabbits, a guinea pig, a cat and kids the same age as ours, so lots to entertain everyone.
We are getting up tomorrow at 4:30 am so I am off to bed!!
Heather
Sunday, 10 April 2011
thanks for the comments
Just thought I would let you know that we all love getting your comments and knowing that you are following what we are doing! thanks! We'll keep you posted.....
settling in
Holly gave a great description of our escapades yesterday. We have fallen behind somewhat I'm afraid but life has been busy! We are settled in our new house and feeling wonderful. We are in a little village outside of Geneva but it is an easy commute into the city. Work is going well for both Dave and I. We are enjoying the complete break from our usual routines. We have managed to scare up bikes for all of the kids.....kind neighbors and colleagues. With luck Dave and I will manage to get our hands on bikes as well since there are wonderful bike trails close by. Last weekend we went hiking in the Jura mountains. They are a smaller mountain range than the Alps, but also lovely. The weather has been unseasonably warm and we are trying to take advantage of it. The drive to Gruyere was spectacular. The blossoms and flowers are everywhere and the fields are that vivid green we see only in spring. There is still the suspicion that it will all end soon and temperatures will fall, but in the meantime we enjoy! I spent three days at a WHO working group meeting finalizing guidelines for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. It was fascinating to see the inner workings of the WHO and to experience how some of these guidelines actually come to be. Countries from around the world were represented yet it was a small enough group that there was lots of discussion and interaction. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet international colleagues. Back to regular work this week! We tried to post a video of the Bern bears doing crazy things but so far no luck. we'll keep trying. My learning curve is steep with this blogging business!
Heather
Heather
Fun in Gruyeres!
Hi all!
On Sat. the 9th of April, we made a trip to the famous cheese town of Gruyeres! When we arrived, we had a great lunch of cheese, cheese, more cheese, and hamburgers. After that, we made a trip to the cheese factory. The tour came with some of their world famous cheese, known as Gruyeres! Soon after, we met cherry the cow on our audio-guides. As part of the tour, we got to smell what the cows ate (pee-u) and later found out that the cheese actually contained some of these flavors. We took a peek at the making of the cheese and learned about the way the cheese changes as it ages. After we were done at the cheese factory, we took a hike up to the castle and village and toured the castle! Very interesting!
After we were done in Gruyeres, we headed to the Cailler chocolate factory in Broc and we took a chocolate tour. It told us of the history of chocolate as well as some things we can tell to the adults if they won't let us have any as in "Did you know that chocolate is good for you in small quantities?", "Did you know that for her last meal, Marie Antoinette ordered a cup of hot chocolate?" and "Did you know that chocolate was a gift from the gods?". Well, guess what? It's all true! Finally, at the end of the tour, we entered the testing room where we each tested about the equivalent of 1 1/2 chocolate bars. The tour was then over, but there was still room for buying. There was a deal 6 bars for 10 euro's. But I will say it............ we bought 8. We all agreed on this rule: no chocolate until the end of the weekend!
-Holly
On Sat. the 9th of April, we made a trip to the famous cheese town of Gruyeres! When we arrived, we had a great lunch of cheese, cheese, more cheese, and hamburgers. After that, we made a trip to the cheese factory. The tour came with some of their world famous cheese, known as Gruyeres! Soon after, we met cherry the cow on our audio-guides. As part of the tour, we got to smell what the cows ate (pee-u) and later found out that the cheese actually contained some of these flavors. We took a peek at the making of the cheese and learned about the way the cheese changes as it ages. After we were done at the cheese factory, we took a hike up to the castle and village and toured the castle! Very interesting!
After we were done in Gruyeres, we headed to the Cailler chocolate factory in Broc and we took a chocolate tour. It told us of the history of chocolate as well as some things we can tell to the adults if they won't let us have any as in "Did you know that chocolate is good for you in small quantities?", "Did you know that for her last meal, Marie Antoinette ordered a cup of hot chocolate?" and "Did you know that chocolate was a gift from the gods?". Well, guess what? It's all true! Finally, at the end of the tour, we entered the testing room where we each tested about the equivalent of 1 1/2 chocolate bars. The tour was then over, but there was still room for buying. There was a deal 6 bars for 10 euro's. But I will say it............ we bought 8. We all agreed on this rule: no chocolate until the end of the weekend!
-Holly
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Bern, Bears, and Beautiful Sounds
Okay - that attempt at alliteration was pretty lame. But our weekend has been good! On Saturday we made the 1.5 hour trek to Bern, the capital of Switzerland and a UNESCO world heritage site. We could see why. It is a very fetching city: not big (only about 140,000 people I believe) but with one of the best preserved medieval centres in Europe. It was bustling but with very few cars in sight, so strangely peaceful on a Saturday afternoon. We walked the around the old town, took in the hourly show at the amazing 16th century clock tower, had the obligatory chocolate and coffee break, and joined the crowds enjoying the antics of the Bern bears by the river. They are now in quite a comfortable and humane setting, with lots if trees, water, and terracing, and they seemed to be enjoying it. One (we think it was fun-loving "Finn") had climbed a good 30 feet up in a tree, so was pretty much at eye-level with the crowd gathered high up the hillside! We had no idea how s/he would get down, but when the time came he descended with speed and nimbleness that would put the most adroit lumberjack to shame! I think Holly got it on video; we'll try to get it posted along with some other pictures shortly.
Today we headed into the Cathedrale St. Pierre, which is at the heart of old Geneva and has been a site of worship since the 12th century. The kids and Heather indulged me by taking in a concert by the choir of King's College Cambridge, which I think has to be up there among the world's best. The concert, and the acoustics, were breathtaking... even if Rory found his new/old X-men comic (en francais) more compelling. Afterward we headed to Parc Neuve, site of the Reformation Memorial as well as a great playgound and several giant sized chess boards where matches were being appreciated by large clusters of spectators. We then did some window shopping (about all we can manage) where the beautiful window displays were only overshadowed by the jaw-dropping prices.
That's all for now -- more pictures to follow. Take care all, Dave.
Today we headed into the Cathedrale St. Pierre, which is at the heart of old Geneva and has been a site of worship since the 12th century. The kids and Heather indulged me by taking in a concert by the choir of King's College Cambridge, which I think has to be up there among the world's best. The concert, and the acoustics, were breathtaking... even if Rory found his new/old X-men comic (en francais) more compelling. Afterward we headed to Parc Neuve, site of the Reformation Memorial as well as a great playgound and several giant sized chess boards where matches were being appreciated by large clusters of spectators. We then did some window shopping (about all we can manage) where the beautiful window displays were only overshadowed by the jaw-dropping prices.
That's all for now -- more pictures to follow. Take care all, Dave.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)