Real Swiss Living

Yesterday, Yann, Jenny and I had a true Swiss day. We started by going hiking in the Jura region and true to the Swiss spirit, we did not let a little rain or cold stop us. 

A crazy contraption for hikers to pass through

We hiked for over 6 hours, not what we had planned, but the excursion was well worth it. We saw so many different animals- cows, horses, sheep, donkeys, deer, and fox- it was like being at a really huge zoo.

Check out the album!

After our epic journey, and a quick coffee break, we headed to a small farm town to watch Christophe Meyer perform at one of his summer evening concerts for a report Yann was doing for his French radio station. Christophe is a Swiss singer and in the 90's was a big hit in France and elsewhere, performing at some of the largest venues. Now, he is touring his homeland and giving free concerts at local farms at night to announce his latest record.

After Yann got his interview, the three of us dined on beef sausages, potato salad, bread, beer and homemade dessert and got ready to enjoy his show.

Christophe performing

Christophe is a great performer, got the audience to join arm in arm and sway to one song, go around the farm in the "train" a la weddings to another song, had us all standing on tables and clapping and most of all, smiling all night long! He has many adoring fans and there were several shout outs to the American, Korean and Parisian.

the fans

It was one of those days I will never forget. Immersing myself into the culture, enjoying the natural beauty and enjoying a simple and fun night

.

Colombia !

The Frugal Traveler blogs about Colombia and more specifically the region (Santander) Nicholas is from and his hometown! They even mention the hormigas culonas- the rather dry and hard to swallow ants that I was so graciously given by his uncle on my first trip. We have done the long bus ride from Bogota to San Gil. I have done the whitewater rafting twice and the rappelling they mention. As well as tasted the pepitoria. And, as the recent tourism campaign goes (ad after NYT video): The only risk is wanting to stay! 

Read the blog and when anyone wants to make a trip to this beautiful land, you have two very willing tour guides at your service! Check out the video, there is a close up of the ants, yum!

Hiking: Chemin des lacs de la Vallée de Joux

From 2010-07-27

Keep your sense of proportion by regularly, 

preferably daily,

 visiting the natural world.

-Catlin Matthews

Welcome to the world, Baby Keenan!

One of my oldest childhood friends had her first baby last week! Congratulations E & N!

Wish I could be there to hold him for just one second! 

Another reason I live in Switzerland

Alternate title: Another reason I love Switzerland. 
Hiking. Today we hiked the Tour de la Palette. Amazing. Several months ago, David and I skiied in the same area. Today it was so strange to see some of the slopes that we went on without snow and with hikers!

Gorgeous hike, brisk day, spectacular views and lots of great memories. 

This is why I live in Switzerland

Enjoying nature is second-nature here. Yann and I took a 6 hour bike ride today through the vineyards, villages, roman ruins, a brand new learning center/library and finally back home.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and since I am exhausted, I'll let them do the talking.

Ride through vineyards

Ride through Roman Ruins

Ride to Rolex Learning Center

Sad to see her leave

But so happy she made the trip! Stace and I had the bestest time ever while she was here for a glorious 5 days. The sun lasted long enough to get some amazing lake swims in, walks through small towns, an outdoor movie, and more. A few photo highlights, but since she herself is a blogger, I get to borrow heavily from her work and photos. Check out our adventures.

Lake swim in Montreux

Freddie Mercury Statue in Montreux with Laure, Yann and I posing. 

On the boat 

Gre(y)at Day

After 4 weeks of perfect sunshine and intense heat, today is the first day in a long time that I can honestly look out the window at the cloudy, rainy sky and think, Wow, what a beautiful day.

Without the rain, it is hard to appreciate the sun ;) 

And it continues...

With SMH here, the days just keep getting longer and longer. We start earlier and end later. I think that means tomorrow night before she leaves on Friday, we will just skip the whole sleeping part :)

Stealing the highlights...

Cause I can. Thanks, Stace!

Stacey !!!

Stacey has arrived and the good times have begun. After a full day touring Geneva, the Ouchy area of Lausanne, a very French dinner with Yann and his great friend from Paris, countless (hilarious!) stories from the past 6 months, it is time to call it a night.

(do not adjust your screen, this is the real mccoy)

Welcome to Switzerland Stace!!! 

UPDATE

Nicholas is alive and well and loved his adventure with the sharks in Cape Town. As soon as I have a picture I will post :)

bonne nuit

Cinéma en Plein Air

The Lake Geneva area is hosting multiple outdoor theaters this summer with either old films for free or with new releases where you will need a ticket. It is a nice tradition and something I loved in DC, watching outdoor movies at night on The Mall. 

While talking to my neighbor about this, I remembered all the drive-in movies I used to go to in high school with my friends and excitedly asked him if he used to do that too. He laughed and said no, that it was an American thing to do. That he used to watch films, mostly horror, where an American couple would go to the drive-ins and the girlfriend would be murdered. Hmm, not exactly the memories I have of the drive-ins. 

Bummer, Europe has no idea what they missed. I don't know why I thought it was so much fun to pack as many people as possible into a car-- often parking our other cars blocks away-- and paying something like $10 to watch 2-3 movies split amongst 5+ people, but it was. Warm summer nights spent with friends, out doors, with your car packed with snacks and multiple movies on a huge screen. Amazing :) 

I am looking forward to watching some of the new films outdoors, that will be a new experience, as the drive-ins and outdoor movies in Ohio and DC were mostly classics or slightly older films. 

Back Home

Strange to think that 3 weeks have already zoomed by with Nicholas. We took a gazillion photos and have so many great stories from our travels around Spain (coming soon).

Spain is a gorgeous, vibrant, alive country with fantastic food, people and culture. We were lucky to have spent time with our great family and our friends. The generosity and amazing memories will always be remembered.

While I am back in Lausanne- after a long day of emailing DC and Bern to make sure I could get back into Switzerland after I packed my passport into Nicholas' suitcase this morning at 330am, oopsy-Nicholas is onto the next part of his break before his work starts. Cape Town with the sharks!

Oh will the adventures ever end?

Stay tuned. :)

Pulpo/Octopus

Has anyone followed this whole German Octopus who is predicting the world cup? Crazy... and the news here in Spain is all about it.

Nicholas and I are having a blast in Spain. Lots to update and share, but most likely that will have to wait.

Just wanted to say that we are happy, healthy and love being in one of the finalists country. Viva Espana!!!