Happy Birthday Mr. President!

Captured in Sand

Today, I had a little artist, one of the student's daughters, depict me in sand.

c'est moi?! 

For all of you who haven't seen me in a while, not much has changed, eh? :)

One of those days

"I hate Mondays"  - Garfield

There must be some truth behind his mantra, although I wouldn't go as far as using the "h" word. 

Today, Monday, we had such heavy, torrential rain like I have never seen in Lausanne. It was one of those rains that is so intense you can't help but enjoy it. I always love a good storm.  

Today, Monday, I had a dental appointment in a part of Lausanne I had never been before. "Know thy self," another favorite motto of mine, and therefore gave myself two hours to find it. It took me 2 1/2 hours to locate it... in the rain, using google maps. I know... 

When I called to let the office know that I was going to be late for my appointment with my broken French and a prayer, they asked if I could come at 5pm. Sure. No problem. I amused myself for two hours in the city and successfully found the office again. This time, I even helped an elderly woman find the same darn street that had been impossible to find. Karma in reverse. I felt better realizing that I was not the only one that had trouble locating the Route du Chatelard... 

When I finally got to the office, I was told that I had set up the wrong appointment. Shocker, since the receptionist only spoke French and clearly I do not. The dentist told me, in English, that it was no problem, that she would reschedule me. 

Then, I was back out in the rain to head home. Oh, Monday, at least you only come once a week. 

Swiss National Day

For such an old country, the party is just getting started.

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