Visitors, We Love Having Them

My cousin Susan and her husband Dave came to visit us on their tour through France which started in Bordeaux and ended in Paris! We were lucky enough to have them for a couple of days, and were able to squeeze in a day trip to Geneva together. Here they are in the North Tower of Saint Peter's Cathedral, overlooking Lake Geneva.

We were able to get really close to the Jet d'Eau, a giant water fountain spurting from Lake Geneva. (See previous posts for more pictures of the fountain). We were lucky the wind direction decided to stay rather constant that day, and not blow fountain water on us. The mist behind this swan is from the fountain.

We took a stroll by the citys' flower clock only to be sorely disappointed. I had built up this clock a little bit as being something pretty cool, but this is what we saw when we got there (top photo). It looked like a bunch of weeds, or like the orginal flowers had been bombed by something. Apparently this new look was created in the name of biodiversity. This (bottom photo) is what we remember the clock looking like. Sometimes, the original is just better.

That night after Susan and Dave left for Paris, we met up with some of Max's co-workers from Granville who were in Chambery for business. It was really nice to see them and to catch up with them. We had a lot of fun that week and it felt so quiet after everyone left town. *Sigh* But, it's never that quiet for too long...

Rome & Vatican City

Rome, where do I start. My expectations for this city were like that of our visits to Paris and London. Mistake. We started the trip weeks in advance, making reservations online to the Vatican Museum and the Borghese Gallery (above). Our reservations for the latter were several hours after our flight landed, giving us plenty of time (so I thought) to check into the hotel and mosey on over for a relaxing evening of art appreciation. However, we were NOT prepared to wait 45 minutes for our luggage at the airport (was everyone on break?), or for the train ride into the city that ran MUCH longer then indicated on the schedule, or for the metro stop that dropped us off in the MIDDLE OF NO WHERE with NO signs directing us to the gallery. We basically ran to the gallery and just barely made our reservations before they were given away to someone else. (Mind you, the gallery was booked for a week). Welcome to Rome!

The next morning we headed over to see the Colosseum! It really was amazing to see what Roman engineering was capable of, especially at such an early point in history. Built in 80 AD, the Colosseum had 80 ground floor entrances, could hold 50,000 eagar spectors, and be evacuated in 15 min. The hallways to and from the stadium seats were called by the Latin word vomitorium. This is were we get the word vomit, since the people could expell themselves so quickly from these halls and out of the stadium. There's a visual image for you. I could think of worse words, but I digress.

The "backstage" to the Colosseum was acutally under the arena floor (above) and consisted of a series of passages, rooms, and elevators. Animals would be hoisted up through one of the 80 trapdoors in the arena floor, often behind a blind, to surprise the figting gladiator. Despite common beliefs, it is unlikely that Christians were killed here, thankfully.

The Roman Forum, now mostly just piles of ruins, was once ancient Rome's main square. There were temples, arches, and a meeting place for the senate. Julius Caesar was cremated here with fresh flowers marking the site. The vestal virgins, priestesses who tended to the flame in the Temple of Vesta (considered Rome's most holy place), also lived here during their 30 year term. If a priestesses were to break her 30 year vow of celibacy, she would be buried alive, which turned out to be the case more times than not.

Next we climed up to Palantine Hill, overlooking the Roman Forum. This is where the emperors built their palaces. Palantine is actually where we get the word palace. From here we could see the Colosseum in the background.

We could also see the dome of St. Peter's Basillica from Palantine Hill with the Tiber river in between. No other building in Rome is allowed to exceed the height of St. Peter's 328 ft dome. We would be checking that out the next day.

Walking from Palantine Hill to the Pantheon, we passed by the Victor Emmanual Monument, dedicated the Italy's first king. Archaeologists are finding that the monument was built on some more ancient Roman ruins. Construction of a new metro line, intended to pass by the monument, has been constantly interrupted due to newly discovered artifacts.

The Pantheon, a church built in second century AD, is the only ancient building in Rome that has been used continuously since its construction. Mass for Ascension Thursday was about to be held there just as we were leaving. The church's only means of light comes from a hole in the top of a perfectly constructed 142 ft tall dome. When the sun is shining, this oculus creates an a pillar of light from ceiling to floor. And when it rains, holes and slants in the floor drain the water out.

Thursday ended up being the only day we had without rain. We took full advantage of the weather and decided to stay out later and do a night walk. It was still early, so we meandered past the Castel Sant'Angelo. It was used as a tomb, castle, prison, refuge for a pope or two, and a museum, basically in that order.

Once it began to get dark, we headed out for our walk to see some sights after the sun went down. This column in Piazza Colonna was particularity interstesting. The reliefs on the column depict the victories of Marcus Aurelius over the barbarians.

Our night walk took us past the Spanish Steps. I'm not exactly sure what's up with the Spanish Steps, except that some famous writers or poets or someone used to live in the area...not exactly sure. This photo was taken a few days after our walk, in the rain, without people climbing everywhere.

Here is the Trevi Fountain, which is a zoo by the way, day or night. And no, we didn't throw a penny in. All water in Rome's fountains come from aqueducts so the pressure in the fountain is determined by the pressure in the aqueducts. Just another marvel of Roman engineering coupled with baroque style art.

The next day, we hit up the Vatican Museum. We have been spoiled in our visits to such museums like the British Museum and the Louvre, where they give you a map including key pieces to see. Unfortunately, as with the Borghese Gallery, we had no such guidance in the Vatican Museum. Luckily we had our guidebook with a map including brief descriptions of important things to see. We ended with the Sistine Chapel where Max and I tried to find a spot out of the way to listen to our podcast explaining the panels on the ceiling and large mural on the wall. However, it was hard to feel completely inspired while we were constantly being bumped and shoved by pushy tousits and loud tour guides. Every two minutes the guards would yell "NO PHOTOS" and "NO TALKING". The experience left me feeling less than love for my fellow man.

From the Sistine Chapel, we took the short cut over to St. Peter's Basillica. The sheer size of this place is hard to comprehend. The dome (above) was designed by Michelangelo, and inspired by the dome of the Pantheon. Below the dome is a seven story bronze canopy by the artist Bernini. Under the canopy is the main altar and below the alter is the site of Saint Peter's tomb. Throughout the church are all the words Jesus said to Peter in the Bible, written in 7 ft tall letters. The entire experence was humbling.

It rained all day Saturday, our last day there. After having seen almost all we had wanted to, we decided to use the other free admission left on our Roma Pass to get out of the rain and see the National Museum of Rome. The museum turned out to be great! It houses an amazing collection of ancient Roman art (including such mosacis as pictured above). The Roman Forum helped me to imagine the architecture of ancient Roman buildings while the National Museum of Rome helped me to picture how the buildings and homes would have been decorated on the inside.

Here is Max navigating us to the restaurant we ate at Saturday night. We ended up eating many of our meals in the Pantheon neighborhood. It is a very charming neighborhood with lots of great restaurants at great values. The only problem was that it wasn't excactly the easiest to get to. That didn't really stop us though.

And this was just breakfast (above) which was less than 5 euros for the both of us, together! Why don't the French stuff their croissants with cream or chocolate? The meals we had in Rome were some of the best I've had in Europe. If you know were to go, the food can be amazing. We tried all sorts of pastas, sampled some wine and desserts, had our fill of gelati (almost) and discovered limoncello (an Italian liqueur). Rome turned me on to food like London turned me on to history, and was probably the most enjoyable part of the trip.

Spring in Paris & Versailles

Max and I headed to Paris for a long weekend and what a weekend it was! We planned to take the TGV there and back on a direct line, however the train strike made that a little difficult. It was a very minor snag in our trip, which is more than a lot of other travelers could say. The ash from the Icelandic volcano had closed the airports in Paris and Northern Europe. The train stations were packed with people trying to find other means of getting where they needed to be. People we left stranded in what is being called the worst air travel disruption since 9/11.

We left Chambery at 5:40 a.m. and were in the Louvre around 10:00 the same morning. We checked our backpacks and started in the Denon Wing, along with every other tourist. This seems to be the most popular and crowded wing. The other wings of the museum were pretty calm and peaceful.

The Denon Wing houses such work as the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, and Winged Victory (above). These seem to be the works that most people come to see when they visit the Louvre, as evident by the tour groups and all the people crowded around them. Crazy. We went to the Musee d'Orsay the next day, to pick up where the Louvre left off with paintings from immpressionist artists. It was just as awesome, if not more interesting to us.

The first time we visited Paris, we saw Notre Dame Cathedral but our pictures didn't come out well because of the sun's position. So this time, we went back to the cathedral in the evening when the sun what shining on it and voila, much better, and still amazing.

We wanted to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night too. So after some crepes and gelato, we headed towards the tower, watching the sun go down by the Seine along the way.

It is so worth staying even just a night in Paris to see the Eiffel Tower when the sun goes down.

The next morning, we took a train to Versailles! We had not planned on going there but after visiting the Musee d'Orsay the previous day, and still having almost a whole day left in Paris, we decided to make the most of our time and see the Palace of Versailles. It was a spontaneous decision made over lunch at McDonald's and a decision I'll always be glad we made.

The shear size of Versailles is daunting. The walk from the palace through the gardens to the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette takes 30 minutes, without stopping, and we stopped...a lot. To fill you in, the Palace of Versailles was the residence of the king (most famously Louis XIV) and the French goverment for 100 years, until the French Revolution. Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, turned the Palace of Versailles into a cultural epicenter and the envy of Europe.

I really admire this fountain in the Palace Gardens. I saw it first on a postcard in the palace museum gift shop. We bought the postcard, then proceeded with the excitment of a kid on Christmas (ok, that was more me than Max) down the long path through the gardens to see the fountain in person. We were able to see it during the fountain show and we were not disappointed.

The fountain I was so obsessed with is called the Bassin d'Apollon or Apollo Fountain. I think I took at least 20 pictures of it; we took about 100 pictures at Versailles, almost all of them in the gardens. I ended up buying a book of photos by photograper Jean-Baptiste Leroux on just the Palace Gardens. Now that's my kind of book. Versailles was the best way for us to end our trip to Paris. It was great to be able to spend more time in city, and see the sights more in depth. Paris...check!

Alpine Skiing 2010 - As told by Max

I went skiing again this year with my group from work. This year we went to the Valloire-Galibier Resort, near the French-Italian border. It was a good time to enjoy the mountains and relax a little bit.

The views from the slopes were amazing and it was not too crowded because it was a weekday. We were able to take a couple of other American collegues with us who were in town for the week. They had a great time and enjoyed the mountains too.

Hiking at Mageriaz

I went hiking with some friends, up to a place called Margeriaz. It was a little over an hour drive from Chambery but I think it took longer than ususal because I had my friends pull over twice on the way up due to car sickness. Blah. My stomach does not handle the switch backs through the moutains well at all. I love the moutains, and being in the moutains, but my stomach has it's own opinion.

Once I had my feet on the ground, I was ok, and ready to go! We didn't have snowshoes which we didn't really need if we stuck to the path. I, however, was so blown away by the scenery that I had a hard time keeping my eyes and therefore myself on the path and ended up several times knee-high in snow, sometimes deeper. Luckily I had a pole to dig myself out with.

The moutains were beautiful, as always. I was ready to keep going, but was the only one. We headed back to the station and met up with some friends for a drink; mine was fizzy water. My stomach was a total mess on the way home too. If I'm driving, it's not so bad, but we took David's British car with steering wheel on the right, and I wasn't about to take over and attempt to shift with my left hand. It was such a fun day though and I'd love to go back...if I drive.

Cross Stitch Update

So, I've finished the top row of my cross stitch project, finally. This is as long as it is going to be, almost 27 inches. I had a moment of panic on page 6 when I thought I might run out of cloth before I finished the row, but got out my tape measure and reassured myself (as did Max) that it was going to be fine, and it was. I've dropped down to the second row, and have finished page 10 (as shown above). Only 44 more pages to go! I'll keep you posted.

(Picture of what finished project should look like...someday. Hyde Park by Camille Pissarro.)

Olympic Encounter in Geneva

Just when I thought I'd missed out on the winter olympics this year, I ran into a gold medal athlete at the Geneva airport! I was there to pick up Max and his co-worker after their business trip to Ohio. At first, I couldn't tell what was going on. There was so much noise; people with cow bells, horns, singing and shouting. There were French flags waving all over the place. Everyone was gathered around one particular area with cameras out and ready. My curiosity got the best of me and I headed towards the mob to see what it was all about.

It didn't take long to determine they were celebrating the return of an olympic athlete. I caught a glimpse of the medal around his neck and it was gold! By now I was kicking myself for leaving my camera at home, but I managed somehow to get a shot with the camera on my phone...not great but better than nothing.

Turns out that the athlete was Jason Lamy Chappuis who brought home one out of two gold medals won for France during this year's winter olympics. (No, the name Jason isn't really French. He was born in Montana to an American mother and French father). He won it in the Nordic Combined event. Here is a link to a much better picture of him and the other Nordic Combined medal winners:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/photos/galleryid=419119.html#medal+ceremony+nordic+combined

He was very kind in the way he took time to take pictures and shake hands with people, and show them his medal, especially after having just flown in from Vancouver! The celebration went on for at least 20 minutes and that's only the part I walked in at and the part Max heard from baggage claim. Felicitations, Jason!

Amsterdam

My really good friend Katie came over to visit us! We were so excited to have her here. She arrived in France from Michigan on a Wednesday. She had one day to "adjust" to the time change, then we got on a plane Friday for a weekend in Amsterdam! She's tough so we knew she could handle it.

You may be thinking that the middle of February may not be the most ideal time to visit a city like Amsterdam, but it actually worked out really well. After consulting some guide books, we learned that there are less lines / crowds this time of year, and things are less expensive which is a definate plus. Also, the leaves have fallen off the trees, leaving a clear view of the canals and homes, that is after the fog cleared a bit.

The first place we visited when we got off the plane was the Van Gogh Museum! I'm a fan of his work and this was one place I've been wanting to see. The collection was impressive, containing around 200 paintings (including several masterpieces) out of a total of over 800 of his paintings. It was pretty awesome.

We also walked by the Anne Frank House. It was enough for us just to observe the place from the outside, which was depressing enough. It's a famous museum in Amsterdam though and lines to get in stretched around the corner.

We hit up the Rijksmuseum De Meeterwerken or Rijks Museum for short. The museum houses the world's largest collection of paintings by Dutch artists. Although most of the museum is under construction, several key pieces were still on display including a famous and really huge Rembrandt painting. I didn't really get a good picture of the museum because of all the constrution, so here is one of Max and I.

We stopped by the Bloemenmarkt or Flower Market because we're toursist and it wouldn't be right to visit Holland without seeing (and in Katie's case, buying) some tulips. I think they had every imaginable shade of tulip avaliable. Knowing my luck with flowers, I decided to spare the poor things and buy some art at a nearby shop instead.

I anticipated needing to buy a transport pass of some kind, so we could use the trams and buses to get around the city. It turns out that we really didn't need them. The city was small enough to get where we wanted to on foot. We did do a lot of walking, but that's how we like to roll anyway.

Although not the best shoes for getting around they work on Katie! She really could almost pass as Dutch, without the shoes even.

There were bikes everywhere. Apparently it's not all that uncommon for a person to have more then one bike. For instance, a daily commute may involve a bike ride to the train station and then another bike ride on a different bike from the train station to work. Crazy. This family sized four person bike took the cake though.

And yes, we walked through the infamous Red Light District. The experience is enough to make anyone blush. I found it difficult to look up from the sidewalk most of the time. Max says "it was very interesting". Katie and I behaved ourselves and made it through without being too scarred.

Amsterdam was overall "very interesting" and easy going. Everywhere the canal houses seemed to be leaning and sagging in ways that didn't exactly make them look stable. People came out of "coffee shops" looking not so stable themselves. Everyone was friendly, and mostly spoke english. They were tall too! What a change for us.

Christmas 2009: Back in Michigan

We had the chance to go back to Michigan for over 2 weeks during the holidays! It was our first annual "home leave" trip (which is not part of Max's normal vacation). We truly learned the distinction between "home leave" and vacation! We were so busy running around, shopping for things we'd need for the next year, getting doctor's appointments done, things like that which we either can't do/get in France or are difficult to do/get. Even though we tried to plan and organize things ahead of time from France, things we didn't account for seemed to happen too, which is normal. I think we started to slow day around New Year's! We both came down with something before we got back to France.

We did have a lot of fun though! It was so great to see our families and friends and spend time with them too. We had been missing them! It was also really great to indulge in the other things we'd been missing, like Mexican food, chicken wings, and American steaks to name a few. We wanted anything that had peanut butter in it, most especially my sister's awesome buckeye candies. One thing I'd also missed was being able to understand what people were saying! Our family, friends, and frankly ease of communication will be missed but after our visit, we were ready to get back and make that transition back to our lives in France.