Switzerland-Paris-Loire Valley

It's been quite a whirlwind for the last two weeks. On Easter Sunday, after church, we took off north to Geneva, Switzerland, along the Route of Napolean - the route Napolean took after he escaped from Elba and headed north to regain his leadership of France.

It was a slow, but beautiful trip. We stayed on the shores of Lake Geneva in a small town called Thonon in an Ibis Hotel, which we now refer to as a "Bed in a Box"....
The next day, which was a holiday, we headed north again and visited a small ski town called Molsen,

which had spectacular views of the surrounding area.
We spent the night in Neuchatel, which is where my brother Jeff spent 9 months of his mission.
On Tuesday I visited the Insel Hospital in Bern and made some progress on a tough account, then we headed to Paris that evening. We rolled into Paris around midnight. I attended a big conference the the next four days while Ann and the Muirs, friends from SLC who had also just arrived, saw the sites and visited the various museums.
Luxembourg Palace Fountain:

On Saturday morning, the four of us headed back to Mougins by way of Chartres, one of the largest cathedrals in France.
We then went through some of the Loire Valley, visited a couple of large chateau (French for castles).

Then we stayed in Lyon for the night. It's a beautiful city at night - called the city of lights...
The next day we visited the Pont de Gard and Avignon and on into Mougins.
Wednesday I flew into Hamburg, Germany for three days while Mom showed the Muirs around Provence and our area for the next three days; they left early Friday morning.
It's been raining all weekend, so we just took it easy for a change - a very nice change...
We miss you all and look forward to seeing you in a month.

See the slideshow below for the photos from these past two weeks.

Slide show of Switzerland, Loire Valley, Avignon

London, April 2-7, 2009

Ann (can you find her in the crowd above?) had a great time seeing all the sights of London this past week while I saw all the sights within the exhibit hall at the Imperial College....


This font, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, gets it's design from the Old Testament - 1 Kings 7:23...


A Templar Knight's tomb


One big clock!!!



The weather was great all week - Ann survived and didn't get any blisters after walking 20 miles or so through the streets of London. We did spend a few hours on Tuesday seeing a few of the sights, which was enough time for me.

Next week - Major car trip to Switzerland and Paris (physician visit in Bern then over to Paris for a meeting)

EZE and Gorge du Verdun

March 27-28, 2009

This week we visited Eze, a small,medieval hill town right on the Mediterranean Sea between Monaco and Nice, and just 30 minutes away!

As you can see by the pictures, it was a spectacular day.

Yesterday, we went up north to visit the deepest canyon in Europe, The Gorge du Verdon, which is 1 1/2 hours from here. Unfortunately, it started to rain just as we got there so we just drove one of the rims and snapped a couple of pictures in the process.

Today we visited church again and introduced ourselves to the Bishop, who doesn't seem to know what to do with non-French-speakers......
It's still raining, much like a Seattle winter day, but the moisture will really bring out the green in the region.
Friday we head to London for a meeting. Have a great week!!!!

Northern Italy March 09

Northern Italy Lakes District - March 20-21,2009



This week, for our 35th anniversary, we explored the Northern Italian Lakes District - Lake Como, Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore. All were extremely peaceful and beautiful.




We stayed in Stresa,Italy last night in the La Palma Hotel - with a "Room with the View" of Lake Maggiore. This time of year these places are almost void of tourists. In fact, most hotels are closed until April; finding a room can be interesting.



Lake Maggiore -


Since I had a meeting in Genoa, Ann drove over from Mougins on Friday evening and we drove up Saturday morning. Today we drove home through Turin (Torino) and through a steep and winding pass over the Southern Italian Alps.



Things are going great and we miss you all!

Provence---all of it in one day....

Well we visited one half of the South of France last week and the other half this past weekend!!! Actually, only the most famous cities of Provence - Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Orange, Nimes and Arles.

A Roman Theater in Orange, France



Pont de Gard - Roman Aquaduct


We did drive-bys in the last two cities (typical American-style sightseeing) since we're trying doing some scouting so we could see what makes sense when we you come to visit us. Thirteen hours in one day is a bit too much for anyone, including us,
The weather was cool (40's to 60's) yet perfect. We did the early morning market and found a great table cloth for the patio and a plate for the patio wall.

Market in Aix-de-Provence



Small village of Mallemort ( translates into Ugly death...) on the way to Avignon


We went to church again today, which is always enjoyable.

Next weekend, for our 35th anniversay, we're headed to Lake Como and the lakes on the Italian/Swiss border. I have a meeting in Genoa and Ann's driving over at the end of the week; we'll head out from there.