Skiing!

We all went skiing in the French village of le Grand-Bornand. It was fantastic and the scenery was spectacular.
E and I had a lesson for ‘debutantes’ (beginners) and Sterling glided off on his merry way, checking in with us occasionally. He had learned to ski on his week long ski trip with his school. E and I spent an appropriate amount of time on our bottoms, but the snow was fresh and soft, and let us glide like butter-cream frosting. We stayed on the first 3 beginner hills and that was very appropriate.


Our instructor said this was the prettiest day in a long time. It was stunning.

Look closely for the squiggles on the slopes - they are ski tracks!

There were lots of lifts, from this one on the beginner hill to huge ones straight up the mountain, beyond the tree lines.

We had lunch at one of the chalets and then the weather turned colder. We all had a really good time and I am ecstatic that we all came home in tact. We just want to try everything, at least once!

Berlin

January 10, 2008

Alex and I had a fantastic time in Berlin. partly because Alex knows the language and the transportation system, hugely because of spending this special together. We saw the sights and met his friends. He is a joy.

Alex took me to a concert at the Berlin Philharmoniker, a stage on which he played during his exchange year, as an invited youth participant under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle.
It is very clear that Berlin and German history are foremost in the minds of the people as individuals and as a society. The Jewish museum was prominently featured, and the architecture evoked as much emotion as the exhibits. It zig zags visitors through vast and unnatural open spaces, using light and dark, voids, echoes, and artifacts to wind through the past 3 centuries of Jewish history.

The Holocaust memorial was similar in that the art evoked emotion with out a specific interpretation or explaination. It is a very difficult and disorienting place to be with the stones off balance, coming in waves. It was a grey, icy day, which made it even more evocative.

Brandenburg gates a focal point of the city, and symbolized the Cold War as it was disected by the wall. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton all made speaches at the Brandenburg Gates on freedom.

Just as stricking was Check Point Charlie, the only crossing point for westerners into East Berlin. Easterners could not leave, nor look through.

Incredibly, ther Berlin was wall constructed during one night, August 13, 1961 to surprise residents of East Berlin to stem their flight. This marked the closing of the borders.

There are remnants of the wall everywhere – be it the actual wall, information boards, stones embedded into the streets to mark where the wall was, or green spaces where the wall was, with paths marking the location of wall itself with trees and plants landscaped around it.

Alex’s host mom, Marianne, is terrific – she and I got along wonderfully. We had tea at her house and dinner out with her husband, Norbert.

Christmas 2007

Alex arrived first and we went to the Christmas markets in Bern and Strasbourg with a detour to locate the Bugatti factory which we did, in the dark, foggy rain!

We attended a Christmas concert in the Chateau de Prangings.

Marty and Lana arrived on Christmas day.

We went to: the Sunday market in France

Mont Blanc

sledding in the Juras

cooking class with Marty and Peyton, a family friend from South Carolina who is studying in Geneva for 3 weeks.

Other fabulous phto opportunites at the Nyon Castle and in the Alps.

PS, Marty is about 3 feet off the ground in this photo! :-)

Chanukah

December 12 2007
Evelyn came over for Chanukah dinner. My new Swiss friend and my new Swiss menorah!

The Escalade, the Festival of 1602.

December 9 2007
When the Duke of Savoy tried to invade Geneva, Madame Royaume saw the ladders on the city wall and threw the cauldron of hot soup she was making for her 14 children out the window onto the invaders. This roused the watchmen and townspeople to defend the city.

Escalade customs include selling vegetable soup in the streets of Geneva during the celebration and chocolate "marmites", a replica of her soup cauldron, filled with marzipan vegetables and decorated with the colors of Geneva.