Yummy spring

Being from Chicago, where a few years back they had a painted cow festival throughout the city, we really didn't think this to be so strange, until we thought about it. But then, it got our attention which was good, because figuring out exactly how to translate "pick your own" was proving difficult and this solved all our problems.

Spring in the Juras

It rained in the spring alot, so we had to go up high to find the sun. The landscape was like a patchwork.

When we stopped to admire the view, we found these lovey snails which narrowly escaped our dinner table!

Spring in the Alps

We went for a hike in the mountains and the scenery was spectacular.


The snow covered mountains above, the village in the valley below, and the blossoms on the trees framing the view.

The walk back down was through meadows and the sounds of cowbells drifted on the breeze.
But then Elliott got the bright idea to cool his feet in the stream. Uh, where do you think that water comes from, E?
Remember those snowy mountains?
Très très froid!

Spring in Nyon

Nyon burst into bloom and the city was spectacular!

The scent of wisteria was everywhere in the village.

And the cherry blossoms were like pink snow, coating sidewalks, ponds and anyone asleep under the tree.

Scuba Vacation in Spain

We stayed in Cala Joncals. Cala means little beach and we were in a tiny cove in the middle a nature reserve. This photo was taken from a 70 meter hilltop nearby. Notice the lack of any roads, villages, developement. It was stunning.

But to get there requires going on some very interesting roads, like this. When you see a sign like this in Spain, it is getting pretty serious.



And the last 6 km is a terrible, rocky, guard-rail-less, mountain road like this:

Yikes! That last 6 km took almost an hour. The first time down (and the only time we actually drove down it), we were quite "white-knuckled" upon arrival. Ah, but arrival was wonderful.

Here is the backyard of the resort. This is what we saw every day during meals. These trees are olive trees, and the owners said that they got some 4000 kilograms of olives last fall!! They use them solely for the olive oil in the restaurant.

Ah!

If you go for a little walk in the mountains to the next cove, this is what you see:

This is the path up the mountain. We did this several times during the week--nice excercise and a beautiful area (as you'll see).

And now, dear friends, here are some of our favorite photos in the hills of Spain.

Quite the mountain man, eh?

Our resort is in the background in the picture above. And that beautiful blue water is where Sterling got to dive every day! More on that later.

And here you can see the Mediterranean Sea.

One more beauitiful vista along the mountains near the resort. Don't forget, you can click on the picture and see a larger version!

Scuba Diving

"Le raison d'etre" was, technically, scuba diving. Although thge water was very cold (12 to 13 degrees C, about 55 degrees F), Sterling was well prepared and had a wonderful time!

Sterling had the whole place to himself for most of the week. He had two personal guides, Bastien (top) and Martine below. Note the lovely look on the face of the boy who did not want his picture taken! :-)

He couldn't get enough water time so he skipped rocks! The rocks on this beach were the best skipping rocks we've ever seen! Virtually all of them were flat, and most of those were round.

One of Sterling's dives was a night dive. He really enjoyed that!! This photo has been lightened quite a bit (digitally) so you can see the features. Notice the white line in the sky--an airplane crosses this several-second exposure!

They had powerful lights under water, which you can see in this eerie photo!

The Food

They call her "Mama Ferrari" because the road that took us 45 minutes to traverse takes her less than 30. She drives like a maniac! But she prepared all the food for the resort, and it was wonderful. They say (and they have the photo to prove it) that Salvadore Dali thought Mama Ferrari's paella was the best in the world. It really was very good! She is making some in this photo. Joanne took photo this during a private cooking lesson with Mama.

Quedeques

We took one (and only one) side trip on this vacation: to the nearby town of Quedeques (pronounced KAH-de-kehs, but E often got confused and called it kay-suh-DEE-us). The proprieter of the hotel drove us (very, very slowly) there, and this is one vista along the way.

And here is the village as we go over the top of the mountain.

We visited one of the Dali homes while we were in Quedeques, and here is the view that Salvadore would have from this home. Not bad, eh?


Beautful Scenery and Flowers

And finally, to wrap up this lengthy post, here is the moonrise over the bay one evening.

One of the more impressive aspects of the beauty at this resort were the wild herbs, in bloom! This is a lavendar flower! We took dozens of pictures of these gorgeous blooms!

This is how they grow:

I don't think this is an herb, but it is succulent and beautiful.

One aspect of this vacation that this post does not capture is the people at the resort. As it turns out, we were the only guests for the first four days. They were all so wonderful. We felt like part of a big, Spanish family. (Our close friends and family can ask for photos of these wonderful people--we felt it best to leave those photos off of the blog.)

All in all, a woderful trip!

Video: Pretty Purple Wall in Duiller, Switzerland

We are a little bit out of order here, but it is spring here in Switzerland and we came across this amazing wall of cascading yellow flowers. Check out this very short YouTube video of it!

You see stuff like this in Europe all the time. It is one of the things we love so much about life here.

London and Harry Potter

Our first trip to England, in February, began in London with all the famous sights.

Abbey Road. This is quite a popular tourist site now. We had to wait our turn to get this picture.

The Globe, which we saw from a boat tour along the Thames.

The skyline.

The EYE of London. This is a huge Ferris Wheel built for New Year's 2000.


We spent a lot of time in the Underground, minding the gap and enjoying the buskers.

The Tower of London was and still is a royal residence as well as a prison and former site for executions. Now it is a very popular tourist site. The tour guides (The Beefeaters) seem to relish in the teling of the grizzly, bloody history of the place.



The Tower Bridge. Eveyone thinks this issLondon Bridge, but London Bridge is really rather boring.

We didn't really mean to end up at The Royal Courts of Justice, just in time for the McCartney divorce proceddings, but it was across the street from the Twinnings Tea shop. The press was waiting, and they were not very happy about it (the waiting).


The Rosetta Stone in the London Museum. This museum ws renovated for 2000, and it really nice.


Big Ben and Parliment.



Buckingham Palace late in the afteroon.


Kensington Palace and Gardens on a very lovely morning.



Westminster Abbey. E went in. It is amazing that this place survied WWII. The guides commented that the windows were all blown out and only some have been replaced. It is still under repair.

Harry Potter!

And then we went looking for Harry Potter sites.

First stop, of course, Kings Cross Station. They set up this display just for us! NOT


Now a proper muggle shop, this was the enterence to the Leaky Caudron.


Gringott's Bank, now the Australia House.

The Cloisers in Durham Cathedral where Harry walked with Hedwig.

Harry first learned about Quidditch here.

The hallways were used as part of Hogwarts.



The room called the Chapeter House was McGonagall's classroom.

This shot is from from the bell tower. It was stunning and very, very high.



Alnwick Castle in Alnmouth was used as the exterior for Hogwarts.


It was a misty day and it really felt like England should.
This interior courtyard was used for the broomstick lesson with Madam Hootch, and the gargoyles caught Neville's cloak to break his fall.
We caught the sunset on the main facade of the Cathedral. It was beautiful.


The dining hall at Oxford was the inspiration for the Great Hall.


This is the staircase where Harry first enters the Great Hall and first faces off with Malfoy.

The Cloisters in Gloucester were used in the Chamber of Secrets where the basilisk roamed.

This doorway was altered to be the entrance to Griffyndor House.

The quidditch players also met here. And we think this is where Siruis left on Buckbeak the hippogriff.

We also vsited the Beatrix Potter (no relation) shop in Gloucster. The archway appeas in her illustrations in The Tailor of Gloucester,the only story based on a real person.

Note: Clicking on these pictures is busted for some reason. You can see all these pictures in higher resolution at a different web site.