Apparently the subject line means "all will be well." I like this.
Meghan and I are having fun learning a few German words and phrases from Béat in our car ride back to St-Imier from Lucerne. We're trying to prepare for Oktoberfest next week. We keep seeing signs with the word "ausfahrt" along the highway, and each time we giggle like 5 year olds. Turns out it means "exit," which, let's face it, makes sense.
Zurich is a beautiful city. Full of business men and women in suits. We shopped around and were not as surprised by the prices of clothes as the prices of food. A bottle of water cost 5 swiss francs, which is pretty close to the dollar now. We enjoyed some outstanding Swiss muesli, packed with the freshest fruit.
While i like Zurich, Lucerne is more my style. A smaller city on a lake. And even more my style are the smaller towns up in the mountains like Sainte Imier. Here's some pictures of the day...
The streets of Zurich:
The old bridge at Lucerne:
Big 5 franc coin with the Swiss flag hanging above:
Walking with Béat, our wonderful host, in Lucerne:
Ever since I was a wee lass I knew of my Suisse heritage. My dad's dad ventured to the states from a small town in Switzerland called Sonvilier. He was a watchmaker and a skier (so as a lover of the mountains, he settled in Colorado as it reminded him of his home). We had various Swiss items on display in our living room: little hats, decorative wooden plates and cowbells, which I would lovingly play with as a kid. I knew one day I would go to that place and see it for myself. Today's that day! I've been absolutely in awe so far. Really, it's breathtaking.
We are staying with family friends the Grossenbachers who are delightful, and have been so very kind and taken us right in. They fed us wine and raclette tonight, which I'd never had before. My friend Sara raved about it in the past and I now see why. It's a special kind of cheese, melted under a lamp. The melted top layer is then scraped off and eaten with potatoes and any other treats you like such as sun dried tomatoes, cornichons, etc. Ah. So good:
Relaxations. Today Meghan left early to go visit friends in nearby Nimes ("Neem"), which I learned is the birthplace of denim—de nimes, denim... You get the idea. Anyhoo, I stayed here at Domaine de Valbrillant (b&b) and slept in, had a lazy petite de'jeuner:
(while these guys sat at my feet gazing hopefully at my plate:)
A walk through the countryside followed, then some laundry, a nice chat with some Canadian guests, reading, swimming in the pool and a light lunch in the sun—yogurt with banana, almonds, figs off the poolside tree, tomato from the garden and a bit of olive oil and baguette.
Meghan came back mid-afternoon and we made way for Aix en Provence to stroll the streets and then enjoy a lovely meal on a patio. I couldn't help but partake in this ice cream after dinner. You'll see why:
So, so good. It had pistachio, vanilla bourbon, amaretto and nutella flavors. A flower of delicious.
Walking with this in hand, a couple of french boys said hello to us and Meghan accused me of meeting their eyes again. I assured her they were only interested in my flower. My ice cream flower!
Now beddy bye time. Tomorrow I say hello to my homeland! Or rather, my grandpa's homeland.
Hi friends. It's sleepy time. We got quite a workout today kayaking on the Mediterranean sea in Cassis. It was a perfect day for it too—sunshiny and 80 degrees. Such blue, salty water. A delicious lunch with salad (below) and an incredible pizza with goat cheese and olives. We're right by the border of Italy so it counts as Italian pizza in my heart.
The landscape here is stunning. Again, we see why the French impressionists found so much inspiration here.
Tonight we wandered into the town of Aix en Provence (our b&b is just outside) and found an organic grocery store where, being the whole foods geeks we are, we spent an hour perusing the selection, comparing prices (Meghan) and signage and packaging (me). We brought home yogurt, nuts, muesli and fruit for a change of pace dinner. While bread and cheese is amazing at every meal, it's probably not the best thing for our internals! And now we will head upstairs and rest our little heads and dream of kittens and butterflies and the blue blue water. Zzzzzzz....
Okay so it's real late, but heck, I'm on holiday right? If I were anywhere else I'd probably go to bed and say screw it, but I'm so excited about this place that I had to share. Let me step back and describe the day...
Awake en Paris so early. Painful. But eased by a lovely petite de'jeuner. Cafe au lait, jus de orange, croissant and baguette with butter and jam.
Off to catch the super fast jet train to the south of France. I recall talking to friends before the trip about the glory of the trains—thanks stef and ruthie for your train enthusiasm—it rubbed off on me. LOVE the train! I read my book, drew some things and listened to some particularly French music, drank some cafe and stared out the window. It was delightful. And, oh my, the French countryside is straight out of a dream.
Rented car in Montpellier and braved the European roads. Easy. We had lunch and roamed the streets, visiting Meghan's old apartment and stomping grounds from her time studying there, then pictures of all the ancient Roman structures! Huge aquaducts! I had no idea. I mean I did... I learned all about that in my Latin classes in high school (way to study the unspoken language right? well being a good kid, it was my way of rebelling). Anyway just look at this... The Romans were indeed impressive!
Here I am quietly contemplating the might of the Roman Empire (also 3rd period high school Latin II):
And Meghan contemplating why this was all making her so thirsty:
Next we drove east towards Aix en Provence, hoping to stumble upon our bed and breakfast by some dumb luck—since the address was odd. Well we did, and what a treasure we stumbled upon. This place is straight out of a dream. It's a big old estate, on beautiful grounds with a pool and a garden and tables under sprawling grapevine canopies. We asked the innkeeper where a market was to go fetch some food for a simple dinner. She said it would all be closed by then. She offered us tomatoes from the garden, some baguette, hard boiled eggs and salame. So kind.
We popped open a bottle of hard cider we bought yesterday and had a picnic under the vines. Lovely evening. Mm! I am enjoying each and every moment here.
I was obsessed with the movie Moulin Rouge when it came out. Okay I still am from time to time. I know, nerd alert! And today I was at the real thing. Proof:
I made Wahli sit and listen to my favorite song from the soundtrack (Rufus Wainwright's Complainte de la Butte) with me, as we sat and watched the windmill turn round about.
We also visited Mont Martre of course—another Moulin Rouge must-see. It was absolutely beautiful and we could see why artists have flocked there over the years.
This visit to Paris went by way too fast. I will come again though. I mean I've got the train system down! And I know now not to look the Tunisian men in the eye. Good lord...
Anyway, I still need to have a croque monsieur in Paris and I won't get to before we head out demain matin. Twill be a 3 hour train ride to the south of France where we'll pick up a rental car and head to Aix en Provence (the home of Cezanne). Mmm, 80 degrees awaits, or whatever that is in Celsius—I ought to know by now. Too sleepy. Bon nuit Paris...
Exhaustified. I think partially from all the walking and partially from the 1/2 real, 1/2 exaggerated bitterness about my bad luck so far. On the plus side, I'm sure I'll sleep like a baby tonight.
No luck with the debit card. It's gone forever and I've let go. Meghan is now handing out my allowances, and I am so thankful to her for it, and for her patience in treasure hunting for my lost goods. She even got so worked up FOR me that she cried in front of the chapel security guard who wouldn't let us back in to search. What a team player!
Today consisted of hunting, then an incredible lunch of tiny sliders and a green bean, lima bean, romano and pine nut salad next to the Seine.
Then we roamed the Musee D'orsay admiring the work of Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Manet, Rodin, et cetera, et cetera. An entertaining and relaxing street show followed: a guy on clarinet accompanying a guy on roller skates. Dinner at a nice Thai restaurant where I accidentally ate shrimp. Sick. It was good up until I realized the tiny dried things were all over one of the dishes we ordered.
And now to bed! Good night friends and thanks for being friends.
1. I lost my debit card and a lot of euros. Tomorrow morning starts with a treasure hunt to find said items. Pray they're where I think they are. I'm such a dumb tourist—or so Meghan keeps telling the French in French, I'm sure of it...
2. The plug converter got overwhelmed when connected with the hair straightener and died. Thus iPhone is soon to die. Treasure hunt also consists of finding technologies.
3. The Eiffel Tower at night is stunning. I nearly peed my pants when the flashing lights came on.
Also, remember my little iPhone lenses? Best purchase ever for travel photography and packing lightly. Eiffel Tower with just phone:
Our first full day in Paris. It seems that for most places admittance prices are cheaper if you're 18-25. So we've been vouching for our youth and claiming to be 24. The real liars say they're 25. It's better to go with 24. So I payed half price at Sainte Chapelle after luckily blurting out the right year of my "birth" and Wahli (Meghan) payed full price because she was flustered. So from now on our birth year was 1987. Muahahaha! Okay so we're dishonest, but with the euro being 1.5 dollars, we're feeling okay about it. Ps. We prayed for our salvation in the church amidst the most stunning and beautiful stained glass you've ever seen. See here:
This place was incredible. Thanks to my parents for the recommendation! Inside there was a man who's official job was shushing people. We tried to get a video of this without prevail. Oh well. Here's Wahli instead:
Since, we have been roaming the tourist filled streets around this area. We did see Notre Dame earlier but just from the outside. Beautiful. I'm trying to recall my art history classes for background info and facts to impress Wahli and other Americans but for the most part I'm failing!
We just had a nice salad and wine on a brasserie patio next to some cute boys. No luck there. We did notice though that the men around here all carry bags. And not just big manish messenger bags, but small purse-like bags. Boys of the U.S. don't be scared, you can carry a purse and still be a man. The French are so ahead of us.
Alrighty, off to the Eiffel Tower area to see it at dusk and lit up at night.
One more thing. Sooo many amazing treats here, like macarons. I had a pistachio one today.
Great news: we made it to Paris safe and sound with no holdups. Okay, we boarded one train in the wrong direction but corrected it immediately! We're at our teeny tiny little hotel room enjoying the teeny tiny beds and the teeny tiny shower. Despite being a tall girl, I like the downsizing of everything. The U.S. has it all backwards...
Anyhoo, now we will put on our non-tourist clothes and go hit a cafe for some cafe et croissants.
I've had it in my head for a couple of years now that I would soon take a sabbatical from work and travel round Europe. I've saved up a bunch of pennies just for it. And well, the time has finally come. I'm astounded at how quickly time passes. I leave in about 12 hours! What?! Yes.
It's been a puzzle to figure out how to pack but I've managed to make it work. This is what I'll be carrying around for the next month:
Not bad.
I'll be attempting to update Ladders on the Side regularly, so stay tuned if you want to follow Meghan and me through our adventures. I'm taking just my iPhone and a few fun new teeny tiny lenses to spice things up, photographically speaking. Here's the cute little guys:
So we'll see what is to come! Tomorrow we head to Paris. Soon I'll be saying bon nuit!
"Growing clothes out of the ground. You couldn't tell how tall they were before you picked them. You pick it, you buy it. The guy wasn't growing it, but he was a republican."
My nephew's birthday is this week so I decided to make him a drawing. His latest interest, as he's gone through so many in his short 9 years, is hunting. He's never actually been hunting, but is very into the idea. Though he also looooooves animals and wept over the death of my dog several years ago, so I get the feeling if he actually went hunting it would be a traumatizing event. Who knows really... Anyhoo, I drew him an elk and I'm trying to decide whether or not to include a target, either hanging on a chain around the elk's neck or on a stand in the background—encouraging the act of hunting (though I'm not a fan) and adding a slight bit of visual interest and humor—or to leave it out and let him appreciate the beast for the beautiful creature it is. Such a hard decision. I appreciate input...
"Julie Andrews came to live in the Rocky Mountains. I was leaving work one day and a cat walked up to me. I recognized it as the cat she could transfigure into and I said to it, "Are you Dame Julie Andrews, kitty?" It sat back on its hind legs, smiled widely and said in Julie's distinctive voice, "Why yes I am." I asked if she needed help finding her way back up to her house. She accepted the offer, but before we made our way up into the hills, I picked her up, set her in my lap and we talked for hours about our favorite things."
A birthday portrait of my sister for her birthday... Why the baby deer? Cause it's random and funny, that's all.
I've been starting to do some commissioned portraits/custom illustrations of people. If you know anyone who'd like one, let me know. You can send me a photo of the people you love (or don't love—maybe you want a drawing of your enemy, that's up to you), and I'll draw them and hook you up with the original piece or a print as well as a digital copy. They make good prezzies.
