Home!

Arrived home at 2pm - 17 hours after getting in the shuttle from the Geneva hotel to the airport this morning (was it really this morning?).  We're both a bit loopy with fatigue.

Chaucha and Hade (our cats) were happy to see us and had nothing but good things to say about Mick's care while we were gone.  Thanks Mick!

Now to eat some of the Swiss chocolate and drink some of the Swiss wine that we carried home...

Heading Home!

We'll be on the 7:30am flight from Geneva to Amsterdam tomorrow morning and then on to Seattle.

Thanks to Ahriel, Nicole, Teo, Koa (and Marta the nanny) for all of their accommodations while we were in Switzerland.  We had a great time!

Au revoir!

Good Morning!

Vending Machine Potpourri...

This was an oddity from today's trip to the observation spot on top of the mountain.  At the train station up there we saw a vending machine.  It has all of the usual stuff - candy bars, chips, drinks, etc.

Then we saw an interesting lineup...

From left to right there's a "MaybeBaby" pregnancy test, a box of condoms, lighters, and cigarette papers... 

Hard to believe there's much market for these items - at the top there's the little train station with a train every hour during the day, a rustic restaurant, and hiking trails.  Nothing else...

To the Stars!

Well, to the Pleiades Constellation at least...

Today we all bundled into the car and headed to a spot on top of one of the local mountains called "Pleiades".




















After heading to the appropriate train station to catch a little one car "train" to our destination we started heading uphill.

Beautiful countryside and views as we went up, up, up...

At the top there were a bunch of astronomical exhibits - showing the distance between planets, demonstrating solar eclipses, giving a general idea of our galaxy in relation to other galaxies.  Fun.

There were also some great views from the top...

We also stopped for lunch at a restaurant up on the top - Paula and I had the daily special (Arctic Char and vegetable risotto), Ahriel ordered the mushroom risotto, Teo with the chicken nuggets and french fries, and Nicole had the goat cheese salad.  Everything was delicious and received high marks from all of us!

Then back down to the base of the mountain where there was a special train  exhibit including this great little steam engine!

Tournesols!!!

One of the big local crops (other than grapes, of course!) are sunflowers (known as tournesols in these parts).  We missed the flowering (which must be amazing!!!) but all around us are fields of the soon to be harvested sunflowers...

Nicole, Teo, and Koa