Want some cheese with that wine?

Our latest adventure had us taking an hour-and-a-half flight from London to Geneva Switzerland where we took a forty minute train to our destination of Lausanne Switzerland. Lausanne is known for being part of the Switzerland Riviera where the steeply sloping land down to Lake Geneva is covered in terraces of grape vines. For us, we were in Lausanne for Bryan to run his sixteenth (? I've lost track) marathon. In the midst of all our sightseeing, Bryan ran a 3:07 marathon, a minute off from his PR but still an excellent time.

One thing we learned from our trip is that the Swiss produce wine. It's not well know since they consume nearly all of it, unlike the nearby French who sell their wine. We tasted a few of the local wines and found they were all really good, much like the better known wines from France's Cote Du Rhone region.

Another thing we learned was how easy and extensive the train system is in Switzerland. We even took a narrow gauge engine up to Rochers De Naye. Our biggest issue was accidentally sitting in first-class and having to upgrade. It wasn't extremely expensive to upgrade. The problem was that Switzerland's first-class is not nearly as nice as first-class on a train in the UK! On a positive note for the train system, the last train we took back to the Geneva airport even had a small playground to keep the kids happy. Merci beaucoup to the young man at the train station who pointed out this wonderful feature.

The other interesting thing about Switzerland is that they allow the members of their army to keep their weapons at home. No big deal, you think until you're on a train with fifty of them and they're all carrying around their machine guns. One even had it in the overhead luggage rack, sticking out so that you could hang a coat on it. A little unnerving!

The other thing that I found interesting was the language. The part of Switzerland that we visited is in the French speaking part. Now, when we visited Paris, we found quite a few people who spoke English and spoke it well. We never had a problem communicating. It was quite different in Switzerland with very few people who spoke English, at least willingly. When you walk in a store and you don't know the language, you feel like you're underwater and can't breath. I had to remember French from my high school French classes and I think I did my teacher proud. By the end of the weekend, I was remembering some words and phrases that fifteen years should have erased. I now know what phrases and words you should know prior to visiting somewhere a foreign language is spoken.

After visiting for five days, we've now made our way back to London. We certainly enjoyed our time in Switzerland but are happy to be home. Less than a month till we head out on the next adventure--Rome! I need to get our copy of Italian for Dummies!

A Visit to Greenwich

The highlight of the past month was our visit to Greenwich. We took a short tube ride to Greenwich in southeast London for Bryan to run the Run to the Beat Half Marathon. After Bryan ran his personal best of 1:25:51, we walked around Greenwich Park and the town. In the middle of the park is the Prime Meridian, the point that divides the eastern and western hemispheres. I insisted on getting my picture taken with one foot in each hemisphere. Makes the four corners seem insignificant!

The boys are growing quickly, changing everyday. Jacob has now learned how to say truck and milk. He loves to play with trains and cars. Christian is making lots of friends at his new school. He has swimming lessons on Wednesdays and football on Sundays.

Another new development is the weather--fall has arrived! It has been ten years since we have experienced real fall weather. It's the one thing I've always missed from Missouri. We are wearing long sleeve shirts already. In Louisiana, we'd still be in flip flops!

Ou est le Tour d'Eiffel?

So I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated so here's my second post in the same day. Right after our trip to Scotland, we went to Paris for the weekend with Bryan's parents. We rode the Eurostar from London's St Pancras to Gare Nord in Paris and stayed in a hotel about four blocks from the Louvre. I used my limited French vocabulary "Ou est la wc?" and saw some of Paris's famous landmarks. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower despite my fear of heights and visited Notre Dame and the Louvre.
I have always wanted to go in the Louvre and was not disappointed. We wandered around one wing of the Louvre looking for the Mona Lisa and then the Venus de Milo statue. We only found the statue after we stopped looking for it and started looking for the exit.
The last day in Paris we took a short train ride out to see the palace at Versailles. We toured only the house but I'd love to go back for the gardens. The thing I liked the most about Paris is that its truly the way people portray it, with lots of sidewalk cafes, beautiful architecture and a wonderful vibe to it. For the kids, there are some parks for them to play in and lots of carousels for a quick ride. Touring the Louvre and Versailles did get boring for them but there was lots of wide open spaces for them to burn off steam after the tours were done.

Did we find the Loch Ness monster?

We took a four and a half train ride from London's King Cross rail station to Edinburgh for our first big trip. We spent two days in Edinburgh, exploring the castle and the streets as well as doing a little shopping. I think most people would be surprised to know that castles are wonderful places to take young children.

This picture is of the boys outside the Scottish Parliament. We just happened to be in Edinburgh right after the Lockerbie bomber was released from prison and the political aftermath of that decision.

After a few days in Edinburgh, we drove north to the Highlands. It took us four hours to drive from Edinburgh to Fort Augustus on Loch Ness. The roads were super narrow and it was the first time either of us had driven on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car. We stayed in the Highland Club on Loch Ness, this neat old abbey that has been turned into self-catering apartments. We drove all around the Highlands, going on lots of nature walks. My favorite walk was to Upper Nevis Falls. The scenery was breathtaking. We made sure to visit one distillery (Glen Moray) and see the bridge at Glenfinnan while we were there. Our seven days there quickly came to a close. We all had loads of fun and I would recommend it as a place to visit.

Christian turned four last Wednesday. He got a basketball goal with NBA stickers for his present from us. It has taken its place in the garden. Jacob really enjoys the new red couch from Ikea in the reception room. The old couch and loveseat are in the garage now but we found an Ikea couch that would fit up the stairs.

We've been in our house for a month and we've quickly unpacked our stuff and loaded up with Ikea furniture. This cabinet is in our kitchen and is my scrapbook cabinet. It's much nicer than what I had in the US but costs about the same. Anyways, I'm very excited about my scrapbook cabinet and look forward to using it to organize myself.

Stroller aka "The Minivan"

In the past few weeks, it has occurred to me how our stroller has transformed itself into my new van. Living in a city, we don't have a need for personal vehicles, choosing instead to walk and use public transportation. When we had a car, the stroller spent most of its time folded up in the back of the van. Now, it's always ready to go at a moments' notice, loaded up with blankets, water, diaper bag, scooter, and whatever else we could possibly need.