Swiss Pics

25, May 2008

Over a month since I posted anything here, but lots going on with us here in Switzerland.  These pictures are from April when we went to Luzerne which is right down the road from us.

I hate to pick any place we visited as my favorite, given our limited excursions out of Zurich, but Luzerne will be hard to beat.  It has many of the things one would want in a holiday city; lakes, mountains, history, parks, etc.   

Teri got us to visit here as she had a meeting with her staff at a hotel in the area.  I was quite surprised how very close this is to us here in Zurich, less than an hour by train.  

As you can tell, we were accompanied by Coco and Duchess.  They enjoyed themselves, as far as I could tell.  Duchess in particular liked the visit here, having had her first taste of raw chicken. She had been having some food issues until then and when we gave her some chicken from a farmer's market there, she ate and ate, bones and all.

The city is edged on one side by a wall, built centuries ago as a means of protection.  While a very small country with few enemies, the Swiss take security very seriously.  You can see this in the banking, with multiple levels of security, the bomb shelter in every apartment, the mandatory service in armed forces, as well as the layers upon layers of controls.  

We are well into spring here, with temperatures climbing and the rains subsiding.  All is very green here, I would suspect because of the large amount of rain and temperate climes.  When I come out of our flat to walk Duchess in the morning, the fragrance of the flowers and greenery is almost overpowering.   

I've managed to meet quite a number of our neighbors within the apartment complex and the surrounding area.  Our next door neighbors hail from Scotland.  Those below are from the US.

One fellow I met on our walks is from India originally, although he and his wife most recently lived in Los Angeles.    

We also have formed some nodding relationships.  These are the types you see frequently in your daily travels and acknowledge with the head bob, smile or a gutten tag.  

Justin and Julie arrived in May.  They have been 

exploring the city  whilst helping get Tara too and from her school.

Julie will stay for a couple more weeks and then must return to the US.  She is very sweet and we will miss her.  Justin stays until August and the start of of the new school year in Chicago.  

They leave next weekend for a trip to France and Italy to visit the art museums and other places of interest that abound there.

London is next for me.  I will be traveling there three times in the next month.  Teri also has a couple trips there as well,  along with a possible trip to China.

Last weekend, we had a house warming party  here at our flat.  A number of people from Teri's work showed up and we had a good time.  None are Swiss so we had much in common, comparing notes on how to get things done in a foreign land.  We plan to have our Swiss friends from work over as well.

I hoped to update the blog more frequently but as with all things that take time and effort, my ambitions exceed my actions.  

I have hundreds of more photos to share and will perhaps post a number of these in the coming days as a means to catch up.  Until them, here is hoping all is well for each of you.

Bob