2011.03.28 Switzerland and Italy

We have just completed our second visit to Steve, Maria, Anna (9), and Kate (7) at their home in Switzerland. In October of 2010, we enjoyed gorgeous fall colors and clear cool weather. This time the flowering trees and spring flowers were at the height of their splendor, and the skies were mostly clear again. We had a bit of drizzle the day we were in Bern and one rainy morning that gave us an excuse to stay home and relax. The rest of the time we enjoyed sunshine and lovely views of Mont-Blanc and the French Alps across Lake Geneva. We spent some time in the area around Geneva on weekdays, but on Friday night Steve took us to the Piedmont  wine region of Italy for the weekend. We stayed in Alba for two nights, which allowed us to walk around in several villages, tour two wineries, and, of course, do  some tasting.

This house and neighborhood, complete with the family's own furnishings and toys, is perfect. Both generations have made friends--as they do wherever they land.

Bill and I took the train to Bern one day and walked around in the old city on a peninsula formed by the river Aare. This picture shows the Zytglogge (Bernese German for "TimeBell"), a medieval clock tower with moving puppets, and the city's medieval covered shopping promenades. We were glad for these covered arcades, since it rained lightly for much of the time we were there.

Since the 16th Century, Bern has had a bear pit. We walked to it, but the four resident bears were not out. While we didn't see the bears, we did see some great views of the city and its bridges from the bear pit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNacdVUM4ig

We returned from Bern in time to go to Kate's first grade spring concert. She was SO excited--as were we! The quality of this video is not great as we were sitting near the back of the auditorium, but it was such fun I just had to include it. Kate is in the second row from the back, third from right,  concentrating hard in spite of the two antsy little boys on her right. It would not upload here, so you need to click the link above to see it. It's sure to brighten your day!

Here's a happy Kate with her mom and sister after a successful concert.

 

This is the 1939 art deco League of Nations building, which is now a part of the United Nations complex in Geneva. In 1968 Bill did research in the archives here for his dissertation on Poland and the League of Nations between the two World Wars.

This newer United Nations building had not yet been built when we were here in 1968.

Here we are in one of the meeting rooms in the old building.

This is a view of the 1939 building from the newer building.

Across the street from the United Nations is the International Headquarters of the Red Cross / Red Crescent.  After our tour of the UN, we visited the museum here as well as a special exhibit on the intertwining lives of founders Henry Dunant and Gustav Moynier. While both were moved to humanitarian action, they differed on how to accomplish it and their friendship dissolved as they competed and Dunant suffered financial difficulties. Dunant is widely considered the founder of the Red Cross, but Moynier, who was its president for forty years, isolated Dunant. They never reconciled.

We ate lunch outside under these canopies in the courtyard of the Red Cross / Red Crescent International Headquarters.

These striking statues stand at the museum entrance.

We accompanied Maria when she picked Anna and Kate up at school. Kate took us into her classroom to meet her teacher and see some projects.

We saw acres and acres of grape vines and fruit trees, all carefully pruned and trained. These are fruit trees, but Maria didn't know whether they were apples or pears as they had not yet started to bud or leaf out.

Our trip to Italy started with a beautiful journey through French Alps, with amazing views like this one on the approach to Chamonix.

This statue and the flags stand at the entrance to the Mont-Blanc Tunnel on the French side.  The tunnel, which links Chamonix, France, and Courmayeur, Italy, is 7.2 miles long and took from 1957 to 1965 to build.

Bill and Steve are walking from our Hotel Savona in Alba to the Saturday market, where Steve wanted to find the cheese vendor from whom he'd bought Parmesan off a huge wheel when they were here with Maria's folks.

Steve buys his cheese.

Steve made appointments in advance that allowed us to visit the cellars of two Barbaresco wineries. Favio of the Andrea Oberto Winery gave us a very nice tour. Working for Diageo for several years gave Steve a good working knowledge of the business, and both he and Bill study wines as a hobby. 

Maria knew that her great grandfather had emigrated from the Piedmont region. You can just imagine how exciting it was to discover during her parents' visit that Bernardo Antonio Vittone was a great 18th Century architect. We saw two of his churches, one in Alba and one in Bra. As a young architect he had also done a restoration and remodeling of the municipal building in Bra. This is the altar in his church in Bra, Saint Claire.

This is the outside of Saint Claire Church in Bra. Both the exterior and interior designs of the Vittone churches in Alba and Bra are very similar to one another.

This is a typical view of the countryside in the Piedmont area of Italy--acres and acres of grapes. The best known wines from the region are Barolo and Barbaresco, which are made from the Nebbiolo grape. We can attest to the fact that these grapes make very drinkable wine!

Here are a couple of happy guys at the Marchesi di Gresy winery, where we enjoyed a tour and tasting conducted by Australian-bornCellar Master Jeff Chilcott. We were joined by five lively Russians from St. Petersburg who were on a wine tour.

The photo doesn't do justice to the steepness of this hill, but let's just say I'm glad I don't have to bike up this grade!

Before returning to Switzerland on Sunday, we indulged Steve in another of his hobbies, Napoleon, by visiting the Marengo Battle Museum and Napoleon's Headquarters. We lifted these muskets, which are unbelievably heavy.

Bill and Steve both got to pose in this hat.

Here's Napoleon himself outside the Marengo Battlefield Museum.

Napoleon established his headquarters here at Torre Garofoli. It took us awhile to find it as you need to follow a maze of country roads to get here from the museum.

We saw several tiny chapels alongside the roads.

On the drive between Italy and France we saw many towers perched on tops of steep hills.

Back in Switzerland, we took a train trip to Morges. This is Grand-Rue pedestrian shopping area there.

This is the Chateau at Morges.

And this is the Chateau at Nyon, the city nearest Steve and Maria with shopping and a railroad station.

From Nyon, one can see Lake Geneva and mountains in France from the town.

I am fascinated with the way Europeans prune back trees each fall. They come back lush and lovely in the summer.

Anna and I biked to a nearby marina on Lake Geneva to feed the ducks and swan.

Swans, we have learned, are not as friendly as they look. I got a serious hissss when the bread wasn't coming fast enough.

They don't need people throwing bread; they can find what they need by doing this. 

Anna took this picture o me at the Crans Marina.

2011.03.10 Beaver Creek-Ski Trip

Al, Mindy, Sophie, Amanda, and I missed the rest of the family during our annual Colorado ski trip. In fact, we also missed Al for most of it as he had to fly home early in the week. We did enjoy the company of our extended ski family, the Mihalys, and our cousins Michelle, Brent, and Jasper. We were less enthralled with the company of thousands of spring breakers in the lift lines, but, all told, it was fine. The slopes are massive and can absorb a lot of skiers. Our little ones, ages 4 and 6, loved ski school and did well.

Enjoying a sunny day, 9 inches of new snow, and a great view from the lift

Sophie graduated from Mogul Mouse to Level 2 Superstar in her first week of ski school.

Sharpshooter takes such cute ski school pictures that parents just have to buy them. Here's Sophie.

And here's Amanda, looking very "six" with her front teeth missing.

Sophie had a pizza and pool party with Amanda and Cousin Jasper on her birthday.

Ahhh. A good soak in the hot tub after a swim feels so good!

How about Mindy's new ski jacket??

Look closely. People have been adding Mardi Gras beads, bras, and panties to this tree next to the Rose Bowl lift for years. The lift is scheduled for replacement in the summer of 2011. Will the tree remain? Remains to be seen.

Penny had too many baby quilts to make when Sophie was born, so she got a Big Girl quilt for her fourth birthday. She loves it!

Amanda was crazy about working at the desk in her big activity book.

Hawaii

Bill and I joined other family members of Bill's brother Dan and his fiancée, Beverly Turner, for the festivities surrounding their wedding on February 19 near their home in Keauhou on the Big Island. Since we were there six days, we had some time to explore new places and visit several that have become traditions on our trips.

This seems to be the season for courtship. Here's to Valentine's Day and Weddings!

This is the very soft, cuddly, playful Lexie Lou. Oh...the blue thing is (or was) a ball.

Bill and I managed to find some places we had not yet visited, even after ten previous trips to the Island. This was one of them, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, which portrays and celebrates Hawaiian history and culture. The wall is a heiau, a Hawaiian temple. The shallow water is a fish trap, where ancient Hawaiians could capture fish that came in on high tides and stayed when the tide receded.

The Kaloko-Honokohau National Park is home to green sea turtles, Honu. Visitors must stay at least twenty feet from the turtles, so I was glad my camera could zoom.

We have seen many petroglypys like this on the Kohala Coast in the past, so we were on the lookout for them in Kaloko-Honokohau National Park.

 We stayed for three days in the Kona Makai condo complex where Bill's mother lived during the last few winters of her life. I've always liked walking to the lava beach on the property, particularly at sunset.

I took a picture of this orange spotted gecko just outside our front door. Another one was sharing the bedroom for awhile.

We have some rituals when we are in Kona, one of which is eating lunch at Huggo's on the Rocks.

Another lunch tradition is having a frosty Kona brew and a fresh fish sandwich at the Harbor Restaurant and watching the fishing boats come in.

The Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm was another new attraction for us this year. They breed seahorses to live in aquariums in an effort to discourage people from capturing wild seahorses, which are endangered and don't live very long in captivity--a few months maximum. They have seahorses here that are 13 years old. They are sensitized to being around people. We each got to form a "reef" with our fingers and allow a seahorse to curl its tail around them. Those are Bill's hands.

Beverly and Dan on the night before their wedding

I told Hallie which end of the conch shell to blow in and how to hold her lips, and she was able to get a good sound on her very first try.

 Friends Karen and Larry Ostley hosted a party at their home for family and mainland guests the night before the wedding. Here's Nephew Mark recording the event with his camera.

Bill and Allison, who stood up for Dan and Bev

Dan's grandchildren, Hallie and Mitchel Marker, were the flower girl and ring bearer.

Jean and Bill just before the wedding

The wedding party: Allison, Dan, Hallie, Beverly, Mitchel, Bev's son Jon, and Bill

Bill Recognized for Community Service

I got a call in early January from the Ripon Chamber of Commerce requesting that I get Bill to the annual Chamber dinner on January 22 without telling him why. He was given the Community Service Award, which was more than well-deserved. 

 Bill receives his award from Chamber Executive Director Paula Price.

Jack Frank (American Legion-Community Group Service Award), Steve Barg (Friend of the Chamber), Judy and Cal Larson (Larsons Famous Clydesdales-Small Business Award), Kathy Schwandt (M&I Bank-Large Business Award), Bill Woolley (Community Service Award), Jac Gruenwald (Ripon Commonwealth Press-Distinguished Service Award)

Article about the event and awards in the Ripon Commonwealth Press

Aftermath of the Blizzard

Much of the country was treated to a huge blizzard yesterday. Today dug out under beautiful sunny skies.

Ripon, Wisconsin: The drift in our back yard.

Chicago: The street in front of Al and Mindy's house
This is where we park when we leave our car with them before flying out of O'Hare on our trips. Needless to say, we're happy it's in the garage in Ripon now and hope this doesn't happen in a couple of weeks when it will be parked here.

We Actually Like Winter

December and January brought us monster snow piles. The trucks have been hauling a lot of it away from the front of our house to keep the fire hydrant clear. It's pretty out there, provided one can hunker down in a warm house and enjoy the view. February is blowing in tonight as a blizzard, complete with howling wind and frigid temperatures. It's a good time for indoor projects, and we always have plenty of those.

We made a quick January weekend trip to Chicago to see Al, Mindy, and the girls and to see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind featuring our favorite Neofuturist, Rob Neill, who grew up next door. http://www.neofuturists.org/ Rob lives and works in New York, but he's doing guest performances in Chicago and living at Al and Mindy's for a couple of months.

A Ripon newcomer has taken over two of my Historical Society tasks: Webmaster and Keeper of the Online Obituary Database. The phase-down has begun.

Those are Bill's wood piles and my snowshoe tracks in the woods behind our house.

The Yankee Tipper, with its metal cap, long slippery tube, and spring-loaded base, is the best squirrel-proof feeder we've ever found. The lesson to be learned from squirrels: Never Give Up! This one got tipped off over and over this morning before experiencing the sweet taste of success.