about time...
Well, another month has come and gone…I figured I’d better blog about it before I head off to Vienna on Thursday, lol!
First of all, I must say I am very thankful that this spring has been much warmer than last year. We’ve had some very nice, warm sunny days in the past few weeks. :-)
The last two weeks of April weren’t too eventful…it was spring vacation time and so the kids were out of school. The first week of vacation they both had day-camp, so we adults took turns dropping them off and picking them up. What fun! But at least they were busy and it meant that I had most off my days free to enjoy the wonderful sunny days. The second week was more laid-back. We just hung-out in Uster, went swimming, etc.
Monday, May 1st was also an official holiday (Tag der Arbeit, which is like Labor Day), which meant another day off. So my friend Anna and I planned a bike trip from Uster to a town called Rapperswil, which is a lovely old city on Lake Zurich. Her boss had suggested it because the scenery is wonderful in the spring, with all the flowers and blossoming trees and she thought the castle and cathedral in Rapperswil were worth a visit, as well. She was right, it was amazing! And we couldn’t have ordered a better day, it was clear and sunny, so we could see the mountains, which still had snow-covered peaks. Rapperswil is a quaint old city, too and was a nice place to end up at. The trip took about 5 hours, but it was a lot of fun. However, the next day my derrière was quite sore, I must say and took a couple days to recover. Ouch!
Then on Friday (5th) I went to Sion, in the French part of Switzerland! I have been meaning to go down there ever since I got here, because it is there that the wonderful Arbonne skin care products are formulated! (which I plan on selling again, once I get home ;-)) Unfortunately, I was unable to find an address so I could actually visit AIRD (Arbonne Institute of Research and Development), but I did enjoy seeing the beautiful town of Sion. I wandered through the old town, where the weekly market was going on, visited a couple of churches and even climbed two hill to visit the castles on each one. The first hill, Valere, had a cathedral containing the supposed oldest organ in Europe. That was neat to see. The other hill, Tourbillion, had only the ruins of a castle that was built in the 1300s, but the view of Sion and the surrounding mountains was AMAZING! It was definitely a nice day trip, I must say!
Sunday the 7th, we went to Bern. Ximena had organized an outing for the lawyer’s association she’s a member of, to tour the Paul Klee art museum and then have lunch in the museum restaurant. That was a very nice day.
Klee was a German abstract artist from the first of the last century (who grew up in Bern, hence the museum), so his style wasn’t quite to my taste. But it was an interesting tour and the actual building itself was remarkable. It was sort of wave/hill shaped, so as to look aesthetically pleasing against the backdrop of the hills of the Bernese Oberland
The lunch was also very nice. The chef at the restaurant won last year’s award for new talent (as best I can explain it, hard to think of the right words to translate from German to English), so it was a wonderful gourmet meal. And guess what? I’ve now actually eaten gold! Yep, it was a garnish of edible gold (just a few little flakes) on a chocolate mousse we had for dessert. :-) Pretty cool, huh?
Since then, it’s been pretty much business as usual. But, as I said before, I am off to Austria on Thursday. I will be in Vienna on Friday and part of Saturday & then in Salzburg Saturday afternoon and Sunday. I am really looking forward to this trip! And then next weekend, Anna and I are off to Paris!
As usual, pictures from the bike trip & Sion will be uploaded ASAP.:-) So keep an eye out for them plus blogs from Austria and France!
First of all, I must say I am very thankful that this spring has been much warmer than last year. We’ve had some very nice, warm sunny days in the past few weeks. :-)
The last two weeks of April weren’t too eventful…it was spring vacation time and so the kids were out of school. The first week of vacation they both had day-camp, so we adults took turns dropping them off and picking them up. What fun! But at least they were busy and it meant that I had most off my days free to enjoy the wonderful sunny days. The second week was more laid-back. We just hung-out in Uster, went swimming, etc.
Monday, May 1st was also an official holiday (Tag der Arbeit, which is like Labor Day), which meant another day off. So my friend Anna and I planned a bike trip from Uster to a town called Rapperswil, which is a lovely old city on Lake Zurich. Her boss had suggested it because the scenery is wonderful in the spring, with all the flowers and blossoming trees and she thought the castle and cathedral in Rapperswil were worth a visit, as well. She was right, it was amazing! And we couldn’t have ordered a better day, it was clear and sunny, so we could see the mountains, which still had snow-covered peaks. Rapperswil is a quaint old city, too and was a nice place to end up at. The trip took about 5 hours, but it was a lot of fun. However, the next day my derrière was quite sore, I must say and took a couple days to recover. Ouch!
Then on Friday (5th) I went to Sion, in the French part of Switzerland! I have been meaning to go down there ever since I got here, because it is there that the wonderful Arbonne skin care products are formulated! (which I plan on selling again, once I get home ;-)) Unfortunately, I was unable to find an address so I could actually visit AIRD (Arbonne Institute of Research and Development), but I did enjoy seeing the beautiful town of Sion. I wandered through the old town, where the weekly market was going on, visited a couple of churches and even climbed two hill to visit the castles on each one. The first hill, Valere, had a cathedral containing the supposed oldest organ in Europe. That was neat to see. The other hill, Tourbillion, had only the ruins of a castle that was built in the 1300s, but the view of Sion and the surrounding mountains was AMAZING! It was definitely a nice day trip, I must say!
Sunday the 7th, we went to Bern. Ximena had organized an outing for the lawyer’s association she’s a member of, to tour the Paul Klee art museum and then have lunch in the museum restaurant. That was a very nice day.
Klee was a German abstract artist from the first of the last century (who grew up in Bern, hence the museum), so his style wasn’t quite to my taste. But it was an interesting tour and the actual building itself was remarkable. It was sort of wave/hill shaped, so as to look aesthetically pleasing against the backdrop of the hills of the Bernese Oberland
The lunch was also very nice. The chef at the restaurant won last year’s award for new talent (as best I can explain it, hard to think of the right words to translate from German to English), so it was a wonderful gourmet meal. And guess what? I’ve now actually eaten gold! Yep, it was a garnish of edible gold (just a few little flakes) on a chocolate mousse we had for dessert. :-) Pretty cool, huh?
Since then, it’s been pretty much business as usual. But, as I said before, I am off to Austria on Thursday. I will be in Vienna on Friday and part of Saturday & then in Salzburg Saturday afternoon and Sunday. I am really looking forward to this trip! And then next weekend, Anna and I are off to Paris!
As usual, pictures from the bike trip & Sion will be uploaded ASAP.:-) So keep an eye out for them plus blogs from Austria and France!