Paris and Switzerland

You know the old song "I love Paris in the spring time, I love Paris in the fall. I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles, I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles." (Cole Porter)

I can truly appreciate the emotion of that song. Although I've only been to Paris twice in my life (3 times if you're really counting), I can see why people fall in love with it. The colours are magnificent, as they are here in Quebec at this time of year and you can just feel something in the air when you are there. Something unexplained and nothing I can put a specific word on, but you can feel it. Adam might argue that the feeling is the one of money steadily seeping from ones wallet...but I think it just might be love.

We definitely found things to be pricier this time around. We nearly spent our entire budget during the time we were in France.

We had planned to go up the Eiffel Tower to get a clear shot of the city in comparison to the drizzle and fog from our last visit, but when we arrived at the tower, we decided not to fight with the crowds and to enjoy different things in the city instead.

Yes, all those people are lined up to go up the Eiffel Tower. It was a perfect day to go up, but we would have spent ages in the line and we didn't want to waste time doing that.

So instead we wandered and caught a magnificent sunset... Does it get any better? Looking at these pictures now I think I was truly caught up in the whole vibe of the city and seeing the pictures now I can't believe we were actually there!!


The next day, we got up and enjoyed a VERY pricey breakfast at our hotel, which was not included in the price of the room. Adam decided he would fill up his plate a few times and eat his $35.00 worth of continental breakfast buffet. And that's $35.00 per PERSON!!

The Arc de Triomphe

We decided to take a bus tour called L'Open Tour. You pay one set price for the day and have the ability to ride the bus and hop off at your leisure at any of the set stops around the city. You can get on and off as many times as you wish and are provided with a crappy set of headphones to listen to the running commentary about the buildings and landmarks that you see. Seeing as we'd done the tour 7 years ago, we figured we knew where we wanted to spend more time during this visit and hit up a few spots we hadn't seen as well as ones we'd already visited.

The Louvre was open for business and was pretty busy on the day we went. We even had to put our bags through an x-ray machine on the way in. Seven years ago we were able to get within 5 feet of the Mona Lisa, but this time she was on a wall all by herself and the area in front of her was cordoned off and guarded by security. She is, of course, protected by plexi-glass and photographs are still allowed!!
A person could spend weeks in the Louvre just to get a glimpse of everything in there. It's an amazing building and even though the strange glass pyramid doesn't seem to fit, the building inside is incredible and you totally forget about the pyramid (eyesore) on the outside.

I believe this is the Left Bank. The street vendors sell memorabilia, souvenirs and prints. What a beautiful location.

Notre Dame, below, is always worth a visit. It is simply stunning inside with the amazing stained glass windows. There is a real sense of calm inside, almost like time stops while you are there. It's quiet and beautiful and safe and the chaos of the outside world seems to melt away once you step inside the doors.

I am always drawn to Joan of Arc and lit a candle for my Dad while I was there.

The windows are incredible and the sun and light were perfectly accenting them while we were walking around.

From Paris, we flew to Munich to pick up our rental car and then make the short journey (short in Canadian driving times) to Switzerland to stay with my Godmother and her husband for 3 days. As always, Jenny and Werner were fantastic hosts and tour guides and took us to some amazing places while we were there.

For our first supper, we drove into the hills, parked and hiked up to a cute little restaurant perched on the top of a little ski hill! Adam and I sampled some delicious local beer and sausages and savoured the view. The mountains really looked like they were painted on a giant canvas in the background. I was already in love with Switzerland from my previous visits, so I was glad to be able to show Adam around and have him see what it was I loved!!

Auntie Jenny took us in to St Gallen for a day of sight-seeing and shopping. The Cathedral in St Gallen is beautiful. We spent a bit of time in there taking it all in and wondering at the time and effort it took to build these massive cathedrals, let alone all the painting and sculptures that complement the building. Truly stunning!

The next day we were slightly unprepared for what turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip! We were under the assumption that we were going somewhere on a short little walk to have lunch. We ended up having a beer at this restaurant and then hiking for about 2 hours altogether afterwards! We could not have asked for anything more beautiful. The weather was amazing, as you can see and the scenery was breath-taking!

I wondered if Heidi might come yodelling down the trail at some point, or we might have lunch beside the Von Trapp family, but no such luck.

Auntie Jenny and Werner having a drink before our walk on Ebenalp.

This is obviously a hot spot for para sailors as we saw 23 of them up in the sky soaring around. Once we got back to the main gondola station, we stood and watched them take off from the side of the mountain. When the wind was just right, they would throw their hands up in the air above them and start running down the grassy mountain until the wind caught their sails! It was so great to be able to watch them and gave us a great idea for the next time we visit!! There were even rental stations at the bottom of the mountain!

So we hiked in the Swiss Alps, we drank the local beer, we had beautiful weather and we had a fantastic visit with Jenny and Werner (and even Caroline, their daughter!). Adam is already plotting our next visit and has mapped out some of the hikes we'll do. Thank you SO very much to Jenny and Werner for putting us up and putting up with us! I hope you've restocked your cheese supply!! xo

From here, we drove back to Munich to pick up our friends for another week of travelling and fun! Stay tuned for the remainder of our trip!!