They say that all good things must end, my friendo

The kid says....  It's hard to believe our last night in Chardonne is coming to an end.  I would like to thank Julia for sharing her parents with me and letting me "crash" in the spare bedroom.  She has been a very generous hostess!  I would like to thank Terry and Jackie for being wonderful and funny traveling companions.  There was never a dull moment!  A special thanks to Terry for going above and beyond to make sure my trip to Europe was a memorable one.
Gimpy says... Had a relaxing time before we leave tomorrow.  Finished putting Julia's DVD in cases so she has room for her Christmas dishes.   Also packed suitcases so we are ready to leave.  Went to a Globe(Nestle) party with a Western theme.  Interesting watching Swiss people doing line dancing.  It looks like it was a group that does it regularly.  The only thing that threw me was them doing one Irish song.  Had great food (too much) and saw some peple we didn't get to visit with on our trip.  Was a busy three weeks but I am ready to go home but of course Terry isn't.  But he wants to start a diet when we get home and with all the sweets here his Cardiologist will be thankful we are going home.  Sheri was a real sport in going place with Terry that I can't do anymore.  See all of you soon.
Chunky says.... Every trip has a couple of good stories.  Like the time we were in Milano, crossing a street to get to the hotel, and Jackie had to rest for a minute.  Sheri was kind enough to point out the tram speeding towards us and that we better move fast or we would be bugs on its windshield!  Never stop to rest on the tram tracks!!  The Nestle party was fun.  It had a Wild West theme.  The most impressive part was the horse races.  If only VCCT could find those for a parade!  The free food and drink was pretty impressive....hot dogs, bbq chicken and ribs, fries, salads, crepes, port, sausages, and too many desserts to really sample.  My inability to read a map caused us to stop often to figure out where we were.  The Kid puts away a lot of ice cream...and I tried to keep up.  Jackie in a wheelchair is in demand for next year, when a couple of Julia's friends mentioned going to Euro Disney and getting to the head of the line.  Traveling 120 mph on the TGV, seeing The Last Supper, Paris, wine, and all the memories that will stick with me, and Gimpy, and the Kid.  I hate leaving Julia, told Sheri to bring some extra tissue with in the morning.  Parting never gets easier.  And if I lived here, I would hate leaving Emily...no matter where I go I'll have to say good bye.
So it goes.  Thanks for following us.  Hope you enjoyed the trip.  Here's a few last couple day pictures.

Ok, look closely at the butterflies!!!

Two weeks ago, this was bare ground.  The city has greenhouses to produce plants for four different displays in a year.

Just how do you lose underwear?

Sunset

Nestle Wild West party

This place had coffee

This place had crepes

Bull riding

Horse racing...had to jump up and pull to make the steed move

Not Tombstone, but fun

Milano, Milano et es hotto!!!

First, we are going to start with some pictures.

The Kid and I trained here, then walked back..maybe 5 miles. 

View from the trail through the vineyards 

Our restauarant in Milan...candles cause power was out

Ok, not in focus but I was hungry

Duomo...fourth largest church in Europe

Along a center corridor

Looking down the middle of the church

Stained glass window

Shopping center...prices knocked me down.  Across from Duomo Technially the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II  with origins in 1865

Just dreaming

Lenny..genius behind the Last Supper

They ride and park all over Milan

This is an inner courtyard of an apartment complex

Sforzesco Castle in Milan...from 1368

Church of S Maria Delle Grazie..on the left is the building housing The Last Supper.

Church from the courtyard..hard to tell from the street

Milano's massive train station, undergoing rennovation

One of many figures on the station

Entry way to trains and tickets and "home"

Chunky says.........If you have made it this far, congratulations.
Milan was a test of sorts.  I am comfortable in Paris, but Milan was new.  The language was new.  Transportation was new.  Heck, I even had to find a new word for croissant!  But the attraction in Milan is old......older than our country in fact.  Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper in 1495-1498. It is massive.  During WW II the city was bombed and the building was damaged...but the wall the painting was on was intact.
Sheri and I enjoyed gelato......Jackie enjoyed the coolness of the a/c in the hotel lobby when it proved too hot for her to be out wandering around.  We ate a great (for me, anyway) meal in an old palace that was supposed to be a pizza parlor but was a fine restaurant. (Yes Dan, I was not listening to the directions and flipped the two places but it turned out well.)
It's a busy city, noisy, congested, Italians drive like crazies.  Our train into the city was 40 minutes late, the a/c didn't work well...but hey, life happens.
No bed bugs, no problems, and a new experience to log in the book of life.
Gimpy says......It was EXTREMELY hot in Milan.  I think both days were over 90 or even hotter.  The hotel was air conditioner (Thank God!) and very nice.  We got in about 5, Terry and Sheri walked around a bit, then we had to decide where we would have supper.  The man at the desk suggested some place, but we decided no and ended up there anyway.  But the electricity was off in our area of Milan and we had to wait until went on again, abut half an hour.  Do you know that 900 meters is almost a half a mile?  Think we could remember that as I started to walk it.  Well we couldn't but I made it anyway.  Tuesday was hot again and after I went down to where we could get our tour, decided it was better to go back to the air conditioned hotel while Chunky and the Kid did the tour.  Best idea ever!
The train trip home was about a  half hour shorter do to no delays in Italy(I don't think they care about train schedules and much cooler when we got back to Julia's.
The Kid says....Terry and Jackie pretty much summoned it all up.  The Last Supper was incredible to see. The replicas that I have seen in my lifetime don't come close to the soft, beautiful art that da Vinci created.  I wished we could have been allowed to view it longer (only allowed 15 minutes).  I also wished Jackie could have made the tour with us.  It was just way too hot!  Terry and I also visited the Duomo.  It's massive size left me speechless.  Well, we're back in Switzerland and ready for another adventurous day!

Sunday morning musings

Chunky here.  Everyone is still asleep, and they are missing a fine day.  The lake is blue and calm, a bit of a haze covers the valley and the mountains.  Sure, the highway noise is always present.....but there are brief seconds when no cars pass....brief and second being the optimums.
i always keep a written journal, where I express my deepest thoughts and fears, but have not done that this year.  Doing a blog seems to have replaced that.  Yet the blog can't cover everything.
Like the woman at the winery down Julia's street who always treats me so nicely and encourages me to speak French, then looks at me and tells me she has no clue what I say!  But that's ok, because then she will explain to me what I said wrong and teach me the right way.  And, she sells me wine.
The taxi drivers in Paris who were considerate, safe, careful and polite.
The taxi driver in Vevey.  Nice man, weird ride.
The heavily armed guards in Paris train stations.
The difference from bakery to bakery in the quality of croissants and pain du chocolates.  (Think croissant filled with creamy chocolate!)
The incredible taste of the food.  Butter and real milk do make a difference.
Today is clean up day.  Maybe a trip to an antique market.  A birthday party for my adopted grandchildren.  Maybe a walk in the vineyards.
Tomorrow we head off to Milan for a peek at The Last Supper.  It scares me a little because I don't know how to navigate that city, and when you are travelling with someone who can't walk a lot that becomes an issue.  We'll be travelling light....so that will help.
All this musing has made me hungry.....time for the croissants to magically appear.
A bientot!!

Climb Every Mountain.....

The kid says....Terry and I traveled to Zermatt today by train to see the Matterhorn.  It's hard to describe in words what I saw once we reached the snow covered top.  It was BREATH TAKING!!  The sun was out, the sky was blue, and we could see all the mountain tops except for the Matterhorn.  It had a big white cloud that lingered around the top while we sat and watched it. But I didn't mind.  It was still beautiful!   Breathing the air was so refreshing.  What a difference between the hustle and bustle of Paris and the quiet, peacefulness of the mountains.  I would go back in a heart beat!
Gimpy says..... We did laundry and went shopping.  I got to ride in Julia's car with the top down! We sped down the mountain, up the mountain, around the mountain. ..... all around the town.  And then I folded clothes.  By the way, Chunky is doing my portion tonight.
Chunky says....  I love the Matterhorn.  I plan on getting a hotel room next trip and just watching the mountain as it goes through the day.  Sheri said we didn't have to do things that I've (we've) already done.  Problem is, I love seeing the Matterhorn!  I don't care if I have seen it four times...or five...or fifty.  It is always an awe inspiriing sight.  Same with the Eiffel Tower.   And Paris.  And Normandy.  And the Grand Canyon.  And Lake Superior.
  So here's a few pictures from the day.  Granted, the mountain was playing peek a boo and won, but it was still wonderful!!

Riding the train to Zermatt

The mountain is beautiful

And so are the valleys

This is a snow shed, to keep snow off the tracks

Our train approaching the snow shed....no trees!!

Plenty of people out hiking

Direction signs point the way

Glacier fields near the Matterhorn

Checking out the map

Sheri and the Matterhorn, cloud covered in the background

The snow was really deep

Getting the good shot

Almost the whole mountain peeked out.

Not my thumb, engineer's head

Which way should we go??

Until we meet again

Chunky here…….  Well, it's farewell to Paris.  We are on the TGV heading out of the City of Lights.  I have done more walking in the last four days than I have in months.  Think I have lost about 30 pounds!  But the creme brulee, croissants, coffee, wine and ice cream have added about 29.  C'est la vie!!  Friday was a little strange.  We had permission to stay at the apartment until 1, so we ordered a cab for one.  Then the apartment manager said we could stay to 3 but it was almost one and the cab was on its way.  So we killed two hours at the Gare de Lyon, where we caught the TGV.  This train is capable of going over 120 mph…..about the speed we were moving around Versailles on Thursday.  We walked, rode bikes, toured palaces, learned about French history, visited a holocaust museum in Paris, went to Sacre Couer and Montmarte….and that was all be 9 p.m.!  The most impressive feat was navigating the metro system without getting lost.  Luckily Sheri pointed out a couple of times that my directional sense  was a little off.  Next stop, Chardonne!

The Kid here….  I made my second trip to Notre Dame this morning.  As I climbed each step (over 400)  to reach the top, I thought about all the hard work it took to make a beautiful place like this where people could worship.  When I finally reached the top I was in awe to see the city at this height.  It was incredible!  As Terry said, we spent all of our time in Paris visiting the many beautiful sites and museums.  What a fascinating city full of life!  Even though I loved it, I'm ready to head back to the calm, peaceful mountains of Switzerland.  Au Revoir, Paris! 

Gimpy (still here and moving)... Yesterday was the first day I was  up and moving before 9.  Julia and I went to Euro Disney.  We left the apartment about 8:30 and arrived at Disney at 10:00.  We took one subway and a train. The subway had a lot of steps down and  lot of walking to the train.  Julia had to walk slowly because of me, but it paid off in the end.   She  got a wheel chair for me in Disney and voila!   We got to the front of the line for each ride.  We did more rides in three house than you can usually do in two days.  Almost felt guilty but I couldn't have walked around the park. I have never been to Disneyland but Julia said it is smaller.  Went shopping for gifts (Emily just wait to see what you get!!!  Got Terry a t shirt that goes along with the blog.) Julia was in heaven and just found so many things that you can't get in the catalog or stores in the USA.  Good day until the end. The bus does a loop and so it goes past where we needed to get off the first time and 30 minutes later we finally got back.  Julia went up to the apartment and I went and ate with Chunky and the Kid.  We really had a long and busy day.  We are on the train now back to Julia's and hopefully a relaxing night.  Great  fun in Paris, but I enjoy smaller towns more with less people and less traffic.  We couldn't have asked for a better place to stay.   That really makes traveling easier when you have a nice apartment to come back to.  Nice and quiet and each of us got our own bedrooms so they didn't have to listen to Chunky snoring. Back to Chardonne.

Sacre Couer, highest natural point in Paris 

You see all things on Montmartre

76,000 Jewish people from Paris were rounded up and killed.  The new memorial lists all the victims

The queen in the living room

Our kitchen

Getting in and out of the shower was a tight squeeze

Dinner in the dining room

In the Louvre...Jackie Ramses????

Venus gets lot of attention

Mona is still smiling

Maybe because she is so popular.

The crowd in the Mona Lisa room is dwarfed by this work

Us in front of the Louvre

Sheri at the Arc

View from the top of the Arc

Jumping for joy in Paris

Julia and Sheri on the Seine

Hitching a ride at the train station

Enjoying the view on the trip back to Suisse