Swiss Alps, on the trail
I no longer have a sense of time. I don’t know what day it is and I don’t know which mountains these are. I just walk.
Swiss Alps, Warm up Hike
Lake Brienzersee
No biggie. Just 8.8km, 300m up, 300m down. Getting ready for an early start tomorrow!
Menthon-Saint-Bernard
The morning before the morning before our Big Swiss Hike.
1 - A tiny public library with an insect hotel built into its attic.
2 - Breakfast at Bernoline’s on the square, where I had thebest soft boiled eggs on toast. Why does making soft-boiled eggs at home scare me? I need to figure this out, they are so deliciously elegant.
3 - Memorial to WW2 resistance fighters in the region. including…
4 - Jeanne Arragain ran cafe in Annecy that served as an underground hub for the secret army. She was eventually arrested, deported and died at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp on March 20, 1945.
A quick trip to Seattle
We moved from Seattle to London in 2015… and although I have been back a few times over the last decade, it’s been quite a while!
So it was a real treat to go back, if only for a long weekend. The occasion: a friend’s 60th Birthday! I danced my fool head off - so much so that I woke up in the middle of the night with leg cramps - but it was so worth it! :)
I don’t typically share photos of friends/family, so instead - here are a few snaps for flavour. Clicking on each image will enlarge and give context…
xo, L
Good Eagle and Laura
I just finished watching the new Little House on the Prairie and I Ioved it so much!
I’m tempted to download the entire season and watch it again on my way to Seattle. LOVE!
Mont Veyrier - Mont Baron Loop
So hot. So uphill. Sore toes.
Note to self: Remember to check All Trails. It’s marked “hard.” Had I known, I would’ve brought a sandwich (and left earlier in the day). So tired. And hungry.
A little bookshop in Annecy (since 1731)
1) Camille Claudel, scultprice, 1864 - 9143, 2) Librairie Le Vieil Annecy, 3) record player in the middle of the store, playing classical music.
You know that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts goes into the fancy boutique in Beverly Hills and is dismissed by the rude staff? That’s how I imagined it going when I entered this bookshop.
Librairie Le Vieil Annecy has been open, more or less, since 1731. They only sell French books, so I assumed I’d be shooed out the door as soon as they smelled the American on me.
But that didn’t happen! The manager, Mr. Pierre, was so kind and generous with his time and knowledge of books - a true booklover at heart. He let me browse for an hour - and when I became fixated on a portrait hanging on the wall, he gave me an art history lesson on the life and times of Camille Claudel.
I enjoyed our conversation so much that I might just become his penpal.
Indiana
mom’s house
So much to say about this trip, but no time to write it! Here are the bullet points:
I spent the first three days in the hospital with my dad, who is doing much better now that his appendix has been removed. He even made it to the wedding! During the ceremony, he sat precariously on a folding chair with his eyes closed, sweating and swaying in circles while I strategized about how to catch him if he fell over. (Happy to say, he did not.)
The wedding was beautiful, of course! The bride was preceded down the aisle by a 9-month old riding a remote-controlled 4-wheeler that sprayed bubbles out the back.
Dan and Sasha flew in for the wedding! They were only there 36 hours, but it was great to see them. (Sophia’s at NYU Amsterdam for the summer term.)
My mom was a star, as always. Unfortunately, I missed the campfire cookout because I was at the hospital with dad. What will she do with all those veggie hot dogs?
Last meal before I left for the airport: nachos and leftover wedding cake.
I took so few photos that I hardly have any to post! But here are a few snaps.
Before the wedding! my sister (mother of the bride), my niece (the bride) and my niece-in-law (sister-in-law of the bride)
I mean, really.
cutie patootie!
Haras, Annecy
Haras eateries are now open! Annecy turned the old horse stables (haras) into eateries, cafes, bars, museum and exhibition halls with a courtyard in the middle. It’s gorgeous. Annecy is really upping its game… now if they can only solve the traffic/parking issue.
Watching the sunset from my bedroom.
Annecy Festival
They’ve taken over the city! Pop up venues everywhere and excitement is in the air.
Woudsend, Friesland
I've been to Amsterdam a few times, but honestly (embarrasingly?) it never occurred to me to visit the countryside. But as luck would have it, some friends won a free stay at a cottage in the small village of Woudsend and they invited us to join them. How could we say no? And what a surprising delight it was to explore the countryside, farm lands, canals and windmills.
I never harbored a secret desire to learn how windmills work, but our village had two working mills, both open and giving tours. One mill was grinding flour, the other sawing wood - both were utterly fascinating! I took way too many photos and videos, but I’ll spare you. Just know that if you’re ever given the opportunity to tour a working windmill, you should do it!
The food in our little village was equally delightful. The croissants in the bakery were made using the flour from the neighboring windmill! For lunch, I had maybe the best turkish eggs of my life at Cafe de Watersport. And we had an excellent dinner in a old mennonite church-turned-restaurant called ’tPonjke. The name translates “church collection bag” in Friesland - which is exactly how the bill was delivered to our table! So clever.
One last thing - as luck would have it, we were there for the annual village summer party. All the locals were out enjoying live music and playing games like Stack the Beer Crates (?)! The whole place felt like a dutch Stars Hollow.
What a great weekend - and a refreshing change from my usual city escapes!
One day in Amsterdam
A few snaps from museum hopping…
A typical scene in Amsterdam: the canal, a boat, a bike and a beautiful building.
La Tournette
Trying to get some higher elevation training under my belt before my big Swiss hike in August.
Met some friendly goats. (Alpine ibex)
Lake Annecy, from La Tournette
my daughter
her spirit animal
Heading back down the mountain.