Harp

Since Maisie is considering taking up the harp (of course we had to go with the largest and most expensive instrument!) we met with the local harp teacher and she invited us to her student's recital this past Saturday in the Eglise du Choex. It is a tiny church about 15 minutes drive from our house. The students range in age from 5 to 15 and after listening to them play, Maisie is ready to start her lessons (in the Fall). We'll keep you posted on her progress....

The church was really beautiful and the altars were all 3D sculpture (no frescoes here).

Yurt!

Welcome to our yurt weekend.

We took the Golden Pass train up to Rochers de Naye (elevation 2002 meters) to "camp". We rented one of the yurts (the white round objects in the background) which are semi-permanent structures. They sleep up to eight people and have "beds", blankets and space heaters. There are two restaurants there as well and we were served a delicious fondue dinner and a breakfast of coffee, juice, cereals and breads.

The place is also a Marmot sanctuary. Maisie and her friend Chloe who went with us were more interested in the wildlife (snails, caterpillars and marmots) than the hiking but we all had a great time.

Here are the girls on their hike

Michael enjoying the view from a "safe" vantage point

More views along the hike

In winter they set up a Santaland and offer a special visit with St. Nick. They keep reindeer there year round.

Here I am with the Reindeer who looked like he had a little case of the mange. I had never seen one up close before and didn't realize their cute little antlers are fuzzy! Live and learn.

Vienna

I"ve wanted to go to Vienna ever since I learned of the Secessionist Movement in Architectural History class. Well, we were lucky enough to get to tag along (kind of) with Michael when he went for a business trip earlier this month. So, here it is...the Secession building.

The sculpture below is at the Spanish Riding School. Maisie liked the pigeon's choice of resting place and so, here is the photo. We attended a practice session and got to see the beautiful horses dance around the venue (no photography permitted, sorry).

We spent a fair amount of time at the Museum Quarter. The museums were great but the restaurants and the courtyard were even better.

Maisie and the art of doing the funky chicken

Courtyard of the Museum Quarter. It looks empty now but around lunch time it was difficult to find a vacant yellow lounge thingy.

After visiting Saint Stephen's Cathedral (not sure how I ended up without a photo of that!) and climbing the 343 stairs to the top we rewarded ourselves with a carriage ride around the old part of the city. Michael likes this photo because he gave Maisie "horse ears".

Thanks to our tour guide for this one.

For those of you who know Michael, no vacation is complete with out a death march (walking way too far without food or water). At least we found a beautiful park to enjoy. We liked the no dogs allowed sign.

and that's about it from Vienna. It was a great visit!

Thanks Owen and Maya

Maisie says "Thanks" to Owen and Maya for the birthday art!

More Paris

OK, finally a day at home with nothing on the schedule! So, here are the rest of the Paris pics...

We arrived in the afternoon and took some time to check out the area surrounding our hotel. Here we are on the Seine looking toward Notre Dame.

Here we are at the Louvre bright and early which turned out to be a good idea since the place was packed by the time we came out and even at that early hour we had to throw a few elbows to get a good look at the Mona Lisa.

Maisie feeling at home in the Louvre

Of course Maisie sniffed out the best burger joint in the city. Does it matter that it was only 10:30 am?

No trip is complete without a burger.

Back to Notre Dame, this time close up. We fully meant to tour the inside but the line was like the kind you'd see at Disneyland so we opted to enjoy the exterior details and head to the Eiffel Tower (photos in the previous post).

Maisie getting less cooperative about photos.

This is the Jardin Luxembourg that was across the street from our hotel. Another beautiful day. We walked around for an hour or two before heading to the airport.

Good bye Paris!