Crazy weather

A coupe of days ago we had a freak hail storm with hail stones the size of grapes. Don't believe me? Look at this... our courtyard

and this... I had to stop her from making a hail angel.

Strange, but it beats an Arizona summer any day!

This one is for Ivy

Maisie's favorite summer activity is staying home and making houses for her Barbies/LPS/Webkinz/American Girls, etc. In summers past she would have had Ivy to help but alas, we are alone here.

Today she spent a fair amount of time building a house in her fireplace. You know what they say.... location, location, location.

Notice the lovely waterfall and foaming water on the left as well as the miniature palm tree in the center.

This here is astronaut Ken.

I think we need to get out more.... We miss you Lunts!

Tour de France

I am about 3 or 4 posts behind but I thought I'd jump ahead and show you all what we had the chance to see today. In a stroke of luck the route of the Tour de France came through our town. The Cantonal road that leads to Martigny and then Verbier (today's finish line) is just a block from our house so we watched the race on TV until we knew they were close and then walked down in time to see them ride by.

Here is our spot. Some of the locals painted encouraging slogans on the street, or so I thought. I've since learned that these are messages for/from Livestrong. Check Matty B's comment for an informative link.

Here come the leaders....

I think the guy in the front left spot with the red jersey is Cancellara, the top Swiss rider.

I think the kid in yellow is mine!

There was about a 3 minute lull and then the rest of the riders came over the bridge....

They were so close!

And there they go....

A once in a lifetime experience. Very cool!

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!