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| Conor sends everyone a big hello!! |
As usual, it has been a very busy couple of weeks with lots of visitors, a spectacular weekend trip to Lausanne, Switzerland and TWO trips to Paris! We've also battled and won a domestic war against a mouse.
Jordan's Visit to Strasbourg:
Jordan came for a very fun visit at the end of January. He flew into Basel on Saturday morning and Conor, James and I picked him up at the airport. Conveniently, the way back to Strasbourg from Basel takes you down the "Route du Vin" (the wine road) so we stopped off at our favorite winery on the way home.
We had a great couple of days in Strasbourg but the highlight was that Jordan and I were able to escape to Paris for a night (thanks James for watching Conor for the night!!!). We dropped Conor off at daycare in the morning and were in Paris only a couple of hours later. Here are some pics of us cruising around:
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| View from our hotel in Montmartre |
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| Sacre Coeur |
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| Moulin Rouge |
Shameless Plug: If you or anyone you know is going to Barcelona, you should really consider booking an atypical tour through Jordan's tour company: http://www.hithisisbarcelona.com/
Dols found us our hotel, made us reservations at a delicious restaurant, and showed us around the Marais neighborhood on Sunday. Here's Jordan, Dols and I admiring some pretty amazing looking French pastries:
We also visited Dols' apartment which has a stunning view of Sacre Coeur. See for yourself:
Back in Strasbourg, we had some quality downtown at home. We made some good dinners, watched (and loved) "The King's Speach" and played with Conor. Much to my delight, Jordan loves Conor (who wouldn't you might be asking yourself ... he's so darn loveable ... but Jordan is not a baby person by nature).
The Mouse:
Just before Jordan's visit, James and I saw a mouse dash through our kitchen. Neither of us had seen any evidence of mice before the little guy decided to run in front of us. But, from that point on, we started hearing it (them) in the wall behind our bed and I found a few droppings. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Needless to say, I started a full fledged anti-mouse assault which has included laying traps, closing any and all openings into the apartment and blasting the inside of the walls with poison. We've been mouse-free for almost two weeks now.
Lausanne, Switzerland:
Since I was busy hanging out with Jordan before we went to Lausanne, I didn't have time to do any research or learn anything about the city. All I knew was that it was on Lake Geneva. How lucky because it was great to be so pleasanty surprised. Lausanne is beautiful!
We stayed at our Italian friends' Michele and Francesca Diana's new house. Meet the Diana's (they're expecting a little girl in May):
They have a beautiful apartment in a converted farmhouse with a great view of Lake Geneva. This is the view from their house at sunset:
On Saturday, the Diana's took us on a drive all the way around Lake Geneva. Did you know Lake Geneva is also called Lake Leman (Lac de Leman) in French? The French don't call it Lake Geneva because that would be admitting that the lake is more Swiss than French.
Regardless of what you call it, the lake and all the villages around it are spectacular. Here are some pics:
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| Can you see the French Alps in the background? |
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| Us with Michele in the village of Yvoire |
We had a delicious lunch in Yvoire, a medieval village on the French side. The village speciality is freshly caught, fried perch in a citrus butter sauce. So delicious! Conor also enjoyed his lunch:
After lunch, we drove back into Switzerland and made it to the Lavaux wine growing region ... just in time for sunset! (Warning: lots of pictures to follow)
The terraced vineyards grow on the hills above the lake making for some pretty spectacular views. The main wine grape variety grown in this are is called Chasselas - it's sweet and perfect for sipping lakeside while the sun sets.
The next day, back in Lausanne, it was warm enough to stroll along the lake and eat lunch outside. After seeing all the sailboats in the harbor, James decided he may want us to relocate to Lausanne permanently.
Anji and Jim's Visit:
Anji and Jim (James' sister and dad) came to visit Conor this past week. Conor was incredibly excited to hang out with the both of them:
A nice benefit of visiting Conor is that they also got to spend some time with James and I. The second-to-best highlight was that we went to a performance by Strasbourg's Philharmonic Orchestra. My violin teacher got us a couple free tickets so we decided to make a night out of it. The orchestra performed three pieces but the last one, a Beethoven piece, was incredible because of the violin soloist who ... for lack of a more cultured way of saying it ... kicked ass!
The highlight of their visit was ... another trip to Paris! We got up early and TGV'ed it to Paris and were in the Louvre by about 2pm. Conor wasn't super impressed by the Venus de Milo:
Nor was he all that impressed by the actual palace of the Louvre:
The next day we walked around Paris and enjoyed delicious croque-madame sandwiches at a cafe near the Eiffel Tower.
Conor Update:
Two more teeth! After sleeping like a crazy baby for about a week, James and I had several theories about what was going on. Maybe he had gas, maybe he wasn't eating enough dinner, maybe there was a full moon. But, while we were wrestling around on the floor one night, I noticed that his front, top two teeth had come through. Since then (knock on wood) he's been sleeping through the night!
Conor has also become very mom-attached. He follows my every move. It's quite cute most of the time, except when I really need a moment to myself, like to use the bathroom. He's also started biting me. And only me. He'll start by giving me a kiss on the cheek and then, all of a sudden, clamp down with his four little razor teeth.
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| That's How I Roll :) |
