Holiday Happiness

Happy New Years!

Well, another year begins, so the reflection on the past one must begin.

As some of you may know already, my Mom came to visit me over the holidays, for about two and a half weeks and we had a wonderful time! We started here in Paris,

and I still had a week left of classes, and an interesting medical exam to receive my Carte de Sejours, (my visa to live here for the rest of the year). When I was studying hard at school, mom “hit the streets” and was out seeing museums and searching for a real millefeuille , no easy task. See saw le Louvre, le Musée Clunny, and le Musée d’Orsay… so much culture! One evening mom and I got all dolled up for an evening at the theater. I had tickets to see Purgatorio, Greco Program 2, a dance performance that modified Virgil’s Divine Comedy,” and was held at the Theatre de la Ville. Oh la la! What an experience! The dancers were incredible: their movements were different and fun, and they incorporated electric guitars into the action… needless to say, it was really fun.

(Here is a view of Paris from Montmartre)

One evening we were invited to a dinner party by our friend Michel, who had just finished her studies at the Cordon Bleu. We were very excited to enjoy some amazing food with our good friends. So, after a nice day at Montmartre just wandering around, exploring the unique shops there, we set off to our dinner, bottle of wine in hand. Boy, we were in for a night! Michel had a six course meal planned, complete with perfect French order. A fois gras dish, of course with the appropriate wine to accompany it. Then we had a scallop dish with truffle mashed potatoes; shrimp risotto (here in the photo), artichoke-heart salad, a very smelly (which means it was amazing!) cheese course, and then a mélange of good deserts.

We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying good food and coffee and exploring more museums before we left for our adventure in Switzerland. Here are a few photos from our walk-abouts in Paris...

Arriving in Bern in the afternoon, we wandered around the cold and amazing city. Mom also lived here when she was about my age, so it was fun to reminisce. We enjoyed a ovalmaltine-warm - a delicious malt/hot chocolate drink.

Here is a view of the city of Bern, where Albert Einstein discovered his Theory of Relativity.

Then, a train, bus and a quick car ride later we arrived in our winter wonderland that is Lis’ home. Lis, a dear friend of our family, lives in the foothills of the Alps with her husband, Ueli, and three boys, Kaspar, Hannes, and Moritz. I have been fortunate enough to spend several summer holidays with them, and I was so excited to spend the holidays with them.They are such a lovely family; we really enjoyed our time there with them at Christmas (which came with a beautiful six course meal), going to a salt water spa with a beautiful view of the Alps, playing lots of games, talking, laughing, massaging, cooking, eating, and being very happy. Some of the pictures here are from a beautiful walk we did… you can see just how picturesque there home is.

The Alps as seen just behind their home. The valley is covered in a sea of fog...

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the trip...

It was a really foggy morning, as you can see. But we walked up the hill a little bit and started to come out of it. This is from our passing from fog so thick, we couldn't see the sun, to a perfectly clear sky without a cloud in sight!

Here is a photo of one of their sheep guarding dogs... they are massive and very smart! (sorry for the crink in your neck... I couldn't turn it!)


Here is baby Paris, who I got to feed a few times (a simple highlight to my trip!) Boy was she hungry and feisty... thus why I dubbed her Paris!

After a week in Rueggisberg Switzerland, we made our way to David’s parent’s house. We arrived in the very cold city of Neustadt, but had a very warm welcome. We enjoyed a traditional Germany meal in a traditional German restaurant where mom and David’s family got to know each other… it went well! We spent New Year’s Eve Day in casual fashion: waking up late and enjoying a leisurely breakfast. The kids all left in the afternoon to make our way to our respective cities where we would bring in the New Year! David and I attended a party at his friends house, with several other friends, in Karlsruhe. We enjoyed a very interesting night: fun fondue, lots of wine, firesaltsbollen, a hot wine with a huge flaming alcohol-soaked sugar cube, and champagne at midnight, which we enjoyed outside with lots of fire works! It was loud and colorful sky that gradually became foggy from all of the fireworks. In the romantic lighting, we all returned home to play some games… limbo and the like.

Here is a photo of us playing soccer with our lungs... quite hard after a few blows!


We slept late and rushed to meet up with the parents and David’s sister, Christine, in my favorite German city Heidelberg. This city, especially during non-wintertime, is absolutely incredible and I can highly recommend visiting it. It is very old and well preserved. There is one of the oldest castles there that you can visit with a humor-filled tour, which we did and rather enjoyed, despite that it was freezing and icy!
Our final evening all together we dined in an Italian restaurant, and then made our way home, dozing all the way.
Thanks mom!