Noel at Printemps

In the Christmas ornament section of the department store Printemps.

Falafel at Chez Hanna

Our falafel wraps at Chez Hanna in the Marais were superb.

Louis XIV

A statue of Louis XIV in the courtyard of the Musée Carnavalet.

Locks of love

A view from the passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, a pedestrian bridge over the Seine. This is a common sight in Europe: padlocks etched with couples' names attached to bridges. The Musée d'Orsay stands in the background.

Carousel

The carousel near the Hôtel de Ville.

Blue and orange

Just up the street from Chez Janou. The blue and orange reminded me of my next quilt project.

Lunch at Chez Janou

We had a great meal at Chez Janou on my birthday.

Architecture!

Our Parisian apartment was just a couple blocks from the Promenade Plantée, an elevated former train track that has been turned into a landscaped walkway. Here: a local police station as seen from the walkway.

Street sign

Just around the corner from the Centre Pompidou.

Arc de Triomphe

La Marseillaise, one of the sculptures on the face of the Arc de Triomphe.

Paris, at last

The ferris wheel in the Place de la Concorde at sunset.

Lady Liberty

Colmar is the birthplace of Frédéric Bartholdi, the sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty. The city has its own replica in a roundabout that was next to our car rental company.

French dogs

Dogs seem to be a special class of citizen around our part of Europe. They go everywhere with their owners...on trains, in restaurants, to festivals. This terrier and his owner were watching a folk dance performance in Beblenheim.

Colmar train station art (part two)

Part two: after their rescue, they become models for the painter.

Colmar train station art

The Colmar train station had two large windows covered with art by French artist, Jean Le Gac.

In this image, a painter bravely jumps from a train to rescue twins from danger.

Storks

There is a large stork population in Alsace. I think most had already flown south for the winter, but there was still a nesting pair on the roof of the church in Bergheim.

Strasbourg cathedral

The bustling Christmas market in front of Strasbourg's cathedral, which Zak thinks looks like a one-eared dog.

Saint-Hippolyte concert

The second Advent concert we attended was performed in the village of Saint-Hippolyte. This is the ceiling of the church where the concert was held. On the recording: le quatuor des soeurs Umbdenstock (the Umbdenstock sisters' quartet).

Bergheim Advent concert

We attended two Christmas concerts while in Alsace. The first was in Bergheim, the village where we stayed.
The town's children performed in the former synagogue.

Colmar Christmas

We stayed in Colmar only long enough to visit the tourist office and pick up our rental car. Most of the buildings in the old town were already decorated for Christmas like this: with large dioramas attached to the facade.

Basel buffet

We took the train to Colmar, France, last Saturday, changing trains in Basel, where there is a noticeable difference between the French and Swiss train terminals. This former buffet is on the French platform.

Morat church

The ramparts and the decorative roof of the German church in Morat.

Swiss bride

 

In Morat on a very cold day.

Myself I shall adore

These sculpted landscape figures in Montreux brought to mind an aria from Semele, the opera we saw earlier this month: "Myself I shall adore, / if I persist in gazing. / No object sure before / was ever half so pleasing."

Montreux Ramseyer

Plentitude (1985)

An André Ramseyer sculpture on the waterfront in Montreux to add to the survey from early July.

St. Imier sculpture

A sculpture of St. Imier himself, founder of the town.

St. Imier clock

One of the clock towers in St. Imier. This type of single-hand clock is common around our part of Switzerland. 

The text under the clock face says, "Be careful because you don't know what hour our Lord is coming."

Tête de Moine

Tête de Moine (monk's head) is a local cheese made in the nearby Jura mountains. 

We visited a cheese factory that makes it in St. Imier.

Cow art

Kinetic cow sculpture in the Migros grocery store in the city center of Bern.

Bern donkeys

We visited Bern yesterday to tour the Parliament Building and see the old-town sights. At one end of the market, there was a fundraiser for people with genetic diseases featuring a small pen with donkeys for petting and riding.

Christmas chocolates

Both grocery chains stocked their Christmas chocolate aisles a few weeks ago. 

Here's the holiday classic: milk chocolate cat tongues.

Christmas party

Zak will be one of the four MCs at his lab's Christmas party this year. The theme is Neuchâtel through the ages.

Fog

I'm fresh out of new photos, but here's an oldie I took back in March. This is what Neuchâtel looks like in

winter: heavy fog. If I were to take this photo today, there would still be leaves on some of the trees
(see Sunday's photo, which was taken from the road above/behind the car wash), but the fog is accurate.
Goodbye, Alps. Farewell, other side of the lake.

Minimum wage

The concept of a minimum wage is up for a vote in a couple weeks.

Safety bands

Swiss children of a certain age wear these reflective safety bands when walking to or from school.

French class

I made a short recording and snapped a quick photo near the end of my French grammar class on Monday.

...transformer cette...cette phrase et dire, "Beaucoup d'accidents sont arrivés ce mois." Mais on étant "il est arrivé," je mets à distance. C'est quelque chose qui est beaucoup plus factuelle, beaucoup plus objective, que si je dis, "Beaucoup d'accidents sont arrivés ce mois."

Je mets le fait en évidence. Je mets l'information...[cough].... Les verbes pronominaux: "Il se peut qu'il revienne demain" c'est très utilisé. "Il se peut que...il est possible que." "Il se peut qu'il revienne demain...il est possible qu'il revienne demain." Là j'utilise "il est possible" qui est aussi une forme impersonelle, évidemment. Les verbs attibutives...

Onions

Thanks to a small misunderstanding over the price, we purchased a decorative strand of onions last weekend. These strands commemorate an event in 1405 when the city of Bern was on fire, and the farmers from the neighboring area of Fribourg helped put out the fire.

Swiss band

A sign listing the bands playing at a local festival a couple weeks ago. I can't help but wonder how the last band listed on Friday, a local Swiss rock band, came up with their name.

Reformed Evangelical Church

Without the cross on top, I might never have guessed this is a church.

Stadttheater Bern

We went to Bern yesterday to see Handel's opera/oratorio Semele at the intimate State Theater.

Hauterive waterway

I find Hauterive to be one of the most charming towns we've visited.

Swiss agriculture

"Farmer, but also a specialist in well-being. Swiss farmers ensure the well-being of animals."

This is part of an advertising campaign for Swiss agriculture.

Horse parking

This sign is posted in the center of Hauterive. Loosely translated: don't leave your horse here.

Burritos à la suisse

This sign caught my eye as I was walking to school yesterday.

Mexican burritos -- Swiss beef and red beans

Indian burritos -- Cold chicken with curried mayonnaise

Chinese burritos -- Swiss honeyed pork and bean sprouts

Oriental burritos -- Lamb

Hauterive vineyard

The grapevines are changing color too.

Fall rainbow

The hills behind our house are currently very colorful.

New building

A few months ago, I noticed a building near us that had holes in its roof. Soon afterwards, it was demolished. Excavation of the site soon followed, and now they're beginning to build. The excavation looks terraced, but it isn't. The building to be built here will eventually house Zak's lab.

Quince harvest

Our landlady harvested her quince this week.

Passage interdit

There are many sets of stairs all over Neuchâtel, but this may be my favorite. It always looks so beckoning

 the way it curves into darkness beyond its "forbidden" sign.

Pasta and bread

Additional preparations for our meal.