May 2012

In May, we went for a hike near Solothurn with friends from Minnesota who are now working at Cambridge University, but were in Switzerland doing research that week. Zak ran four of the six Tour de Canton races, and I nearly photographed him once. We celebrated our second wedding anniversary. And we took a long weekend trip up to southern Germany to visit a friend from our Portland days. Paul took us punting on the Neckar River in Tübingen, to Bebenhausen Abbey, and to Hohenzollern Castle, and shared his encyclopedic knowledge of European church history with us.

April 2012

In April, we visited the UK for the first time. We stayed in Selside, a miniscule village in the Yorkshire Dales National Park; went for a hike halfway up Ingleborough mountain, turning back after the third hail shower; visited the Brontë Parsonage in Haworth; took a long walk around Bolton Abbey; and danced at Scandimoot's two evening dances. [I've updated the map page with pins marking these places.] For Downton Abbey fans, Selside is due west of Ripon, where the show is fictionally set.

Goats

This is a photo of the goats at the Abbey back in April. The audio file is of them grazing last weekend.
Only one goat in the herd of 50 wears a bell.

Curly-haired pigs

These guys are a new addition to the menagerie at the Abbey. I think they may be Mangalitsas.

Poppy field

We often walk along this path on Sundays. It's up by the abbey and close to the fields where the sheep graze.

Sheep pasture

The sheep of the Abbaye de Fontaine-André graze in a pasture above town.

Abbaye de Fontaine-André

We have passed this abbey, which sits above Neuchâtel, several times on our long Sunday walks. 

The striped shutters are common in our part of Switzerland. www.fontaine-andre.ch