East Berlin apartments

Many apartment buildings in the former East are surprisingly modern with cheerful colors.

Templehof

The grand, recently retired Templehof Airport in the former West has become a public park, used by kite flyers,
in-line skaters, and the odd bagpipe group. It was quite strange to bicycle down the former runways.

Berlin week: wir bleiben alle

"We are all staying."

A former squat, in the former East.

Belgian coast

The coast is lined with condos. Click on the photo to see the large-scale panorama.

The River Cam

Near the end of our tour, we heard tales of student pranks involving the bridges over the River Cam. 

Clare College stands in the background.

Pembroke College, Cambridge

On Sunday, we had rain during our walking tour of the town and colleges. The streets and sidewalks 

of Cambridge were narrow and full of people, but inside the colleges was tranquil.

Cambridge week

Leaving London, we headed up to Cambridge to visit American friends who live there.
On Saturday, we took a long bike ride out to the Wimpole Estate on another beautiful day.

London bike tour

A stop on our Fat Tire bike tour at the Horse Guards Parade. 

The beach volleyball competition of the Olympics was held here.

Summer 2012

This summer, we ate lots of salads and pies. I did a lot of genealogical research, and a few sewing projects.
And we stayed close to home.

Blue and orange

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

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.

Strasbourg cathedral

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

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.

Reformed Evangelical Church

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

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.

Bologna palette

This was the view from our hotel window in Bologna, our last stop in Emilia Romagna. If we lived in Bologna and I made a blog from there, it would have to be called Bologna Oranges.

Reggio bells

We stayed in the Ostello Basilica della Ghiara, a hostel housed in a former convent, in Reggio. A bell rang on the half hour to keep us up on the time, even through the night. Occasionally a carillon played a short tune. The bell that can be heard around 30 seconds into the clip is the time-keeping bell.

Reggio Emilia

We stayed in Reggio Emilia for three nights. The main street of town was hung with flags.

Italy! Milano Centrale

We took three trains to get to our first destination: Neuchatel to Bern (about 30 minutes, CHF 9 per person), Bern to Milan (about 3.5 hours, CHF 38 pp), Milan to Reggio Emilia (about 2 hours, EUR 11.50 pp). Milan's central train station is large (24 platforms), bright, and a bit chaotic.

Rainbow sculpture

I especially liked this installation by Roger Pfund in one of the building's openings.