Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Switzerland








Yes, this is really what Switzerland looks like.









This is me at the castle at Gruyere.















Here are some more views of Gruyere. It is an old-style town built around a castle. It's right down the road from Bulle.
Ellen will be going to a campus in this location for the second half of her training.




















We took a trip to France on the weekend, and stayed in a great town in Provence called Valence. This is the hotel we stayed in there- the "Hotel de France"














From Valence, we drove down the Rhone until we got to the Mediterranean. This was Marseilles.











Then we drove back up through Provence to Switzerland. We rented a car for the week, and drove all over. I had a lot of fun driving an Alpha Romeo through Switzerland and Provence.








But when I drove too fast (over 140 kilometers an hour) the car talked to me in German and told me to slow down.













This is the view from our hotel room in Valence at night. We stayed there on the way down, then on the way back up again. This was the most delicious place in the world. We ate at a fine restaurant that served great Provencial food and local Cote du Rhone wine, and on Saturday morning went to a Farmer's Market, which was what every Farmer's Market in California wishes it could be.


















And then we got back to Switzerland, with its green hills, cows and peaked roofs.
















This is the town we stayed in: Yverdon. It is a little North of Lausanne, on the South end of Lac Neuchatel.


























The first school we visited was in Lausanne. Here are some photos of Ellen and me at the lake (which is called "Lac Le Mans" although for some reason people call it Lake Geneva) in Lausanne.





















But the school she decided on is Glion in Montreux. It's actually on a hill overlooking the town, which is why it's called "Glion-sur-Montreux".
Did you know they have a statue of Freddie Mercury in Monteux?

Anyway, this is the sidewalk in front of the school. You can see it on the right.


















And here are some views from the school cafeteria: