Mum-Poc Visit Part III

Last Leg Standing

"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of other things. Of shoes and ships and ceiling wax, of cabbages and kings."
It was depressing as a child to see the walrus having devoured those innocently cute oysters. They were lured away never to see their mother/grandma again! What tragedy in childrens' films. I suppose you have to learn it sometime.
Above photo: Mum, Cyril & Meinrad (Cyril's dad)

My new favorite way of sightseeing: boat cruise!


City of Konstanz, Germany


Our boat trip: Kreuzlingen, CH on the Bodensee (Lake Constance),
into the Rhein River to Schaffhausen, CH.
I just spent 10+ minutes looking for a map, but got nothing.


Windy & cold on deck!


Sitting in the warm, drinking tea, watching the scenery go by.


Just to clarify once more, it was windy and cold.
Cyril seems to be loving it.


Erin "Lazy Eye" Stodola, hello.


Nature, hello.


The bridge went flying over our heads.


Deserted streets of Schaffhausen.
Switzerland was playing that day...


This way to...


WATERFALL


The Rheinfall.


You don't want to go rafting here.




Patience pays off.
We waited 15 hours for another group to get out of our shot,
and in the end they offered to take a picture.


It was mighty powerful and mighty misty.


My girls.
I was crouching, that's why I look like the shortest one...
(PS, who looks like who?)

Well my little oysters, the time has come to get grillin'! There will be no oysters involved in this meal, you can be sure of that.
Till next time, find the person on the bus with a smile on his face for no apparent reason and realise you should be doing the same.

Mum-Poc Visit Part II

Onward, Land-Lubbers

Right here, this nicely sums up the weather in Switzerland from June 3 to 8. "Oh, let's take a nice scenic train ride through the Alps that comes down beautifully to Lake Geneva." "How lovely!" "Why can't we see any mountains?" "Oh goodness, it seems to be... now what's the right phrase? Yes, pissing rain." And foggy, if you want to up-it a notch.

Although it was a nice ride.
They probably enjoyed it more than we did
because they didn't know what they were missing.


It gave us time to goof off.


Ooh aah, Château de Chillon.


Who is stepping on my head?


The view toward Montreux.


The view from the secret balcony!
Joc decided she enjoys opening closed doors in centuries-old castles.


Us on the secret balcony!
I told her to make a
"heck yes, we are so bad!" face and this is what she did.


Upon discovering Jocelyn's love of snooping,
Cyril hid in a tunnel where he figured she'd look.
We all screamed.


The King's bedroom.


Window.


Myriame having a paroose around.
(PS, why is that word not in the dictionary?
It's clearly a real word.)


Mm, wine under progress.
The ride from Montreux to Lausanne.


BEST WAFFLES EVAR.


Joc & Mum in Geneva.
There's a giant football atop the Jet d'Eau,
but it's covered by the flag.


Jocelyn being a squirrel.


Euro fever. Oh help me.
The mamas look nice, though.


Cathedral in Geneva.


The door will eat you!


Inside having a well-deserved break.


And this nicely sums up how we felt when the day was done and over.
Again, Poc is being more subtle here with the facial expressions...

I'll let you all in on a sneak peak (it would seem I really like this phrase, as it always sounds like I just used it every time I use it. It's not even really a sneak peak this time either. Is that a self-hint?) at my summer plans.

July 2: Bern - Paris
July 4: Paris - Bristol
July 10: London - Cork
July 17: Shannon - Paris
July ?: Paris - Bern
blah blah fun sun packing blah dah
August 6: Zurich - Vancouver - (most likely) Osoyoos

Hopefully we can get HERE, to the Ireland you had no idea existed.
Any suggestions on what to see in this green green country would be lovely!

Here's to wishing you were here at Euro 08 madness and I was where you are.

Zürich

Welcome to Zürich, Citizens of the World

Andrea, Cyril, Vanessa & I went to Zürich a few weeks ago. Although I had been there, all I remember of it was the inside of a giant Coop grocery store, and the store where Lily bought her Swatch watch. We went to that Coop this time and I recognized the chocolate area.
I thought you should all know this: when I work on the computer for long(ish) periods of time, my right hand turns to icy cold stone. To remedy this I must hold hands with myself or sit on it. Both of which prevent me from continuing my work. Productivity = cold hand. Sitting with my hand under my bum = warm hand & no work. Pickle.

The boyfriend and myself.


What can I say, I hang out with good ones.


Red stems.


FLOWER EXPLOSION.


Boat ride on the Zürichersee.
There were some pretty hostile parents on this ship.


Old town/possibly the side of the cathedral.


We stopped for margaritas.


I thought margarita was spelled with an 'h' tucked in somewhere,
but my spell check seems to be proving me wrong.


I am not the best of spellers so I don't know what I was expecting.
I recently discovered how to spell 'necessary'.


Andrea the Au pair.


Beauties!
Actually Andrea does look good.
Damn girl, you're making the rest of us look extra bad.


Jacques' Swiss Army-grade specs.
I didn't have my glasses and thus
I was blessed with this magnificent eye wear all morning.

Here is a little sneak peak at My Life Right Now:
WORK
SLEEP (though not as much as desired)
GET READY FOR MUMMY & SISTER
(ONE WEEK, aaaaah)
[which at this moment consists of: selecting & booking hostels/hotels, preparing What-Not-To-Pack, What-To-Pack & other lists, arranging activities in Switzerland & Paris, organizing lodging in Paris, visits, moolah, people, beds, jimble jam ling ding and whathaveyou (I think I am making this sound more onerous that it in actuality is)]
GETTING THROUGH MY BRAIN THAT I AM LEAVING IN TWO MONTHS AND AM DONE WORK IN ONE

That last one is beginning to be quite a doozie.

I feel like I am on the brink of becoming really stressed out and it feels like there's nothing I can do about most of it.