I happen to be seated on a park bench placed "In Honor of Paul N. H. Gouvin (1920-1999) and Lumina 'Kit' Cayer Gouvin (1923-2013)", says the bronze placard afixed to the backrest. It's further inscribed with, "The intangible thing is the beauty part of life." Eliza, you certainly have a way of seeing and capturing the intangible. Thanks for sharing.
At age 14, I was inseparable with a boy the same age, whose parents were from Switzerland. I don't think they meant to be, but they had such superior attitudes. It must be the mountain air. Then he ghosted me and hung out with a gaggle of cheerleaders for our junior high football team (do they still play tackle football in Wisconsin junior high schools?) He went to Silicon Valley during college, made is first million there, moved not back to those mountains but to some remote range in southeast Asia, developed some kind of app he sold to the Chinese for his second million and lives a hermit life now. After all, taxes in Switzerland are astronomical.
Great pictures. We love to travel to Europe. But we are cheap. So we will never go to Switzerland.
If you want wonderful history at bargain-basement prices, the best choice is the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia), Bulgaria, Albania, or parts of Greece. Hungary is also cheap for the moment, but if they go on the Euro, prices will rise - go now.
If you ever decide to go, I have many suggestions. Serbia is a great country to visit. We stayed in Xotel Moskva in Beograd, the best hotel in that city, for $159/night.
I'll probably go to the UK next -- lots of reasons: conferences, meetings, TERFs. But the next time I have free time to travel, I want to go to Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Montenegro. (I admit my friend and I stayed in Zurich for less than $159 a night but suffered for it...)
I don't like London, but my husband's cousin went to UCL and majored in art history, so we got an expert tour of several museums in London when we visited. The Kenwood Museum in Hampstead Heath is wonderful if your like art history.
There are some reasonably priced Bed and Breakfasts in Cambridge. At least when we visited (maybe we were unlucky), hotels in London were very overpriced.
I remember having a satisfying dinner of steak frites in Zurich for 4 CHF. It was 1970 and the US dollar was king. My, how things have changed. I hate to think what my Swiss boarding school costs today.
Fabulous pictures. I had a funny experience in the Paul Klee museum in Lucerne once. I was trying out my very basic German on the friendly lady who was running the reception there. My accent, though by no means perfect, is better than my actual language skills, so she got the impression I understood a lot more than I did, and launched into a huge monologue of which I understood about 90%. I just blinked at her. She quickly got it and reverted to English. Oh, the humiliation. The exhibition made up for it though. I bought a little post card of "X-chen" and framed it. Happy memories. Thanks for a lovely photo gallery.
I happen to be seated on a park bench placed "In Honor of Paul N. H. Gouvin (1920-1999) and Lumina 'Kit' Cayer Gouvin (1923-2013)", says the bronze placard afixed to the backrest. It's further inscribed with, "The intangible thing is the beauty part of life." Eliza, you certainly have a way of seeing and capturing the intangible. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Eliza. They're all gorgeous - and the one of the chess players really stands out as an excellent photo.
At age 14, I was inseparable with a boy the same age, whose parents were from Switzerland. I don't think they meant to be, but they had such superior attitudes. It must be the mountain air. Then he ghosted me and hung out with a gaggle of cheerleaders for our junior high football team (do they still play tackle football in Wisconsin junior high schools?) He went to Silicon Valley during college, made is first million there, moved not back to those mountains but to some remote range in southeast Asia, developed some kind of app he sold to the Chinese for his second million and lives a hermit life now. After all, taxes in Switzerland are astronomical.
Great pictures. We love to travel to Europe. But we are cheap. So we will never go to Switzerland.
If you want wonderful history at bargain-basement prices, the best choice is the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia), Bulgaria, Albania, or parts of Greece. Hungary is also cheap for the moment, but if they go on the Euro, prices will rise - go now.
Yeah, the Balkans are top of my list. I was traveling with a friend, otherwise could never ever have afforded Switzerland.
Ioannina
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannina
I do really want to go there.
If you ever decide to go, I have many suggestions. Serbia is a great country to visit. We stayed in Xotel Moskva in Beograd, the best hotel in that city, for $159/night.
I'll probably go to the UK next -- lots of reasons: conferences, meetings, TERFs. But the next time I have free time to travel, I want to go to Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Montenegro. (I admit my friend and I stayed in Zurich for less than $159 a night but suffered for it...)
I do not like London, but Cambridge and Edinburgh are beautiful.
I admit I just really like the UK generally (and love London), but Cambridge and Edinburgh are exceptionally nice.
I don't like London, but my husband's cousin went to UCL and majored in art history, so we got an expert tour of several museums in London when we visited. The Kenwood Museum in Hampstead Heath is wonderful if your like art history.
There are some reasonably priced Bed and Breakfasts in Cambridge. At least when we visited (maybe we were unlucky), hotels in London were very overpriced.
I remember having a satisfying dinner of steak frites in Zurich for 4 CHF. It was 1970 and the US dollar was king. My, how things have changed. I hate to think what my Swiss boarding school costs today.
Great photos, Eliza! Who's the extreme self-harmer, and what is that last picture, please?
The extreme self-harmer?
Last pic is a Paul Klee.
Painting of a lady sticking a sword in herself. Just wondered - it might be one of the Greek mythic figures?
Lucretia, surely, I think
Amazing photos! Thanks for sharing!
Stellar photos! Thanks for sharing.
Fabulous pictures. I had a funny experience in the Paul Klee museum in Lucerne once. I was trying out my very basic German on the friendly lady who was running the reception there. My accent, though by no means perfect, is better than my actual language skills, so she got the impression I understood a lot more than I did, and launched into a huge monologue of which I understood about 90%. I just blinked at her. She quickly got it and reverted to English. Oh, the humiliation. The exhibition made up for it though. I bought a little post card of "X-chen" and framed it. Happy memories. Thanks for a lovely photo gallery.
Unless you meant 9%, 90% is not bad!
Ha ha! Yes - I meant I understood about 10%. Wrong way around, sadly!
Not just an excellent writer, also a gifted snapper
Beautiful pics--you have an eye.
Fujifilm X-T20 with 18-55mm kit lens, so a beginner camera.