The Power of the Franc (or the lack of power in the USD)

I am sure everyone knows how the the dollar is doing against the Pound and Euro, but I don't think the Swiss Franc to USD numbers show up in the nightly news. The chart below (from http://www.x-rates.com/) shows how the Franc has increased in value over the last few months.

The exchange rate is a daily topic of conversation here because most the people I know either have expenses in non CHF (Swiss Francs) currencies or are paid in USD.

Swiss map

Here is and good map of Switzerland.

http://map.search.ch/index.fr.html

Three Year Anniversary!

Today is Rowan and his bunny's three year anniversary. The first picture is them today and the 2nd picture is when they first met.

Santa didn't come last night

Rowan came into our bedroom at six this morning and announced that Santa didn't come last night. He was very disappointed.

Here is the first of what I am guessing will be many letters to Santa this year

--------------------------

Dear Santa,

Please bring me a car carrier for Christmas. I realize I have to wait for 9 months until Christmas.

Please also bring a tanker truck and more cars.

I would also like books, big trucks, trains, legos, and lincoln logs.

Thank you,
Rowan

Time Zones!

Here is a good web site for calculating the time in different parts of the world.
On a related topic, Europe has sprung forward as of this morning.

Saint Patrick's Day Info

from swissinfo

When Irish history met Swiss hospitality
During the "Great Winter" of 1608, a group of Irish nobles passed through Switzerland on a journey of exile which marked a turning point in Irish history. On March 17 the Irish celebrate their national day, and this year Switzerland has a significant place in the celebrations which are linked with the 400th anniversary of the "Flight of the Earls".

Tadhg Ó Cianáin, the scribe who was accompanying the Gaelic princes, said of the Swiss people that they were "the most just, honest, and untreacherous in the world, and the most faithful to their promises".

The Irish group had set sail from Donegal in the northwest of Ireland in September 1607 and later left some of their party in Louvain in Belgium.

A group of 30 men and women arrived in Basel in March 1608 and travelled from there to Lucerne. They then crossed Lake Lucerne heading for the Gotthard Pass. Their aim was to reach Milan, then under Spanish control, and seek military assistance from the Spanish.

On St Patrick's Day 1608 the party, led by earls Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Rory O'Donnell of Tyrconnel, crossed the Devil's Bridge near Andermatt in the lower reaches of the Gotthard Pass.

This part of the journey did not go smoothly, as the Irish ambassador to Switzerland and keen historian James Sharkey explained to swissinfo.

"A packhorse belonging to O'Neill fell down an ice-bound ravine in the middle of a winter storm. They tried desperately and succeeded in getting the horse up but they lost a substantial fortune in gold."

"It has never been found to this day. I sometimes joke to my Swiss friends that it's only a coincidence that Zurich in the years afterwards became one of the great financial centres of Europe."

This year the Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate John Hume will join the ambassador, members of the Swiss-Irish community and descendants of the Ulster families that took part in the Flight at Andermatt to retrace the steps of the ill-fated travellers.

The timing of the Irish chieftains' journey was unfortunate. A rapprochement was taking place between Spain and England as France began to emerge as a greater mutual enemy.

Far from returning to Ireland to reclaim their lands and re-establish the Gaelic way of life, they all died in exile.

"Although the Irish were greeted with great honour when they arrived in Spanish-controlled Milan, the secret order of the day was that they were not to be allowed to journey to Spain and the group was diverted to Rome," Sharkey said.

Extracts from Ó Cianáin's account are on display in the Flight of the Earls exhibition at the Zurich James Joyce Foundation.
Cultural ties between Switzerland and Ireland stretch back much further than the 1600s.

A thousand years before the Flight of the Earls, a band of Irish monks, led by St Columbanus also crossed through Switzerland on their missions, founding European monasteries, notably the abbey of St Gallen.

As a result of the wave of Irish monks and their disciples who passed through and lived in Switzerland throughout the Middle Ages, Switzerland is now home to a significant collection of Early Irish manuscripts, including the eighth century Irish Gospel Book of St Gallen, which is ranked among the greats.

Edel Bhreathnach of the Micheál Ó Cléirigh Institute in Dublin told swissinfo that one of the principal sources for scholars of Old Irish is a Latin Grammar housed in the Abbey Library (Stiftsbibliothek) of St Gallen.

"The St Gallen manuscript is important because we don't have many surviving manuscripts in Ireland prior to the 12th century so we look to the Continent for the first evidence of written Irish."

It is worth returning to Ó Cianáin's words, translated from the Irish, for his final summing up of "the country of the Swiss".

"It was strong, well fortified, uneven, mountainous, extensive, having bad roads, and no supremacy, rule or claim to submission by any king or prince in the world over the inhabitants."

Happy Belated Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

The holiday doesn't seem to be celebrated too much here.

How did I miss that?

March 10th was our 1 year anniversary of arriving in Switzerland.  I don't think we've traveled as much as we originally hoped for, but I think it has been a successful year.  Only 11 more years until we can apply for Swiss citizenship.

Niamh has spent more of her life as a resident of Switzerland than of the US.

A family outing

Here is a picture from our hike on Sunday.

You want coffee with that?

We (the McCann 4 plus Emily's parents) went to Aigle yesterday and checked out the castle. It is still closed for the off season, so we just looked at the outside. We then headed to a restaurant that Gary had found in one of the guidebooks. We navigated to it using the GPS and it was a good learning experience.

Emily had Rosti, Rowan and I had pizza, and the Winchells and Niamh had fondue. They only got fondue for two, but should probably have had fondue for three given how much Niamh ate. Gary ordered a coffee to go with the fondue. The waiter got a big smile on his face and validated that Gary really wanted coffee. He then explained that the proper beverage choices to accompany fondue are white wine or tea. The Winchells had tea.

Emily, Krista and the kids headed back to Morges after lunch, while Gary and I headed up the mountain. We took the ASD train to Les Diablerets.

Daylight Savings Time....at least for the US

Just a reminder that even though the US starts daylight savings time on the 9th, it won't happen in Europe until the end of the month.  

This means that Morges will only be 9 hours a head of Alaska and 8 hours ahead of the West Coast for the rest of March.

Je voudrais...

Je voudrais du sirop pour la toux svp .

That is how I started my conversation at the pharmacy. Luckily there weren't too many follow up questions and those that did come I was preapred for thanks to our department admin.

End result: I think I have the proper cough medicine. It tastes really bad, so it must be doing some good.

2007 Taxes: Step 1

One of the benefits included in the relocation package is that the company will pay for an accounting firm to do both my US and Swiss taxes this year. I had to fill out the online questionnaire and submit scanned copies of all necessary documents by the 29th. It was sort of like using Turbo Tax, but not as user friendly.

I believe the Swiss return must be submitted in March. We get an automatic extension for the US taxes, but I'm not sure how long it is.

Next year I want to try to do my own taxes, but I'll really need to work on my French. The government provides software to use to complete the return, but it is only in official languages.

My first warning from the US embassy

I had heard that the US embassy will send out warnings if needed, but this is the first one I have seen. I'll have to check the web tomorrow (no paper on Sunday-at least the one we subscribe too).

Saturday, March 1, 2008:

A pro-Serbian group has been granted permission to hold a demonstration in downtown Bern on Saturday, March 1 2008 between the hours of 1500 and 1700. The demonstration will take place on the Bundesplatz and is expected to involve up to 2000 demonstrators. The group has not been given permission to leave the Bundesplatz or to hold a march. The group is protesting the government of Switzerland's recent decision to recognize Kosovo's independence. Several demonstrations have been held by pro-Serbian groups throughout Europe in the last week and some have turned violent resulting in injuries to police officers and protesters. The possibility exists for the group to focus its attention on U.S. interests. The U.S. Embassy strongly recommends that American citizens avoid the area near the Bundesplatz on Saturday afternoon and early evening. A large police presence is expected and if the situation deteriorates, the police will use rubber bullets and teargas against the demonstrators.

Although the demonstration is not directed at the U.S. Embassy or U.S. interests, pro-Serbian groups view the United States Government as a leading supporter of Kosovo's independence. We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations. If you encounter any problems, the police can be reached at
031-321-2121.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet website at http://travel.state.gov/ <http://travel.state.gov/> , where the current Worldwide Caution and Consular Information Sheet for Switzerland and Liechtenstein can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. and Canada or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays)

The U.S. Embassy in Bern can be reached at 031-357-7011; the after hours emergency number is 031-357-7777; the fax number is 031-357-7320. The Embassy's web site, which includes consular information and the most recent messages to the American community, is at http://bern.usembassy.gov/. <http://bern.usembassy.gov/>

A trip to the dentist

I have been putting off going to the dentist for a couple of reasons:

* I had bad experiences with an evil* dentist as a child
* I was told that the dentist speaks English, but the dental hygienist and receptionist do not.

*My mother believes my first dentist qualifies for sainthood.

The experience was much better than I expected. I had to fill out a medical history, but no insurance information. I believe that many people do not have dental insurance here and I'm not sure how much Agilent's insurance covers, so it will be interesting to get the bill.

This dental office is a bit different than the dentist office's I've been to recently. My last dentist had five chairs and seemed to keep them all full. This dentist only had two chairs - one for the dentist and one for the hygienist. I'm hoping that is just how it is down here and not an indication that he can't get enough business due to his skills.

All in all it was a good trip- one cracked filling which was replaced earlier this week.

Thank you Bumpa

Rowan wouldn't say thank you on the phone, but was willing to say it after a brief "time out" session.

Just the three of us....

I think most of you are aware that Emily has spent the last few days in the US for a wedding. The kids and I have survived so far. The TV has been on a little more than normal, but not too much. We've visited all of our favorite spots.

• Co op
• Migros
• Train store
• Bakery
• Lake
• Stream
• Market
• Train station -Morges
• Train station - Lausanne

I got Niamh to sleep in her "big girl" bed for one nap, but has since decided that the crib is the preferred location.

Next time (if there is a next time) I think I will take time off from work. Working and watching the kids makes for a very long day.

National Crisis: a lack of zebu intestine

Here is an interesting article from IHT. We'll have to go try some.

New Cheese: Reblochon

I tried Reblochon the other day and was very impressed. It is described as "A triumph of cheesemaking-its rind is like the velvet on a deer's antler, its flavor like filet mignon." That quote is from Cheese Primer, a book by Steven Jenkins. I am not sure if he as ever met a cheese that wasn't some type of triumph.

In other cheese news, here is a web site that might be of interest to cheese lovers.

Rowan for Hilary!

Hilary must be getting more face time on cnn international than the other candidates. She is the only one that Rowan can identify by sight. Since Rowan only watches cnn international for a few minutes in the morning, her face must be shown a lot for him to remember what she looks like.

Peanuts 1, Niamh 0

Niamh took her first bite of peanut butter sandwich yesterday and immediately spit it out. A few minutes later she had hives on her face. We're assuming we can add peanut butter to the list of things that Niamh is allergic to.

Is it the end of the world?

Some Swiss sports enthusiasts might think so.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/25/sports/tennis.php

What happened to the snow?

We headed to the nearby mountains looking for snow today. We found some, but it was nothing like two weeks ago. It is hard to believe that all the snow could melt in two weeks in January. We go to the pass and found a little snow, but there was barely enough to play with. Rowan and Niamh seemed to be satisfied with the limited snow, but there wasn't even enough for us to use our sled. Maybe we will get lucky and it will snow a few feet this week.

Swiss School System

I was recently asked about the Swiss school system. I'll try to cover the highlights.
Overview

• academic year begins in late August and ends in early July
• there are a total of 7-8 weeks of vacation during the school year
• No summer school
• Being held back is not nearly as big a deal in Switzerland as it is in the US
• children come home for lunch for about 2 hours
• at about age 11 children are placed into either a technical track or academic track
• No school on Wednesday afternoons
• Mandatory from grades 1-9
• limited, if any, formal parent teach conference system

Ecole enfantine

• lasts 2 years and if for ages 4 and 5.
• must be 4 by June 30th to attend that fall
• similar to US kindergarten

Ecole premaire

• grades 1-4
• same teacher for two years and then another teacher for the next two years

Secondary education

• students placed into different groups (vocational, general, prégymnasiale) based on test results
• different teachers for different subjects

Weekend Photos

Katie and Wes in Morges with the Swiss Alps in the background
Pat, Niamh, and Katie on the Grand Rue in Morges

Katie, Rowan, and Niamh in our apartment

Katie and Niamh in our apartment

Visitors from the US

Katie and Wes stayed with us this weekend as part of their European adventures. We had a slight problem with hot water (there wasn't any in the building) on Saturday morning. We got lucky and the concierge fixed the problem by about 9AM.

The video below shows Katie and Rowan dancing.

Capes

I am having more problems with uploading photos to our web site. In the meantime I will post pictures to the blog. Here is a video of the kids playing with their capes.

Train Network

I was recently forwarded this article regarding the European train system. I thought some of you might find it interesting.

A day (or at least a few hours) in the snow

We took a Mobility car to the Jura today. We took the expressway North toward Yverdon and then headed West towards Vallorbe (site of a caves and a stop on the TGV from Paris to Lausanne). There wasn't much snow there, so we headed Southwest and climbed over a pass into the Vallee de Joux. We stopped in a small town and let the kids play in the snow. Rowan really enjoyed picking up the snow and throwing it back on the ground. Niamh spent most of her time on all fours trying get some snow to pick up. She didn't enjoy it too much, so we only stayed there for about 30 minutes. We headed over another pass that is East of Morges, but West of Nyon. We found all sorts of great places to sled, ski (alpine) and snowshoe. We have the a care reserved for four Sundays in a row, so we'll be headed to the snow quite a bit. I think we'll go to the store and get sleds this week and might pick up snowshoes if we can figure out which ones to get and they aren't to expensive.

Baking Brownies

Rowan and I made brownies from a box yesterday. All work was done on the floor so that Rowan could do the work. We still need to work on the concept of 'No eggshell in the mix', but we are making good progress. The picture on the right shows Rowan licking the bowl upon completion. You know it is serious business when you have to get almost naked to clean up.

Swiss Army Knives

I thought some might find this article on Swiss Army knives interesting.

3 mornings a week

Rowan is now going to preschool 3 mornings a week. It is currently Wed-Fri, but will probably change to Tues-Thurs starting in two weeks. Three mornings is the maximum he can go. I am not sure if that is the standard or if that is just the rule at the place we take him. He will also go to this place next year and will start kindergarten in the fall of 2009. Niamh will start kindergarten the following year.

Epiphany

We celebrated Epiphany today. Some might wonder what this means....in Western Switzerland it means you eat gâteau des Rois. It has a trinket inside and whoever's piece has the trinket becomes king for the year. I am now King Patrick.


It is also the day that you can take your Christmas tree to a party at the train station and have it recycled. I took our tree there and it is a fairly small party. This is one man putting Christmas trees in a wood chipper and about a dozen people drinking warm wine.

Too much for stamps

From World Radio Switzerland:

We are all being overcharged when posting letters, according to the industry’s watchdog.PostReg says government-owned Swiss Post is making CHF300 million too much money out of its customers every year and there are calls for the price of
stamps to come down.The watchdog says people in Switzerland pay some of the highest charges in Europe for sending letters.In the coming weeks the government
will meet to discuss steps to liberalise the Swiss postal market.

It cost about sixty cents to mail a letter in Switzerland. It will be delievered next day for about eighty six cents.

Help Needed: Where to go next?

We are trying to figure out where to go next. The short list is Prague, Vienna, Portugal(exact destination unknown), or Spain (exact location unknown). Anyone have any comments on any of these locations?

No Open Bakeries!

I took Niamh for a walk today and was surprised that there we did not see any open bakeries. The ones at the train station are probably open, but we didn't walk that direction. It seems very strange that the bakeries would be open on Christmas day, but not on New Year's day.

I guess we'll be eating day old bread for lunch.

Success!

We had fondue for dinner last night. It was the first time that everything worked well. Actually, we had an issue with keeping the cheese from burning, but compared to the past experiences we'll still mark it as a success.

This brings me to New Year's Resolution #1: Stop eating the fondue before starting to feel sick from eating too much.

Niamh seemed to be more interested in the fondue than she has been in the past. I don't know what took her so long - how can you go wrong with melted swiss cheese on bread?

Bonne année!

Much to my surprise, there were fireworks at midnight in Morges. I assumed that fireworks this late would be against the noise pollution rules. I couldn't see them from our apartment, but they sounded like they were over by the lake. The fireworks woke Rowan up, so he and Emily are watching season 3 of LOST. Emily just purchased it today and I have a feeling she'll be done in less than 48 hours.

Starting in 2008 the canton of Vaud is declaring both the 1st and 2nd of January as holidays, so I don't have to go back to work until Thursday. I'm not sure what the plan is for the next two days, but we'll try to do something fun.

Free transport in Lausanne

This is from World Radio Switzerland and might be of interest for anyone planning on visiting Lausanne in the future.

Tourists in Lausanne can look forward to free public transport in the new year after a decision by the city council and seven other communes. Visitors who are subject to a “tourist tax”, which is set to increase from January 1, will all benefit from free fares on the Mobilis line, according to an article in Lausanne Tourism’s newsletter. The tourist tax varies from CHF2-3.5 per person per night. It is used by tourism associations to improve facilities. Officials hope the new system will make staying in Lausanne more appealing, as it offers free transport between hotels, the local hospital and schools.

Bûche de Noël

Our after dinner treat on Christmas was a Bûche de Noël (yule log). It was excellent and is highly recommended to anyone who will be in France/Western Switzerland around Christmas.

Web Site Changes

I changed my web editing software as part of the move from a laptop to desk top. The good news is that the software is in English, the bad news is that it has different fetures than the software I used to use. I have updated the site with a few Christmas photos and will add more tomorrow after I do some research in how to get the photo galleries to work with this software.

Joyeux Noël!

Merry Christmas!

Bomb Scare

This is the first bomb threat I've heard about since we've been in Switzerland.

From World Radio Switzerland...

Train services are back to normal after a bomb alert caused disruption on Switzerland’s network yesterdayA suspicious package was found under a seat on a regional train in the canton of Bern.Police removed the parcel from the train in Lyss at around 12.30pm. Explosives experts examined the item before destroying it.No-one was hurt in the incident, although Lyss station was closed for over an hour.

View Larger Map

Fondue - almost a complete success

Last night was attempt number three with the McCann family fondue set. The first two times we had problems keeping the burner lit, so yesterday we thought about replacing our gas set with an electic one. Before we did that, we thought we should test the gas burner one last time. It ran for five minutes without any issues, so we decided not to replace it. Last night it ran great for about four minutes before it stopped functioning. It took a while, but I finally rememebered that the can must be upside down when filling gas canister. Everything worked great once the canister was actually full.

This time we used a premixed bag of cheese purchased from Co op, which made the entire process a little easier.

Where did Santa go?

I checked NORAD's santa tracker this morning and was disturbed to see that he didn't have any stops in Switzerland last night. How could he skip an entire country? He could have at least stopped once in the country considering how many people have an internet connection and children who would like to know where he is.

Baking bread with Grammie Krista

Just finishing a post started while we were in Bend.

Rowan helped Krista make bread on Wednesday. The photo on the right shows him kneading his little loaf.

Christmas Dinner

Click here to read an article on a traditional Swiss Christmas dinner. Our dinner will be more American than Swiss, but we will have fondue on Christmas Eve.

Christmasish Photos

I am having problems with my photo editing software (Elements 6 in French), so I can't get the photos resized for the web. Here are a few photos in an attempt to satisfy the demand. These are from our trip to see Pere Noel.

Pere Noel

Yesterday we took the train to Roche de Naye to visit Santa. It was a small, narrow-gauge cog train. The train was a bit crowded, but we each did get seats together. Rowan wasn't too interested in sitting on Santa's lap, but was very interested in the treat that Santa was giving out. We got a family photo with Santa, which I'll scan and post on the web site once the printer/scanner is connected to the computer again. We were told there would be reindeer, but there was only one and it looked sort of pathetic without any antlers.

The snow was a bit hard, so it was difficult for the kids to play in. More photos will be posted soon.

Weak dollar

This article from the International Herald Tribune makes me happy, at least for the time being, I'm paid in Francs.

A new computing experience

I finally gave up on my laptop and just purchased an HP desktop with Vista. So far, I am not too impressed with Vista. I have a copy of XP that I might need to install if I decide I am really unhappy with Vista. The PC came with a Swiss German keyboard. Here are a few of the differences between a US and Swiss German keyboards

• The z and thez y have switched places.
• The Swiss German keyboard has these keys: ö, é, ä, à, ü, è, §, °, &, and ¬
• the ; and . keys are one row lower
• The @ is above the 2 still, but I have to push the 'Alt Gr' key. pushing shift and 2 gets me "
• The ' and ? and ´ are on the top row

US joins the rest of the world

from cnn.com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States on Wednesday joined an international
treaty on adoptions -- a move that will protect both children and parents, and
make the State Department a central registry tracking all adoptions coming in
and out of the country, officials said. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Maura Harty presented the U.S. ratification of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions during a ceremony in the Netherlands.

"We would say that today is a good day for children and parents involved in intercountry adoptions," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"This convention establishes international laws and procedures for intercountry adoption. Cases involving the Hague Convention are to ensure that adoptions occur in the best interests of the children."

The agreement sets out what the State Department called "safeguards to protect the interests of children, birth parents and adoptive parents." It says children may be
adopted by prospective parents outside their country only if there is proper and
informed consent from the "family of origin." The treaty calls for authorities to make sure that birth parents haven't been persuaded to give up their children in exchange for money, urging countries to take "all appropriate measures to prevent improper financial or other gain in connection with an adoption." Officials also should make sure that the child's wishes are considered, the document says. The treaty covers the other end of the adoption process as well, calling on the country where the adoptive parents live to "prepare a report including information about their identity, eligibility and suitability to adopt, background, family and medical history." The rules begin governing international adoptions for the 66 signatory countries on April 1, 2008.

More than 19,000 foreign-born children were adopted by Americans in 2007 -- more than all the other countries of the world combined, McCormack said.
Final ratification "took a while" -- 14 years -- because adoption laws in the United States are generally regulated by the states, he said. "It took quite some time to actually normalize and get a common standard among all of the 50 states and build up the right institutions and procedures so that we could comply with the convention," McCormack said.

"It took some time to do that groundwork, and when you have 50 separate
sets of laws and 50 separate sets of state legislatures, it takes some time to
make sure that we get it right." Tom DiFilipo, of the Joint Council on
International Children's Services, called the agreement "a great accomplishment
after 14 years." "We're just glad that it is over and will be in place in April," DiFilipo said on the telephone from Moscow, where he was giving a speech on adoption. "The basic principles, accountability, transparency, doing everything in the final interests of the child, how can you argue against that," he said. The new rules may create delays in finalizing adoptions, especially adoptions from those countries that have also approved the Hague convention.

Guatemala, the country that provides one of the highest numbers of children coming to the United States for adoption -- more than 4,600 this year -- also just approved the international agreement, and its courts and government officials are expected to be overwhelmed. Salome Lamarche of Families Thru International Adoption said her organization has been preparing for the new rules. Her group has handled more than 3,500 international adoptions.

She predicted significantly fewer adoptions from Guatemala, at least in the short term. Several countries that are common points of origin for children adopted by Americans have not agreed to the treaty, including Vietnam, Russia, Ukraine and Ethiopia.

Christmas market

Today we went to the Montreux Christmas market. It wasn't too different than a Chrismasish market you would see in the US. In fact, there were two groups of Native Americans/Pre-Columbians performing music. Our primary areas of interest were the "old fashioned" roasted chestnuts, the hot chocolate, the crepes, the playground, the carousel, and the ferris wheel. There are a number of Christmas markets over the next 23 days, so I'm sure more will be visited.

New photos

Photos of our trip to the US have been posted on http://www.famillemccann.net/. Blogs from the trip will be available soon.

Una - one year later

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Una being attacked during our morning walk. She has made a full recovery while staying at the Winchells.

Then:

Now:

Photo Shoot

Emily and Krista took the kids to Sears this morning to have photos taken for our Christmas card. Rowan is a bit sick, so it was a fairly painful experience. They decided that we should try again in the afternoon, so we went back at 3:30. The afternoon session was a little worse than the morning session. Here are a few of the photos.

SNOW!

This is from SwissINFO and should make my coworkers very happy.

Up to 120 centimetres of snow has fallen on the Swiss Alps since Friday,
the largest amount at the start of winter for over five decades – and more is
expected. Tourism authorities in ski resorts are rubbing their hands, not
only because of the low temperatures but also in expectation of a record
season.

The southeastern resort of Davos in eastern Switzerland,
which lies at 1,560m, saw 62cm of snow fall within 24 hours, according to the
national weather service MeteoSwiss on Sunday morning.

St Antönien, also in canton Graubünden, reported 64cm and Braunwald in the neighbouring canton of Glarus saw 72cm, the same amount as Unteriberg in canton
Schwyz.

The last time so much snow fell in November was in 1952, but what is also unusual about the current weather conditions is that the stormy northwest wind is carrying relatively large amounts of snow down south, for example to the upper Engadine valley.

According to the federal institute for snow and avalanche research in Davos, the level of snow above 1,500m has reached 120cm since the snow began to fall.

The areas hit most were the northern slopes east of the Susten pass, the resort of
Samnaun, the Silvretta mountain range and northern Graubünden.

Experts warned on Saturday of a significant danger of avalanches in the areas and raised the warning to its second highest level.

However, no one had been caught up in an avalanche and there was no major damage, according to police, who said few people were currently on the slopes. On Sunday evening the warning level was lowered to "considerable".

On Monday morning, however, Viasuisse, a traffic information provider, warned of snow-covered roads above 600m – including northbound access routes to the Gotthard and San Bernardino tunnels – and it said 14 passes were closed.


Those in the tourism business were delighted by the unusually early and heavy
snowfall.

They are hoping this winter will see the number of overnight stays and skipasses sold make up for the disappointing previous winter season, which ended up being the warmest on record.

In Graubünden, Switzerland's largest tourist region, many ski resorts are planning on beginning the winter season a week early and are currently busy bashing the
pistes.

Resorts in the Bernese Oberland are also looking forward to a better start to the season.

Eduardo Zwyssig from the Gstaad-Saanenland tourism office is hoping the first ski areas will open on December 1.

Gieri Spescha, spokesman for Graubünden tourism, said: "The important thing now is for people in lower parts of the country to notice that winter has arrived."


What's more, the winter conditions are set to continue. MeteoSwiss expected 15-30cm of snow to fall at the beginning of the week and predicted that it would even make it down to lower altitudes.

If the weather proverb connected to St Martin's Day – which on November 11 commemorates the 4th-century Bishop of Tours – is to be believed, we're in for a hard winter: "If Martin's beard is white, a long cold winter will bite."

Only the southern canton of Ticino can expect milder weather in the coming weeks, with temperatures rising to 13 degrees thanks to the north Föhn wind.

Day 2

The concept of Niamh sleeping through the night was wishful thinking. I went back to the room on Sunday morning (first night in US) and the entire family was up. This was a bit disappointing for two reasons:

1. It was only 4AM
2. Breakfast wasn't survived until 7AM

We went for a short walk and then played in the hotel room until breakfast. Emily pulled the mattress off one of the beds and the kids would run across the box springs and jump onto the pillows and mattress. It might be one of their favorite activities.

The kids took a nap at 8:45 and slept until 11:30. We then went to the airport to have lunch. We discovered that there is an entire security line for people who are premier on United, so we didn't have to wait in line at all. The only issue we had is that I had to take my money belt(what do you call it when it is around your neck?). This wasn't really a big issue, but was sort of a pain to do. I use it all the time and have never had to take it off to go through security. That might be because it normally doesn't have four passports and four residence permits in it.

The flight left more or less on time and went fairly smoothly. The aircraft, an EMB-120, is very noisy, so you couldn't really hear the kids. Bend is warmer than we expected.

Niamh slept through the night, but Rowan got was up form 1AM to 4AM. I think Emily and I will need a vacation from our vacation.

Clann Mhic Canna'

I recently received my results from Family Tree DNA and learned that I am related to members of the 'Ó Catháin clan', but may only be part of the 'Clann Mhic Canna'. I plan to upgrade the DNA test so I can get more definitive results. Here are two links that might be of interest.

www.ulsterheritage.com
McBride Family Project

We survived!

We survived the plane trip to the US, but there were a few issues. Since we brought our car seats with us, we used a mobility car to get from our apartment. This worked fairly well, but I had to run to the platform with the last load of stuff because the train had already arrived. Since Morges isn't the first stop, the luggage racks and all the other normal luggage spots were taken. I had our pile of stuff right in front of the door. The only problem with this strategy was that I had to move the luggage at each stop so people could get on and off.

We got to the train station and were told that the flight we were booked on was probably going to be delayed or cancelled due to whether at Frankfurt. We got booked on a flight that was supposed to leave 90 minutes prior to ours, but actually only left about 30 minutes earlier. There weren't four seat available together on the earlier flight, so we were given four non-adjacent seats. I asked a few people to move, so within a few minutes after takeoff we had 3 seats together.

All went fairly well in Frankfurt. The security line was very short again (very different than my first two Frankfurt experiences!) The flight left Frankfurt about 45 minutes late and we had a headwind so we arrived at SFO an hour and a half late. We had four seats together (the middle section on a 747) and were in economy plus so that was nice. Rowan got on a sugar high and didn't sleep for the first six hours, but then took a 3 hour nap and was up for the final 2.5 hours. Niamh was more or less up the same times as Rowan. At the end of the flight she wouldn't go back to sleep and screamed for a while. We received a few comments about how well behaved the kids were, but one lady did remark to her husband that they were "screamers."

I know Rowan enjoyed the airplane and I think Niamh would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been 14 hours on planes in the same day.

We took the shuttle to the local Courtyard hotel for the night. Niamh has slept through the night (this might still be wishful thinking, as it is only 4AM), but Rowan got up at 1. We have been playing with cars for the past 3 hours. We assumed that one child would be awake most of the night, so we got two adjoining rooms for tonight. It might have to become a standard first night plan after a major time change. It is nice to have two doors between the sleeping child and the whining child.

We're off to Bend later today and will be back in the Bay Area on the 21st.

Standard Time

I wanted to remind everyone that Europe is no longer on daylight savings time (DST). For the next week we are only eight hours ahead of the west coast.

Florence Photos

I have received a number of complaints regarding the lack of Florence photos on the web site. That problem has now been resolved.

Important Football News:

From the US Soccer web site:

Quote Sheet: USA 1, Switzerland 0
BOB BRADLEY U.S. MNT Head Coach

On the game:“It was a typical game in Europe. Both teams made it hard for the other team. For us, it is important to understand the mentality of being in these games and still finding ways to win. It is still an important step for us. It's a game where credit goes to the team for sticking together, being organized and not giving too much away. And finding a way to win at the end.”“This year
the work has been good and we feel like it is improving. This was our second
game in Europe. We need these kinds of games. Against Sweden we saw that the
first half was solid, but the second half was disappointing, and so the goal
tonight was to pick up on the first half to understand that the tempo of these
games is sometimes different. The commitment of the other team in terms of every
physical challenge. The head balls. Every tackle. These are things that now we
must understand and that we must be able to sustain the commitment on our end
for 90 minutes. So this was important.”On whether he thought about bringing Adu
and Szetela on earlier:"These are both young players…first time in a national
team camp with this coaching staff… I think its important to bring young players
along at the right speed. Having a camp where they could get a feel for the way
things have been done for these last 9 months and to understand what is expected
of them on the field and off the field I think it’s a good step now that they
get on the field and are both part of a winning effort."

Immigrants in Switzerland

Articles like this are very common in Switerland these days. I'm not positive, but I think it is more common in the German speaking portion of the country.

Tete de Moine

We got to experience a new cheese, Tete de Moine, today. Emily thought it was great, but I'll only score it slightly above average. Here is a quote from The Cheese Primer:

No other mountain cheese in the world possesses such intensity of
flavor-stunning and memorable.

I checked and it should be available at a Whole Foods near you!

Fall Break

Rowan is on fall break until October 22nd. His preschool follows the same schedule as the Vaud school system, so he is preschool free for two weeks.

In other Morges news, they have started planting the bulbs for the tulip festival. Come in mid April if you want to see lots of tulips. Along those same lines, I just heard that tickets from Oregon to Geneva for the Feb and March time frame were$640 round trip including taxes.

The local grapes are being picked this week. I just discovered that we live a block away from the Morges commune wine processing center. The tractors are hauling the grapes down our street. Right now it is mostly green grapes, but I have seen a couple trailers full of red grapes.

The weekend of the 12th is the local train show. I think I'll head down on Saturday morning and then take Rowan in the afternoon. I'll have to practice my French so I know what I'm buying.

Geneva: To visit or not to visit?

Most guide books recommend skipping Geneva, but the New York Times recently provided an itinerary for a weekend visit.

36 Hours in Geneva
By FINN-OLAF JONES
GENEVA, the political and transportation hub of Europe, is one of those seemingly unavoidable cities. It's like a Swiss version of Atlanta: practically everyone passes through sooner or later, whether they want to or not. But there are plenty of reasons to stay longer. Not only is Geneva blessed with a sweeping lake within beckoning distance of the snow-covered Alps, but its medieval ramparts have also long served as a cultural haven for the world's exiles and freethinkers. Switzerland's famous neutrality also means that there is a thriving community of expatriate polyglots, many of whom work for international agencies like the Red Cross and the United Nations. So if you fly through Geneva, add a couple of days to your stopover.

Friday 4:30 p.m.

1) DATE WITH A FOUNTAIN
Walk or bike along Lake Geneva's glamorous lakefront, where, on a clear day, you can see snow-capped Mont Blanc floating in the horizon. Rent a Bike (41-51-22-51-4820; www.rent-a-bike.ch), at the Gare de Cornavin, the main train station, has bicycles starting at 23 Swiss francs, or $19 at 1.21 Swiss francs to the dollar, for a half day. Start at the immaculate Jardin Anglais, with its famous 15-foot flower clock, one of Geneva's signature sights. Then glide over to the Jetée des Eaux-Vives, a breakwater that leads out to the Jet d'Eau, one of the world's largest fountains. From afar, the fountain might not seem remarkable. But from under the 459-foot-tall column of misting water, it's an awesome spectacle, especially when it's illuminated at night.

8 p.m.

2) FONDUE RENDEZVOUS
Every visitor to Switzerland should sample at least one bubbling cauldron of cheesy stuff, and Restaurant les Armures , inside the Hôtel les Armures (1, rue du Soleil-Levant; 41-22-310-3442; www.hotel-les-armures.ch ), is a fondue institution. This wood-beamed restaurant with muskets on the wall is at the top of Old Town, which winds around a hill overlooking the Left Bank. A plaque near the front door commemorates a 1994 visit by Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton . If you're famished, order the cheese fondue with mushrooms (27 Swiss francs).

10 p.m.

3) COCKTAIL CROSSROADS
Walk dinner off with a stroll through the narrow medieval streets and head toward one of the city's favorite meeting places: the leafy Place du Bourg-de-Fours, the former medieval marketplace in the heart of Old Town. A dozen restaurants and cafes surround a tiny 18th-century marble fountain in the cobblestone square. Tiny La Clemence (20, place du Bourg-de-Four, 41-22-310-1096; www.laclemence.ch) is a popular spot during the day for café au lait and a croissant. At night, it draws a lively mix of students, businesspeople and politicians.

Saturday
10 a.m.

4) PROTESTANT HILLTOP
Though the walls of the tiny Old Town are covered in graffiti, the cobblestones and stone facades look much as they did during the Reformation, when John Calvin and John Knox found refuge there and created a "Protestant Rome." Signs of the Reformation are evident at Cathédrale St.-Pierre (6, cours St.-Pierre; 41-22-319-71-90; www.saintpierre-geneve.ch) with its green-copper spire crowning the hill. A side chapel with 15th-century angel frescoes is a riotous contrast to the austerity of the cathedral's nave, which was stripped of its decorations by 16th-century Protestant reformers. Climb to the top of the north tower (3 Swiss francs) for a sweeping view over the city and the lake.

1:30 p.m.

5) SWISS SCHOOL OF ART
The airy Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (2, Charle-Galland; 41-22-418-2600; www.ville-ge.ch/mah/) features an admirable cross-section of art history, including exceptional works by Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Picasso. For a real treat, head to the second-floor galleries and get lost in the Genevoise landscapes of the Swiss painters François Diday and his student Alexandre Calame.

3 p.m.

6) VILLA VOLTAIRE
Anyone who says there's no money in philosophy should visit Voltaire's former home, now the Institut et Musée Voltaire (25, rue des Délices; 41-22-344-7133; www.ville-ge.ch/imv). Voltaire was a shrewd businessman, and his writings on liberty and sharp wit won him rich and powerful patrons, including Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great. From his Palladian villa set in an immaculate garden Voltaire in the 18th century set forth the ideas that would help spark the French Revolution. You can read them, along with his personal letters and manuscripts, in the philosopher's sumptuous salons.

5 p.m.

7) HIGH-END TIMEPIECES
If there's any doubt that you're in the world capital of watches, wander down Rue du Rhône with its diamond-encrusted and gold-plated shops. Check out Bucherer (No. 45; 41-22-319-62-66; www.bucherer.ch), which has been selling high-end timepieces since 1888 and has what is thought to be the world's largest selection of Rolexes. A mere 44,000 Swiss francs buys the special-edition platinum model. Not unusual enough? Go up the street to Marconi (No. 53; 41-22-311-3630), a boutique watchmaker that makes only small-run editions. Its clunky, over-the-top timepieces (600 to 850 Swiss francs) look like something Willy Wonka would wear if he could afford them.

8 p.m.

8) ALPINE ARABIA
Geneva has a growing Middle Eastern community, as evidenced by the Arabic script on storefronts, banks and offices all over. For a cultural taste, follow your nose to Rue de Berne, where Libyan bakeries, small teahouses and Middle Eastern restaurants stand side-by-side with the city's small, tidy red-light district. La Caravane Passe (11, rue du Dr. Alfred-Vincent; 41-22-731-3431) is a casual family-run restaurant popular with immigrants and students. Order a steaming plate of traditional lamb couscous (15 Swiss francs) and wash it down with pots of foaming mint tea ( 3.50 Swiss francs).

11 p.m.

9) TECHNOCRATS
Geneva tends to shut down early, but there are a few spots where you can party with the city's moneyed class. If the high cocktail prices (25 Swiss francs) don't faze you, head to the Platinum Glam Club (18, quai du Seujet; 41-78-726-6941; www.platinum-club.ch). White sofas and V.I.P. lounges surround a pulsating dance floor, where the city's well-dressed 20-to-40-somethings gyrate under strobe lights and smoke machines. The music ranges from thumping techno to Middle Eastern dance music, and notable D.J.'s have included the likes of Busta Rhymes and DMX. Admission is 25 Swiss francs for men, free for women.

Sunday

11 a.m.

10) MODERNIST BRUNCH
Who says the Swiss are humorless? Certainly not the cheery waiters at Faim (5, rue Châtelain; www.faim.ch; 41-22-340-2575), a Scandinavian-sleek cafe on the Right Bank. The funky décor, tasty eats and rotating photo exhibits draw the city's bright young things every Sunday morning. A brunch plate, including delicious restaurant-baked bread and jams, is 28 Swiss francs.

1 p.m.

11) PEACE COMPLEX
When you hear news reports of "negotiations taking place in Geneva," it invariably refers to the Palais des Nations (14, avenue de la Paix; 41-22-917-4896; www.unog.ch), home to the second-largest United Nations office, after New York. Sprawled along Geneva's Right Bank, this complex of grand offices was built from 1929 to 1936 to serve as the headquarters of the League of Nations. When it was reconstituted as the United Nations after World War II, this became the U.N.'s European headquarters, housing an alphabet soup of organizations like Unicef and WHO. The hourlong tours — in any of the organization's 15 official languages — take you through the enormous Assembly Hall and the commemorative galleries (10 Swiss francs; passport required). Later, stroll the surrounding 87.5-acre Parc de L'Ariana. Avoid being nipped by the peacocks that roam wild. In a city as safe as Geneva, this might be the greatest danger you'll face.

Cows!

Yesterday we went to St Cergue to see their festival celebrating the cows coming down from the alpine meadows for the winter.

We had to take the train to Nyon and switch to a smaller train to get to St Cergue. The smaller train was very full. We had to stand for the 40 minute trip and could hardly move. Once we got to the festival we saw three sets of very large cows come through town. The cows all have very large bells around there necks and many had flowers too.

Photos will be posted soon.

Uncle Pat's visit

Uncle Pat spent two weeks in Switzerland/France and three nights were with us. We went to Chillon and wandered around both Morges and Lausanne. We stopped at the local dairy store on the way back from Chateau Chillon and asked the girl at the counter to recommend three types of cheeses. The highlight was the Vacherin Mont-D'or. It was described as "one of the highest achievements of human civilization" in the Cheese Primer. I'm not sure if I'd rate it that high, but it is very good. We went to a little festival today and there was a booth giving away free samples of the cheese. It might have been the highlight of the day.

It is the cheese in the upper left corner of the plate in the picture below.

The two other cheeses are also very good, but don't deserve to be compared against other major accomplishments in history.

Only six visits later...

...our dishwasher works. The dishwasher hasn't drained properly since we've been here and the repairman had been here five or six times. The dishwasher company decided to replace the machine and that seems to have solved the problem.

Foreign residents given their say

From swissinfo, based on an article in German by Renat Künzi

A new website launched on Sunday gives Switzerland's foreign residents the
chance to vote – albeit unofficially - in next month's parliamentary elections.
The aim of the German-language site is to show that foreigners – who account for 20 per cent of the population – are responsible citizens and should be granted voting rights.

Hans Verbeke, one of the founders of the website, www.auslaender.ch, said issues such as tax rates, pensions and relations with the European Union are of concern not only to the Swiss but also foreigners living in the country.

"We foreigners have many duties to perform as permanent residents therefore we should be given more responsibility, such as voting rights in referenda and elections," the Belgian marketing expert who has lived in Switzerland for 20 years told swissinfo.

He said Switzerland benefits greatly from its foreign residents since they too pay taxes and make their share of financial contributions to the country's social insurance system.

"We want to receive voting rights so we can take responsibility for the political
decision-making process too," Verbeke added. Interested foreign
residents can register online and cast their ballot anytime between October 14
and election day one week later.

Verbeke said the virtual ballot box would contribute to political transparency in the country. "The Swiss will be made aware of whom we would vote for if we only could."

The four-person team behind the project – two foreigners, Verbeke and an Austrian, as well as two Swiss – hope it will lead to foreigners being granted voting rights.

Four or five years?

"We want to see Swiss citizens launch an initiative which will lead to voters having a final say on the matter in four to five years' time," he said, adding he was convinced there was a good chance that this would happen. While the centre-left Social Democrats and Greens would be in favour of such an idea, Verbeke says the initiative would need the support of the two main centre-right parties, the Radicals and Christian Democrats, to win over enough of the electorate.

The rightwing Swiss People's Party, known for its anti-foreigner campaigns, represents the biggest obstacle to such a change to Swiss law.

"Anyone who really wants to vote can apply for citizenship," Gregor Rutz, the party's general secretary, told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.

Foreign residents have already been granted limited voting rights in some cantons and towns and villages across the country.

"It could become a pioneering project and allow Switzerland to prove to the world that it is very different to how it is often perceived," the Belgian said.

Chateau D'oex

Today we went to Chateau D'oex, which as about an hour and 45 minutes east of Morges by train. We took the regular train to Montreux and the Golden Pass from there to Chateau D'oex. Once we got there we took a gondola halfway up the mountain and then a ski lift the rest of the way. Rowan enjoyed the ski lift more than I did. He complained that I was holding him too tight, but I was worried I wasn't holding him tight enough.

On the way home there weren't any seats in 2nd class so the conductor let us sit in first class (sometime it helps to travel with two small kids). Not only did we get to sit in first class, but we got to sit at the very back of the train with picture windows in front of us so we had a 180 degree view.

Six months ago....

...we arrived in Switzerland. It is hard to believe it has been six months.

In other fun news

• Emily's purse\wallet thingy was last seen in the Montreux train station.
• A locksmith costs CHF 600 to replace the keys and lock
• we'll get to see how quick UBS can replace a debit and credit card

In the even more fun news category, I believe the router is not functioning correctly, so if you need to contact Jody or Emily, you'll need to use our home number.

More Niamh

I know this will create an imbalance in their blog space, but we'll live.

Euro 2008

The Euro 2008 will be held in Switzerland and Austria next year. There is a lot of interest in the tournament, but I don't understand it. I think the games are sold out, so I'll have to watch on TV. The good news is that each of the Swiss games will probably be on at least 3 channels (Italian, German, and French).

Gimmelwald

Here is a somewhat interesting article from cnn\Rick Steves. Emily and I visited this town in June when my parents were visiting.

Equal Blog Time

There have been a few complaints about unequal blog time after I posted a picture of Rowan and not Niamh.

Problem resolved.

Enemy Number One!

From WRGFM

Switzerland has been described as Europe’s ‘Climate Enemy Number One’, for its highly polluting cars and its ineffectual policy on Carbon Dioxide emissions. According to the Transport and Environment organization, the cars on the road in Switzerland – especially new vehicles – came out as the most polluting, when compared with the 24 countries of the European Union. The ATE says that Switzerland holds the dubious honour of leading the way when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions from new cars too, with 187 grammes per kilometer, compared with the European average of 160 grammes. The organization says it is not enough to expect the public to buy smaller, cleaner cars. Kurt Egli, from the ATE says they are calling for a change to Swiss law. The European Union is discussing a law which would insist that CO2 emissions be reduced to 120 grammes per kilometer by 2012.

Europe's Last Witch

From WRGFM

The woman known as ‘Europe’s Last Witch’ will not be pardoned by the canton which ordered her death more than two hundred years ago. Authorities in the canton of Glarus, where Anna Goldi was beheaded back in 1782, rejected a motion to clear the woman’s name but has instead ordered an official study into the life of Ms Goldi, to determine, scientifically, if she was indeed innocent. Anna Goldi worked as a maidservant for a doctor in Glarus, who told authorities that she repeatedly put needles in the milk of one of his daughters, apparently by supernatural means. She was arrested and admitted, under torture, that she was in pact with the devil. Official records, however, made no mention of witchcraft and instead marked down her crime as murder of her second child, who died shortly after birth.

First day of school

Here is a picture of Rowan on his first day of preschool/daycare. He had a great time and wants to go back.

Paris Update

I just realized that I did not post many comments on our trip to Paris, so here is a summary of the trip.


We left Morges on a Thursday morning and took the local train to Lausanne. We took the TGV from Lausanne to Paris. It takes a little less than four hours to get from Lausanne to Paris. I purchased the tickets on line and thought we are all sitting together, but it turns out that we were not. We got lucky that the train wasn't super crowded and we were able to sit together.

Our apartment was less than a 10 minute taxi ride from Gare Lyon. We were on the 3rd floor (4th US floor) and the stairway was narrow. It sort of a pain to get the stroller up and down, but it was worth it since staying in an apartment is much easier than an apartment. We spent the afternoon wondering around the neighborhood, but didn't actually do any serious sight seeing. Much to our surprise, the kids both slept as well as they did it home, which was a big improvement from the trip to Interlaken.


On Friday morning we got up and went to the Louvre. The security line was fairly long, but since we had a stroller we got to the front of the line to get hand checked. There are actually four ticket lines inside, so it didn't take long. The first thing we did was see the Mona Lisa. There weren't too many people there, so we got a decent view. The kids decided that they were hungry, so we went to the ticket area and had a snack. Then we went and wandered a bit and saw Venus De Milo. Then we left. All told we were in the Louvre for maybe 2.5 hours.

After the Louvre we walked to the Luxembourg gardens for lunch. Rowen enjoyed playing at the playground (2 Euros to play) and Niamh had fun pushing the stroller around. After that we walked to the Eiffel Tower. It was a fairly long walk, but not too bad. We didn't go up because the lines were too long.

On Saturday we went to Notre Dame early to beat the crowds. We didn't have to wait to get in and walk around, but the line to the museum and the spire walk already had a huge line an hour before it officially opened. We spent the afternoon walking around in search of chocolate shops that Emily wanted to visit. Unfortunately, most of the ones we found were closed for August. We ended up finding a few, so the quest was successful.

On Sunday we had to be out of the apartment by 9:30 and we took a cab to the train station. We found lockers for our stuff and then took the metro in search of another chocolate shop. We found it, but it was closed for the day even though the web site indicated it was open on Sunday. We walked back toward the train station and found a restaurant that Emily had learned had the best hot chocolate in Europe. It was good, but I'm disappointed if that is really the best. We took the metro back to the station, had lunch and waited for our train. We got back to our apartment at bath time, so the kids took a bath, ate dinner, and went to sleep.

Niamh is signing!

Niamh isn't talking yet, but she has started signing. She knows and can do the signs for milk, eat, all done, more, book, and bath. If you are interested, here is a link to an ASL dictionary.