May 30, 2007 - Fribourg

I just wanted to make sure there are some pictures of Fribourg on here. The pictures of our house, in Villars-sur-Glane, a close suburb, don't really give you any feel for the town that is just 1/2 a mile from us. It's roots go back to the 1100's, and it's built on the pennisula of a river, so there are a lot of bridges, cliffs, and history to it that are far beyond anything I could describe here...so you'll have to see it through these pictures or just come and see it for yourself. There's the old town, which is down in a 'hole' along the river. Then there's the new town, which is up outside of the 'hole' and is a fairly normal old European town with lots of shops, pedestrian areas, trains, buses, pastry shops, etc. Also, the river is a language border ...one side is French and the other side is German...road signs and everything change. There are a number of language universities and colleges here, which makes sense given how most people speak no less than 3 languages. I'm still wanting to walk through it all someday, but haven't done that yet...it seems a little overwhelming to do with a 2 year old and such a large belly as I've got these days. But I'm going to do it soon...there's a pool, parks, and lots of fountains to entertain her so it would probably fun on a nice warm day.

May 30, 2007 - Visitors in May

On May 8th, Christy and Dale were in Fribourg... [Christy is known to me as Susan's (my neighbor's) mother and known to Kacey as Henry's grandmama (Henry is Kacey's boyfriend and neighbor back in Atlanta). Christy and Dale have lived in Lithuania this past year, but we spent the month of March with her in Atlanta because she came for Henry's little brother Charlie's birth.] But, back to the real story here, they had some time between Dale's teaching schedule to travel around Europe. And, they chose Fribourg as one of their many stops just because WE were here...very flattering! We didn't have any furniture when they were here, so they stayed in a hotel, but I still consider them our first visitors because the came over for dinner and helped us break in our raclette machine. Kacey and I also spent our first tour of Fribourg with them ... and they were around when I first realized that Fribourg is a really neat city (we live in the 'suburbs', so I hadn't really learned much about Fribourg until they arrived and took me along with them on that tour). It was fun as always with Christy and Dale's job makes both me and Dave want to get our PhD's and be professors :-) .

Last week, May 19th, Robert, Jeanne-Marie, Maureen and Eric spent the week with. (Eric was known to Kacey all week as "the guy.") It was nice to have good friends living in our place and helping us settle in ... I was very sad to see them go. They arrived on a Saturday, May 19 and just spent time here walking around in Villars-sur-Glane, napping, recovering from travel. Sunday, Dave took them on a kid-free and pregnant-woman-free hike. Monday, we all went to Montreau and I took my second tour of Chateau Chillon with them. Tuesday, they went to Luzern on their own. Wednesday, Kacey and I hung out in Fribourg with them and went to the market...they went to the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon and found some nice walking paths from there back to our house. Thursday, we all went to Interlocken, Grindenwald, and took a great hike (together, but on seperate routes) from First to Grindenwald... beautiful ... and worth the sore muscles for me. Friday, we all just lounged around. And Saturday, they went to the train station for a ride to Avignon, France where they will bike tour for the next week. Their visit was very productive for us...I now know how to use my washer, dryer and oven for the most part. We have a way to make coffee and cut bread. And, dinners were much more tasty and creative, and the kitchen was much cleaner than normal all week. So, I'm hoping they will come back often! (And I'll get more pictures of them next time, too!)

Unfortunately, our next guests, my parents who were arriving on Sunday, May 27th, have had to cancel their trip because my grandfather has been sick. But he's now much better and in rehab and will hopefully be back home soon. So, I hope mom and dad can come over sometime really soon.

Dave leaves town tomorrow...which is sad. He makes a quick overnight stop in Atlanta, then spends all of the weekend and next week in Arizona. It's an important work project and we hope that all goes well with it. When he returns, he packs up the same day to leave for an overnight work trip to Italy. So, we won't see him a lot for almost 2 weeks. Sometime during those 2 weeks, Neal and Amy are supposed to arrive... and that will be a treat.

May 28, 2007-Another Weather post

Sorry to keep focusing on the weather, but we couldn't avoid sharing this story. Dave had Monday, May 28th off of work so we went away Sunday night. We drove 2 hours south to a National Park just across the border in Italy (Grand Paradiso National Park, outside of Val d'Aosta, Italy...which is what Valdosta, GA is named after). Anyway, it was rainy, cool, and not the greatest conditions, so we didn't get out too much. We had dinner, went to bed, and woke up the next morning, expecting more rain and bad weather. Dave gets up first and yells "Lu, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE IT!" From that, I was expecting sun and clear skies, since it is basically Summer. But I run over and look out to about 4 inches of snow... and a hard snow continuing to fall. Of course we pull Kacey out of bed so she can see it...it's her first real snow. (Just two days earlier we had crossed a small patch on a hike and Dave let her throw some of it at me, of course.) But this was a really nice, fluffly snow. So, we put on the few clothes that we had with us and went out in it. Kacey's wearing her pink croc shoes that are filled with holes...but she obviously didn't care.

We were a little worried about getting home because we had to go over the Grand St- Bernard Pass, which is the border of Italy and Switzerland. But, the hotel staff told us it wouldn't be a problem. In Atlanta, this snow would have been a big problem...but no one seemed too worried about it there. And, it was an easy drive back to Fribourg.

May 15, 2007 - Afternoon Storms, Miscellaneous

The weather this past week has been rainy and fairly cold. Some days it will be sunny and warm until 5 pm when storms will begin to role in. While eating dinner on this particular day, I happened to turn and look out the window to see this... the most vivid and complete rainbow I ever remember seeing. Since then, we've seen 3 others, but none as spectacular as this one.

These storms will role through and sock us in for an hour or so with no view...then they clear out. Sometimes they clear out and leave the mountains covered with a lot more snow than they were when they arrived.

May 14, 2007 - Kacey in a big girl bed

So with the arrival of all of our things, Kacey has a new bed... a big girl bed. She was really excited about it and went right into it without any problem at all. Here are some pictures...

May 14, 2007 - Our Container Arrives

Very early on May 14th, 8 weeks after leaving, all of our 'stuff' arrived. Actually, some movers showed up to remove our rental furniture around 7:45 and the container with our belongings arrived around 8:15. It was very fun. It really was like Christmas. We enjoyed unpacking a lot more than packing.

We still have many boxes to unpack, but we have everything that we need so many haven't been unpacked yet... and may just get shipped back to Atlanta.

If I could do it over again, I would bring 1/3 of the stuff that I brought. And I would buy a car over here, too.

May 13, 2007 - Mother's Day in Lucern

We went to Lucern today. Dave and Kacey took me there for Mother's Day. It was not what I was expecting...I was just expecting a lake. There is a lake which is really nice, but the city and the scenery around it is impressive. And, majestitic, snow-topped mountains in the background just make it spectacular. We took a boat ride and saw many stops for riding our bikes and beaches for swimming. So, we'll be back there. I'd like to go back for a few days personally.

After our boat ride, we walked around and crossed the wooden bridge, grabbed a gelato (pink gelato for Kacey), and saw a swan hiss and threaten to attack an approaching dog... I thought swans were peaceful, but saw another side of them today.

It was a great day. We rode back by way of Interlocken and Kacey slept the entire way home. After we got home, we were able to Skype my family for Mother's Day and see everyone gathered at Mema and Papa's house... made me homesick. We still trying to reach Dave's parents, but are hoping to talk to them soon.

Other things that happened this week:

• Susan's parents, Christy and Dale, visited Fribourg. Kacey and I went on the mini train with them around Fribourg and they came over and broke in our raclette machine for us. It was great to see them.


• We played Quiddler with Tom and Katie. And, Tom, while taking a sip of water, broke the second of our four plastic rental chairs. Scott broke the first one last week. I'm not sitting in those chairs...if I crash like he did, I'm afraid I'd give birth.


• We attended the open house and Kacey's school and went on a tour of Fribourg with Marti, Scott, and Charlie.


• But, our container arrives tomorrow with all of our things, so we won't have to worry about our fragile rental furniture any longer.


• Dave will have a short work week...he gets the day off tomorrow because the container will arrive, then Thursday and Friday are holidays.


• And, Robert, Jeanne-Marie, Eric, and Maureen get here on Saturday for a weeklong visit...I'll put them to work unpacking our boxes ;-).

April 15 - Moving to Switzerland

After months of sorting, planning, goodbying, and packing, Dave, Lawanna and Kacey flew from Atlanta to Zurich on Sunday, April 15th. We had more luggage than we've ever carried in all of our vacations combined. We flew with a crowd of Shriners who didn't sleep at all...so we didn't sleep either. But we made it to Zurich, caught a train to Fribourg, and had rides from Veronique and Scott to our new house at 31 Chemin du Couchant in Villars-sur-Glane. Here are some pictures of our new place (after we've been in it for 3 weeks...we have still have rental furniture, since our container hasn't yet made it here.)