A COUPLE OF SHOTS OF COLMAR, FRANCE

This photo is actually for Jocelyn - a window of pigs! It was very cute!

Notice the man on the corner of the building.

He's been standing there a long time!

I have been meaning to post these couple of photo's for you to have a look at the very unique architecture that is found in the small village of Colmar, France, nearly an hour on the train from Basel. We enjoyed a day there with our friends Geoff, Ann and Claire. It wasn't quite as cold as the day we took Tim and Amy there to meet up with Amy's family.

FRIENDSHIPS

This week has been quite a week for Roger and Gaynor!! I don't want to go into details and tell the whole world, least to say that our friends here in Basel, Switzerland have been totally amazing and have been a great help to us in our hour of need!

Yesterday I went to a friends place to lunch and afterwards she took me on a leisurely walk up to a Castle in the area in which she lives, very close to Basel(in fact her area has two Castles!!). Mind you, when we got to the top, we couldn't see much as it has been all closed up for the winter, but it was exhilarating just to get to the top and breath beautiful fresh air! Along the way we chatted and felt very blessed to have each other to talk to. So, no photo's. Winter time is just not the best time to be taking photo's, unless of course there is snow.

Roger and I want to thank God for our wonderful friends and all that they mean to us, especially as we are so far away from Australia and being on the phone just isn't the same.

Just had to share this beautiful photo with you. Amy was determined to get a photo with "Schopfheim" in the background. No guesses where this was taken!!




Oops, you can hardly read "Schopfheim"....... SO, you'd better look for it!

FAMINE OR FEAST

It does make sense that Australians would travel at this time, being their long summer break. My last post talked about a wonderful time with Tim and Amy, now in Rome but will return to Australia tomorrow. Here are a few photo's that I haven't featured before. Pam, this is what the wooden bridge in Luzern looks like in winter, but made beautiful by the lovely couple standing in front of it!

As you can see, I made the most of having photo's taken with Tim!

Our Aussie friends Geoff, Ann and Claire arrived in Basel early evening last Sunday. We took them to their accommodation and then had a coffee with them. They'll be around for a couple of weeks.

While on the train home we met Roger's niece Anna and her friend Hannah who have been travelling overseas since 15 December. They stayed a couple of nights.

We have taken Geoff, Ann and Claire into Basel a couple of times and are really enjoying having them here. There's nothing quite like Aussie friends, especially ones we have known for a very long time.

Here we are at our favourite local haunt, Gasthaus Sonne enjoying Roesti (local area delight) with Geoff, Ann and Claire. We swilled it down with beer and then finished off the evening with vanilla icecream and warm cherries! Oh yum.

WITH TIM AND AMY IN LUZERN

Today (Saturday) we have spent the most wonderful day with Tim and Amy in Luzern. Luzern is a great place to visit, but probably not in the dead of winter. That didn't stop us from enjoying each other's company. Quite the contrary actually. It meant we could spend a lot of time in Cafe's chatting!! So, here's how the day panned out!

Met Tim and Amy at the Luzern Railway Station. They were waiting for us (forgot to ask them how long - oops!). Absolutely lovely to see them again, especially as it was a bit sad saying goodbye in Colmar last Saturday.

It was freezing in Luzern so decided we all needed a drink to warm ourselves up. Went to a lovely but very busy Cafe/Restaurant. Amy and I had a white hot chocolate drink (yes, we discovered we both love white chocolate!), Tim had one of those new fandangle drinks that I don't want to spell on my blog (!!), and Rog was boring and had black coffee. We shared some delicious treats (cakes) as well. Sorry, none for Amy. That's unfair.

We walked over the covered bridge which looks like this in the summer!!! It was extensively burnt in 1993. It was rather cold walking across today, as you can imagine.

After this we jumped on a bus and went to see the weeping lion. Very moving stone sculpture.

We needed lunch and you have to remember that Tim and Amy were with 'missionaries'!! So.... we had made lunch before leaving home, but we needed somewhere warm to eat it! Amy thought of the warm 'rooms' they have on the station platforms - clever girl - so off we went to sit in one of these. Amy called it 'the bunker'!! But it was warm, reasonably clean and mostly we had it all to ourselves! Ate salami and salad rolls, had some mars bar slice I had made ( oh yum ) and a banana each.

Then we decided we needed another hot drink so found a really nice restaurant and sat there drinking for about 1.5 hours and afterwards went to a souvenir shop just for the fun of it.

You can probably imagine how hard it was for us all to say goodbye. We have all had the most wonderful time together and it is so lovely to see Tim and Amy so happy, not only together, but in doing this fantastic trip.

Amy did remind me it will only be 7 months and we will see each other again! Can't wait.

To cap off the most beautiful day, Tim rang to see if we had got home safely and to say they loved us. We are so very blessed to have the most wonderful family. Thank you God for our family.

HERE WE ARE IN BARCELONA