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

BARCELONA with Tim and Amy

Tim and Amy arrived in Schopfheim on 17 December. We flew to Barcelona together with Easy Jet the following day. We managed to find a great apartment (well, a friend of ours actually found it for us) in a very convenient location and with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was great and we were really able to relax there in between our sightseeing. Here are some pictures to wet your appetite for Barcelona!

A veiw from Columbus Tower

Roger and Gaynor in Parc Guell

Tim and Amy in Parc Guell

Gaudi architecture in Parc Guell

Amazing mosaic architecture

Boo! More mosaic work

Who's the gorgeous creature?!!!!

Trick photography !!!! Love the mosaic on the ceiling

Tim and Amy on the incredible continuous mosaic seating around the parc

One of the many walks in the parc

Amy on the top of La Pedrera. More amazing Mosaics. Go Gaudi !

On top of La Pedrera with Sagrada Familia in the background

The La Pedrera building built over 100 years ago


Taken on our last day in Barcelona as we are about to enter the Metro to take the train to the airport.

Goodbye Barcelona, what a wonderful 5 days we have all had. The half has not been told!!

Christmas with Tim and Amy

Yeh, a real Christmas tree with real Christmas candles

Ames enjoying the lighted Christmas tree

Go those Santa's !

Our Christmas fare

Y U M ! ! ! !

Needless to say, we had a lovely Christmas Day with our gorgeous Tim and Amy. It was a leisurely day with a brunch at 11am followed by a little walk and then a game of Zug um Zug! We did manage a couple of phone calls to family in Australia at one stage!

We ended up having our actual Christmas Dinner at 5.30pm and it was quite a feast.

Although we can't actually say we had a 'White Christmas' we were able to see it all around the place in Schopfheim. It has all but gone now, on 27 December and Tim and Amy have moved on to Colmar, France to spend time with Amy's family. We are going to miss them terribly. We have had the most wonderful time together and will treasure every little minute we have been able to spend with this most delightful couple who just happen to be part of our family!

TIM AND AMY HAVE ARRIVED

Yes, they're really here. Tim and Amy were so excited about the snow! It has been falling all day. So, we just had to build a snowman. Sorry I didn't get a piccie of the finished product (too busy putting the chicken in the oven to roast)!! But Amy has pictures which we will download soon. Here's a few of the men working!