January 2005 Trip to Switzerland

Good old English Tea with friends David & Reneta

What a wonderful afternoon on a cold Jan day.

They also invited us onto their boat for a Swiss fondue evening when we arrived back from Switzerland, wonderful night, great memories.They too had visited Switzerland for a few days break.

Thank goodness for our new cratch have you seen it out there Pam! Colder here than Switzerland

We had some very cold days in Jan... Our bikes did not get used, that's for sure, but the car did by us all.

We used the car for filling up with diesel for our stove, and also gallon's of water for Pam and David when their tank nearly ran out, as the water was frozen in the pipes at times, so we had to be careful with water around the marina... what a car 100 euro's...

We have been to Dijon a few time's, to the train station, shopping, site seeing.

The car went to Lyon airport twice to pick up Pam's sister and take her back, Pat stayed for Xmas and New year, car never failed us even in this weather, more than paid for it's self already.

We enjoyed some good weather for a few days,honest we did. John & I took ourselves off up the River Saone for a three day boating trip and we thoroughly enjoyed some good boating again. I got some good practice with my new camera too. We did have one disaster, John forgot the diesel tank was filling for the fire and yes it overflowed, (Us boaters suffer with CRAFT can't remember a ****** thing)

Oh what a mess in the boat, John had weeks of work after that, he had to renew some flooring in the back bedroom,and some cupboards too, they got soaked in the diesel, what a hard lesson to learn. The boat smelt for weeks, but it was fixable thank goodness. Ok now we hope. We are using red diesel in the winter as it's allowed for heating, but we only have a small extra tank, that needs filling hence the problem. White is in our big tank. In England red was used for both engine and heating.

River Saone

The white cord to the left of the next photo is what you twist to open up the locks, on the river Saone, the lights tell you when it's ready. You don't have to get off the boat, this was our first experience of these locks so we got in some good practice for the coming year. Inside the lock you lift a lever from your boat to fill or empty the lock and then the gates open automatically.

Boat vixi

Caroline on boat Vixi arranged a fund raising event for the tsunami disaster which went down well, she worked hard and arranged three lunches on different days on her large boat. We should of been in Thailand this month with our friends Judy and David, but canceled, due to us not being up to traveling.

Switzerland

We received a phone call from a Friend Terry, to say how are you doing, and by the way my apartment is free in Wengen Switzerland... why not go for the world men's ski race, what an offer,we could not refuse, we asked if we could take some friends with us, we had a few days to get ready, and pack our 20 year old car. Pam David and John and I set off on another great adventure. A golden opportunity and what a holiday, Pam and David had enough ski wear to help us out.

Our car would it make the trip we wondered... no problem arrived safe and sound in Switzerland, this was us waiting for the train up to Wengen, what a trip up the mountains. Arriving to this wonderful place with views to die for... 10 days of bliss I could tell were a head of us. That's David carrying the wine!!!

The apartment was in 100 year old hotel that Terry had converted, oh the views wow, we enjoyed every moment of our stay very much, the views, they all changed daily too.

Judy & Paul drove up to Wengen and joined us for a few days. Never once did I ever get cold in Switzerland, that really shocked me, I'm always cold.

We visited many different places around Wengen, and marveled at all the different sights. Being part of the world cup weekend was very special indeed, the atmosphere was so special, so much music too.

We even got some sunshine 20 degree's on Terry's balcony one day, including days of none stop snowing.

I find it hard to find words to describe our experience of the Swiss Alps, we want to try skiing next time, thanks to Terry for giving us all a golden opportunity.

Joining in the atmosphere, we were on a high...

Top of Europe wow...

Back to France

We had a wonderful drive back to France, thanks to David and John, not enough space to show the hundreds of photos here. Another high light of the month, friends Ann (Ann teaches card classes) and Lawrence, decided to buy a very nice home just out side Saint Jean de Losne in a village called Lapierre sur Saone and moved from their boat into this 5 bed property, with lots of potential to increase the size too.

Ann will fill it with all her art and card material she has a lot. I can get my supplies from Ann for my card making, so nice meeting like minded people. Congratulations to them both, they hope to run a BB if anyone is interested in Staying near Saint Jean de Losne and exploring the area, get in touch with us.

We have five friends who have bought property in France, who's next I wonder. All our best wishes to you all.