Learning French?

While Jimmy and I were in St. Gallen, Ashlynn was in the South of France supposedly practicing French and learning about French culture. Based on her photos, I think she mostly goofed around with her friends.

This is where they stayed--lucky kids!

Beautiful Shots in Spain...

One evening the sky cleared up and Veronica was thrilled to see the Milky Way; their location was quite remote with little light pollution. 

She also enjoyed practicing with long exposures on a river...

...and a waterfall. 

The ibex (a fancy kind of wild goat) is endangered in this area due to over hunting; they normally blended in well, but she managed to capture this shot.

Biology Trip to Spain...

In mid-October, Veronica travelled with the other Senior / Y13 biology students to Gredos, Spain to stay at a learning center designed for school trips. They did fieldwork and data collection in a variety of environments, including rivers...

...forests...

...fields and mountains. Veronica was expecting sunshine in Spain, but was greeted with rain and clouds. Of course, she should get used to this as she faces a future of much crappy weather when doing fieldwork while studying environmental science.

Here is Veronica (the only photo of her since she was the photographer) measuring the percentage coverage of lichens on this rock. Her other investigation looked into whether light intensity affected the size of mushrooms with results showing there was absolutely no correlation. The data collected was then used in write-ups back at school.

Here’s to Oktoberfest...

After dropping our luggage off at a locker, we headed back into Zurich for dinner before our flight. We happened upon a large Oktoberfest tent and managed to talk our way inside. From this angle, it looks like the place was empty, but actually all the tables around us were pre-booked and full of people eating and drinking.

We didn’t think to have someone take our photo until our beers were already empty, so the folks at the next table insisted that we borrow their beers as props.

The young folks kept ordering more of these liter beers and we wondered how these could afford about $75 each to go out for beer and dinner.

Going Back to School...

The following morning we headed to St. Gallen University’s Executive Campus to meet with the head of the Renewable Energy Management Program. The facilities were impressive...

 ...and the views from the terrace were beautiful. We had a tasty lunch while discussing the program, which really helped put my mind at ease prior to forking over the big bucks for the tuition.

Jimmy will spend six weeks in St. Gallen spread throughout 2015, and one week each in Berlin and Singapore in early 2016 to complete the course. He’s very excited about learning more about sustainable energy as it’s an industry he feels very passionate about and hopes to transition into next year.

Exploring St. Gallen...

The next day we took the train east to St. Gallen, a town of 75,000. We stayed in a recently renovated military canteen built in 1900.

We visited the cathedral...

...and its amazing library, which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in 1767, it’s Switzerland’s oldest library containing almost 160,000 volumes. This photo is courtesy of Wikipedia as no photography was allowed, which was disappointing as it was the most beautiful library I’ve ever seen.

We took a funicular up the hill to a nice walking path across a park. We heard the cow bells long before we saw any cows.

Down below we could see some kind of festival. We eventually made our way down and discovered that it was the last day of a 10-day fair. While we debated about spending the money to enter for the final 1.5 hours, a couple gave us their tickets. Inside the giant halls was what seemed to be an endless supply of booths for beer and wine tastings. We were impressed with the places in the building to leave your empty glasses. We enjoyed some good hard ciders, then wandered through the animal halls just as they were closing up. We ended the evening with a picnic dinner near our hotel.

Lake Zurich...

Like all Swiss lakes, Lake Zurich is very picturesque.

It was lovely watching the sun fade to shades of pink...

...and the city lights come on.

It was also great to see Bill and Nina again!

Zurich with Bill & Nina...

The following weekend, Jimmy and I headed down to Switzerland to check out St. Gallen University where he plans to take an Executive Renewable Energy Management course in order to change industries and career paths. We were thrilled that Bill and Nina could spend the day with us in Zurich, where we were staying the night.

We had a great lunch on an outside deck and took a wander around the historic city center. The coolest thing we saw was this medieval wall in a coin shop. This part reminds me of Where the Wild Things Are. Another section was an early calendar.

While Jimmy and I went to our hotel for a nap because of our early morning start, Bill and Nina went for a swim at a lakeside pool. Then we met back up for drinks and to watch the sunset from a lakeside terrace.

Boating in Amsterdam...

On Saturday, we toured around Leiden. On Sunday, it was time to head to Amsterdam, where Glenn and Nicola were checking into a hotel for their final two nights in the Netherlands. After a walk around, we decided to rent a boat because the weather was perfect for being on the water. It was cool that we managed to find a company that rents solar-powered electric boats.

We brought along a picnic lunch. Although the skipper wasn’t supposed to drink, that didn’t stop Jimmy and Glenn from enjoying some wine between sharing the job of driving the boat.

We quickly realized that we hadn’t brought along enough wine. When a couple called to us from the shore to ask about the boat, we offered them a ride in exchange for some wine. Luckily Lori, her husband and son were a fun group to hang out with as we continued to cruise along the canals; it was also fortunate that they’d brought along a camera and sent me these photos.

Afterwards, we visited our favorite Genever bar.

The Hague with Glenn...

The next day, I showed Glenn and his girlfriend Nicola (they’ve since broken up) around The Hague, including a visit to the Mauritshuis...

...and around the Binnenhof.

While Nicola went for a massage, Glenn and I visited the Panorama Mesdag. This tent, on temporary display, was used by Mesdag while painting on location on the dunes of Scheveningen.

After some shopping, we headed to the beach to meet Jimmy for dinner.

Oktoberfest...

Jimmy might not have a drop of German DNA, but that didn’t stop him from planning the agency’s first Oktoberfest. He recruited Veronica to be a beer wench. He was thrilled that his old Navy buddy Glenn was visiting from DC.

Jan loaned me her vintage dirndl, a traditional German dress. I looked like the poor country girl next to the fancy city girl, but I was happy to be dressed up.

Bob got into the act with a traditional shirt.

German Turston wore his lederhosen proudly and convinced me that the tables would hold our weight for dancing. Sadly, we never did get many other folks to dance, but we had fun.

A Market Boat...

On our way to meet Michael and Catharina in Voorburg for lunch, we spotted this unusual boat in the Vliet. At first we thought there was a full market on board, but it turned out that the crates were empty and the fruits and vegs were plastic. However, the boat was used as a floating market until just recently and is now part of the Maritime Museum.

We had a nice chat with these gentlemen and they insisted that we take a traditional dessert from their village of Belfeld near Venlo.

More Trains...

While Catharina (aka Playtex) and Michael (aka Dead o’Fart) have only been married for about two years, they’ve been together over 15 years. Ironically, it took our visit for her to finally see NedTrain for herself. Here they are about to sneak through the big rear doors where the trains enter the building and the general public isn’t allowed.