Christmas Visitor

I can't believe it is already mid-January and I haven't had a chance to post pictures from Christmas time. We were really happy to have my mom visit. She, however, had a nightmare flight to visit us (including two nights at Heathrow airport) before managing to catch a flight to Geneva followed by a three hour train ride to my place. (It was impossible to get into Zürich before Christmas Eve!) Due to the delays we managed to extend mom's flight a few days, but our oh-so-big plans didn't quite materialize as I finally caught the cold everyone around me at work had before Christmas. Still, we went to see the singing Christmas tree in Zürich, enjoyed some Glühwein and warm chestnuts, had great dinners on Christmas Eve and Christmas and visited the Christmas market in Strasbourg. Here are a few photos we took during the week.


Performers getting prepped for their performance on the singing Christmas tree


A yummy cheese fondue dinner


Mom enjoying cheese fondue


Doc lighting the tree on Christmas Eve


All decked out


Christmas Day in Zürich


Enjoying a walk in the snow on Christmas Day


Christmas dinner: fondue chinoise

Jamaica

After Thanksgiving in the U.S., we spent a week in Jamaica and enjoyed the warm weather and some time to simply relax. Here are some of the photos we took:


Montego Bay


Black River


Croccodile in the Black River


Mangroves along the Black River


YS Waterfall


YS Waterfall


Appleton Rum Tour


Appleton Rum Tour

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve

We visited Oklahoma for Thanksgiving this year. While we were there Doc told me that one of his co-workers asked to see photos of the plains when we get back to Switzerland. I was trying to think of where we could take some good plains photos and remembered the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska. I've always been curious about it, but never visited it. This was a perfect example of not realizing what great stuff lies in your own backyard until you move away. So, for any Okies reading this, head out to Pawhuska and the reserve. It's a nice drive, the tall grass is beautiful, the bison roam free, and it just makes you want to sing, Oklahoma, where the wind come sweepin' down the plain .... Ok, enough with my singing. Here are some of our photos from the preserve.

Osaka: Part 2

On our last day in Osaka we visited Shitennoji Temple.









We also visited the Japanese garden in Tennoji Park before boarding a train to take us back to Tokyo and ultimately a chilly Zürich.

Mt. Koya

Up in the mountains about two hours from Osaka is Mt. Koya. We went there on a day trip to visit the town's many shrines and temples. For me the highlight was the path through Okunoin, an old cemetery. The surroundings looked completely different every few steps and were amazingly beautiful. It is hard to narrow down which photos to post here, so here are quite a few ... though many less than what we actually took!

















We also visited Kongobuji Temple.





Later in the day we visited the Garan complex.













We also visited Daimon Gate.



On our walk back to town to catch the bus we passed this beautiful park.