A Little Bit of Eden In the City

Why oh why have I only now just discovered the beauty of the botanical gardens in the city of Geneva?!

My new sanctuary in the city.....

I could have been escaping to this little haven of tranquility on lonely afternoons with not much else to do but read a good book.  At least I have found it now, and when the boys go back to school in September I 'll be spending my afternoons here until it gets to chilly.

The boys and I went to the Jardin Botanique for one of our activity's of the day this week to get us out of the house.  It is a beautiful place, so full of nature that you forget the sounds of cars and trams filled with busy people in their busy lives just on the other side of the wall.

Each section represents a different place.....

Spot the frog..........................

I love the curve of that tree.....

One by itself............................

My photo of the day...............

One big rusty bee................

Beehives...............................

Peacocks roaming.................

In full bloom...........................

My field......................

The field above made me feel so at home.  It's the first place that's really been like that for me here.  If I didn't know better I would have thought that I was just walking across the grounds of one of my favorite stately homes in England.

This weekend I've just been doing bits and pieces, but I did spend Saturday evening at Lucy's watching a film and eating ice cream....mmmmm....we are always eating ice cream when were together...that's got to be bad!

Tomorrow is the start of another week, but one wish some excitement at the end of it for me!  I am going home for 10 days Friday night!  Whoop Whoop!  I cannot wait to soak up some Englishness!!!

It may be a while till I am back on here again!  So for now, enjoy the summer!

Oh I Know You Wish You Were Here

Le Tour De France came to Bellegarde this week to cross the finish line and so did I!!!

Having a brother obsessed with bikes, to the point of even having his own bike shop, you can't live in the same house for years and not watch Le Tour De France.  Over the last few years though I have really got into it and now love watching Le Tour De France each year.  So being very excited to watch this years race I checked the Tour's route to see if it would by any chance come within reaching distance for me to the Swiss border.  Lucky for me Stage 10 was due to finish in a town half an hour away from me in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine!  Unlucky for me though was that on that day I would be looking after the boys as they would be on their summer holidays.  However I got the boys excited enough about the Tour that they wanted to go to the finish line and see the cyclists race past us (even if it was for just a couple of seconds).

On Wednesday 11th July (said with much importance because this will now and forever always be a historic day in the life of Abigail Rose) I took the boys and myself on a train to Bellegarde for the afternoon.  We got off at our stop on the train with a load of other people and all meandered through the streets climbing gradually upwards to the sounds of the excited crowds gathering.  As we were walking towards the crowds I stopped to give some directions to a couple Australian cyclists trying to find the train station.  The people they had asked didn't understand them, so I was very happy to use my English/Australian speaking skills to help them out!  Hahaha!  I got reward with a cheery 'murky bucket' as they rode off....that made me crack up way to much...the boys thought I had lost it...they just didn't get it though which made it funnier to me!

It was a flipping boiling day, so I was rather hot carrying a heavy backpack full of heavy water bottles as we walked around the last 1K of the course.

Watch the action as it gets closer........

Little shop displays............

All roads closed for the Tour.......

Painted houses, that better be depicting Wiggs in the front........

The boys were pretty good as we walked around back and forth through the town, till eventually they got a bit fed up and just wanted to find a place to stand by the barriers.  We got a good spot though, with a bend near the 1K to go mark.

Our spot.......................

Just to prove my red burnt face was there......

As your waiting for the time to dwindle away until the race goes past by tons of cars and motorbikes (for radio, TV and eventually a whole load of different team cars) entertain you by beeping their horns as they drive by.  What gets the crowd really going though is the onslaught of caravans giving (or more like throwing at your head) loads of sweets, water and random freebees as they drive down the race route. 

The yellow jersey................

One of the random floats............

Every time the road went quite for a while you got really excited thinking 'this is it' when you suddenly saw all the heads turn of people standing furthest away from you.  However it was usually just another random car full of people on their way to the finish line.  Finally though the roar of the crowd escalated and you knew (with the helpfully count down of many K's were to go from some random guy in his house above us watching his TV) that 'this really was it' as the first group of riders flew passed us.

First man to ride past us..........

My favorite shot of the day as the Stage winner Voeckler chases down the rest of the group....

The yellow jersey!!!  Go Go Wiggins.......

A mountain stage day was a good day to watching the cyclists cross the finish line because it meant they came past in little groups rather than one big peleton!  It is defiantly something to do if you get the chance, just to say that you've done it! Ha!

My booty from the day............

I watched the stage highlights later that night to see what really happened in the race, and to see if I could see myself of course!  YAY!  I could kind of see myself!  Hahaha!  I am the white blob on the right opposite the rider in blue behind the white with blue writing Carrefoure barrier.  Yeah, have fun trying to find that!

Just for my own knowledge........

I had a great time with all the excitement.  Aller Wiggins!

Trying to Keep Busy

The boy's I look after have been on their summer holidays for the last two weeks.  I was not looking forward to having to look after them all day every day for those two weeks, before they would finally start a week of sailing lessons on the third (which will be starting tomorrow).  The worrying thought of having to entertain them for those two weeks made me sit them down so the three of us could come up with a list of holiday activity ideas.  I am glad we did, because it hasn't been that bad.  Of course after looking after them all day in the week all I wont to do is crash at the weekend and have some alone time.  Flipping heck do they talk your ear off with all sorts of rubbish over and over again, allllll day!!!  But I have survived!  Next week won't be so full on and I will defiantly be ready for my summer holiday when it comes around (a week at the end of next week, and three more in August...Can't wait!).

Here are some photos of a few of the things that we got up to this week..................


The Mamco art gallery..............

The boys were just left confused.............

My favorite exhibit was this one about history.......... 

It will be now we have been there.........

Words words words words words...........

I love this.......................................

'Because words are art too', quote from Raph..........

Rainbow........................................

The spider eye..............................

This made me want to do some drawing and painting........

Dripping drips................

A mid-week walk around the lake in Divonne......

A day at the Zoo.........................

Some solid reading time pour moi while they played in the park.....

After recovering on Saturday from the packed week with the boys, I got myself out of the house in the evening to get dinner and ice cream with Lucy in the city.  We also took a rather wet walk (getting sprayed as we went by) to and beyond the lakes famous fountain.

Fountains this tall get you wet in the wind.......

Geneve across le lac.........

I have to say that the city as the sun is setting in rather pretty.

Walking Through Geneva With Gelato

As always it's another Sunday evening for me catching up the blog with my little travels from the last few weeks.  I haven't done anything terrible exciting for a while now with the on/off hot Swiss summer coming to town.  It's an on/off Swiss summer because even though it doesn't get below 20 degrees, the fact that its under 30 degrees means it's a 'bad' summer here?  It's a relief to me when it is under 30 degrees, I think all my skin has burnt away since the beginning of June!  However, it's nice enough here that you don't really feel the need to go anywhere else, or even want to do much else but enjoy the sun here.

I have been spending time at the weekend with my host family or friends, just taking it easy.  Sadly for me though, as summer comes and goes here, so will most of the friends that I have made (again) since Christmas.  Chelsea left last weekend, but it didn't really feel like it was happening at the time.  Now though I realise I cant just meet up with her like I used to.  She is amazingly great, and we got on really well, so I'm gutted that she's gone!  A visit to California and a drive down the 101 will have to be done in the future! 

I spent another chilled out couple of days soaking up the sun a few weekends ago with Lucy though (she's still here, yay!  For now!).  We had late lie in's in the mornings followed by afternoons in the pool (major burning went on here unnoticed by myself till the next day...whoops!) or a walk in the woods or around Geneva.  It was actually the anniversary of the trams of Geneva this particular weekend.  So riding the trams were free and they had swapped some of the current trams for old ones, even ones that run on coal or had to be by pulled horses were out to be used.  Each evening we walked around Geneva just to end up getting Gelato (three..errr...cough cough...three times!  Eeek!).  Our nights ending as couch potatoes watching films was a great way to end our lazy days.  Haha!

The Geneva monument................

Monte Blanc bridge.........

The fountain.........................

One of the old trams.......

Steam tram, toot toot......... 

Relaxing by the pool with Lucy's dog Ziggy........

Pool time................................

Walking through the woods.........

Gelatomania............................

Geneva by night.........................

Another satisfying weekend living in the city!