On Thursday, we moved from Mikael’s moms’ to his dads’. About a 45 minute drive between, we stopped to say good-bye to Jutta at work and ran some errands….me getting new glasses in 1 hour, thanks to Binyon emailing me my prescription. Now I can see for the next couple months, unless I lose them, of course.
We stopped in Vevey to pick up some dinner and treated ourselves to one of those $7 tall lattes. I have given up Café Vienna, but I am not giving up Starbucks too. We drove from Vevey to the itsy, bitsy town of St. Legier. I don’t know how you call it a town.
The home of Mikael’s father, Jose: a beautiful, 3 story house, with an amazing view over Lake Geneva. Jose has a collection of sunset pictures, as you might imagine, having such an incredible view, day after day. A handsome, charming man, you are comfortable with him right away, regardless of his silly jokes and strong opinions……..he doesn’t like salad, because it is bad for your health, yet he smokes like a chimney. Molly and I both find him endearing and kind.
The kids have been sleeping and sleeping, late into mid-day. It drives me crazy……I am up early, walk down the hill to find coffee and practice my French at a small restaurant where I am the only customer. I also read the French newspaper, just to look like I fit in……I actually get information out of it, like……
· Hillary Swank is in a new movie about Amelia Earhart
· Sting likes the winter because it gives him inspiration
· There is a Marathon in Lausanne on Sunday with a ¼ mile option
It rains this morning. For one of the very few times we have seen it. I go home, get the kids up, get ready and we head to Lausanne to the Olympic Museum. Leave the house at 1:00……almost time for lunch or a nap.
Anyways, the headquarters for the Olympic Committee are in Lausanne, Switzerland. Who knew? They have a nice museum there……it was especially interesting since they had a whole floor dedicated to the Vancouver Winter Olympics to be held in early 2010. The exhibition was great and gave a lot of information regarding the organization process and the plans for February. I was most impressed by the Leed Certification of the new structures (environmental conscience building) and the gold standard they achieved in the designs and implementation of the Olympic Village and the new venues. The new event, cross skiing (I think that was the name)…..will be fun to watch, as it will include jumps, speed, moguls and all skiing events in one. Can’t wait to partake, if my brother still invites me.
The museum also summarized every Olympic since the inception and had highlights from every one. I had forgotten the event did not take place during WWII. I had forgotten about the 11 Israels killed by Palestinian terrorists in the same year Mark Spitz won all his medals. I had to remember about various Olympic Boycotts over the years and names I had forgotten, like Osan Biaul and Katrina Witt. It was a great museum.
Topped that off with crepes and coffee, the sun came out and it turned into another beautiful day.
