Still snowing...

It's been snowing for now 7 hours.  We have about 4-6" on the ground...it's quite pretty. 
According to Tom the roads were a mess (on the way to the airport) but he made it to Rome safely.

Here are a few more photos of the snow:

Right outside the
Master bedroom

Another...

View from outside
the dining-room

Another...

 Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
XOXOXO  Ron

Quick Update and Wishes...

Just a quick update:

• We are having our first Suisse snow here in Lausanne (see video below)
• We wanted to wish Aunt Helen & Uncle John a very Happy Anniversary along with birthday wishes for Uncle John!!!  We Love you both!
• I'm staying in today and Tom is on his way to Rome to, hopefully, secure an apartment for us. 
• I think I wll start studying Italian and watching the white stuff fall from the warmth of our apartment...

Love to all...

A Happy Thanksgiving to all...

Just a quick update - I am going on 2 weeks here and things are starting to settle down. 
It amazes me that Tom has already been here for over a month...
I have finally gotten into a rhythm of getting things done and exploring at the same time.
Up until today I was having interesting thoughts that I was turning my Mother...  I was walking into town everyday just like she used to.  As to not scare myself too much, I decided to change my rhythm. 
Today I decided to venture out in the car.  I was pretty happy that no one got hurt and I didn't get arrested.  It was a lot of fun just tooling around and checking things out.

Well enough of that stuff - I wanted to wish everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving!  Unfortunately, it is not a holiday over here so Tom had to go to work.  I will be picking him up and we will be going out for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of Pigeon!  Yes, I said Pigeon - we are going to Auberge de Lavaux.  It is a wonderful resturant that Tom and went to once before.  One of their specialties is pigeon.  Hey it's not a turkey but why not...

Again, I hope everybody has a safe, happy, and healthy holiday!  I will leave you with a panoramic view I took today while wandering...
Enjoy - with Love...Ron & Tom 



The French Alps fron Port Ouchy on Thanksgiving



The first week comes to an end...

Well, as my first week comes to an end, I have to say...Not Bad. 
This is definitely not the US and it is an Adventure...so all is good!
   -  The weather here seems to be hit-or-miss.  Some days are rainy, some sunny, some mixed - as with the rest of the world...the weathermen can not get it right.  The tempurature has remained between 40-50 degrees.  Brisk but nice!
   -  I have done a lot of wondering, both rain or shine, and have pretty much got our local area down.  I have down the local bus system (at least one full segment of it).  I spend a lot of time in the St.Francois area, one of the many shopping meccas!  It's about a 10minute bus ride or a 30 minute walk from the apartment.  Weird item: The Suisse do not seem to have a problem opening the same store on every block.  Example:  We have 2 major food stores (Coop & Migros) and you will find about 10 of them in a 1/4 mile radius (all of various sizes and assortments). 
Due to the size of the frig, I do a little bit of shopping every other day - instead of shopping for the month like in the states (I miss Costco).  Makes for interesting and spur-of-the-moment menus.
   - The people are definitely not people watchers - they all walk, in a set direction, with purpose, and never look anywhere but straight ahead.  I swear most of the time when someone notices me looking around they think I am strange (yes - no comments, I know I am strange).

On the Italian front:  The apartment we wanted was 'sold' <sigh>, so we are headed to Rome this weekend for another house-hunting trip.  Cross your fingers that we find something even better...

On a closing note - here are just few cute photos...


I thought this said Suisse...
from Port Ouchy

 

A nice view of the mountains
through a fig tree by our flat...



The Palais De Justice in Montbenon
a.k.a. Ditrict Court House

  

View from the gardens of Palais
De Justice Montbenon



Lastly, for my Mom...
She was very impressed with the large
Oak leaves in WA.  Here is a White Oak
Leaf.  Green during the warm months
but when it changes - it goes White...Cool!

 As always - Love and Good Health to all!!

Finally here, so let's have a little tour...

I arrived in Switzerland on Friday (Nov. 12) at about 7:40am local time. 
The flights were really great.  I was able to get a little sleep and watch Inception (interesting movie). 
Getting through passport control and customs was a breeze. 
Right past baggage claim I was met by an extremely hot Swiss Man (ok - he is Italian & Greek but Hot non-the-less).  It was Tom! Yippee!!!!
As to not drag this out too much...  We got my steamer-trucks (luggage) loaded into the car and headed to our new temporary home in Lausanne.  It's a cute, modern place, and it is a 3 minute walk to work for Tom.
Here are a few photos of the place:

Tom in the Livingroom

Fully-equipped Kitchen



Nice Master Bedroom

 

One of two spare
bedrooms

The view from the
Master Bedroom Window

 

Lots of closet space

   

Another view from the
Livingroom



The apartment has a really cool feature...the bathroom floor tiles are heated!

On Sunday, today, we decided to take the local bus system (clean, efficient, on-time, yikes...) into Lausanne Centre for a little walk-around.  The bus stop is right in front of Tom's Office...

Switzerland is like NJ (Bergen County) - everything except McDonalds and Starbucks is closed on Sunday.  It was beautiful, empty, and very peaceful.

Area Of Lausanne-Gare

Beautiful Hotel in Lausanne

At 2pm we were near a local church and a wonderful animated chime began to play...

Just a small update on my first few days here...
Miss you all!!