How Bizarre

Every time I get in the car the same song is playing. ‘Over the Rainbow,’ the version sung by the Hawaiian musician, Iz, is constantly on the radio these days. Matt and I ran errands last weekend and we heard it three times in a matter of that many hours on one radio station. What is it with this song? It’s not like it’s a new release. It was popular in the US in 2004. A little bit of searching on the internet and I had my answer. It was recently used in a deodorant commercial here in Europe. It hit #1 on the German singles chart in October of 2010 and then became the number one song in France and Switzerland in December. I don’t mind the song but it’s on all the time.

Here is a song that I do like that is currently on the radio. It’s called Soulman by Ben L’Oncle Soul. It’s a mix of English and French lyrics. Can’t say I understand much of the French – just a word here and there. Matt and I shout out the French words we recognize when it’s on the radio. That’s the extent of our language practice these days.

Christmas Dinner

Matt was on a mission to have turkey for Christmas Dinner so he and Terry set out to find one on the 24th. They hit the jackpot at Aligro, a local grocery store. They were successful with grilling it as well. It was very tasty and there were plenty of leftovers for sandwiches and soup.

Road Trip to Florence

I had to work the week of Christmas so Matt took vacation days and drove to Florence with Barb and Terry. They spent a day sight-seeing in Florence and then traveled to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. I received daily reports on their pasta and gelato consumption. My mouth watered every time I got a message from them.

Holiday Visitors

We must have been a good host and hostess last year during the holidays because Matt’s family returned to Switzerland for their second Christmas. Barb and Terry arrived on the 16th of December and will be staying with us through the 30th. It’s wonderful to have family with us to celebrate the holidays.

Christmas Market in Neuchâtel

I love this time of year with all of the Christmas markets going on in the little towns. My friend, Ayelet, agreed to go with me to the one in Neuchâtel. There was no way I was going to talk Matt into going. He’s Christmas-marketed out. Neuchâtel is about a 40 minute train ride from Morges. I was in charge of the details for the trip. I had the train schedule figured out, I had asked a co-worker for directions on how to get to the market and I had double checked the dates. The one thing I didn’t think to look at was when it opened for the day. So we arrived a little before 11 to find that the market didn’t open until 2. Ayelet was not put out at all (that’s one of the traits I love best about her – she’s very easy-going) and we made the most of our morning. Neither of us had been to the town before so we stopped at the tourism office to pick up a map and made a plan. We visited a beautiful church and walked around the walls of the old castle. By the time we finished a lovely lunch, it was time for the market to open. The market was just so-so. I think the impromptu part of our day was the best.

London

A few weeks ago Matt and I spent a long weekend in London. This was Matt’s first trip to London and my third. Matt found a nice hotel that was conveniently located just a few minutes’ walk from the Earl’s Court metro stop. Our visit consisted of sight-seeing, eating, more sight-seeing, some drinking and then more eating.

I’ll start with the food because that’s always a highlight for me. When in London fish ‘n chips are a must, so that’s what we ate the first night. Matt ordered an entrée called the ‘Codfather,’ which consisted of a huge piece of fish, chips, mushy peas and bread. It was a lot of food and I could tell he was proud that he ate it all. Our best meal was a steak and ale pie at a pub in one of the little neighborhoods around London. I wasn’t too sure about the pie when we ordered it but it was very good. We also had a jacket potato (baked potato) with cheese and chili. The only thing we didn’t eat, which London is known for, is curry. I guess we’ll have to go back at some point to fix that. It was a good thing we did so much sight-seeing as we needed to walk off all the calories we consumed.

Our sight-seeing consisted of a hop-on/hop-off bus tour because it was part of our hotel package. We were definite tourists as we sat in the cold and wind on the open part of the double decker bus. It was a good way to see the city though and it got us to our destination, which was the Tower of London. After seeing the Crown Jewels and hearing the gruesome stories of people losing their heads at the Tower, we climbed the many, many steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral. We also took a boat ride down the Thames River. In between the sight-seeing we stopped at several pubs so Matt could try out the different ales. One pub, the Lamb and Flag, dated back to 1623. We also timed it just right to go to a Christmas Market in Hyde Park. I was hoping for an English-themed market but it ended up being German.

Another highlight was meeting up with a friend of Matt’s who is now living in London. We met Devon and her boyfriend, Andy, for drinks and dinner. We didn’t time our visit very well though because we ended up missing the last train and they had to drive us back to our hotel, which was in the opposite direction from where they lived.