brussels, belgium (tory edition)
Posted by torytolles | Filed under Belgium
At the end of November, Chris (and I) went on his first Official Business Trip. Although it was really nice to have all of Chris’s meals and transportation paid for by his office, his 7AM - 7PM days, with “mandatory” dinner and pub-networking afterwards, lacked a bit of the glamour Chris initially imagined. Above is Brussels’ Grand Place, which is almost all that’s left of Ye Olde Brussels. Our timing was perfect, as the crazy hanging lights you see above had just been installed as a lighting installation art exhibition. It was lovely. Despite the disappointment of Chris’ long days, the Belgian treats were even better than anticipated…
Mmm…. Waffles…
Mmm… Food coma… [For all of those unfamiliar with what happens to Chris after a large meal, here is the brief synopsis: Chris eats a bit more than he should. Then he gets very sleepy. And needs to lie down until his body has dealt with the necessary digestive processing, somewhat like a lizard on a sunny rock. Food comas were frequent on our honeymoon when I only had Anne's House of Dreams for company (who brings more than one book on her honeymoon?!). Now I know to bring multiple books on any traveling over twelve hours. This may not be the entire explanation why I read nearly the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy while in Brussels, but it definitely contributed.] [Note: that is not my hat. - Chris]
While Chris worked, I got to explore the city. At first I was a bit reluctant to explore by myself because I thought it would be a lonely process. A book and a day later, I went to the Atomium, a 335 foot-tall model of a single cell of an iron crystal. It was built for the 1958 World’s Fair in order to show that countries that still had colonies, like Belgium (until 1962), were not entirely barbaric, technologically challenged states. The Belgians even flew in an entire Congolese village to illustrate the point.
I have never been one to be super interested in anything related to the military, but Brussels’ Museum of the Army changed that. Unfortunately, my camera died after taking this picture at the entrance, but I wish that I could share the hundreds of airplanes, tanks, ships, and other paraphernalia (the tanks and ships are kept outside in little courtyards - I suppose even Brussels’ weather cannot do much to hurt a TANK). One exhibit reconstructed a WWI bunker that send me spiraling back to reading All Quiet on the Western Front in Mr. Kisch’s freshman English class. I did not realize it initially, but the museum is in the middle of an enormous reconstruction project; the WWII exhibit ended at the planning of D-Day. I spent 15 minutes frantically searching for the rest of the exhibit before I realized that it was unfinished - and I was genuinely upset 
NB: This post is being published in desperation before we depart on a Christmas voyage. Information on both our Yuletide tramping, and more about Brussels, to come!
Also, how cool is that snow falling on our blog? Thanks Able!
autumn hiking in the swiss alps (verbier, switzerland)
Posted by torytolles | Filed under Switzerland
A few weeks ago, as a favor (!?) to the environmental policy lawyer I’m interning with, Chris and I brought her two dogs (Brit, 1 year old, and Tessa, 3) to their professional dog-sitter in the ALPS. Tough life, I know. Two trains and a bus ride later, we arrived in the picturesque skiing village of Verbier having wrecked minimal havoc with the two golden retrievers in tow. In the dark Chris and I tried to pick our way up the mountain path to the apartment… and we would have climbed for hours had it not been for Tessa, the older and wiser golden. She resisted my not-so-gentle tugging and nosed her way down a concealed trail to our home for the weekend. Thank you Tessa! We dropped our bags and returned outside to play in the snow.
After an hour and a half of running and wrestling, Brit and I were still having a wonderful time…
… but Tessa was ready to go in.
The next day Chris’ fellow interns from Shelter Centre [Shh! It's a secret! -ed.] joined us for an amazing hike. Snow had already accumulated in the mountains, as you can see above, and our “trail” quickly devolved into “wherever the group happens to slog through the knee-deep snow.” The village in the background is Verbier.
Mountains are tall in Switzerland! After Chris voted to not keep the dogs long enough for our hike, he complained all day about how much fun they would’ve been.
It got hot.
And sunny. This is our friend Simon. He’s from England. What a stud.
We made it to the top around 3PM and I felt like Johanna Spyri’s Heidi looking out across the valley. Simon’s girlfriend, Clem, and I had a wonderful trek down the snow-covered road while Chris and the rest took the more geographically direct - but chronologically longer - off piste expedition. They did not get down until after dark; I was a little nervous.
The next day we visited the Barrage de Mauvoisin, this crazy huge dam near Verbier. Sorry our photo doesn’t do it justice - it was also very cold and windy and pictures were not a priority. To give you a sense of scale, those are real people in the middle of the photo. Map below - see Mauvoisin in the lower right?
watson home-making 103: geneva, switzerland (a miracle!)
Posted by torytolles | Filed under Home-Making, Switzerland
[Apologies: after living in our new apartment for more than a month, I finally managed the magical combination of cleaning AND camera.] Living here has been such a blessing. We still did not have a place to live the day before our sublease ended - and Chantal came to the rescue! She is an incredible roommate and shares with us an amazing apartment.
This is our cozy kitchen. Vixie, the fish, lives above the microwave and probably has been horribly irradiated over the years.
This is our bedroom. The small plant on the left is our little basil plant. His name is Lazarus Junior. It has been touch and go a few times. The doors lead to a balcony!
Chris and I have reveled in our access to Chantal’s books. Notice the giant gap in the Lord of the Rings section? We are hooked.
We live about three blocks from the lake. A small marina is right there, and the Jet just around the corner. With the lake right here and a park one block to the right, it is the most wonderful place to run - and live!
