Monday, February 16, 2009

10/24/2008 European Vignettes

Our trip to Europe after our 60th wedding Anniversary was part thanksgiving, part sharing our joy with friends, and part nostalgia.

The last time we explored Paris was a 3 day weekend 50 years ago and we had a quick visit in 1964. We lived in London when Jean and I attended a academic quarter at the University of London in the fall of 1968 and then again when we made a quick visit in 1978.

It was an adventuresome break from our somewhat structured home life and a chance to enjoy exotic sights in foreign cities with friends.

A prayer of thanksgiving for a long happy marriage between us and God was on ours minds and in our hearts as we meditated on God’s love for his creatures while in Medjugorje.

The following images are some of the 3,624 pictures we took in the three week period that were squeezed out of the four “official” blogs. They represent bits of our memories of the good times of our likely last fling in Europe. (Of course there were some “bad” times also, but at our age these are easy to forget.) Remember when you click on an image it grows to about 9” for verticals and 12” for horizontals.


MEDJUGORJE, BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
(part of the former Yugoslavia)
10/03 – 10/10/2008



Medjugorje village
(St. James Church circled)
from Apparition Hill
The Way to Peace for people and nations.


Cross Mountain



Our group meeting in front of St. James Church



An early morning last look at the twin spires of St. James
from our bus as we are leaving Medjugorje



FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY
10/10 – 10/13/2008



Frankfurt was the only place we stayed in a hotel
(though we did stay in a B&B for 2 nights at Kew).



Frankfurt offered a greater variety of food
than we found (or had expected to find)
as pilgrims in Medjugorje.



LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
10/13 – 10/17/2008 & 10/21 – 10/23/2008



Hungerford Footbridge leading to Charing Cross Station
taken from the 2nd floor of the Royal Festival Hall



A pod of the London Eye
(not a London iPod)


St. Marys Church, Guildford



Hampton Court Palace



The Queen’s bed chamber
at Hampton Court Palace



The “City of London”
has an area of one square mile



PARIS, FRANCE
10/17 – 10/21/2008



Welcome to Mt. Rushmore, Parisian style


The Brasserie



A quiet moment with Roman and Mateo,
children of Emanuel and Dominique Schneider
who organized our Paris experience



Petitte fille en rose




The bridal group
in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower



The Metro Station
the trains seem to have deteriorated since we were last in Paris —
but I think it is mainly the engineers —
some of the trains ran as smooth as silk
while other were uncomfortably jerky



The Colonne de Juillet
in Place de la Bastille



The Champs-Élysées connects the Arc de Triomphe
to the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre



The Louvre edifices
are typical of the classical buildings of Paris



Place de la Concorde



Crêpes etc.



Jean manhandling a crêpe
in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral



An epicurean duck
prepared by…



Our most gracious hosts,
Jacques and Françoise Schneider
super guide and gourmet cook



Paris has this old iron tower—
and you can’t escape from it!




Auf Wiedersehen!… Farewell!… Au Revoir!