Contemplations and Ruminations

So this is what you see as you exit the subway...  The river Seine and... The Notre Dame cathedral standing tall on the other side... The facade...  The holy water font...    The altar, mass was going on when we went in....  The white smoke of incense wafting upwards.  The priest holding out the gospel to the congregation...  The angel and his magnified shadow, looking over everything... I like this picture, it just fits in with the whole surreal vibe of the place.     The lights and stained glass windows...     The famous rose window...  The rose window up close with sixteen saints depicted in the stained glass below...   The Notre Dame candles casting a soft glow...    The lighting inside in incredible...   More candles...  Windows and lights... It was spell binding...  Takes you back to medieval ages...  Th...

So Paris was every bit as exciting and fun as I thought it would be, it became a little too exciting when tempers started running high and a few people came close to stoning me, by few people I mean my siblings and Antonio. You see, Paris, and probably the whole of Europe, ought to be explored by foot and if there's anything I love it's exploring and walking. So I loved the whole walking around part, I loved hopping on and off their wonderfully efficient metro system to discover the well known and not so well known sights of Paris. The others were pretty excited too, but by late afternoon they would get tired and say abominable things like, 'let's go back to the room.' And I would gasp and look at them in open wonder, who does that... who comes to Paris and spends most part of the day in a room!!!!! I was genuinely baffled by their lack of commitment to my well laid out plans.  So anyway, there we would stand, three against one, me refusing to go back and ...

After visiting churches, we set out to meet a cousin who lives near a farm. Nice houses on the way...  Quaint roads... A week old calf...  Pretty horses... fed them apples that were lying about.   The curious one... This black one is an Icelandic horse... Sheep grazing away... We banged their lunch pail around and they came running... Feeding them... A flowering trough..     On the way to another aunt's place, saw a rainbow...  At the other aunt's place... pretty lace curtains...  Creates such a charming affect....    An owl statue in the garden...  Celebrated our last night in Germany with champagne and cheesecake...  Took this picture from the train on the way back to Geneva. We had an amazing time with relatives in such a beautiful place... thanks guys for the fun memories.  Next post will be about our trip to Paris...