One Day Beauty

Today was THE day that my one-day-only-blossoming-cactus-flower opened. Actually, it lasted two full days before it succumbed. And that was IT for this year, no more other cactus flowers!

in the evening, the night before (14/7)

at night

and the day it is open (15/7)

WWW (Water With Wood)

High Water Alarm in Bern on July 4th 2012:

click here for a video of the region where it all started

click here to see a video of today's high water in the river Zulg
and click here for a short video of the high water alarm in Bern tonight

Pool Is Open! (1)

It's getting warm! And warmer! To celebrate the summer season we've set up a new and bigger pool, 360cm wide and 90cm deep. And "warm" enough to cool down.....

getting started

too cold to use yet.....

......but not TODAY!!!!

water temp is 21°C

having fun!

Geluksvogeltjes

The Good Luck Birds were not that successful so far......

Naomi's Cupcakes

Naomi had to make some cupcakes, so she did this Saturday afternoon. And everything had to be coloured - the dough was orange, the buttercream-coconut topping was green, red, yellow or blue. She decorated with chocolate chips and silver balls and sugar flowers.

And two of the cupcakes even got names: "Knuddel" & "Knuddellina".

Then I made a big mistake: I ate "Knuddel"........
(I chose this cupcake because it only had 3 chocolate chips on top and I didn't know it was "Knuddel")


Trouble.......

Naomi's creations

"Knuddelina"

Paris - Tour Eiffel

Sunday morning we woke up late (of course) but still managed to check out the hotel by 11:00. We did not take the RER into Paris but took the car instead. Thanks to GPS we drove more or less straight to the area where we wanted to be, near the Eiffel Tower. Hans parked the car in a parking garage nearby and we walked from there. The tower is quite impressive. The amount of people waiting IN line to get ON the tower was even more impressive. Since there was only one working elevator, they had to stand in line for at least two hours. Hans & Nelson took the other option: the stairs. No queue here. Just need healthy legs and lungs. And up you go. Naomi and I decided to stay at ground level.

ground floor level

Naomi was here too

On the facades of the Eiffel Tower, the names of 72 French scientists, engineers and  other notable people are written in recognition to their contributions.
After repainting the tower in 2010/2011 the capitals were restored to their original gold colour.

just ONE working elevator!!!!!

endless queue of people waiting for the only available working elevator.........                                                        

one of the 4 piliers

ticket booth for "the stairs"

"The Stairs"

Eiffel Tower construction

going up "the stairs"

made it to platform one

amazing view from platform one

I love Eiffel Tower

this is only platform one......

can I make a construction like this?

proud to be here!

Meanwhile Roger was playing against David Goffin at Roland Garros which is only 2 kilometers away from where we were!

Roger   < >   David
5:7, 7:5, 6:2, 6:4

After our visit to the Eiffel Tower, we walked down to the Seine river. We had a snack and then walked back to the parking garage for our final 20 km ride to Orly Airport.

Seine 1

Seine 2

Seine 3

Snacks at the Seine

Seine one more time

Eiffel Tower at Far Right

boooooh, we never used the Metro.......

in the middle of the 6th arrondissment of Paris

oh yes we saw the Notre Dame (from our car)

to the Périphérique?

we made it to Orly Airport without a scratch

our driver today was: HANS

ready to go home

waiting @ Orly Airport

Kids can be so sweet to eachother.....
 LOL!!!

Bye bye Paris!

Welcome back home to Berne!

Disneyland Paris

Hans was in Paris for business and we (me & the kids) joined him on Friday night after a direct flight from Berne Airport to Paris Orly. We had a rental car and drove about 35 minutes to the Disneyland area where we had booked a hotel for two nights. The hotel was right in front of a RER station from where a train would take us in one stop to Disneyland, or in 45 minutes in the other direction to downtown Paris. There was a bus stop too in front of the hotel, so on Saturday morning we took the bus to Disney. We had a combination ticket for Disneyland and Disney Studio's and decided to visit the studio's first as the mainstream of people was heading towards the other park. Sadly enough not all the rides were open that day, the "earthquake" tour was closed, but Naomi and I did the "Hollywood Tower Hotel" ride which is like a hotel elevator gone crazy, the thing goes up and down and then drops down about 10 stories or so while you are strapped to your seat but it still feels like if you are floating above your seat......

The rest of the day (the park was open until 23:00 that Saturday) we spent in Disneyland together with some 10'000 or more other people.

Square Trees @ Enchanted Castle

Disney Studios

Nelson next to limo

Main Street Disneyland 1

Main Street Disneyland 2

Coca Cola Car

Makumba Matata

Pirates of the Caribean 1

Pirates of the Caribean 2

behind the Enchanted Castle

glasswork in the making

Disneyland at 22:30h

We finished the day in Disney Village at Planet Hollywood with Nacho Platters and Chocolate Fudge Brownies & Ice Cream for desert. We missed the fireworks at 23:00 but we did not miss the bus leaving at 23:35 back to the hotel. We all sort of dropped dead in our beds that night with one more day in Paris to come.

pictures still under construction!!!

Famous Planet Hollywood Chocolate Fudge Brownie

gone

I'm not bored, I'm just tired
(@ Planet Hollywood at 23:00)

me too.........
(and I don't like to be in pictures anyway!)