An alternative to barbecuing?

Our friends showed us their “electric plancha grill” for lunch as they decided to grill some delicious sausages they had brought from their second home in the Lubéron, in sunny Provence.

We were impressed by this simple cooking utensil and thought that it would work perfectly for us in 85% of the cases when we normally use our barbecue.

Simpler to set up and adjust and super easy to clean.

There’s no question that we learn something everyday we’re on the road, traveling and discovering!

Lesson in courage

My brother has a terrible case of COPD.

Terrible, because he’s been under supplementary oxygen for the last 11 years, constantly under the spell of the degenerative progression of the disease to the point that he’s got no more energy left and that some of his vital functions like his eyesight is beginning to fail.

Now, he can hardly stand up, but still refuses to be moved around in a wheelchair.

He’s the one who, in spite of his terrible ailment, insisted that 16 members of his family joined him for lunch at a local restaurant in Morzine, France, in spite of his quasi-inability to move around and the huge efforts this demands and all the pain it creates for him, always hounded by the fear of the oxygen level in his portable bottles.

His determination, his appreciation for life and love for his 7 year old grand-daughter are what literally keep him going in spite of incredible odds to the contrary.

He stands as an inspiration to all of us when we all have trivial frustrations about material things that aren’t really worth getting all excited about.

He’s my hero and I love him.

Too many fun things to do, not enough time!

Today, we managed to sneak out of the mountains and went down by the south shore of Lake Geneva, to enjoy a delectable lunch of perch fillet, the specialty in most restaurants lining up the lake.

We then went to pay a visit to the medieval village of Yvoire and, at night, had a fun dinner at my sister’s place with her entire family.

A fun day, but with hardly enough time to accomplish all the things we wanted to…

Does it always seem to rain in Montriond?

I always boast that in Park City we’ve got 250 days of sunshine while in Morzine, France, that’s just the opposite with 250 days of precipitations.

While we were lucky during our entire trip, that charm ran out when we arrived in Montriond, my home village near Morzine, France the weather was bad, cold and rainy, a totally normal set of circumstances, confirming the above rule of thumb.

We managed to get organized as we were warmly welcomed by our friends and hosts, Chantal and Jean-François.

That day, we manage to pay a visit to my brother and his wife and at night were invited by my sister and brother-in-law for dinner. A long day filled with warmth, rekindled memories and good times!

Ultimate sightseeing before France

For our last morning in Budapest we visited the large Hungarian National Museum that stands in the center of town.

The place is huge and retraces the place often troubled and tumultuous history.

Among a million other pieces on display, I was struck by body armor displays there, including one made for a juvenile. Some kids have really been privileged over the years!

So many other artifacts to see and when we were done with the visit, we had no more energy left and were ready for our return trip on Easyjet, the European budget airline, that we were using for the first time.

Following a spectacular flight over the Alps, we landed in Geneva, were hassled (as usual) at the rental car place because of my non-embossed Costco Visa card I was using and after waiting far too long for our car to be ready, even without being washed and missing a full tank of gas, we were on our way to my former hometown in the mountains

Last full day in Budapest

Up until now, the weather has decidedly been on our side and we’ve appreciated.

Today our biggest goal was to get to the beautiful Parliament Building that stands right on the Danube river.

Unbeknownst to us was the fact that visitations must be purchased well in advance and since we were told at 11 am that we could only get on an English speaking tour at 4 pm, we decided to forgo the wait and walked back to our favorite lunch place and then to our hotel.

Budapest on our own terms…

As we’re staying on the “Pest” side of town, we decided that it’d be a good idea to jump to the other bank and visit the Castle District, over in Buda. Signage isn’t the Hungarian’s forte and makes it almost necessary to hire a private guide if you don’t want to work a tiny bit.

We decided to visit the Museum of Budapest History which was interesting but didn’t knock our socks off. We took a leisurely lunch that we “sandwiched” in between our visit and that was enough for the day.

At night we took it easy and stuck around our hotel, a German chain aimed at the younger crowd which by the way, we enjoyed a lot. A Vietnamese restaurant provided some refueling for the night.