PAUL

We got to know PAUL in the South of France ... a lovely bakery chain with delicious bread, cakes and all kinds of treats. It took us a while to find PAUL in our area.
But fortunately we found one in this mall in nearby France:
Centre Commercial Val Thoiry
We went there again during Christmas time and enjoyed delicious coffee, quiche and marvellous desserts. I had a praliné macaron which was the best macaron I've ever eaten (see second pic above)!
What we also like about PAUL is the interior design - it is like stepping back into good old times, with chandeliers, walls covered with old library cabinets with tiny drawers - and the waitresses/sales clerks are also dressed like in the first half of the 20th century!
You can check the website PAUL - they have shops/cafés not only in France, but also in around twenty other countries.

Summer review - Beautiful Nice

From Geneva, we drive 4 - 5 hours to the South of France and so we went there already several times since we live here.
In August, we went to Nice which is a modern city, a magnet for tourists and a truly beautiful place! A city full of life.
The warm summer evenings were amazing: Walking through the streets, watching street artists, sitting outside, enjoying wonderful Provence cuisine...
Famous is also the Promenade d'Anglais that goes along all the famous beaches and hotels.

If you plan to visit Nice, then don't miss the markets - you find flowers, soaps, spicery, vegetables, fruit and simply all kind of things.

Manhattan!!

It was a long-time dream come true to go to Manhattan during Christmas time! And the afternoon we arrived it started snowing ... the picture above is close to Time Square.

Beautiful, beautiful Central Park covered in white.

Manhattan life ... and publicity for the popular Christmas Spectacular in Radio City Hall.

Impressive skyscrapers wherever you look...

I also need to mention two cafés/coffeeshops we especially liked: the French Roast Café in Greenwich Village which has the most tasty Cappuccino and New York Cheesecake you can find ... and Oxford Café which has such a great quality food - sandwiches, soups, cakes ... both are higly recommended!!

And certainly the wonderful Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center!!

It was an absolute unforgettable vacation for us and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

NY is such an exciting place!

Long Island!

We spent a wonderful week on Long Island in December! As you see above, we saw marvellous beaches...

We've met Mary at "A night in Betlehem" - a "hands-on holy land experience" with the Bethlehem marketplace - beautifully set up by the Lutheran Church of the Ressurection, Garden City.

We enjoyed a nice time at our much loved Cheesecake Factory...

and shopped at the impressively large Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City!

Long Island is such a beautiful place - and this combined with the Christmas atmosphere was just an awesome experience!

Summer Summary!

This is perhaps the perfect day for a summer review. Today, on October 7th, we had 27 degrees (Celcius!!) here in Geneva! Summer showed up again in early autumn. But the whole year was amazing what weather concerns. A beautiful spring, a really hot summer, and an incredible warm start into autumn - with many many cloudless, sunny days. What a blessing!


We started into the summer in June with our holiday in Camargue/France. It was a perfect time as it was already hot, but the crowds hadn’t yet shown up. A very special region with wine grown on sand (vin du sable), rice and wild horses!
Then, in mid July we headed to my hometown in Southern Germany to celebrate our little nephew’s/cousin’s baptism. It was a very nice family celebration. In this church, I was baptised as well, had my confirmation - and we celebrated our wedding there - ten years ago!

At the beginning of August we had the pleasure to spend a weekend at one of our favourite Swiss spots: Lake of Thun. It’s Switzerland at its best, postcards coming true, so to say…

Then, end of August, we spent one night at Lac de Joux, where friends had rented a beautiful chalet and we were invited to join in. We even swam in this rather cold, but very refreshing Lake. There are a number of well known watchmakers located in Vallée de Joux (which is in the middle of nowhere).

And finally, we had a nice holiday in Austria, in “Kleinwalsertal”, which is very close to the German border and the German ski village Oberstdorf.

Despite all those beautiful trips, we’ve spent most of July and August here in hot Geneva, especially enjoying Parc Bertrand!