Weekend Snapshot #30

The Swiss Vapeur Parc

Lies next to the lake harbour of Le Bouveret is the Swiss Vapeur Parc. It is our Saturday destination for family fun. It is one of Europe's most magnificent miniature railway layouts consisting a lovely 17000 sq. m park and dozens of steam locomotives. The place is like a dream for adults who is fascinated with this dreamful journey into the kingdom of railways. This was also a great discovery for little children.
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Hope your weekend was a great one!

Haydee

Learning Photography

I finally enrolled a photography online class as i set up my goals in this hobby much higher. I found a lot of flaws to images i took (which doesn't matter to me really, because it is much more for family collection than anything else) for which i consider great in my novice eyes. Well, taking pictures of my family at their most candid moment is great but i am now challenging myself to try ways to better improve my basic knowledge. I just want to mention that while blogging, it inspired me as well to take photographs in whatever chances i could get; thus, getting absorbedly crazy in this hobby. I might be sharing some of the images i will be submitting to my class and see how you can critique or comment on the subject. Finally, my long and winding whine will slowly come to an end...or really? Will see next month as i progress to my journey in learning how to shoot creatively. Wish me the best...

Wordless Wednesday

These images were taken from a Childrens Carnival in Avenches, Switzerland.

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Ticino Adventure

Ticino is the canton located in the southern part of Switzerland and their language is Italian. This is our second time visiting the area, only this time, we decided to stay in the town of Locarno for 4 days.

It takes about 4 hours of driving and a 20 minutes interesting ride on a train car. This train carry all the cars heading to the other side of the pass (Instead of taking the high road up the mountain which is close during winter time). On the way, we pass the town of Andermatt before going through the St. Gotthard tunnel (this is the third longest road tunnel in the world ). It runs from the north to Airolo in the south, and is just under 16.4 kilometres (10.5 miles) in length. This is our only entrance to Ticino during winter.

We arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon and the beautiful weather right away welcomes us . The hotel is superb (exceeds my expectation). After settling in, we took a short stroll along the quai and getting acquainted to it's surroundings and sights.

The following day, we decided to visit the town of Ascona and it's nearby town. Ascona lies in a spectacular sunny bay on Lake Maggiore. It’s one of the best loved and most exclusive tourist destinations in Switzerland. Then we drove up to the town of Ronco where one can check the vista point to have one of the best view of Lago Maggiore and the Brissago Islands. The end of the day was a short adventure of finding a "Grotto". Nothing is more typical for life in Ticino than the grottoes, simple taverns in quiet hideaway places, well in the shade of trees. They usually consist of a kitchen and a generous garden with solid granite tables and benches, where everybody sits in the coolness of the trees, drinking and eating the products of the local cuisine (such as the famous Polenta and Risotto ala Ticinese). It was so good!

The third day brought us to the center old town of Locarno. The "piazza grande" is where they hold the international film festival each year. There was a festival of Camilla in their park where various colors of Camillas were displayed. We checked the tourism office for some other interesting sights and places to see. We found the place we fancied, the Valle Versazca. The rest of the afternoon was an excursion going up the valley where the river runs wild with it's magnificient beauty. It was extremely spectacular.

Our last day was visiting the town of Bellinzone aka Bellinzona (The capital town of Ticino) before heading our way back to Vevey. It is a beautiful town with three castles. They said that it was its unique geographical position which made Bellinzona as the "key to the Alps" from the sourthern people (like Italy...) and from the north as the "key to Italy". Today, there are so much charm and beauty as you stroll the town. You can feel the old and rich history with each sights you see.

There you go...our travel report for this month. Until next time.

If you would like to see more photos from our trip, you may visit my family online gallery.

Photo Hunt: Metal

Happy Easter Everyone! Here is Easter Sunday hunt for this week's theme.

A giant metal fork in the lake (technically it is made of steel), one of the many fascinating architectural images in our town of Vevey.

This structure was displayed for the second time last 2007, situated directly across the Musée de l’Alimentation (Nestlé Alimentarium), a museum devoted to the history of food products. The fork was to be displayed only for one year to commenorate its 10th anniversary. It was supposedly taken down last January but I am glad the petition to keep it around was granted. I searched more online for some information about this work of art. Below is an excerpt from an online blogger, Peterblog.

"It spent the last ten years decorating the grounds of Berndorf Ltd, a Lucerne-based cutlery manufacturer, and is back to celebrate an exhibition of place settings at the Alimentarium. The poor fork was banished a few years after it was set up orignally, in contravention of some local regulation or other.
It is the work of Jean-Pierre Zaugg, and artist from Neuchâtel (on another big lake, curiously enough) and was made by Georges Favre in Vevey out of stainless steel."

It still stands until now and you will see the different view of this metal sculpture when you walk along the quai perdonnet in whatever time of the year.

Happy Photo Hunting!

Until next week...

photohunt

Happy Easter Sunday

We just got back from our long weekend vacation and I am organizing my photos taken during the trip for posting. I know it will be another long week of absence for me as I am currently occupied with my family and the holy week vacation.

I will catch up and visit you all when things get back to normal. For now, I thank all of you who came to visit me and wonder if there will be any updates to my blog. There will be so much to share in few days time.

For now, I wish everyone a wonderful time with your family. Happy Easter!

Out of Town

Helllo everyone!
Our family is going on a small trip to Locarno and I will be gone for a few days.
I will catch you up with our week's activity and I hope all of you will have a good time spending the holy week with your family. Take care.

Hugs and kisses,
Haydee

Wordless Wednesday

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Photo Hunt: Different

Three generation of women

...a grandmother...
...a mother...
...a daughter...
all going through different stages in life...

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Weekend Snapshot #27

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SATURDAY
Our family went to the town of Avenches. It is also renown for its Rock Festival, Musical Parade and especially the IENA, a unique 140 hectares Equestrian Sports Center. Europe's first multidisciplinary hippodrome intended as a place of both work and leisure. The pictures above where taken in the Roman theatre in Avenches. Avenches is built on the site of the Roman town Aventicum, which was the most important in Switzerland.

SUNDAY

I hope your weekend was as great and fun as mine.

Friday Greetings

Hello, I normally don't like to write but this is a blog...I've been really thinking what i should post whenever i run out of pictures to show (but that's not gonna happen). Today will be a short day for me online, so i won't be doing much blog hopping. I have few errands to finished before the end of the weekday. I like to be more organized about the week-end activities and agenda. That is the reason why Friday could still be hectic but an exciting day.

Until next posting...Haydee

6 Quirky Things about Me

I've Been Tagged by my neighbor and dear friend, April.

The rules:

Link to the person that tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Share six unimportant things/habits/quirks about your self. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. Let these random people know that they are tagged by leaving comments in their blog. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

6 Quirky Things about myself

"Every man had his own quirks and twists" (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

Here is mine

1. I brush my hair only every after taking a shower (I do take showers almost everyday).

2. I keep a "Malong" (a tubular piece of cloth, ethnic to south of the Philippines) for my comfort. It's like my baby blanket, anywhere in the house i meticulously tuck my feet to its comfort level whenever i am resting.

3. Whenever i see a baguette and coca cola in a glass, it's a must for me to dip my bread on the soda before taking the bite. It taste good.

4. At a the bar, i asked for beer and coke mix. Apparently, no one has it? they give me a quirky look as well.

5. I hid all of my baby teeth on a young coconut tree. (The tree is now tall, need an expert to climb it)

6. I read loud in the bathroom (secret revealed! you will too, if you study the French language). I make sure no one is around who doesn't understand this.

So, i have to tag Lucille, Amy, Liza, Malyn, Lily and Carlota.

Wordless Wednesday

The Dancing Swan Another beautiful Wednesday, another entry...

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Wordless Wednesday

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Weekend Snapshot #26

more photos here

I took this picture yesterday on a very late afternoon. This is one of the famous image in my town. I hope your weekend was a nice one.

Here's more entry for this weekend's snapshot.

Photo Hunt: Party

It was a new year's eve! Welcoming the year 2005...Don't worry, those kids are drinking non-alcoholic drinks. Looking back, this photo seems like just yesterday. Happy hunting!