Paris

The Louvre is arguably one of the most interesting and visited and sought after museum in the world. Nowadays, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has their own, but nothing comes even close to the original in Paris.

One of the pop icons of the Louvre is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, which is displayed in one of the main stairways and if you're lucky you can enjoy the headless statue alone.

In comparison, the Centre Pompidou is very modern and hosts many works of art from my favorite painter Kandinsky, like his most famous: Gelb-Rot-Blau. It's in the main hallway and it's bigger than I thought. Standing next to the original gives you the goose bumps.

Calder is famous for the mobiles that he created in about the same time period. I think they are fascinating, because the art implies movement, either because it needs it or it creates it.

When walking from the Seine up to the Panthéon you can feel the knowledge when you walk through the Sorbonne university. The Panthéon is home to Foucault's pendulum from the 19th century and it is quite impressive. The experiment demonstrates Earth's rotation with a 67 meter (219 feet) swinging bob beneath the central dome. Please note that this is a replica whereas the original is housed in the Musée  des Arts et Métiers. Once the pendulum is calibrated and going, it tells the time.

As if there was nothing else to see in Paris, we decided to go to see one of the huge grave yards. Let me tell you that it is a very peaceful experience. Even this gentlemen knew that nobody would disturb him reading the news paper. Please note that his dentures get a rest as well.

Someone had some unfinished business to take care of and since it's daylight, they have not returned yet.

As soon as we arrived at the Catacombs it turns out that we (almost) missed the last tour. We had to beg to be included in this last group of people going down the the tunnels with bones stacked to the ceiling. It was mind blowing.

Walking up to the Basilica of Sacré Coeur on Montmartre is always a nice change from the bustling city and the watching local artist painting in the square.

While in Montmartre we visited the Dali in Paris. The collection included many drawings, paintings and some sculptures.

The opera is nicely light at night and provides a wonderful backdrop. I have always felt very safe downtown Paris and it's so nice to just stroll though the city like Parisians do.

And yes, since we are in Paris, we also noticed the Eiffel Tower, a landmark that is never boring and always there.

Bonaire

Bonaire is a dive paradise for people that are independent. The recipe for fun is pretty simple: choose a dive resort, rent a pickup truck and pick your shore dives. At any time (day or night), load your gear into the pickup truck, get air tanks from the drive though and then go start exploring. Please remember to bring nothing else and leave all the windows open when parking. Just to be clear: We had never anything stolen and we felt absolutely safe.

The diversity of sea life is amazing. Those who seek, will find.

Spotted Moray Eel

Curious Cuttlefish 

Anemone Shrimp

Spotted Eagle Ray

Large Barracuda

Coral Crab

Each dive site is nicely marked and easy to spot. Park you car and leave all the windows open. After getting ready, just walk down to the beach and enjoy your dive. We found a portable shower to but on the roof of the car, so that when we came out we could rinse off the salt water. The water was nice and warm.

The island has a history of slaves working here under very primitive conditions. The red as well as the  white slave huts would tell you all about it. They can be found at the Southern end of the island where the salt is still being mined.

Instead of eating at the Buddy Dive Resort, we ventured out to Kralendijk and found plenty of great restaurants.

Before flying back home, I can highly recommend visiting Washington-Slagbaai National Park. There is plenty of beaches and cacti to explore. The East Side has blow holes to offer and is pretty wild and it looks like you're on a different planet.

Florida

Going down to Florida from the Midwest in December is always a nice break. We went to the Chihuly museum in St. Petersburg. The exhibition features so many colorful displays.

Our primary focus though was kayaking with the manatees at Crystal River and diving in the Devil's Den, which is an underground spring with crystal clear water. Luckily, we were the only visitors and the entire site was all ours to explore. The water temperature is 72 degrees all year round. 

Kayaking is such a relaxing activity, that allows people move almost silent through the water and observe wild life, such as eagles and other birds. The trees are hung with moss and would provide perfect material for their nests.

Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau

One of the last frontiers in the Alps was the Eiger Nordwand (Eiger North Face) which was first ascended in 1938. We didn't want to climb it, but just see and experience the sheer size of it and take a train through the Eiger up to the Jungfraujoch. Sounds crazy, doesn't it and yes it is, but about that later.

But first, we hopped in a rental and drove to the medieval town of Gruyère at the language border of  German and French in Switzerland. 

The castle's chapel is home to a Tibetan museum, which is very impressive.

Assuming that the movie Alien is well known, it is somewhat of a surprise that the creator of the alien itself has a museum in old village as well as a bar. It is like the movie, somewhat disturbing.

Our next stop was Lake Geneva, where we stayed the Hotel Rivage in Lutry, very quaint and right at the harbor. The entire region is called Lavaux and besides being a World Heritage site it's also known for its wonderful white wine.

The slope on the Swiss side faces South and that is ideal for growing grapes. The villages are embedded in the vineyards and each village is very proud of their wine, e.g. Saint-Saphorin, Epesses etc.

We were at this magical location at the right time and those grapes look so delicious, but they are destined to become wine.

We bought a bottle of white wine and enjoyed it on the pier, as it is legal to open alcohol in public. It did feel a little strange to not having to hide the bottle.

Over the Col Du Pillion, we drove to Wengen, which can only be reached by train. The car is safely parked in Lauterbrunnen. From our room we could watch the Jungfrau changing colors while the sun was setting. It was a magical moment.

Next morning we took a train from Wengen up to the Kleine Scheidegg and then further up through the Eiger Nordwand to the Jungfraujoch, the top of Europe (3454m or 11332 feet). The tunnel is 9km long and on the way there, the train stopped in the middle of the Nordwand where passengers had a short time to look out the windows in a very protected environment. However, since late 2016, trains no longer stop here, which is a real shame. On the South side, there is another 5 minute stop at the Eismeer (Ice Sea).

From here it goes to the Jungfraujoch, from where you can hike on the glacier to the Mönchsjochhütte. In an emergency, it serves mountaineers as a shelter.

The view down the glacier to the Konkordia place, where other glaciers meet, is just breathtaking and it seems to never end.

From the Kleine Scheidegg, we decided to walk down to Wengen, along the world famous downhill race track (Lauberhorn). It is very steep and longest world cup race in the world. The track even features a tunnel underneath the railway that racers have to navigate at high speed.

I'm so glad we made it on foot.

Wakatobi

We did a lot of research to find the perfect place for muck diving. Well, first, what is muck diving: It's diving and exploring sediments like sand and other natural debris and searching for weird and wonderful marine creatures. It's unlike reef diving where the environment itself is pretty.

The Palagian, a liveaboard located in Indonesia, offered exactly what we were looking for. The dive yacht is 115 feet long and offers room for 10 guests. The yacht is a part of the Wakatobi Dive Resort in South East Sulawesi.

Each dive is different and we were lucky to have captured some incredible pictures, such as below anemone fish, trying to hide.

Anemone Fish

Flatheaded Crocodile Fish

Nudibranch

Sea Urchin

Pygmy Sea Horse

Peacock Mantis Shrimp

Lion Fish

Decorator Crab

Napoleon Snake Eel

One night we stayed in a bay where we could hear the muezzin call to the daily prayer. In the morning kids were having fun watching our bubbles when we surfaced from our early morning dive.

Before and after our stay on the Palagian, we spend some time on Bali, which is a very charming island with many temples and other ancient structures. We stayed at the Beach Hotel in Nusa Dua, built in a traditional style.

The fountain had beautiful stone carvings demonstrating what local artist are capable of producing. It was very peaceful.

Our private driver Katut took us around the island and this gave us a unique perspective of many local customs he explained in details. He showed us rice patties on the way to Kintamani, which is a village at the edge of a large caldera.

Kintamani

On the way to the rice patties we stopped and tried Luwak coffee beans, and I still prefer a nice espresso.

Rice Patties

Ubud has lots to offer, a dense forest, temples and macaques. I was more interested in the local architecture, whereas the monkeys were more into how can we annoy those visitors.

When exploring Bali, it is highly recommended to see a traditional Bali dance performance, where like in a western theater, an entire story was told. In this case it was a mythical tale with demons etc.

Appenzeller Land

A mountain range called Alpstein occupies most of the canton of Appenzell. We took the cable car from Brülisau up to the Hohen Kasten. The recently renovation included a revolving restaurant. After checking out the view we started hiking towards Staubern, where the Drei Faltigkeiten can be seen on the other side of the range and then continued to the Saxer Lücke, where the Kreuzberge stand out like shark teeth. To the left, it goes down to the Rhine valley and the mountains on the other side are located in Austria. From here it goes down to the lodge Bollenwese at the Fälensee. After a well deserved bier we headed back to Brülisau.

Hoher Kasten

Staubern

Drei Faltigkeiten

Kreuzberge from Saxer Lücke

Bollenwese

Fälensee

When we arrive in Brülisau we proudly look up where we started earlier this morning. We are tired and are so glad to be able to take of our hiking boots.

 

Hoher Kasten from Brülisau

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