And more...

Here are a couple more pics:

Civil Ceremony in Switzerland

I will post more pics a little while later, but here are a couple teasers...

Strasbourg at Night

On the way back to the car, I tried to take several different night shots. Most of them actually didn't turn out very well. At least the rainfall subsided.

Welcome to Strasbourg, France

On Wednesday, a couple of us headed to Strasbourg, France, to see a friend perform in a play. It's about an hour and a half away. We got there a couple of hours early so we could walk around and do some exploring. It was a typical rainy day that felt very similar to Portland. Still, I couldn't for a second let the weather ruin an opportunity to explore. Since we didn't have a lot of time, I was everywhere taking pictures and soaking it all in. I'm pretty sure some of my group found it annoying at times. :)



Strasbourg is basically France's own little version of Venice.












Even on an overcast, rainy day, I still found it to be very beautiful and serene.








Every corner brings something picturesque that's begging to be captured.











It has a definite romantic undertone to it.











As long as I live, I don't think I'll ever tire of cobblestone streets.











After having a quick bite to eat (i.e. some not so great vegetable soup and bread), we headed in the direction of the theater. We weren't exactly too sure where we were going. Luckily, we had some great navigators in our group...(right, Mecky? ;) )

Not wanting to be late to the play, we were in a bit of rush. After leaving the water canals of Strasbourg, we walked further into the city. I tried to take a quick video...the thing was, I was a little too quick. Hopefully, this won't make you that dizzy:



One thing is for sure, you cannot spend only a couple hours in Strasbourg. It is a place that needs time to be explored. I'd like to return sometime and do more of that.




The play I saw was Alice in Wonderland, but it was more of a loose interpretation of it. The first hour was a german interpretation and the second hour was french interpretation. The thing that was very unusual about the play was the fact that the cast was made up of people from mental institutions...both staff AND patients. I really appreciated the way in which the play was done, in that none of the mentally handicapped people were put in position where their disability was highlighted or made fun of. To be honest, most of the time I couldn't really tell who was handicapped and who wasn't. They all did an incredibly great job and played their parts well. At the end when everyone was taking a bow, I almost started crying because it was such a beautiful picture of human decency, kindness and respect. One of the handicapped ladies kept hugging the director and clapping with excitement and he just kept hugging her back as the crowd was clapping for him and giving a standing ovation.

Also accompanying the play was some live music. The musicians were fantastic!

Wine Tasting Along the Rhine

I love a great wine tasting. What's even better, is a great wine tasting in an unusual way. After the concert, we crossed a bridge over the Rhine River and noticed a boat that was docked.














There were signs all over the boat that said "Wyschiff"...which means wine tasting. Apparently, there were around 300 different swiss wines to be sampled. We decided to check it out.




Both the upper and lower deck were full of people sampling various wines. Just as we reached the door, a lady stopped us and asked us if we'd like a free ticket. Score! As we went to pay for another ticket, the ticket guy waved us off and just told us to go on in since there was less than an hour left. Score again!





The atmosphere was warm and pleasant. Some wine tastings can be really snooty, but it wasn't the case here.






















There was an assortment of cheese, deli meats and bread that were a nice compliment.
Soon, we were joining in the wine tasting fun.










You hardly knew where to start. There were so many different booths. I saw one nearly empty and we decided to start there. We ended up having a great conversation with a man who owns a couple vineyards and he shared with us his process of making wine. The first red wine I tasted there was absolutely fantastic! Everything after that didn't compare. We sampled a lot of other different wines, but ended up purchasing the very first wine we tried.







The Winner:
2006 Grain Noir Parfum de Vigne

It's a red wine with a mix of Cabernet, Malbec, Gamaret, Garanoir and Diolinoir.

Fantastic!

A Night in Basel

Last Friday, I had a wonderful night in Basel. I went to the most unusual CD release party. My friend, Flavian Graber, had his cd release on one of the little river boats that crosses the Rhine River. The boat seats about 20 people at a time. He and a couple other musicians played acoustically as the boat slowly drifted across the river. With candles lit and Basel's night lights as the backdrop, it truly was a gorgeous setting and such a compliment to the music.
It had been a while since I had taken the time to walk around Basel at night and I forgot how beautiful it is! Beforehand, we took a stroll along the river. Of course, I took several pictures.





























I love this picture! It feels like something out of painting.












This was the view from the boat. You can see just how beautiful it was.
All the videos I tried to take didn't turn out very well and aren't worth posting. Be sure to check out the link of Flavian's music here.



After riding the river boat and soaking up the music, Bryan and I continued to walk along the Rhine.
As we climbed the stairs to the bridge, we randomly stumble upon a protest that was just beginning!




The protest was about ending racism and prejudice agains the Turkish people.









I took a short video and this one actually turned out:

The Making of the Wedding Bands

I had a great start to my New Year's when Bryan presented a ring and proposed to me. :) Since then, we've talked about what type of ring he'd like and what type of wedding band I'd like to go with my ring. One of the great things about being engaged to an artist, is how creative they can be. Bryan decided to make our wedding bands. I have to say, it's pretty darn special!



Through a referral, we went to a goldsmith in Liestal. Andreas Peter is a very kind man and wonderful to work with.






I've never before seen how rings are made. It was a really interesting process to watch.
First, white gold is melted.





You can see more in this video:



After the gold has been melted into a small form, it is then cooled briefly in water.






Next, the gold is put through this machine in order to give it form and press it into shape.








The gold must be re-heated on a constant basis to ensure that it will not crack.

Eventually, it is hammered into ring form.








My wedding band ended up being a little too small. Here it is about to be re-sized. It was cut in one part and then more white gold was added to enlarge it a little bit.









Bryan's band was a little too big. A section of it was sawed off so it could be made smaller.









After the re-sizing is complete, this was the result.
The final step is sanding the rings so they have that great shiny finish and polish.





Here's Bryan sanding his ring. You can start to see the final result:




I have to say that there's something so beautiful about sharing in the ring process together....It's really profound to be apart of creating something that not only symbolizes your commitment, but also something that will last for the rest of your life with one another.