Zambia and Victoria Falls

Livingstone, Zambia.

Greeters at Zambizi Sun hotel.

Guided tour of Victoria Falls.

Activity along the shore; really close to the Falls.

Spray from the Falls.

Despite the rain gear - we were totally soaked.

View of Victoria Falls from helicopter.

Livingstone International Airport.

Having spent a fantastic week touring Cape Town and the Cape area, we headed to Livingstone, Zambia, to celebrate Steve's birthday. We stayed at the lovely Zambezi Sun Lodge. We immediately took a guided tour of the falls. Victoria Falls is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and is the largest sheet of falling water in the world. We visited during the high water flow season - the falls were absolutely incredible. At over 1 mile wide and 360 feet tall, the water thunders over the falls creating a plume of water spray rising hundreds of feet above the falls. Despite wearing rain gear, all of us were completely soaked. We were joined on our tour by two couples from Johannesburg and had great fun marveling at the power and beauty of mother nature. It is difficult to appreciate the width of the falls when viewing from the ground - the spray created by the falling water limits the ability to see. We were told that a helicopter ride over the falls is a must - so we treated ourselves and are glad we did. Seeing the falls from above creates a different feeling of awe.

We celebrated Steve's birthday with a wonderful dinner at the Royal Livingston Lodge, where we sampled African cuisine and lovely wines from South Africa. Like the other peoples of Africa we've met, the people of Zambia are friendly and welcoming. We were sad to leave and would love to go back.

Grandparents Vittone Come to Switzerland

Jan and Gordie made it over for their first visit at the end of February. The first place we had to take them was, of course, Italy to see Settimo Vittone. We spent the weekend in the Turin area again, staying in the most spacious and modernized (unusual for Europe) farm house in wine country. We took the morning to explore the town of Alba and happened upon a unique church in it's architecture. Upon further investigation, it was designed and built by a man named Benedito Vittone. I think I must start some geneology investigation. My dad and I were certain that our creativity and brilliance must come from him (wink)! We enjoyed the farmer market, buying all sorts of yummy olives, cheeses and sausages. On to a wine town for tasting and a huge plate of pasta. More vineyards, snacks, dinner, gelato.... you get the picture. Before heading home, we made a stop in Turin for a walk around the town, pizza, gelato. Then we dieted until we got back to Switzerland that night. The rest of the time we spent doing more of the typical local sites including Chamonix and a trip to Gruyere for cheese and chocolate tasting at the Cailler Chocolate Maison. Their next trip is planned for Christmas 2011!

The Brown Girls Join Us For Ski Week

My dear friend from Dubai, Jenny Brown and her daughters Hollis and Crosby, spent a long weekend with us in the Port du Soleil ski area on the border of France and Switzerland.  We had some good old fashioned fun!

Steve was 'super dad' taking care of six girls. He managed train rides with 4 kids to our ski town, boot fitting, ticket and ski instructor arrangements, ski rescues (Crosby headed off a cliff!), and a really fun "Mommy Free" night to boot. Jenny and I are still hearing about their evening without us. In fact, they wanted us to go out again the next night! Instead we all headed to the thermo baths for a good long soak under the star-studded night.

The kids took ski lessons each morning with two young and super fun instructors. They all improved dramatically over the four days-- as you can see from their shiny medals. While the kids took their lesson, the adults took some time to ski to France and back. We all enjoyed lunch on the hill each day, then spent the afternoons skiing together as a group. Snow was lacking, but by the last day we got a nice new layer so the kids got to try 'powder'. Our last day, was a drive back home with a sledding trip in the Jura mountains. We had to make good use of our new snow! The time went too fast, but hope that they'll be back next year for a ski week reunion!

Turin and Piedmont Wine Country

Feeling settled and ready to explore further, coupled with a lack of snow at our local ski hills, we decided to venture out again and head south to Italy. Steve has been talking about getting to the wine region of Piedmont in Italy since arriving, so we finally decided to spend a couple of days there. We decided to use Turin as home base and stayed in a nice hotel at the center of the city. We spent a day in Barbaresco and Barolo tasting wines and walking through the picturesque small Italian villages. Kate took a liking to the 2007 Barbaresco's and the breadsticks. Our pasta intake was impressive. The next day we walked to the main square and toured the Egyptian exhibit at the local museum. It was an impressive collection and well displayed. We collectively thought of our friends in Egypt and pray that that country finds peace for its people and that the country's treasures are kept in tact. We again are reminded of how blessed we are. On the way home we stopped in at Settimo Vittone, the pre-immigration home of Maria's family, and at Chamonix to pick-up some cured ham and walk around one of our favorite ski villages. A fantastic weekend and a location we will visit again.

New Years Eve 2010

We celebrated and gave thanks for all of our blessing in 2010 and welcomed 2011 with Karsten, Uli, Leonard and Lena Marie Vierke, our good friends from Dubai who now live in Hamburg, Germany. We have a wonderful visit with them, full of skiing, iceskating, celebrating, watching American football and relaxing in front of a warm fire. Both families had a wonderful time with each other.

Skiing Begins

Our family ended its 3 year hiatus from skiing (I am excluding our trips to Ski Dubai) over Christmas holiday. We started with a few days of skiing and ski lessons at Le Crozet in the Jura mountains in France to get our ski legs back. We were joined by the Veirkes, whom we met in Dubai and now live in Hamburg, Germany.  The slopes are only about 35 minutes from our house to the parking lot. Later during the break we spent two days in Chamonix with our neighbors the Trentini family. Kate was skiing after 4 hours of lessons and going town moderately steep immediate slopes after 6 - her instructor Fabian was an amazing teacher. We all love skiing (though the kids are not wild about the falling part) and keep hoping for more snow.

Christmas 2010

We decided to stay in Switzerland for the Christmas this year. We were blessed to have Pamela and Henry be able to make the trip from Brussels to join us. We followed existing Woolley and Vittone traditions (presents on Christmas only and eating tons of butter and cream), and added Santa tracking via the internet to our Christmas experience. We hung stockings, left carrots and cookies for Santa and his reindeer and began Christmas day with eggs benedict – with extra hollandaise, of course. The kids wish for a white Christmas came true as we woke-up to a beautiful snow fall. We had a wonderful time relaxing with family, celebrating and giving thanks for all the beauty in our lives and world.