The fourth season

Greetings from Switzerland.

Today is Guigui's birthday. That little Parisian turns two. For the third straight year the Guiger rings in the spring.

We moved here in summer, lasted the fall, skied a short winter, now it's time to see what spring is like here.

How was the summer? It was full of walks in green mountains and fun by shiny lakes. There was a first day at a new school, a climb up a castle. There were boats to Corsica and friends in the Southwest of France. It closed with Gongo's birthday. No party, we didn't know anyone.

And the fall? It opened with mama's birthday. Guigui got his first haircut, finally. There were sunny days and more walks. We had circus , wine and fun close by. Fico's visit, mimi's visit, papa's departure far away. Inès turned eight. She got a party. In fact, the museum almost had to shut down. This isn't the ENC...



The winter came late. We had Christmas with Ata after the school shows. We skated and, eventually skied. When we did ski it was a lot. Except when papa hurt his leg, then it was Paris, the center of the universe.

Yesterday morning, a short eclipse opened the door to our fourth season in Nyon. It seemed to say, happy birthday Raphaël, this is your spring, and it's going to be special.

If you're retired and don't have enough money to travel or know how to play bridge, you may feel a little less guilty wasting your time on these:



Cross the waters with us to Corsica: Please pass the wild boar

Or cross France with us to St. Jean de Luz: Santiago anyone?

Walk with us? Take a hike

Again? I said take a hike!

Trip to the land of swiss cheese? Is it me or is it the fondu?

Care to see who came to Inès' 8th birthday? Let them eat cake

Stage fright? Limelight becomes me

Another visit by Père Noël? But I was bad this year!

How about New Year's in Chamonix? So close to heaven, it must be

Care to see who came to Ata's 80th birthday? Crème de la crème

A return to Eden? Heaven is on Earth

What does a normal winter day look like in Nyon? You call this normal?

The view from our window

Here we are, in Switzerland, Nyon to be precise. There’s a castle, and a lake, and mountains, lots of mountains. There are the Jura Mountains to the North and the Alps just about everywhere else. Everything is clean, works, and runs on time. And there are so many views to admire. You can take a photo in just about any direction and call it a post card. But for us, the best view of all is from our window.

We haven’t moved all that far, in fact, a 14 minute drive takes us to the French border, and Paris is less than maybe four hours behind that, about three if you take the train. Mama and Papa seem to like it; though papa does look a little glum when he talks about Paris (we notice that he seems to make that 14 minute drive a little more often that seems necessary). But to us three, it’s a new world to explore and a thousand adventures to be lived.

We’re Parisian, and always will be, and we are all shocked by the local fashion. But for now, we’re happy to have the Lake Geneva beaches and the Nyon swimming pool, walks in the mountains, a private park behind our building, a school where we don’t get yelled at, other people who speak three languages, about a million fondue restaurants, clean trains, accurate clocks, the de Geoffroys nearby, the jet d’eau, cheese, Chamonix at our doorstep, vineyards, and of course, Rando burger!

As Orson Wells so rightly pointed out, Switzerland is the land of brotherly love, democracy and peace. Even the Economist just declared it the best place to be born in 2013 (we, thank God, were all born in the 15th arrondissement of Paris). So don’t expect too much excitement. But if you’re addicted to boredom, why not do a little yodel and join us on our Helvetic adventure as we swim, climb, and sing our way through the fiscal playground that has generously produced tax-evaders like Paul Klee, le Corbusier, Nicholas of Flüe, William Tell, Roger Federer, and Heidi?

Already missing the French blog? Check out some photos of the Hexagon across the lake: The grass is greener.

Or join us as we suffer through our move: turtles have it easy.