Harry Potter 4 opening night in Switzerland

I accompanied my church youth group to the showing at Balaxert.

Extra: first snow

First Snow

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

--Robert Frost

Le chateau de Penthes

Mt. Brévent

Chamonix, le Brévent and neighboring peaks as seen from l'Aiguille du Midi in September


On the way to Chamonix through the Haute Savoie - 9:31 am


A laser suddenly vaporizes away a hunk of mountain - 9:55 am


On the trail - 11:36 am


Panorama on our way up Mt. Brévent - 1:19 pm


Almost to the summit - 1:53 pm


Lac du Brévent - 2:46 pm


1:21 pm


4:14 pm


Sylvain's favorite restaurant wasn't open, so we opted for quiche and chausson de pomme instead from a local bakery


Looking up to from whence we came: the summit of Mt. Brévent seen from Chamonix - 6:00 pm

Jet d'eau

Jet d'eau, Sunday morning

Autumn

All these were taken at the Jardin Botanique, my favorite new place to hang out when I have a free moment between classes and work. A rather large park situated between the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, this garden has lovely trees and fauna from around the world. The tropical plants are housed in elegant greenhouses and the rest are found labelled along the gravel paths.

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

-- Joyce Kilmer