So, I finally got the “care package” that my family was supposed to send for Christmas. Middlebro insisted that Mom shouldn’t send it until he’d given her the pics I still hadn’t seen, but when he found the time to copy them he couldn’t make heads nor tails of Nero. Finally Lilbro grabbed Middlebro’s laptop and a handful of new DVDs and said “like this, see? copy, drag, copy, burn, TADAAAAH!”
The DVDs were mostly prepared to view pictures in a DVD player; instead of individual pictures, they’re .avi files. But Picasa was able to extract them, so I’ll treat you to a few of them. I imagine you’re even less interested in a 15’ video of a sick man in a hospital than I was… :smack: why would Middlebro think I’m interested in a video of his FiL in hospital, wheezing, barely conscious enough to wave, is beyond me. Maybe I’m just too selfish, but I don’t get it. Too many memories of Dad, wheezing to death in that same hospital bed.
I also uploaded the pictures I had in my camera, so enjoy! For those who just want to see the album without additional commentary, just click here.
The first picture is of a factory in Germany , I drive in front of it often. Please tell me I’m not imaginining things!
Next, pictures of Lausanne , taken two weekends ago. Apparently, in the Middle Ages it was both important (it had a cathedral) and tiny (only two churches? my hometown had about 20). The area around Lake Leman/Lake Geneve used to belong to the House of Savoy, except for Geneve itself which stayed an independent town. The Calvinists from Bern captured what’s now the Swiss parts of the lake, “kicked out” (according to the guide; my news are different but I didn’t want to argue with my hosts) the Catholic priests and anybody who insisted in staying a Papist, burnt wooden images and sculptures, melted down gold and silver ones, painted grey over all the colored areas of the churches. The painting was actually pretty fortunate: during the Renaissance, many churches all over Europe had their painted walls whitewashed, which burned the paint; the paint in these didn’t eat up what was below, so it’s being recovered.
And pictures of the Castle of Chalion. Apparently, some Byron guy was the first tourist to engrave his name in one of the castle’s columns. Since he also single-handedly created the touristic industry in the area, including a brand-new village where not even a house had stood before, they’re all in love with him. At least those who live from said industry and who, I’m sure, would have been quite offended by the notion of visitors who have not ever read “The Prisoner of Challion”, or even heard of it before their visit to the castle. What can I say, when we talked about the Romantics in Spanish Lit we got Bécquer, Espronceda and Rubén Darío… To get Universal Lit you had to take “Pure Letters” in High School, I was “Pure Science with Draftmanship”.
And I also have some pictures of Basel , the town where I live, which is the 4th-largest in Switzerland (Lausanne is the 5th).
And of course, because if I don’t show them what kind of Doting Aunt would I be, here’s The Nephew.
Last but not least, an MMPr who’s not me.
Do you think that was enough pictures for one album? 