Les Cornettes de Bise

Today we went hiking with some of Emilie's family in an area called Les Cornettes de Bise, which is in the Alps along the border of France and Switzerland.

Here's the view that we had shortly before reaching the summit. The altitude wasn't that high, so we were surrounded by plenty of greenery.

We stopped for lunch above a picturesque alpine lake (or perhaps "pond" is a more accurate description). I was surprised by how many snow patches remained despite being June.

As we continued our trek after lunch, we spotted a bouquetin (ibex) in the distance. The animal's horns really stood out with the snow as a backdrop.

It turns out that there was a group of nearly 40 or so (just counting the ones that we saw), including these two juveniles that were play fighting on a nearby rock.

At one point, we had to pass through a group of adults and their massive horns were pretty impressive (albeit a bit intimidating as well). They didn't seem to mind our presence, but definitely kept an eye on us throughout.

At one point we had a nice view of Lake Geneva, though there was a bit of haze. We were basically in the mountains on the side opposite Lausanne.

Throughout the hike we were accompanied by a local dog that took a liking to us. He just tagged along for most of the route and every once in a while ran off to a snow patch in order to cool down a bit.

At lower altitudes, the dog took advantage of a couple of streams that we passed in order to cool off. He clearly knew all the good spots, so I presume that his owners simply let him roam free during the day and he just followed hikers in what he must have viewed as his own backyard.

Shortly before finishing up, we passed by a group of dairy cows that the dog seemed to take some interest in. This made me think that perhaps it was a farm dog that was used to help herd the cows whenever it was time to move them to a new spot.

Amsterdam

This weekend Emilie and I headed to Amsterdam, marking my first visit to the Dutch capital (and the Netherlands, for that matter).

There were a number of highlights over the two days, with perhaps my favorite simply being the time we spent walking along the canals. It was nice taking in the scenery given all the interesting buildings and tree-lined streets.

While most of the buildings stood out for their architecture, the ones that seemed to have concave faces that literally leaned out over the street really caught my attention. The building on the right in the picture below is a good example.

Another highlight was our visits to the Rijks and the Van Gogh museums. The Rijks is full of paintings by various Dutch masters and the Van Gogh museum, well, is basically a lot of Van Goghs.  My favorite painting of the two visits was Rembrandt's massive De Nachtwacht ("The Night Watch"), below, which was housed in its own room at the Rijks.

The most moving experience of weekend was definitely a visit to the Anne Frank House, which faces the canal in the photo below (it's just left of the large tower). After reading The Diary of Anne Frank years ago in high school, it was interesting to tour the building described in the book. Needless to say, it's hard to imagine what it was like "living" there for over two years while the consequence of being discovered was almost certain death.

For a nice mix of relaxation and sightseeing, we decided to take a canal tour on one of the many tourist boats. It lasted about an hour and was a great way to get a different persepective of the city. We were fortunate to have a good captain who was able to add a lot to the tour through his commentary. He really seemed to like his job and I think this made a big difference.

During the canal tour we passed under / by countless bridges. And at one point the captain stopped the boat so that we could take a picture of the bridges below -- a set of seven in a row that cross the same canal. I'm not sure if we were really able to see all seven from the boat, but Emilie and I walked by them after the tour and confirmed that there were indeed seven.

As for the other more memorable elements of the city, it's hard to overlook the omnipresent "coffeeshops" and general pot / mushroom / etc. dispenseries. Given the decades-long failure of America's "war" on drugs, you have to wonder whether Amsterdam's model (or at least something in that direction) would be a more effective solution. It's hard to imagine that it could do much worse.

The city's "Red Light District" is also worth mentioning. "Window shopping" takes on a whole new meaning in this area. As such, we had to be a bit careful with our photo-taking. One minute you're passing a church like the one in the photo below and the next you're literally turning a corner and are face to face with a naked woman staring at you through the (door-sized) window to her "studio".

Perhaps the most common sight in the city is the bicycle. They're literally everywhere and as a tourist you have to be careful to not accidentally stray into a bike lane while admiring the city. I think Amsterdam may compete with Copenhagen for Europe's most bike-friendly city (at least among those that I've visited). Supposedly, there are enough bikes in the city to account for 80% of the population. There's even a bike-specific, multi-level parking structure next to the train station (it looks like it's for cars...).

Though not as numerous as bikes, the roughly 700 houseboats permanently moored in the inner canals of Amsterdam also catch your attention. As the number of mooring permits is fixed, houseboats are very expensive -- particularly given that they typically have all the conveniences of a modern home (plumbing, electricity, central heating, cable, wifi). Apparently there are even some houseboat hotels, which would make for an interesting stay in the city.