Weekend Update

Unfortunately there is very little news on our side of the pond! It seems as though all the drama is unfolding in the US and we are doing our best to stay informed. It is very strange to be removed from our country during this critical time! We have been exploring the French Riviera more extensively this week and are continuing to be awed and amazed on a daily basis by the beauty and charm surrounding us. The promised extended version of the Switzerland photos can be viewed by clicking here:http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYtmzVy2atGLCGg

Here is a great shot of the harbor from our terrace: 

We love and miss you all so much! Please keep emailing and keeping us up on your lives. Hugs.

Switzer-FUN!

Welcome to Switzerland, folks! The Hotchies have been on the road (or tracks) for the past week exploring the beautiful Swiss terrain. We hopped on a train in Nice last Sunday and proceeded to Geneva, then to Interlaken/Wengen, then to Lucerne, then to Chur (who knew it's the oldest city in Switzerland...and adequately charming) via beautiful scenic swiss trains zipping us over massive mountains and through winding, un-passable passes (by car that is). Over the course of our journey we were lead to the unanimous conclusion that Switzerland is unparalleled in beauty and purity far surpassing the majesty of any countryside or ocean view previously experienced. From Switzerland, we chugged on down the the Italian lake region and spent 2 lovely nights in the wonderful city of Bellagio! At this point we are wondering, how much beauty can two folks adequately absorb?! Lake Como (on which Bellagio is located) was a continuation of the Swiss breathtaking scenery BUT in the context of a quaint Italian village. Back to the land of wine and gelato! It is not going to be possible for me to successfully describe all that we have seen and done in one single post, so I will attempt somewhat of a photo-tour through our travels....these are HIGHLY condensed as we could hardly keep our hands of the camera trigger so we will be posting them, in full, online for your viewing pleasure at a later time. For now... 

Here we go!

En route from Geneva to Interlaken on the "Golden Pass" Railway. This is one of the more highly acclaimed scenic routes on the Swiss rail system and was our favorite of them all. Note the shade of the water! Do you still call that "blue?" 

Lush, green rolling hills into majestic snow-capped mountains...that's what we got on the Golden Pass Railway! Picture above is a great example of the majesty of the land when you compare the size of the village and houses to its surrounding. 

Our first adventure off the railway into the city of Montreux.

  

Our first night in Switzerland!! Our necks seemed to have gotten lost amidst the scarves... We got to experience the area just outside of Interlaken (Berner Oberland) in the village of Wengen. The photo at the top of this post was taken atop the Jungfrou. The Jungfrou is the "top of Europe" as they call it, meaning the tallest mountain in Europe. From Wengen, it was about a ten minute ride up the mountainside to this icy peak! Wengen was a fabulous introduction to Switzerland! 

Moving right along...After our night in Wengen, we boarded the train to Lucerne continuing on our Golden Pass Line. We took a cable car up Mt. Pilatus (another famous Swiss peak) for additional breathtaking views. 

The Hotchies at a pub with the famed Chapel Bridge as our background.

Now en route to Lake Como via the "Glacier Express" railway this time! No more Golden Pass...For some strange reason we were uncontrollably compelled to take a photo of every single church we saw nestled in a grassy hill...and there were quite a few! I'm not sure why we continued to be surprised. Here is one of the many and my personal favorite (above).

Not that this couldn't pass for a church also! We were in awe of the continual display of God's beauty and the work of His hands. How unfathomably enormous is that?! John did a great job capturing the magnificence of the size scale in this shot with the sailboat next to the mountain. Autumn is a fantastic choice for European travel, by the way. I'm not sure if these photos are doing it justice, but the array of fall colors on the turning trees was just another element of the stunning beauty! 

John at Lake Como. We did our obligatory Italian duty of learning about/experiencing the regional wines in full. With a sweet, Italian wine shop owner as our guide, we selected a culturally fitting bottle for a lovely, lakeside evening. John got to relax post-extensive conference call (thank goodness for wifi! even in tiny italian villages) in true Italian style. Need I note that this background is REAL? 

Lake Como/Bellagio continued. These boats run back and forth across the lake so you can get a taste of all the lovely lakeside villages lining the shore. Extremely picturesque!

En route back to France, we had a bit of a mishap in Milan....It seems the Italian train system is not overly concerned with punctuality as every train we boarded was late and continued to be further and further behind schedule as we traveled. Needless to say, we missed our train to France from Milan. No sweat! We took advantage of our few hours there in Milan to do some window shopping and see some sights. For example, the Duomo above. Incredible!!

And that's it folks! We are now back in Villefranche moving along about our usual, much less than tedious business of grocery shopping and conference calls. Peace...

Beach Day!

Yesterday we decided to take a break from the daily grind and hit up the beach! The slight chill in the air reminded us of the upcoming change of seasons and that we should take full advantage of the warmth and sunshine before fall arrives.  This is no Port-A folks... 
    

You know, "The Hoff" (that's David Hasselhoff for those of you totally out of the loop) is big-time over here in Europe. In effort to further absorb the European culture, I did a little Baywatch photo shoot of John strolling out of the frigid Mediterranean waters, wind in hair, etc...The Hoff better watch out!! There's a "Hotch" in town. 

John's beach reading...In case you can't see the fine print, it reads "Approaching the Zettabyte Era." Better get ready folks...It gonna be awesome. Although minimally entertaining as reading material. Way to go John for being diligent even on Beach day!

Some boats. Aren't they pretty?

   

And we capped off our beach day with a cookout in good, American fashion.  John demonstrated his impeccable grilling skills (see above) treating me to a lovely chicken dinner. Bon Appetite! 

P.S. We are so grateful for all of you, your emails and efforts to stay in touch!! Thank you all so much! We miss and love you and think of you with warm hearts often. 

Back at Villa Athena...

Happy Laura (above) and John at the office (below)...

Our only concern at this point: desensitization. John said it best this morning... We don't EVER want to get used to this! 

Monaco Sunday

   
   

We took a little day-trip to Monaco yesterday...What an immensely lavish and luxurious little country it is! We hopped of our bus at the "Casino" (pictured above) and were immediately face-to-face with the most extravagant display of luxury vehicles we had ever seen. Picture a single file line of Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Mercedes, etc....I get the feeling we aren't in Kansas anymore! Between the amazing cars, Yacht show happening in the Harbor, and, oh yeah, the Mediterranean, John was in heaven! Below are some of the photos of the Yachts we spied on

   

We were exhausted from the rough day so stopped to rest at this fine little establishment...

Oooops. Then we missed our bus back to Villefranche (the last one of the day, no doubt) and got lost... This is John no longer in heaven:

C'est la Vie! That's what we said as we hiked on foot most of the way home...and, en route, happened upon a fantastic little "Mom and Pop" pizza joint which we fell in love with and will definitely visit again soon! They spoke English which was also nice. All-in-all, it was another fabulous day in the life of the Hotchies! 

Photo Update

A beautiful view outside our Villa from the Moyenne Coriniche (our street)

                         

John taking the first of 832 stairs down to Villefranche...Sic'em! Descending is feasible; it's the post-pasta ascending hike that's killer. Regarding picture on the right... I think I was "aerating." If you don't know, you probably don't want to ask :)

Germany....

       

The war-torn Kaiser Wilhelm Church and the statue of Christ left standing after the war...stone tablet at His feet reads "Forgive as I have forgiven you." Wow.

         

Sweet, sweet time with Stephanie :) 

         

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Church in Berlin...Bonhoeffer was a German Theologian and activist in the Anti-Nazi movement. "The Cost Of Discipleship" is most likely his most popular writing. "Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church. Our struggle today is for costly grace." All his literary works took place with the background the rise of Naziism and it's corruption within the Church. Oh and in addition to being an renowned theologian, one of the founding fathers of the Lutheran church, and a significant political advocate, he was the father to many orphans during his lifetime living out the gospel in addition to contemplating it. I'd say that's challending!! Bonhoeffer was eventually executed by hanging for his Anti-nazi activism 3 weeks prior to the liberation of Berlin.  This was the church where he worshipped. It was bare (to say the least) and there is no heating/cooling system. A lovely woman was there practicing on the organ. beautiful...

   

The Berlin Wall + graffiti art... I don't know why there were swings at the wall, but I couldn't resist.

  

Sweet John met me in Berlin and got to spend some time with Stephanie! This is us at the train station on another beautiful, sunny German day!

 

Here's a pictoral briefing of our most recent adventures..note: more extensive photo update on shutterfly at: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYtmzVy2atGL-Q

German Fun!

Let me first of all give MAJOR props, and thanks, to my amazing German host/tour guide/restauranteur, Steph Johnson! I have had an incredibly enjoyable and educational week in Berlin while getting to spend time with one of my dearest friends...what a blessing! John and I arrived back in Villefranche tonight to regroup and recover from the past week of being apart
:( We enjoyed a fabulous seafood dinner on our terrace while catching up and relaxing in the chilly night air as the beautiful sailboats and yachts glided across out horizon. John has been on the road all over Europe this past week traveling to and from meetings with 2 of his MediaExcel coworkers. He has some great pictures of the Eiffel Tower and an ancient pub (been serving beer there since 1300!) that I hope to post soon. While John was traveling for work, I shot up to Berlin to visit Stephanie and have my first experience of German life. And the conclusion is...I LOVE Germany! Although largely enriched by the company and conversation of Stephanie, I thoroughly enjoyed the rich culture of Berlin. We spent nearly 3 full days power-walking Berlin in the perfectly chilly, sun-soaked weather as I tried to absorb all the German history and knowledge I could throughout the city...the historic vibe of the city is so fresh with war-torn buildings around every corner and remembrances of people groups and past leaders strewn throughout. Not to mention the amazing food and energetic Germans fluttering about Berlin as the city seemed to be full of energy and life at all times. My culturally challenging moments (aside from the language barrier which Stephanie gracefully remediated) came mostly in the form of the 'bike lane." Apparently, throughout Berlin, there is one section of the sidewalk reserved solely for bikers. This rule is NOT to be loosely interpreted despite the fact that it is not posted via sign anywhere... Pedestrians are the lowest on the heirarchy of street travel. Observance of the "bike lane"is not just a social suggestion in Berlin, such as eye contact during a toast, but more of an issue of common law enforceable by all citizens. A single mindless momentary meander into the bike lane can land a poor, unsuspecting American girl (such as I) in the hospital...or, more likely, in long-term counseling resulting from trauma caused by elderly German women shouting profanities and/or bike bells ringing incessantly in your sleep. Thus are the said consequencs of intrusion into the bike lane which Steph graciously prevented me from incurring on multiple occasions by shoving me into the street even to spare my life from the bikers. What would I have done without her? I have posted pictures of my Germany trip as well as some additional photos of John and I at our Villa/village on Shutterfly. Click on: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYtmzVy2atGL-Q to view them. We love and miss you all!