London at 8am...

It is said that it rains only in London. This is clearly not what I have experienced since living in London. Just take a look at the picture I took this morning from our flat -- blue sky and a beautiful sunset. And it has been like this since for many days :-)

New York, Monaco, Pompeii....

We just came back from wonderful - exciting - trips.
First we were in New York City for John's graduation. Yes, he is done! The graduation ceremony was very special in the chapel on the the Columbia Business School campus -- seeing John in his Columbia Blue Cap & Gown made me even more proud! On the picture you see him with his Gown.

Afterwards we had a great dinner with John's parents who flew in from Switzerland for John's graduation at our favorite chinese restaurant Shun Lee Palace in New York -- the best chinese place! Delicious!
Then we had a big graduation party with the other students. The location was with a view to the Hudson River and of course some sky scrapers-- was a great party!

From New York we flew back to London just to get some new clothes and flew on the same day to Nice, France. There John's parents picked us up at the airport who drove from Switzerland to Nice. They flew back earlier from New York to Switzerland than us to have some time to rest before picking us up in Nice.


Now our next event started -- our yearly event the International Circus Festival in Monaco.

It was our sixt year in the row that we watched the amazing performances of the world best artists.


Following Monaco we continued our journey and drove to Pompeii in Italy to travel more than two thousands years back in history..
On August 24, 79 AD, the volcano Vesuvius errupted, covering the nearby town Pompeii in ash and soot, preserving the city in its state from that fateful day.

Pompeii is an excavation site and outdoor museum of the ancient Roman settlement. This site is considered to be one of the few sites where an ancient city has been preserved in detail - eveything from jars and tables to paintings and people were frozen in time, yielding an unprecedented opportunity to see how the people lived two thousand years ago.

The picture above shows the excavation of the Temple of Apollo in Pompeii with the vesuvius in the background.