It’s long overdue, mainly because I’ve been editing all of the photographs to put into a book for Francois and Gratiane (a belated wedding present which is now caught up somewhere in the inefficient French postal system). But we got some great shots of the wedding, so I thought I’d put them up here.

In Nancy, a little way north of the cathedral is Place Stanislas (originally the Place Royale), which along with the adjoining squares was mainly built by Emmanuel Héré between 1752 and 1760. Around the square are five imposing palaces, with balconies and balustrades. In the center of the square is a statue of King Stanislas. Along its north side are single-story galleried buildings, which continue along Rue Héré. The most characteristic feature of the square is the magnificent gilded wrought-iron railings (by Jean Lamour) at the ends of the streets entering the square and round the Fountains of Neptune and Amphitrite (both by Barthélemy Guibal). The largest of the palaces round the square is the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), with magnificent banisters by Lamour on the staircase.

Matthew at the wedding, in front of the Grand Hôtel de la Reine at Place Stanislas

Aude at the wedding, in front of the Grand Hôtel de la Reine at Place Stanislas

Francois and Gratiane as they emerged from the town hall after their wedding

A very happy bride and groom!

A very French way to leave the ceremony

The chateau where the reception was held…

Just before I left the UK, I had a final interview for a new job. The interview was on Friday afternoon, and the headhunter had promised that I’d hear something on Monday.

Headhunters rank just under lawyers in the pathelogical liar stakes, and sure enough, no phone call came on Monday. I spent the rest of the week glued to my Blackberry, waiting for some news.

In fact, it wasn’t all the headhunter’s fault. The Partner who was supposed to make the final hiring decision had been out of the office for a few days. In any case, the telephone call finally came through with the news that I was hoping for — that they’d decided to make me an offer. To celebrate, we had a fantastic meal at one of the oldest restaurants in Zurich, and after dinner I treated myself to one of Havana’s finest:

More news on the new job later…

After an early start in Basel, we set off the next morning for Zurich, Switzerland. I spent nearly a year working in Zurich early in my career and have a special affection for the city. I particularly like the fact that it’s a small, walkable city with beautiful architecture and a magnificant landscape with hills, a river, and the lake.

Aude hadn’t visited Zurich before, so it was her first chance to see it with me as her guide.

We started our walking tour by heading up Bahnhofstrasse, the main shopping street in Zurich and the equivalent of Bond Street in London. It’s definitely a place for windowshopping, though, as everything is incredibly expensive.

At the top of Bahnhofstrasse, we visited the model of Swiss efficiency — the Zurich Bahnhof

Zurich’s Bahnhof

More scary trams…

Aude on one of the bridges crossing the Limmat river

We walked both sides of the river (essentially walking the town from end-to-end) over a couple of hours, then strolled down to the lake where we continued our ornithological tour of Europe.

A Swiss swan. Like ordinary an swan, but more punctual.

Zurich was just as I remembered it — a wealth of wonderful things to buy (but nothing affordable); an immaculate city that somehow lost it’s joie de vivre in the process. Still, it was great to be back.

From Alsace, we made our way just over the border to Basel, Switzerland. Foolishly, I didn’t manage to get my camera out, but we did learn a couple of things about Switzerland:

1. You need to buy a vignette (tax stamp) in order to use the Swiss motorways. At the border, they barely look at your passport, but they’re very efficient at taking your money and slapping a vignette on your windscreen.

2. The expensive vignette does not mean that you get better roads. In fact, 90% of the Swiss motorway network seems to be under construction.

3. Helen Keller could have done a better job of signposting Basel. For a country noted for it’s efficiency, the road system in Basel looks like it was designed by chaos theory.

4. Trams are bloody scary. They have the right of way, and they’re a lot bigger than you are. They’re much scarier as a driver than as a pedestrian.

5. “Geschlossen” is the German word for “closed.” Which is what every bloody shop in the country does at precisely 7pm.

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful evening with several of Aude’s old colleagues. We sat outside and enjoyed a barbeque in their new home.

I was envious of two things — the sheer floorspace that is available when you don’t live on an island (unlike our tiny houses in the UK) and the quality of the Swiss workmanship. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen such high-quality construction anywhere in the world.

It’s been very busy recently, but I’ve finally got a few minutes to update the blog. Aude and I had to attend a friend’s wedding in Nancy, France, and we took the opportunity to visit friends of ours across Europe.

After a quick crossing of the Channel by ferry, we had lunch in Brugges and then drove onwards to Brussels. We met up with my friends Marc and Judith and had a nice dinner (although we had to abandon our al fresco plans due to Portugal fans celebrating their win in the World Cub — they were circling around and around, blowing their horns. With the number of Portuguese celebrating in Brussels, you’d be forgiven for assuming that there weren’t any Portuguese left in Portugal.

From Brussels we made a long drive to Alsace, where we stayed in a lovely hotel right in the middle of a vineyard:

The vineyard next to our hotel

We arrived quite late and had a bit of an ordeal finding someplace to have dinner (which ended up being the Alsacian regional dish of choucroute garnie — sauerkraut with a variety of types of pork and sausages). The next day, we explored the local town of Ribeauvillé:

Ribeauvillé

Matt in Ribeauvillé

Aude seems to be enjoying herself.

Les Cigognes – the Alsacian storks

White storks are one of the region’s most beloved symbols and for many centuries they return every year from Africa to announce the coming of spring in France. Aude reliably informs me that this is also where French babies come from.

A typical Alsacian house in the centre of Ribeauvillé

We visited the shop where next to the vineyard and bought some local Muscat. No prizes for guessing where the inspiration for the wine box came from.

Matt in Alsace

The Alsacian countryside

Let this be a lesson to you: they ship safety grips with mandolines for a reason. As the article rightly points out, a mandoline is a dangerous utensil and food preparers are required to wear a metal glove on the pushing hand. I also learned that using one without wearing metal gloves or a safety grip is a great way to lose part of your thumb and spend your afternoon in the local hospital’s accident and emergency department.

On the other hand, it did make our barbeque more exciting. The blood added colour and adventure to the afternoon, and a special flavour to the food.

This is another one of those lessons in life that we only learn through experience, and I guess technically I need to move down a rung on the Darwin-o-meter.

The doctor says I’ll be fully recovered in a couple of weeks, with nothing more to show for my pain and suffering than a small scar. And a reluctance to work with sharp objects in the kitchen.

…On the upside, it’s bought me two weeks off doing the dishes!