Posts

Posted on

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars… by John Green…

This book, this story, deserves the glowing reviews it has been given.

i LOVE it! Ok, there are very few books i dislike but this is one i will remember for a long long time; this is one which when i remember it, i smile sadly and nod knowingly, in appreciation of the window which John Green has given us into a world which is sad but yet so powerful.

faultinourstars20170310Hazel is terminal. She always has been. She has accepted and has learned to live with it, trying her best to live the life she has been given as close to how she wants to as possible, or at least to the extent her parents and doctors allow her.

And when she least expected it, life throws her a curve ball in the form of Augustus Waters; a handsome, tall, in-remission boy who accompanies his friend to cancer support group. As their relationship develops, we are privileged to see how terminally ill young people deal with death and living in the knowledge of what is going to kill you.

We watch how Hazel and Augustus relate to each other, to their grieving and fearful parents, to their doctors who are trying their best to offer some sort of treatment, to their friends who are outside of this cancer bubble and to their friends within the cancer bubble.

We see how each of these people cope or not cope with the harsh reality of a terminal diagnosis, how they choose to stay and love on or choose to walk away and forget.

Their adventure to find the author of Hazel’s favourite book reveals some wonderful moments and makes you think what you would and would not do for the one you love when they are dying, what it means to love someone even if it is only for a short time. The funny moments are precious, the sad moments are poignant; i laughed, i smiled, i cried a little, i cheered and my heart was moved.

i have not told you much at all about the storyline or even about the characters involved. It is a book i think you need to explore for yourself. So go out, get it and read it.

i truly wish all young people, who are faced with such illnesses, and their loved ones, every happiness life offers them, and every comfort and peace when the time comes to let go.

syc

Posted on

Is it Spring already?…

 

springalready20170303
On my calendar, it says it is not officially Spring for another 17 days… but nature has decided otherwise, the snowdrops have arrived 🙂

 

Posted on

Paris… at last!…

i have lived in Europe for 13 years and we finally got to Paris!! This winter holidays we were unable to go skiing because Tobias was still recovering from his broken arms (see here if you would like to know details of what happened), so we opted to do a city trip and my beloved husband decided on Paris 😀

We were only there for 3 days, leaving on the first flight from Zurich to Paris and returning on the late evening flight. But we made use of the 3 days fully and saw quite a bit of Paris. i will just give you a picture summary here. Click on each photo to read captions and find out more about our trip.

Left: The interior of Charles de Gaulle Airport is so retro-space-like with its plastic covered escalators criss-crossing each other. Right: What a beautiful building Gare du Lyon is.
One last shot of the Louvre before we leave this fascinating city.
Left: The square, Place de la Concorde, where Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antionette were executed during the French Revolution. Right: The obelisk given to France by Egypt.
Left: Walking down Champs-Élysées. Right: The Grand Palace.
Top: Arc de Triomphe, Bottom: Watching the traffic negotiations around the circle which the Arc stands on is frightening and amusing at the same time.
Left: Going up the Eiffel Tower, Right: It was fogging that morning so this was our view from the top.
The famous Eiffel Tower on a foggy Parisian morning.
Left: If this is the size of the crowd during low season, i don’t want to be here at high season. Middle: This is as close as i got to the Mona Lisa, Right: View of the glass pyramid from below.
This is one of my favourite buildings and it houses a lovely tropical aquarium.
There are lots of monuments around the whole city.
We enjoyed riding the Metro. It’s a great system once you get to know the lines.
Our first sit-down meal in Paris, dinner at a small local cafe on St Michel at the Latin Quarter. It was lovely! And they have a drink i love but i don’t know any place which serves it besides here; it’s a cup of warm milk with honey – YUM!
View of the Eiffel Tower from the River Seine, during our evening river cruise.
All the lovely views from our evening river cruise.
Of course, we could not go to Paris and not see a platform near the River Seine which is covered in locks.
Left: See that double height glass? That’s the apartment i want if i could afford it. Right: Love the houseboats too!
The Notre Dame! It is huge and i would recommend getting the audio guide. We didn’t do that because we were limited by time.
Images from our very first walk around the city, we crossed the River Seine and walked around Jardin des Plantes. Paris has quite a number of these big parks.

Of course, we also did other things (such as cleaning the house, visiting friends, watching a movie and going to the Glacier Garden in Lucerne) during those 2 weeks but Paris was the highlight 😉

syc