[Paris] Colors, real estate, and Switzerland 2

The soil in Paris is black. I saw them digging a whole, and what came out was black sand like coal.

The colors for the fall are purple and pink. There is not a shop in Paris without a purple and pink window dressing.

Parisiens will not tolerate the sight of laundry hung out to dry, but no one has a dryer and everyone a balcony. They hang their clothing indoors. At the same time, the sidewalks are riddled with dog shit. I don’t understand this.

Prices to rent here appear to be the same or more than SF, but the price to buy an apartment is significantly less. At the moment, I have no desire to go home (except when I try to buy a book that is not a classic or a best seller here or in UK). So, well, you can hear the wheels turning. On the other hand, by the time I have completed this adventure, I will be broke again. And there is the small matter of feeding myself if I lived here without a work permit.... I am working on the solution. Maybe it will come to me in a dream.

But I left you, dear readers, just over the border in Basel, Switerland. Once our group assembled itself, we headed towards the small spa town of Vals in the mountains. When I agreed to this adventure, I was interested in the spa and the company, but I never gave a thought to the Swiss countryside. Boy Howdy. It is something else!

(I feel that my tone is not appropriate to describe the pristine beauty of this place....)

Val is located at the bottom of a V-shaped landscape along a small river. The land rises steaply on either side of a perfect little european village. Half-timbered houses (is that what that’s called?), a church, town square. The houses each have a yard, sheep, geraniums pouring from the window boxes. The hillsides have little structures at regular but not too close intervals, presumably for hay (no one knew for sure) with natural paths between like terracing (but not). Deep, rich green grass covers the slopes. Rocks occasionally protrude upward, giving the mountain a boost.