After doing the washing, Lyndall and I caught the train to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. We walked past the parliament building, made of green limestone. There was a large stage and market being set up for The Swiss national day, Aug 1st. We walked around the town, past the town clock which had figures to revolve with the hourly chimes like a cuckoo clock. We walked down the street under the verandas, past Einstein's House to the river where there is a bear enclosure with 4 brown bears (2 babies). The river winds around the old city centre. Next day we took the train up to Engelberg, then a series of cable cars up to Mt Titlus. There are cable cars in lots of different directions - 1 to a fun area where you could slide down the hill on sleds then come back up by escalator. Everyone was having a great time, but we decided not to try. We walked around the glacier cave and tried to line up the mountains with the information plate. Then we went down and across to another area where the hills were covered with wild flowers. It looked as though someone had scattered a packet of seeds everywhere. There were lots of different ones I'd never seen before. We saw a bright red butterfly which Eyvonne would have liked to photograph. Next day I caught the train to Paris, travelling via Lausanne and Geneva. The trip along the lake from Lausanne was beautiful - the land sloped down towards the lake and was covered in vines with housing along the shore line, the lake and the hills rising on the opposite side. Yesterday I went on a tour to Versailles and then on to Giverny. Again I learned some of the hisory of France and the King Louis. The palace is hugh, over 500 metres long, and was built up over the 4 king reigns. King Louis Phillipe turned it into a museum for the people. The furnishings were destroyed during the revolution but are slowly being replaced, and the story of the palace being displayed. There gardens are very large too, with formal areas and forest for hunting around the perimeters. Unfortunately they turn the fountains off during the week so we were not able to see the full effect. Later we went to Giverny to Monet's house and garden. The water lily garden was beautiful with pink and yellow waterlilies. The Japanese bridge was draped in wisteria, still with a few flowers - just like the paintings. The main garden was all laid out as it was in his time, with dahlias, roses, daisies and impatiens to name a few. A lot had past their best but it was still very colourful. The house was quite large as he had extended it to fit his large family of 8 children (including his 6 step-children). He moved around a lot initially but bought this house with his second wife from the sale of 2 paintings. He collected a lot of Chinese art work which is on display in the house.