Shall I compare thee to a summer's (holi)day?

(May I please just beg a minute to say that I am really like this photo! There we go - narcissistic indulgence over.)
Obviously, as the fact that I am writing this post suggests, I am back. Hello! I hope that your holiday has been full of sun, sea, sand and whatever other generic holiday clichés you want to add! Mine has...not really been full of sand...or sea, but of sun there has been plenty. It was a really good holiday for reading as well, so I munched my way through:

• Pride & Prejudice
• King Solomon's Mines
• Madame Bovary
• MAUS

 Now for the....obligatory photo overload!

 We arrived at Dover port on a blazing hot summer day, and had a grrrrrreat (note icy sarcasm) time queuing. We then got a Ferry over to....France! In France we stayed uno night in a cheap hotel, before a tortuously looooooong journey over to Alemania! (Germany.) We went to the Black Forest part of Germany, and stayed in a really sweet flat in a tiny town called Todtmoos. Here is le view from le window:

Sweet, no? Because my parents are my parents we went on a load of walks...and this was the first one, where everything was so lovely and...well, woody!

My parents looked very small compared to the massiveness of the trees. (This photo should be especially appreciated for how fast I had to run to catch up after taking it. I am not a born runner, it should be said.)

Here is a cross, on it's side, which I can tell you Absolutely Zilch about. Not the next day, but some day following that walk, we ventured over to Basel! Which is not in Germany, but Switzerland!

First observations of Basel - the inhabitants (Basellians? Baselites?) seem to have a mania for covering streetlights with knitted covers, or little felt shapes. Which is very, very cool.

They had loads of really sweet, or really impressive buildings!

On the left is the Swiss flag, and on the right is the flag of Basel. Just as I took this photo the weather had a drama queen moment and went all moody and grey on me.

 Above is a view across the Rhine, the river through Basel, and all the lovely waterside buildings!

I didn't have time/was too lazy to take a proper outfit picture, so you can use your wonderful imaginations to fill in the blanks!

This was intended to be a college of Rad Street Art In Basel, but it ended up just being Rad Stuff I Saw Around Basel Not Necessarily On The Street!

There was a Climbable Tower attached to the Not So Climbable Cathedral, so of course it Had To Be Climbed. And this is the view that the One Who Climbed The Climbable Tower is rewarded with! I didn't go any higher (I have vertigo!) as the Climbable Tower Was Quite A Little Bit High.

And to round off a lovely day, I got given a free bottle of iced tea - I mean, that is a good omen! Thank you, random Swiss employee of Nestea!

Some day after that, we visited Todtnau - et here is the church.

And some sweet blue flowers...

On the side of the hill, they had a wiggly woggly rollercoaster, which (dang and blast) I wasn't allowed to go on. It was very sad.

I found a gorgy, sad little shrine in the woods, on another walk. I'm sorry I just thought it was so pretty!

Then we climbed up and up and up and upppppp to this waterfall - which I promise you was more spectacular in person!

We went on a very long walk on a very hot day. Bleurrgh. However, I had a nice mini photo shoot with a most obliging dandelion.

And...me messing about while the parents peered at some map... We were just getting tired when we stumbled upon a tractor convention! Yay! We talked to some muy nice local farmers sporting LEATHER BRACES! Whooo! Way to tell fashion who's the boss of it! (This may sound sarcastic, but I really did like their embroidered leather braces.)

 And on the last day, I took some nostalgic pictures of the church. And thus ends me holid- wait a minute! There is more! Yes the German part has ended, but after a little time in a smelly car, we arrived back in France, and as we were sleeping in a cheap hotel in REIMS we had tons of time to spend mooching aimlessly around REIMS! Which, it turns out, is a very nice place!

The cathedral is lovely!

And...here is a close up of Joan of Arc's stained glass face...

We found a magical carousel of happiness and joy and yay! ...Which wasn't moving (sob sob sob sob). And I think that concludes my happy post-holiday ramble! I do love you VERY much, and I shall see you next time!