Cityscape on Camera: Evian, France & Vevey, Switzerland

Today is the final installment of my European Extravaganza recap series. I've actually been writing these posts since late July, but it still seems weird to think I'm already done recapping all our fabulous adventures. Of course, there's only so much you can fit into a picture, so I hope I told you enough stories that you could really get a feel for each city and country.

After leaving the Azores (and spending a very long night in a children's playpen at the Lisbon airport), we went back to my mom's condo in Switzerland for a few short days of relaxation and re-packing before heading home to California. My sister's high school friend had flown over to visit her before traveling through Europe with her parents, so we all took an afternoon to take advantage of the warm weather and swim in Lake Geneva ... where we got chased by a swan. And got to see lots of confident Swiss women proudly showing off all 80 of their years. (Don't worry, there aren't any pictures of the latter.)

Travel finds: Unusual hotels.

While perusing my Google Reader today, I stumbled upon this awesome slideshow of weird hotels compiled by Budget Travel. The amazingly weird hotels included one in Bolivia made completely out of salt, a colorful retro hotel close to home in San Luis Obispo and - perhaps weirdest of all - a hotel in France with rooms that will make you feel like a hamster. Despite the wide array of choices, I was able to narrow it down to a couple favorites that I would actually love to stay in one day: