Interlaken and the Jungfrau-top of Europe

We are sitting on our tiny balcony-well, I am sitting on the balcony and Marcia has pulled a chair up to the French doors of the balcony. We have just finished our picnic supper out here watching the parasailers float by like butterflies.

So much to tell-so little time.

We were granted a second night at the Hotel Bellvue only with two single rooms. Marcia got the palatial bathroom with bidet and I got the next floor up above her with maybe a bit better view. Sure beats the streets or riding the trains all night.

We are a bit tired. We have gotten up early two days in a row, and we spent quite a bit of time at 11,000 ft today-on the top of Europe, the Jungfrau, and it has tuckered us old frau out. It was a wonderful sunny day, and perfect to do the Jungfrau. This young woman is pretty spectacular from any angle. Being at the top requires some precautions (as previously mentioned) but we made out fairly well by following, mostly, the precautions. We did have a cup of coffee and a treat at 7,000 ft, but had to wait 2 hours for our reserved seat on the train. We met a lovely British woman on the way up and she recommended some books to read about climbers-something she had found so inspiring she was willing to use her two weeks holiday to do in spite of her fear of going up high places. When we met her later in the trip, she confessed to be assisted by a bit of Valium AND a muscle relaxant. She was a happy somebody at 11,000 ft, and her British reserve had been thoroughly medicated. I'm going to find the book she recommended and maybe even the video documentary too.

When we were ready to make our descent, we ended up in a group queue (no single lines here) of 40 minutes. Apparently there was a train stopped on the tracks and we had to wait for it to be fixed. There is one track. Three trains of three cars go up, and three trains of three cars come down. So, 40 minutes is an eternity for Marcia to stand under any circumstances, and after an hour or so of O2 deprivation and CO2 overload, it is way too long to stand-better than walking, however. So, we were in queue with lots of other people who had been up at 11,000 ft for goddess knows how long and the queue was growing by the minute and there was no train in sight. When the train finally arrived and we were allowed to board there was a mad dash. Though breathing at sea level can have it's challenges for me, I was motivated and willing to pant for awhile, so I dashed for a seat for both of us. It was worth it.

It takes awhile and several trains to get down from Ms Frau, so we were plenty over it with the day once we got "home". I know we will sleep well tonight and take our time getting to Geneva tomorrow.

Tomorrow happens to be Swiss National Day. You can Google it for more info. Our read on the Swiss is that they are pretty passionate about their country. There are flags flying everywhere and a few fireworks. Most of you know that we are not that fond of fireworks in our own country, so we are just as glad we will be going to Geneva. Our hotellier tells us that Geneva is not as Swiss as Interlaken. Indeed, Lucern is near where the first Cantons came together as a nation, but he would never tell us that.

The Swiss flag is one of two that are square, the other being the Vatican. We have purchased the special in the Swiss schlock shops, a T-shirt and a baseball cap-all red with a white cross. What a wonderful flag. Red shirt and two bandaids, and voila! Swiss! Well, maybe not bandaids. Maybe adhesive tape would be more respectful. Maybe I am thinking of bandaids because I cut my finger while washing our new traveling cutlery-Victorinox knives. Good banks, watches, knives and great flag! Great country! Two more days of Switzerland, and lots of photos to process. Could be some time before I get back to the photo blog-stay tuned.

KG (MT did photos- To Susan H, I still wish I had your big lens)

Last Day in Hinwil

Home was a good choice for today. It rained, it cleared, it rained and hailed, it cleared and the sun shone, it rained, it is now overcast, but some mountains are showing.

We are all about cleaning and packing and making reservations and editing photos. Since we know we have a printer here, I booked the flight from Budapest to London. The only thing not booked is our London hotel. That will wait a bit.

The other thing not booked is our second night in Interlaken. They are all booked up but will give us a room if there is a cancellation. We have decided to count on that, and on them storing out luggage for us for the day on Saturday and if they don't have a room for us, we will either go to Geneva or find a room in Interlaken. I'm not too worried.

We were a bit surprised to find a man working downstairs this morning. He was rather surprised to see us as well. We went about our respective jobs. He is working on the walls in the room that was a fallout shelter. Birgit wasn't sure of the exact English words, but called it the war room. It does have a window, maybe a recently installed window. It will be an office. A more optimistic room than before.

I ran the washer and hung up clothes. If they are not dry by morning, we have a fall back plan in the dryer.

I took photos of the rooms that we have used in this house for the photo blog. We always find things we like and think are good ideas for making our wonderful house even better. We think that this is one of the wonderful perks about exchanging houses. Check the photo blog.

KG

Interlaken and Geneva-figuring it all out

This morning we looked at the weather and the train schedules and decided that we should spend the night in Interlaken Friday in order to take advantage of the predicted sunny day on Saturday. So, we discussed plans and I booked the hotel.

I took off for Zurich to have an adventure and get supplies to have picnics along the way. Our favorite meals have been the thin sliced pork Schwietzerfleish and Bratwurst with herbed brod and several cheeses and whatever fresh fruit is at hand. The cherries have been excellent and Marcia describes the nectarines as rose water. So why go to a cafe to have a pasta dish for 15 CHF when you can have a more delightful picnic for two for 15 CHF???

We have a particular fondness for a market in the Bahnhof underground. It has the freshest fruits and veggies and the most wonderful herb bread and cheeses and sinful sweets. What's not to like? I had to indulge in figs again today, and there was this lovely pie like pastry-one with apples and one with apricots. What would two American women on the loose in Europe do without some apple pie???

So, when I got home with my goodies and was sorting through he mess of maps on the table, it occurred to me that our initial plan to spend one night in Interlaken, come home to Hinwil and turn around the next day and go to Geneva was ridiculous. Check your map of Europe for verification. So, plan B is to leave on Friday for two nights in Interlaken and two nights in Geneva. I'm hoping our hotel in Interlaken sees things the same way. I've put in my request for an additional night. If they don't email confirmation by tomorrow morning, I'll give them a call.

Our house hosts here are in Majorca, so no contacting them, but our serious obligation here is the bunnies, and if they go without carrots for one day, it probably won't be catastrophic. Not even for two days. They have plenty of water and straw-their staple. "Eat more straw," I say, but we will leave them with plenty of carrots on Friday.

We plan our logistics. How to get the laundry done? How to get ourselves and our luggage to the train station and the car back in the garage? Which train station? We continue to discuss. On our side is the good transportation system here.

Hinwil is the end of the line. Wetzikon is a little hub. Today I discovered that I could take the express train from Wetzikon to Zurich. Driving to Wetzikon is not a problem and parking is the same in Wetzikon and in Hinwil. However, on Friday we will be unloading Marcia and luggage and I will be walking from our house to the train station (after leaving the car in the garage and doing the mad dash to make it out the garage door), so Hinwil makes the most sense. We have planned a less than hectic day of travel on Friday and cannot check into our hotel in Interlaken till 14:00, so we should be fine. Trains run about every half hour. No sense getting a heart attack over a missed train when the next one will be in 30 minutes. Just gives you time to go get another loaf of herb bread and a piece of apple pie :).

It is amazing to watch the sun play with the clouds over the mountains. As I look from my window, Pilatus is disappearing in a blanket of cloud, and the village across the Zurichsee is being lighted up by the sinking sun. The Italian Alps are all wrapped up in clouds. Like in Vermont...wait 5 minutes and something else will happen.

We have been discussing the effects of altitude. I am getting an inservice from the resident medical authority about CO2 overload. Will we be able to go to 11,000 ft or stop at 7,000? No alcohol and plenty of water. We have a 6 pack of mineral water, but really (I ask Marcia) shouldn't we be drinking still water??? If CO2 is the issue, why would we drink water with CO2 in it??? Answer: we will drink the mineral water at 2,000 ft and fill the bottles with still water for the trip up the Jungfrau.

Did I mention that the water here is quite perfect? Tap water is as fine as we have at home-tastes great. I believe I have mentioned the easy availability of water in city fountains. However, at 7,000ft+, I think we had better tote. My nearly perfect backpack has pockets for waterbottles on both sides. I'll be a two bottle toter.

For the next two weeks + we will be staying in various hotels. Interlaken, Geneva, the Rhone Valley, Paris. Some offer breakfast, some do not. We book with internet when we can. Mini-bars, which means refrigeration, are not always assumed. My breakfast might just be room temp soymilk with ovaltine. When this is the case, I pray for Starbucks. They are usually not far away in Swiss cities. Just like a Big Mac and Super Size, you can say your regular Starbucks line and be understood. Never in Italy and not so often in Sweden. Don't yet know about France, but I will be surprised if they do.

Big breakthrough here. I have discovered the 30 min. 30C wash cycle. Might be Hungary before we see it again. Kristine, our Hungarian host reports that she has a new washer. I can hardly wait.

So, don't be surprised if we are offline for awhile, or go on a photo editing vacation. We will get back when we have rid ourselves of CO2 excess.

Kay

Rocks and Rolls

A boatride away from Lucerne is the way up into the clouds.  As we rode along the lake the many rolling folds of rock were exposed for my eyes to feast upon.

Hotels were perched like small versions of Shangrila for vistiors but I was looking at the layers of  ancient seabed.

The ride up Pilatus was a wonder-gift for my geology hit.  I couldn't stop looking and marveling at the rocks and the environmental changes with each alteration in altitude range. 

Cows grazed on the side of the mountain to the sound of their clanking bells.

The sedimentary rocks of Mount Pilatus were formed in the ancient sea that stretched between the continents and rest upon granite and mantle plates that are pushing up, fracturing and erroding through out the Alps.  No mountain in the long northern arc of the Alpine foothills shows such a marked upwards thrust as Mount Pilatus.

Its rock consists of cretaceous sediment and Tertiary deposits on top of several granite masses that each seemed slightly different to me as I walked around the Dragon Path tunnels carved in the sides of the mountain.  The views were spectacular through the openings but I found myself falling for the changes in the rocks ans seeing the rolling layers and vertical formations caused by the up lifted rock. 

There is great concern that Swiss glaciers have lost a lot of ice in recent years due to increased melting. Estimates suggest as much as 12% of the glaciers have melted and as temperatures climb, so do the fears that the glaciers could one day disappear altogether.  This could create dramatic changes for the deep glacial lakes that are so important to the major cities that thrive on the mountain views and the lakes that enhance tourism.

This morning I could look look across the valley and see where we stood yesterday on the shoulders of Pilatus.  It's the dark mountain behind the hills and in front of the snowy Jungfrau range in the backround- our next destination.  11,000+ feet of fun???

M

Lucern and Mt. Pilatus

To the locals the lake that we call Lake Lucern is called Vierwaldstattersee. Could explain why we call it Lucern. We took the train from Wetzikon to Rappersvil and changed for Lucern. Cassy told me that just riding the train would be eye candy, and she was right.

Trying to figure out which boat to take and which mountain to go up made us dizzy, but after a fine lunch there was only a small queue at the ticket sellers and we were able to have a good discussion of our options with him. Pilatus or Rigi were the options, and Marcia remembered reading that Pilatus was the best option, so decidion made.

I got a 15 min walk through the famous bridge-you will see the photos-and on to the ship to sail the Vierwaldstattersee. Truthfully, there is not much difference between this lake and Zurichsee except that Zurich is much bigger than Lucern. Just one charming little villiage after another and lovely hotels. One difference is that the mountains around Lake Lucern are giants. Breathtaking giants. I can hardly wait for Interlaken.

Be sure to check the photoblog for photos of construction workers dangling off the side of a cliff.

Our boat dumped us out at the train station/cog railway. I was not immediately sure which way to go, so I walked up to a woman at a booth that said "ticket exchange" and waved my tickets at her. In turn she gave me two more tickets with magnetic strips and pointed me in the direction of the cog railway. It is often the case that our illiteracy leaves us with all the life skills of a 1st grader, but we seem to be in good company and there seem to always be helpful people around.

We waited with the other tourists and eventually climbed aboard the angled car. As we climed we would occasionally pass little yellow markers indicating the grade of our ascent. I was able to get one photo (see photo blog tomorrow or later) but not of the 48% grade. Marcia has a photo of me when I saw the 48% sign.

I'm not great with heights these days, and I never ride backwards, but I couldn't resist turning around in the cog train to see the lake below. It was one "Holy Cow" experience after another. At the near summit I was able to walk around and enjoy the views, but I'm not so comfortable near the edge. 7000 ft. There is a little tunnel just inside the mountain that offers views of the valley below, so we chose to take the tunnel. Another option would be to climb three stories worth of stairs to the top. I opted to not push my lungs and Marcia opted to not push her knees.

Our next thrill ride was the cable car. Our first cable car would hold about 20 people, but we had about a dozen. It wasn't as scary as I thought, but it must be said that I didn't allow myself to think much about it-just enjoyed the views. Next cable car was smaller, and we were joined by a retired Continental Airlines pilot-a USer like us. We had a lovely chat all the way down and on the walk from the cable cars to the bus.

There are options for a waterslide or zip-line, and in winter a toboggan. They looked like great fun, but we were better served by the cable car.

We opted for two crusty baguettes filled with roast beef and cucumbers and bottles of mineral water for dinner on the train home. Excellent day, and what could have turned rainy and cloudy actually cleared and gave us fantastic views.

Today the forecast is for afternoon rain, so Interlaken does not seem to be a good idea. Also, we are a bit tired. Maybe a little adventure locally this afternoon and lots of photo editing. We currently have lovely views of the mountains from our home in Hinwil.

KG

My Photos From Last Night

These views made me glad I had brought my binocs. It also made Marcia wish she had Susan's mega telephoto lens in her hands.

After the sun went down, I started looking for the full moon. When I went upstairs, there it was making it's way through the clouds right above the church steeple with clock-just fabulous. No tripod, not the really good camera and I don't know how to set the automatic shutter-Alas.

KG

Evening Enchantment

Views of the Alps have been fleeting or absent for several days because of rain, drizzle and lake fog but last evening the picturesque vision was cleared by sunny dry weather and a sunset driven spotlight on the mountains directly in front of us.  It helped me figure out what direction we were facing to get this fabulous view.

The porch we love looks mostly to the southwest towards Lucerene and Geneva.  The mountains that appeared this lovely afternoon were more to the east meaning that they were more directly south of us and towards Milan, Italy.  Gradually, as the sun set a huge wall of granite apeared and the sun lit up the rock face and clouds above with pink hues.

                                                             

A slight shift to the right has us looking toward Lucerne and what I call the "haystack" of Pilatus that

is very near the city of Lucerne. The grandness of these hills were reminicient of the Sierras.



                                                           

Not too far across the the Zurichsee that we were on yesterday, the low hills suddenly change to massive granite plutons that have been pushed up from the collision of the African plate into the European plateau.  It was intesting to think that we were looking at ancient rocks from the Tethys Sea.  I remember that there was a discovery here in the Alps by a geologist who began to understand why there were fossils up in the mountains we were graced with today.

"In 1893, using fossil records from the Alps and Africa, Eduard Suess proposed the theory that an inland sea had once existed between Laurasia and the continents which formed Gondwana II. In this moment of Earth's life, however, these two continental masses were united in a unique supercontinent, known as Gondwana III or Pangaea. He named it the 'Tethys Sea' after the Greek sea goddess Tethys. When the theory of plate tectonics became established in the 1960s it became clear Suess's "sea" had in fact been an ocean. Plate tectonics also provided the mechanism by which the former ocean disappeared. In plate tectonic theory oceanic crust can subduct under continental crust"   Accessed at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethys_Ocean 

And a lovely ocean floor it is!

M

Rapperswil and the Zurichsee

There was no rain this morning and the clouds looked like they would clear, so we decided to make a trip to Rapperswil (by train) and take the boat that goes north to Zurich on the Zurichsee. We also had in mind a trip to the Coop in Wetzikon, so it just worked to go to the Wetzikon train station-it is the next town over. The Coop was closed on Sunday (wonder if we have Zwingli to thank for that?) but we eventually found the parking lot for the train and figured out the train to take to Rapperswil.

It took 15 minutes by train, and the station is pretty much spitting distance from the quai. The tourist information was ready to sell us tickets for the boat and the train back till I told her we have a rail pass, and she said that the boat was covered by the rain pass. Hot damn! So, I got about half an hours photographing in before the boat and tons more along the way. We also had lunch on the boat-I had breaded pork and fries and Marcia had breaded fish and boiled peeled potatoes.

It was such a leisurly thing to do and such a nice day that we decided to take the boat back. Our boat going to Zurich was a steam boat, but it stopped for the day in Zurich, so we had to take the diesel back. Shorter trip back. Our treat on the boat back was a little cake and cups of tea and coffee. It was brisk on the lake, so the warm did us good. The cake was a combination of sugar and butter and kirsch that was very good and very relaxing.

Back in Rapperwil, I decided to do some exploring of the church and the castle. You can see it on the photo blog when I get done editing and sorting the over 500 photos. Perhaps I can narrow it down a bit. I also found a tiny veggie and bread and pasta store. Since Marcia bought plenty of bread yesterday, I had to hold myself back and only buy tomatoes that we need. There was a loaf of bread that was steering wheel size, cut in half so that you could see the thick crust and the yellow inner goodness. Not too easy to pass up, but I just had to.

Easy trip home on the train and in the car.

We have one week to get in the usual visits in Switzerland-Lucerne and Interlaken. There are weather fronts coming in. We shall see what we shall see. Knock wood. It was nice to see the mountains again today.

We have two days in Geneva, Aug 1&2. Knock wood.

KG

Kunst Museum Zurich

It is right up there with the Art Institute in Chicago and the National Museum in DC, but a bit smaller. I still like the deOrsey in Paris better, but it was really good, and particularly good on a rainy day.

We started at the impressionists, a very good place to start! There were the usual guys daubing their way through Europe and any one of them could merit quite a bit of time for study. I breezed through the Old Masters and enjoyed paintings of Venice as it was, and enjoyed that you can still find your way around these painting based upon a trip to Venice. I'm not that fond of the old stuff, so the little rip in the carpet revealing a woman trying to get out of the floor, a video about 2 inches in diameter that plays over and over with muted sound, was very entertaining.

On t0 the contemporary stuff. Lots of stuff and good stuff too. Sorry I cannot remember the name of the artist, and a really good blogger would do that for you, but this great big painting in grey and white looked so three dimensional I had to check it out from the side. I think it set off a little warning bell. I'll bet the guard has this sort of thing happen all the time. So, that one caught my eye. There was also an active art thing. Imagine folding tables set up across a room about 18 ft long, and on these three folding tables were 5 automatic turntables with various objects on them and lights were positioned so that the shadows of the objects were cast on a plain white wall so that they appeared to move around and change size. The turntables were not set at the same speed so that objects "danced" with different objects every time they turned around. The whole thing was there for you to see, and it looked as though some objects were left on the table so that they could be changed out occasionally (though there was a white rope at about 1.5 ft off the floor that made it clear that you were not the one who was going to choose the objects to be changed).

There are some objects of art that just demand to be touched, so museums have to print "Do Not Touch" signs in many different languages. And also have guards-who wear black pants and white shirts and have a name badge so as to not look like police but to get the job done. There were two Picasso sculputres that had such a draw for me, and I just had to remind myself of the time and effort it would take away from my vacation if I did give in to the urge to touch.

The last thing I enjoyed was a two television set videos with film of 1: this Rube Goldberg sort of action art with one thing causing an effect on another which caused an effect on another and there was rolling and bonking and fire and water and dry ice-all very compelling. The other TV video was of the artist and his assistant trying various of these actions out in order to perfect their art. I say that the world is divided into two camps. One camp likes to know how they got it to work and the other just likes to see it happen. Guess what camp I am in. Guess what camp Marcia is in. Shouldn't take you long.

So, no photos in this museum, but we took a short ride on the trolly to Bellview and checked out the lake a bit. Then we were headed for the train station when our trolly went by the Grossmunster Church where Zwingli was responsible for changing the theological world significantly, and likely responsible for encouraging some of our ancestors to leave Europe for the New World. I know he was responsible for the Shealys' move. They actually lived not so far from here in Baden Wurttemberg Germany. Just over the border from Basel. I don't have plans to go there this trip. Maybe another time.

So, I just couldn't pass up going to this church. Look for it on the photo blog. There was a wedding-it was Saturday, so of course I couldn't resist.

Back at the station we had a little shop in the underground mall before heading home. Marcia savored her challa french toast this morning, and we had fresh figs and pecarino cheese on a bed of greens with basalmic olive oil and herbs dressing last night-truly kick butt.

KG

Dag fur Marmot

It rained all day. Marcia saw it from the house and I saw it and felt it in Zurich.

I did the Gestalt Museum for most of the day. Actually, the Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich. Sorry about the absence of umlauts. There were two exhibits: Charlotte Perriand and Paradise Switzerland.

Google her name and see her work. Paradise Switzerland was a collection of posters about Switzerland. Some were quite amusing. There were quite a few of San Moritz and lots of milk and cheese and chocolate. I particularly liked the Swiss Miss (dark hair) who was holding up a condom and the text was something like "If you don't use this, you don't have me." There was a farmhand in the hayloft considering his options.

Sorry, no photography allowed. It was not a very photographic day, what with the rain and all. Still I managed a few shots around the lake by putting my hand over the lens. I noticed several couples doing the umbrella shooting method.

I also saw the Chagal windows in the Fraumunster Church. Another good thing to do on a rainy day. Sorry, no photography.

Still, check the photography blog for what I could photograph.  Look at the top of the page in the right sidebar under the birdcage for the link to the photo blog.

KG

Hello Hinwil!

We are herein Hinwil (hin-veel) and  I can't stop saying "Wow!" 

Hinwil is a small town but what a view Rene and Birgit have offered us.  It's breath-taking to see the Alps across the valley.

Lake Zurich is between our lovely view and the hills in front of the Alps.  My lovely blogging partner is on the deck where we both napped this afternoon.  She is so focused. 

You wouldn't think she would be so intense if you knew about the view from her blogging station.  Have a look!

We have a lovely church that chimes regularly on the hour and quarter hours. This was taken from the back edge of the patio/deck. 

 There is a large sun screen that rolls out from the house that shades just about the whole deck.  What a great place for blogging and naps.  The afternoon brought some clouds up from th Piedmont of Italy.

We're really in love with the place!  Stay tuned for more fun in this new wonderland. 

Note to our readers-  we have caught up several of our posts today and you might want to be sure to look at the "older posts" at the end of this section.  The system archived to conserve size.

M

Report from the porch in Hinwil

Next day. We have been to Zurich and checked out the scene-when the tour trolley leaves, where the train station drops us off and how to negotiate the train station. Negotiation of the train station also includes shopping at the kiosks. Today I bought a rotisserie chicken for 17.50 chf. Do I know if this is the going price or gouging. Not yet.

I also found Marcia's new passion, great big salty and seedy capers. We know capers to be the size of half a pinky nail of the smallest person we know. These little bad boys are more like thumb size. Not thumb nail size, thumb size. And they come with a stem. She says that amazon.com has them, so we have not bought them for shipping thus far.... But I did buy them for use over here, and they were 14.50chf from the Italian vendor in the train station. However, they made my girlfriend smile when she was hot and tired and probably hurting. With the chicken and an arugula salad with little bio tomatoes and grannysmith apple and the almost universal basalmic and EVOO and a few herbs and a few mushrooms and day old real bread from our bakery down the hill, it was dinner. OK, bottle of Marlborough New Zeland, and Marcia finished off the 7-up and started in on the grapefruit drink we bought at the Coop. The New Zeland was MAUA, Matua Valley. (some day we will go to Marlborough, New Zeland-stay tuned).

So, now a weather report. It thunders as I type. We watched the rain come over the Alps from Geneva as we ate dinner on the porch. There was no breeze. We ate on the porch for the cool as well as the view. We got a little shower from the west-Geneva, but the real rain and the front is coming in from Italy-over the Italian Alps. We realized, as we were eating dinner, that we had seen these same mountains from Venice in 2007, only from the other side. The western front (Geneva) is clear and the sun is setting with a pink glow in that direction. The south (Italy) is black. We enjoyed a lightening show with dinner, but now it is windy and cooling things off. Thank the goddess.

Temps are predicted to drop 15 C. So, while we have been sweltering at 35C, we will soon pull out the turtlenecks and sweatshirts for 20C. And that is the high. 8C for the night. We will be glad for a well insulated house and microfiber long johns and each other.

The bunnies are in their hutch for the two weeks we are here. They look at me with suspicion when I open their hutch door with little bits of grannysmith apple. Second trip outside to put the garbage out, and they greet me like an old friend. "Grannysmith is here." they think.

We seem to have a new cat every night. Our last nights cat was tonight protesting something-maybe his incarceration in the cat carrier and maybe the ride in the car and maybe even a trip to the vet. He was transported to his house just across the street. Mind you, most of what we see of the house across the street is the roof, but what we see from the porch is a look down on the front door. Nevertheless, a cat's protest travels uphill. (Does Ed remember Tut and Nutt's protest when we moved them to the riverhouse? "Ooooout!" they said with appropriate suthun accents.) We had a black and white cat tonight, but what with the storm coming in, it beat a hasty retreat before we had a chance to get acquainted.

We are looking at Geneva (online) and have made an email request for a room at a hotel for the 1st of August for two nights. I have chosen a midrage hotel near the train station. It will be fairly easy (may it please fate to not refute me) to get to Geneva by train. The hotels on the lake are 760 Swiss Franc. Did Marcia not tell you that Switzerland has two currencies? So, I have inquired about the 170 sfc hotel room for two nights.

Birget and Rene will still be in Majorca when we leave, so they will not be able to take us to the train. It must be said that I can walk downhill to the train station, and easily drive there and drop off the luggage and Marcia and bring the car home and walk there. Trains leave for Geneva twice an hour from 9:30 to 18:00 from the Zurich station, so we will be fine for catching the train in Hinwill and getting to Zurich to catch the train for Geneva. Our hotel, should it accept us, accepts check in from 14:00, so that could work in our favor. We can have a nice breakfast and get ourselves to the train with ease and grace. A bit of muslei and grannysmith and yogurt and some espresso and we will be on our way.

I do need to get back to posting photos. I am getting way behind. I will try to finish Sweden Kulturen in the next few days....

KG

We are in Switzerland

Easy day yesterday except for the usual stress of travel. Hurry up and wait kind of stress. Did we forget anything kind of stress. We had no excuses. We had all day to get ready and do the few errands we had left. Filling the car with gas is always a challenge. The pump didn't take my credit card for filling up any amount, so I asked a man to help me. Gas stations are totally self serve, so not another person in sight. Ultimately he had to estimate how much gas I might need to fill the tank, and he overestimated by nearly 100 kronor, about $15, so I probably overpaid, but I did get the car filled. We were all packed and ready for the taxi and the taxi arrived on time. Little effort to get in the train and ride one stop to Kasturp Airport.

Marcia's computer case got a second look at security as she was carrying the portable luggage scale and it looked on the scanner like a big hook. However the 20 something guy in the next queue tried to get through with his belt. This particular belt was made of leather but had attached bullets. It is the sort of thing that makes you wonder "What was he thinking???" He tried to convince the TSA guy to pass it through, another sign that he was thinking impaired.

It is always good to be rid of a big 20kilo bag and though we had plenty of heaviness left in our backpacks and computer cases, we didn't have to do much lugging-the little luggage carts were prefect-photo to follow. We found a beef restaurant and had a very fine lunch. We had gotten through it all 3.5 hours before our flight, so we could relax and enjoy a good meal.

Eventually came time to get on the bus, the air bus. With lots of other people on the bus and several screaming babies. Our flight was only 1.5 hours, so not too bad. One of the more entertaining things about the flight was that the little screens that show the safety stuff also showed what we were flying over. There is apparently a camera under the nose of the plane, and as long as we were flying over something interesting, even the tarmac, the camera showed us. It was pretty fascinating, but it also is a little hard on the nerves at take off and landing. The pilot has a white or yellow line to follow and the big bus sometimes weaved from side to side-something more apparent when watching rather than just riding.

Nevertheless, we landed safe and sound and all the babies stopped crying. It is very clear that Switzerland's main products are wealth management and watches-every airport ad was for one or the other. Our luggage was probably first on, as it was about last off. Just as we got it loaded up on our trollies, we spotted Rene waving at us from a window.

Rene has a 7 passenger van, so we were quite comfortable with all the luggage. He also provided a magnificent choice of beverages including beer, as it is not illegal to drink in the car, and the blood alcohol limit is legal at two beers. There was an errand to run at Birgit's parent's house, and they were away, so we got to tour the home. It belonged to Birgit's grandparents and was inherited by her parents and completely rennovated. It is small but very comfortable with a lovely little back yard and a cat named MauMau.

Next we made our way to Hinwil where we will be living. The house is lovely-very bright and open and newly rennovated, but the crowning glory is the view of the alps. I promise to post it as soon as I can get myself to do so. It is truly stunning. There is a little church up the hill from us, and there are lots of hills, that has a clock that chimes and looks like a regular Swiss church clock. We have an herb garden and two bunnies to look after. Our bed is big and comfortable. It is on the upper floor, so stairs will be a part of our daily routine. Photos to follow.

One of the big pluses of our neighborhood is a fantastic bakery just down the hill from us. I already have two little loaves of their bread, and quickly turned my head from the really good stuff. Maybe later.

We got a tour of a summer road with fantastic views of the lake that Zurich sits on, Zurichsee is it's name on the roadmap I have in hand. Maybe it has another name-will keep you posted.

Next stop was the Coop for groceries and lunch. Very convenient for us and lots of really good food. One nice thing about using the Swiss Franc is that it is worth about the same as the US dollar, so we do not have to do math in our head or carry Marcia's helpful currency printouts. We spent about 200CHF for food and had a lovely lunch.

Nina baby is 2 now and has all the charm and terror of a 2 year old. Her parents say that she always asks to see the videos they took at our house and particularly remembers Stella and the Bobcat. We brought her a little stuffed Stella and she loved it immediately. She was so excited when we arrived that she had to do a little screaming dance. She corrects our German pronunciation and sometimes tries to imitate our English. We are totally thrilled by her most of the time. It must be said that she is a Taurus and is 2, so disruptions in her schedule including adventures in the car are not her idea of a good time, and she is vocal about it. By the time we got through the grocery and lunch she was in an emotional state that only her bed would cure. She is happily and angelicly napping now. A look out the kitchen window reveals that Marcia too is napping under the awning on the porch with the view of the Alps. Actually, everyone in the house is napping, and I think I will too.

KG

Leaving Sweden- some thoughts

Today is our last full day in Sweden and I've been mentally reviewing our experiences here for the previous couple of days.  These are a few of the things that made an impression on me.


A photo says a lot

A photo I took at the Viking Ship Museum was striking when I was editing the group of photos.  The metal frames of the ships that hold the ancient preserved wood from the actual recoverd ships have become a ghost in the foreground as a replica of a viking ship sails on the Roskilda Fijord beyond the glass. 

It's symbolic in many ways as I recognized how the Scandinavian countries all embrace and honor their past and future that stems from their Viking heritage.  The people are all closely related through the expansion of the viking conquest and commerce.  Historically the vikings get a bad rap for being raiders and murderers but during the 10th and 11th centuries what organized culture wasn't behaving badly?  Expansion in those times had a horrible cost with a benefit only measured in how technologies and innovation were absorbed and eventually used to improve cultures and warfare.  The vikings had technology for building durable, fast ships and weapons and certainly took advantage of new strategies in metal working and textiles from European and Middle Eastern craftsmen. 

Socially, the vikings had a strong family and "tribal" bond that led to a cohesive and coordinated advancement for expansion and commerce at the same time.    Their travels throughout Europe, Turkey and the Middle East created trade routes, cites and genetic connections that are still with us today.  I would venture to say that most Euro-Americans  have at least some viking geneology some where in their genetic waters.  What matters most, I suppose, is how we use the materials, technologies and history left before us.  Are these things just ghosts or are they the great framework for our future experiences and passions?

The Cristening

When my knees bother me I have learned to  make better choices.  One choice I made sent me to an outdoor restaurant/bar in the square surrounding the Lund Cultural Museum rather than walking through it.  I chose the comfy couch to wait for Kay to complete her museum visit.

While I was there sipping my soda,a large group of people came in to several long rows of previously arranged tables.  Everyone eventually found their seat under the umbrella covered tables and coffee and cakes flowed immediately to the tables via the wait staff.  Conversations buzzed, children wandered from chair to chair and were passed from lap to lap.  Laughter and delight flavored the air.  Evenually, one of the older men stood up and began tapping his water glass with a spoon.  Attentions diverted and conversation stilled.  A speech in swedish began and a young man stood up holding an infant for all to see.  The minister who must have performed the ceremony stood and accepted brief applause.   A second older man stood (grandfather #2 I surmised) and made his somewhat weepy speech as the baby's mother stood with father and baby.  The speeches completed with brief applause and family conversations returned to the air as older children lept for the freedom of the courtyard.

I watched and sipped my icy drink for a few moments and then noticed a group of five men standing away from the larger family group with the proud father who was still holding his recently christened infant.  I gradually noticed that each of the other fathers were also holding their infants of variyng ages as they all smiled and seemed to be swapping stories about their own child.  Their mannerisms, twiddling with their own infants and careful observation of another fathers' demonstration of a tiny fist holding  much larger male finger created one of the sweetest memories I have of Sweden.  What a gift!

Lofty Standards

I have heard for many years that Scandinavian countries have the highest levels of quality living  and standards of education.  I'm only minimally familiar with how these standards are measured these days but I do understand that they are functions of a variety of measures such as national debts, cost of living, rates of unemployment, education levels, import/export ratios and others.  As a tourist, it's hard to measure much of this from my street view.  I have found clean environments everywhere I have been.  Drivers are courteous, people seem to be happy and business seems to be doing well (few empty buildings or stores).  I haven't noticed very many panhandlers on the streets or laid out in  boxesin alleys either. Cities seem safe, the water drinkable and bothe cities very clean.

The Swedes might occasionally be viewed as aloof or reticent to engage with visitors but we have found otherwise.  I think that they are respectful of each others personal space and privacy.  But when we ask questions or try to figure out language issues with auto-ticketing machines and etc, there is someone who helps out and asks if we are OK with the issue at hand after providing assistance.  Even those who have limited English vocabularies will search out someone who can help us out.  It is a rarity to find lack of at least some english here-- nice for us travelers but I'm not sure the effort goes the other way for Swedish visitors in the US.  (We'll have to ask our exchange family).  Also, we both noted today that when we were in the supposedly swanky part of town near the Turning Torso building everone still dresses the same comfort casual and we have never been met with snooty eliist attitudes from anyone.  Restaurants, museums and city buildings are pretty casual environments.

Back to those statistical measures, they are impressive from what I have reviewed in my recent search.  The Swedes like the other Scandinavian countries, Norway, Finland and Denmark (some include the Netherlands as well) do reside in the top 20 countries list for quality of life measures and have for at least a score of years.  That's consistency and it's driven by a government and it's people that closely guard and support social services and infrastructure development as requirements and not dreams.    It does come at a cost as these same countries also rate in the top 20 countries for cost of living.  No payment = no budget, no social programs, no great roads or trains.  Taxes here are significant as you might guess. Food is expensive but better than it has been in the past, I was told, mostly due to improved availablility through world market access.

The last notable is the prescence of ecological insights.  Scandinavian countries all rank in the ecology top 10 list for 2008-09.  The wind farms are obvious to anyone who comes here.  Nuclear not so obvious, but it is used as an adjunct and they proudly tout absence of accident or spill intrusions.  Two of the tour guides mentioned that the Oresund strait is bordered on both sides with massive oil tanker and container ship ports.  Environmental regulations abound for any commercial traffic.  One of the guides was hammering this small point by suggesting that we visit the clean beaches on both sides and take a swim in the Oresund as is was one of the cleanest commercial waters in the world.  In comparison, would I take a swim in the Hudson off of Staten Island?  Nope! 


Victor's Cuisine:  A blend of old and new

This wouldn't be an Empty Cage blog if I didn't occasionally talk about food and we have had some fine food here and it hasn't been just "fisk and potatis" that was legendary in the past. Today was not an exception as we went to the square for a Sunday lunch. Lilla Torg ( Little Square) is an extremely charming square, not far from the main pedestrian street in Malmo. Some of the buildings there are among the oldest in Malmo dating back to 1590.  There are a variety of outdoor cafes set out on the cobblestone square that surely draw hungry crowds at almost any time of day. The lovely old buildings that frame the outer rim of the square make you feel as if you have stepped back in time.  We had lunch here on a hot sunny day last week and both enjoyed great salads at Mello Yello.  Today's lunch was enjoyed at Victor's and we both ordered the salmon with hollandise, salad and potatoes.  Sounded simple, but it was a delicious surprise..

I like hollandaise with baked fish as it's better than any tartar or coctail sauce I have ever made or bought.   This plate arrived partially filled with hollandaise sauce base and the salmon gently plated over some steamed vegetables and garnished with some sprigs of thyme and mandolined strips of carrot and cucumber.  The delicious fun began with discovering the hollandaise-- a light and slightly foamy sauce with a wisper of lemon or maybe wine and salt.  On the back side of the plate there was a rim of olive oil with herbs that gave the oil a pesto flavor.  I gathered that chef would encourage playing with these two sauces as well as enjoying them individually and I did so with every item on the plate.  The hollandaise was a marvel with the fish as it was somewhere between a creamy hollandaise and a foamy buerre blanc.  It's foamy texture spread a creamy magic over my tastebuds as it brought out the sweet nature of the salmon.  I also bruised some of the thyme in the sauce and changed the flavors towards a more lemony sauce that sparked the salmon in the opposite direction.  Mixing the two sauces together, holandaise and pesto oil, created a carnival for the fish and all the other items on the plate to play with.  I still can't make up my mind which combination was best.and it was all very goooood!  Now when I get home.....  well you will just have to imagine and wait for my own personal take on these sauces. 

We've had a great time here and thoroughly enjoyed both sides of the Oresund.  We  both recommend exploring it and hope to some day return to see some more of this lovely country!

M

Switzerland is Moving to the Photo Blog

Blogger is complaining to Marcia that we are overloading. I'll be putting my photos where they belong-on the photo blog. I'll make announcements on this blog so you will know to look. Don't know what we will do when we fill that up. Marcia must think of something.

KG

Kogg Boat Museum

Lovely sign but no museum here anymore. We were told by the bus station ticket seller that they had moved to the Viking Reserve, leaving me feeling like a catch22 had been perpertrated. I certainly didn't see anything of the kogg boat kind at the Viking Reserve.

So, I could walk around to the pedestrian bridge for photos. Only one kogg boat in port. Maybe the other was being sailed to the Viking Reserve.

I did get a great view of the lighthouse and the city of Malmo, and the mother duck and her two babies.

KG

Last Look at Malmo

KG