Another fine day. We drove first to a park where, among other things, dinosaur tracks and fossils have been preserved in a chalk stone cliff (not a museum at all). It was about a half hour walk from the parking lot, along a wide gravel path lined with trees and bushes. Leandro once again decided to have a pee, this time along the side of the path. When I asked Esther about this, she said it was pretty normal in Switzerland to see people peeing in the wilderness. Live and learn.
It was a lovely walk, somewhat marred by Leandro’s penchant for picking up huge tree branches and swinging them wildly around; however, nobody was hurt. The cliff face itself was very interesting. There were a number of educational plaques to inform visitors of what the tracks were, what kind of dinosaurs made them (primarily brachiosauruses) and detailing the types of fossils and the age of the imprints. Although the stone is chalk, it’s quite hard, and will probably last another 145 million years.
We then made our way back down the path, alternately carrying Torsten and letting him run, past an ancient chairlift that took people up the mountain, and back to the car. From there, we drove to a nice inn, where people could have lunch in a clearing overlooking a lake and ferry dock (it reminded me of a biergarten). The inn was called the Inn of the Green Monkey. There, we all had schnitzel for lunch. It was particularly interesting because it was near the stork preserve, and so the inn itself had 4 storks’ nests on the roof, complete with storks and baby storks! Very cool.
After lunch, we went to the stork preserve, which was just down the road. It turns out that it’s no longer a stork preserve because the project to breed them, build up the population to self-sustaining levels, and release them into the wild, had succeeded. There are still a large number of storks and storks’ nests around the area, but they are no longer actively being preserved by people, as it is no longer necessary. We were lucky to come in the spring, as we saw many storks and their babies. The storks make an interesting clacking sound with their beaks; I’m not sure what it means, but it sounded neat. Torsten had a good time pointing out all the “birts”, and hopping up onto the stone borders and walking around. There’s still an information centre there, so we read about how the storks migrate to Africa every year, and all about the breeding and gestation habits of the storks. There was also a small enclosure with a European turtle in it.
We then decided to head back to the house. Torsten fell asleep in the car, and is currently napping. I’m not sure what we’re going to do tonight – possibly play Ticket to Ride, since we bought it and the Swiss expansion for Uwe and Esther as a guest-gift, but one thing’s for sure – we’re going to have to pack. Tomorrow we head off to Frankfurt airport to spend the night in the hotel there, and then on Tuesday, we fly home. We’re also going to be meeting Marco, Ingrid and Glenn tomorrow – they’re coming to our hotel to see us and to talk about Glenn’s upcoming exchange program to Canada, when he’ll be staying with us. It’ll be great to see them again, and it’s even nicer to be heading home soon!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Hiking in the alps
Hiking around the alps! It sounds glamourous – I don’t know about glamour, but it was certainly fun. Yesterday, we drove to Vitznau bright and early so that we could catch the tram going up Rigi, which is one of the mountains in the Jura mountain range. The tram was actually a cogwheel train, and it was able to climb up the mountain at an incredibly steep angle. It took about half an hour for the tram to get up the mountain, stopping at various stops and passing grazing cows and goats, Swiss chalets (really!) and fields and fields of flowers.
The station at the top of the mountain stopped a little ways short of the peak, and a small path led upwards towards a radio tower and the original survey marker of Switzerland. Small patches of snow were everywhere, and Uwe and Leandro stopped from time to time for a quick snowball fight. Leandro made an extra stop, halfway up a clear slope, in full view of the path – he either decided that he really had to go and didn’t mind giving a show, or that it was too much trouble to go back down the few metres to the washroom, but he undid his fly and – er – let fly. The large group of Japanese tourists behind us thought it was great, and stopped to watch. Nobody clapped when he finished, though. It really made our trip complete, to see that Leandro is still a little exhibitionist! And here we thought that Mannekin Pis could be found only in Brussels!
We climbed to the top, where there was a wonderful view of Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug, and the towns around the two lakes. It was interesting to note the colour differences in the two lakes – Lake Lucerne was noticeably greener. It was also interesting to see the original survey marker, which was made of stone – in modern times, a new one has been erected over top of it in the form of a lighted pyramid. A map showed where other survey markers had been placed on various other mountains for triangulation purposes.
By that time, it was lunchtime, so we made our way down the path a little way, so that we were out of the wind, and had our picnic lunch. It consisted of bread, cheese, some meat sticks, bubbly water, and cookies. I’d also brought a banana for Torsten, who ate most of it up! Really, there must be something in the Swiss air. It was lovely to sit there, on an bench with a wonderful view of the Alps and, in the nearer vicinity, tiny white crocuses.
After lunch, we split up – Uwe, Esther and Leandro headed off down the main path, hiking down the mountain, and we went to change Torsten and look at the little souvenir shop up at the top. Then we followed on the hike down the mountain, which was a steep but easy walk. The path followed the railway, so it would be possible to hop on the tram going back to Vitznau whenever we wanted (at a station, of course!). There were several people doing the hike, and also several bikers going up and down. The bikers that we met all said “Gruetzi” (greetings) – I was very impressed that they had the breath for politeness, as it was really very steep! After about half an hour of walking, Torsten fell asleep in the backpack, and unfortunately, his head really began to flop over to the side and bounce up and down in time to Ingo’s steps. Because the path was so steep, it wasn’t really possible to walk smoothly. We therefore stopped at the next tram station, where, by great good luck, a tram had just pulled in, and took the tram back down to Vitznau.
Down at Vitznau, around the tram station, there was a small market for Pentecost. Vendors sold various items in stalls, like wooden toys, traditional clothing, fruit wine, aromatic oils and baked goods. There was a trampoline activity, where people could put themselves in a harness, jump on trampolines, and flip around. Around 2 pm, three men gave a concert, playing Alphorns. Torsten woke up when we got down to the station, and then enjoyed running around the market. One woman obviously thought he was cute, as she angled for a while to take a good picture of him, and one of the vendors (of wooden toys) gave him a tiny wooden car. We had an ice cream and waited for Uwe, Esther and Leandro to come back down to Vitznau. In the meantime, it was lovely to sit and look at the lake, with all the ducks, boats and fishes.
They arrived on the 4 pm tram, and we looked around the market a little while longer. There was a small workshop in the market, where an old man demonstrated traditional methods of woodworking. There was a lathe that was powered by a springy wood spar, some rope, and a board that he stepped on to keep the wood spinning. There was also a small drill that consisted of a stick with a crosspiece, some rope, and a spoon-shaped bit, which operated on the same principle as a yoyo.
Originally, we had thought of going into Lucerne after Rigi, but we decided against it, as we would only have been able to spend an hour there before needing to go home again – and as the dinner plans consisted of fondue, we didn’t want to delay unduly! So we headed back to Uwe and Esther’s. Torsten and Leandro played outside a bit, but soon, dinner was ready, and we sat down to a wonderful cheese fondue, eating outside on the patio. After dinner was a dessert of meringues and ice cream with coffee; it was really nice sitting outside, as Leandro and Torsten could play while we lingered over dinner. They played with the soccer ball, and also with little ride-on cars, and then Torsten pointed out the moon. After that, we called it a night – in the last little while, Torsten has been choosing German books for his bedtime stories, which makes me very happy!
Our plan for today is to go see a stork preserve, and to go to a dinosaur museum, as Leandro is doing dinosaurs at school. We leave in 15 minutes – more later today!
The station at the top of the mountain stopped a little ways short of the peak, and a small path led upwards towards a radio tower and the original survey marker of Switzerland. Small patches of snow were everywhere, and Uwe and Leandro stopped from time to time for a quick snowball fight. Leandro made an extra stop, halfway up a clear slope, in full view of the path – he either decided that he really had to go and didn’t mind giving a show, or that it was too much trouble to go back down the few metres to the washroom, but he undid his fly and – er – let fly. The large group of Japanese tourists behind us thought it was great, and stopped to watch. Nobody clapped when he finished, though. It really made our trip complete, to see that Leandro is still a little exhibitionist! And here we thought that Mannekin Pis could be found only in Brussels!
We climbed to the top, where there was a wonderful view of Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug, and the towns around the two lakes. It was interesting to note the colour differences in the two lakes – Lake Lucerne was noticeably greener. It was also interesting to see the original survey marker, which was made of stone – in modern times, a new one has been erected over top of it in the form of a lighted pyramid. A map showed where other survey markers had been placed on various other mountains for triangulation purposes.
By that time, it was lunchtime, so we made our way down the path a little way, so that we were out of the wind, and had our picnic lunch. It consisted of bread, cheese, some meat sticks, bubbly water, and cookies. I’d also brought a banana for Torsten, who ate most of it up! Really, there must be something in the Swiss air. It was lovely to sit there, on an bench with a wonderful view of the Alps and, in the nearer vicinity, tiny white crocuses.
After lunch, we split up – Uwe, Esther and Leandro headed off down the main path, hiking down the mountain, and we went to change Torsten and look at the little souvenir shop up at the top. Then we followed on the hike down the mountain, which was a steep but easy walk. The path followed the railway, so it would be possible to hop on the tram going back to Vitznau whenever we wanted (at a station, of course!). There were several people doing the hike, and also several bikers going up and down. The bikers that we met all said “Gruetzi” (greetings) – I was very impressed that they had the breath for politeness, as it was really very steep! After about half an hour of walking, Torsten fell asleep in the backpack, and unfortunately, his head really began to flop over to the side and bounce up and down in time to Ingo’s steps. Because the path was so steep, it wasn’t really possible to walk smoothly. We therefore stopped at the next tram station, where, by great good luck, a tram had just pulled in, and took the tram back down to Vitznau.
Down at Vitznau, around the tram station, there was a small market for Pentecost. Vendors sold various items in stalls, like wooden toys, traditional clothing, fruit wine, aromatic oils and baked goods. There was a trampoline activity, where people could put themselves in a harness, jump on trampolines, and flip around. Around 2 pm, three men gave a concert, playing Alphorns. Torsten woke up when we got down to the station, and then enjoyed running around the market. One woman obviously thought he was cute, as she angled for a while to take a good picture of him, and one of the vendors (of wooden toys) gave him a tiny wooden car. We had an ice cream and waited for Uwe, Esther and Leandro to come back down to Vitznau. In the meantime, it was lovely to sit and look at the lake, with all the ducks, boats and fishes.
They arrived on the 4 pm tram, and we looked around the market a little while longer. There was a small workshop in the market, where an old man demonstrated traditional methods of woodworking. There was a lathe that was powered by a springy wood spar, some rope, and a board that he stepped on to keep the wood spinning. There was also a small drill that consisted of a stick with a crosspiece, some rope, and a spoon-shaped bit, which operated on the same principle as a yoyo.
Originally, we had thought of going into Lucerne after Rigi, but we decided against it, as we would only have been able to spend an hour there before needing to go home again – and as the dinner plans consisted of fondue, we didn’t want to delay unduly! So we headed back to Uwe and Esther’s. Torsten and Leandro played outside a bit, but soon, dinner was ready, and we sat down to a wonderful cheese fondue, eating outside on the patio. After dinner was a dessert of meringues and ice cream with coffee; it was really nice sitting outside, as Leandro and Torsten could play while we lingered over dinner. They played with the soccer ball, and also with little ride-on cars, and then Torsten pointed out the moon. After that, we called it a night – in the last little while, Torsten has been choosing German books for his bedtime stories, which makes me very happy!
Our plan for today is to go see a stork preserve, and to go to a dinosaur museum, as Leandro is doing dinosaurs at school. We leave in 15 minutes – more later today!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Basel and Solothurn
Yesterday was our shopping day in Basel. We decided that we’d just go into Basel, walk around the town without any particular goals, and get presents for people. After a leisurely breakfast with Esther that involved a large number of delicious cheeses, we drove into Basel. It took a little longer than we’d thought, since we had to find a parking garage. After navigating through winding city streets, some of which abruptly terminated in pedestrian areas (that’s how we saw the Munster (cathedral) – we never went back to it), we finally found our way to the garage at the city centre – only to find that it was full. We then crossed the Rhine and found a parking garage just across the main bridge from the pedestrian area. A bonus to the garage was that it was located next to a large playground with numerous climbing gyms and structures, sandboxes, swings, pingpong tables, foosball tables and benches. There was even a large portable building which contained washrooms and a snack bar. This was a “Robi” playground, apparently quite common in Basel, which prides itself on being family friendly. Our progress into Basel was therefore delayed slightly as Torsten delightedly ran around the playground, played in the sand, and climbed into the big wooden structures.
After we dragged Torsten away from the playground, we traversed the pedestrian area near the parking garage, went across the bridge to the main old area of town, and walked along the pedestrian area there, doing some shopping. In doing so, we passed by the Rathaus (town hall), which is brightly painted with figures, such that it almost glows in the sun. There was a small market in front of the Rathaus, primarily selling food. I won’t go into detail about our shopping – suffice it to say that it was satisfying. By then, it was past lunchtime, so we went to find a place to eat. Ingo had seen some places along the Rhine, so we headed back to see if we could find a place with a view. En route, Torsten, who was in my arms at the time, started excitedly saying “Boon! Boon!” which normally means balloon – but we couldn’t see one around, so we started looking for what else he might mean, like moon, or ball, as we carried on walking. Suddenly, he became quite upset, and squirmed around in my arms, so I put him down. He ran back, to a door that was recessed, and sure enough, there was a green McDonald’s balloon lying there. He picked it up and was happy again.
We and the balloon found our way to a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the river. There, I had the daily special – veal kidneys in a Marsala sauce with green salad and rosti – and Ingo had steak tartare with toast. Torsten had fish fingers that were actually real fish, just breaded, very yummy. We finished off with strawberry ice cream for Torsten, fresh pineapples and lemon sorbet for me, and a maple walnut parfait for Ingo. During the meal, we had a lovely view of the Rhine, and watched boats going up and down. There was also a very good view of the bridge, so Torsten could watch the streetcars and buses. There were a couple of ferries moving people back and forth across the Rhine; we considered taking one back over the Rhine to get to the parking garage, but later decided not to, as we had a lot of bags and it would have been a bit of a hassle. All in all, it was a wonderful lunch.
We still lacked a few presents, so after lunch, we headed out again. This time, I had the luck to find a well-stocked children’s book store, so I browsed through many books and picked up a few nice German books for Torsten. Later that evening, I read some of them to him, and he seemed to like them, which bodes well. We also managed to pick up a battery charger for Ingo’s camera battery, as we’d forgotten our adaptor/transformer at home – the one we got has a car charger, so we’ll be able to use it at home as well. Otherwise, we didn’t find anything of note, other than a really, really tacky tourist shop with the ugliest souvenirs imaginable. I can’t imagine how it stays in business!
Heading back to Uwe and Esther’s, I was really struck by the fact that we were leaving a major city at around 4:30 pm, and there wasn’t a hint of a traffic jam. There was certainly traffic, but at no point did it ever stop or even slow down noticeably. I guess that’s what having a really good public transit system will get you.
When we got back to Uwe and Esther’s, Torsten refused to nap, as Leandro (“An-jo”) was playing outside, and he wanted to join in. I went upstairs and helped Esther grate potatoes for the giant rostis that she was making for dinner, until I was interrupted by Ingo yelling for help – Torsten had had a poop explosion in his pants, overflowing both from top and bottom, which constituted a 5 alarm poop emergency! We cleaned him up, soaked his clothing, and popped him directly into a bath. After bath was dinner, and after dinner (and a lovely rhubarb bread pudding made from rhubarb grown in Esther’s garden) was bedtime.
Today, we decided to go to Solothurn, which is supposed to be the nicest baroque city in Switzerland. Our visit there started off slowly, as Torsten fell asleep just as we were pulling into the underground parking garage – we therefore spent the first hour in Solothurn sitting in the car and waiting for Torsten to wake up from his nap. For your information, there’s nothing baroque about that parking garage.
After Torsten woke up, we headed into the old city. The garage is very near the cathedral, so that was the first thing we saw as we emerged. To be specific, the first thing Torsten saw was the stair going up to the bell tower, and he ran to it, saying “Up, up!”. So we climbed up. It was very steep, and very high, but did afford a very nice view of Solothurn. There was a man at the top who prevented people from going outside to look until they had paid admission – smart, as nobody is going to refuse to pay the 3 francs after climbing up those interminable stairs! The bells were really huge as well. Going down, I put Torsten in the sling, and midway down, as the stairs grew wider but we lost the handrail, we put him in the backpack. The ticket collector actually came down right after us; it seems they close the tower for several hours at midday, much to the chagrin of the tourist who was halfway up the stairs as we were descending.
Solothurn is a little odd – there are all these fantastic baroque building interspersed among quite normal looking buildings, and you really have no warning that they’re there unless you’re specifically looking. The Jesuit church, for example, is along the main street, sandwiched between some shops – no space between them. Same with the clock tower, which is gorgeously painted and decorated.
We wandered around, looking at shops and buildings, and suddenly it was lunchtime. We found a little square with several restaurants on it, and chose the one that looked least snooty. It was awfully funny though – Swiss German really isn’t that similar to Hochdeutsch; the waitress came over and said something incomprehensible, which I assumed was asking us if we were ready to order, so I did. Afterwards, Ingo wondered if she was asking Torsten’s name. No idea. Hopefully she WAS just asking about our order! I had little veal bits in a mushroom sauce with rosti and a green salad, and Ingo had a goulash soup with a vegetarian spaetzle dish. Torsten just ate our stuff, but he wasn’t really that hungry, as he’d been nibbling on bread sticks all morning.
After lunch, we wandered around some more, looked in a few more shops (everything is very expensive, but usually also very nice), and went into the cathedral for a brief look around. It’s a very nice baroque cathedral, and we are now kicking ourselves for not picking up a book on it when we were at the top of the tower – they apparently don’t sell any at ground level! Torsten ran around pointing at Baby Jesus and telling me it was a baby. Finally, we wound up going into a confectionary shop and picking up a cake for Uwe and Esther, a Solothurner Torte. We had it tonight after dinner….mmmmm, yummy!!! It was a very good ending to a very good dinner, as Esther cooked mushroom risotto.
Tomorrow, we are going to go up the Rigi, a mountain, and have a picnic lunch, and then go onto Lucerne. As it’s the weekend, Uwe, Esther and Leandro are showing us around – I expect to have a lot of fun!
After we dragged Torsten away from the playground, we traversed the pedestrian area near the parking garage, went across the bridge to the main old area of town, and walked along the pedestrian area there, doing some shopping. In doing so, we passed by the Rathaus (town hall), which is brightly painted with figures, such that it almost glows in the sun. There was a small market in front of the Rathaus, primarily selling food. I won’t go into detail about our shopping – suffice it to say that it was satisfying. By then, it was past lunchtime, so we went to find a place to eat. Ingo had seen some places along the Rhine, so we headed back to see if we could find a place with a view. En route, Torsten, who was in my arms at the time, started excitedly saying “Boon! Boon!” which normally means balloon – but we couldn’t see one around, so we started looking for what else he might mean, like moon, or ball, as we carried on walking. Suddenly, he became quite upset, and squirmed around in my arms, so I put him down. He ran back, to a door that was recessed, and sure enough, there was a green McDonald’s balloon lying there. He picked it up and was happy again.
We and the balloon found our way to a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the river. There, I had the daily special – veal kidneys in a Marsala sauce with green salad and rosti – and Ingo had steak tartare with toast. Torsten had fish fingers that were actually real fish, just breaded, very yummy. We finished off with strawberry ice cream for Torsten, fresh pineapples and lemon sorbet for me, and a maple walnut parfait for Ingo. During the meal, we had a lovely view of the Rhine, and watched boats going up and down. There was also a very good view of the bridge, so Torsten could watch the streetcars and buses. There were a couple of ferries moving people back and forth across the Rhine; we considered taking one back over the Rhine to get to the parking garage, but later decided not to, as we had a lot of bags and it would have been a bit of a hassle. All in all, it was a wonderful lunch.
We still lacked a few presents, so after lunch, we headed out again. This time, I had the luck to find a well-stocked children’s book store, so I browsed through many books and picked up a few nice German books for Torsten. Later that evening, I read some of them to him, and he seemed to like them, which bodes well. We also managed to pick up a battery charger for Ingo’s camera battery, as we’d forgotten our adaptor/transformer at home – the one we got has a car charger, so we’ll be able to use it at home as well. Otherwise, we didn’t find anything of note, other than a really, really tacky tourist shop with the ugliest souvenirs imaginable. I can’t imagine how it stays in business!
Heading back to Uwe and Esther’s, I was really struck by the fact that we were leaving a major city at around 4:30 pm, and there wasn’t a hint of a traffic jam. There was certainly traffic, but at no point did it ever stop or even slow down noticeably. I guess that’s what having a really good public transit system will get you.
When we got back to Uwe and Esther’s, Torsten refused to nap, as Leandro (“An-jo”) was playing outside, and he wanted to join in. I went upstairs and helped Esther grate potatoes for the giant rostis that she was making for dinner, until I was interrupted by Ingo yelling for help – Torsten had had a poop explosion in his pants, overflowing both from top and bottom, which constituted a 5 alarm poop emergency! We cleaned him up, soaked his clothing, and popped him directly into a bath. After bath was dinner, and after dinner (and a lovely rhubarb bread pudding made from rhubarb grown in Esther’s garden) was bedtime.
Today, we decided to go to Solothurn, which is supposed to be the nicest baroque city in Switzerland. Our visit there started off slowly, as Torsten fell asleep just as we were pulling into the underground parking garage – we therefore spent the first hour in Solothurn sitting in the car and waiting for Torsten to wake up from his nap. For your information, there’s nothing baroque about that parking garage.
After Torsten woke up, we headed into the old city. The garage is very near the cathedral, so that was the first thing we saw as we emerged. To be specific, the first thing Torsten saw was the stair going up to the bell tower, and he ran to it, saying “Up, up!”. So we climbed up. It was very steep, and very high, but did afford a very nice view of Solothurn. There was a man at the top who prevented people from going outside to look until they had paid admission – smart, as nobody is going to refuse to pay the 3 francs after climbing up those interminable stairs! The bells were really huge as well. Going down, I put Torsten in the sling, and midway down, as the stairs grew wider but we lost the handrail, we put him in the backpack. The ticket collector actually came down right after us; it seems they close the tower for several hours at midday, much to the chagrin of the tourist who was halfway up the stairs as we were descending.
Solothurn is a little odd – there are all these fantastic baroque building interspersed among quite normal looking buildings, and you really have no warning that they’re there unless you’re specifically looking. The Jesuit church, for example, is along the main street, sandwiched between some shops – no space between them. Same with the clock tower, which is gorgeously painted and decorated.
We wandered around, looking at shops and buildings, and suddenly it was lunchtime. We found a little square with several restaurants on it, and chose the one that looked least snooty. It was awfully funny though – Swiss German really isn’t that similar to Hochdeutsch; the waitress came over and said something incomprehensible, which I assumed was asking us if we were ready to order, so I did. Afterwards, Ingo wondered if she was asking Torsten’s name. No idea. Hopefully she WAS just asking about our order! I had little veal bits in a mushroom sauce with rosti and a green salad, and Ingo had a goulash soup with a vegetarian spaetzle dish. Torsten just ate our stuff, but he wasn’t really that hungry, as he’d been nibbling on bread sticks all morning.
After lunch, we wandered around some more, looked in a few more shops (everything is very expensive, but usually also very nice), and went into the cathedral for a brief look around. It’s a very nice baroque cathedral, and we are now kicking ourselves for not picking up a book on it when we were at the top of the tower – they apparently don’t sell any at ground level! Torsten ran around pointing at Baby Jesus and telling me it was a baby. Finally, we wound up going into a confectionary shop and picking up a cake for Uwe and Esther, a Solothurner Torte. We had it tonight after dinner….mmmmm, yummy!!! It was a very good ending to a very good dinner, as Esther cooked mushroom risotto.
Tomorrow, we are going to go up the Rigi, a mountain, and have a picnic lunch, and then go onto Lucerne. As it’s the weekend, Uwe, Esther and Leandro are showing us around – I expect to have a lot of fun!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Cheese, glorious cheese
To resume where I left off previously – Leandro came home and gave us (Ingo and me) big bear hugs. It’s nice to know some things never change – he’s just as happy and exuberant as ever, and just as loud and incomprehensible! Actually, when he exerts himself, he can make himself understood, as he now goes to a school where they do 3 days of immersion English, and 2 days of immersion German (Hochdeutsch, not the Swiss version). We gave him his present (Uberstix – a building toy that integrates with everything), and he and Ingo promptly settled in to build a pistol, while Uwe and Torsten played with a little wooden railway set.
Presently, Esther came home, and she and Uwe began preparing dinner – raclette! It was sooooo yummy! There were 5 different kinds of raclette cheese (including a delicious smoked one), special raclette potatoes (basically small ones), tiny pickles, pickled onions and regular onions. It made me so envious, as all we have at home for raclette is generic “French Raclette Cheese”, which you can buy at Vincenzo’s.
The next day, we went to the Paul Klee Centre and Bern with Annerose. Bern is a UNESCO World Heritage City. That just about says it all – it’s incredibly pretty, and has a large enclosure with big, fluffy, cuddly-looking brown bears. More on all that later.
The Paul Klee Centre is an art museum and learning centre dedicated to the work of Paul Klee, and is the result of a donation by his daughter of 260 works of art to the city in 1996, on the condition that the city open such a museum by 2007. It’s a very modern building, designed by Renzo Piano, that looks like 3 bumps. One bump contains a café, the entrance, and, on the lower level, the children’s museum, where kids can play around with creating art on a themed basis. The middle bump contains the main gallery on the upper level (which was unfortunately closed when we were there) and special exhibits on the lower level. The remaining bump contains research facilities and studios. It was a good exhibition; all works by Paul Klee, and very unique. Torsten was a bit tired and restive, so I put him in his sling and we viewed the works together. He was particularly fascinated by the ones with fish in them, saying “Fish” whenever he saw one. Near the end of the exhibit, he fell asleep, and so we laid him down on a bench in the entrance hall and waited for him to wake up before heading out to Bern.
Bern, as mentioned above, is a beautiful city. There were brightly coloured flags flying from the buildings all along the main street, which is lined with shops and boutiques selling really unique (but expensive) things. Our first objective was to find a place for lunch, so we parked in the underground parking by the Casino and started walking. We found a nice little brasserie by the market (which sold not only fresh and tasty-looking produce, but also all sorts of souvenirs and clothes), and had a nice lunch. Annerose had some white asparagus, I had mussels in a saffron cream sauce and fries, and Ingo had a nice entrecote of horse. Torsten loved the horse and ate 2/3 of my fries.
After lunch, we decided to go see the bears, going down the main street. It was really interesting looking in all the shops – some were nice and fairly upscale, while others were a bit more generic. Down the middle of the street, which was cobblestoned, were fountains that were originally used to water horses. Each fountain had a brightly coloured figure on a pole in the middle. Some of them were quite funny, like the man who had at his feet a helmeted rat holding a rifle. When we got to the bears, we looked at them for a bit while Torsten said “Bear” a few times, and then headed back to the car, as it was getting quite late. Our route back took us past the Munster (cathedral), the spire of which was unfortunately undergoing renovations.
Back at Uwe and Esther’s, we waited for Esther to come home from work, then drove up the mountain to a small restaurant for dinner. Outside was a small play area, accessible either by going down some rough stairs or, if you’re a kid, via the slide. Leandro went down the slide (which was fairly long and ripply with high sides), and Torsten seemed to want to try it too, so Ingo ran down to the bottom to catch him, and I sent him on his way. He loved it! Little daredevil then wanted to do it again, so we let him – then diverted his mind to other matters on the playground before going in for dinner. Ingo and I both had a schnitzel with noodles and potatoes baked over with cheese – a typical Swiss dish called Alplermaccaroni. Very tasty, but very filling – luckily, we had Torsten there to help us out. Lately, he’s been eating constantly, so he helped put a considerable dent in the meal. Then, after we got back to Uwe and Esther’s, he “helped” Ingo to eat some ice cream – Ingo actually didn’t manage to have ANY of the three small scoops on his plate!
Today was laundry day, so we stayed in. Annerose left by train at midday, and we took a short walk down to the store to buy stuff for lunch (I’ve been craving fresh fruits and vegetables, as we haven’t had much in the last few days). At the store, they had some tiny grocery carts for kids to push, so we put our groceries in there and let Torsten push. He was hilarious, tooling around the grocery store – every time we’d put a hand on the cart to steer it, he’d push us away. Nothing much else happening today, but tomorrow we’ll likely drive to Basel to see what there is to see there. It’s nice to have a day just doing nothing, though! Well, apart from making sure we have enough clean clothes to last the rest of the trip.
Presently, Esther came home, and she and Uwe began preparing dinner – raclette! It was sooooo yummy! There were 5 different kinds of raclette cheese (including a delicious smoked one), special raclette potatoes (basically small ones), tiny pickles, pickled onions and regular onions. It made me so envious, as all we have at home for raclette is generic “French Raclette Cheese”, which you can buy at Vincenzo’s.
The next day, we went to the Paul Klee Centre and Bern with Annerose. Bern is a UNESCO World Heritage City. That just about says it all – it’s incredibly pretty, and has a large enclosure with big, fluffy, cuddly-looking brown bears. More on all that later.
The Paul Klee Centre is an art museum and learning centre dedicated to the work of Paul Klee, and is the result of a donation by his daughter of 260 works of art to the city in 1996, on the condition that the city open such a museum by 2007. It’s a very modern building, designed by Renzo Piano, that looks like 3 bumps. One bump contains a café, the entrance, and, on the lower level, the children’s museum, where kids can play around with creating art on a themed basis. The middle bump contains the main gallery on the upper level (which was unfortunately closed when we were there) and special exhibits on the lower level. The remaining bump contains research facilities and studios. It was a good exhibition; all works by Paul Klee, and very unique. Torsten was a bit tired and restive, so I put him in his sling and we viewed the works together. He was particularly fascinated by the ones with fish in them, saying “Fish” whenever he saw one. Near the end of the exhibit, he fell asleep, and so we laid him down on a bench in the entrance hall and waited for him to wake up before heading out to Bern.
Bern, as mentioned above, is a beautiful city. There were brightly coloured flags flying from the buildings all along the main street, which is lined with shops and boutiques selling really unique (but expensive) things. Our first objective was to find a place for lunch, so we parked in the underground parking by the Casino and started walking. We found a nice little brasserie by the market (which sold not only fresh and tasty-looking produce, but also all sorts of souvenirs and clothes), and had a nice lunch. Annerose had some white asparagus, I had mussels in a saffron cream sauce and fries, and Ingo had a nice entrecote of horse. Torsten loved the horse and ate 2/3 of my fries.
After lunch, we decided to go see the bears, going down the main street. It was really interesting looking in all the shops – some were nice and fairly upscale, while others were a bit more generic. Down the middle of the street, which was cobblestoned, were fountains that were originally used to water horses. Each fountain had a brightly coloured figure on a pole in the middle. Some of them were quite funny, like the man who had at his feet a helmeted rat holding a rifle. When we got to the bears, we looked at them for a bit while Torsten said “Bear” a few times, and then headed back to the car, as it was getting quite late. Our route back took us past the Munster (cathedral), the spire of which was unfortunately undergoing renovations.
Back at Uwe and Esther’s, we waited for Esther to come home from work, then drove up the mountain to a small restaurant for dinner. Outside was a small play area, accessible either by going down some rough stairs or, if you’re a kid, via the slide. Leandro went down the slide (which was fairly long and ripply with high sides), and Torsten seemed to want to try it too, so Ingo ran down to the bottom to catch him, and I sent him on his way. He loved it! Little daredevil then wanted to do it again, so we let him – then diverted his mind to other matters on the playground before going in for dinner. Ingo and I both had a schnitzel with noodles and potatoes baked over with cheese – a typical Swiss dish called Alplermaccaroni. Very tasty, but very filling – luckily, we had Torsten there to help us out. Lately, he’s been eating constantly, so he helped put a considerable dent in the meal. Then, after we got back to Uwe and Esther’s, he “helped” Ingo to eat some ice cream – Ingo actually didn’t manage to have ANY of the three small scoops on his plate!
Today was laundry day, so we stayed in. Annerose left by train at midday, and we took a short walk down to the store to buy stuff for lunch (I’ve been craving fresh fruits and vegetables, as we haven’t had much in the last few days). At the store, they had some tiny grocery carts for kids to push, so we put our groceries in there and let Torsten push. He was hilarious, tooling around the grocery store – every time we’d put a hand on the cart to steer it, he’d push us away. Nothing much else happening today, but tomorrow we’ll likely drive to Basel to see what there is to see there. It’s nice to have a day just doing nothing, though! Well, apart from making sure we have enough clean clothes to last the rest of the trip.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Barcelona to Switzerland - how nice!
Here we are in Switzerland! We arrived in Barcelona at 5:30 am, and kept sleeping. At around 7 or so, we decided it was time to wake up, pack the remaining small items, and go for breakfast. At breakfast, we saw Jitka and chatted for awhile, then we all trooped off to find Peter and Simi and say goodbye. After that, it was time to get off the ship, so we disembarked in a leisurely fashion, joined the long queue for taxis, and, thanks to the excellent taxi stand management, soon found ourselves heading off to the Estacio Franca, where our train would leave for Bern at 8:49 pm. When we got there, we found that they didn’t have a left luggage office, but that the other train station, Estacio Sants did, and that there was a free shuttle train that ran there every half hour (the shuttle actually ran to the airport and back). What excellent logistics!
After dropping off our luggage at Estacio Sants, we headed back to Estacio Franca and the waterfront. There was a row of little booths – tents, really – set up, selling crafty things like hats, bracelets, etc. They made a bright display, and some of the items were really quite lovely. Across from the tents was the occasional black guy, selling designer knock-off bags, displayed on what looked like a large blanket. As we walked along, we saw some of them pull on drawstrings attached to the blanket, scooping up all the merchandise into a big sack, and then start walking rapidly through the crowd. The explanation for this behaviour was soon forthcoming, as we saw a policeman on a scooter come by, patrolling – looks like they didn’t have vendor permits!
By that time it was almost noon, so we stopped in one of the tourist trap restaurants along the waterfront for lunch. We had a good view of the harbour and a ton of sailboats from our table, and ordered paella (for two). It was very, very tasty, but I still wasn’t feeling 100%, so I didn’t appreciate it as much as Ingo and Torsten. And as Ingo said, it probably wasn’t even a high standard of paella for the city! For me, the highlight of the meal was the little plate of olives and pickles they served us at the beginning of the meal. The olives were soooooo yummy! I don’t know what they were brined in, but I could easily have eaten 10 times what we had.
After lunch, I bought a few things from the vendors, and then, as I wasn’t feeling great and Torsten was very tired, we decided to head to the Citadel Park next to Estacio Franca rather than go to the Aquarium. On our way there, Torsten fell asleep, and when we got to the park, we managed to extract him from the backpack without waking him. We then sat by a garden for almost 2 hours while he slept in my arms. It was very relaxing.
When Torsten woke up, we rambled through the park for the remainder of our time prior to picking up our luggage. The park is very large – it contains a zoo (which we didn’t go into, as it cost 15 Euros, and we would only have been there for 2 hours), a lake, a small waterfall, the museum of natural history, a parliament building, a chapel, and probably a lot more – those were only the things that we saw when walking around. There was a place that rented covered bicycles that were hitched together in parallel to form a small car – we saw a lot of people tooling around in those. Finally, near the lake, Ingo said, “Let’s find some grass where we can let Torsten down and he can run around”, to which I replied, “Oh, I think there’s some nice grass over there by the mastodon” – to which he said, “What?” But there it was – a large model of a mastodon. Very random.
However, Torsten didn’t really want to run around much; he did run around a little, but then was content to sit on my lap, eating Cheerios and watching birds. There were also a lot of people to watch – one family settled down a few metres away from us. They had two little girls, around Torsten’s age. One of them came over and tried to take first Torsten’s ball, then our cup of water. She seemed disappointed when her father prevented her from doing so. She was also the one who, when they put her into the stroller while feeding yogurt to the other girl, started screaming, “MAMA!!!” at the top of her lungs. Torsten watched this for a while from where we were sitting, and then, every time she screamed, “MAMA!!!”, would point at me, while looking at her and say, in an explanatory way, “Mama.” It was really funny.
Eventually, it came time to go pick up our luggage, so we went back to the train station. We had a bit of time before the shuttle train arrived, so Ingo decided to have a cup of coffee. While there, I decided to go to the washroom, as it was marked “For cafeteria patrons only”, so I figured it might be better than the train station washrooms. I have no idea why they would want to limit the washrooms to patrons only, as they were really shack-nasty. There was no seat to the toilets, and no toilet paper – there wasn’t even a place for toilet paper. There was no soap, and only cold water. Really, really nasty.
After going to the other station, picking up our luggage, and coming back, we still had about an hour before our train was to leave – the track number hadn’t even been posted. After some preliminary running around, Ingo and Torsten spent the time playing ball in the station, to the amusement of many onlookers. Torsten would throw the small ball, Ingo would fetch it, roll it somewhere near Torsten, who would run towards it, pick it up, and throw it again. Torsten got to the point where he was so tired that he was laughing crazily, which made everyone smile.
Finally, they started boarding the train, so we got in and got settled. First class in that train is definitely the way to go! It was a tiny cabin, but it had a tiny washroom with a shower and fully laden toiletry bags (which was good, as it meant we didn’t have to unpack ours) and two beds. Almost immediately after boarding came the call for dinner, which was included in the price of our ticket (as was breakfast). It was a reasonable dinner; I started with cream of ham, which turned out to be a very thick, milk-tasting soup with small parma ham chunks in it, and Ingo started with a mushroom tagliatelle. He then had the Iberian secret (which turned out to be ham), and I had an overcooked veal entrecote. The meal ended up with a dense chocolate cake for me, and a chestnut flan for Ingo. Torsten enjoyed Ingo’s meal, but was so very sleepy. We were lucky that he didn’t throw a tired-tantrum, but we ate as quickly as possible, and then bundled him off to bed (where he managed to take up 2/3 of the bed that he and I were sharing).
In the morning, we were in Switzerland! We looked out the window, and we had just stopped at Lausanne. The view of the Alps was lovely. We packed up our things, had breakfast, and awaited Bern. When we arrived at 8:15 am, there were Uwe and Annerose waiting for us on the platform! After a rapturous reunion, we made our way past the hordes of perfectly capable people who had no real reason to use the elevator, and down to the garage where Uwe had parked his minivan. Picking up cheese enroute (raclette for dinner tonight, yum!!!), we drove to Uwe and Esther’s house, a beautiful old farmhouse that they’ve converted to 4 modern floors of spectacularly appointed rooms – we laughed, because they’ve got the same Stokke chairs that we have, only in red! They’ve also got the same Stokke highchair that we have, only in black. Because Uwe designed and built the interiors himself, they’ve got a huge storage space that I’m envious of, and amazing windows that let in a lot of light. The attic room, in particular, as a huge triangular window that basically takes up the one wall. And, of course, as Leandro is a bit older than Torsten, there are plenty of toys!
We had a marvelous barley soup that Esther prepared last night, and now we’re breathlessly awaiting the return of Esther from work and Leandro from school!
After dropping off our luggage at Estacio Sants, we headed back to Estacio Franca and the waterfront. There was a row of little booths – tents, really – set up, selling crafty things like hats, bracelets, etc. They made a bright display, and some of the items were really quite lovely. Across from the tents was the occasional black guy, selling designer knock-off bags, displayed on what looked like a large blanket. As we walked along, we saw some of them pull on drawstrings attached to the blanket, scooping up all the merchandise into a big sack, and then start walking rapidly through the crowd. The explanation for this behaviour was soon forthcoming, as we saw a policeman on a scooter come by, patrolling – looks like they didn’t have vendor permits!
By that time it was almost noon, so we stopped in one of the tourist trap restaurants along the waterfront for lunch. We had a good view of the harbour and a ton of sailboats from our table, and ordered paella (for two). It was very, very tasty, but I still wasn’t feeling 100%, so I didn’t appreciate it as much as Ingo and Torsten. And as Ingo said, it probably wasn’t even a high standard of paella for the city! For me, the highlight of the meal was the little plate of olives and pickles they served us at the beginning of the meal. The olives were soooooo yummy! I don’t know what they were brined in, but I could easily have eaten 10 times what we had.
After lunch, I bought a few things from the vendors, and then, as I wasn’t feeling great and Torsten was very tired, we decided to head to the Citadel Park next to Estacio Franca rather than go to the Aquarium. On our way there, Torsten fell asleep, and when we got to the park, we managed to extract him from the backpack without waking him. We then sat by a garden for almost 2 hours while he slept in my arms. It was very relaxing.
When Torsten woke up, we rambled through the park for the remainder of our time prior to picking up our luggage. The park is very large – it contains a zoo (which we didn’t go into, as it cost 15 Euros, and we would only have been there for 2 hours), a lake, a small waterfall, the museum of natural history, a parliament building, a chapel, and probably a lot more – those were only the things that we saw when walking around. There was a place that rented covered bicycles that were hitched together in parallel to form a small car – we saw a lot of people tooling around in those. Finally, near the lake, Ingo said, “Let’s find some grass where we can let Torsten down and he can run around”, to which I replied, “Oh, I think there’s some nice grass over there by the mastodon” – to which he said, “What?” But there it was – a large model of a mastodon. Very random.
However, Torsten didn’t really want to run around much; he did run around a little, but then was content to sit on my lap, eating Cheerios and watching birds. There were also a lot of people to watch – one family settled down a few metres away from us. They had two little girls, around Torsten’s age. One of them came over and tried to take first Torsten’s ball, then our cup of water. She seemed disappointed when her father prevented her from doing so. She was also the one who, when they put her into the stroller while feeding yogurt to the other girl, started screaming, “MAMA!!!” at the top of her lungs. Torsten watched this for a while from where we were sitting, and then, every time she screamed, “MAMA!!!”, would point at me, while looking at her and say, in an explanatory way, “Mama.” It was really funny.
Eventually, it came time to go pick up our luggage, so we went back to the train station. We had a bit of time before the shuttle train arrived, so Ingo decided to have a cup of coffee. While there, I decided to go to the washroom, as it was marked “For cafeteria patrons only”, so I figured it might be better than the train station washrooms. I have no idea why they would want to limit the washrooms to patrons only, as they were really shack-nasty. There was no seat to the toilets, and no toilet paper – there wasn’t even a place for toilet paper. There was no soap, and only cold water. Really, really nasty.
After going to the other station, picking up our luggage, and coming back, we still had about an hour before our train was to leave – the track number hadn’t even been posted. After some preliminary running around, Ingo and Torsten spent the time playing ball in the station, to the amusement of many onlookers. Torsten would throw the small ball, Ingo would fetch it, roll it somewhere near Torsten, who would run towards it, pick it up, and throw it again. Torsten got to the point where he was so tired that he was laughing crazily, which made everyone smile.
Finally, they started boarding the train, so we got in and got settled. First class in that train is definitely the way to go! It was a tiny cabin, but it had a tiny washroom with a shower and fully laden toiletry bags (which was good, as it meant we didn’t have to unpack ours) and two beds. Almost immediately after boarding came the call for dinner, which was included in the price of our ticket (as was breakfast). It was a reasonable dinner; I started with cream of ham, which turned out to be a very thick, milk-tasting soup with small parma ham chunks in it, and Ingo started with a mushroom tagliatelle. He then had the Iberian secret (which turned out to be ham), and I had an overcooked veal entrecote. The meal ended up with a dense chocolate cake for me, and a chestnut flan for Ingo. Torsten enjoyed Ingo’s meal, but was so very sleepy. We were lucky that he didn’t throw a tired-tantrum, but we ate as quickly as possible, and then bundled him off to bed (where he managed to take up 2/3 of the bed that he and I were sharing).
In the morning, we were in Switzerland! We looked out the window, and we had just stopped at Lausanne. The view of the Alps was lovely. We packed up our things, had breakfast, and awaited Bern. When we arrived at 8:15 am, there were Uwe and Annerose waiting for us on the platform! After a rapturous reunion, we made our way past the hordes of perfectly capable people who had no real reason to use the elevator, and down to the garage where Uwe had parked his minivan. Picking up cheese enroute (raclette for dinner tonight, yum!!!), we drove to Uwe and Esther’s house, a beautiful old farmhouse that they’ve converted to 4 modern floors of spectacularly appointed rooms – we laughed, because they’ve got the same Stokke chairs that we have, only in red! They’ve also got the same Stokke highchair that we have, only in black. Because Uwe designed and built the interiors himself, they’ve got a huge storage space that I’m envious of, and amazing windows that let in a lot of light. The attic room, in particular, as a huge triangular window that basically takes up the one wall. And, of course, as Leandro is a bit older than Torsten, there are plenty of toys!
We had a marvelous barley soup that Esther prepared last night, and now we’re breathlessly awaiting the return of Esther from work and Leandro from school!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Who needs Italy, when there's the French Riviera?
Well, Villefranche was CONSIDERABLY better! First of all, it’s absolutely gorgeous, with stucco houses and old stone arched roads clustered on a steep hillside overlooking the blue, blue water. Secondly, it was a tender port, and we were late enough that our tender over contained very few passengers.
After docking at Villefranche, we walked up a short hill to the citadel, which has 3 tiny museums and a garden, besides containing the town hall and police station. The garden was covered in climbing roses, which were lovely against the old stone walls. One of the museums was a collection of porcelain medieval figures, including knights fighting and practicing, a medieval wedding, a medieval betrothal, a celebration, and scenes from the life of St. Louis. It was really cool.
At the citadel, we bumped into Peter, Jitka and Simi, and we walked down together, through the tiny but charming pedestrian way, lined with quaint shops (although quite a lot of them were obviously tourist oriented and sold clothes as well). By this time, I was quite thirsty, so we parted ways and made our way back down to the waterfront to find a café. En route we passed by, and then traversed along, the Rua Obscura, a road that is entirely buried under the houses, with arched ceilings. It was apparently a place where people would take shelter from bombs as well. Very interesting.
Most of the cafes along the waterfront sat directly on the road, or along the jetty, where there were no walls to prevent Torsten from falling in, so we decided upon a café at the edge of the pedestrian zone, near a fountain. Torsten had a wonderful time splashing his hands around in the fountain, and was with difficulty brought back to the table – only the lure of ice cream kept him from running back to the fountain. We sat there for quite some time, partially because Torsten could play in the fountain, and partially because they had very slow service.
At around 1, we decided to go back to the ship, since it was to leave at 3. Unfortunately, we got to the tender dock just in time to see all the shore excursion people pour in. To avoid being stampeded, we decided to wait in the terminal until the crush died down – we waited for almost 2 hours! It was insane. At first, the people mobbed the jetty, but luckily, the cruise line had sent people out to pass out drinks and keep some semblance of order, so we didn’t have a reoccurrence of the shuttle bus fiasco. The tenders also came fairly frequently; it was just that there was such a mass of people to move. Luckily, Torsten fell asleep during all of this, so he had the opportunity to have a reasonably long nap – that is, until the incredibly loud people on the tender woke him up with their raucous laughter. Later, they had the nerve to say how cute he was. It was tempting to say, “Your inconsiderateness makes your compliments unwelcome”.
When we got back to the ship, I lay down (still feeling a bit delicate), and Ingo went onto the balcony to take some photos. Then he turned around and said to me, “Someone just threw an orange off the ship.” How random!
Anyway, both Ingo and I agreed that this trip has pushed Italy down considerably on the scale of places to go back and visit. Compared to all the other ports, it just seems less appealing - not only because of the individual places we saw, but because of the atmosphere.
Tomorrow is disembarkation day – we dock at Barcelona at 5:30 am. We’ve chosen the self-disembarkation route, which means we carry off all our luggage ourselves, and aren’t tied down to a specific time (although we have to be off the boat by 9:30 am or so). That also means we should have the chance to have breakfast before leaving. I won’t get the chance to update this blog till Switzerland, and then only if I have Internet access, so stay tuned!
After docking at Villefranche, we walked up a short hill to the citadel, which has 3 tiny museums and a garden, besides containing the town hall and police station. The garden was covered in climbing roses, which were lovely against the old stone walls. One of the museums was a collection of porcelain medieval figures, including knights fighting and practicing, a medieval wedding, a medieval betrothal, a celebration, and scenes from the life of St. Louis. It was really cool.
At the citadel, we bumped into Peter, Jitka and Simi, and we walked down together, through the tiny but charming pedestrian way, lined with quaint shops (although quite a lot of them were obviously tourist oriented and sold clothes as well). By this time, I was quite thirsty, so we parted ways and made our way back down to the waterfront to find a café. En route we passed by, and then traversed along, the Rua Obscura, a road that is entirely buried under the houses, with arched ceilings. It was apparently a place where people would take shelter from bombs as well. Very interesting.
Most of the cafes along the waterfront sat directly on the road, or along the jetty, where there were no walls to prevent Torsten from falling in, so we decided upon a café at the edge of the pedestrian zone, near a fountain. Torsten had a wonderful time splashing his hands around in the fountain, and was with difficulty brought back to the table – only the lure of ice cream kept him from running back to the fountain. We sat there for quite some time, partially because Torsten could play in the fountain, and partially because they had very slow service.
At around 1, we decided to go back to the ship, since it was to leave at 3. Unfortunately, we got to the tender dock just in time to see all the shore excursion people pour in. To avoid being stampeded, we decided to wait in the terminal until the crush died down – we waited for almost 2 hours! It was insane. At first, the people mobbed the jetty, but luckily, the cruise line had sent people out to pass out drinks and keep some semblance of order, so we didn’t have a reoccurrence of the shuttle bus fiasco. The tenders also came fairly frequently; it was just that there was such a mass of people to move. Luckily, Torsten fell asleep during all of this, so he had the opportunity to have a reasonably long nap – that is, until the incredibly loud people on the tender woke him up with their raucous laughter. Later, they had the nerve to say how cute he was. It was tempting to say, “Your inconsiderateness makes your compliments unwelcome”.
When we got back to the ship, I lay down (still feeling a bit delicate), and Ingo went onto the balcony to take some photos. Then he turned around and said to me, “Someone just threw an orange off the ship.” How random!
Anyway, both Ingo and I agreed that this trip has pushed Italy down considerably on the scale of places to go back and visit. Compared to all the other ports, it just seems less appealing - not only because of the individual places we saw, but because of the atmosphere.
Tomorrow is disembarkation day – we dock at Barcelona at 5:30 am. We’ve chosen the self-disembarkation route, which means we carry off all our luggage ourselves, and aren’t tied down to a specific time (although we have to be off the boat by 9:30 am or so). That also means we should have the chance to have breakfast before leaving. I won’t get the chance to update this blog till Switzerland, and then only if I have Internet access, so stay tuned!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Livorno - Colour me unimpressed.
We decided to forego our plan of going into Pisa today, firstly because Ingo and I were tired (Ingo because he might be fighting off the virus that got me, and me because I’m still recovering, although I’m pretty much fine now), and secondly because it would be a bit of a hassle and trek to get to Pisa. We therefore decided to go into Livorno, take a look around, and see what there was to be seen.
The shuttle bus into Livorno cost 1 Euro per person, oddly, and took about 20 minutes, as we were docked at the industrial port. When we got off, we waited till the crush died down at the little information kiosk, and then got a map. Yet another place where nobody has heard of queuing.
Livorno is not very pretty, and there is a lot of traffic, with motorcycles whizzing everywhere. It was somewhat scary to be a pedestrian. I don’t really have very much positive to say about Livorno – we tried to find a nice café or restaurant, and failed dismally, partially because nothing appeared to be open, even though it was 1 pm. The shopping areas seemed dingy, with bargain-basement types of shops on the one hand, and generic Euro-clothes (Benetton etc.) on the other. There was a fairly large market that sold nice produce and various other oddments (buttons, clothing, fish), but nothing all that interesting. The nicest place we found was the fort, which had been transformed into a park inside, and was apparently a concert venue. Even there, the grass was studded with cigarette stubs and broken glass.
Eventually, we gave up and headed back to the shuttle bus pickup point. We were excited to see that there was a bus there, and were sure that we’d quickly be on our way. Alas, no. The driver had apparently toodled off for an indefinite amount of time to take a break, letting the line grow longer and longer. We wound up waiting for 45 minutes or so in the sun, becoming more and more aggravated and watching 4 Princess Cruise Line shuttle buses go by, until finally another shuttle bus came. Unfortunately, this was the cue for all queue jumpers to try charging ahead, and yet again, there was a mob of people at each bus door. I was only able to get in with Torsten because Ingo blocked the door for me with the backpack, and even then, there was a lady blocking the aisle so that I couldn’t get to the remaining seats (she kept telling her husband to get on the bus, and stood completely in the way). I wound up telling Ingo to get on the bus, handing Torsten to him so that he could get to the seats, and then loudly yelling “Don’t worry, baby, Mama’s coming!” while pushing past people standing in the aisles. Not a fun experience.
Back at the cruise ship, we sat and waited for the mob to board the ship, then boarded with no fuss. The rest of the day was spent quietly on board the ship. I hope Villefranche is better!
The shuttle bus into Livorno cost 1 Euro per person, oddly, and took about 20 minutes, as we were docked at the industrial port. When we got off, we waited till the crush died down at the little information kiosk, and then got a map. Yet another place where nobody has heard of queuing.
Livorno is not very pretty, and there is a lot of traffic, with motorcycles whizzing everywhere. It was somewhat scary to be a pedestrian. I don’t really have very much positive to say about Livorno – we tried to find a nice café or restaurant, and failed dismally, partially because nothing appeared to be open, even though it was 1 pm. The shopping areas seemed dingy, with bargain-basement types of shops on the one hand, and generic Euro-clothes (Benetton etc.) on the other. There was a fairly large market that sold nice produce and various other oddments (buttons, clothing, fish), but nothing all that interesting. The nicest place we found was the fort, which had been transformed into a park inside, and was apparently a concert venue. Even there, the grass was studded with cigarette stubs and broken glass.
Eventually, we gave up and headed back to the shuttle bus pickup point. We were excited to see that there was a bus there, and were sure that we’d quickly be on our way. Alas, no. The driver had apparently toodled off for an indefinite amount of time to take a break, letting the line grow longer and longer. We wound up waiting for 45 minutes or so in the sun, becoming more and more aggravated and watching 4 Princess Cruise Line shuttle buses go by, until finally another shuttle bus came. Unfortunately, this was the cue for all queue jumpers to try charging ahead, and yet again, there was a mob of people at each bus door. I was only able to get in with Torsten because Ingo blocked the door for me with the backpack, and even then, there was a lady blocking the aisle so that I couldn’t get to the remaining seats (she kept telling her husband to get on the bus, and stood completely in the way). I wound up telling Ingo to get on the bus, handing Torsten to him so that he could get to the seats, and then loudly yelling “Don’t worry, baby, Mama’s coming!” while pushing past people standing in the aisles. Not a fun experience.
Back at the cruise ship, we sat and waited for the mob to board the ship, then boarded with no fuss. The rest of the day was spent quietly on board the ship. I hope Villefranche is better!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Civitavecchia - Italian for "You're not missing much"
As some of you may know, this was the day that we had intended to go to Ostia Antica. However, our plans were foiled by the unfortunate fact that Torsten is not the only one who can succumb to evil in his tummy - now I have! I spent a lot of last night throwing up, and quite a bit of today too, although all I've been having is some water, apple juice, and a tiny nibble of crackers. It now looks like Torsten had a touch of stomach flu, rather than food poisoning, and I've gotten the virus. I'm just letting it run its course, which means staying in the stateroom and napping as much as I can, and, of course, letting my digestive system let me know when it's time to hit the washroom.
Ingo and Torsten went out to Civitavecchia, and it's apparently nothing to write home about. There's a lot of garbage around the walkways, but they had fun wandering around and kicking a little soccer ball that we bought for Torsten in Ajaccio. For lunch, they had focaccia and gnocchi, and Torsten apparently hoovered down the gnocchi.
That's about it - hopefully I feel better tomorrow and we don't miss Livorno/Pisa!
Ingo and Torsten went out to Civitavecchia, and it's apparently nothing to write home about. There's a lot of garbage around the walkways, but they had fun wandering around and kicking a little soccer ball that we bought for Torsten in Ajaccio. For lunch, they had focaccia and gnocchi, and Torsten apparently hoovered down the gnocchi.
That's about it - hopefully I feel better tomorrow and we don't miss Livorno/Pisa!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)