This year our Swiss National Day fell on a
Saturday – turning the weekend into a totally holiday weekend.
If one ignores the problems getting to and
from one side of the lake to the other, it was the perfect weekend:
Brunch in my village – held in the German
Ambassador to the U.N.’s grounds – to the
accompaniment of alpine horns, although a bit wet around the edges was
very, very good.
Organized by the volunteer firemen, we are
served by the city councilors, eggs, bacon, rösti patties, rolls and
croissants, cheeses and cold cutes, butter and jams, cantaloupe melon, an
assortment of juices, coffee or tea – truly nothing lacking. The German Ambassador is one of the very rare
ambassadors who has made an effort to connect with his local community – he
also attends the yearly cocktail event in January and always gives a speech –
in French!
R, my cousin and myself enjoyed it before
he headed off to visit my housemate in the hospital. Cousin and I decided to
wander into town for a coffee and snack, forgetting of course that it was a
holiday weekend: traffic was horrible as they had shut down half of the bridge,
but we persisted and rewarded ourselves with a cappuccino and slice of pastry
before heading home to put together my annual cocktail party.
What a different year it was – most of the
faithful had other plans or were across various oceans on their holidays: we
added a few new, but then there were those who met the same problems that we
had encountered earlier and gave up. A reduced in numbers party, but not in fun
and good conversation. Another total difference – it rained so we were actually
only in the living room and winter garden – just as well that the usual 25-30
didn’t show up!
Fireworks started after sundown fairly
late, but oh what a joy – at one point I could count at least 5 separate
parties of them: the best of course being the ones put on by the owners of one
of the major department stores, as their property is just below us and there is
no better seat than that on my balcony.
Sunday, the 2nd bit was every
bit as entertaining if totally different. The frustration of having to drive
way out of my way was well rewarded by being able to pick up my housemate from
the hospital. However, due to the extra time involved (a “slow-up” was being
held on my side of the lake) I literally turned around the minute I got back as
my cousin and I were meeting my older son at the train station for lunch.
At the train station I realized that we
hadn’t given each other a meeting place, went to call him on my cell phone,
which was dead. My cousin tried texting him from her USA-based cell phone then
I made a trip to and fro to see if I could locate him. During that I did find
public telephones and was able to call him. We all enjoyed our conversation and
sitting on a terrace for lunch.
Said lunch necessitated a nap – and it was
very difficult getting up thereafter. However, we managed and after coffee when
the air had cooled, we wandered down to the lake for a gentle walk – ending
with our sitting on one of the numerous benches to watch the sun set behind the
Jura mountains.
A truly perfect weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment