Life’s little ironies

Medical emergencies are never funny I know, but they do have their moments of hilarity in spite of it all.

Yesterday I managed to, yet again, get myself into a fix: I went for a walk around 1:30 in the afternoon down by the lake and managed to slip on some of the twigs that they were trimming: did a face plant and hit side of face and right arm. Couldn't use it to get up as too much pain so knew that something was wrong. Called but the tree trimmers didn't hear me. Rolled over on my left and was able to sit up on the sidewalk. Was able on the second try to get the attention of a couple leaving the restaurant so instead of calling an ambulance and having to wait in the cold they took me to emergency. Angels on my side.

Got lucky there too as the checked me right away and gave me some painkillers - not much of an effect. But was back in a box a couple of hours later with a shot of morphine. Then it was wait for x-rays - broken upper arm in three spots. They decided that not only did they want a scan before deciding on what kind of surgery, but also because I had hit my head: I was 6th in line, which meant about 5 hours of waiting! Good news head scan o.k. (so still no excuse for my quirks). So was able to have a friend bring me home around midnight. They will have their orthopedic reunion and I can only hope that surgery can be programmed quickly. Here we go, six weeks of left-handed everything and no driving to boot. Wonder if I'll learn patience? 

my pile of clothes

ER box

But there were funny moments as well: watching the clock turn 2016; sending the roll of toilet paper flying when trying to rip off some one-handed; realizing that all the text messages that I was getting weren’t from family or friends, but rather from the deposits to my electronic medical file, but the funniest of all came just now when I wanted to check said file only to receive this message:

and me?

Hmmm… sounds like even electronics are mimicking my life.

Rainy day solutions

My cats – Babette and Cléa – have the perfect solution for a rainy day: find a warm fuzzy basket and curl up together.

Although I didn't do the same, I did go into town and enjoyed lunch with younger son and a friend of his - fuzzy warm thoughts of family and friends work almost as well as the basket for counteracting gray and rain. 

Erasing the white board

Or perhaps to give it the merit that it has come to deserve: Erasing the White Board.

Is not an easy thing to do I have discovered – that will teach me to make what’s on it so important or at least to change more frequently.

The origins of the white board in the downstairs WC came with the kitchen renovation five years ago when I lost the side of the refrigerator. We transferred the bulletin board to the WC then I found a white board in plastic that could simply be stuck to the wall – and pulled back off if need be. It was a precious addition during the years that I had a housemate and became our communication central. Sometimes they were useful messages, sometimes simply a hi – have a good day, or flowers drawn by non-artists (me); Christmas trees, or tulips or Easter deco according to the season.

When my younger son moved out after 18 months at home there was less need, then my housemate was gone a lot and we too eventually agreed that she and her husband needed to live on their own, thus leaving no one with whom I needed to communicate on a regular basis. By then, though it was a fixture and simply taking it down not acceptable.

When younger son asked if he could have a group of camp counselors here for a briefing I had a whimsical idea: yes, if they would each be willing to write “welcome” in their language on the white board.

Over the remaining months of the year there was the odd addition when I had someone new and the last was a good friend on New Year’s Eve who added the language that she and I are learning – and that for some reason or the other never made it on the white board before then.

It is time to erase the White Board and start something new, but I also noticed that in the end there is “welcome” in 12 different languages – one for each month. Makes it doubly hard to erase.

I must now come up with something to replace it – and something to which I won’t become as attached.

Are people still welcome here: OF COURSE! Just don’t expect to find it written in the toilet should you need to use the facilities during your visit.

What’s the cosmos trying to tell me?

So I know that I have all that I need and I know that it isn’t perhaps always easy to come up with something unique and different, but this year the cosmos made me laugh.

For Christmas – on top of other very precious gifts – I received two books on Switzerland from my younger son as well as one on maps of Switzerland from my housemate.

Never mind that due to an upcoming games evening I purchased a game called Tour of Switzerland.

If I don’t know much about Switzerland and all things Swiss by the end of the year, it won’t be for lack of input from those surrounding me: or does it mean that I should concentrate on staying in Switzerland instead of jaunting about the rest of the world? What is the cosmos trying to impart to me?

New Year’s Resolutions

Basically I refuse to make any New Year’s Resolutions, as when I did so in my childhood, I was incapable of sticking to them for more than a week. Even if, as a teenager, I did marginally better, I have long since learned that they are rather pointless especially as in the euphoria of the moment one tends to make rather unrealistic ones.

However, one of my close friends did come up with one with which I will have to heartily concur: A moratorium on death! http://theexpatwriter.blogspot.ch/2015/12/moratorium-on-death.html

However, following a very pleasant gathering at my home of friends on New Year’s Eve and a January 1^st continuing along the same lines, I have decided that a good one for 2016 might be: continue the year as I ended it – with friends! I will thus strive in 2016 to catch up with my friends, see those who live near more often, keep in better touch with those who live far away and in general try and be a better friend myself.

I could do worse.

Friends for over 60 years!

Day 10b - From Melk through the Wachau gorges

One of the loveliest portions of our trip from Nuremburg to Vienna is the short stretch of river in between Melk and Krems – the Wachau Valley.

And – as was our due – after mostly foggy days with no possibility of sitting on the “sun” deck – the sun came out whilst we were up at the Abbey and we were able to have our bridge talk out in the sun!

There were many castles starting straight after we left Melk and ending only when we had seen the one where Richard the Lionheart had been imprisoned (yes even in those days, kingdoms and empires were vast and there was always someone taking over someone else).

At the dock in Melk

Note on the left hand side of the building the marks on the wall - these are the high water marks throughout the centuries: the one that happened August 15, 1501 is still the highest!

Last cast off - Melk

One of many castles along the way

The river as we enter the Wachau gorges

Spitz - a popular resort for the Viennese most of it lies back from the river

Another boat is even more decorative than ours!

Peaceful flows the river

The ruins of the castle of a robber baron

This "Aggstein" castle had a history of robber barons and passed through many hands - never really overcame its history - some prisoners were held for ransom in cells overlooking the gorge and were threatened with death - some even jumped to their voluntarily due to the horrible conditions in which they were held.

Another side of the ruins

Church along the way

Church

 Although I forget the city... this church was built to sustain the entire population during a seige and was stocked at all times with victuals (mainly potatoes). One can see part of the surrounding wall and tower for protection.

Vineyards

The Wachau valley became known for its vineyards - climate conditions are mild and it is well appreciated by the Viennese to the South. These go back to the medieval period of the Roman settlements - today there is an association to maintain the quality and purity "six Wachau Commandments".

Rear of the church as we float away

Tourist enjoying the sun deck

ruins of castle Dürnstein (dry rock)

Statue of Richard the Lionheart and Blondel his aide

King Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned in Dürnstein by Duke Leopold V after their dispute during the 3rd Crusade.
Legend has it that he kept repeating a song with one line missing and that his French aide Blondel searching for him was able to sing that last line, thus learning of the spot where he was held and delivering him. Hard for us know to imagine how far kings, emperors and other nobility roamed in those days, especially as they were only on horses!

The Abbey of Dünstein

Also a fun story as according to our guide this tower was gray for many, many years, then they discovered that it had originally been blue and white, but when they repainted it during a renovation the town's people hated it as they thought that it should still have been gray!

The ruins of the Dürnstein castle

The Abbey at Dürnstein

Established in 1410 it was rebuilt in the early 1700s in the Baroque style - with the ruins of the castle behind it on the hills

As we leave Dürnstein, its' ruins, its' history and go down for our last lunch on the boat

The weather then promptly started clouding over - makes one wonder: the only truly sunny patch of the trip other than Munich lasted just long enough for us to enjoy this wonderful Wachau valley.

Last sunset on the Danube

From the ship's lounge during our last "Port Talk"

One last lock as the lights come on

The Kursalon

The Kursalon is where Johann Strauss II used to direct his orchestra as a first violin and enjoyed his first successes.

The Bösendorfer Piano

We enjoyed a two-hour concert of music from both Strausses and Mozart together with a glass of champagne at intermission: it might have been "kitsch for the tourists", but it was also a lovely moment in time.

Home to our beds on the River Concerto, docked in Vienna - a fitting end to a wonderful cruise.

Melk Abbey

We arrived in Melk in the middle of the night – I didn’t notice a thing – and woke up to fog, but fog with a twist: lots of blue patches overhead! The sun broke through as we headed up the hill for our visit to the Melk Abbey.

What to say about this fabulous Abbey? There was so much and I took so many pictures that trying to boil it down to its’ essence is almost impossible. Thus I have chosen to simply whet your appetite and also only concentrate on the Abbey during this blog although we thereafter cruised through the Wachau gorge before docking in Vienna: one day’s events may become three separate blogs.

The Melk Abbey was the residence of Leopold I in 976, at the very beginning of what would become an important empire. His ancestors added to the treasures and in 1089 Leopold II gave it to the Benedictine monks who have worked and lived here ever since. Part of their creed is education and a school was established in the early days, which still exists and is now coed.  Through the waxing and waning of the original Austrian dynasty, the Babenbergs, the Abbey managed to thrive, collecting manuscripts of importance as well as functioning as a scriptorium: this in turn saved it from dissolution under Emperor Joseph II although the theology school was shut and imperial lay abbots were installed. It again suffered economic problems during the Napoleonic wars and the feudal period of 1848 as well as during WWII when the fathers were even imprisoned for a short period, the school and many parts of the abbey confiscated. However, the monastery was not dissolved and the schools were returned after the war so it managed to scrape through.

In his novel The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco named one of the protagonists "Adso of Melk" as a tribute to the abbey and its famous library.

Below are a very few pictures of a tiny bit of Melk Abbey

Entry to Melk Abbey

Statue - Peter or Paul holding the church

part of the entry

the windows of the entry had an Advent calendar

The Cuppola

"Liebe" or love

A beautiful full-sized Christ on the Cross

Note that on the cuppola there is a double line for the cross: this means that the property, church etc. belong to the Vatican and not to the local Catholic diocese.

"Höre" and "Liebe" are two of the leitmotifs at Melk, meaning listen and love.

Melk Abbey

Two maquettes of the Abbey: one of the Abbey and the city below here on the left and one of the Abbey itself below.

 There is the Imperial Wing where the Emperors and other royalty stayed - sometimes for weeks at a time and usually with valuable gifts such as traveling altars. Then there is the dining room (take a look at the window here: that allowed the music to flow into the room from a full orchestra in the next room over), then the walk in between the dining room of the Imperial wing and the Library (where we were not allowed to take pictures at all). And the wing facing us in the picture below is the religious wing - with to the left smaller wings for the school and the administration of the whole.

renovations still go on and must be planned

Architectural drawings - some 5 men were taking measures

Church entry as seen from the connecting Esplanade

The spiral stairwell from the Library to the Church

Facing the Altar of the Church

The organ - one of the smaller that I have seen

Angel detail

Although all seems covered in gold, the tour guide told us that only four kilos (or under ten pounds) of gold was used in the entire Abbey - gold leaf, but very finely applied!

The view from below as we walked back to the River Concerto

One of the more impressive buildings that I have visited in my lifetime - then it was on to the famous Wachau gorges - next blog.