Getting off the Merry-go-round

Before one is spinning so fast that one flies off and shatters.

I have had tough periods in my life, I have had stress, illness and death, but in general I enjoy a wonderful one.

These past few weeks have been no exception other than too much of a good thing stops being a good thing.  I would not have not met any of the people I did, I would not have not gone on any of my trips, nor not attended any of my concerts, lunches, dinners or coffees.

However thanks to (or rather due to) a couple of sleepless nights and others that were more agitated than normal, I finally hit the wall – and was very fortunate in that stopping happened naturally.

This morning at my usual coffee, one of the others at the table handed me an article on a lunch concert in the MAH – Museum of Art and History – scheduled for 12:30. I had been supposed to be going out for lunch, but the other friend was amenable to a change in the schedule so I had the very rare privilege of discovering this “Concert Pliant” (now why they call a concert a folding one I haven’t a clue nor was I able to gather any other information).

Today’s was played on a Jacob Stirnemann fecit 1777 by Jovanka Marville in the historical Conseil d’Etat (the executive power of the state) room. This Salon got its name from the fact that the woodwork on the walls, cornices, etc. were taken from the original Conseil d’Etat room: all of the furniture dates back to the 18^th century thus permitting the audience to be in the same atmosphere and listening conditions that were typical of this period. The piano itself is composed of two key board of 61 keys, but its’ builder used a Southern German technic to link the two keyboards. The concert was Baroque and fabulous.  Leaving the concert at 13:45 one was very hungry so chose to go to the closest restaurant available. They still had the lunch menu – the crowds were fairly non-existent and the meal delightful.

Front of the piano

Cover when lifted

I then topped all that off with a trip to the Bains Bleues – our local spa, leaving my cell phone in the car!

Relaxed, mellow, ready to return to the carousel tomorrow, I will no go up, turn on my cell phone and pick up on “real” life – although somehow the day I just had seems much to be emulated more often.

I let go…

And floated free.

 

I finally found a whole week in my busy life where I could disappear to the mountains! Younger son is home for a couple of weeks and I am taking advantage of his presence to not have to organize the cats, but to take a true vacation: one made all the sweeter by the fact that I have filed my taxes, sent in on-line the FBARs and in general am caught up – perhaps not with all that needs doing, that’s an ongoing challenge, but at least with the urgent.

This time as I wasn’t in a rush I also decided to stop by my favorite water complex Lavey-les-Bains on the way http://www.lavey-les-bains.ch/en.  Left home slightly later than planned so grabbed a sandwich at one stop in order to not have a heavy stomach in the water then spent almost three hours just relaxing. Totally unusual for me, I didn’t even push myself to do laps, but simply wandered around through the various hot pools, the against-the-current-circle (although I did go against the current, I did so slowly and on the inner wall – not much of a challenge).

One of my favorite things there is to do the quarter of an hour floating on a mattress and listening to either classical music or whales underwater. As there were not many people on this Thursday afternoon during the school year I finally unhooked my feet from the metal railing around the pool and floated free! What a feeling as eyes closed I listened to classical music as transmitted through the water – talk about surround sound!

I even took in the sensorial experience, which I have never done before: green light, an aroma meant to be soothing and the twitter of birds did give me the advertised serenity: off to the hamman and some warmth followed by the “silent” room to interiorize all the relaxing experiences.

Talk about “letting go” – if I got any further released I’d probably float away into the clouds some of which are looking pretty dark up here as the light fades on a wonderful day.

A weekend in the Swiss Alps

It is a well-known fact that I love to travel and that I do so rather frequently. Many of the trips involve actually leaving the country (probably about 80% of the time) and most are also long distance visiting family in the USA and in Germany.

The only “short” trips are those to the flat that I rent during the summer months as that is roughly two hours depending upon how many times I stop or take side-trips on the way. The shortest trips otherwise are the 3-hour train rides to Paris, or the 7 hour ones to Southern France/Northern Germany.

When my younger son decided that he would like to hold a party at home (he is currently living here – another story entirely) I said, no problem, I’ll go stay in a hotel for the night. Well that became, oh yeah, maybe I should go somewhere that I haven’t seen and, for the comfort, also take the train.

Up to Leysin it was.

One of many such chalets

Detail on a cow bell

Many lovely displays in this chalet

And what a fun weekend it turned out to be. Last minute reservation at the Mercure hotel (not going to rave about it – it was adequate) then joined a friend who was dining with other friends Friday night and Saturday night.  First though the tour to a local restaurant and mini alpine museum where they make the cheese in the old-fashioned way – in a large caldron – three times a week for the evening fondues. Then it was off to an Italian restaurant: five adults and one child. Three were of Italian origin, one of those was married to a girl from Cameroon and of course me. All were polyglots.

Cheese Restaurant in Leysin, Switzerland

Old-fashioned way of making cheese

Saturday my coffee buddy and I went off to Bulle (nearest larger city to the castle of Gruyère always a hit with the tourists) to attend the indoor flea market. I was at the tail end of a weird flu episode so after a couple of hours needed to sit and went and found the cloakroom and a bench: these indoor events rarely have seating and I didn’t think it polite to simply sit down on someone’s stall – or antique chairs. Entertained myself reading a brochure that some kids were peddling then the lady who’s stall was just outside the cloakroom asked if I would watch her stand for her whilst she went to the bathroom. Not every visitor finds them self a temporary saleswoman: fun.

Traveling there we took the back roads and mountain passes – something that as a family we had never done. Started snowing on the way back so ever so “typically Swiss” and we stopped for coffee in an authentic mountain “bistro”. 

That night we continued the oh-so-international theme when we joined the cousin, his companion and another woman in the latter’s chalet for sushi!  D’s chalet was a most wonderful blend of traditional Swiss and zen Japanese: she trained as an artist, in particular ceramics, and taught at Scripp’s in L.A. as well as at the University of Bern before turning to teaching in order “to make a living”. All the dishes used were her own works and I’d love to talk her into coming out of retirement as an artist. The other woman’s history was just as fascinating. Main language of the evening: Italian with a smattering of French as well as German between three of us when S. discovered that I spoke it.  The cousin was more than entertaining and the word “mass” will forever make me laugh as at one point whilst discussing how the artist had put one leg on solid ground and the other on not-so-solid thus falling forward he described it as her “mass” made her topple meaning of course mass and velocity (he was an engineer) as opposed to weight (she was top heavy), but he had a hard time back peddling out of that one.

Best sushi ever!

The of algaes salad was devoured by all

Again late to bed, but no matter as Sunday there were no plans. Late breakfast followed by simply relaxing, partially in the sun, after touring the village and admiring how the snow, which had ever so conveniently fallen during the night, covered the slush, mud and rocks that had been apparent upon my arrival.

Fresh snow powdering on the trees

Must have been a strong wind at some point

Christmas lights and snow make the branches festive

Huge rocky mountains

La Tour d'Ai

It was a true break (tried checking e-mails the first night as the hotel supposedly had wi-fi, but although I could go online for the news, etc. couldn’t seem to get passed the barriers for e-mails etc. so decided that a computer-free weekend was perhaps a good thing) and returning home somewhat of a let-down, but never mind I have another adventure with my housemate coming up mid-February.