Zurich – the miscellany

Amongst the hanging out with my cousin, her colleagues and people from many directions who were all there to attend a wedding, I wandered the city. The following photos are some of the bits and pieces that caught my eye in the two days that I was there. Will go back when the weather is not quite as unbearable as so much more to see and enjoy.

Had an iced coffee (literally ice in coffee)

gorgeous flower shop

The Hotel Adler had this lovely cow on the back side

Lipp's and a bar are below

interesting corner building

interesting window

Zurich has many unusual drinking fountains

Not far removed from August 1st, the National holiday

bike path clearly marked

a scale in an upper window

view through the alley

another window

the local shoemaker

reflection in a gallery window

very Swiss facade

o.k. how many of you make the drain pipe fit the building properly?

Another reflection

These three statues were across the door of a corner building

Maybe here's where "The Scream" by Munch came from ?

...full of himself... ?

For my sister - an ad for milk

water fountain

A most delicious and copious meal!

sunset from FIFA headquarters

 

On the road again…

And again and again and again

I’m a traveler – up for most any trip from a few hours to a few weeks (try to avoid entire months, but have done the odd 7-week trip).

It must have started when my parents moved from the state of Washington to Southern California when I was just 9 months old. Followed a few years where the “only” trips were camping ones for summer holidays, but oh the places I have camped in!

Then there was the car trip across the country (California to Washington D.C.) when I was ten: first along the Southern states, return across the Northern ones.

As a just-barely-teenager the family moved to Hawaii for three years – our summer holidays were limited to the nearest islands.

My young adult life involved two years in a boarding school in Northern California with mostly short flights to return home for holidays, but there were also the band tours and summer jobs as camp counselor in the mountains, then my first year of university back in Southern California.

I had just turned 19 when I began to seriously travel: a year abroad flying to New York then a student boat across the Atlantic to Le Havre in France. Christmas vacations, weekends, Easter vacations – all used to explore first Austria then Italy (never mind the pre-school trip through France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland before landing just outside of Geneva Switzerland).

After that initial introduction to Europe I have lost count of the number of trips and countries.

I have traveled by “Plane, Train and Automobile” (remember the movie?) as well as ship, boat, canoe, tram, bus, hot air balloon, cable car and (one memorable excursion )camels.

I have traveled solo; with first my husband (South America was one of those 7-week sagas) then with husband and children (another 7-week was from New York to Alaska with several other trips in between); with a close friend (many of those – so many adventures) or two as well as in a group. All trips, all modes of transportation, all types of lodging (under the stars in nothing but a sleeping bag, tents, lodges, motels, hotels – of all standards – luxury lodgings, even B and Bs though I have yet to explore AirBnB), each have their own advantages, disadvantages, discomforts and charms.

They are however all, without exception, an experience!

Today I traveled to Zurich to join my cousin, taking the train (bless my community for having “day cards” – anywhere in Switzerland for one day at a very reasonable price).

It was another great experience as I enjoyed lunch in the dining car, views first of the lake, then of the plateau between the alps, more rivers and finally a big city. All that in just three hours and in great comfort!

my train today

typical train station - this one is Lausanne

Along the Lac Léman

Lavaux vineyards

tracks along the way

a u-shaped river

Zurich train station and Niki de Phalle's "Angel"

Rear of the Zurich train station

So on to yet another adventure in my life. I always enjoy being “on the road”.

Family, Friends, Flexibility and Fun

So there are many sayings to cover those times when plans don’t quite go as planned:

• If life gives you lemons, make lemonade
• Silver linings on the clouds
• One can’t make an omelet without breaking the eggs etc.

And there are also many exhorting us as to how to find the good amongst the bad.

I recently came across John Wooden’s « Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. » (Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnwooden120997.html - fdzrdllXUBo1PvF5.99)

Yesterday was the proof of the validity of that sentence.

Originally my housemate and I had scheduled one of our quarterly “adventures”. Day cards on the train were bought, the Airbnb booked for two nights in Lucerne, Switzerland where we intended relaxing and making a trip to one of our favorite Swiss artist’s museum – the Hans Erni museum at the Verkehrshaus, Luzern.

Then came the bad mammo, the biopsy showing cancer and the PET scan showing other hot spots. Gall bladder removal as well as a snip in the intestine showed those hot spots to be simple inflammations – yeah! However, there was the breast cancer still to be treated.

A mastectomy had been scheduled for July 17^th. . That however became gall bladder removal on the 17^th with a re-schedule for July 28^th.  We figured, based upon my experience in 2013 that although she wouldn’t be up to the two-night trip, we could still do a day trip and have lunch somewhere.

Meanwhile my cousin arrived the 28^th and had intended leaving the 30^th, until the friends with whom she had planned going to Interlaken left things a bit late and changed the destination to Paris instead. She was not interested so stayed on for the weekend.

I had planned on joining her in Zurich after my trip to Lucerne.

So first switch – sell the return day card that had been intended for my housemate to another friend needing to go to Basel. That left me still with an extra one for the 3^rd. As my housemate didn’t finally leave the hospital until the 2^nd she suggested that I do something with my cousin. It was just a hop, skip and a jump in the thought process to decide that said cousin could go one day early to Zurich thus eliminating the need to pay for an expensive train ticket the 4^th and I’d use my own and accompany her part of the way – having lunch in Bern. (Convoluted I know, but I hope you have been able to follow)

What a fun day it turned out to be: weather was perfect, the scenery at its best and my cousin treated me to lunch on the outside terrace of the “Casino” overlooking the Aare River.

National Capital - Federal Building in Bern

National Capital - Federal Building in Bern

The Bern "Münster" - the tallest church in Switzerland, overlooking the Aare River

Funnily enough my cousin had just been to this cellar (Little James Basket)

We had the delicious Viognier

My salad

Iced Coffee to die for - but we survived

Looking over Bern towards the Eiger, Jungfraujoch etc.

 

Even coffee on the train on the way home was from a proper machine!

The view of the Mont Blanc coming along the lake

Just another example of how one can truly turn something that at the beginning seems a disaster into something fun. My housemate also got the bonus of having the house to herself (o.k. her husband was also pretty happy to finally get her alone and out of a medical situation).

It’s what we call a “win, win, win”.

And, for me, a wonderful - if totally different from planned - birthday.

The perfect Holiday weekend

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 2^nd 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!