Before I move on to other things, I need to brag a little bit. Yesterday was Katie's 28th birthday. When I had Katie, I knew absolutely nothing about babies. Nada. Zilch. Diddly squat. No siblings. No babysitting. In spite of that, Greg and I managed to create this totally marvelous little person who has grown into a wise and empathetic woman and wife and mother with more common sense than her mother ever claimed to possess. Yup, we done good!
Okay, now back to the blog's title.
Tim and Doris have been our friends since we lived in Beacon, New York. In spite of sporadic promises of visits on both sides, the last time we saw them was when they came to visit us in Florida nineteen years ago. So Greg and I were thrilled when they announced plans to visit us here in Zurich from 23rd June to 2nd July.
It was a busy visit. Together, we visited places Greg and I have already been:
Zurich (well, yeah!). And for anyone with guests who are only here for one day, son-in-law Heath sent us this link: Zurich in a Hurry.
On Saturday we had to go to Oerlikon Market, of course! Greg goes into withdrawal whenever we have to give it a miss.
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| Tim, giving his impression of a suckling pig. |
Lucerne, with its signature wooden bridges, is, of course, a must on any visitor list.
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| You can't beat the Swiss public transportation system. |
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| Niiiiice! |
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| Ewwwwwww. Some sights should be missed. |
Then we rented a car and headed for Bulle and our favorite (and cheap!) Hotel Ibis. Bulle is in a French speaking canton and, if Greg and I were to stay in Switzerland, this area would be our first choice.
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| Our intrepid driver. |
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| Damn GPS decided it would only work sporadically ...very sporadically. In Switzerland, they give you a two year warranty on everything you buy but, unlike in the US where they just give you a new one, here everything has to be sent away to be examined to see if it can be fixed ... or to determine if you were just fibbing about it not working. Hopefully, it will be all better and back here by the time the kids come on the 28th. |
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| View from our hotel window. |
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| The last time we were here, this field across from the hotel had cows in it. |
Gruyeres is another box that needs to be checked if you're heading to the area with your visitors ...
... as is Chateau Chillon on the end of Lac Lemon near Montreaux.
Charmey is famed for all those cows noisily descending from their summer alpine meadows.
(See my previous blog.)
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| I think clouds make the mountains even more magical. They do, however, make it damn hard to see the peaks! |
Saint Saphorin, Rivaz and Yvorne: All lovely tiny places nestled in the vineyards.
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| Greg and I visited Clos du Rocher the first time we came to this area. Their wines are good but for us the biggest attraction is these two. |
Then it was on to places new to us.
We stayed in another Hotel Ibis in Sion but I wouldn't recommend it. No A/C and a lot of noise from the street ... especially as this was Euro 2012 season and there was much cheering and horn honking when Spain beat Portugal the first night and Italy beat Germany the next night. It was kind of neat, though, to see all the large TVs that had generated crowds outside cafes all over the city.
The people at the hotel were very helpful and the receptionist recommended we have our picnic up a side valley with a strange geological formation called the Cheminees des fees (Fairy chimneys).
She also recommended that we take the switchback route up to a beautiful spot called Crans-Montana. We hiked up to a cafe called - I'm not kidding - Buvette du Sex.
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We took a train up to Zermatt to get a look at the Matterhorn and we did see most of it. When Greg showed the pictures to co-workers, they said we'd seen more of the mountain in our one shot at it then some of them had seen in multiple attempts. Zermatt is a pretty town, although very touristy with the same upscale stores you see on the Bahnhoffstrasse here in Zurich.
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| Men in Black? |
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| Peek-a-Boo |
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| Almost! |
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| Cemetary for Mountaineers who have died on the Matterhorn. There have been over 500 deaths. |
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| There is a small section of preserved wooden buildings. Greg told me the stone on top of the support for this grain barn was to keep the rats out. |
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| What a slick way to water the plants! |
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| Edelweiss |
In the two years we've been in Switzerland, Greg and I had never driven a high pass over the mountains. We rectified that on this trip with a take-your-breath-away foray over the Grimsel Pass. About halfway up, we had to come to a screeching halt as a huge truck came around a blind switchback ... on our side of the road. The motorcyclist in front of us almost ended up as a decal on its side. Fortunately, he was paying attention.
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| On top of the world. |
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| I've yet to see any marmots in the wild but we did hear them whistling all around us as we were taking pictures. These little guys were in a pen by a restaurant. |
Back in Zurich once again, we took the train to St Gallen so Tim and Doris (a librarian) could check out the ancient hand illuminated manusscripts. The next day, we took the train and ferry to Mainau Island.
While Tim and Doris were here, we spent a lot of time eating ...
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| With skies threatening rain, we decided to eat our picnic on the terrace of the Hotel Ibis in Bulle. One of the hotel employees was not amused but since we were staying there and the terrace was deserted, she confined herself to tsking. |
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| A return visit to Le Gruyerion in Morlon. The perch was to die for ... |
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| ... as was the famous Gruyere double cream on meringues. |
In Les Diablerets, we were not about to let the rain spoil our picnic!
... and drinking.
But mostly just talking.
All too soon, it was time to say goodbye. Greg and I promised that it will be our turn to take the initiative on the next visit and we plan to do that soon.
Nineteen years is a long time to wait.
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