Leaving Switzerland on a jet plane.

Hi, it's Swizzy!
I know its been a long time, and I have much updating to do, but it's not my fault, my old valiant computer finally gave up the ghost and I have only just replaced it! After a lovely visit from my mum, dad and sister for a few days at the end of my work placement I flew home on the 22nd December, without being too disrupted by the snow. Basel looked so beautiful in all the snowfall, and I acted as a tour guide for my family, taking them on a trip to Freiburg, in Germany, for the Christmas market, Bern, which I had already visited, but is so pretty it is well worth another visit. I had a great time taking them around the city and to my favourite food haunts, the Bier House was a great hit with all of them!
Being back at home is lovely, but I miss Switzerland and will definitely be heading back, there are still places I'd love to go and see. The weekend before I left I went to Schilthorn with my flatmate and a workmate, it is a mountain, and was absolutely covered with snow, so beautiful, and we went sledging. We all managed to survive the cold, and I really appreciated my ski jacket's insulation.
I know that was a bit of rush through my last few months in Switzerland, but I'm in the process of sorting out my scrapbook and photos and will update this blog, as the memories resurface.
I may have left Switzerland, but Swiss Family Issy will continue, with updates about my life returning to Uni!
All that left of this particular post is to say I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year,
Love,

Swizzy x x x

HerbstMesse

Just a quick update as I realised I haven't blogged in a while, due to trip home, and being generally lazy. I even forgot to mention my trip to Bar Mixing, where I got taught to make cocktails by the Swiss National Champion Cocktail maker.
Anyway, for the past couple of weeks Basel has been hosting Herbstmesse, which is a mix of a trade fayre and amusement park, with attractions dotted around the city. Last week, we went to the Munsterplatz and had a ride on the giant Ferris wheel, with great views all over Basel. This Friday, we visited the Cornish Pastie stand and had a nostalgic taste of home. Going on the rides, knocking down tin cans, fishing for rubber ducks reminded me of my childhood holidays at my grandparents in G.Yarmouth. I even managed to win a small of prize. There were also stalls selling crafts, which was a good foretaste of what is to come later at the Christmas markets, which should be a real treat.
Yesterday visited Zurich with a couple of my neighbours, and although I'd already been, did see some new sights, or caught a glimpse of stuff I had forgotten seeing.
The clocks going back have made it dark here very early, and the weather definitely has a wintery feel to it now, I even wore my stylish waterproof trousers to church this evening. Today the hymns were very appropriate for my mood, Do Not Be Afraid, etc.
Have a good week, and love to you all,

Swizzy x x x
Swizzy

Bern! Picture Postcard Capital!

Today I finally got around to visiting Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, which is around 1 hour away from Basel by train. The weather couldn't have looked worse when I woke up this morning, it was absolutely a heavy drownpour as I left the apartment block. By the time I got onto the train to Bern though, after grabbing a coffee and pastry at the train station, the rain had stopped and at some points in the afternoon there was even quite warm sunshine.

Arriving at the central train station in Bern, I headed to the Travel Information Centre, where I picked up a map, and followed the route given for a walking tour of Bern. It is a beautiful city, with old fashioned buildings, and full of beautiful fountains, depicting various figures, from Moses by the Cathedral, a Piper, a Mustekeer, and a Bear, the symbol of the city, whose flag is flown off most of the buildings. My walk took me down the main street, past the clock tower, Marktgasse and Kramgasse, and past the house where Einstein lived during his time in Bern. As a science geek, I naturally popped in. It was a small flat, but was decorated the way it was when Einstein and his family lived there in the 1900s. There was a huge amount of information about all of Einstein's life, and quotes which were really interesting. Bern was where Einstein began his academic career as a lecturer at Bern University, and developed his theory of relativity. After visiting Einstein's house, I headed past the Justice fountain, towards the Bear Pits. These are being updated and 2 new bears will be housed there, but they are in quarantine at the moment, so I didn't get to see them. I'm not sure how I feel about keeping the bears there, but there was a vote of the Bernese citizens, who approved the re-development. From here though, there is a great view out towards the River Aare, which seemed to have a pretty strong current. I then headed to the Cathedral, where the was a wedding party arriving, with cute pageboys and bridemaids fighting with the wind to keep the red carpet down for the bride to walk along. I climbed up the Cathedral tower, which was pretty steep and had a cool view over the city, and looking down could see the park by the Cathedral, where there were table tennis places and chess boards, very continental outdoor lifestyle in evidence. I next visited the Swiss Parliament, which had the Swiss National Bank opposite it. You could walk around the parliament, no black concrete blocks keeping the people away here, but unfortunately all the guided tours of the inside where booked up for the day, so had to content myself with seeing the outside of the building. There was a cheese festival going on in the square by the Parliament, which was sponsored by Emmental, with a model cow for children to practice milking. This seemed like typical Switzerland to me.

Then hopped back onto the train to Basel after buying a few postcards to remember my trip.

Have a good weekend, Love,

Swizzy x x x

Oh Vienna (25th-27th Sept)

On Friday I set off on my trip to see my coursemates who are working in Wiener Neustadt in Vienna. Having got on a mini airplane (there were about 20 rows), I managed to successfully navigate my way to Vienna Sudbahnhof, where I meet Tom and Andy. My first impression of Vienna is that it has a much more Eastern European feel, some of the stations I passed through on the way into town looked much like they would have in clips from the 80s. The boys were very knowledgable tour guides, and we spent Friday afternoon, dodging Mozart dressed ticket touts along the way, exploring the centre of the city, past Palace Belledevere, we visited St. Leonard's church and climbed up to the top of the Dome to see all the wonderful frescos. We then walked to the State Parliament, a very grand building, past the Rathaus, and the Opera, more on that later, and to the main square of the city, where the Cathedral is, which we also visited. We had an early dinner, schnitzel and potato salad, very traditional, and then drinks at a nearby bar, which had quirky toilets, and also sold the furniture in it. Then we headed back on the train to Wiener Neustadt, to the boys apartment in a student block. I was very jealous of their two minute walk to work.
Nex morning, after a lesiurely breakfast, we headed to the Prater in Vienna, which has a ferris wheel, made in Victorian times, by a Liverpool native, fine British craftmanship, which still works today. We had a ride and had terrific views of the whole of Vienna. There were some special booths on the wheel were groups were having lunch and drinks receptions. Lunch was a relaxed affair by the banks of the Donau, a leafy suburban area. We spent the afternoon going round the Hofburg, it had a large, a bit too large, silver exhibition, and an interesting exhibition on Empress Elizabeth, known as Sisi, who seemed to be the Princess Di of her time, and I'd never heard of her so found it really informative. The Imperial apartments were rather grand as expected, had to rush through them a bit to get to the Opera. We had a relatively short queue for tickets, which cost 3 euros, and had standing places in the balcony with a reasonably good view, could see all the orchestra as well, and treated ourselves to interval drinks, but felt a little shabby in our tourist clothes compared to some of the well dressed audience. It was the Pique Dame, by Tchaikovsky, which translates as the Queen of Spades. Happily there was a translation bar, and although I didn't have huge sympathy for the main characters, I really enjoyed myself, and was glad the Opera wasn't too highbrow for an Essex girl. There was a great moral about the dangers of gambling and a gruesome end. The building interior itself was very grand and orchestra sounded amazing. The Opera is partly state funded, bring it in in England, I say.
I spent Sunday visiting the Schonnbrunn Palace, just time for the grounds, due to length of Sunday morning lie in, being knackered from standing at Opera for full 3 hours. It is magnificient though, and managed to do the deceptively tricky maze quite successfully. Then grabbed my traditional Austrian coffee and strudel before buying tourist postcards and Mozart chocs for my lab. Writing up my adventures at the airport before I forgot what I'd done passed time at the airport and I got back around 12 to my accommodation in Basel, so am not too knackered tonight typing this up.
Pretty exciting weekend really and loved Vienna, I'd definitely go again as didn't manage to see all of it.
Until next week,

Swizzy x x x

Visit from Friends: 19-21st Sept

So I was just about to get up to date with my blog when I was invited to play bowling with other members of my corridors. So postponing my packing for my trip to Vienna tomorrow, here's what I got up to last weekend. I picked up my mates Dom and Tim from the airport at about 9pm on Friday night, and we went for some food and a drink in the centre of Basel before heading back to Muttenz. It was really great to see them and had an amazing time, I hope they enjoyed themselves (if you're reading this blog let me know!).

So after a lovely lie in on Saturday morning we headed to Langenbruck, in the Baselbiet, where they have a Solarbob. The train journey was quite long, although it wasn't far outside of Basel. It was really great fun, we had several goes, and I got progressively bravier each time, going faster and breaking less. The way up on the Solarbob allowed views of the countryside and many alpine cows. We then headed back to Basel and cooked together in my apartment kitchen (which Dom seemed pretty impressed by) before heading to a restaurant in Muttenz for some drinks. We spent Sunday wandering around Basel, visiting the Tinguely fountain, climbing up the Munster towers, which gave an amazing view of Basel city. The way up was very narrow, and passed by the bells, which rang whilst we were up there. We also went to the Natural History Museum, which was cool, we're all quite sciency, and enjoyed it. Being the leading lights of the University Catholic Society, I had to take them to the English speaking mass in Bruderholz, going via a different tram than usual, so it took a little longer than normal.
I dropped them off Monday evening at the airport, and was sad to see them go. It was really nice to see them and we had a really good catch up.

So off to pack belatedly for my Vienna trip, tune in next week for the write up of that adventure, a trip to the opera might be on the cards,

Love,

Swizzy x x x

Jungfrau- Top Of Europe!

I am starting to put the dates on these blogs, of when the trips I'm writing about occurred otherwise things are going to get confused as I get more and more behind with whats been going on! So this is the 12th and 13th of September folks, here goes.

Just before the weekend started, I was able to go to a Swiss brewery and enjoy the local beer. It was very interesting, although the guided tour was a bit boring for me, as I couldn't understand the detailed german explanations of the hops used and brewing methods. A lab colleague translated bits for me to keep me more in the loop. We had a BBQ and free beer was on offer. I naturally tried a few, the "better than Guiness" beer, the owner recommended really didn't have a patch on Guiness though.

That weekend we went to Jungfrau, in the Bernese Oberland and it was incredible. A train to Grindelwald, which was like a postcard Christmas village, where we stayed Friday night, was the first step on the way to "the top of Europe". Then in the morning we got the train, completely packed at 9am, up to Kleine Scheidegg, which is the departure point for the steep cable car up to Jungfraujoch. We had a good ride up, with ear popping, and were given a few stopping points to look out at the view. At the top it was incredible-it was more than a blanket covering of snow, as far as the eye could see there was an entire landscape of snow, that glittered like crystals. After a few rides on the snow disks and a very short husky ride (it was literally a minute, but we got to pet the huskies after, who were soo cute and reminded me of Australian dingoes), so short all you could hear were American tourists complaining about it, we walked through the snow, with incredible diificulty, due to lack of fitness, to a station about 45minutes away to eat lunch. It was so cool to just be walking past huge snow covered mountains supplying an amazing background.

After lunch, the now downhill walk to the Sphinx observation platform at the top of Jungfrau, was much more manageable, although the sun had became to melt the top layers of the snow, so it was more slippery, we pulled ourselves away from the huskies, and visited the Ice Palace. It was full of ice sculptures, and is kept cool, believe it or not, by use of renewable solar power. After buying a few tacky souvenirs at the gift shop it was off back down the mountain, and a well deserved rest. We noticed at this point we'd all got a little bit sunburnt from the strength of the ice reflection of the sun!

The next day I visited Schynige Platte, which is a beautiful old fashioned railway up to a Mountain station, with beautiful views, unfortunately these were obscured by the fog when I got up there, hey ho, never mind. Did manage to visit the alpine botanical garden, and glimpse some Edelweiss before it disappeared for the winter period. There was also a little teddy bear exhibit near the hotel, which perches on the mountain, which was sweet, but not solely worth the journey up the mountain for!

So that's it for another instalment of Swizzy's adventure, special birthday wishes for Smell on the 25th for her 25th (sorry I can't be there).
Loads of love,

Swizzy x x x

Night at the Museum!

So, what has been happening in Swizzy land over the past week.

First on Thursday we had a corridor meal at the halls of residence where I'm staying, which was really cool. Our resident Italian, Nicola cooked us spaghetti, he went a bit overboard on quantities and was pushing third helping on everyone, but it tasted amazing. Then we had some awesome chocolate fondant cake, which was prepared by one of the French girls on the floor. I am really jealous of her cooking skills! We chatted, and then managed a couple of rounds of bowling in the halls' very own bowling alley (that would be gloating except it is really old, and more like skittels than bowling)!
Then on Friday night I headed to St. Gallen, which is to the East of Switzerland, and near the Bodensee, which is also known as Lake Constance. The hostel I stayed in was comfy and relaxing. I got to the hostel around 7.30pm and after checking in and dumping my stuff, headed to a local restaurant, and had a nice meal and afterwards a chat with one of the waitresses, who gave me tips of where to go on the Bodensee. The next day I headed off to the German city of Constance, and then hopped on a boat to the picturesque town of Meersburg, which has its lovely cobbled streets and a beautiful castle dating from the Middle Ages. When I arrived back in St.Gallen I was wandering around the streets and reached the old Monastery complex, which has become an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was hosting a Museum Night, and I paid 20 francs, which got me entry into all the museums throughout the night. The cathedral at the heart of the complex was very impressive, and is according to my guidebook at least, a terrific example of classic Swiss baroque architecture. I was most impressed by the Stiftsbibliothek, which is the library of the monastery, which was amazing. I had to wear some very large slippers to go in, as it's all wooden and they need to protect the floorboards. There were so many books and it seems really fitting all these incredibly old and invaluable manuscripts were housed in such a magnificent place (I am definitely turning into my dad)! You couldn't take photographs but I didn't think I'd have been able to do it justice, so was quite happy to settle for buying a postcard as a momento.
From the Stiftbibliothek I headed to St. Leonards' Kirche (that's a church) and was able to climb the bell tower to get a good view of St. Gallen before the sunset. I managed to get up and down in time to avoid the hourly striking of the bells of the tower. Looking out from the tower it seemed to me St. Gallen is a city full of churches and they each have their own bell towers which seem to dominate the skyline. I suppose that's hardly surprising considering that the city was founded by an Irish monk called Gallus in the Middle Ages.
I then headed to the textile museum, which for some strange reason had a fencing (sword play not garden fencing) exhibition taking place outside it, which was good fun to watch. There were also food stands outside all the museums, and by the cathedral I had a Bratwurst and a banana and nutella crepe at the textile museum, which tasted awesome. Headed back to the hostel and then returned to Basel on Sunday morning, as museum night had allowed me to visit all the places I'd meant to save for Sunday. Then it was back to the grindstone as usual Monday morning.

Keep in touch, thinking of all of you,

Love,

Swizzy x x x

The Baselbiet.

So, I'm back from this weekend away only to realise I haven't even updated my blog about last weekend. Time seems to be flying by, last Sunday was the 2 month anniversary of my arrival in Basel. Can't believe we've reached September already!
Anyway, if I can stretch my memory back to last weekend, here's what I got up to....
Friday night had a nice relax, a beer by the Rhine, and a meal at Lily's, a East Asian restaurant (sort of a Swiss slightly posher version of Waggamamma's, with the same sort of benches). I had a lovely, if not a bit too spicy for me, curry and then an awesome bannana fritter. After this we headed to see "My Sister's Keeper". I had read the book, and not to spoil the film for anyone who wants to see it, was a bit disappointed that they'd changed the ending. It was still very moving and touching, and made me think of my big sister back at home (miss you loads skin!).
The next morning, we headed to Reigoldswil, which was about 45mins away on the bus from Basel, and in Baselbiet, the countryside which surrounds the city. We got the standard, ever present Cablecar up to Wasserfallen, I will call it a hill (but I think it is a mountain, just a very small one for Switzerland). We walked around and saw some lovely countryside views and flora and fuana. We had our pack lunch at the peak, and then grabbed "scooters" (they were scooters except you stood on them with both feet) to journey back down. It was a bit surreal, you felt like you wanted to sit down on them, and the incline was so steep you had to always have the break on a little bit. For any parents reading, yes I did have a helmet on. It was really fun though, and ironically I managed to fall over on foot on gravel before getting on the scooter, scrapping my hand up, not on the dangerous part of the day. After that, had a drink at a local swiss restaurant and then headed back on the bus to Basel.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy morning and then we headed to Colmar, described as the Little Venice of France around lunch. On the train it's just under an hour, and the countryside you pass through, is surprisingly, much drier than Basel's countryside. The reason for the trip was to visit FLUNCH, a French version of MacDonalds, as Abi remembers having Steak Hassiche there as a kid and wanted a bit of a nostasglia trip. From our Steak Hassiche, we headed to the main square of Colmar, which was very picturesque, and we passed lots of quaint tourist shops and even a Sorbetiere Isabelle. (my new ambition is now to open my own!) We then enjoyed coffee and cake outside in the main square, by the church. The canals of the Little Venice, were very shallow, but quite pretty.
Then I think we might have been incredibly sad and watched The X Factor online, but you gotta keep up with the gossip back home! (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

Will update about this weekend soon, and try not leave it as late as usual.

Have a good week,

Swizzy x x x

Madagascar Remembered

Hey Everyone! Hope your all well.
Not too much to report this week. I spent the weekend chillaxing in Basel, had many coffees and ice teas in the local coffee bars and of course grabbed a bit of the Ashes action! The weather was really lovely and on Saturday I spent a bit of the afternoon in the "GartenBad" in St.Jakob (a suburb of Basel very near to Muttenz), it is a garden with 3 different swimming pools, one with more slides for children, and another one for more serious swimmers. I was able to blend in and pretend that I belonged in this pool. Then I headed for English mass in Bruderholz, and enjoyed listening to the enthusiastic American music leader.
Catching up on the news at the weekend, I was shocked and saddened to see that the situation in Madagascar is rapidly disintergrating. I've included the link to the article that triggered this post. It was mostly upsetting, as I had such a get time in Madagscar, and learnt so much there, and the all the people I meet there were incredible. It was poignant to think that as I am enjoying another adventure in my life, my first big adventure destination is going through such a terrible time. Please return the situation in your prayers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8210000/8210355.stm

Have a good week,
Loads of love,

Swizzy x x x

Geneva, Geneve, Genf

It's pretty confusing living in a country where they speak 4 languages. Everyone calls places by different names. I spent the whole week telling people I was going to Geneva, which they didn't seem to get, and then got told it was called Genf by the German speaking Swiss. The places can sound really similar in different languages and I'm pretty impressed that with my sense of navigation I haven't as yet ended up stranded in the wrong city!

This Saturday, me and Abi, and her friend Flick whose staying for a couple of days, headed off to Geneva, and the train was fun, with really nice views of lakes and mountains. Again, arriving in Geneva, it had a totally different feel, quite obviously French, but I have to painfully admit, probably one of the nicest cities I've visited (not sure if it bets Luzern or not at the moment). However I couldn't live there (too many Frenchies)! We headed to the International City, which is north of the lake, and strolled along by Lac Leman, which is I think (but I could be wrong), the biggest in Europe (at least one of the biggest). There is a fountain, which Geneva, is very proud of, definitely the largest in the world, which spurts water straight out of the lake high into the air. On Sunday we managed to stand near it for some good photos, but weren't crazy enough to jump underneath and get soaked, which thrilled all the kids that did so.

Back to the International City though. We approached via the Botanical Gardens and an ice cream stop (it was boiling and needed a cool down from the trek up). We passed the UNICEF building and then approached the UN headquarters, which had it's very own protest (only a small family protesting-not very coherently though, apparently we should interfere in Iran, but leave Iraq and Afghanistan immediately!) I had my picture taken outside the UN sign and flags, possibly one of the proudest moments of my life and then we walked around the fountain, and saw a modern statue of a huge chair with a broken leg, I like to think it is a statement that there is always space for negotiation, but that it's not comfy, but you'd have to ask the artist what they meant.

A stroll past the Gandhi statue, lead to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum. This had really poignant statues of covered chained people, symbolising the loss of humanity of refugees and prisoners. I was really impressed by the whole exhibits, and the founding philosophy of Henry Dunant, that love and respect outdo violence and hate. Maybe it was hitting a particular cord with my Christian values. However seeing exhibited pictures of orphaned Rwandan children, did strike a terrible cord, as I'd just seem hotel Rwanda, and the exhibition about the Holocaust. I didn't realise though, that Red Cross agents, went in at the end of the war to try to prevent more killing, before the liberation of the camps had been accompolished, agreeing with German authorities they wouldn't leave at all.

After that we went and check in to our Youth Hostel, which was pretty good, had good security and the next morning the continental breakfast wasn't too awful! I filled up on bread and my favourite blackcurrant jam! In the evening we went to a local restuarant, where I had roast beef and chips (it wasn't what I'd expected when I'd ordered, it was cold slices but still tasty) and then walked along the lake front before heading back for to the hostel for bed.

The next morning we walked around the old streets of Geneva, which were very pretty, and covered in the Swiss and Geneva canton flags. By one we'd really exhausted Geneva, so headed back to Basel. I got back in time for mass in Muttenz, full of Marian hymns for the Assumption, and then we headed into Basel for dinner, at a very authentic Swiss restuarant in Barfusserplatz, so authentic it had swiss drunks singing traditional songs by the time I was finishing my pudding of apple fritters.

So that's about all for this week guys,

Keep safe and enjoying your summer, we got a mega heat wave here, it is very hot on the trams commuting to work.
I am getting behind with photos but they will be added some time next week,


Swizzy x x x

Bella Italia!

Well, well, the world's most disorganised blogger is now finally recapping her trip to Lugano, if I can remember that far back!

Before I get to last weekend though, have to describe my swim in the Rhein last Thursday. It's one of the things I've really wanted to do since I arrived, and finally managed it last week, with my work clothes in my waterproof (actually did keep everything dry) bright orange bag, which also acts as a great buoyancy aid. We walked all the way down (sorry should say upriver) and then jumped in. It was very cold at first but then got used to the water and were warmed by the sun. It only took a little way to make it all the way down, under a couple of bridges, bobbing along in the current. It was relatively easy to jump out onto the bank when we reached mittlere brucke, and sat having an ice cream with the Basel locals drying off.

So, on Friday, we headed off to Lugano, which is in one of the two Italian speaking cantons, called Ticino, and is very close to the Italian border. It is surrounded by Alps, and is a very mountainous region even for Switzerland. Before jumping on the train, we had dinner at "Mister Wong", a buffet style Chinese restaurant by the station we seem to have become rather fond of in the last month. The train took about 4 hours, and we arrived in Lugano at 11 ish, and had a short walk to our hostel, the Montariano. It was very clean, and had a swimming pool, which we used on the Saturday evening, which was really good, but our sleep was interrupted by noisy guests, and leaves one a bit surly when you've been up at 6 during the week. The next morning we had time to properly explore the town. The hostel was at the top of the hill, and the town continued below. I've never been to Italy, but it had what I consider a very traditional Italian feel, with steep cobbled stone steps. Although it was raining a bit, we hired mountain bikes, and set off on a countryside journey to a town up in the mountains called Senvico. It didn't seem very steep, but was uphill all the way, and after 3 hours we reached just outside the town. Being completely parched, we stopped at a local restaurant for 3 bottles of sprite and a pizza (which defeated me, as I have to admit, I could only eat half of it). All the men were sitting around, drinking coffee while one waitress was having to serve all the customers (typical Italians). The way back was much easier, free wheeled all the way down to the town. After that in the evening went up by funicular to the top of Mount San Salvatore, which has an amazing view of all the surroundings, you could see Milan, and Lake Como and the rest of Lake Lugano. We had a more restful night on Saturday evening, and next morning had a nice coffee and cake at a local cafe. A trip on the boat was in store next and we headed for Gandria, a beautiful village on the Lake. We walked the route of olives and then had a lunch at a restaurant with a patio over the Lake. It was very Italian, with Virgin Mary statues along the narrow cobbled streets. We popped back on the boat and on to real Italy, a town called San Mamote, and climbed to the local church, where there was amazing views of the surroundings. Then we had pasta at a local restaurant and an ice cream on the seafront in Lugano. Monday was a day off to allow us to travel back to Basel, and we spent the morning going on the Noddy seaside train around Lugano and then visited a couple of local churches and the cathedral. After nearly losing the safe key we headed back to the train station, and saw the scenery of the William Tell pass, which we missed in the dark on Friday night.

This week I've also managed to watch Hotel Rwanda, a very thought provoking film, a couple of episodes of Gilmore Girls, and actually won two games of pool (very fluky)!

Hope your all well, photos will follow soon,

Swizzy

Happy Birthday Switzerland!

Feels like this week is rushing by, so it's time for the regular recap of the last weekends activities.
The build up to this weekend was epic, because Saturday 1st August is Swiss National Day, when the Swiss celebrate the founding of the Confederacy, the hero William Tell (who famously shot on arrow through an apple on his son's head), the defeat of the Hapsburg Empire, and the beginning of a united Switzerland. Feeling slightly cheated that the 1st August fell on a Saturday I was planning to celebrate in style, and the Swiss were madly preparing. Basel was decorated from the beginning of the week, with Swiss flags flying from bridges, houses, shops, everywhere really, with shops selling loads of souvenirs. It felt quite sad when I had to explain to all my Swiss and German colleagues, that we don't have a National Day in England, partly due to a group of nutters using the St. George's flag as a racist symbol. They thought it was crazy when I said we celebrate St.Patrick's Day more than our own saint's day.
Anyway back to the celebrations. Leaving work on Friday at about five-ish, I got a punt across the Rhein, it is carried across by the current, and was also adorned with Swiss flags. In all the main squares and streets off them, there were food stalls, selling traditional pretzels; which of course I tried-very different from pretzels back home as they taste more doughy, bratwurst, pizza, ice cream and then the more recent imports of Chinese and Indian food. There were tonnes of street bars selling beer and cocktails. It was lovely to stroll along the streets, having a couple of beers, and everyone was enjoying the laid back atmosphere and beautifully sunny weather. We could have that in London, although the weather wouldn't be guaranteed. There was a band playing on a platform in the river too. I grabbed a patch of grass by the Rhein ready to watch the fireworks that were launched from the river at 11.30pm. They lasted half an hour, and were amazing, and the view was great all the way along the river. I jumped on a tram home, which of course were still running amazingly efficiently, and got home at 2am. I was knackered, as I'd been up since 6.30am.

The next day, I woke and had brunch before popping back into town. I went to the Historical Museum, which is in an old church in Barfusserplatz. It was full of beautifully painted altarpieces and ornate religious sculptures, which have somehow managed to survive the Reformation. The church itself is very striking, and I'm sure my Dad would love to visit it! I then popped down to the Rhein, which showed no sign of the day before; everything had already been tidied up, and sat with a Starbucks iced coffee, reading my book and enjoying the sunshine. That evening I went to another student's house, an expat whose family lives in Switzerland, to see some more fireworks. The paella and BBQ was great, as was chatting to many Brits, had not been in a group of more than 3 Brits for a month! All the villages around Basel were celebrating with their own firework displays, and it was incredible to see them all set against the hills.

At the beginning of this week, I had traditional cheese fondue, which was very nice, can really taste the wine, and then watched The Proposal, which was pretty funny, and tried to follow the German subtitles as well as listening to the English being spoken. I've also just finished reading the Ugly American, which is about the American Foreign policy towards South East Asia in the 50's. It really struck me, and the parallels with the past few years were uncanny. I was also disappointed we're only 1-0 up in the ashes!

Happy Birthday to my Dad for tomorrow! And love as always,

Swizzy x

Baden, Baden!

This weekend was time for a relax after the bustling paragliding adventure in Interlaken last week. On Friday, after work I headed off into Barfusserplatz, which is the most happening square in Basel, and grabbed a Movenpick ice cream, which was hazelnut flavoured, and tasted amazing. When I got back I had some supper and played at bit of pool, and generally chillaxed.

The next morning I made my first trip to the local train station, as surprisingly, the tram that usually runs very efficiently and conveniently past my accommodation, was being suspended for work (sounded like being back in London). The train from Muttenz to Basel central station took 5mins, and I was early for my train to Baden, so grabbed a coffee and a croissant for breakie. There was the usual bustle of Military service personnel heading home for the weekend, and hikers heading to the Alps. As an aside, I found out on Friday, all Swiss houses have nuclear bunkers underneath them, and that until recently, there were no gun laws. Sometimes for a "neutral" country, Switzerland seems a bit quite paranoid. I jumped on the train to Baden (not the German Baden Baden), which took an hour travelling through some beautiful countryside. When I arrived I headed from the train station to the Altstadt, to have a wander and explore a little bit. I visited the Historical Museum, which is situated in the old Landvogteischscloss, by the Holzbrucke, shown in the photo above, where the governors of Baden used to live. I seemed to be the only visitor there, and one of the wardens had to turn on the lights for me in some of the exhibition rooms. As I walked around the tower of the castle, which had rooms decked out from different eras, I thought about how much my mum and sis would have loved it, "living history" and stuff. After that I walked up to the ruins of an old castle at the top of the hill, which had beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. I sat there and had my packed lunch, and read a bit of my book, I seem to be doing a lot of reading now I don't have a TV, which is a bonus, though I might be running out of reading material at this rate.

Baden is set on a curve in the Limmat river, and has for many centuries been a center for thermal spas, the Romans being the first to use the waters. So after lunch I walked along the bank of the river to the spa area. There are lots of hotels now, which have private pools, but I headed to the public baths. It was around 25francs to use the baths and the sauna, which is pretty good going (£10-15). I had a swim in the inside pool (both were 32C), which was a little more chilled and peaceful, and then headed to the outside pool, which was incredible. I had a bit of a sunbathe on a lounger and then got back in the pool, where the heat of the water hit me again. My time the time my hands and feet had got all wrinkly and I'd done a couple of lengths of the pools, I went back in the inside pool for 10-15mins and then went and had a shower and used the sauna. Usually I'm not very good at doing nothing, I usually need some background noise or something like that, but I adapted to the quiet and peace of the sauna pretty well, and definitely want to go back there. After that I left the baths and sat by the Limmat for a while taking in the view while having an ice cream. I then wanted to visit Maria Himmelfahrt church just for a look, so headed in that direction. As I arrived I heard the bells calling people to mass, and walked in just in time to join, which was a slightly odd experience. Baden was a Catholic canton, and during the Reformation had to fight Zurich and Bern, the Protestant cantons. Eventually, they lost, but it means that Baden retains a beautiful church, all the ones I've seen so far in Switzerland are very sparse protestant churches, or modern catholic ones. Maria Himmelfahrt has Baroque, Neoclassical features as well as its Gothic outline. Dinner was grabbed quickly before I got on the train back to Basel, and at 9o'clock was heading back to Muttenz, while everyone else was heading for a night out in the city.

I spent Sunday catching up on the British news, seeing what horrors Gordon has in store when I get back, listening to Any Questions, which sometimes really riles one, and reading the BBC news pages, I miss my Dad's daily offering of 2 newspapers, but am quite enjoy Nick Robinsons blog. I caught myself listening to the Archers last week, as my parents always have it on.

As always, comments and suggestions welcome,

Take care, till next time

Swizzy......

A tale of two halves (and many good meals)

This weekend was action packed, to say the least! We set off for Interlaken on Saturday morning, the train took about 2 hours. Leaving Basel the weather seemed a little downcast but as we pulled into the Interlaken station it was in a hellish downpour. Ran into the "Coop" Restaurant and grabbed a coffee and cake to shelter from the weather. Seriously imagined would be spending the whole weekend damp and wet through. Bought some amazing waterproof trousers to match my raincoat.
We had to hang around to be picked up by Outdoor Interlaken at 13.30 for our paragliding adventure. The rain, wind and temperature seemed to suggest it wouldn't be possible but we spent an hour at the top of the hill in the middle of the downpour to be certain. Still was quite fun, the instructors kept us all entertained, as did the crazy Americans who made up the rest of the group (couldn't seem to get away from Americans the entire weekend!)
So came back down the mountain, in the van not by flight unfortunately. Decided to ride up to Harder Kuln, one of the smaller mountains nearby, which has a panoramic view of the Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger mountains, all snow capped and incredibly beautiful. There was a rainbow at the top and a beer waiting at the cafe on top. After a much appreciated steak and chips, we had a hot choc at "Hooters", which has apparently reached Switzerland, so we could watch the brilliant fireworks in the town square, thankfully the rain had stopped just in time, and their was even music set to them.
Up bright and early the next morning, which couldn't have been more different from the day before. It was bright and sunny, and enjoyed a settling bacon and eggs at cafe nearby before heading off to go canyoning. It was really fun, a mix of abseiling, rope swinging and diving into snow melt pools (wet suit thankfully provided kept the cold out) but I'm not sure I was very good, it's difficult to fight the whirlpool currents. After a hot shower and lunch of hot dog and curly fries, yes diet went out the window, it was PARAGLIDING time, take two. Had the same instructor as before, and it was amazing, weather was perfect and the view of Jungfrau was incredible, the town below looked like a model village. Performed a couple of tricks, rollercoastery type stunts before landing, quite well I think for a first attempt. Spent the afternoon wandering around Interlaken, which is just how I imagined traditional Switzerland, before dinner of tuna salad followed by mango and strawberry sorbet, then jumped on busy intercity train back to Basel, knackered but fulfilled.

Pics Below Enjoy:

Cakes, chocolates and Rostis

This weekend was time for a trip to Zurich. Arriving at the train station, after a ride on a Double-Decker train, and a coffee on board, I'm adapting very quickly to the continental lifestyle I feel, we headed straight round the corner to the Schweizerisches Landmuseum. It was a strange mix of exhibits, starting with a complete natural history beginning in the stone age and encompassing the Romans, followed by military costumes mixed with an exhibit on Swiss humour, that had an amazing amount of E.U. jokes that could have been written by Brits. Then we headed for a walk around Zurich, down the main street, past Tiffany's, Gucci and numerous other designer stores. There was an amazing chocolate shop, decorated extravagantly with flowers, and it looked delicious. After a boat trip on the Limmat lake, an essential in viewing Swiss cities in my view, we visited Springli, a delicatessen, and treated ourselves to cake and a seriously rich Hot Chocolate. There was just time for a walk about the city gardens by the lake, which included a paddle, and a trip to the botanical gardens and back before heading home, alas on a single decker train, having seen my first Swiss goths at the train station.


On Sunday, I began to realise that when they say Switzerland closes on a Sunday, they really mean it! Wanting to try making rosti (and not cheat by buying the packet ones from Migros), we set out to the supermarket. Only problem was that the 3 in our town were all closed. We rode the tram to the end of the line, a place called Pratteln, which we thought might have more open, if it was a bigger place(it wasn't really but that's not important), and lucky the station shop had the potatoes and onions we needed! So shopping complete we headed back and made our rosti. Traditionally you have bacon, cheese and tomato on top, and it's sort of like a Swiss cooked breakfast. It tasted good (but I have no photos so you'll have to take my word for it), and some where even frozen for later in the week. Then I headed off to the local church, which I'd found a couple of days before. I'd prepared how to say the Our Father in German, but it turned out to be an Italian mass (I'm not daft it wasn't Latin), not sure why, and I smiled and nodded my way through most of it pretty effectively.

Writing this as the heavens open, and see some cool lightening bolts, was really hot today so pretty welcome.

Keep tuned, next week's pretty exciting, but don't want to spoil the surprise.



Swizzy

Meet Me in St. Louis

This is a very short and I hope fairly sweet post today, as only just posted about Luzern.

Yesterday I spent the day in two countries, Switzerland, and then the latter half in France, in a village called St. Louis. It was my flatmates birthday so a couple of us went for pizza. We were driven by a Julie, who is french, to the border town, and on the way drove straight past work!

It was really strange, just drove straight through the border crossing, which no one was manning both on the way and way back, but did take our passports with us so as to ensure we weren't stuck in France (you wouldn't wish that misfortune on anyone!) To get around into work, is harder than crossing the border.

Just crossing 5 mins into France you could notice the difference, instead of paying £25 for a pizza and a drink as you would in Basel ( and the rest of Switzerland), it was on a par with England (£15 for a pizza, drink and icecream). Aparently the cinema in St. Louis is much cheaper and there is an openair swimming pool (which will save for when the rain ends-hopefully soon).

This weekend's highlight will be Zurich, stay tuned

Swizzy

Fly me to the Mountain....

On Saturday, my flatmate, Abi, and I got up at 6.30am, sleepily walked to the tram stop, which took us to the train to Luzern, were we arrived surprisingly awake a couple of hours later.

It was definitely worth forfeiting our Saturday lie in. Luzern, on the Lake Lucerne, in central Switzerland was not our final destination. A "Golden Round Trip" to the top of Mount Pilatus and back was the aim of the day.

After a beautiful lake voyage and journey on the world's steepest cog wheeled railway we reached the summit. Cloud engulfed the very tops of the mountain, giving an eerie, spooky presence. Pilatus is so named because it's believed the spirit of Pontius Pilate roams, and on Good Friday, descends to wash the blood off his hands in the lake. There are many myths of dragons, and for centuries it was forbidden to climb up, but according to our guidebook, a priest lead a party of brave men to the summit, and as "no supernatural counterattack ensued, it was judged the curse to be broken". Apart from a couple of sun burnt noses, we experienced no supernatural activity.

As the mist curled away from the mountain, the most gorgeous view was exposed, stretching to the Black Forest, Alps, and far down in the distance, Pilatus is 2132m above sea level, the Lake.
After picnic lunch on the summit and a couple of treks round the mountain top, we descended by cable car to the longest summer toboggan run in Switzerland. It was really fun, though had more courage the second time round to go a little faster. We thought of it as training for the winter bobsleigh season! Finally we left the mountain by gondola (a 2 person cable car), and arrived back in central Luzern.

After traditional rosti at Restaurant Taube, we sheltered under Chapel Bridge as the heavens opened on us, and watched the thunder and lightening display before dashing for the train back to Basel, knackered but having had an incredible day. Before I left for Switzerland, someone warned me to pack for all weathers, I assumed he meant in Summer it was hot, winter freezing, but so far for the last 3 days, we've had 30C heat, then thunder and lightening followed by heavy showers. But I don't mind, not now I've had the idea of buying a Rain Mac!

More updates to follow..........

Swizzy

Tramming through Basel

So, I arrived in Basel on Sunday night. After a meal at 'Wong's wok', preceded to the accommodation. It's in a little suburb called Muttenz, and at first was a little apprehensive, as looked more like a industrial than residential estate, but it seems to all depend on which way you approach it from the city centre. I'm on the 6th floor and have an amazing view of rolling green hills and intriguingly there is a castle perched on top of one of these hills- a little job for the weekend is to go and investigate (and perhaps lay siege to) this castle.

Basel (according to a flat mate) has the best public transport in Switzerland. You can get trams everywhere, and I feel I'm pretty good at navigating them, and a ride from Muttenz to the other end of the line was a good way to get a feel for Basel, passing through the main squares seeing the river, and the Rathaus (town hall). Once I leave the trams, my sense of navigation appears to leave me! On a trip to the zoo today, managed to walk an "alternative" route to the 5min journey (it took about half an hour)! Particularly enjoyed seeing the bear, which had climbed up a tree in it's enclosure and was surveying it's kingdom, and the penguins!

As afternoon entertainment, I visited the Pharmaceutical museum, as no chemistry student (or anyone come to that) should dare skip it. It was full of old books, photographs of famous chemists and had a 17th century pharmacy reconstruction. At one sense did wonder if in 400 years time people would walk around a lab similar to ones I work in, thinking how strange and old fashioned it was.

Anyway, enough ramblings, will add more when I'll done more.

Beginning a new adventure with a Blog.

So here we go, entry number 1- bear with me; this is my first attempt after all!



I've decided to start this blog to keep in contact with my family and friends while I'm away on a 6 month placement for my chemistry degree. From July I'm going to be living and working in Basel, Switzerland, and thought it would be fun to keep everyone updated with my experiences as an Essex kid in the heart of Europe! So really, it'll be Swiss Issy without the family, as they'll be back in England.



Since Easter I've had my head buried in my various guide books and am planning on traipsing round Basel and the wider region on my weekends off, soaking up the Swiss culture on the banks of the Rhine, and perfecting my skiing technique when the winter approaches. I'm hoping to throw myself in to the continental lifestyle, and perfect my German, even though the Swiss dialect is a lot trickier than the Hoch Deutsch I studied at A level.



On Friday, I start the first lap of my trip, hopping on the Eurostar for a few days in Paris, before departing on the train to Basel. Last time I visited my sister rushed me through the Louvre, so I've now got the chance to do it justice!



So, please enjoy perusing this site, I aim to add many pics throughout my time away, share my first impressions of the country and the people, and hope to make this blog as entertaining as I can!