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