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