Saturday morning. Where next?

We had a wonderful supper last night with Hildi, a Swiss friend, at the Kronenhalle.  Formerly a favourite place for artists and writers to meet, they frequently paid their bill in kind – with their art rather than money.  So, we had the huge privilege of sitting beneath an original Chagall masterpiece

(on a postcard rather than on the wall, since the chic restaurant wasn’t really the place to start snapping photographs here and there).

On the wall opposite was a lovely Miro and around the room were other great works, but of course, we were chatting twenty to the dozen auf Deutsch and in English at the same time and I’m afraid the art did get a little overlooked.

So, it was a slower start this morning, on the tram first to the station and then onto the 0930 to Solothurn.  Not at all busy, it was a good start to what turned out to be another excellent day.

We arrived to find the usual postbus waiting for the connection, but we were planning to look around this lovely small city for a while.  My hero and I had known it for some years, since one of our friends grew up here and had showed us around on a previous visit.  Actually, Edward was there too, but of course, remembered little of it, so we started at the station and made our way down to the town centre.

The first thing one notices on stepping out from a Swiss station is the wealth of information and opportunities there.  For those feeling more energetic than we, there were cycle paths, roller blading routes and a suggestion for the mountain bikers too.

Our first stop was the cafe at the foot of the steps leading to the magnificent cathedral.  And just in case you think we are turning into the kind of people who drink beer morning, noon and night, here’s the proof that we do, actually, enjoy other beverages

Apfelschorle is a mix of apple juice and spring water and on a morning such as this, hits the spot perfectly.  Refreshed and reinvigorated, we dashed up those steps (not) and went inside.

The cool, white interior was so elegant and the peaceful ambience inside was ideal for slowing us down, to bring us into the here and now and to inspire our exploration of Solothurn.

Because outside, the farmers market was doing a brisk trade, the sunshine had come out and the temperature was rising.

And Solothurn is a great city with many small but lovely details.  It’s not somewhere to run round, but rather a place to wander, to savour and to notice.  We very much liked the painted fountains, for example and on a very hot and sticky morning, how refreshing to dangle hands in the cool water and to take a drink from the water spout.

Just around the corner, another curious building, with malachite green onion domes either side which contrast so well with the deep blue sky.

Looking more closely, the downpipes from the gutter are surprisingly elaborate too.

We also noticed one or two details on the front doors along the street.  Such a lovely tradition to adorn a door with a small wreath of flowers, berries or whatever, isn’t it?

Around the corner is another fountain, which means another photograph and another dangle of the hands.  Bliss on such a warm day.

This fountain is actually in the market place and whilst there, we thought on and bought a few bits for a picnic lunch later: A piece of bergkase, some apples, an air-dried sausage or two and some bread rolls.  What more could we ask for?

Well, we passed by the Konditorei selling the Solothurn speciality and felt that we really did need one of those to finish our picnic.  I bought a small one “to try” but later, regretted the choice and wish I’d gone larger…

Taking one last look at the sunflowers we’ve been admiring as they were carried from the market, we returned to the station to catch the train to Bern, our destination for this afternoon.  The train was already on the station as we strolled (!) up to it and left almost immediately.

Find out what happened in Bern in the next post!

On the lake

We are lucky (well, we planned it so) that we can catch a tram from very close to our apartment right to the Hauptbahnhof and we did exactly that this morning.  It as already quite warm and wasn’t even 9am yet, but we had plans to catch the train to Luzern.

Even though there’s a regular service to Luzern, we wanted time to look around and yet still have time to catch a steamer down the lake.  With a dinner arrangement this evening, we didn’t want to waste any time and so there we were on the 0904 from Gleis (platform) 3.

At shortly after ten, there we were, right in the centre of the city, enjoying the view of the old wooden bridge and negotiating a path through the tour groups to get our photograph too.

The Kapellbrucke burned in 1993 – not completely but enough to do significant damage.  Nevertheless, it’s well restored and the paintings in the ceiling are as lovely as ever.  Fortunately, the crowds this morning were not so great that we couldn’t stop and take a good look at them, so that’s exactly what we did.

And when the weather is so glorious, it’s really hard not to take yet another photograph, and another…

After a stroll around the old town and a stop for elevenses (well, ok then, a beer!) we headed to the lake and waited for the 1204 departure to Fluelen, the town at the far end of Vierwaldstättersee.  What a magnificent view of the snow-mountains!

I couldn’t resist the obligatory flag shot as we steamed across the lake.  Well, could you?

As we passed small villages and farms high on the alp, normal life was going on around us and farmers were also making the most of the glorious weather by getting the hay in.  At times, we marvelled at their ability to gather hay on the most precipitous of slopes, but of course, the hay was gathered regardless.

How about this patch of lush grass?  Looks perfectly reasonable to farm, doesn’t it?  Until you see where it is

Look at the top right hand corner.

(and yes, I am showing off the zoom on my super camera!)

Though the water was calm and still, in that peaceful setting small dramas were taking place here and there.

The sailing class was encountering the occasional calamity, whistles were blown and encouragement shouted to the youngster, who eventually managed to get her dinghy on an even keep again, thank goodness.

Whilst through it all, the stately progress of the Stadt Luzern paddle steamer was uninterrupted and we all snip-snapped even more photographs as she passed by.

We were all enchanted by the magical colours all around us, the peace and tranquillity of the small villages under that clear blue sky.  But oh, how we would all love to dive into that cool water right now!

Going with the flow

We decided that, rather than simply zoom down the motorway to Zürich, we’d take in an interesting town or two along the way.  But, deciding on a route was proving to be a challenge, so we decided to simply go for it.  See what happens.  Go with the flow.

Anyone who knows us will know that’s pretty unusual.  We must be in holiday mode!

The first unscheduled stop came as a result of spotting the word “Limes”.  Being the non-historian that I am, it meant nothing to me, but to those in the know, it was a “must see”.

So, I had no idea that there had been a “Hadrians Wall” kind of structure built by the Romans across Europe called the Limes.  Here, in Aalen, southern Germany, there was a huge cavalry fort connected to the Limes and this was the site for a large museum.

This “wall” wasn’t really anything like Hadrians Wall and was more of a wooden stockade with watchtowers along the length of it. 

Models helped those like me to envisage the structure and though there was a great deal of historical detail, for me, it was the smaller things which attracted my attention.

Like the beautifully preserved builders stamp on the brick made by someone from the 8th legion.

Or the manner in which the stonemason squeezed a longer word into his work than he’d allowed space for.  Don’t you think it’s good to know that such things happened to the best of craftsmen?!

And what is it about shoes which make them so poignant?   Perhaps it’s that they are such personal items and their relative size tells quite a story about the people who wore them?

Anyway, pleased to have seen this place, it was time to move on.  Who knows what might be found just a few miles down the road?

Aha!  This looks interesting…

The Steiff Museum is here, just off the motorway and we can’t pass by without taking a look, can we?

The story begins in Margarete Steiff’s workroom and is a little creepy.  Several of those things begin to move and fly about, even though there was no-one there.

But really, the place was very clever, for no sooner had the history been told, than the doors opened and we found ourselves in a soft toy workshop of today, and our guide for the presentation was the elegant chap in the picture above.

Then, when he’d said all he had to say, the whole room rose up to the top of the building – we’d been standing on a lift platform and this was a clever way of maintaining visitor flow through the exhibition.

Actually, the rest of the top floor was geared towards children, naturally, with huge animals for them to climb upon and snuggle against.

We found the floor below a little more interesting, since it showed the Steiff collections from the early days until now.  There were quite a few cuties on show!

Finally, into the workshop, to see different stages of the process.  This woman was stuffing heads, taking far longer than one might think to ensure every little corner was full.

I liked the wall hangings – actually pattern pieces of all kinds hanging there all around the workshop.

There were some samples to handle, too.  The overall theme throughout was “quality” and there’s no doubt that anything leaving the Steiff factory is going to be first class.

The exit was, of course, through the gift shop.  We passed this little chap right by, though he might have been a smaller, younger cousin of Anton, back home!

So, onto our next stop, accompanied by George.  Whether his full name is George Alexander Louis or not remains to be seen, but for now, he’s George.  Plain George.  And very sweet he is too!

We decided that there were to be no further stops, that we needed to make straight for Zürich now, because Edward and Amy had texted to say they were on their way.

Lake Constance was looking beautiful in the afternoon sunshine, but we pressed on, over the border and arrived at our apartment in Zürich around 3.30pm.  Edward and Amy arrived shortly afterwards, around 4.30.

And now we are five!

Walking the Watch

So, after a hearty supper, we joined the Night Watchman on the steps of the Town Hall along with a hundred or so others.  Though we’d walked around the old city earlier in the day, we were looking forward to hearing a few different stories and, from the little we’d heard last evening, to a few giggles as well.

He walked, we followed.  From time to time, he stopped by a bench or a step and climbed upon it to address the ever-growing audience.  His stories were interesting, well recounted and his humour was dry as a bone.  Those without English as their first language possibly missed a fair number of his asides, sadly.  But he was patient, waited for the slowest of the group to arrive before starting to speak and did his best when challenged by vehicles in narrow streets and the odd busker.  In fact, he only had to threaten use of his halberd on one single occasion!

Overlooking the double bridge, the view was splendid.  The sun was just beginning to set and the ochre houses shone beautifully in the evening light.

In yesterday’s post, I made reference to “the famous double bridge”.  To be truthful, we had no idea why it’s famous and could find nothing about it in our guide books.  Actually, I had slotted it into my mental folder marked “find out later”, but a lack of internet last evening meant that I couldn’t.  However, the Night Watchman told the story of the end of WW2, when the German army conceded Rothenburg to a particularly considerate American official, negotiating the deal on that very bridge.

So there we were.  The NightWatchman bade us farewell and wished us a peaceful night.  Goodnight Rothenburg!