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!

Saturday

I’ll tell you about the concert last evening in due course.  We fell into bed having made the hotel car park curfew but were up early again this morning because we had A Plan for Saturday, our last day in Switzerland.

The weather forecast was as good as yesterday and we didn’t want to waste a fine and sunny day mooching around shops or inside a museum or similar.  We’d thought of another day out by train or boat, but it seemed silly to leave a perfectly good and paid for hire car in the garage and splurge more money on tickets.

I loaded the My Switzerland app on my ipad and as has happened on previous occasions, the answer was on the opening page.  The Plan was to go to Ballenberg, then.

Though we set off in bright sunshine, with a few misty clouds settled on the surface of the lake, by the time we reached Luzern, the fog had really closed in.  Oh dear, we had no coats with us and had planned for fine weather.

You can imagine how we felt when, having gone over the Brunig Pass, we saw this view.  Speechless for once (well, for a few seconds, at least)

We thought we’d have to wait a while before it opened, but shortly after 10am we were able to buy our tickets and go inside – to enjoy a quiet hour or two before everyone else came!

The introductory signs offered a little suggestion of what lay ahead and in that charming, slightly tongue in cheek manner the Swiss have, a description of the theme for 2012 was outlined. 

 

We have been here at least once before, but a long time ago and undoubtedly the park has expanded considerably.  On such a beautiful morning, however, it was a delight to step out into the fresh air (no smells yet!) and walk down into the park and to the first house.

The buildings are all real, reconstructed here on site having been donated by their owners from all parts of Switzerland.  They are gathered in regional groups and each one is open so that visitors can go inside and see how it would have been during a particular time in its history. 

Some buildings have a particular focus and this one was the base for a demonstration of linen production today.  You can see the flax stems laid out on the grass there, the wet dew and the warm sunshine helping to break down the tough outer fibres of the stems before processing.

This is the “rippling” process, where the outer layer is broken down by bashing it in between two pieces of wood.  We enjoyed watching all of these little techniques almost as much as observing the interaction between the various women demonstrators.  At this time of the morning, they were just getting going and those outside were starting the various stages of the flax production.  What seemed to be the most challenging part, however, was achieving the standards required of the elderly lady who was going to spin this flax, for she appeared to have the most exacting requirements.  The younger women in particular were finding this a little trying!

 

The whole park was most photogenic and I could have spent a morning in one place alone, simply noting all the small details which someone had taken care to make just right.

Inside the linen processing house, a charming lady was weaving some linen on a loom similar to the one I used in Laos.  She was patiently explaining to an observer exactly how the loom worked and how the pattern was achieved.  I admired the beautiful edges she had created and she smiled and commented that it had taken 40 years of practice to be able to do that – and it still wasn’t easy!  How do I know that?!

The central part of this particular house had a smoky fire burning and the smoke combined with the sunshine streaming in through the windows to create a magical light inside.

 

And where there’s smoke there’s sausage!  Up in the ceiling, were hanging several hundred sausages, contributing another layer of scent to this atmosphere – we suddenly realised that we’d started to follow our noses!

The fresh air smelled all the sweeter after that smoky house, and the next one we came to looked so pretty, with the two white geese swimming in the pond to the side of it.

We found a hatmaker’s inside, with this room set up for making felt hats

and a workshop for making straw hats next door.  No demonstrations here right now, but everything there so that it was easy to understand what went on.

I loved the details of a nearby thatch roof, too!

In some houses, the story of the original owners was told, there were photographs and details of their lives.  This photo was (I think) in the silk ribbon weaving house, where a fine display of the history and relevance of decorative ribbons was on show alongside a large electric loom.

Of course, these were all hugely important cottage industries of the time and it was really interesting to see how they developed into the specialist factories of today.

Watchmaking for example.  A workshop was in a neighbouring house and we know from our own friend’s example, how the Swiss watchmaking process is still partly outsourced from people working in their homes.  For many years, our friend collected a small package of gold components from a box by her door every day.  Having opened this package, she would refine each piece carefully, by hand and return them all to the box to be collected later.  These tiny, hand finished pieces would be part of a very expensive Rolex watch at some point and it was fascinating to think that so many Swiss women had spent time ensuring that every last piece was absolutely perfect.

The outside of the silk ribbon weaving house was so attractive, painted in white and a muted green not so far from our own house paint, which blended so well with the faded brown timbers and the lovely weathered tile roof.  Part of the attraction here is that the site itself is so lovely, regardless of the actual exhibits.

Several of the houses had an enviable wood stack outside, this one being particularly well organised, with kindling at one end and the larger pieces at the other.  My hero gazed jealously at this, wondering if we might ask our own wood supplier to please ensure every piece is a standard length?

The park is built on the side of a hill (mountain!) however, and that makes for hunger after a short while.  The cheese and sausage shop appeared at just the right time for us and we spent no time choosing our lunch.  Once again, the shop assistant helped us out by cutting the cheese into smaller pieces!

We resisted the meringues (which you knew came from down the road in Meiringen, didn’t you?)

and sat to eat our lunch to the sound of the goats grazing the pasture just over our shoulders.

The deeper tones of the cowbells were there too, though that particular family was to be found over the hill.

By now, we were a little weary, but around the corner was something to put a spring in our step again

The most wondrous view.  One of those magical moments when one simply has to stand still, absorb the atmosphere and wish for the ability to write poetry!

With renewed vigour we completed the western part of the park, leaving plenty of houses in the eastern section for our next visit.  After a short visit to the museum shop, we returned to our car feeling that we’d spent our day in the most fulfilling way.

We chose a scenic route back to Rapperswil and both sat with broad smiles on our faces the whole journey.

Magnificent.

Only in Switzerland

could we go to the station ticket counter in a small town at 9pm to enquire about our travel plans and receive an immediate response to our vague idea of travelling by train to Zurich in the morning and returning by boat in the afternoon.  We need to be back by 3.30pm, so timing was crucial.

Not only was the answer given in perfect English, we were offered timetables for both train and boat

and the whole combined journey was available as part of a day ticket.  Travelling after 9am saved us SFr6 each, we were told.

Such efficiency is remarkable and really hits all the buttons as far as my hero is concerned.  And if he’s happy, then I am happy!

The following morning, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a train to Zurich HB, so we select the 9.10 to Winterthur for old time’s sake: This was the route we used to take when staying with friends who lived north of Zurich and the placenames along the route were still awfully familiar, all these years later.

We smiled when we spotted the Appenzeller cheese advert on the platform!

Our train was already on the platform, so we chose a carriage in section B and stepped on board.  Yes, it’s a double decker train, as can be seen on most of the busy routes now.

Look how easy it is to step from the platform to the train – bearing in mind those steep steps from a British station onto the train, I find this kind of thing so impressive.

Yes, of course we sat upstairs!

Plenty of room in clean, comfortable seats – my hero picked that free newspaper up from the floor and placed it on the shelf soon after I took the photo! 

We chose the sunny side of the track on which to sit, but the handy sunshade could be pulled down a little way to shield our eyes!  Of course, we left right on time and stopped at several small towns along the way, which meant the train filled up nicely on the way into the city and was 90% full by the time we arrived.

The slightly misty morning gave an ethereal view of Rapperswil castle as we left.

When we reached Zurich, we were on the second underground level, newly built since we used this station frequently.  We soon found our way to the escalator and I smiled to myself as everyone stood to the right hand side.  How very Swiss!  Except, a young man – a rebel! – stood to the left, lounging on the handrail and looking rather pleased with himself.  Well, that is, until a businessman stepped up and muttered “Bitte” as he held his briefcase forward to indicate that he intended to pass…at which point the rebel squeezed into the line on the right hand side and realised the error of his ways!  Love it!

Well, maybe you’ve walked around this, one of our favourite cities with us before?  You’ll know how much we love just being here – we really don’t have to “do” a great deal!  So, having left the train in the station, we simply walked – meandered, rather – up Bahnhofstrasse, turned left through the market and over the bridge into the old town.

This little restaurant was offering cheese fondue and had we been more hungry, then those snuggly sheepskins and warm woollen blankets would have been hard to resist.  Even though it was warm in the sunshine, in the shade it was cool and they looked so cosy!

But we’d already promised ourselves lunch at one of our favourites – so we crossed back over the river and made our way through the little streets and passages to the Zeughaus.

Already bustling at just after 12 noon, we snagged our table and watched as, shortly after, people were having difficulty without a reservation, in spite of the size of the place.

Feeling happy and rather full, we made our way to Bürkliplatz and found a bench to sit and wait for the 1.30 to Rapperswil.

As you can imagine, this was no hardship!

About 1.15, the Helvetia came into view and a couple of hundred of us climbed on board to enjoy an afternoon on the lake.

It was a popular place to be on this sunny Friday, though our journey was a little less precarious than this chap’s (He fell off shortly after I took the photograph…)

Not only that, but we’d popped into Sprüngli on the Bahnhofstrasse and picked up a little something for pudding.  Now seemed the perfect time to break open the box and check that these Luxemburgerli are up to standard.

All too soon, we were back at Rapperswil and with a crowd waiting to return to Zurich, we hopped off the Helvetia and walked all of 100m to our hotel.  A quick turnaround was needed, because we were invited to a private view of the Raff exhibition at 5.  No time to blog!