Whose books?

I’ve been having a bit of a tidy up this morning and as I did so, I was surveying the very full bookshelves in someone’s bedroom.  Beano annuals, Bash Street Kids books and a few Asterix and TinTin titles.  A treasured copy of the book about Robert Ballard’s discovery of the Titanic along with other similar titles, all well loved.

Another shelf has Niall Ferguson and Misha Glenny alongside Bill Bryson and Boris Johnson.  There are countless books about ancient civilisations, politics and world history and rather a lot of biographies, too.

Of course, there are the inevitable Star Wars paperbacks and Biggles books, but surprisingly on the shelf below there’s a Jane Austen and a couple of Martin Amis.

Best of all, Fireman Sam stands alongside a year’s worth of German History journals, a Short History of Canada and Teach Yourself Arabic.

Love him!

Sunshine

Sadly, none of that here today, except in lovely messages from friends and family, all of which were much appreciated.  Thank you!

So, I’ll stretch the Ballenberg warmth a little further with a few more pictures and a puzzle.  This green window lights the apothecary’s bench and the photograph ought to come with scent attached, for the whole house smelled of fresh herbs and flowers.  Lovely.

Here’s the basketmaker’s house, complete with willow plants growing right outside the door and a variety of baskets at different stages of completion.

Unusually light and airy, this sitting room was attached to the room where the lacemaker was working.  The theme here seemed to be needlework of all kinds, and there’s a lovely embroidered cushion on the settee as well as more work in progress on the stand by the window.

The puzzle is this. The polished construction on the top of the bench is quite separate from the bench itself, and consists of the circular base and the unusually shaped framework.  What do you think it could be?  I took the photograph intending to ask one of the staff members but forgot all about it until I was home and reviewing my photos.  I should add that this was not in the needlework house…in fact, I don’t recall the house having any kind of theme at all, but was more of a simple farmhouse with a pretty ordinary kitchen and living space.

It’s been a lovely day and I have done little but fiddle around with a few bits and pieces just for the fun of it.  Just how a birthday should be, really!

There’s no place like…

We were a happy bunch at the Italian restaurant on our last evening in Rapperswil.  The organiser of the concert and exhibition and his delightful wife are such interesting and lively company and the arrival of the conductor of the concert was an added bonus. Our conversational German was assisted by a couple of glasses of a rather delicious red wine…

So, whilst the youngsters of this small town sat by the lake and played with their mobile phones, we shared our thoughts and ideas about music and more before returning to our hotel to pack our things one last time for this trip.

We retraced our journey, through green meadows and small mountain passes, bypassing Appenzell this time and looking forward to the next visit, of course.  As we drove through the Rheintal towards the Austrian border, the clouds settled into the valley and by the time we reached Bodensee, we’d left the sunshine well and truly behind in Switzerland.

After an uneventful flight home, thankfully, and a wet drive along a busy motorway we were truly glad to be home, to sleep in our own beds and to do as Mummy would have done: enjoy a Proper Cup of Tea!

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!