Strasbourg

Time to explore this fine city this morning and so we set off in the direction of the old town.

We were delighted that the sun came out and as we stood on the Ponts Couverts we heard a vehicle so stood aside, only for it to park right beside us.

Now what a view!

More than a little patience was needed as delivery vans came from all directions to negotiate these old, narrow streets; we guessed that there was some kind of curfew.

It made wandering around a little more of a challenge and we began to get irritated that wherever we stepped, we seemed to be in the way.

We decided to leave these four to sort it out amongst themselves and went off in the opposite direction to find a quieter spot.

In the cathedral all was a little more calm and reflective.  Turning the corner to see this magnificent structure last evening was magical and stepping inside proved to be equally breathtaking.

We loved the scale of the place, the cool dark corners and the vast height of the nave.

How's this for a door hinge?

 Above the souvenir shops and cafes, there are some lovely corners to spot.

I had the Musee des Arts Decoratifs to myself as Mark and Edward went off into the Archaeological Museum upstairs and though there were quite a few interesting items on display, it's wasn't exactly my kind of place

Nor my kind of exhibit.

So we went shopping.

On parle Francais

But it's awfully hard after three weeks of thinking in German. 

We left Ponte Tresa after breakfast, the lake shimmering in the morning sunshine and told ourselves that we should come back, soon.

It was a surprisingly easy drive, through the Gotthard tunnel and across Switzerland on mostly familiar territory.  We made a stop near Luzern to sit and gaze at green pastures, the mountains and take in the atmosphere we love so much - our last chance for a while.

For in no time at all, we were in Strasbourg and the driving over for the day, we could sit and relax and hope the rain held off long enough for us to stay dry.  It didn't, but we didn't really mind.

We'll come back tomorrow, in better light, to take in more details of the cathedral, but couldn't resist spotting these charming horses, peeping through the openings.

Edward noticed this amusing gargoyle who seemed to be calling to us about something.  Reminding us to speak French not German, perhaps.

 because there's no doubt, we are in France!

Perhaps some of that wallpaper will find its way into our brains as we sleep and we'll wake up more in tune?

Peut-être.

Oder?

Homeward bound

I suppose, theoretically speaking, we've been homeward bound since Dresden, but today, setting out from Bolzano, we really felt that we're on the last stretch of our amazing trip.  Taking the scenic route over the mountains via the Mendelpass, at times the satnav screen looked like someone threw a ball of wool and let it fall into the pattern of the roads.  Needless to say, this was not the quickest of routes!

Gently, the vineyards and apple orchards became pine forests and villages perched on ledges rather than nestled in the valley

though from time to time, a collection of houses appeared to have spilled out of the end of a valley and a tumble of buildings nestled around a church for comfort.

Still higher, through the Passo Tornale, we drove through ski resorts and holiday villages, some with really unattractive tower blocks amongst the traditional chalets.  But the view of the mountains was unsurpassed.

Eventually we reached Lake Como and spent a few minutes recalling happy days spent here with Mummy before continuing over the last pass of the day into Switzerland.

At times, it was a little tight and tempers became frayed.  But being behind a local bus meant that we could squeeze through after he'd trailblazed the way forward. 

At last, the peace of Lake Lugano and our destination of Ponte Tresa, where we planned an evening with our dear friends Tonie and Pietro.  After a couple of weeks of eating out, what luxury to enjoy good home cooking with produce from the garden and wine from 200m along the way.  Not only that, but what fun to sit and chat on a warm evening in the garden as the sun goes down and for sure, Edna and Gordon were there in spirit too, surprisingly indulgent of their grandson enjoying a cigar with Pietro having persuaded him he needs an iPhone in a conversation before dinner.  Sitting around a table and finding answers for the problems of today is so much easier over a glass of wine or two: What to do about Afghanistan, democracy, the EU, the annoying fly, the slow driver of the car in front on an Alpine pass....the conversation never waned until it was time to say goodbye until the next time. 

Ciao! 

Strada del vino

We set off on the Weinstrasse this morning but very soon found ourselves on the Strada del Vino as we went further into Trentino.

This is a fascinating part of the world, a real blend of languages, heritage and culture - somewhat confusing but also rather comforting: man spricht Deutsch but viva Italiano!

In Bolzano, we feel the Sudtirol outdoes the Alto Adige, but in Trento there's no mistaking, one is in Italy.

There's a wonderful cathedral - sorry, Duomo

with some formidable angels

and where they seem to be able to tie knots in stone.

My attention was caught by a window display for this newsagent, who had the largest selection of needlework magazines I've seen anywhere.  The photograph shows almost all of them.  Clearly, Giuliana Buonpadre has a strong following here - I've never seen so many books on Reticello, and this in a small town newsagent as well!

(stitchy friends might like to click on the photograph to enlarge it - see how many titles you recognise)

Driving back through the vineyards, I thought that geographers would appreciate this glacial valley - hard to imagine how it could be any more U shaped than this.

Yes, of course, we stopped and tasted - and bought - bringing a little bit of this glorious part of the world back home with us soon.

After the rain, a little sunshine

We were woken at 6am this morning by thunder - it didn't bode well for the day ahead.  But, undaunted by a bit of rain we set off after breakfast in the direction of Meran/o, where we'd read there were medieval arcaded streets to explore. Perfect for a rainy day, we thought.

 

Of course, everyone else had the same idea.  Not really feeling amenable to a s-l-o-w mooch along a crowded street with crying children and yapping dogs, we focused our minds beyond the souvenir shops

The bread here is excellent!

The speck is vacuum packed and we felt sure we could find room for it in the hotel minibar with the Mozartkugeln, if we took out a couple of things.

Then, since we can't focus solely on food, I left the men outside and browsed the trachten store where there was beautiful fabric to be found (for dirndls etc) - these two were in the window and cute as they are, I really admired the cushion they're sitting on.  Not really in keeping with our style at home, though, so not too hard to resist.

We'd had enough of Meran/o by then, but as we made our way back to the car, we spotted something to dance about - blue sky!

We decided to drive up to the village of Tirol high above all of those people and whilst we didn't quite have the place to ourselves, a short walk was rewarded with a quiet place to sit and enjoy a beer in the warm sunshine.  This is a great place!

Being the driver, Mark couldn't enjoy the Kapuzinerweisse that Edward and I did, but he was equally impressed by a glass of a more local brew - apple juice.  We'd driven for miles through huge apple orchards this morning and sitting there enjoying the view, we spotted them for miles in every direction.

The apples here seem to be grown like vines, with fruit low down on the tree and with fewer leaves.  We set off to walk downhill along the Falkenerweg through these fields of apples and some vines.

Beautiful.