Europeish

Leaving Switzerland

2011-04-09T19:06:00.000+02:00

Linda and I arrived in Europe almost exactly 4 years ago, with a couple of bags of clothes and not much more than a dream to pursue. In many ways we've been incredibly lucky; finding good jobs and living in a beautiful country, full of really nice people, in the middle of Europe.

However we never planned for this to be a permanent, or even particularly long-term, arrangement and, while we made many false starts at heading back home, it was inevitable that the day would come when we had to leave.

Maybe if we'd realised how much work leaving was going to be we would have delayed even longer, but as much as we enjoyed our time in Europe there's no escaping the fact that the people who matter to us most are back in Australia, and it's a long way between here and there!

So we sold, recycled, or disposed of as much of our belongings as we could, packed our bags and boxes, cancelled all our contracts, and said our goodbyes. I think it's safe to say that at the end of all that we were thinking we could never put ourselves through that again, but as the saying goes: never say never!

Ski Randonée at Ovronnaz

2011-04-09T18:51:00.001+02:00

Since arriving in Switzerland I've done a bit of downhill skiing, which I really enjoy. But I'd also seen plenty of people hiking up mountains in their skis, generally looking hot and exhausted, and heard plenty of talk at work of ski randonnée, or ski touring, and had decided that this must be the ultimate skiing experience.

This season I was determined I would give it a go, although I was quite hampered by a poor season of snow, so didn't really get started even trying until quite late in the season.

Knowing my determination to give it a try, Linda bought me a day of ski touring at Chamonix with a guide, and some guys at work started talking about taking me along on one of their own tours (no small concession given how seriously they take their weekends). Rather than be a complete beginner in either endeavor, I rented some skis for a couple of weeks and did a few trial runs up La Dole near Nyon. The snow was really poor but at least I got to break in my legs and try out a few kick-turns (one of the few really technical things to learn with ski touring).

In the end I didn't get to use my ski touring day at Chamonix, which instead I used for a descent of the Vallée Blanche (a whole other story), but I did get to go along with my work mates (Alessandro, Mike, and Andrew). They took me to Ovronnaz. I'd only ever known Ovronnaz as a family ski resort with an associated bath complex, so I was quite surprised when it was raised as a potential location.

We got up early and drove out to Ovronnaz where we bought our lift tickets to the top of the resort, from where we hiked up first to the Col de Fenestral between Dents du Morcles and Grand Chavalard then skied into a small valley before making our final ascent of the Dents du Morcles, at around 3000m.

It was an amazing day with perfect weather and a fresh layer of powder on the mountain. It was a really challenging climb for me in many respects; because it was my first major outing at a reasonably high altitude, plus I hadn't done much off-piste skiing, and lastly because I underestimated the day out and found myself quite dehydrated and sunburned at the end of the day.

It is also really hard work not only because of the long uphill climb wearing heavy skis and boots, but also because the apparent temperature changes dramatically depending on whether you are climbing or skiing, whether you're in a valley or on a ridge, and the altitude change. You need to stop quite often to change your clothing, and apply or remove the skins under your skis that allow you to hike uphill, which is exhausting in itself.

Despite these challenges it was probably the most memorable day of skiing since arriving in Switzerland; it gave me a real taste of back-country skiing and the best powder skiing I've experienced. I hope I have a chance to try it again some day!

Andrew made an excellent movie of the day which I've posted on YouTube.

Papiliorama

2011-02-14T13:27:00.000+01:00

On our way home from our balloon flight at Chateau D'Oex we stopped by the Papiliorama, not far from Bern.

The Papiliorama is a tropical garden containing, amongst other things, a fantastic exhibit of live tropical butterflies.

We only spent a relatively short amount of time there, but we kept well entertained by the many different butterflies fluttering around us.

We also spotted a hummingbird, which darted around the enclosure and hovered over the feeding trays long enough, and close enough, for us to snap off some photos.

There was also a nocturnal exhibit which was also interesting but also a little bit frightening, with small, black (mostly invisible in the low light) bats fluttering past your face at regular intervals.

We had a really nice time wandering around the exhibits, making it a nice cap to a very fun weekend of spas, balloons, and butterflies!

Ballooning at Chateau D'Oex

2011-02-11T15:53:00.001+01:00

Some time ago I bought Linda a gift certificate for hot air ballooning at Chateau D'Oex, which holds an annual balloon festival each January.

We'd tried to book a flight around a year ago that was cancelled due to wind and, to be fair, it did actually seem quite windy that weekend. Not that the wind made us feel much better about the fact that we'd had to commit to a day off work and two nights accommodation in a hotel.

With our departure from Switzerland now imminent, we gave it another try - booking a Friday the weekend after the balloon festival.

We were again somewhat disappointed to learn, the evening before, that the flight would again be cancelled, particularly since this time it seemed there was no wind and no clouds to be seen.

So we staked out the ballooning office to confront the organisers. It turned out, without explanation, that they weren't in the office in that morning leading us to suspect they had simply cancelled the Friday flight due to lack of numbers.

After lunch we pounced on them as soon as they came into the office and were told that in fact it would be possible for us to join a flight on Saturday! This was a little unexpected as I had previously told it would not be possible to fly on Saturday because it was already booked out.

In the mean-time however we had booked a hotel in Charmey, near Gruyeres, where we planned to spend the evening in the spa. So we left our very nice hotel in Chateau D'Oex and drove up to Charmey. Our luck seemed to be turning as we received a phone call from the hotelier apologising profusely that he could not fulfil our booking due to a technical issue - so we happily booked our original room back in Chateau D'Oex!

Then we spent an entirely relaxing candle-lit evening in the baths, hamams, and saunas at Charmey, before heading back to Chateau D'Oex in preparation for our flight.

On the day of the flight, we turned up nice and early to watch the balloon being inflated, and we climbed into the basket with great anticipation. It was quite a large balloon with a basket big enough for 12 of us (including the pilot and copilot), and it took quite some time for the balloon to be up in the air.

Then we drifted gently down the valley from Chateau D'Oex towards Gruyeres, which was nice but without lots of snow this year it was a little drab in the valley.

However, Chateau D'Oex's location is something of a geographic anomaly, where you can drift down the valley in one direction, being pushed along by the cold air, before increasing altitude and returning to Chateau D'Oex on the warmer air current.

This is quite a neat trick and it meant we got plenty of altitude to see the alps around us and it was nice and warm in the sun above the mountains.

After going back into the valley to return to Chateau D'Oex our pilot seemed to get a little lost and we scraped our way past trees and power lines before finding a nice open field upon which we touched down very gently.

After assisting to deflate and pack the balloon, we had a nice apero in the sun and received our certificates for the flight.

During the apero we heard a few more stories from our fellow passengers who had experienced even worse luck than us with the flight cancellations. Apparently only one flight in three is possible due to the weather conditions, which is something you're not told when you buy the tickets!

So it was a really fantastic experience, even if we did feel a little burned by the whole process at times!

Pre-Christmas - Tallinn

2011-01-20T17:42:00.001+01:00

The last leg of our pre-Christmas holiday was in Tallinn in Estonia, which we reached via a short ferry trip from Helsinki (which we only just made it on time for, being unexpectedly held up in the Helsinki traffic).

I have to say I was a bit sceptical of this last part of our trip, since most guide books seem to brush Tallinn off as a day-trip from Finland, but actually it was one of the nicest part of our whole trip.

Linda had found us an apartment just off the main square of Tallinn (although finding it at first was a bit difficult, thanks to an unhelpful taxi driver and a confusing numbering scheme). On the main square was the Christmas Markets, which were really nice and suitably snow-covered.

Tallinn is famous for it's crafts and so we spent some time going from shop to shop, buying more presents and more Christmas decorations.

In between shopping we had plenty more Glogg to keep us warm, and even managed to figure out the Sauna in our apartment to help thaw us after spending too long in the freezing outdoors.

Since the old town of Tallinn is medieval, they have some medieval themed cafés and restaurants and we dined on some delicious (if sometimes heavy) meals, including pastries and game meats. The beer was also excellent!

We took the time also to head out to another open air museum, which always sound tacky in theory, but in practice they are fantastic because they have lots of cute historic buildings covered with snow, and in Tallinn they even had re-enactments of life from the respective period.

We were lucky enough to find some hearty pea soup for lunch, and getting back into Tallinn was no problem because a friendly Moldovan diplomat gave us a lift back into town!

We finished our stay in Tallinn by taking a stroll in the upper part of the town, where we found some fantastic views back over the historic centre.

We flew back to Switzerland via Copenhagen relatively stress free, which was lucky because all across Europe airports were blocked because of snowstorms!

Pre-Christmas - Helsinki

2011-01-20T13:51:00.000+01:00

We hopped off the Ferry in Helsinki to find another snow-covered and very cold city. Here too they had experienced unseasonably cold weather and the harbour had a significant amount of ice in it and there was plenty of snow on the ground.

Fortunately our hotel was located very centrally, just a short walk from the Christmas markets along the main esplanade of Helsinki, and just across the road from a fantastic café where we visited several times during our stay.

Aside from spending time at the Christmas markets, we also visited the local sites, including the Russian and Lutheran cathedrals and the National Museum.

We also visited a church that was carved into a rocky hilltop, where we were lucky enough to see a choir practising (the Finns are famous for their singing, and the church had fantastic acoustics).

Finland is also famous for it's design, and we spent a lot of time wandering through the design district, buying presents for ourselves and family. Linda also sought out the best in Christmas decorations from the country that practically invented it.

To escape the markets and shopping, we caught the ferry out to nearby Suomenlinna, which was a somewhat Arctic experience, with a strong wind blowing the snow around the old houses and fort located there. It really gave us an idea of how cold it was outside of the city!

The ferry ride itself was amazing, as we had to barge our way through ice in our little boat. On the way back it was warm enough to stay outside and we took plenty of pictures of the ice on the harbour.

Lastly, we had plenty of good food in Finland, whether in Cafés, Markets, or Restaurants. We ate Reindeer and Elk but stayed clear of the Bear meat. We were lucky also in that although the days were short, we had quite clear whether during our stay, and even some sun!

Pre-Christmas - Stockholm

2011-01-17T14:09:00.000+01:00

Just before Christmas Linda and I headed off on a trip around the North of Europe to grab a taste of such places in the thick of their Christmas celebrations.

We started in Stockholm, which we've visited previously but later in the year. This time we turned up just after they'd had some unseasonably cold weather the week before, and Stockholm and Sweden were featuring heavily in the news because of the Wikileaks drama, an attempted terrorist attack, and the Chinese boycotting of the Nobel prize ceremony.

Linda had found us a really nice apartment in the old part of town, just across the river from Gamla Stan which is the real historic heart of Stockholm.

In Stockholm we visited the Christmas Markets in Gamla Stan, which were picture perfect in the old square with snow all around. We learned all about the Tomten (precursors to Santa Clause), and kept warm on Glogg, Saffransbullar, and Pepparkakor (mulled wine, saffron buns, and ginger biscuits).

We also went to Skansen to see the Santa Lucia celebrations in the open air museum. The history of the Santa Lucia tradition seems to be a bit vague, but the modern interpretation is of lots of singing and the crowning of a girl who is elected to play the Lucia role.

We also saw groups of people singing in the streets all around Stockholm, in less formal performances.

At the end of our stay we caught an overnight ferry to Helsinki. At the markets we had bought a salami and cheese, which kept us well fed through our ferry trip and beyond!

Actually the Ferry trip was both fun and weird. Fun because we were catching a ferry through the Swedish Archipeligo and ice towards another icy location, but weird because of the strange captive-audience/b-grade entertainment atmosphere of the ferry.

Belgium

2010-12-08T14:52:00.001+01:00

A couple of weekends ago we did a quick search through the flight scanning websites and came up with our next destination, based purely on convenience, which is how we ended up going to Belgium!

Not that Belgium was a bad choice, and actually it had been on our list of places we'd quite like to visit for some time, but it wasn't exactly at the top of that list and from its reputation we didn't have high expectations.

Of course this presumption was completely unfounded, and we ended up having a fabulous time exploring the cullinary delights of Belgium (Chocolates, Beers, Mussels, Chips & Mayonaise, Waffles, etc.) as well as some its very pretty medieval cities.

We started in Ghent, a city I'd never heard of before this trip but which came with fantastic recommendations from the travel websites. Our hotel fronted onto a Canal with fantastic old building facades, and we had a great time exploring the streets and cafés.

We also visited Saint Bavo Cathedral and laughed at the extravagant entry fee required to duck around the corner to look at The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, by Jan van Eyck, which was trapped behind multiple layers of glass in a climate controlled room.

Then we travelled to Bruges which is another very pretty town but far more touristed than Ghent. Fortunately we weren't visiting in peak season otherwise it would be a bit unbearable.

Aside from wandering around the streets and buying lace (a local speciality), we had the best dinner of our trip, made up of a bucket of mussels in beer broth and some of the local soup.

Lastly, we spent only a few hours in Brussels, buying up big on chocolates from the famous ateliers, before doing our typical hustle to the airport (which this time was unnecessary since the flight was delayed). All in all we had a fantastic time in Belgium and came home feeling fat and happy from our experiences.

This was our best photo of that icon of Brussels, the Mannekin Pis. It's difficult to capture in a photograph because it's just so small!

Saint Petersburg - The Hermitage

2010-10-31T20:58:00.000+01:00

While in Saint Petersburg we spent 2 afternoons in The Hermitage; Saint Petersburg's first public museum housed in three separate buildings: the Winter Palace, the Old Hermitage and the New Hermitage.

On our first day there we spent hours wandering around the 2nd floor visiting the state rooms, including the room where the October revolution came to an end, with the stopped clock recording the time.

The state rooms were amazing in scale and grandure. Also amazing was the Hidden Treasures display of French artwork, taken from Germany after WWII and now quite discretely displayed within the museum (I gather Germany is quite interested in getting them back).

We also did a guided tour of the vaulted "diamond room" where some of the most valuable pieces are kept (but no pictures were allowed).

On the second day we focused on the 3rd floor containing modern art, and also a very interesting Oriental and Middle Eastern display.

Then we made sure to spend some time on the 1st floor looking at the prehistoric artifacts from finds around Russia.

All in all it was quite exhausting but really interesting. I'm sure it's true that you could spend many days wandering around the museum, not least because it is quite confusingly configured! Also interesting were the countless "babushkas" who guard each of the rooms both in the Hermitage but also in the Ethnography museum - I don't think there was any doubt about who is in charge of the museums!

Saint Petersburg

2010-10-31T12:39:00.000+01:00

Last weekend Linda took me on a surprise trip to Saint Petersburg for my birthday. What Linda didn't expect was the complexity of getting a visa for Russia and it was quite a tense time leading up to the trip as we weren't sure until the last minute if we'd have to cancel. Fortunately the visas came through okay!

We headed off relatively early on Thursday morning and arrived in the early afternoon at our hotel, which was located right in the centre of the old part of town. We were literately only one block from the main square where the Hermitage museum is located.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the old town, heading slowly towards the Mariinsky area (past the Admiralty and Saint Isaac's Cathedral) because we had tickets to see the ballet that night (also known as the Kirov ballet). I don't think either of us would normally classify ourselves as ballet lovers, but when in Rome and all that...

While waiting for the show to start we visited the nearby Nikolsky Cathedral, where we watched a orthodox service with chanting that was very interesting to watch.

Actually the ballet was very interesting, with three different performances of varying quality and themes, but I think we both enjoyed the last performance the most as it seemed the most traditionally Russian and also happened to have some of the best dancers of the night.

Afterwards we went to the Mariinsky Back Stage restaurant nearby where we had some fantastic food [goat's cheese and walnuts with roast beetroot, beef strogonov, and some delicious white salmon] and there was even a live classical duet playing.

We walked home past the Yusupov Palace, where Rasputin was poisoned, shot, and finally drowned in the canal outside.

The next day was unexpectedly good weather (clear sunny skies, and relatively warm) so we decided to spend the day mostly exploring outside around the town. We took more photos of the Hermitage and then headed up to Nevsky Prospect, which is the main street that runs through Saint Petersburg. We walked past Stroganov Palace (where Beef Stroganov was invented).

We then headed down one of the canals (Saint Petersburg is somewhat modelled after Amsterdam) towards the Church of the Saviour on Blood, which is a classic Russian style church with Onion-shaped steeples. Despite being neglected for a long time, particularly over the soviet era, the church is in excellent condition and is fascinating to visit.

We did an audio guide tour of the church but mainly just took photos of the amazing mosaics.

Afterwards we spent some time wandering through the nearby Mikhailovsky Gardens where there was several wedding photos being conducted - it seems to be very much the wedding tradition in Saint Petersburg to have photos taken in the parks.

After this it started to get really cold, and we went into the Museum of Ethnography where we spent a very interesting time looking at the different cultures that are or were part of Russia, the Russian Federation, or the Soviet Union. We were quite happily wandering around the museum when, 15 minutes before closing time, lights were being turned off and brusque Russian women bustled us towards the exit.

On leaving the museum we found it was snowing! This was actually quite a nice surprise, since it's really how you imagine Saint Petersburg - under a layer of snow. We went and looked at a statue of Catherine the Great in the swirling snow.

Then we sheltered from the snow in the Gostiny Dvor shopping centre, one of the world's first indoor shopping malls, where there was plenty of designer labels but also some high quality Russian souvenirs.

In the evenings we had more delicious food from Georgia (at Kavkas - "Caucasus") and Azerbaijani (at Baku). We did have one particularly ordinary meal at Kalinka Malinka where we hoped to find Russian music and dancing but instead had 90s dance music and stodgy food.

For breakfast and street snacks we had Bliny (a lot like crepes) with a variety of sweet or savoury fillings, and we had lots of yummy pastries in cafés, and particularly at "Stolle" near our hotel.

The next 2 days we visited the Hermitage museum but I'll leave that for a second post.

We also visited some craft markets near the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood where we bought lots of nice souvenirs and presents.

We visited the bronze horseman (a heroic image of Peter the Great) and took night-time photos across the river towards the Peter and Paul fortress.

On our last day we only had a few hours before we had to head back to the airport for the flight home. We caught a taxi to the Finland railway station where we took photos of Lenin (it's where he came back into Saint Petersburg and made his famous speech).

From there we walked towards the Peter and Paul fortress, taking photos of the Aurora navy ship (that fired shots during the October revolution) along the way.

We took photos of the cathedral where most of the Romanovs are burried, and other parts of the fortress, before taking a rapid walk back to the hotel in order to meet our car for the drive to the airport.

After navigating the many layers of security, and Linda managing to re-enter Switzerland despite having forgotten her residency permit (a matter of some anxiety), we arrived safe and sound back in Nyon where we were ironically greeted by La Bise (the cold northern wind hits Switzerland around this time of year).

Hiking to La Dole - Autumn Snow!

2010-10-20T19:17:00.000+02:00

Last weekend Linda was out of town at a conference. I normally try to do some crazy hike or other adventure while she's away but this time the weather was really bad so I could only really do something small on Sunday - so when I saw the sky clear above the Jura I jumped into a train up the hill to St Cergue to do a hike from there.

I've hiked up La Dole a couple of times before, simply because it's the highest point in the Jura range and there's a few different ways to approach it. There's other hikes in the Jura that I hope to explore more in future.

Also this time it was Autumn and it had been quite a cold few days so I got lightly snowed on in the early stage of my walk and there was a significant amount of snow on the ground by the time I reached the top.

On the way back down I stopped at the Cuvaloup restaurant where I felt compelled to have a Croque au Fromage avec Oeuf et Jambon, after which I felt quite ill. So it was probably just as well that I missed the train at La Givrine and had to walk down the hill to St Cergue - I needed the time to digest all that cheese!

I took a couple of videos during my climb as well, which you'll find here and here. As you can see it was cold and windy!

Weekend in Ticino

2010-10-19T18:37:00.000+02:00

The other weekend we decided it would be a good idea to check out the Italian part of Switzerland, where the weather, language, and people, are supposedly much more Mediterranean than in other parts of the country. We drove up the Valais and over the Simplon pass, briefly into Italy and then passed into Ticino, which was quite a challenging drive in the end, being along some quite narrow mountain roads.

We arrived in Bellinzona quite late on Saturday, leaving us only some time to 'freshen up' before heading out to dinner. Around Bellinzona there is several castles, and a couple of them have restaurants inside. We took the none-too-clear advice of our guidebook to try the Castello di Sasso Corbaro, which is the highest of the three castles. Once inside however it was quickly apparent that the "Osteria-style" restaurant has gone significantly upmarket since the guidebook was printed. In the end it was really delicious and actually quite reasonably priced dinner! This, at least, was what we'd hoped from Italian-Switzerland!

The next day we caught the train to Lugano, where we were lucky to find an Autumn festival in progress. One of the local specialties of Ticino is Polenta, which we dutifully tried even though it was about as stodgy as we remembered it being. It was welcome anyway, since it was a cold and grey day.

We also had some of the local cake which was actually really good. Linda would remember the name of it but I'm afraid I've forgotten already.

Otherwise we just wandered around the town and along the waterfront which was a relaxing way to spend the day. I imagine it's a lovely place to be in Summer.

That night, back in Bellinzona, we went to the other castle restaurant (at Castelgrande) for dinner. This was a bit weird because the whole castle was really quiet, and the restaurant door was resolutely shut against the cold night air, but we managed to push our way inside and had another very nice dinner, albeit as the only customers of the restaurant that night.

The next day we went to Ascona, which is a really nice little town even in the rain, where we wandered around the streets and bought nik-naks in the shops.

We also dropped through nearby Locarno, but we weren't inspired even to stay for lunch and continued on to Bellinzona where we had a really nice lunch in the main square of the town.

We finished off our stay in Bellinzona by visiting the museum at Castelgrande, where we learned a bit about the local history and took lots of photos of the cloud-covered castles across the valley.

On the way home we went via the Gotthard pass, but decided the tunnel would be boring and instead went over the top of the mountains. This was quite frightening at first because there was a thick fog on the Ticino side, but once we passed into Uri it cleared up (although still raining quite hard).

This all would have been fine but for the fact we were unaware there was still one more pass to be negotiated on our trip, and this was probably the most difficult we'd been on. It took us over the Susten pass into Bern and was high enough that we were passing significant amounts of snow by the road.

Ligurian Coast

2010-09-21T12:23:00.001+02:00

The canton of Geneva recently had their Geneva Fast holiday on Thursday, so we took the 'bridge' to make it a four day weekend. We took advantage of this to travel down to the Ligurian coast for some sun, sea, and Italian food. We've been to the Ligurian coast before, having visited the Cinque Terre, but we'd heard that the area around Portofino was also really nice and we decided this would make it a good place to visit.

We stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure, the first night in a noisy hotel with uncomfortable beds (the price you pay for last-minute organisation), before transferring to a somewhat nicer hotel for the last two nights. As we arrived quite late on Thursday we only really had time for some (delicious) dinner in the town before heading to bed.

The next day we headed out to Portofino, which is a famous and exclusive town that has played host to many celebrities over the years. We had a very nice time wandering around the shops and getting bites of food to eat (the focaccia is quite famous), and we also hiked up to the castle that overlooks the town.

The view over the pretty port town from the castle was fantastic (note the giant yachts).

After several hours in Portofino we headed to Rapallo for dinner (I think the Rapallo tourism board must have been paying this fisherman to be there just for photos). Rapallo turns out also to be a very nice little town and, after picking an Osteria at random, we had another delicious seafood dinner.

On Saturday went down to Vernazza, one of the towns in the Cinque Terre. Originally we were going to catch the ferry but it left town quite early and in the end we decided driving would be a more flexible option. However the drive was really quite a lot longer than expected and the road through the hills above Vernazza were quite difficult to negotiate.

Anyway Vernazza was as nice as we had remembered from our last visit, and we had a nice swim in the sea, some delicious geleto, and yet another great seafood dinner before walking to our car and driving back to Santa Margherita.

On our last day we had a quick walk around Santa Margherita before driving over to Comogli, which also took quite a lot longer than expected (especially since the parking was near to impossible!).

From Comogli we took the ferry to San Fruttuoso, where there is a old Monastery located on a very picturesque beach and (being Italy) some little restaurants. At the restaurant we chose, we sat right on the beach and ate a delicous lunch. I had a strange (in concept) Pesto Lasagne which was actually really delicious.

We swam in the water at San Fruttuoso but somehow we got stung by a jelly fish! Linda got stung far worse then me, and it certainly encouraged us to leave the water sooner than we would have liked.

Finally we raced back into Comogli and back to our car (picking up supplies along the way!) for the trip back into Switzerland.

The drive back took a lot longer than the drive in since the Mont Blanc tunnel was backed up for miles. We also had a small drama after the tunnel, finding ourselves in a mountain storm with windscreen wipers that seemed effective only in smearing the water across the windscreen. We sheltered in a service station where we found some new wipers (and a hot chocolate to revitalise us) before getting home quite late on Sunday. Despite all this, it was amazing to be able to drive into Italy for such an amazing weekend!

Hiking to Lac Blanc Refuge

2010-09-09T12:00:00.003+02:00

A couple of weekends ago we finally got ourselves oranised (ie: Linda organised us) to hike into a Refuge in the mountains near Chamonix.

We'd been wanting to do something like this for a really long time and, with the hiking season drawing to a close, we decided it was time to get on with it!

The Refuge is situated by a lake across the valley from the Mont Blanc range of mountains and the walk in was really amazing even though it was quite cloudy for much of the walk (and it was consequently quite cold).

We followed the path into the national park, seeing some Chamois and plenty of small lakes and ponds along the way, and occassionally the clouds would lift giving us a view across the valley.

Once we finally reached the refuge, we familiarised ourselves with the way these these work (not having stayed in a refuge before) and took ourselves out for a walk out by the lake, returning in time for dinner. We had a feast for dinner; soup with slabs of cheese dropped in it, beef bourguinoin and pasta for mains, and something else delicious for desert.

However we pretty rapidly lost track of what was happening then. Everyone around us bolted off for showers and bed, and we discovered that the hot water was soon to disappear as were the lights for the night. So Linda and I did our best to get our selves off to bed but were hampered by our locker jamming up on us. I stood there in the dark using my phone screen as a torch trying to figure out how to unjam our locker for some time before one of the caretakers appeared and was able to help us.

Our sleep wasn't brilliant either, with refuge sleeping being very much a dormatory style affair filled with snoring adults and sleep-talking children (and anyway we were pretty wound up after our locker lock-out).

So it wasn't much of a surprise that we woke up for dawn and so we went out to watch the sun rise over the alps. This was amazing, with clear skies and some whispy clouds in the valley below us.

After the sun was up and we'd had our breakfast, we hiked up the mountain towards Lac de la Perserverance. This wasn't actually our plan, as we though we were just going to do a walk around Lac Blanc itself but evidently we got on the wrong track at some point and ended up somewhere completely different.

Not that this was really a bad thing, as it turned out to have been a very interesting destination - a lake high in the mountains that was still largely frozen over even at the end of summer.

After this we back-tracked to the Refuge for a final hot chocolate before deciding to head straight back down the mountain because the weather was starting to close in (and a storm with snow was forecast!).

We had a very nice walk down the mountain, passing many people going in the opposite direction who were apparently taking part in some kind of mountain walking event in Chamonix that weekend. We stopped by a small lake that was fed by a spring, and we drank from the spring (an occasion for which we had specifically brought camping cups) and snoozed in the sun by the bubbling stream.

Around Nyon

2010-09-08T15:52:00.000+02:00

Over the last several weeks we've managed to do a few things around Nyon - which happens less often than you may think given that we live here, but we spend so many of our weekends travelling we don't often get a chance to really explore our home town! [most of these photos are by Linda]

On the 1st of August we had Swiss National Day which is usually quite a relaxed day where you hang around and swim in the lake and watch fireworks at night. This year was unfortunately rainy and also unfortunately on a Sunday which meant we didn't get the benefit of a day off work!

This was not really a big problem, as it just meant it was even more relaxed than usual, and the weather managed to clear up in time for the fireworks in the evening. Even the fireworks were a close call this year since it's been so "hot and dry" (by Swiss standards) that there was a ban on fireworks except for in specific controlled areas near the lake.

We still managed to have fun despite these rigid controls over our fireworks (we bought up big this year!). The main event of the fireworks in Nyon was a band of drummers on a trailer that was towed around the town - followed closely by people with buckets in case the fun became too extreme but, as usual, Linda and I had the most fun setting off our own fireworks

At the end of the night there was a big bonfire on the lake.

Not long after this Richard and Renata came to visit with their son Oliver.

We weren't lucky with the weather then either (it seems to have been a pretty miserable summer, weather wise) but still managed to get out and see bits of Nyon, Lausanne, and Divonne in France.

Then recently we discovered the local pool at Nyon, which we only found the weekend it was due to close for winter despite a late burst of really quite nice Autumn weather (Swiss pools seem very strict on their swimming season). It was great to be swimming in a nice big clean pool overlooking the lake and with Mont Blanc in the distance.

Last but not least, we went back to Divonne this weekend to shop for fresh seafood, ham, bread and other delicious bits and pieces for the weekend, which seems to have lasted us into the rest of the week - it's great being able to drive 15 minutes into France to go to the markets!

Camping at Chamonix

2010-08-28T10:01:00.000+02:00

Last weekend we packed our little car full of camping gear and drove to Chamonix, which is only about an hour and a half from Nyon - a very convenient distance considering it is one of the major mountain resorts in Europe!

We had found a camp site in our Cool Camping book that looked nice, and were quite happy when we arrived that it was arranged into quite small allotments - so it was quiet and peaceful (not at all resort-like, which is how many campsites in Europe can be).

After quickly setting up our tent we drove into Chamonix itself for supplies and some equipment shopping. I have to say we are probably the best equipped campers around, swapping and receiving various pieces of gear as gifts over the last couple of years. This time around I bought myself a new hiking bag and a we also bought a double camping bag (it gets cold camping at the base of these big mountains).

Aside from gear, we also bought some local bread, cheese, ham, some apricots, and a small bottle of wine for dinner.

We cooked ourselves up a fantastic omlette on our little camp stove, eaten off our camping plates with our camping sporks and washed down with wine from our camping cups. Then we washed up out of our camping bucket.

We had a fantastic night's sleep, despite the occasional rumble of an avalanche somewhere in the valley (we were camped at the foot of a glacier, so this was initially a little alarming).

Breakfast was just as good, finishing off the remaining bread, cheese, and ham from the previous night. So good we almost weren't up to the task of packing up our tent, but we managed it in the end.

All this meant we were a bit slower getting started than planned, and by the time we reached the Aigle du Midi station to ride up the mountain it was after 11am and there was a huge queue already formed. You see this weekend was the first we'd had in a while with perfect weather, and it seems everyone had the same idea to head into the mountains to take advantage of it.

Our plan was to catch the panoramic telecabine from Aigle du Midi to Punta Helbrunner, which is on the French/Italian border at 3462m. The last time we'd been to Chamonix the lift had been closed and we'd resolved to come back in Summer to do it properly.

The ride was amazing - taking you 5 kilometers over the Vallee Blanche, one of the major glaciers from Mont Blanc. The valley was full of hikers either looking to summit on Mont Blanc, climb one of the surrounding cliffs, or just to camp or hike across the valley.

We arrived at Hellbrunner without too much bother - though to be honest the station itself is not that interesting. This feeling was probably made worse by the fact that we were now on the return journey and the queues were getting enormous.

At least they gave you a ticket at each station so you didn't actually have to queue up the whole time, but could come when your number was called. Still, the round trip from Chamonix, Aigle du Midi, Punta Helbrunner and back took us about 8 hours!

So in the end we didn't get to do any hiking, which was one of our main objectives of going to Chamonix in the first place, but the ride up and across the mountain was amazing and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Anyway, with Chamonix only 1 & 1/2 hours away, we know we'll be back (in fact we're off there again this weekend!)

Majorca

2010-08-04T17:58:00.000+02:00

A little while ago Linda and I took a 4 day weekend to fly to the Spanish island of Majorca.

The main goal of the trip was to get to the sea, which is something we really miss being in land-locked Switzerland (and no, the lakes don't count). In Majorca, we got the full trifecta of sun, sandy beaches, and delicious fresh seafood.

The other reason for going to Majorca was that, despite the amount of travelling we've done around Europe so far, we hadn't once been to Spain! To be fair there was likely more German and English tourists in Majorca than Spanish people but at least the food was local.

We spent our time around Cala d'Or, which is a collection of small sandy coves surrounded by cliffs. We were staying at a hotel on Cala Esmerelda, which turned out to be one of the nicer beaches in the area.

Of the beaches, we also really enjoyed Cala Mondrago since it is in a national park and less built-up than the other beaches in the area.

Aside from the beaches, we also visited Santanyi a couple of times, once when there was markets on, and once at a more quiet time just for lunch.

And we visited Porto Petro and Cala Figuera a couple of times each, basically just to eat!

On our last day we spent some time in Palma which was also a nice town although a little quiet - I'm glad we didn't plan to spend more than a few hours there.

As usual, despite trying to leave for the airport a little earlier than usual, we ended up running for our flight. In the end, being easyjet, we needn't have worried.

Paleo in Nyon

2010-07-21T14:00:00.001+02:00

This year was the 35th edition of the Paleo music festival at Nyon. While the festival itself is held up the hill from Nyon, the organisers put on a party in the town itself to celebrate its start.

I met up with some friends from work for dinner beforehand and at 10:30 when the main event kicked off we all went out onto the streets to watch the procession.

The show was a marine fantasy, with giant inflatable sea-life floating through the streets of Nyon accompanied by lights and music.

It was pretty cool to see the whole town out on the streets and to see such a large event being organised in what is actually quite a small town.

Hiking around Schilthorn

2010-07-21T10:59:00.001+02:00

The other weekend I took myself up to Lauterbrunnen to do some camping and hiking.

I've been to this area a couple of times before with Linda and my parents so I'm quite familiar with it now, but it is also one of the most spectacular parts of Switzerland so worth returning to!

I decided to spend my time hiking around Schilthorn, which is a 3000m peak with (as is usual for Switzerland) a restaurant at the top. This particular restaurant is Piz Gloria, which revolves and was the setting for a James Bond movie!

On Saturday I got up quite early and caught the lift all the way to the top of Schilthorn, since the weather was clear and I was hoping to get a good view over the mountain range.

I then hiked down the mountain towards the Birg lift station, taking a detour to walk past Grauseeli and take pictures of the reflections on the lake there. It was a really beautiful calm day so I got some good photos.

Then I cut back towards Schilthornhutt with the goal of climbing to the top of Bietenhorn (2756m) which is indicated as a blue trail on the map (which indicates an Alpine path, supposedly trickier than a Mountain path). In fact despite being steep the climb wasn't that challenging.

I returned to Schilthornhutt for some lunch and to regain some energy after having already done a significant bit of hiking. The day was still really nice although I could see some clouds coming in and I knew there was rain forecast for the weekend.

Soon I continued down the mountain, and at what would have been the bottom of the ski lift run I found an amazing spot just off the trail, which I reached by walking over lush green carpet and ended in a natural balcony looking over the valley. Not for the first time during the hike I found myself saying "wow!".

The remainder of the hike down was not that eventful but for the fact that a storm rolled in and I got rained on heavily. I stopped at a restaurant for a coffee and cake until it lightened up and I finished the walk to Murren where I caught the lift down into the valley.

That night a huge storm rolled in with big winds and heavy rain, but my tent stood up to it very well and I had a nice, dry, night's sleep.

The next day I wasn't sure if I was going to do more walking as my legs were already feeling quite stiff but, after the rain of the previous night, the air was crystal clear and I couldn't resist getting some more hiking in.

This time I decided to hike from Murren (1600m) to the top (3000m) via Rotstockhutt, which meant I would see the North side of Schilthorn whereas the previous day I had been on the South/West.

This hike was really amazing, taking me up through the farming areas above Murren and Gimmelwald, into the Valley where Rotstockhutt is found (and where I had a delicious cheese sandwich). In fact I was a little dispirited when I reached Rotstockhutt and looked at my map and realised I had climbed only 400m and had 1000m of climb still ahead of me.

Anyway, walking past streams, waterfalls and rockfalls up to the ridge was amazing and being in the cooler air at the higher altitude was fantastic.

I finished the walk by hiking along the ridge to Schilthorn, which took me from 2600m to 3000m and was over some really interesting terrain - there was ladders and ropes in some trickier spots.

By the time I got to the top it was about 1:30pm in the afternoon and the clouds were starting to come in. After a bit of a rest I simply caught the lift all the way down to the bottom - I was exhausted!

People may wonder what motivates someone to climb up a mountain, but for me it was easy to answer this question after a weekend of hiking: it's simply one of the most enjoying and fulfilling things I've ever done. Of course, my legs were aching for days afterwards...

Hiking at Leysin

2010-07-04T20:54:00.000+02:00

Today (yes, it's a rare day that I actually blog something on the same day) I went for a hike at Leysin.

I wanted to really hike up a mountain and my little hikes up La Dole near where we live didn't quite fit the bill, so I found a walk from Leysin village (1200m) up to the shiny modern restaurant at La Berneuse (2048m).

I didn't start my climb until midday since Leysin is about an hour and a half from Nyon, and by then the sun was really hot and it was really humid from some recent rain so not long after setting off I was already hot and sweating. It was a really steep climb to the top and even though I felt like I was pacing myself I got to the top in only about an hour.

Once there I was quite exhausted and I grabbed a drink and some chips in the restaurant (standard stuff inside despite the shiny exterior) and followed this up with some "trail mix" while sitting on a rocky outcrop looking over the valley.

Feeling replenished I started the downward hike, stopping to take photos of some of the mountain bike riders following the downhill course.

I walked down to Lac d'Ai and took some more photos of the little cabins and the lake before continuing to Lac d'Mayen where I felt compelled to have a coffee at the refuge there to support the local economy.

After setting off again I quickly realised I'd taken a wrong turn but, considering how quickly my walk was going, decided to continue on for a longer hike.

I'm really pleased to have done this as it was actually a really interesting hike over the Brion area where there was some amazing rocky formations.

At some point, however, the clouds that had building during the afternoon started to make ominous noises and the wind started to pick up. I rushed to put my camera in my bag and put on my rain jacket. I then quickly hiked down the hill to Les Fers and sheltered under the eves of the restaurant there while the rain poured down.

Eventually I got bored of waiting and finished up hiking down the road to Leysin village where I was glad I had left the car parked underground allowing me take off my wet jacket and shoes and socks before getting in the car to drive home.

I'd love to go back to Leysin and do some more hiking, although next time I might catch the lift up and do more hiking around the various peaks you can reach from there.

Berlin

2010-07-03T18:26:00.002+02:00

Last week I met up with Linda in Berlin where she was at a conference for work.

Even though I was only there with Linda for a few days, and it was anyway quite busy during that time, we managed to see quite a large part of Berlin although I'm sure its the sort of city where you could live for years and still be discovering new things.

We saw most of the major sites starting, of course, by walking up Unter den Linden towards the Brandenburg gate.

Then we walked along the line of the old Berlin Wall towards the parliamentary area where we went onto the roof and into the dome of the Reichstag.

The dome is really impressive on the inside and puts an interestingly modern cap on the historic Reichstag building.

We also made sure to sample the local cuisine, such as the currywurst (not terribly impressive) as well as the famous Berliner jam-filled donut (which I was unable to find an optimal sample of). Aside from this the food was actually very good and surprisingly cheap. Even the coffee was unexpectedly good, and the large Turkish community meant we had a delicious Turkish dinner one night.

In Berlin you can't escape the history of WWII, and we did visit the Holocaust memorial which was as sobering as you expect, and we also visited the checkpoint charlie museum which was meant to have uplifting escape stories but again just made us quite depressed.

We didn't to go Berlin to be reminded of these difficult times, however, and we spent most of our time visiting more uplifting sights and museums.

We visited the ultra-modern Potsdamerplatz area, where large glass-fronted buildings and open squares have been constructed over what was a void between East and West Berlin.

We also went to the "museum island", where we visited the Pergamonmuseum and Neues Museum and saw some amazing antiquities from Egypt and Babylon.

And we went to the DDR museum, which is a more lighthearted look at life in Eastern Germany, including a Trabant, and a replica apartment from the time. This was actually quite interesting and fun, and even managed to illustrate some of the positive aspects of living in a socialist country that we don't often hear about.

We went up the TV tower to see the view (not that amazing and a pricey to go up), and went to the zoo where Linda happily watched the Bonobos for quite some time, as well as the big (and not so big) cats, and we were impressed by the nocternal display where bush babies bounced around the rooms.

We also tried to see the famous Knut but apparently he's been misbehaving lately.

While in Berlin we managed to share a beer in "the oldest beer garden in Berlin" with Stefan, a friend of Linda's from University.

And finally visited the flee markets at Tiergarten.

We had a really good time in Berlin. As usual we were surprised how much we enjoy countries in ways that we don't expect and I think we found Berlin a more relaxed and friendly city than we previously imagined (and of course being there during the Football World Cup while Germany is performing well probably didn't hurt!).

Hiking to the top of La Dole

2010-06-21T18:00:00.004+02:00

This weekend I woke up on Sunday with hope that it would be a nice clear day after several days of cold and rain. I walked out the door in shorts and a t-shirt but quickly put on a fleece by the time I was on the train and my rain jacket once I got to La Givrine, which is just past Saint Cergue and the start of my hike.

I had an espresso and croisant at the restaurant there (it's a mistake to let me go too long without coffee) and then headed off.

I soon began to wonder if I'd underestimated the conditions, since it was by now quite cold and rainy - I seemed to be the only one out walking and even the cows were looking at me like I was crazy.

Regardless, I continued towards Cuvaloup but got a bit lost when I missed the turn-off which would have taken me up the mountain, and I spent a bit of time in the 'wilderness' under the ski lifts before getting back on track.

Then, as I was puffing my way up towards the peak, a woman actually ran past me up the mountain, and a bit further on a guy ran past me going down! I saw more people running up the mountain during my hike, as well as a group of unhappy cyclists carrying their mountain bikes up on their shoulders.

It was really cold and windy at the top and I swear there was flecks of ice amongst the rain.

On the way back down the rain and clouds cleared a bit and I stopped at a mountain restaurant for an assiette de viande seche and to warm up before continuing my hike down the mountain.

As usual when hiking, I took far less photos on the way down. I did take a lot of photos of cows but the clouds meant I couldn't take any panoramic pictures of the mountains.

I did, however, take a few movies with my camera. This was quite fun but the work involved in turning it into something I can put on the web means I probably won't do it too often. It's too big to embed on the blog, but you can find it here.

Tomorrow I plan to have another go at hiking in the Jura and I bought myself some Komperdell hiking sticks today so I can blend in with the Swiss, with whom they seem to be mandatory!

Bathing and Hiking

2010-06-21T16:02:00.002+02:00

Well Summer is officially here and we've been trying to get out into the sunshine over the last few weeks. However apart from a splash of sun early on we've had lots of grey weather recently.

It started out at Ovronnaz in Valais, where we spent a very relaxing couple of days in the natural hot spring baths and lying in the sun (Linda lay in the sun, I lay in the shade. We both got sunburnt).

We also had massages which pretty much put an end to our plans to do some hiking in the surrounding mountains because we were just too relaxed! I guess we should have done it in the reverse order.

We did, however, drive the car up a mountain road and wandered around a bit in the beautiful fresh growth forest and crisp mountain air.

The following weekend we had a bit of a wander around the Jura above Nyon where the flowers were all out.

And somewhere along the way we nipped across the lake to Yvoire in France where we checked out the gardens.

Then we had a weekend at Chateau D'Oex where we were meant to be going ballooning, but apparently a breath of a breeze was enough for it to be cancelled so we had a rather more quiet weekend driving around the Bernese Oberland and doing some hiking in the mountains.

This was quite a frustrating weekend because we'd taken a day off work to do the flight and instead we had rainy days and Linda even got caught with some urgent work. We did however manage to see some cool waterfalls and lakes, and we visited Les Diablerets which is one of our favourite places in Switzerland.

Loire Valley

2010-05-23T11:33:00.006+02:00

Last weekend we headed up to the Loire Valley, south of Paris in France. From Nyon this is quite a long trip and we only arrived in Orleans in the evening.

This meant we headed practically straight out from our hotel to find some dinner, which we intended to be something relatively cheap and quick but which ended up being a large and heavy dinner of Loire cuisine that seemed to keep us feeling over-full for the remainder of the weekend.

At one point I picked up a Loire cookbook in a tourist shop and read the nutritionist advice in the front cover - it recommended that the meat, butter, and cream-heavy food was not a healthy diet for normal people.

The next day we headed out to see some castles - the Loire valley being rich in castles as it is with its food.

We started with Chambord, which is a dangerous way to start a weekend of castle-watching because it may well be the most impressive of the whole area. In fact it did not start life as a castle but was actually built as a hunting lodge. The castle is surrounded by forest that was bright green at this time of year.

After a "snack" of fresh bread with goats cheese and foie de cerf we moved on to Blois, which is a town with another impressive castle, although this one is built in the town and evolved over many centuries making it an architectural mixed bag.

The next day we started at Chaumont, with a fairytale castle and some pretty gardens that looked over the Loire valley.

Then we moved on to Chenonceau, an amazing castle built out over the river and surrounded by forest. We had lunch there and took an audio tour, learning the interesting history of the castle and the people who lived within it.

We finished up at Tours, one of the major cities of the region, which has a well preserved old town where we had dinner at a creperie in the main square - finishing with sweet crepes served with Chantilly cream.

On our last day we wandered around Orleans, visiting the rebuild house of Jean of Arc, before moving on back in the direction of Switzerland.

We stopped at one more castle at Sully-sur-Loire, which we'd saved for the last day because it was roughly on the way home, and found we were really lucky with our timing because there was also a medieval faire being held.

It was fascinating seeing all these people dressed up in period costumes and living out of tents of the age, even if there was some strange sights, like "American Indians" and WWII soldiers mixing with medieval knights. Everyone seemed to be having fun and getting along just fine regardless!

The castle itself was also quite interesting and we took ourselves on a tour around it but soon we were feeling the pressure of time to finish the drive back to Switzerland.

In the end we got back home with no troubles, having not really encountered any problems or traffic, but we were happy to have given ourselves time to recover after quite an exhausting and busy trip!

Amsterdam & Keukenhof

2010-05-07T15:35:00.004+02:00

Last weekend Linda and I did a somewhat last-minute job of organising a trip to the Netherlands to see the Tulips that we missed out on seeing last year, having arrived about a week after the end of the season.

This time we made sure to visit a good couple of weeks before the end of the season but managed a different oversight this time - we would be arriving in the evening of Queens Day; one of the major events on the Amsterdam calendar.

This meant we arrived on the tail end of some pretty chaotic scenes on the public transport and on the streets for our walk to the apartment where we would be staying. Fortunately the apartment (which Linda found after much searching) was excellent, with a canal view and an excellent coffee shop just around the corner.

The next morning also felt somewhat as though the whole city was suffering from a hangover.

Since we'd been to Amsterdam before we didn't feel much pressure to see everything, and the weather on Saturday was nice and sunny for the most part, so we happily wandered around the city visiting museums and shops and generally just enjoying the town.

The next day we headed out to the Keukenhof gardens, the largest bulb flower park in the world.

This didn't get off to a great start because we thought renting a car would simplify things by letting us keep our bags in the car while we explored (instead of finding a baggage locker at the airport, which is what caused us problems in Sweden). However the car rental was a bit of a mess and we spent what seemed like an age arguing with the rental company at the airport before we were finally able to get on with our day.

After this it was all fine, except for the weather which was rainy.

We drove around the country-side taking photos of the fields of tulips and hoping that the rain would clear a bit before entering the park itself.

An interesting fact about the tulips - it's not the flowers that earn the money for the farmers, but the bulbs. They wait for the flowers to bloom only because this puts the bulbs in the right condition to be sold.

After a while we gave up on the weather and just went ahead into the park.

It really is an incredible place to visit, with miles of winding paths through plots of flowers of many varieties. I liked to imagine that the rain and overcast conditions simply meant that the light was good for photographing the flowers (although in reality I was frightened of ruining my camera and our lenses kept getting covered in raindrops).

We spent our time walking in the park and ducking into shops and indoor displays to dry off.

After some hours in the gardens, we felt like we'd really seen everything we had aimed to see by coming back to the Netherlands. Which is not to say we wouldn't like to come back again, since it's a country we really enjoy visiting and I still have "riding a bike in holland" on my list of things to do!