29 August - 2 September 2012 - A visitor from a distant land

So much has happened since I last let my fingers do the talking.  Essentially it all revolves around my dear friend Kate who journeyed from the Antipodes to this Alpine wonderland.  She chose to fly on Korean Airlines and got to be on their Airbus A380.  I was much more excited by this than she was.  Did I get any pictures of the interior??? No....

We picked up a very sleepy Kate from the aerodrome but as the SLK only has room for two we took her luggage and then shoved her on the train and hoped for the best!  Just kidding, I gallantly took the train back to Einsiedeln.  We had put Kate up in a charming pine walled hotel near Stephan's for the full Swiss experience.  I was not allowed to put a cow in the room - spoilsports.

30 August 2012

Kate eventually surfaced the next morning and I had prepared a welcome continental breakfast for her - so, carbs and fat in the form of bread and cheese.  No welcome is complete without coffee in a Swiss Flag mug.

After Kate had another nap - these are some of the perils of travelling economy class, we headed out to have a bit of a walk and explore Einsiedeln some more.  I had been a bad resident by not having looked at the local cloister.  I like to think of it more that I was waiting for Kate to arrive so I could share it.  The cloister is incredibly beautiful both inside and out. 

And then the rain started....and did not stop for the next three days.  We managed to get to the "Panorama" which is a circular building with a mural inside of the crucifixion of Christ.  It was not the original as the building burnt down in 1963.  The viewing was also not helped by the constant sound of construction on the building.  We did decide to then skip the "Diorama" which is one of the world's largest nativity scenes.  I will save that for Christmas I think. 

The rain had started to get harder and we did not have umbrellas so we ducked into a local kitchenware store and discovered their range of fondue sets.  These were my favourite.  My birthday is just around the corner and I know I can be hard to buy for, just saying.  This is only a small sample of the extensive fondue options.

Late afternoon it was time to take the choo choo to Zurich to meet S and have dinner with some friends.  We had a lovely wander around the city (in the drizzle), a coffee at Sprungli and some shopping before we headed to dinner.  Much fun, food and wine was had....we look like we are a good time having.

31 August 2012

Another relaxed start (by Kate) to another rainy day.  I think Autumn has arrived - big boo to that.  A light breakfast was had and then a wander through the moors, well the fields and they were misty.  It was pretty nippy so we headed to the supermarkets so Kate could enjoy some of the things on offer.  Well, we certainly would not find these down under........real fresh eggs, Swiss nationalistic style.

After this excitement it was time to jump on another choo choo and this time head to the lakeside city of Lucerne.  Poor S was a busy worker bee so he agreed to meet us there. 

We had booked ourselves into a hotel called "The Hotel" which looked very funky on the web.  Each of the rooms has a full print on the ceiling of a particular Art House movie.  Our room (which I donned the poofs room) was Querelle - a homoerotic love story.  They also provide a copy of the movie in the room for discreet viewing.

The movie ceiling

Someone trying to sneak in another nap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had also coincidentally timed our visit during the Lucerne Festival so we took the opportunity to head to the KKL (local concert hall claiming to have the best acoustics in the world) to catch a classical piece by Mozart (you may have heard of him, he was the Lady Gaga of the day).  We did manage to sneak in a quick pre-dinner drink of Dom Perignon before heading off. 

 

The concert hall was magnificent as was the performance.  It was then back to the hotel for the rest of our dinner (dessert, wine and cheese which could be dinner in totality if you so desire).  We also gave the movie a go but suspect you need to be a bit more awake (read had less to drink) to really enjoy it and get it.

 

1 September 2012

 

Morning broke (groan) and S and I marvelled at how long it takes for girls to get ready in the morning.  We all hit breakfast which was nicely done and champagne free. 

 

It is then tourist time so we headed out on to the drizzly streets to explore what is a very beautiful city.  I am sure it is more beautiful when the sun is shining and glistening off the lake.  So here is the stuff we saw:

 

Above left is the Chapel Bridge (built in the 14th Century but I think it burned down and they rebuilt it).  Above right is the the Water Tower which is part of the bridge and the bricks are original.  The roof burned at some stage too.  Finally on the left is the Dying Lion of Lucerne which is carved into the rockface which is in memory of the heroic deaths of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. Mark Twain described the Lion of Lucerne as the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world.  I think Mark forgot that rocks don't move much, silly Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucerne also houses a Transport Museum which covers trains, cars, ships and planes, so oddly enough I was a little bit keen to check it out.  I did offer S and Kate a "Get out of Jail Free" card if they did not want to join me.  It did involve a lovely walk along the lake though and all three of us enjoyed the displays.  A few images for your viewing pleasure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was then time to head home with Kate and I on the train and S in the S-mobile.  That night we headed out into Einsiedeln for dinner at Kate's invitation.  Lovely little locally owned place with lashings of local food and colour.