to ZERMATT and beyond

15/5 business day - run + 10BX for the olds (youngs not interested after the 1st session), maths, washing clothes and dishes, net/email/blog, skate and scoot with the kids next door,grocery shop ( ~$240!?!) and away south westward to Tasch , the end of the road before Zemmat. It lies further south & higher still than  the famous Grindewald & Jungfrou region with more than 10 peaks over 4000m, the highest at 4634m but the most recognizable Matterhorn at 4478m.

Spectacular inviting drive through alpine villages & valleys, all cropped mainly with apples & some vines, many with massive jet-like waterfalls just bursting out of the rock nearby. 

We get our first look at the less than pristine & hygienic Switzerland with small motorway-side caravan communities (? gypsies?). Closer to Zemmat is characterized by red tourist trains and kms of tunnels through ( not over or around) the imposing clear mountains. The longest presently is 37km but the Swiss are building another ,due for completion in 2017, at 57km!!  Tasch is an unremarkable,  small brown,wooden service village to the ski fields higher up. Apart from madly busy tourist railways tracks everywhere & ugly budget hotels/motel (the fancy one’s are higher up the ‘Horn’ ), it’s most visible structures are enormous aqueducts,channels, & bridges that funnel megalitres of melting glacial ice & white water underneath the village thus keeping it from being washed away. All seems a bit precarious. We park up for a snacky dinner & bed.

16/5

It’s snowing! Soft, powdery beautiful stuff! Kel’s exhilarated as glittery flakes land on her eyelashes and vanish with a few blinks. We ride a very quiet red tourist train to ritzy Zermatt, full of outrageously expensive watch, chocolate, Swiss knife, North Face type clothing & shoe shops, restaurants, cafes, stodgy brown buildings with red shutters and Japanese & American tourists, and us.

Every street reaches up to a jagged, snow-capped peak. Wil’s enthusiasm for the whole scene intensifies convincing him of a future living & working in a ski field. Man, he’s planning alot. Jeff & I reckon he’ll need 5 lives to fit it all in.  We wandered through a weird cemetery behind an austere church cluttered with edelweiss & the graves of young men in their 20-30s, victims of the surrounding ~ 10 ‘horns‘, especially the angular very sheer Matterhorn.

With the snow coming down a little more heavily, we pause luxuriously in the coziest cafe with sumptuous large leather seats for coffee/hot chocolate.  Wil finds Tony on line (!) and they have a ping pong e-chat - what a thrill. We get the low down on where to get the best cheese fondue,a Swiss delicacy,from the cafe chicks. Cafe Du Pont is the scene of an incredible over consumption crime.

Scene of the Culinary Crime

We order 2 and get 2 large pots of steaming melted, garlicky and herbed cheese, 2 huge baskets of crusty bread pieces and 2 large bowls of small steamed jacket potatoes….and we finish it!  Barely able to stand up, we roll out into the cold, belching and groaning toward the Matterhorn Mountaineers Museum. A brick like German woman gruffly directs us around the foyer, strips us of jackets, bags & of course, a rather large sum of money before unceremonially ushering us down the stairs into a dull display of Old Zermatt in the days of farming and hardship...and THE snapped piece of climbing rope (bizarrely set in a glass case upon a red velvet cushion) that broke in 1865 sending 4 climbers in the first ever summiting party, to their death down the north face of the Matterhorn. Oh well. There was a terrific short film about the highly skilled (& well practiced ) helicopter rescue team that service the abundance of crazy sorts that hanker to conquer the Icy Giants.  It'll cost you about 1500 franks to have a crack at the Matterhorn - mostly we presumed to cover the incredible rescue service.

Home via a knife shop and a chocolate shop with pricey purchases only from the latter.  How we could stomach chocolate after the fondue incident is a mystery!

We decide to drive down the valley toward Interlaken rather than stay the night and before we know it, we’re back in another set of snowy peaks & mountain passes closer to the Italian border, many of which seems closed to traffic given the conditions. 

Time for bed so we nervously pull up in the parking lot at the bottom of a cable car lift, warm up with a tea and hit the books. Soporific sounds of bell-jangling cow bells augment the trumpeting human low notes - pity any policeman who comes to the door to move us on in the night.

17/5

The Swiss must bore the best holes in the world. We woke early after a COLD night  roadside to a window full of mountain peaks and naively made for the multitude of passes in the SW of the country after a night of soft snow. 

I started casually taking passenger side driving photos but as the thickness of the snow and the pointness of the peaks grew, my snapping frenzy reached it’s highest point …. and then the tunnels. 

More of these than open road. Despite thick carpets of plush white snow, the roads are precisely prepared AND dry already. 

Then we realize all the high passes,Grimel & Furka, on our way to Interlaken are closed. Buggar. Surely the punctual practical technological Swiss have an answer. We pull up at a pub where pickled bar flies draw me pictures of cars on a train through a tunnel 5 mins up the road. Really?? Yes indeed - the autoverlad through the Furka tunnel! A man in a bright neat orange tie speaking rolly polly Swedish chef Swiss German gives me a bored “Ja, Ja” and hurries me along with a ticket for SFr30. We drive to the stop sign and wait for the next train in 10 mins. 

Snowfight !! 

The train arrives and we drive on holding our breath,ducking & tucking in the side mirrors. What ridiculous fun!

Out we pop steering Eddie down the most picturesque set of tunnels taking a further gazillion photos.

All the tunnelling explains frequent unsightly earth moving equipment and enormous piles of gravel.  No doubt, being the obsessive best recyclers in the world (they pay for rubbish collection but not recyclables collection - good idea!), they recycle it all into the overdone web of motorways criss-crossing the land.

Millions of Swiss are going the OTHER way, banked up in traffic for about a hundred km in motorhomes and cars whose roofs are cluttered with boats, bikes, windsurfers etc. Then I learn that conformity has it that one holidays in the Swiss Italian SE departing through the Gotthard Tunnel. With the sun out and thus surrounded by truly majestic coloured lakes and alpine scenery, we decide to drive back a bit toward Interlaken rather than Lucern. Jeff, the genius decides to drive up to Grindelwald.

LAUSANNE

LAUSANNE

On to a very French Lausanne to another nice/not cheap campsite on the lake where we wandered along the shore past the awesome rowing shed and skate bowl as well as a bit of the Olympic display - looking forward to exploring tomorrow, after an early bed a long read.

LAUSANNE ROWING CLUB

13/5 Mother’s Day in Lausanne 

woke when ready and rung our Mummies for newsy chats, Getabout Grumma as usual too hard to track down - chased her from Gladstone to Chillingham. My boyfriend & I ran around the lake in an easterly direction discovering small sandy ‘beaches’, shady willowy -lined skinny paths carpeted with blossoms that frequently burst through the green thickets onto vast breath-taking panoramas of the lake beaded with rowers & yachts, enormous expanses of grass,garden and flower beds and of course, the monster mountains that put it all into perspective. Pretty.

Back to farewell our dear Belgians as they make for Italy hand in hand. Jeff and I fondly remember those times but celebrate the richness of exploration that money brings over what they can afford to experience. Ignorance is bliss however.

Kids have done their writing for the day so we breakfast in the warm sun, jump on the bikes and make for the Port (Ouchy).

I can’t help but beam as we wiggle through crowds of skaters, runners, cyclists, babes on scooters, vigorous volleyballers, rowers, sailors, kayakers…. one barely spies an overweight person despite the food!

ROOF!

We’re getting quick at chaining up the bikes, buying fresh bread and cheese from the ever-present market and making for the metro to see the old city UP the hill.

In Switzerland visitors paying to stay locally travel on ALL transport for free. The only money break in this enormously expensive destination.

With our mouths hanging open in awe of further majestic plazas, cathedrals and palaces, we zig zag our way to the Art Brut Gallery. French painter Jean Dubuffet in 1945 began collecting pieces from rebels, drop-outs, psychiatric patients and prisoners so starting the international movement of art brut. Not really our scene but amazing nonetheless with, for example, oversized 3D boxed frames intricately jammed with shells in a reef scene. The Algerian French artist eats shell fish exclusively to provide the materials that he then spray paints, coats with glitter and nail polish creating glorious reef fish & creatures which is then taken to another level as he inserts tiny lights deep within the shells to provide the sparkle. Utterly captivating.

After 3 levels of intrigue, we made for the courtyard outside and tore into the fresh olive bread, smoked bocincini (!!?!) & figs before a final tour of the neat, medieval city centre characterized by whiffs of chocolate,spires of all shapes (Kel reckons one looks like a spring onion with a wee fat bulby part before the needley bit) and colours ,whose heights are only topped by the surrounding jaggered amphitheater of snow capped Alps, on our way back to the bikes. 

Interesting that Neutral Swiss cities rarely have the European littering of great hero statues on horses with weapons but rather have pleasing abstract shapes, or at the water front, naked women with bare perfect breasts and flowing hair. Oh, and the omnipresent forest of flag poles always with the swiss flag alternating with the flag of the canton.Gives a more fresh uplifting uncluttered feel I think. Detour via the skate park.

Read in the sun……..zzzzz

Jen’s whinge: Bloody invisalign braces number 16 today - nearly there - on the way to 23! They change every 2 weeks and have to be worn 22 out of 24 hours. Every time I drink or eat they come in and out together with a trail of stinky saliva.  Kel has to look away - I wish I could too.  Good thing I’ve already hooked Jeff.  Can’t remember how many times I’ve thrown the bloody things out with the serviettes & had to scratch through the rubbish. Lotte is bringing the permanent night splints (as well as a much anticipated jar of promite) for when my mouth can be free of plastic during the day. Whinge, moan, complain over!

14/5 A perfect day in Lausanne: cloudless sky, not a breath of wind, lazy wakeup, slow breakfast and away, kids on skateboard/scooter, parents on foot to walk the Olympic circuit track, 22 station stroll, each station with a photo plaque with interesting Olympic history, studded along the foreshore, a little inland to the offices of the IOC, 

IOC HQ

canoe slalom?

broke ½ way to visit a very cleverly and tastefully presented Roman ruins about 100m inland from lakeside (viewing boxes present what’s there now and show waht was there 2000 yrs ago superimposed), then to the now deserted skate park for a crack at the bowls unfettered by the skate punks.  We only had to share it with a few dads+kids, some still in nappies scootering about the place.

Back home for maths and lunch and a read, then out again this time on the bikes to visit the IOC museum (new one being built so best bits housed on a boat, visit for free).  Twisted and turned our way along the waterfront, through the marina developments and restaurants, 

dodging the walkers (mostly mums with kids in prams on this Monday am) and past the huge sideshow alley fair, around the picturesque headland with the mountains to the SW across the lake becoming clearer by the minute, 

the deep blue sky crisscrossed with dead straight white streaks as the Euro aviation industry churns above, past numerous sculptures of naked women (rest of Europe sculptures seem to mainly be warlord men) and then we found the grand old ship.

Wandered in to learn about the Olympics, it’s ideals (which now firmly include environmental considerations), the impact each event has had on the host city/nation in the last 5 Olympiads, some great trivia with lots of warming anecdotes, (some not so warming, like the US guy who was  disqualified from the Marathon for completing most of it in a car!), great showcases of different sporting paraphenalia/equipment (including Chris Boardman’s bike, Wil wondered what it was worth, I don’t think anyone would know!) displays of all the torches and medals from each Games, and a great video of the highlights of the last 5 or so Opening Ceremonies.  Much more then just a sporting event!

Back on the bikes, a stop at the playground for a slide and a swing and a coffee, 

now the Ouchy area is filling up (with school and the working day over), bongo drummers, people riding bikes backwards, ice-cream lickers, lovers smooching, skatepunks flinging themselves along the edge of concrete blocks/benches (what for?!), the mountains becoming even more clear as the sun drops and the colours warm up - it’s a glorious ride home.  

Wil revisits the skatepark only to be overwhelmed by the plethora of skilled hell-men (and women) on bikes, boards, scooters and skates pulling breathtaking stunts everywhere you look - he finds a brief window to timidly cut a few moves in the deep bowl then scarpas home. 

Jen goes for a run, Svenja (German lady with 2 little kids Luca and Maya visiting our motorhome neighbours who are her aunt/uncle) came over to give us much needed and valued info re good things in Germany, including to Jen’s delight where the best fish markets are, what the best types of breads are, what are the best supermarkets, where is the best fairytale castle……..awesome!

After Jen’s run we pack a bag of goodies and head back down to the lake for dinner in the sunset, sitting on a jetty, watching the rowers cruise by, 

nice 8!

some very fresh signets (1 day old?) with their ma and pa paddle right up beside us and nest on that rough mound of sticks next to us (we thought it was a semi-prepared campfire, not a swan’s nest), the 4 babes snuggle in under mum’s wing as dad stands guard - left the camera memory stick in the computer!!

Jen and the kids back for a shower, I got the camera+stick and returned to the lake + scotch to soak in a little more of this fantastic day.

15/5 business day - run by the lake + 10BX for the olds (youngs not interested after the 1st session in Strasbourg), maths, washing clothes and dishes, net/email/blog, skate and scoot with the kids next door and away south westward to ?, somewhere in them thar mountains.

  

GENEVA

Geneva

9/5 to Geneva

drizzly today but another run and abbreviated 10BX (some sore bits), school, shop at Co-op - WHOA - price difference - back up to or more than home!  Much more.

OCD shop workers who unwrap, weigh, re-wrap the cheese in special paper....

Geneva via magnificent roads, loads of cows, fields, dorky farmhouses, thru a busy Geneva centre to a campsite by Lake Geneva on the southern side about 8km from the centre.

Had a lazy pm admiring the lake activity and sunset, met Belgian couple Bjorn and Katleen with young kids in another Rimor, the kids desperate to make friends struggled with the language barrier, 

dinner in the sun with contented chats, rowers on the lake!!

10/5/12 by wil

Wake up, no reading, no lingering, straight into it...

First things first, an energizing breakfast of muesli swimming in milk, followed by our Mathematic Intelligence Examination (MIE for short). This is filled with things like: For wil, estimation problems, long divisions, fraction codes etc. For kel, multiplications, additions, expansions and geometry.

We quickly prepare ourselves for a grueling cycle up a hill. We unlock the bikes, get the parent’s ones ofF the back of the van and we set off. For the start, there is some roadwork, but that is on a downhill stretch. We go shooting down the hill with the wind in our faces, with a feeling of utter freedom. No time for lingering, we are on a tight schedule. 

First stop, Jet D’Eau (pronounced ‘she’Ter (Phlegm)’) which means jet of water. This fantastic fountain can reach 200 m high, going at 200k/h, at any given time there is 7 tons of water in the air. It is the world’s tallest fountain.

WORLD/\'S TALLEST FOUNTAIN

Second stop, Place de Borg, the oldest square in town, where there was a magnificent clock tower. When we were there, all the church bells were clanging like mad. We rode down a street with nothing but watch shops (TAG heuer, rolex, tissot, omega, boss, any fancy watch, you name it and it is there.) 

WORLD'S LONGEST BENCH

WORLD'S LONGEST SECOND HAND

We rode up yet another Grueling Hill, to reach the world’s longest bench (our third stop). 

We stopped here for some snacks and a rest, and went shooting off down the other side of the hill through the stunning botanic gardens towards The Geneva UN office,

were we passed through tight security to enter one of the world’s most important buildings (to me). 

Human Rights meeting room 

UN TOILET DIPLOMACY

We saw a couple of conference rooms, the old assembly hall of the old league of nations sat and the stunning gardens with their majestic peacocks strutting about, squawking awkwardly. We were told about the conferences sat here, their purposes, their people and their rules. After the tour we milled about in a bookstore for a bit, and left for a 2 scoop ice-cream. We had swiss made Mõvenpick icecream, I had caramel and mint chocolate, Kel had mango & cream and... I forgot, Dad had strawberry and caramel and mum had coffee. The best icecream ever! we promptly rode home for a play ( a swim in the FREEZING cold water, I dived off a diving board, and my shoes got stuck to the river bed...oh well...) I quickly jumped out to have a warm shower and dinner (of bread and jam) and started to write this blog entry.

dice roll:

wil: best thing - buying kel an ice cream with the money i won off dad

mum: fav word/phrase - all the german words ending in fahrt

kel: best manmade thing - the jet d’eau - world’s tallest fountain

jeff: best natural wonder - LAKE SUNSET

11/5

Woke up to a big long read, followed by breakfast and getting ready. Some Belgian friends from a tent next door asked if they could come with us up the mountain. We caught the bus to the center of Geneva, where we changed buses to a line which would take us to the foot of Mont Saleve (in France). From there we would take a cable-car to the top. 

At the top, we were greeted by breathtaking views all around, and sweltering hot sun (like summer in Australia). We stopped for some snacks of nuts, dried pineapple and pretzels, while our Belgian friends went off to do their thing. 

We went walking to the top and got lost, we had taken the wrong track. We turned around and headed back towards the cable-car. From there we looked at the map more closely, and were told it takes 25 minutes to get to the top. Dad and I decided we would beat that. We powered up the hill, reaching the top in thirteen minutes, beating the estimated time by twelve minutes (nearly one half!)

Mt Blanc

It was very hot at the top, but that did not stop the breathtaking view of Mont Blanc sweeping us off our feet. We had some more snacks here, but it wasn't shady. We went quickly down to a little grassy knoll with plenty of shade from the trees, where we finished eating, were swept off our feet again by the view and met some Aussie friends, who were both teachers. We spoke with them for ten minutes, and quickly descended the path, to the cable car. Kel and I ran like mountain goats down, passing lots of people. We reached the cable car 10 minutes before it left, there was no rush. Our Belgian friends met us there, as well as our Aussie friends. We all piled into the cable car, and began the fast descent down. The breathtaking panorama swept us of our feet, again. At the bottom, we stepped out of the cable car to more heat, and quickly went to the bus stop. We made our way home, where I bought Kel and I an ice-cream (having made a bet with Dad the day before that I could jump in lake Geneva and submerse my head, thus winning 5 franc). We enjoyed it slowly by the lake. Following that, I put my togs on and went for a swim with our Anaïse and Eliah (our belgian friends) (in the FREEZING cold water). 

Anais, Elia and Kel

I jumped in three times, which was fun but painful, searched for my shoes(without any success) and hopped out to a dinner of fish and salad (mouthwatering, sumptuous, heavily flavoured, spicy… ah, any thing else Mum?) (and a HOT shower.)

We end the day with a movie while Mum and Dad meet some Kiwi friends to ask for some trip advice.

12/5 Geneva to Lausanne

woke to a very different day with drizzle well set in, Jen ran off, Jeff cycled off, the kids read, then a slow pack up over maths + a coffee and away with Eliah and Anais  (and their bulky backpacks) in tow to CERN to see what IT is all about. Once again Schweizeriche hosts a huge international organization - partly because of its tradition of neutrality but also to prevent “brain drain” to USA in this very intellectually proud nation. CERN = Centre of European Research Nuclear. Tis also the birthplace of the  world wide web as they struggled to store,share with other international physicists and control the vast volumes of data produced for analysis (15km of CDs stacked together /day). Mostly known as the home of the Large Hadron Collider, world’s largest machine, 27 km circular magnetically sheathed tube buried 100m underground in both Switzerland and France,where physicists think they’ll discover all the secrets of the universe by accelerating particles and then smashing them together at high speed (simulating conditions of the Big Bang). Some people will say they might destroy the world with “anti-matter,” featured in Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” hence Wil’s incredible interest.

Went through the “Microcosm” which is CERN’s free display that intrigued Wil and Eliah and Jen, left Jeff feeling attracted to the easy way out - religion!   What a head spin? 

Out in the day again where the drizzle has been joined by wind and cold so into Eddie and headed along the “Swiss Riviera” .Stopped for lunch on the road ( 6 people eating around Eddie’s iddy-biddy table had us on ‘farting’ level intimacy in no time ) and sucked our hitcher’s brains clean of info re Belgium - home to French Fries,comic strips,dark chocolate.

Anais and Kel