Verbier

This is the view from the deck of the chalet where we stayed—just gorgeous. There’s more snow here than in the Rockies this year. 

The reunion, which was the reason I went to Switzerland in the first place, was grand. Besides the storytelling activities we engaged in, the chalet itself was wonderful, and included a live-in chef. My, it was nice to have someone else cooking for us. Chef David made the best chocolate mousse I’ve ever tasted, and everything else was splendid as well.

I loved this long wooden table, which everyone could fit around. The conversations were stimulating, deep, fun, wide-ranging.. 

I had made small bowls as gifts, in my pottery class. My teacher wanted pictures of everyone with the bowl they chose, so we did this. 

We shared lots of stories, feedback, and other fun stuff—including making this wonderful wooden spoon a main character in more than one story. It will never be the same, and I believe it (he? she?) has been retired from being used for cooking. 

Nor will I ever be the same. This gathering was sparklingly special in so many ways. Reconnection with old friends, learning new stories, getting feedback on stories, and just generally having a great time, away from the regular world. It was difficult to leave.

The trip home was long, jet lag hit with a vengeance. But it was worth it. 

Train ride to Verbier

Haven’t updated this in awhile. So much storytelling! Hard to blog about that. But these are pix of the train ride from Geneva up to Verbier. About 1 hour 50 minutes of gorgeousness!

Jet d’eau

A much quieter day. I didn’t sleep well, so wasn’t moving very fast. I walked to the harbor, in search of the famous water jet, the Jet d’Eau. Not that I had to search very hard! It goes so high that you can see it from just about anywhere. It is impressive! A water jet was originally built around 1886 by the water department, as a safety valve. But it became famous enough that it eventually earned its very own water station and mechanism and now operates specifically as an attraction. The wind wasn’t blowing too hard, so it was on today. 

The Jardin Anglais, English Garden, is along the quay and was well-populated today, by tourists, locals and scavenger pigeons. I sat on a bench and just watched the world go by for a bit.

A sailboat, much bigger than the one my father and his best friend built from instructions in Popular Mechanics when I was a kid. This is obviously a working boat. I was surprised that it had sails.


And ducks. Lots of ducks, mallards mostly. They look the same the world over, just as pigeons do.


And swans.


Such interesting architecture, all over the city. This seems French-inspired to me, which makes sense given how close Geneva is to France. In fact, the Geneva airport is in France. No border crossings, people going back and forth all the time. Rather like I drive back and forth across state borders. 

There are quite a few buildings in Geneva that remind me of New Orleans, actually, some even more than this one. Some sorts of balconies, architecture, “feel”.

Tomorrow I meet up with storytelling friends at the airport, then take the train up to Verbier, in the Swiss Alps. Looking forward to seeing all of them again!

Tile Floors

Oops, almost forgot. I love tile floors! These pix are Roman through the latest version of the church. And by “latest”, of course, I mean something like the 1500’s for the main church. 

Musée d’Art et d’Histoire

Some nice pieces in this museum!

This piece moves! You press the foot pedal and the whole thing starts clanking and turning, so fun! It’s by this artist, Hodler, who was Genoese. I had never heard of him, and I really liked his variety and style.


This is his sister. I love her eyes, he seems to have painted her soul.


Hodler apparently had a big influence on la escape painting. This one reminds me of an Estes Park artist, Alfred Wands. Hodler lived from 1853 to 1918, and Wands lived from 1904 to 1998, so it’s not inconceivable that he was influenced by Hodler.


Another artist I didn’t know of is Felix Vallotton. This is his depiction of Perseus killing the dragon. I love the look on the woman’s face, and that the dragon is a crocodile!



The museum also has a large collection of weapons and armor. I’m not fond of such displays, of which I’ve seen many. This helmet was particularly creepy, with the weird smile. There were several others like this.


I did love this eagle. Simple, elegant, beautiful.


There was also a large collection of Egyptian artifacts, including this foot votive. I’d never seen one before.


Some really nice Roman sculptures, copies of Greek originals. Stone sculpture just awes me, such a long process.

These heads are tiny, no more than 1.5”. But such character captured!




And a Picasso! I am not that familiar with his phases, but this seems as if it would be earlier in his career. Ive never seen this style before.


And the sun came out! This is looking north. You can see Lake Geneva in the center. The strange, knobby trees in the foreground are everywhere. I have no idea what kind they are.

Origins

Geneva is old, very old. I decided to explore the oldest part, where the Medieval walled city was. But there was a settlement here an eon before that, started by the Helvetii. The tribe is still remembered today, as the name of one of the main thoroughfares, Blvd Helvetique.

The archaeological exhibit under the Cathedrale Saint-Pierre is pretty cool.

This burial seems to have started it all. This skeleton was uncovered deep under the current cathedral. IApparently he was a person of consequence, honored and worshipped, and the wooden structure built over his remains was the start of a later Roman camp.

The current church is built on much older remains of several structures, at least 25 feet higher than the original hill. These walls are Roman and Medieval, the later walls being much less expert. Those Romans knew how to build. I love seeing underneath old buildings, so much history. We saw the same sort of history in Regensburg, Germany and Seattle, Washington, among others.

This the current cathedral, beautiful and pretty standard for cathedrals that started out Catholic and were still used after the Reformation. 

I was lucky enough to be able to hear the organ while I was there. Just tuning, not a full-on concert, but still, to hear organ music echoing off the Gothic stone architecture is pretty cool

And for Tolkien fans, here is an actual Duke of Rohan! His remains are entombed in this alcove, under his statue. I wonder if JRR ever visited Geneva?

12K steps later...

Jet lag or no, I did get out into the city today. It was overcast and drizzly, but I came prepared, with a good raincoat and my brimmed hat that’s been all over the world with me. It’s an old friend by now.

It was chilly though, so I started with hot chocolate! It hit the spot.

First night in Genève

It was a long time getting here. Emergency medical diversion to Toronto, and we were there quite awhile, not only getting the paramedics on to treat the man, but also, as long as we were there, refueling etc. Five hours later, we took off for Munich. I knew I’d miss my connecting flight to Geneva, but Lufthansa was on it with their usual efficiency and had rebooked me on a later flight. 

It was a loooong trip, but ended well. Taxi from airport to hotel gave me a chance to practice my French, such as it is. Hotel Sagitta (soft G) Swiss is a nice little place close to the center of the city, with a kitchenette and windows that open. I took a much-needed shower, then a nap. Wasn’t feelng up to finding a restaurant, so I went to a really small market and found cheese, butter, bread and, most importantly, beer. It was the perfect dinner for tonight, I was so not feeling sociable. So I ate in my room, with the truly bizarre accompaniment of the US movie “Anna Karenina ” and TV series “North and South” (starring Patrick Swayze and Elizabeth Taylor). But for tonight, it worked fine.

Tomorrow I will charge forth to see the sights, but I’m pretty much done for today. Looking forward to sleep.

Storytelling reunion

Reunion in Switzerland! 

One of the people in last Fall’s storytelling group has a place in Verbier, Switzerland. He’s invited us to meet there in April for a reunion. It looks as if most everyone can make it, very exciting. I’m going a bit early, so I can spend a few days in Geneva. Have never been there before, so am looking forward to wandering. The United Nations headquarters is there, and CERN is about 8km out of town. Hope to do tours of both of those. And just wandering the streets of a place I’ve never been but have seen gorgeous pictures of will be wonderful. 

Bodiam addendum

Oops. Just realized that the Monty Python reference at the end of the Bodiam post made no sense. The castle was used in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail!

11/7/17. Bodiam Castle

We were so tired of driving that we chose a place that was fairly close to Rye. It was a great choice, actually—Bodiam Castle. It is a classic Medieval castle, exactly as you’d expect. Has a moat and everything!

It’s just the shell now, hasn’t. been restored, but it looks great on the outside. It was built in the mid 1300’s by a knight who had made his fortune by flighting for the Crown, can’t remember which king, in France. It was meant to defend against invasions from France, but he and his wife also made it their home. They put all the mod cons into this late-Medieval castle. Fireplaces everywhere, walls lined with tapestries or other insulating materials, even tile for the floor of the small chapel. Even as a ruin, it’s lovely. But it was never used for defense, because the sea retreated from the area and the French would never have been able to get ships up there to launch an invasion.

 It was bought by a Lord Curzon in the early 1900’s. He and his wife had fallen in love with it, and they wanted to save it from being demolished bit by bit by locals using the stone for other things. They left it to the National Trust of England in their estate.

The portcullis, iron over oak.

This graffiti is hundreds of years old, carved into the front gate of the castle,

I love floors! This is a remnant of the original tile on the chapel floor. 


A view of the interior.

This is one of two fireplace in the kitchen. There were fires in these all year long. This kitchen really was well laid-out, looked pretty efficient.

The grounds are lovely, This is a holly TREE. Have never seen one this big.

And a modern addition—a World War I pillbox. No Germans ever got close to Bodiam, so this pillbox never saw action.

Now I need to re-watch The Holy Grail!

Random pix

Dogs are everywhere, including in every restaurant we’ve been in. This one was booorred. Loved the look on her face. 

Saw this interesting construction today, on the Seven Sisters path. Have no idea what it is,  but thought it was interesting. 

Too funny! In Canterbury.

Sunset on the road.

Green Man faces, on the wall of a shop. Would love to bring one home, but they weigh a ton.

Organ pipes, St Mary’s