September, 2009 in Switzerland and France

Despite our best efforts we were unable to post to our blog while traveling during the fall. A v-e-r-y brief summary of our doings follows:

We flew to Zurich and took the train to Lucern. Meinrad met us at the bahnhoff and we walked over the bridge for a drink upstairs overlooking the Lucern Bridge. We went "home" to see Heidrun and the newest cats. Meinrad fixed a lovely dinner - per usual. Even had a huge penquin-shaped flan for dessert. The back garden has a new shed (bright yellow they call it the postoffice)and the wall has been rebuilt overlooking the gorge. Meinrad picked fresh celariac for our dinner veg.

Our room is much the same - the doors to the balcony open to beautiful roses growing up over the balustrade. However, the view has been compromised since we were last at the Fluelers. The house to the front left of their property has been expanded and modernized so it cuts off a bit more of the view of the lake and mountains than it did before. The biggest change is that there is a modern apartment building up the hill from our house - nicely done but still it cuts off the privacy that we've enjoyed in the past.

Meinrad took us for a drive the next day - showed us one of his rental properties that he has recently renovated. We shopped a bit for duvet covers and just to walk the streets of Lucerne again. In the evening we met Pavlo and Marina at the oldest restaurant in Lucerne - the last time we were there Meinrad had a calf's head -- and this time Pavlo had sweetbreads. It was fantastic to spend the evening talking and catching up. Heidi and I had delicious wierner schnitzel - truly a lovely evening.

The next day Tim & I caught an early train to Basel and spent the day with Arne Mehrkens and his family. Arne met us at the train station (bahnhoff) and took us for a walking tour of the city - even took a type of ferry boat (more of a row boat with a long guide wire that helps keep the boat in place while the current takes the boat across) on the Rhine. We met Arne's wife Camilla (we hadn't met her in person before)and her mother at a lovely old hotel for lunch. We celebrated Camilla's finalizing her general practitioner's licensing that day. Arne, an orthopedic surgeon also filled us in on his recent studies and conference presentations. Afterwards Camilla and her mother went to pick up the twins while we did a bit more walking about and then met them at the Mehrken's apartment.

Josiah and Emma are 3 yr old twins. They are slow in language development because Arne purposefully speaks German to them and Camilla uses her native Norwegian. The kids understand both languages but are not very verbal themselves yet, which their parents expected. We had a lovely couple of hours getting to know the kids and talking with everyone. Arne took us back to the tram and we made it back to the bahnhoff on our own.

Meinrad and Heidrun met us back in Lucern after the 2 hour train ride and we went to Pavlo & Marina's flat. They have moved again _ this is the 3rd home of theirs that we've visited. They are back in the city but in a very residential area - not right in the main part of the city as they were in the first place we visited them. We had apertifs and then starters of lox for me and muscles for the rest. Cornish hen followed with lots of veg and delicious bread. Neither Damien nor Bobian were home that evening - hard to believe they are 19 and 17 now. We've known Pavlo & Marina for 24 years now (since our year in England)and Meinrad and Heidrun for 20 years.

The next morning we said our goodbyes to Heidi and Meinrad drove us to the MeggenSchloss where we went geocaching. We walked a long way and had to have been in the right area but had to give up in order to catch our train for Zurich. We tried, but failed, to find a cache in Switzerland.

I'll post more about our 2 weeks in Paris in a day or two.