With summer well under way here in Switzerland, Schools / Universities all breaking up for the summer holidays (A&R's children have 6 weeks off now) it's starting to feel like it does in NZ just before Christmas. Except! The mid 30 degree temperatures we are experiencing this past week. Talk about sveaty!! And it doesn't cool down at night either - which makes it very difficult for sleeping. Rico reminds us that it is just conditioning for Italy next week. We looked on a weather site and see they are expecting over 30 degrees on the Isle of Elba for the coming week!
We have managed to get to two festivals over the last two weekends - one in Lucerne & one here locally in Sursee.
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| Amanda, Rico, Luna, Caio & Bill listening to a band |
We caught the train into Lucerne for it's Summer Festival, which is about a 40min train ride. It was a beautiful afternoon/evening with the streets lined with bars, musicians and people. Lots of people. Lots of families, so it had a great atmosphere.
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| Lovely cafes lining the river |
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| Lovely old foot bridge |
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| Enjoying a much needed drink |
Tuesday Bill & I headed back into the German part of Basel to have his crowned tooth completed, which they did a fine job of. Bill has actually rated it highly! He has a BMW of a tooth now he believes. Not bad to have it completed within the week (4 hours total) for just under a thousand Euro's - this included the rapidly rotating robot x-ray machine (undoubtedly again made by BMW).
So with Bill now back to his handsome self (no longer the dodgy looking guy) we headed back into the Swiss part of Basel to have a late lunch with a very cold beer,and a bit of a wander around the old town of Basel, with it's lovely cobbled streets, reading the little bits that were written in English, and Bill making the rest up.
There were a lot of students around with Uni finished for the summer holidays, so there were plenty of them swimming in the Rhine. But it wasn't only students, there were quite a few older people too. They were getting in at some point up from where we were, and travelling down with the current to somewhere further down.Literally hundreds of them. The students had some sort of "floating bag" that looked like some trendy float bag that we had seen advertised around the place. We assumed you could put your clothes into it and keep them dry!
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| Bodies floating down the Rhine |
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| A much needed gelato |
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| Bill trying to touch the "Brass Feast" |
We found another old church at the heart of the Old Town, as one does, and as it was lovely and cool had a wander through it. Out the far side it had cloisters where a guy was playing a steel string guitar, in a Spanish classical style, in a religious chanting style, very pleasant to listen too. There was also an art brass banquet set up with baskets of fruit & vegetables - extremely hot in the basking sun.
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| The original town hall |
After our wander around the old part of the town, it was time to head back to the German side of Basel to restock on a few items that were so much cheaper than in Switzerland. eg Wine. But before that AND because it was so hot (37 degrees) we decided to stay on the Tram (as we have said earlier the public transport system is fantastic - our train ticket included all public transport in Basel) (though no checks were ever made)and go to the end of the line this time. It took us to a small German suburb with a little main street & large shopping centre. We cooled down very briefly in the Shopping Centre and then headed up the main street with lots of little bars that were very inviting in the heat. Of course we had to stop at one and have a refreshing beer. I must say how cheap the beers were on the German side - nearly half price of the Switzerland side.
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| Cold German Beer |
Back in Sursee, later in the week, Saturday actually, we got ready for the local festival, and..... Amanda & Sabine celebrating that their shop was almost ready for opening after everything coming together, right in "The Old Town". Bill had completed putting up shelves / railings / floor mat /assembled cabinets & counter top over the previous couple of weeks. We headed into town late afternoon, after Rico had painted the wall that Bill had put up to divide one bedroom into two. It was like a Sauna up there wasn't it Rico? Bill had lost a few litres over the previous few days putting the wall up and gibbing it.
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| Sabine & Amanda really excited with the arrival of their first stock! |
We had a lovely bottle of Prosecco by the creek, near the shop to celebrate with Sabine & Chris, Amanda & Rico and Bill & I. It was lovely to be a part of all the excitement of their new venture. Then it was off around the corner to join in with the Sursee Festival. The crowds had arrived, and the outside bars and food stalls were all set up and buzzing. It was a very pleasant night.
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| Sursee Festival |
Sunday was a bit of a slow day for some (well mainly me actually), but Amanda started the day off with a lovely French breakfast while Rico did the last coat on the walls, then it was off to one of the Lido pools in a neighbouring village which was lovely and refreshing. Later in the day after a lovely lunch and bit of relaxation, it was time to start thinking about our up coming camping holiday in Italy with A&R and family. So out came the tent, to ensure all is ready to go next weekend. As Bill & I have a bit of spare capacity in the van we have offered to take a few items such as the tent to help with space. The kids thought it was awesome, and were so excited they could sleep in it that night. But luckily Rico checked the weather forecast which predicted thunder & lightning! No! But yes! Thankfully the kids did sleep inside as it was a full on storm, mum (Pat) wouldn't have made it through the night I don't think. But the tent was all dry once again Monday night, ready for us to take away Tuesday morning as we are heading off to Italy 4 days before them. Looking forward to seeing what Italy has to offer.
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| Practising for camping in Italy |
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