Venice

We left Signau on the 7:14 train towards Bern on Aug 17, then transferred at 8:07 to a train towards Brigg (arriving 9:11) and then finally from Brigg to Venice (9:44-3:00 pm). There was lots of cloud on the mountains as we were leaving Switzerland.

We arrived in Venice and eventually found our hotel in spite of the poor directions we received, with some help from several locals. Neither of us was really prepared for the tiny little alleyways we saw there. There is a carpark for cars on the mainland, and then you get around on foot or by boat from there. Roads there seemed to change name or direction (or both) every 200 metres or so.

We freshened up and then walked to San Toma piazza for dinner. (San Toma was incidentally our closest vaporetto--boat--stop as well.) I had a delicious vegetable bruschetta (which looked like a pizza) and iced tea for dinner. The pigeons were all swarming around...they get fed a LOT in Venice. Two dogs chased each other around the square completely unleashed. Later that evening, we took the vaporetto to San Rialto and walked around the market on the bridge, as well as at the base of the bridge. Then we decided to just get on the vaporetto and cruise around. We went to Lido, one of the outer islands in Venice and just enjoyed seeing the buildings on the shore as the breeze gently blew through our hair. It had been quite hot during the day but it felt lovely sitting on the boat at 10 pm.

The next morning, we slept in until 8 am when the clock chimed 40 times. Other morning sounds included hearing people talking, a child crying and the garbage collectors rolling their carts by on the street below. After a breakfast of pastries and buns and fruit and tea/hot chocolate, we headed to San Marco piazza. We checked out the Basilica and then after taking note of the record number of pigeons in the piazza, we walked to the Ponte dei Sospiri. (Unfortunately, Coke had covered it in Coke advertisements.) Lord Byron apparently started a legend (untrue)in the 19th century that the bridge was the last sight that prisoners had of Venice before they were prisoned in the adjoining prison cells or executed. More recently it has generated stories that if a couple kisses underneath it, their love will endure forever. For more about the Bridge of Sighs, see here:

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/bridge_of_sighs.htm

Then we took the vaporetto to Isola (Island) di San Giorgio Maggiore to see the church there, and to go up the campanile (bell tower) for lovely views of Venice. Back at San Marco, we each picked up some bright watercolour paintings of Venice (Rialto bridge, San Marco). Following lunch at a pizzeria, we took the vaporetto to San Elena Island to walk around. We walked through a lovely park filled with weirdly-shaped trees, watched a badly-behaved dog and his equally badly-behaved owner when her dog attacked a leashed one. We found lots of canals with laundry hanging on lines stretched over the canals. When we were heading home, we got on the wrong boat and ended up at Port teRoma, the only place where buses and cars exist in Venice. It was a weird feeling seeing them, after not seeing a single one in two days.

On our third day in Venice, we took the vaporetto back to Port te Roma to mail the large posters we bought back home. Then we took another boat to Fondamente te Novo, from which we caught the no. 12 to Burano, a smaller island in Venice. Burano was filled with amazingly brightly-coloured houses in purples, greens, blues, reds, with contrasting shutters (e.g. an orange house with turquoise shutters). We looked at the lace goods for which Burano is famous and bought a few postcards.

Upon returning from Burano, we took a gondola ride through the narrow canals of Venice, past the house that Marco Polo lived in (he was born in 1294), past the oldest palace in Venice (1591). We went to Canareggio for dinner where we had a good conversation with a Venetian family. Then we went to an internet cafe for a bit before bed.

Signau

So after leaving Bern, we had a lovely train ride to Signau. Signau was the most rural place we visited in our trip, and we went there to visit our friend Lydie and her husband Christof. Lydie and Christof were expecting their firstborn right around the date of our arrival...in spite of this, Lydie insisted that we should come. From Bern we had called to let them know when we were coming in, and discovered that they had had a daughter, Kezia just three days earlier. Lydie was still recovering from surgery in the hospital, but Christof would come and pick us up. So we met Christof at the train station around 8:15 pm. He had been an IVEPer in the States at the same time Lydie was in Stouffville, but we had never met him before. He took us out to their dairy farm, climbing winding hilly roads to get there. The house is three stories, with his parents living on the top floor, a tenant in the middle floor, and Christof and Lydie on the ground floor. There is also a barn for the pigs attached at the back of the house, and a larger barn for the cows behind the house. So we had a good evening of getting to know Christof and seeing their home. We also discovered that Lydie had left chocolate, a Swiss pencil and some literature about the area and about Alsace Lorraine (where she's from) for each of us on our beds. A very gracious hostess indeed!

The next morning, Karen got up at 5 to help with the milking. (She also saw two pigs being bred.) After breakfast, Christof took us to the factory where his milk is turned into cheese. Apparently they have a cooperative of about 20 farmers who own this cheese factory and contribute milk to it daily...all of the milk in this community goes into cheese. We saw the huge vat into which they pour 4600 L of milk to begin the process, and then the smaller tanks into which the heated milk is fed via overhead pipes where they eliminate some of the excess fluid (don't ask me how). Then these same tanks were turned upside down and press to get more liquid out. We were told that the next morning, they would be taken out of these smaller tanks and wrapped in wax to sit for 6 months before they are taken to the stores. 1000 L of milk makes one large round of cheese. They had one smaller container as well holding less and a softer kind of cheese. I watched one of the employees take the cheese out of the tank, cut it in half (two shallower rounds, not two semi-circles) with a wire and then press it back into the frame.

After this, we had some time to relax at the house before lunch...Karen napped, and I did some blogging. Once lunch was finished, we headed into the hospital to visit Lydie and Kezia. Lydie had had an emergency C-section the previous Friday (a week overdue) because they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. However, mom and baby were doing well, if a bit sore yet for Lydie. She was expecting to be in the hospital for another two or three days yet.

Karen and Christof went out to milk cows again at 5, while I took a brief walk outside, trying to capture some of the gorgeous scenery and chalets. For dinner back at the house, we had a simple dinner of bread, salad and Emmental cheese...yes, the same kind of cheese we had watched being made that morning with Christof's milk. Christof made a fire in the wood stove in both the morning and evening that day to take the chill out of the air and help dry our clothes (we had done laundry there)--definitely our coldest weather for the entire trip. It was nice to stand by a wood fire again after being away from it for a year.

Bern

So Bern was almost a month ago by now...relying on my diary to remind me what we did! We left our hostel in Zurich around 8 am after Karen bought a Swiss Army knife (they were selling them at the hostel). We took the train into Bern, arriving late morning. After leaving our luggage in lockers at the train station, we wandered around the Zyglotte (parliament) and clock tower. Following lunch in a local cafe, we went to Einsteinhaus, the place where Einstein lived and worked from 1903-1905. The house has been restored to the style of that period, with various articles, such as the table that Einstein stood at to write, on display. Finally, we walked across the Aare River to get to the Bärenpark, a 6000 metre sq. park with small and large bear pits that has housed bears for several hundred years--since 1513. The brown bears have a long narrow swath down near the river to move about in. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and then returned to the train station where we picked up our luggage and caught our next train.

Here's a site for the Bear Park we visited. http://www.baerenpark-bern.ch/index.php?id=info&L=0

Zurich

I should really have my diary here to remind me of Zurich as it was now so long ago (nearly two weeks) that it is not so fresh as my more recent experiences. Anyway, I am in an internet cafe and must make use of the time I have, so here goes.

We left Ingolstadt early in the morning, dragging Imke and Martin out of bed at 5 am to get us to the train station on time. We took the train into Zurich, arriving late-morning. We found our hostel without difficulty and set out to explore the city. First, we sat down to enjoy a lunch of bread and cheese fondue near our hostel. There was a big parade happening in Zurich that day, an energy festival that we happened to coincide with. There were flyers all over the sidewalks, and people were in high spirits everywhere we went. There were also lots of unusually dressed people for the freak show happening that afternoon. We crossed the river and headed back toward the older section of town. We saw the Grossmunster, where Ulrich Zwingli began preaching in 1519, and located a store that Karen´s book had mentioned for its tiny little ¨burgers¨--little candies in the shape of a burger. It was closed, but we got a few photos. Then it started raining. We headed back towards the train station, where we visited the Swiss National Museum, and then decided to go up the mountain on a small train. It was only a 20 minute ride and would have been even more beautiful if it hadn´t been overshadowed by pouring rain. Karen walked around outside snapping shots in the rain like a trooper, while I got a few shots and then headed into shelter indoors to wait out the rain at the only restaurant on the mountain.

On the way back home, we saw hordes of young people huddled in clusters on the floor of the train station, sheltering from the rain. The station was packed! Apparently they didn´t have much in the way of indoor venues for people to stay in for this event. In spite of the rain, it was still quite noisy below our window. I used the earplugs the hostel gave me and slept through it all quite fine.

Ingolstadt

We took the train from Salzburg to Munich, and then Ingolstadt where our friend Imke and her boyfriend Martin are living on Thursday (Aug. 12). After a long day of travel, it was wonderful to arrive at their home and just relax that afternoon. They were both at work but had given us instructions about where to find the key, so we just let ourselves in and chilled out in their living room for an hour or so before they arrived home. When Imke arrived, we did some catching up and then she performed a belly dance for us--something that she takes a class in every week--and then got out her motorbike so Karen could go snap happy with her camera.



After Martin arrived home, Imke made us a lovely potato and carrot and bean cream casserole for dinner. Then we chatted quite late and tried out some Swedish chocolate (they had German and Dutch varieties for us to compare against...alas, we were full).



The next day, Karen and I slept in and they went to work. Then Imke collected us at 12:30 and we met Martin at the Biergarten (beer garden) for lunch. So now I can say I have tried Munich beer...I did not however, manage to finish the whole 0.5 L.

After lunch, we walked around Ingolstadt with Imke, along the river and outside the local castle. We did a bit of shopping for groceries, and then headed back. For dinner, we had a fabulous BBQ...sausages, Halloumi cheese (barbequed as well--it is somewhat like feta in texture) salad, bread, and a cheese-herb dip.

Martin got a fire going in the grill on the balcony and we sat out and chatted for hours. Then Martin introduced us to a new kind of drink: one shot of vodka, then place a slice of lemon on the shot glass, one sugar cube on top of the lemon, and a drop or two of rum (must be more than 50% alcohol). You light the sugar and carmelize it, then hold the vodka with one hand and the lemon-brandy concoction in the other. Drink the vodka shot and then immediately bite into the lemon. (Note from this meal: Karen and I would both like to find Halloumi cheese.)

Salzburg

It is hard to keep up with photos, as many of the places we stay do not have the capacity to read our memory sticks. I am not hopeful now of finding many such places once we are in Italy, as it seems internet cafes are in shorter supply than in the German-speaking countries we have lately been in. So I will have to describe as best I can what we have been seeing.

After a slightly hectic morning on Tuesday (a child picked up my hostel room key, and I had to return to a restaurant from the day before to pick up my jacket which I had left behind), we got off for our train ride from Vienna to Salzburg. The train ride on the way was lovely, with mountains and chalets scattered throughout.

We arrived at the home of our Mennonite Your Way hosts, Helmut and Marietta Wejooda, around 4 pm. She is a Canadian from Saskatchewan who went over to Austra some 40 or 50 years ago as a missionary and married and had a family there. Her husband Helmut retains a good sense of humour though going through the latter stages of Parkinsons. They are the only MYW host in Salzburg so get fairly regular guests through.

After getting briefly acquainted, we headed out to explore Salzburg. It is framed by mountains to the south and east, which make it a very picturesque place. We took the funicular up the mountain to the Höhenfortress, a castle defence built in 1070. The views from the top were breathtaking. I found out that salz means salt, the major industry of Salzburg historically. After dinner overlooking Salzburg, we climbed back down the mountain on a steep, rarely-staired incline. We walked through the old city on the east side of the river, and then meandered toward the Rathauspark, where they were (for the summer months) playing various films of classical music on a large screen in the park. That night, they were playing various opera excerpts...there were lots of chairs and some bleachers set up near the screen, and then a little away from the screen, there were lots of food and drink vendors, and tables and chairs to sit at and visit if you just wanted the music to be background entertainment.

The next day (Aug 11) we had a traditional Germanic breakfast with Marietta before walking to the Schloss Hellbrun, an Italianate palace some 2 km away from her house. There we saw the pavilion from the Sound of Music (I am sixteen, going on seventeen...) though it has since been moved to Hellbrun from the original location where it was filmed. We enjoyed the lovely flower and herb gardens there.

We went back to Marietta's neighbourhood to an Austrian restaurant she recommended for lunch. The menu had no French or English on it, so we ordered without exactly knowing what we were getting. Karen had wienerschnitzel (breaded pork cutlets) with potatoes, and I had a large cast iron frying pan filled with: pork loin, ham, sausage, sauerkraut, and knöbl, a large dumpling (a bit larger than my fist) flavoured like turkey stuffing.

For the afternoon, Karen and I split off. She wanted to go on the Sound of Music tour, visiting all the locations where the movie was filmed, whereas I was more interested in seeing all things Mozart. I went to the Geburthaus, the place where he was born (in 1756) and lived until 1773. Then I went to the Wohnhaus, where he lived from 1773-1780. The best things about Europe so far for me are: 1)actually seeing the places where historical people lived and worked, and 2)enjoying such a variety of great food everywhere (you knew that was coming, mom...) I saw originals of Mozarts music manuscripts, saw a 1/3 size violin, some of his early keyboards, as well as several multimedia presentations on things such as the music tours he took across Europe.

After the Mozart museums, I walked back through the old city to the Mirabelle Gardens where I was to meet Karen after her tour. After a short nap in the park, I met her and a newfound friend (from the bus tour), an Australian named Cassie a bit after 6. We showed Cassie around the old city some of our favourite things (no pun intended) and then invited her to join us for dessert at Demel. Karen and I both got the Schokobombe, with as much chocolate as is implied by the title. Chocolate mousse and creme brulée wrapped in a chocolate coating...heavenly! Then we went by the Mozartplatz and I got a photo in front of the statue of Mozart.

We went back to Helmut and Mariettas place, and had a relaxed visit with Marietta until bedtime.

Vienna

We had a lovely time in Vienna. We arrived at Hotel Ruthensteiner without difficulty on Sunday afternoon. After our recent hostel experiences, it was a haven of rest. Here I am sitting in the lounge downstairs, surrounded by guitars. In the bar next door was a piano with various music books available which I also made use of. There were two garden patios with an outdoor grill, self-serve kitchen, laundromat and breakfast available as well as four fast computers available for use (2 euros for 45 minutes).


This is one side of the Stephansdom, the major cathedral in the middle of Vienna. After dinner, we wandered toward the Rathausplatz, where we heard a wonderful Polish band playing some updated (almost jazzy-sounding) folk dances--violin, accordion, clarinet, and double bass. I succumbed to buying a CD. Then we walked into the Rathauspark, where we found a large crowd gathered to watch various opera excerpts on a big screen. Many cafes and food and drink stands were there, a couple hundred seats set up near the screen, and more tables and chairs closer to the back for the people who wanted to chat while enjoying the background music. Here is a bit of a sense of that, pictured below.
This is the parliament buildings in Vienna.

A highlight of the trip for me was going past the Staatoper (State Opera) and the Musikverein (music academy), as well as going into the Haus der Musik, which had lots of interesting interactive exhibits as well as information about various composers who lived and worked for part of their lives in Vienna.As soon as we got out of the subway on Monday morning, we were accosted by a courtier (e.g. an adept salesman) dressed in the style of the nobility several hundred years ago) who solicited our attendance at a concert of Mozart opera excerpts and Strauss operetta excerpts that night at 6:30. We decided that we really had to go to a classical music concert while in Vienna, so indulged the money on it. Immediately afer making arrangements with him, we were stopped by three salesmen with similar offers).

Before the concert, we tried Sachertorte (Viennese chocolate cake) and Cardinalschnitte (vanilla mousse cake) at a local cafe recommended by an Austrian-English friend.


Here we are at the concert that night in the beautifully decorated Palais Auersperg. After the concert, we wandered over to the Rathauspark, where we watched part of another film, this time Russian ballet excerpts with the throngs of Viennese and tourists gathered there. In between outings into the centre of Vienna we enjoyed the opportunity to get caught up on email, FB, and blogs.