early

Today is race day, and I am not the only one already up.  It's not that I am competing, it's just that my mind is racing.  So I have booked train tickets for the second part of tomorrow's journey and a hotel.

Lausanne has some great sights.  Yesterday Clara and I visited a park while Sham and Kieran had a tour at the laser lab, courtesy of Joanna's cousin Chris.  Mon Repos was truly a relaxing spot with an aviary and very nice playground.

Joanna spent most of the day in preparation -- riding up Ouchy hill, etc.  The rest of us took the Metro up to a new aquarium (Aquatis) which is a wonderful display of fish and the ecology of the area.

The reason we are here

OK, Switzerland is cool.  It is neat.  It has gorgeous scenery.  It has lovely old churches.  It has good bakeries.  It has on-time trains.  It has good chocolate.  It has crazy electrical plugs that don't fit the rest of Europe's electrical gadgets.  It has a HUGE cheese section in every grocery store.  It has lovely Airbnbs with lots of space. 

BUT, the reason we are here now is the World Triathlon Championships in which Joanna is racing in the Women's 40 - 44 year old age group.  The activities started today with a Meet and Greet for the Canadian team.  Some participants have been testing out the 10% grade on Ouchy hill.  JJ did some of the cycle course yesterday and has plans for checking out the swim area tomorrow.  This evening was the parade of Nations.  It was incredible to see 300 Australians marching along.  The Americas -- US, Canada and Mexico -- sent far more athletes than the Europeans. 

For a girl who was never into sports as a child, (or for any girl!) this is an amazing achievement.  She makes her mommy very, very proud.

Around Lausanne

Yesterday's train trip was switching cultures in the same country.  We took one train from Baden to Bern -- all announcements in German.  Then we switched trains, Bern to Lausanne, and everything turned French.  This is not surprising as Lake Geneva's south coast is part of France.  The scenery is stunning -- vineyards on the slopes facing south and mountains across the lake.

Today (after Joanna's bike and run this morning) we took the train around the lake to Chateau Chillon.  It is a lovely medieval castle built on a small island just off the shore of the lake.  It has the turrets and crenelations, a huge tall keep, and a prison that held a man for 6 years, chained to a pillar (immortalized in Byron's poem 'The Prisoner of Chillon')  Rather than train home, we took one of the paddle-wheelers across the lake back to Lausanne. 

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One final post about the cycling trip last week. 

Kieran is a game player.  Without video games, it was Trouble, Nine Men Morris, Solitaire, BlackJack.  Usually it was me he played, but there was another 10 year old on the boat and she enjoyed games too.  Soon they were planning when they would both be on the boat in order to meet in the lounge for a game.  Kieran taught Merin Qwirkle and sometimes it required three players, so I was enlisted.  He gets very caught up in the games and loves to win.  Good thing he is an excellent strategist and usually does.

Our Tour leader, Regina, was an unusual person.  She chose to do briefings in the morning so sometimes we were waiting for the briefing in order to start cycling.  Her German was excellent, her English, OK.  She took to Kieran and often brought her dessert over to him after supper.  She gave Kieran and Merin special gifts for being so young and doing so well. 

I have already spoken about the 2 English couples at our table and how special they made our meals.  But the most special person of all was Kiki.  He was my delight for the whole trip.  And in the end, he said he would do it again, me too!

The big Z

I don't know if it is called that here, but we went to Zurich today.  It appears to be a lovely clean and well kept city.  The Linmat River which runs through Baden, where we are staying, rushes off to Zurich where it widens and therefore slows also.  The Zurichians use the river for swimming and there are several areas on the banks that have change rooms, stairs, sitting areas, etc, to accommodate the large numbers of people who take advantage of this free service.  Even the tourists love it and 4 of us (not me) took bathing suits and swam downstream, got out, walked back upstream, and then swam down again and again.  It was a little cool, so we didn't spend all afternoon.

In the morning we found a geological exhibit with some of the most beautiful mineral and fossil samples I have ever seen.  And we lunched as the Swiss do, raclette  and flammen kuchen.  Insert at the end of the visit a trip to the big toy store, and everyone was happy.

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Attractions on our cycling trip. 

We started off in Cologne with a trip to the Chocolate Museum.  Lindt does just as good a job of the production and story side as they do of the actual chocolate side.  And they provide lots of samples!

We had wanted to go to the Peace Museum at the site of the destroyed bridge in Remagen, but it was closed for technical renovation.

We did get to the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein across the river from Koblenz -- by gondola over the river!  It was very impressive with its thick walls and multiple defences, but what K liked best was the High Tech Romans exhibit.  He built aqueducts, rowed a galley, built a bridge and an arched doorway, tested pulleys and hooks to lift building stones.  He is an engineering boy.

Just south of Koblenz is Schloss Stolzenfelz.  It was a 13th centruy ruin which was given to Wilhelm in the mid 1800s who restored it as a summer place.  It has a wonderful view (you have to climb up the mountain to get there), beautiful gardens and some lovely furniture.  K liked it so much that we bought a paper model kit which he will make at home.

In Andernach, they is a cold water carbonated geyser.  Unfortunately it is a boat ride away, but there is a small sampler one by the river which we enjoyed.

We had a few ferry rides -- fascinating to the boy who loved watching the navigating across the river and the docking procedure.

One day took us through the Romantic Rhine section with castle ruins on almost every hill and a very fast flowing narrow river.  Here the vineyards started seriously and after arriving in Rudesheim, we took the gondola ride over the vineyard up to the statue of Lady Germania.  I was up there 7 years ago and she was encased in scaffolding.  She looked much better this time.

Another closed attraction was the ancient loading crane right on the river with hamster-like treadwheels inside for slaves.

And, of course, there were bridges and towers and ancient walls and gardens and play structures and boats of all shapes sizes and functions.  Going upriver, we cycled just a bit faster than the barges headed in the same direction.  There was one boat, Spera, which we met up with 7 times.

Family Ties

The Swiss do things well.  The playground here in Baden, in under the high level bridge and features logs and ropes and slides and swings and waterplay all blended into the trees.  It was a popular place this Sunday morning.

A train and a bus took us to where Chris and family live -- a lovely town of 900 which is a great place to live.  We dined in their garden and then accompanied them over a significant hill to the town of Brugg where there was a street fest.  Now, this only happens about every 20 years there and they take their festival seriously.  The structures for this 2 weekend event rival many house frames, but they will all disappear after next weekend.  It was great to talk to Chris and Liz and catch up on how that portion of the family is doing.  Also very interesting was to get their opinions of life here in Switzerland which isn't as idyllic as one is sometimes led to believe.

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The bike riding was so easy.  We had commuter (step-through) seven speed bikes, which, although quite heavy, worked very well and the riding was smooth (except for the cobble sections).  The path we were following was 95% along the river, so we only got lost a few times when we had to go around some industrial area.  Our maps and written directions were both good as well as the signage along the path.  Mostly we shared a path with pedestrians, something we could certainly adopt in Canada.

So we rode for 6 days:  Cologne to Bonn (37 km), Bonn to Andernach (45 km),  Andernach to Koblenz (25 km), Koblenz to St. Goarshausen (38 km), St. Goarshausen to Rudesheim (32 km) and finally Rudesheim to Mainz (32 km). Officially that makes a total of 209 km.  The Rhine has km markers starting from Lake Constance .  Cologne is at 689 and we finished at 498, so not all of our riding was as the ships travel.  There was lots of time each day to ride and no pressure to finish fast.  We generally rode for about an hour, then stopped for a snack, rode another hour, stopped for lunch and then a third hour when we would usually arrive early at the evening's spot, and so go for a pastry.  Very civilized!~

Back on the land August 24

Not having WiFi on the boat was quite a drag.  I could have related our adventures each day, talking about the cycling, the boats, the castles, the vineyards, the gondolas, the food, the people, etc.  Over the next few days I will try to catch up but also stay current with the day.

So today, K and I left the boat after breakfast.  It felt quite strange not to get on the bikes and meet our friend the river for a long visit.  We took a taxi to the Mainz Hbf and got on our train.  It was a 2:45 trip to Basel and then another hour to Baden where there was a happy group to meet us on the platform.  Joanna, Sham and Clara were there as well as Chris, Liz, Kalina and Natasha.  If the definition of an aunt is your cousin's mom, then I am still Chris' aunt.  We had an icecream in town, then picked up some groceries and headed to the Airbnb.  It is a lovely 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment on the river which flows through town.  The recent arrivers are crashing early.

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So a week ago, K and I were waiting for the boat at one docking spot -- where the literature that I had been emailed indicated.  The time for the boat to arrive came and went.  As it neared and passed embarkation time, I got a little worried and 2 very nice ladies found out where the boat indeed was and we proceeded. 

It is one of the smaller river cruisers, only 2 levels and at least 30 m shorter than the Viking long ships.  But it was refurbished about 1.5 years ago and the Arkona is a very comfortable space.  Our cabin was small but efficiently designed so there was no space problem.  There was a lounge with little tables where one could listen to some music, have a drink, play games, and in the evenings, do some embroidery on the delphiniums.  It was the space for afternoon coffee and cake but also available in the mornings for tour briefings.  Only 2 or 3 people stayed on the boat during the day, the rest of us all cycled.  There were basically two groups -- german speakers and everyone else who were addressed in english.  Meals were all held in the restaurant, breakfast being a buffet and which supplied the ingredients for a make-you-own picnic lunch, and supper being a lovely served item with 4 or 5 courses and choice of mains.  The sundeck on top of the boat had lots of lounge chairs and a covered area with tables.  The crew has their main jobs but everyone is enlisted to move bicycles or help unload supplies.  They are a family that works very well together.

K and I were assigned to table 3 along with 2 English couples who were travelling together.  Chris and Francis are teachers.  Chris used to teach highschool science before he became an educator of teachers and Francis teaches upperschool mathematics.  Andy and Jennie are about 10 to 15 years older, Andy is a semi-retired engineer from Siemans and Jennie is a very busy grandma with 10 grandchildren who all live within 10 miles.  K and Chris hit it off, discussing science each evening and most mornings.  Andy had his 65th birthday on the boat and shared his celebratory champagne.  They were delightful table companions.

Sharing the adventure

The eternal question is "how do you take something old and make it new and exciting again?"  I propose the following:  see the old through new eyes.  In this case, the eyes that I am seeing something familiar through, are the eyes of my grandson Kieran.

For the next week, he and I are travelling along the Rhine River between Cologne and Mainz, the stretch that I did 7 years ago to celebrate my 60th.  But having him with me allows the familiar to be seen in a different way, noting the things that he finds interesting and exciting.  He loved watching the planes being serviced and unloaded last evening.  He was super excited to be going 292 km per hour on the ICE train this afternoon.  He tried a new pastry and pronounced it great.  He was awed by the cathedral and loved the stained glass windows and the all the gold.  We lit a candle to remember Nona, already gone for a year.  We looked at the river and all the different boats.

We are keeping a written journal -- something for him to remember this trip long after I am gone.  It is a precious moment in time and I plan to enjoy every second!