Postcard from Switzerland: Day 9 Touring Lausanne

After a day of sightseeing, we decided to take a dip in the pool. The water was extremely refreshing but first we had to use the net to remove a multiple of bugs that had ended up in the pool since yesterday. What is it with bugs anyway? Don’t they know they can’t swim? . . . . .or . . . .are they all kamikaze pilots and think if they dive bomb into the water they will be saving someone or making some kind of point. Or . . .. . . .are they just so darn hot they think committing suicide is worth being cooled off for at least a few moments. I think I will see if I can get a research grant to study that.

Went to Lausanne today to see the Cathedral. It was worth the 20 minute drive on the freeway with the top down on the car and the breeze flowing through. It is an incredible work of architecture. It was started in the early 1100’s and completed in the early 1200’s. Every time I go into one of these structures I am awed by the creative ability of early man and their skills. At one time it housed the famous golden Madonna but during the reformation the statue was melted down for the gold. Apparently some of the gold nuggets from it are still housed in some museum in Switzerland – like they really know those coins are from the Madonna. It totally amazes me that generations of people can protect one little item for the future generations and not misplaced it. I know that it my family had been in charge of say . . . . .the crucifix . . . . . it probably would have been turned into something like a bookshelf rather than little splitters to be sold in the tourist shops inside the Vatican. Our ancestors were totally clever people to think of preserving these things.

Anyway, it’s all a croc of crap, but an impressive croc of crap.

Attached view of Lausanne and the Cathedral

Postcards from Switzerland: Day 8 Poking around Town

Hey. How’s it going, eh?

We spent yesterday poking around Vevey. Quite quaint. Had 2 cokes at McDonald’s…..7 francs, which is about $9,00 Canadian. No way we could retire here…way too expensive, but what a great place to stay for a month.
Picture 1: E is desperately looking for a Carefour, but just can’t seem to find one. I am looking for naked women, but can’t find any either. So far, not a good day.
Picture 2: I was admiring the Swiss Army Knives, when the salesman and I struck up a conversation about Why The Hell the Swiss even need an army or a knife. He was non-pulsed, and invited me to the back of the store to look at some “serious” knives. One of the knives was about six feet tall, and took at least 2 men to lug it around. He pushed one button, and a tent popped out, which then inflated. He pushed another one, and a rocket launcher popped out. No rockets…..that is another button, but he wouldn’t show that one to me.
I pushed another button, and a white flag popped out, and said, “Don’t shoot! We’re neutral!” The guy said they are working on a French version that says “Don’t shoot! We give up! We gave up before! We give up today! We give up in the future!”
I would have bought one of these knives, but Ev and I couldn’t lift it. Not to mention how we could get it on the plane.
Picture 3: Some building or other.
Picture 4: Some building or other.

Evelyn here – the architecture here is stunning.. . . . . . .very French, which of course it is. Lots of pretty balconies with loads of flowers. I just love it.

Saw a wedding car today – a silver Porsche Carrera . . . . .obviously someone rich (there is a lot of that going around here). For decorations the car had a centerpiece of roses on the hood and then some white ribbon and bows – a little different than we do in Canada.

Turned the corner and came to the City Hall where all marriages have to happen first. Posing out front was a small wedding party. . . . . . .a much younger bride and a much older groom (do the words “sugar daddy come to mine). It struck me immediately but Mike was still talking about the car.

Fresh fish for dinner again. Just melts in your mouth . . . . . .so good here. They get it out of the Lake.

Some other building

Some Building

Evelyn looking for Carefour

Swiss army knives

Postcards from Switzerland: Day 7 Immersed in Culture

We have been housesitting for one week now and if all the people and all the homes were like this I would highly recommend it.

The family are so very nice and friendly. They wanted us to meet Alexandre’s mother when they were here last Saturday but she had just had surgery and wasn’t feeling well that day. She was flying out later in the week to meet the family.

On Tuesday evening, Elaine, Alexandre’s mother came by for a visit and brought her good friend. Elaine is a tiny little French lady from St. Marlo, Fr originally. She still has an apartment there on the beach that she will go to for a few weeks after visiting with Alexandre and Tanya.

We had a wonderful visit. She was so friendly and her English was excellent (she spent a year in England learning the language). Her and her husband, whom she met while she was visiting Geneva, had their own business. They supplied marine materials for the enormous number of boat and yacht owners in the region. The also owned a mini golf course – but that was just for fun. They would work all day at their shop and then go run the golf course in the evening – just because they enjoyed how much fun everyone was having there. He died very suddenly ten years ago from a sudden infection.

After our visit she asked us to come and visit her on Wednesday at her place. We graciously accepted. Her place, which she kept calling the Attic, turned out to be the penthouse in an apartment in Vevy close to the lake. She has a deck that runs completely around the building giving amazing views of the town, the lake, and the mountains. Her apartment is huge at least 1200 sq ft.

She was leaving on Thursday from Geneva to Bordeaux where Alexandre was going to pick her up. We offered to drive her to the Geneva airport rather than have her take the train to the airport. Again, during our one hour drive to Geneva we had a wonderful visit. Last night, Alexandre phoned to thank us for taking his mother. They want us to come back and spend a few weeks with them just visiting.

I have never felt a connection like this with strangers. Normally Mike and I do not like people but this just seems so different – it is odd. We wanted to do housesitting so that we could experience what it was like living in Europe, but not as visitors. So far the experience is wonderful. We do not have the urge to go “sightsee” everyday – we just enjoy the European experience.

Later today we are going into the “downtown” core to check out all the lovely old buildings and a church or two. Today we will be tourists. Tomorrow we are going to the market to buy some food supplies for the next days until Tuesday’s market. Tomorrow we will be Europeans.

Love,
M & E

Postcards from Switzerland: Day 5 Settling in

Another scortcher of a day. They do not have A/C in their homes or apartments. They do not have central heating – hence no vents to pump the A/C through. It is 3:30 in the am here and I woke up as I am so hot. Mike is sleeping upstairs in the oven – don’t know how he does that but it is all I can manage to go up there to change and shower. Today is going to 34 and tomorrow it is dropping to 23 for a day and rain – I will be thrilled to see the rain.

So this is what a few mill buys you in Switzerland. It is a nice house but not nearly up to NA standards. It is hard to describe as it is built into the side of a rock. The third level which isn’t seen here in the picture is below ground but its like our walkouts without the large windows. The garage is on the lower lever, you entered through it and then go upstairs. They us a family room/slash guest room, a utility room with a large water heater, a large laundry room, and then some storage rooms. Everything is nicely finished but it is all cement construction. The only wood is in the top floor ceilings and the are all slanted.

The main level is open concept n the front, in the back of the house there is another bedroom, another bathroom, and more storage, plus the front door – which faces with a few feet the giant rock. Odd but cute.

The pool is above ground as is the hot tub. They cannot have an inground pool here because the house is built into the hill or whatever it is. We have beautiful views of the mountains.

On Sunday we went to pick up a few provisions. I bought dry pasta, 4 tomatoes, 4 nectarines, a piece of butter, a loaf of bread, one onion, a litre of milk, and a baguette, it cost us over 30 SF, is the same as $40.00. We then went to the McCafe for 2 croissants, one tea and one fresh orange juice – $16.00 Canadian. Long story short – we decided to try to Evian in France for groceries. It is about 1.5 hours away. Stocked up on enough to last about 10 days and it cost us less than $140.00. Much better! However, the back of the car is so small I had half of the stuff sitting on my lap. It was so hot that we couldn’t even stop to see Evian – which is a beautiful place so we will have to come aback again. Slept most of the afternoon because of the heat and spent the remainder of the time in the pool – thank god for it. After 8 pm we went for another walk on the promenade around the lake. It was know to 31 by then and a little cooler??????????

Please dear God end this heat wave!

Postcard from Lourdes

Hi Everyone,
Been busy on the road again. Stopped off at Lourdes. Again a very moving experience. Went into the actual Grotto and saw the Spring of Holy Water than Mary created. Send some prayers for those with ailments in or family – hope it helps them. Next we went to a Prehistoric Park were they discovered the caveman drawings. Saw them. Cool! Listen to a lecture on why they drew them. Thought to myself REALLY!!! Everyone is trying to figure out the psychological significance and the religious implications that they may have. I personally think that these people who were barely smart enough to figure out to cook their food first were just bored at night and liked to doodle. Cave Man graffiti. Lacking the invention ofthat paper, they used what they had – the walls of their caves – something Christine use to do when she was little – except she used her closet walls.
After that we headed to Andorra. Avoided the MacDonald’s this time mom. – so no problems with cop. Then we headed down to Barcelona. Still no place to park there so we programmed in all the sights – and as it was a Sunday – Mike took us on our own bus tour. It was really great until it started to rain so hard that we could barely see the windowshield let alone the sites. We did get some good pictures though. After that we started heading up the coast. Right now we are at a MacDonald’s in Orange France. Going site seeing and then we will try to find a campground with actual washer and dryers – not an easy task – or else we will just buy more clothes LOL. Will write again when we get better email access. Take care everyone. Love hearing from all of you.
Love, M & E

Hey everyone….mike here…
We are on the northern half of the romantic road. You well remember the southern half, what with all the making out and stuff. Disgusting, really. Well, I have to tell you, I am very disappointed in the northern half. It is not romantic at all. Just a road where a bunch of writers, like Herman Munster, and artists, like Otto Somebody or other, hung out. Huh. No fun at all.
I personally selected these pictures.
1…The ampheatre at l’Orange.
2. Notice the price of collars….JUST THE COLLARS!!! At Cannes on the Riveria.
3….I snuck this one in just for the boys. Everyone else can just ignore it.
4….The Grotto at Lourdes. The upper right hand corner is where Mary appeared.The lower
right hand corner is where mike and evelyn are appearing.

PS Maybe I shouldn’t have put the naked woman next to the Lourdes picture. I am going to hell for sure.

Postcard from Disneyland Paris

Hi all,
Well, we are back in France – southern part today heading for Bordeaux. We spent Monday and Tuesday at Euro Disney and had a great time. Took in all the rides – even the scary ones and all the shows. Stayed right in the parking lot overnight. They even had showers there but no electricity or WiFi. We are hoping to be in Spain by the end of the week. Our travelling time is now getting limited so we are trying to make sure we still see the things remaining on our list – Lourdes, Barcelona, Pisa, Florence, Assisi, Amalfi Coast and Lake Como. Don’t know if we will make them all but we sure are going to try.
Our favorite countries have been Poland, Germany and Austria. I love the pristine nature of the German people. I also love their honesty. All along the way there were vegetable stands. They are unman but you simply go, pick out your vegetables and pay the posted price. The money goes into a little steel box mounted on a pole. How good is that and how honest are the people that one can do that. They are all over the place. As well, there are flower gardens called Bloomin. You go and pick the flowers you want – the variety is enormous, and again, just pay the correct amount to the little steel box.

I bought 2 kg of chocolates when we first arrived here and we are still eating them. Unfortunately there will not be any to bring home.
Love,
M & E

Postcard from the RV

So . . . there was this really bad smell in our RV. I noticed it for a couple of days. At first I just noticed it in the mornings when we were driving so I naturally assumed I needed to change the cereal Mike was eating. Figured he was getting way too much fibre. After a couple of days the smell was getting worse, not better so I decided it wasn’t Mike after all. That night when we pulled over, I stripped the RV completely and washed everything down. I even made Mike clean the toilet under my supervision so that I knew he was washing it out properly. The toilet smelled fresh and clean but that horrible smell still prevailed throughout the RV. Mike’s response was “you’ll get use to it”. Believe me when I say I never would get use to it and I was ready to turn the RV in as something must have died and rooted itself somewhere in the pipes where we couldn’t get after it. Then I thought “grey water” – you know – the leftover water from your washing, etc. I decided to check the gauge and ours was almost full. I asked Mike when he last changed it and he said properly a week ago because he had forgotten. I made him pull over and empty it. OMG the smell was enough to kill you. We had spent a week in Croatia where it was really, really warm so you can well image what it smelt like. Think of slough water gone really bad and then double that. I almost passed out. Our next stop was to a grocery store where I bought 2 gallons of vinegar – wanted bleach but they do not sell it here and 2 gallons of Mr. Clean with Fiberize.I poured the vinegar in and for the next 2 hours while we were driving we smelled of a fish and chip shop. When we stopped we pour more water down the drain and let it run for a while. Then I added the Mr. Clean and poured more water into the tank and just let it stand overnight. By morning our RV was smelling fresh again and Mike has never been allowed to forget about empting the grey water since.
We have pulled into a Spa campground for a couple of days in the Black Forest just outside of Lahr. Mike needs to get his left arm functioning again properly. He has been exercising and using cold and hot treatments. Today is the first day he hasn’t had to use pain killers. Tomorrow we will head out again. We have to be in Frankfurt by Thursday to get the fridge replaced. In the meantime, I do not have to cook for a few days as we have no refrigeration. I am kind of sad about that as I have been preparing us all kinds of regional dishes using local ingredients and we have been enjoying the meals. I hate the idea of having to go to a restaurant all the time. We want to do the `touristy side“ of the Black Forest this time – you know – the one with all the cuckoo clocks, etc. It is a fun part of Germany, and we do not want to be rushed – hence the delay in getting the fridge replaced. After a new fridge we are heading to the Rhine River to do the `Romantic Rhine“. We only have 6 weeks left and we are beginning to realize that we will not have enough time to do all we wanted to do. Oh well . . . . .we do have the rest of our lives to see more.
Love,
M & E
1 – Dachau
2 – Jewish Memorial at Dachua
3 – a Biergarten in the village near our campsite – taken this morning during our morning walk.

Postcards from Mike’s Mecca

Hi Everyone,
We are in a rest stop on an Austrian freeway that, if you sit near the bathrooms, you get free WIFI. Go figure!
Today we arrived at Traun – the city of Pez. We went to the Pez building. They were so nice there. They do not offer tours and they do not even produce Pez there anymore. It is all made in Hungary but distributed and designed at the building in Traun. They gave Mike a big Pez bag with the newest Pez to be released – a copy of the original one. They also gave him all their latest Pez collection pkgs – most of which he already has but it sure was nice of them. He got a Pez keychain as well as samples of all the new pez candy. I took some pictures of him in front of the building and beside a giant original pez. Will try to send them but the signal here is weak.
We went into Salzburg yesterday but could not find an empty place to park for the time we needed so we are heading back there next Sunday. It should be less congested. I want to go on the Sound of Music Tour and it is 4 hours long.
we have decided that Austria is God’s Country. It is stunningly beautiful here. We have been mostly on the back roads again and stopping off at some pretty awesome places. This morning we were in a beautiful old town by a mountain lake. It just happen to be market day as well so was a lot of fun.
Tomorrow we head up to Germany for a bit and then back down to Austria. Should be in the Black Forest sometime this weekend unless we get waylaid again which seems to be happening more and more every day. Yesterday we drove a grand total of 45 kms and it took us all day as we stopped so much.
We have meet some really nice people along the one – a couple from Denmark, a fellow from Africa – who pulled us out when we were stuck, and 3 nice young men from GB.
Still having a great time.

Love,
M & E

Postcard from the Austrian Alps

Hi Everyone,
We finally got internet access. We are in a campground in Austrian Alps where they have WIFI. We arrived here at noon, mainly to get our laundry done. Otherwise, we have no real need for a campsite. Army showers are working just fine for us and we are always able to find water everyday and empty our tanks. More and more RV people are boondocking in Europe. Campsites are getting ridiculously high. Mostly just those with kids are staying in them.
We arrived in Croatia last Sunday and spent the week touring Croatia, some of Slovenia and Bosnia. We were up in the hill country in Croatia and the Adriatic coastline. The scenery was incredible. We drove the entire coastline of Croatia, visiting both Split and Dubrovnik. Had a really good time except for last Monday when we got caught in a really bad storm. We were on our return from visiting Plicetvik National Park. The rain started coming down in buckets and then the wind picked up. We were going through a pass and Mike could barely keep the RV on the road. We noticed a pull off area so we took it. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea. We pulled in behind a stone wall and were quickly joined by 3 other RV’s. We arrived there at 3 in the afternoon. By morning it was still blowing as bad but the rain had stopped. Our RV rocked all night long as did the others. I was worried that we were going to be pushed over. In the morning after spending a night being tossed about we decided to take our chances and see if we could drive out of the wind. We eventually made it through but not without a lot of scary moments.
The countryside in Croatia is beautiful but it is basically a very poor country. It was not an expensive country to travel in but we decided that we would not enjoy living there for the winters so we eliminated it.
We left Croatia and arrived at the Italian/Austrian border on Friday evening. Camped overnight and headed into Austria. We have never really visited Austria before other than Vienna. We have been going to little out of the way places and having a really good time. Yesterday while visiting the town of Lienz we discovered they were having a big race. A triathlon, except for the swimming part they had kayaking in the rapids’. They had a big celebration going on in the centre of town and lots of beer gardens. It was a happening place. We also visited Spittal. Nice little town. We debated about staying overnight there as today was their big Strudel Festival. But alas, we decided to move on. Tomorrow we are going to Salzburg and then after that we are heading to Traun to see the Pez Manufacturing plant – or, otherwise known as Mike’s Mecca. We will be in Austria until the coming weekend and then heading to Germany again. We want to do the main Black Forest drive this time and follow the Rhine to the Mosel and then follow the Mosel. We will try to get internet access but if not, we will be stopping again for laundry next weekend and will touch base then again.
1 – for Christine and Trev – giant Croissant
2 – for Josh – Guten Fahrt
3 – our next reno project in Croatia
4 – Mike getting a stone for skipping in the Adriatic
5 – cool ship in Dubrovnik habor
6 – naked guy on beach for all the girls

for Christine and Trev – giant Croissant

for Josh – Guten Fahrt

our next reno project in Croatia

Mike getting a stone for skipping in the Adriatic

cool ship in Dubrovnik habor

naked guy on beach for all the girls

Love, Mike and Evelyn

Postcard from Croatia

Hi Everyone,
We are up in the hills in Croatia this evening. Just finished a really nice dinner in a restaurant just off the highway. They are letting me use their WIFI. We are sitting outside on their patio (shaded) overlooking a valley. It is very pretty here. It is almost 7 pm. Today we were in Trieste, It. A smaller city on the coast close to the Slovenia border. Absolutely beautiful city! After leaving there we headed through a bit of Slovenia to Croatia. We have had a really good day. Beautiful scenery. Everything is still going well. Went to Venice yesterday, It is still the same but a lot more crowded. We really are not that interested in going to any of those cities anymore. Too crowded and we have seen it all. Tomorrow we are headed to a National Park here that is suppose to be great for hiking. It also looks like the MacDonalds here have WIFI so we should be able to keep in touch again better.
Came across a really cool vending machine. It had all the usual things. It was in a P area off the side of the highway. The interesting thing was what they consider normal needs for a vending machine. It had the usual, chocolate bars, chips, cigarettes, lighters, condoms, and of course – what everyone likes to pick up while they are travelling down the road – pregnancy tests!!!!! Who decides what goes into these machines anyway.

Love M & E