Boxing Day Colour

The weather on Boxing Day this year is pretty dreadful.  It is quite mild temperature wise, but it is rather dull and very, very windy.  So it really feels very cold.  Nothing to tempt one outside.  So to cheer myself up a bit I've put together some collages of photos from warmer climes.  The first is from a holiday we had in Palma de Mallorca way back in 2005.

Next up is this collage from a walking holiday we had in the Cinque Terre region of northern Italy.

Puglia is the next destination, which is where Alessio's paternal grandparents come from.  Another beautiful part of the world.

Just a few lovely memories to bring back a bit of warmth and sunshine in the middle of a dreich and dour Scottish winter.  As it is Boxing Day I could not resist ending with this collage of some of the boxes I use to store my stitching stuff.

Bologna and Ferrara - June 2011

When we visit Emma in Zürich we usually manage to fit in an additional short break.  This time it was all the way to Italy, to the region of Emilia-Romagna which sweeps down from the southern banks of the river Po to the mountains of Tuscany and central Italy.  We stayed in Bologna and also visited Ferrara.  It was a wonderful break and we were blessed with warm, sunny weather.  In the middle of a dark and cold Scottish winter, this is a good time to remember the heat and sunshine of Italy.

Bologna is the capital of the region and is also the biggest city.  In the centre is a very large piazza, suitably named Piazza Maggiore.  You can see one view of it above.  It is usually very crowded and is surrounded by narrow side streets with lots of cafés, bars and restaurants.  The narrow side streets were a feature of Bologna and here are three of them in the collage below.

A rather strange feature of Bologna we found was that once you got away from the main square the surrounding streets became almost empty of people.  There were hardly any shops and very few bars or cafés.  Most strange.  Another rather disconcerting facet of Bologna was the very poor state of the buildings in the old town.  The façades of just about all the old buildings had been left unkept and were covered in peeling plaster and often ugly grafitti.  Here is an example.

Of course the city does have some wonderful examples of Renaissance and medieval architecture.  Here are two doorways to admire.

One of Bologna's famous nicknames is la dotta (the learned), which refers to its university, which is apparently the oldest in not just Italy, but the whole of Europe.  Many of its faculties are located just off the city centre in some lovely old buildings.  Here is Kathleen by a very old courtyard with an even older statue behind her.

Another nickname is la grassa (the fat one), and this harks back to Bologna's fame as a centre of cuisine.  We can certainly attest to this as we ate very well while there.  Just off the centre is a small area of very narrow streets which must have been the home to the old markets of the city.  Here you can still find a lovely and appetising array of little shops selling just about everything you need to make a delicious gourmet meal.  Here are a few of the shop fronts.

In addition to Bologna we took in a day trip to Ferrara.  This is another very old city, though a much smaller one.  It is the capital of the province of the same name and is clearly home to a lot of very rich people, past and present.  Like Bologna, Ferrara has a very large and grand central square.  This is not really a square, but a longuish rectangle and goes by the grand name of Piazza Trento e Trieste.  One side of the piazza is mostly taken up by the side façade of the cathedral.  As you can see from the photo below, the good burghers of Ferrara were quite happy to mix religion with commerce.  The street level is used for shops.  

Just round the corner you get to see the marvellous Romanesque front façade.  Another stunning part of the cathedral is the campanile, which dates from Renaissance times.  Inside, you are just overwhelmed by the richness of the place.  It is full of richly ornate sculptures, painting and decorations.  Clearly Ferrara was once a very wealthy place.  Probably still is.  Here is the front façade and the campanile.

Another similarity with Bologna was the narrow streets that led away from the main square.  Some were busy with shoppers, but most were pretty empty.  Here are some.

Like almost all Italian cities, Ferrara has some truly outstanding and beautiful buildings.  Here is one, which is not a particularly famous one, but is lovely in its harmony and the colour of its façade.

Not everything in Ferrara was old or formal.  On the corner of one of the main streets we came across this little bear blowing bubbles.  We all loved it, especially Alessio, who could have spent the whole day chasing the bubbles.

Just going over these photos has warmed me up a bit.  Roll on next summer.

In Switzerland (1)

We've only been in Switzerland a few days and already we've managed to pack in quite a lot.  The weather was lovely and warm when we arrived and this continued into the Saturday.  So much so that Cosimo, Alessio and I trekked across the road to the local Badi for a bit of swimming and sunbathing.  The 3rd is of course Alessio's birthday, his 5th this time and Emma had organized a great little party for him.  Which he thoroughly enjoyed.  It all started with opening the presents, which he does with gusto as you can see below.

Though there was no doubt as to which was his favourite present - this giant aeroplane.

After some games in the garden with his guests, came the food and in particular the blowing out the candles on his specially made Dinosaur cake.  Now, ready, steady, blow!

The cake was delicious and everybody had a great time - not just the children.  There was even a bit of a reunion with some of Emma`s friends who can be seen posing here.

It was a fun day for all and Kathleen joined in with this impromptu modelling.

The next day unfortunately, the weather began to change.  However that did not prevent us from getting out and about. In the morning, Cosimo, Kathleen, Alessio and I visited a kind of Ideal Home exhibition.  There was some fascinating things to see, from wine coolers, built-in steamers, jacuzzis and goodness knows what else.  All, alas, at an equally fascinating price.  This exhibition was only for the rich and the very rich.  Good to see though.


In the afternoon we drove to Schloss Hallwyll in Kanton Aarau.  It is a fully preserved medieval castle surrounded by a moat.  Below is the view from the front and then from the side.

The rooms displayed all kinds of information about the Hallwyl family over the centuries.  Some rooms had period furniture, while others showed off some of the scientific and cultural interests of the family.  A few come up next.

Outside the castle and the moat there is the remains of the old mill house.  The mill lade and the water wheel are still there and some of the old wooden machinery is still there.  Perhaps it still works, though there was no-one around when I visisted.

Across the yard from the mill is a new building which stores some examples of transport from earlier ages, including this wonderful large wooden barge.

We finished our outing by stopping off at a nearby farm which sold fresh fruit and vegetables.  On the drive way there were some stunning clumps of dahlias, including this one.  A lovely way to end a lovely day.

Postcards from the Black Forest

This autumn we had the good fortune to make a couple of short trips to southern Germany.   The main one was to Freiburg in the Black Forest.  I had heard a lot about the Black Forest and how beautiful it was and of course I had eaten many a slice of Black Forest gateau, which is very popular in Scotland.  However I had no idea of just large the area is.  I thought it was just the southern tip across the border from Switzerland, but no, the Black Forest stretches all the way north to just before Karlsruhe.  Nearly 200 km in length and about 60 km wide it is a very large area indeed.


On this trip we only managed to get a glimpse of part of the southern Black Forest.  We crossed the border just outside Bad Säckingen on the river Rhine and headed north.  Unfortunately the navigator, yours trully, misread the map and we ended up taking a detour.  This had the advantage of letting us see some of the more isolated parts of the Black Forest.  It also confirmed that the area is well named.  There are a hell of a lot of trees and it does look pretty black most of the time.  The other advantage of this short detour was that just before we re-emerged on the main route we passed by a one family car boot sale.  More accurately the goods were on display in the family's garden.  We stopped and rummaged about and left with a fine range of goodies, including a scooter for Alessio.  All for next to nothing.


We continued on our route heading for Freiburg and around lunchtime as we passed through a winter ski resort, Muggenbrunn, we saw what looked like a delightful restaurant.  And delightful it was.  The Hotel Grüner Baum is in a traditional building and the restaurant serves traditional Black Forest food, all served by waitresses in traditional costumes.  It was a warm and sunny afternoon - what more could one want.  Here is a happy Emma relaxing after the meal.

Suitably refreshed, we were soon in Freiburg im Breisgau, our destination.  This is another little gem of a city and the heart of the Black Forest.  Full of beautiful old buildings and cobbled streets and alleyways.  Most of these old buildings were ablaze with colour and some were covered in ornate decorations.  You can get an idea from the collage below.

The main public space in Freiburg is by the Munster, a fine building itself.  The next photo is of part of one of the very colourful buildings in this square.  This is followed by one of the delightful narrow streets or alleys.

Freiburg now has the full complement of modern transport options, including some lovely trams.  However it also boasts a couple of more unusual and older ways of getting around the place.  Consumption of lots of beer seems to be an obligatory part of at least one of these options.

Much of the charm of Freiburg comes from the surviving examples from its past.  Like many medieval towns, Freiburg had fortified gates into the old town.  Two of them survive in very good condition.

The pavements of Freiburg were most interesting.  Many of them were covered with intricate mosaics.  Most of them represented the shop or business in the building beside the mosaic, though some just seemed to be decorative.  I loved them all.  Here are a few.

Also at street level were the gutters which crisscrossed the town.  They all had running water in them and most were in good condition, free from litter and other detritus.  They are clearly a tourist attraction for children as you could buy specially made little boats to pull through the water.  Alessio found this great fun.

 All in all Freiburg was a wonderful place to visit.   We were blessed with lovely warm sunny weather, which always helps.  However Freiburg was just a delight.  The cafés and restaurants were all very enticing and the ones we sampled excellent both in service and food.  Freiburg is also very lively place with throngs of people strolling about or just sitting in the sunshine supping a coffee or a beer.  There were also plenty of street entertainment to keep everyone amused, as with this pretty juggler.

On the Sunday afternoon as we drove back to Zürich we had two more adventures.  The first was one of these totally unexpected pleasures, when you by chance come across something delightful.  In this case we happened to drive past a little apple festival in the Elzacher valley.   A traditional brass band was on hand to provide musical accompaniment to the many guests who were happily gorging themselves on an irresistible selection of local goodies.   Though the main excuse was to celebrate the range of products from the humble apple, other fruit products were on sale.  A very popular liquid refreshment was a glass of Sekt, the German version of champagne, doused with a little fruit syrup.  There was a great range to choose from and all looked good.  We managed to try a couple each and bought some bottles to try out back home.   The festival was also an opportunity to see some of the traditional presses that used to be used in extracting the juice from apples.  Below is a collage from the festival.

Our next stop was the Black Forest Open Air Museum Vogtsbauernhof which is near Gutach.  Emma had found out about this museum on the internet and thought it would be interesting to Alessio.   It is in fact a wonderful museum.  A collection of original farm buildings from all over the Black Forest which have been lovingly moved and restored to their former glory in the Vogtsbauernhof.  Some of the buildings are very large and impressive, like the one below.

Inside each building you can see the actual implements used in the past, and in some cases the living quarters of the people who lived on the land.  There is also a fine collection of farmyard animals.  The collage below shows some of them.

Unfortunately Alessio was not particularly impressed with all this history.  Luckily there was an extensive playground for children, so he will probably have fond memories of his visit.  For the rest of us there was so much to see and do.  If we had more time we could have made our own scarcrow.  Kathleen was particularly keen on this.  There were also some living examples of traditional costumes to admire, as can be seen in the photos below.

This was our first trip to the Black Forest and most enjoyable it was.  We did have glorious weather.  However everyone we met was very helpful and kind, and everyone seemed to be pretty happy with life and enjoying themselves.  There is so much more to see and do in the Black Forest, it is a walker's paradise for example, that I hope to return again.

Post Cards from Switzerland

Another short visit to Switzerland is coming to an end.  As usual we have managed to pack in lots of outings, some short and some longer.  This little post highlights some of our visits. The main trip this time was to Solothurn, which is known as the Baroque capital of Switzerland.  It is a very impressive small town.  Though we picked a rainy day to visit it was still very pleasant to wander around the place, admiring the lovely buildings.  Below is a view looking up the main street to the very grand Cathedral.

Inside the cathedral was equally impressive.  On display were two beautiful examples of icons.  The one below is of Saints Urs and Victor.  The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Urs.

Solothurn is full of beautiful buildings, most of which are richly decorated as can be seen from the photo below, which was taken in the main square.

Solothurn is a river town and in good weather you can take a boat trip  along the river.  No boats were sailing when we were there, but the river banks are lined by some fine buildings, such as the old hospital, shown below.

A wonderful feature of Solothurn is the profusion of statues of (presumbly) famous historic characters from the town's past, which adorn the public fountains.  Here is one of the more colourful ones.

Next up was a short walk by the shore of the Upper Zürichsee.  The walk starts in Pfäffikon and winds its way to the little town of Lachen.  This is one of a series of walks which go all way round the Zürichsee.  Emma hopes to complete the whole lot between now and next year.  An interesting feature of this walk is that it takes place in Kanton Schwyz, one of the original Kantons, and one of the smallest.  The first part of the walk is through Pfäffikon, which is an industrial town and not particularly interesting.  Once past this though the walk becomes more enjoyable and soon you get to the lake shore to find views like this one.

A little further on and you come to the fairy tale hamlet of Seestatt, which consists of not much more than a dozen or so buildings.  All very special and the place reeks of money.  There is a restaurant in the place, but it was in the process of renovation at the time of our visit.  However below is one of the more unusual buildings.

The walk ends in Lachen, a lovely little town near the mouth of the river Aa.  We had a very pleasant lunch there by the waterfront.  The main feature of Lachen is its beautiful twin towered church below.

The third outing was specially selected by Emma and was to the Giessbach Waterfall.  On this occasion Cosimo was able to come with us, so we could drive there.  The Giessbach waterfall is in the Berner Oberland, only a short drive up the mountainside from Brienz.  The waterfall is really spectacular and drops down in seven successive falls.  The path that winds its way to the top goes under the water at one stage as can be seen in this photo.

We decided not to pursue the path all the way to the top, but instead wandered down to the hotel and restaurant which lies on a little plateau high above Lake Brienz. 

A beautiful hotel which offers good food which we readily accepted. 

From here you also get great views up to the whole waterfall rushing down.

On the way back from Giessbach we passed three, yes three red Ferraris.  Not really into cars myself, but these Ferraris did look very sleek.  The passed us a bit later on and Imanaged to get this photo of all three.

Our final outing was another of Emma's Zürichsee walks.  This one went from Gattikon along the river Sihl and then up and over the hillside to reach the lakeside.  Luckily I found a fine wooden staff to help me up and down the hillsides.

Once through to the lakeside you get wonderful views of the Zürichsee and the mountains beyond as you can see from this photo.

The walk ends in Horgen, one of the main lakeside towns and one end of the car ferry which crosses the lake.  It was a very hot day and we were most relieved to find a fine pizzeria in which to recover after our exertions.  Alessio in particular had been salivating about pizzas from halfway.  Horgen itself is a very fine town with some most attractive traditional buildings such as the one below.  A good place to end our last outing on this trip.