Weekend in the French Alps

Chambre d'Hôte

Ascension day was Thursday. Everything was closed. Many people including Jed & Helga took Friday off to make it along weekend. We rented a car and our two vehicles caravaned the family to the French Alps. We had reserved rooms in a lovely Chambre d'Hote in a village called Villard de Touage.

Our host, Fabienne, was from Lyon. She gave up city life to join her man friend in this tiny village, buying a very old stone building and taking a year to renovate. She told me there are 10 full time families in the village and in summer there are 14. This makes TSRS and Gualala seem like a metropolis. 

She did a beautiful job with the building. Without altering the outer walls she added modern bathrooms and heating in each room while maintaining traditional French touches everywhere. 
As in all old farmhouses the walls are at least a foot thick, the better not to hear your grandsons early in the morning. The old beams were scrubbed and whitewashed. The new beams and wooden doors were also whitewashed and everything blends in for a perfect combination of modern convenience and traditional French flavor.




The beds were very comfortable. Our duvet cover was in the lovliest shade of pink which I am told is called vieux rose (old rose). A sumptious breakfast was offered each morning and  included  the lightest, flakiest croissants, homemade yougert and homemade confitures, several other breads, fresh ham, juice, fruit and homemade teas. Coffee and tea is served in a large bowl, the French tradition, which makes it easier to dunk your bread. I goofed the first day and used that bowl for cereal and yougert. I am learning to improve my French manners.  Zoe tried to get the recipe for fabienne's homemade tea but other than learning there are seven herbs and spices in it, the recipe is a secret formula. 


Across our driveway was a barn with sheep. Each day an older man moves the sheep to pasture in the morning and returns them in the evening  with the help of three old dogs. The sheep have bells like cows and it is a special sound by which to be awakened. This morning I heard the bells and clamor of the sheep and jumped outof bed to get a photo. I saw the shepherd lady bottle feeding the babies.



The weather was supposed to be rainy all weekend but we hiked the first day anyway. We encountered only one brief shower and took cover under a tree while we munched on bread, cheese, and salami for lunch. One lesson I have not learned in the past 40 years is that if Jed is the hike leader it will be a substantial hike. It was at least five hours of hiking and Tern made it the entire way.  He was my inspiration to keep going. At 4 years old he is an amazing hiker. 





The partial cloud cover kept the air comfortably cool. We hiked up and down, through forests and along meadows where we saw more happy cows and heard their bells. We came to a long, narrow, suspension foot bridge spanning an enormous canyon. It is the kind of bridge that in a third world country would be made of bamboo and you would be shaking wildly from side to side. This bridge was made of aluminum and seemed anchored and tethered very sturdily to the canyon walls. It was fun to walk across and dizzying to look down to the river below.




We started on Saturday at the local farmer's market. Great strawberries, a magnificent olive vender, several cheese venders, and lots of wonderful veggies. In the afternoon Steve and I returned to our maison and the youngsters went on a Via Ferrata. This is a high mt route equipped with fixed mt aides, metal rungs and steel cables, anchored in the rocks. I am told that this was an easy, practice route. Jed, Helga and Zoe took turns with childcare and rock climbing. I was glad for the peace and quiet at home and that I did not see what they were doing. We enjoyed another of Fabienne's delicious dinners that evening.

      We took our time returning home on Sunday. We made one last stop in a French village for lunch, cold meats and warm chevre avec boules of glace for dessert.

From Escargot to Atoms

The most beautiful time of day is between 8 and 9 pm. The sun is low in the western sky looking like it is coming directly sideways from Geneva. It hits the snow capped Alps with a light so bright the mountain tops dazzle.  Awesome!

Rainbow over Lake Geneva

Sunday night was family dinner at Jed & Helga's and we saw another amazing sight. It was a late-in-the-day  double rainbow starting in the center of Lake Geneva and ending in the clouds above the mountains. It was a visual treat and a stunning ending to a very pleasant Mother's Day. 

Earlier we took a train to St. Leonard. Helga had made reservations at the upscale Cafe de la Gare several weeks ago and we were all prepared to have a gourmet splurge. It was an especially well manicured and cared for building only steps from the train station. Our group consisted of six adults, the usual four plus Zoe and Marcelle, the kids au pair, and the two kids who were hungry and tired after noon by the time we arrived and we had the hour and a half train ride.

Inside the restaurant there were white tablecloths, silver settings, and at least three crystal glasses at each place setting. I thought of the kids at a table like that. Hummm? The servers wore black dresses with heels. While I was contemplating this beautiful scene, Helga was chattering with the Madame in charge. They could not find our reservation! Helga explained that she called several weeks ago and left her phone number. She negotiated and argued but to no avail. They were booked solid, after all it was Mother's Day, and they had no record of our party in their book. Madame was firm.

Discouraged, we left. Jed insisted that we get back on the train for only one stop in the return direction and get off in the town of Sion, which we did. I did not think we would find anyplace that would accommodate a group as large as ours on this Sunday, but kept quiet on the subject. As we walked from the train to the pedestrian shopping street there were several little indoor/outdoor cafes. We stopped at the first one that looked possible.  It was a very modest place compared to the place we expected to have lunch, but they graciously set us up outdoors in plastic chairs with the Mother's Day menu. 

The pedestrian street of our Mother's Day Lunch
Helga & Auke

We were starving by this time and would have been grateful for anything, but the menu which included such things as escargots, canard aux pommes, perch from the lake, warm chocolate lava cake or tarte aux pommes with vanilla ice cream was great. The Prosecco flowed, and the kids were able to run around outdoors while we ate. I secretely think the Cafe de la Gare bumped us when they noticed we had two small children and they had more reservations than they could manage anyway. But it worked out for the best as things usually do. We were all happy and sated by meal's end. And we did not have to pay a hefty breakage fee for all the glasses ruined at the Cafe de la Gare. The final part of the day was a walk up the steep vineyards past the nunnery of the Sisters of Silence. The sun was shining and Auke fell asleep in the backpack.

The vineyard hikers, Zoë, Helga, Jed, Auke

Zoe & Steve went to CERN in Geneva today. It's the European center for nuclear physics research. CERN is the largest particle hadron collider in the world where they intend to replicate the Big Bang and learn about the origins of the universe. I had been there in our earlier trip here in March so I met them after the tour. We lunched in Geneva at a great little Indian restaurant called Gandhi and ended the day with a tour of the United Nations buildings. The tour was fascinating and the docent was well informed. We saw several very impressive meeting rooms dedicated to human rights issues. We hope for progress.

Tern in Vineyard

Zoë in front of Nations Unies in Geneva

The Rules and the Happy Cows

There is one thing that is always true in Switzerland.
Everything is either compulsory or forbidden. There are a lot of rules, but it makes life simple. You either cannot do it, or you must do it. There is no gray area.

Fountain statue in center of Lausanne

The neighborhood streets are narrow, the cars are smaller than US cars, the spots where cars can park are painted white or yellow. Yellow is reserved for the residents of that street, the white lines are for visitors. It's the honor system. Everyone has a clock card in the car. The hours for public parking are posted. Usually you can park fron two to five hours. You set the cardboard clock on your dasboard with the time you arrive. When an official comes by he can see if you are over your time. I do not know what is the penalty.  Imagine this in the States.

Where Jed & Helga live the street is a two way street but is only wide enough for one car at a time. The solution here was to bring the sidewalk down to street level (no curb) and have one car pull onto the sidewalk until the first car has passed. It is sort of a city version of the pull offs for slow traffic on Hwy 1. It slows down traffic. Pedestrians beware.

Trash has a lot of rules. There are recepticles for each kind of trash on every other street. You must carefully separate glass, cans, paper, acceptable plastics, and rubbish. We have three containers for trash in our kitchen. Jed uses his kitchen deck for trash recepticles. This week we put out the paper trash in a plastic bag as we did not have a paper bag. . Someone emptied our bag and left a paper one for us. 

There are no disposals in our kitchens  as the grey water is cleaned and returned to the Lake. The Swiss are conscious of and careful with the environment. I notice trucks out cleaning the streets everyday. I see men with push carts and brooms cleaning the streets. It is very clean here and the roads are in excellent condition.

Those of you who know the Kaplans well will recall how much we like all forms of ice cream. Actually, gelato ranks number 1, but really good ice cream is a close second. Swizerland has Movenpick which might be my demise. After all, this is the land of happy cows pastured in the gorgeous high mountains all summer with only their bells to keep them company.

A sculpture of the Happy Cow near the Fountain above
in front of a shop selling farm products, mainly cheese.

Movenpick  ice cream is fabulous. It is sold in all the COOP supermarkets. There is even a Salon de Glace, dans centre ville. It is a fancy Ben & Jerry's type shop where all they serve is the creamiest ice cream you can imagine and ice cream specialties. Think rich texture and deep flavor including many exotic ones like Chocolate with Yuzo and Grand Marnier. I haven't tried these yet as I am stuck on the Swiss Chocolate with dark chocolate pieces. Like everything in Suisse, Movenpick  is expensive, but hey, life is short. 

Movenpick also owns restaurants. They also run an international hotel chain in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Only in Suisse does one go from ice cream to hotels.  
Those are really, really happy cows.
Google Movenpick and check out their flavors and resorts.

The most common shops around town after le Boulangerie/Patissierie is Salon de The, shops selling lunettes (eyeglasses), Confiserie/Chocolate shops, Cafes with outrageous prices, and Hair Salons. There are so many hair salons that one would think everyone got his/her hair cut weekly.

I have been down for a week with the nasty cold one gets from one's grandson's runny nose. Zoe arrives this Saturday and I must be well by then so send me your healing thoughts. Nothing else has worked. We have lots of fun and interesting things planned. Stand by.

Did you know that on top of my blog site there is a place to put in your email address? You will get an alert of a new posting if you do this. Since I am not writing regularly you might like to know when something new has been posted.
Adieu for now.
Anita

What I Like

Everything in bloom in Pully

I love the "Bonjour".  The Swiss way of saying it is high pitched, a little sing song, and always with a smile. Everyone you pass in the street says it, especially in our suburb of Pully. Strangers acknowledging each other. Most often it is Bonjour Madame or Bonjour Madame Monsieur if Steve & I are together. It is such a pleasant, simple, civilized thing to do.

I love the flowers of spring.the trees have gone from blossoms to leaves in the 2 weeks we have been here. It can drizzle in the morning but seems to clear up by afternoon. I love how shiny everything looks. Switzerland's cities are very clean. I love the parks, the lake, the snow covered mountains, my grandchildren.

French Alps across the Lake

Yes, there are challenges. Using the washer is one that we think we have licked. The French language is another. Learning French at this age is not easy, but I keep hoping the effort is stretching my brain and keeping me fit mentally. I love the farmer's markets with white asparagus and tiny baby artichokes, small delicious and aromatic strawberries from Italy, and the middle eastern spice vendor. I always buy too much. I love seeing the old men dressed to the nines, in sports jacket & slacks, shirt & tie, with a plaid wool cap and wearing tennis shoes out walking their dogs. I love seeing the school children out for an excursion walking 2x2, hand in hand, chattering away. I hope to someday understand what they are saying.

Yesterday I met the Jim Wylie of Lausanne. For those of you not familiar, Jim is THE Bernina sewing machine Guru, salesperson and repairman in Santa Rosa. George (soft "Gs" ) is just like Jim in many ways. He is about the same size, loves to talk about the machines and will talk forever. He knows everything about every model. He lived in Utah for several years so his English is perfect. His shop window has at least 10 used machines of various prices. I found a less expensive machine that is about the same vintage (about 16 years old) as mine in storage in Portland.  It comes with a one year warrantee. It looks almost exactly like mine so the learning curve will be nonexistent. George will also buy it back from me if I want, of course at half of what I paid. We'll see.

His shop is across town from our place so once again we borrowed Jed & Helga's car. The sewing machine weighs about 40 pounds and would be awkward to shlep to and from the bus stop and up our hill. We are lucky to have this option but we both really love having a fabulous public transportation system and not having to drive on a daily basis. I brought some sewing to work on and I am looking forward to starting up sewing again, on the next rainy day!

Posh Squash Pully, Switzerland

This morning I planted Posh Squash Pully, my deck garden. Two planters of herbs, thyme, chives, parsley, mint, oregano, plus strawberries and one tomato plant. I would like to get  another tomato plant but it is early in the season for tomatoes so I will hedge my bets and wait a couple of weeks.

Springtime in Lausanne

Grandpa reads with Tern and Auke

Tern is at the age that walking is impossible. His preferred methods of mobilization are skipping, jumping and running. His energy is unending,  his creativity in play is amazing, and his sense of direction astounds. He can tell us how to get to every park by bus knowing the bus number and where to find each bus stop. Auke is stringing words together in phrases in English! His first phrase was "bus coming".

 We have been here this time for only one week but already it feels like a month. This week has meshed seamlessly with the first three weeks and we are getting to know our surroundings.

Spring is in full bloom in Lausanne. The forsythia blooms  have come and gone as have the cherry blossoms. Tulips are on the wane and violets and wisteria are out in force. There are many community gardens here and I have begun to see individuals our there turning soil and planting. Each year Jed has a city garden in two large planters which hang off his deck. He has grown many herbs, raspberries, strawberries and tomatoes. 

The children's train in Pully
 Jed, Auke, Tern with Wendy Shapiro, Tyler & Robbie

Yesterday he took me to his wonderful  local garden store. We bought compost to replenish the soil and plants to replenish the ones past their prime. Last week Tern and I pruned and cleaned out the dead plants. This week it is Steve's job to install a dripper irrigation system and my job to plant our plants.  

When at the garden store I could not resist making my own kitchen garden so I bought a couple of planters and herbs, tomatoes, and strawberries. It has been a long time since I had a vegetable garden of my own. Hopefully our visa will come through and I will be here to taste the results.

Sunday in Pully Port Parc

We signed up for a gym today. It has lots of classes, a great weight room and all the amenities. It takes 15 minutes on one bus to get there. We start officially tomorrow. We also had our first French lesson today. Our teacher is a young woman with three young children who teaches in her home. She has an au pair who attends to the youngest who is not in school while she teaches us. She is very professional and we are comfortable learning.  We hope to be fluent by the end of our time here. Tern is helping with pronounciation and vocabulary. We will do our homework.

 We have signed on to the English speaking expat website and we are getting emails for hikes none of which we have been able to attend yet. Weekends are family time and we have a chance to catch up with the kids. We have a couple of irons in the fire regarding our visa. Steve seems to have been offered a job at IMD. He has yet to be contacted with the details so we await confirmation. Our appeal for a visa extension is still in the system and we await that decision also.

The Washer Saga

A washing machine is such a boring subject until you break one which I managed to do yesterday. It caused an avalanche of problems. I, being the nice person I am, do not do laundry on weekends as our machine is shared with two other families headed by single, working moms. Monday was very busy so Tuesday was the day.

Avenue de Bellevue 1, front view,  our apt ground floor

This simple task takes on a new dimension in Lausanne. In our basement behind the washer there is a magnetic key pad with each person having her own magnetic key. The key goes into one of two slots in the wall reader. You have to keep the key in for several, read many, seconds until it reads your number and determines whether there is enough money in your prepaid account. When the money available is verified, you have about five seconds to choose a program. We still don't know how it adds money or who is paying.

I was told that the regular program was the one to use. Unfortunately, this takes an hour and forty two minutes which is a ridulous amount of time in my opinion . Yesterday I decided to try another program. It said fin (fine washables) so I hoped it would be shorter. It was only 54 minutes, but what I did not notice was the 6" square piece of the front panel at the bottom left of the machine that seemed to be hanging open with a wide plastic pipe coming out of it.

Having never noticed this before I ignored it as any non mechanically inclined person would. I put the powder in, shut the door and pressed start and water came gushing out of the afore mentioned pipe. I tried to stop the machine but it was impossible (french accent here). I ran upstairs and got Steve. We spent 10 or 15 minutes trying to figure out what was going on. With no luck, we tried to open the washer and remove our towels but non, non ! The door would not open. 

We returned to our apt and tried the neighbors. No one was home. We emailed the neighbors and Annabel(from upstairs) told us she would look at the situation soon but she was having company that evening and we would have to wait. We kissed our new towels goodbye and waited. She gave us the landlady's name and phone number.
 

Avenue de Bellevue 1,  back view
Our apt lowest decks the width of building
with basement window below

After much discussion we decided it wouldn't be right to leave the building without a  washer so we called the landlady. She spoke mostly French. We  back and forthed for a while. She kept asking who I was and where was Rebecca who is the official renter of the apartment. By then I knew I made a mistake to call the Madame. She said she would call a repair man. Steve emailed Rebecca in Copenhagen and she went ballistic that we called the landlady who isn't supposed to know she is subletting.

Today we were still waiting when we managed to ambush our other neighbor who told us all was fixed! Sacre bleu! Why didn't anyone tell us. We ran downstairs to find the towels all washed. And yes, I did not break the washer after all. 

To end this much too long story, it turns out there is a reason the washer is in the basement on a concrete floor next to a drain. This hidden pipe must be released and drained after every two loads, so the excess water can drain out of the washer. When you see the little metal flap open, you must close it before starting the machine. Who keeps track of the last time the drainwas emptied?

That is the way it is always done here so no one thought to tell us about this feature.  To all of you out there, bless your American washer and while you are at it your dryer as well. Hanging clothes is only romantic in movies. Hopefully, we will not be evicted and Rebecca will not have her lease terminated.

The Transition

Playground adjacent to our apartment with two great kids,
Alps in background.

After 2 1/2 weeks of sorting, donating, discarding and packing I thought the hard work was over. But moving isn't that simple. It turns out to be a many step process that will not be finished for us for a while. Nevertheless, we are happily on our way to beautiful Switzerland.

In a nutshell the move went like this. We set aside two weeks to pack which wasn't enough time. Matt arrived a few days before scheduled departure and saved us. Things were going smoothly but not moving along fast enough for our deadline. Son-in-law Matt surveyed the boxes, organized, boxed & crated paintings, picked up the U haul truck and Zoe in Santa Rosa and immediately started loading the truck. Zoe & I continued packing. Then all in a whirlwind, the truck was full, all 26' of it, we had our last party at Drovers Close , said adieu to our wondeful friends, and were off early on Monday morning.

Matt & Zoe drove straight through in the truck from TSR to Portland in 16 hours. We left a little later after a thorough survey of the house to be sure we were not leaving anything behind. We drove the BMW, also tightly packed, as far ar Roseburg where we overnighted with new friends, Lory &Paul Utz.

Tuesday was unloading day at Premiere Storage of Hillsboro, OR.  Matt and two friends plus Steve, Zoe and I spent most of the day unloading a 26' truck into a 20' storage unit. I don't think we could fit a toothpick in at the moment.

Then the Portland  adventure begins. We met on Wednesday morning with a friend of a friend from Sea Ranch. Sharon Albert's friend is a long time resident of Portland, has an important job with Tazo Tea, and is being transferred to Lausanne. This coincidence was our reason for meeting. 

At the Tazo headquarters he served us looking a very special pot of tea the leaves of which had arrived from China the previous day. We talked about Lausanne and learned that his apartment-to-be is very close to ours. We also learned that upon retirement some years from now he intends to return to Portland and so would like to rent out his charming, meticulously cared for 1919 Victorian/Craftsman home. Since his timing meshed with our return from Lausanne to Portland we went to see the house and immediately fell in love. This will probably be our landing place when we return to the US in the fall.

Front garden of our house with Tern & Auke

That afternoon we spent several hours with a realtor at gorgeous new condos in the upscale Pearl area, downtown, and in the south waterfront. I think city living will be quite a change for us but the walkability of the area is very enticing.

The remainder of the week was spent celebrating Steve's birthday, exploring hangars, visiting the OHSU fitness facility, consolidating and repacking for the trip to Switzerland, having meals with friends, getting a haircut and putting the last few items in the storage unit.
from Lausanne:
We made it! We are finally back here. The entire trip went well. We are off to sleep and will deal with unpacking tomorrow.
Goodnight.
Anita