We had a public holiday on May 5 and the sun was out, so Leo and I took a short wander in Wohlen before joining The Usual Suspects at Liliane and Rene’s apartment for an early dinner.
Magnificent day, one of the few sunny days we’ve had in May (why so much rain?! My garden! Ugh!) and it was nice to put the walking shoes on again. Our wanderwegs have been missed!
This afternoon, I raced home from work on Bruce in order to miss a big thunderstorm – didn’t take any photos of it approaching, but snapped a few shots after it had passed.
Sunset on the Alps, taken from the front yard
The brown, brown grass of home
It’s raining again now, 10.30pm, and boy do we need it. (That cool breeze will also make sleep easier tonight!)
Yesterday afternoon, after I wrote the post about what I’ve packed for our holiday, I met Claudia at the Marzili (public pool area) and finally snapped a few decent shots of the Aare – what bedlam it is on a hot day! This was Tuesday afternoon around 2pm (admittedly it is summer holidays).
The steady stream of people walking back to the camping place to jump into the river again
One of several places at the Marzili where you get out of the water. The rubber boats have to go down further to a dock area
Have a paddle or a swim
People put their clothes etc in waterproof bags, which also provide some buoyancy as you float or swim along
I’d like to buy a waterproof phone case so I can make a little film of the journey. Won’t be swimming for a while though, as all this rain will make the water murky and dangerous.
And last but not least in this photo-fest, proof that Dr Bronner’s liquid soap is not good as a shampoo for me. I’m getting my haircut tomorrow, and I think I’ll just let her wash out the weeks of … ??? whatever it is – soap scum? – and start again in Sicily, maybe with a bar of Savon de Marseille?
My friend SJ likes the home-made shampoo soap bars she can buy in her town. Do you use a soap bar for your hair too? Any suggestions? Because there’s got to be something better than this below! Maybe I should try the Ariana-method, from Paris-to-Go, and just use water combined with a good scalp massage?
My greasy-feeling but clean head of hair
Wishing you a wonderful day.
It’s 11.18pm and I’m typing this under the bedcovers on my mobile phone because …
I totally forgot to write today’s post.
I had grand plans of discussing last night’s World Snooker Championship final, the flooded Aare river in Bern, my lunch with Leonie and then dinner with Claudia but instead I came home, watched tv with Leo and came to bed.
Just as slumber was about to take hold, it hit me – no blog post! Argh!
I know I’m distracted because tomorrow morning something exciting is going to happen. I’ll tell you all about it then!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
The clock has just struck midnight, but I’m still going to say this is the post for April 5 … even though technically it’s now April 6. Who’s counting?!
We had a great day today on our Easter egg hunt – both Leos did an amazing job organising it all. On Friday we painted the eggs, Saturday afternoon the Leos hid the eggs (in the pouring rain) and today we went a’searchin.
Pastora’s Leo’s brother, sister and sister’s boyfriend joined us as well. We started near the Bern/Belp airport and finished at an outdoor picnic area further towards the city. Eichholz is also a camping place in summer, and the starting point for a great summer swim in the Aare. I say starting point, because the river flows so quickly, you’re transported to a new destination in seconds.
So, I’ll keep this short and let the photos tell the story. All up, we walked three hours and had plenty of ‘good for your mental health’ laughs. I’ve never been on an Easter egg hunt of this scale before. Next year, the guys said the girls have to organise everything – first thing we’ll do is paint the eggs a brighter colour!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
(I’m posting this so late because after we came home, we finished a Swedish TV series called ‘GSI Göteborg’ (which is also known as the ‘Johan Falk’ series) and then started on the American version of the Danish series ‘Forbrydelsen’, called ‘The Killing’. Scandinavian thriller and police shows are addictive (even though we’re watching the American version … in German … with English subtitles … I’m babbling and waffling, sorry, I’m tired. Enjoy the pics. Goodnight!)
Well, that was a turn of events. I thought I was staying home today to study but Thursday’s plans with Pastora and Iva switched to today so we could also catch up with Kanjana. It’s not often the four of us get together (we’re all from the same German school).
Kanjana wanted to meet in the city at 3pm, after she’d finished work. Iva suggested we three should walk from my village into the city to arrive in time, and finally complete the plan we’d made in January, when the weather gods were against us.
So, full of the joys of spring, Iva and Pastora arrived in Wohlen bei Bern just before 9am and we started walking along the Aare river, direction Bern.
It was a beautiful day, sunny but cool – perfect walking conditions. When we’d been walking for an hour, I stated as much, and both of them groaned in disbelief, thinking we’d been walking for at least two hours. By the time we made it to the restaurant at the halfway point, I think Iva was ready to kill someone. By the end of the walk, she didn’t have the energy! 🙂
But for people who don’t walk often, both of them did really well. Iva said she’d like to buy walking shoes for next time, rather than wear her sneakers again. And she has a feeling she might be coming down with something, because she couldn’t believe she could feel so poorly just from walking. Pastora said she’s lying on the sofa right now, and joked she’ll probably sleep there too, because it’s too hard to get up.
Hopefully they’ll want to do another long walk again, but maybe we should do some shorter training walks first before we hit the harder stuff?! Today was about 22km, so a very good effort. We’re all proud we made it to Bern … now we just have to see how we feel tomorrow!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
As part of Monday’s celebration, Leo bought me a 500gram bag of my favourite chocolate – M&M Peanuts. They’ll be finished tomorrow. Oops. This was NOT part of the fitfor15in15 plan … but gosh, they’re a whole world of yum for me.
Must. Stop. Eating. M&M Peanuts (tomorrow … when the bag is finished). I know I’m addicted, despite not feeling all that great after eating them. Sugar overdose, perhaps? The idea of that crunch gets me all excited, but now, gorged, the thought of half a kilo of chocolate in mah belly is not so cool. No more good news please. I can’t handle the treats.
I spent this morning in the city and then had a lovely lunch at my friend Claudia’s. She cooked a three-course lunch so I didn’t feel like dinner … but still managed to fit in a lot of those coloured balls. 😦
Because I was all juiced up on the little suckers, I did the minimum 15 minutes tonight – squats, lunges, sit ups and knees up with the tin cans going all over the place (in specific movements, not willy nilly) while watching the series Arrested Development. (We’re a little late to the party on this one and have just started watching season one.) But, sorry, back to the exercise …
While shifting my weight from one leg to the other in a side-to-side movement, I could actually feel the muscle above-and-to-the-right of my left knee, and above-and-to-the-left of my right knee. I’m sure they have proper names. But for now, let’s just call them WOW 1 and WOW 2. There are actual muscles there! They moved. Real muscles. Not fake. Gob-smacking, jaw-dropping get-out-of-town real muscles. I haven’t felt the muscles there since The Camino in 2011.
It’s amazing how doing 15 minutes at the moment doesn’t feel hard enough. Maybe exerting myself can be my new addiction? Must up the ante tomorrow … or maybe Friday … when all the nuts are gone.
Wishing you a wonderful day.
Oh, and here are some photos from today …
Taken about 8.45am, on my walk to the bus
It might be too hard to see, but on this little cleaning cart is a witch broom, just like in Harry Potter. They still use these stick brooms to clean the streets here
A quick stroll along the Aare river in Bern
Using English expressions is sometimes considered cool. The play on words with Aare/Are is part of a safety campaign for swimming in the glacial river, which runs very fast in summer when all the snow has made its way down from the mountains
I think I may have found a good set of stairs to jog up. Looking up to the final part …
… and looking back down to where I’d come from. A potential killer workout
Walking across the Aare back into town. I’d been at a meeting in the building under the bridge, which was an old brewery. Sadly, no beers there now, just lots of fitness classes!
Walking the road home. It’s amazing how quickly the snow has melted, after just two sunny days
Icy fields
And finally, the view that greeted me from home
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