Walking

Round trip to Murzelen

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IMG_5342Have you ever made plans to go for a long walk, somewhere spectacular, which involves getting in the car, and at the last minute think why waste time in the car when you can just start walking from your front door instead?

Leo and I had grand plans recently to go walking close to Spiez, on the Lake of Thun, doing a four-hour circular wanderweg. Spiez is probably only 45 minutes away in the car, but the whole thought of wasting 45 minutes of glorious sunshine sitting in a car put us off enough to search for a plan B. And luckily, where we live, there is always a plan B.

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Walking in Wohlen

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DSC00270We 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!

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Tahdah! Back from box hell!

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Greetings readers, and apologies for being AWOL for so long. For the past two weeks, we’ve had no internet at home which made it less distracting for packing boxes and dismantling furniture and unpacking boxes and assembling furniture! Box hell was relatively brief. It feels like IKEA hell lasted longer.

Very happy to be back blogging again. But before I show any photos of the new place, I have a stockpile of January photos to show you first!

Leo’s best friend Dani and his girlfriend Claudia came to see us one last time in the Stöckli. (We went walking on New Year’s Day with them in 2015). This time, Dani had the flu so didn’t join us outdoors, and I forgot to take photos of the scrumdiddeliumptious fondue we made. But here we are on the road …

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Crystal clear day for walking

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Leo and Claudia in Möriswil

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Icing on the logs

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Homeward bound. Claudia’s toes were frozen

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Blue skies, following me … Nothing but blue skies

Now that we have internet access, I’ll keep this short and write again soon.

And I’ll leave you with this cat who sits every day in the window of a travel agency near where I work.

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How much is that kitty in the window, the one with the elephants as friends?

Wishing you a wonderful day.

November 6-8: Weekend wrap

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When the solar panels heat up, she sways her hips, with her arms going in the opposite direction. She moved this weekend. Woo hoo! Warm sun!

It was a very social and outdoorsy kind of weekend. Unseasonally warm weather has lulled us into a false sense of hope that we’re heading into summer rather than winter. What glorious temperatures we’ve had for three days!

Friday morning, I went to work at the dojo and now have a lot on my plate with some additional things to do. Not sure how this is going to pan out as I can’t do everything needed to be done just on Fridays, so will have to work at home at nights, after work!! Hmmm … not so sure this is going to work out well. By the end of the year, a decision will have to be made!

Friday afternoon, Iva and I went to visit our friend Kanjana who had a baby boy, Alessio, one month ago. He’s gorgeous, Kanjana is enjoying being a mum, and we had fun ‘falling asleep’ with Alessio on the couch.

 

Saturday morning was spent in the garden, pruning and tidying, and then BAM! These little fellows (below) came out of nowhere! I think they might be Soay Sheep? We have no idea where they’ve come from, but they have ear tags, so they’re a known quantity. They’ve never been to our place before and they’re welcome to come back anytime. Very timid, happy to move along together, not worried about us standing around gawping at their sheepy fur and goaty heads. An hour after they left, three came back into the garden, closer to our house. Such a nice surprise.

It was a glorious day but we had to leave the garden and blue skies to jump in the car to drive two hours to near Zürich for a combined birthday party for Leo’s sister and nephew. A quick stop at the shops, where I saw (but didn’t try) these cute bread figures, called Grittibänz mit Branchli (has something to do with 6 December and St. Nicholas. Gritten means spread legs, which is also a saying for old people, and Bänz is a short version of Benedict, who also has a relationship to St Nicholas. Mit Branchli just means its with this certain brand of chocolate called Branchli, a special addition for what is normally a plain figure with sultana face features. They’re baked from around the start of November until the end of December). Then the frivolity with the family began. Arrived home about midnight.

 

Today, the sun was still shining, with temperatures around 17 degrees, so we walked one of our favourite walks to Aarberg. We did this walk in reverse in March, when we met the lovely dog Luna. This time we walked from home and caught the bus back. Glorious! My hip gave out on the walk from the bus to our house – couldn’t bend it properly so had to walk with a peg leg to get up the hill. Not good. But the views were.

 

Wishing you a wonderful day.

November 1-3: No!vember

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How’s this for a plan … we change the name of this month to No!vember, because no one can believe another year is almost gone. No! No!vember!

The fog is thick and heavy in the mornings, and the walk home at night is dark. There are no street lights for 70% of my walk from the bus, and the path by the little stream is kinda spooky in the dark. When I use my phone as a flashlight, the fence post shadows look like they walk towards me as I walk towards them … weird and slightly off-putting … *brrrr*

It’s going to be interesting walking in winter, but for now I’m enjoying it – so much scenic variety! Plus I feel like I’m doing a little bit of fitfor15in15 each day still. The walk home is a nice decompression after the day too, once I get over the spookiness of the situation.

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Cloudy layers on our Sunday walk around “the block”. It felt like 1000 people also had the same idea – soak up that sun!

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Can you see the Alps? This is the path by the stream. Fine in the morning, or on an afternoon like this, but scary dark at night!

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Daisies, sugar beets and fog

Do you feel like shouting No! in No!vember?! I don’t think I’m the only one who can’t believe it’s only blah blah many weeks until Christmas and all that jazz!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

This is my 250th blog post. Should be more (that was a shocking effort in October!) but yay anyway!

September 20-26: Barcel-ohhhhhhh-na!

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Once again, apologies to my (most likely two!) remaining readers who’ve put up with these long absences.

We had a great time in Barcelona, and rather than bombard you with a week’s worth of photos, I thought I’d just add in a few Instagram photos I posted (@angebella72).

Barcelona is made for walking … we racked up the kilometres to the point where we wished we’d booked in a massage at the end of the week to relieve the sore calf muscles. We also did a little bit of shopping … well, ok, I did. Two new dresses, two new jumpers, a pair of pants and a scarf practically leapt (leaped?) into my suitcase. Leaped, I tell you. Of course, excuses were made … love that colour, perfect for winter and of course the best one … perfect for WORK!

We did the red bus tour as well and that was a great way to see so much of the city in one hit. Highly recommend that in most cities, actually. I could definitely live in Barcelona, and with my new love for Sicily, I think our holidays for the next few years might be sorted. Or maybe we could just live there?! The food, the weather, the people, the … vibe?!

Ok, without any more waffle, here are the photos.

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Day 1: Hanging around by the water and the Olympic harbour

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Day 2: Sagrada Familia, more beach and beers

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Day 3: Bus tour took us to Park Güell and Montjuic then we wandered around the food markets and watched a tightrope walker at the beach on the walk home

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Day 4: More beach and walking, then a festival with our Camino friend Gemma, followed by fireworks

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Day 5: Last day – shopping, Ramblas Poble Nou, lazed on the beach, went to a food festival at Plaza Espanya and re-did a beer moment from 2011

Had to add this one in ... churros (long skinny donuts) dunked in hot chocolate - I could live on them!

Had to add this one in … churros (long skinny donuts) dunked in hot chocolate – I could live on them!

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Sunrise at the airport as we waited to board to come home. We left sunshine for fog!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

August 28-31: Last of the summer sun

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Have been very lazy with the blog recently! Got to get back into a rhythm soon!

The last of the summer sun blessed us all weekend, which was fabulous! A last lie on the sun lounge, the last swim. I say last, but maybe we’ll have some ok weather again, just not at the moment!

Friday, I worked, then had a quick beer at Cafe Pyrennes with Pastora – we hadn’t been there for more than a month! Then Leo and I had dinner in Uetligen with Liliane, Rene, Lotti and Fritz.

Saturday morning Leo and I went for a five-hour walk, which I’ve calculated would cover my 15 minutes a day for a few weeks! Doesn’t work like that? Oh, ok then …

We walked to a village called Schupfen and home again, on a slightly different path. Then we had a barbecue with Liliane, Rene, Lotti and Fritz for dinner and enjoyed the full moon. Poor Liliane was bitten on the lip by a wasp (we’ve had plague proportions this year), and ended up going to emergency on Sunday morning because the left side of her face swelled overnight. Poor thing.

Sunday we were very lazy, watching episodes of an Australian series called “House Husbands” and then Liliane and Rene came over for an early dinner.

Monday I spent at home, enjoying the last warm sunny day, with a swim and reading by the pool. Liliane cooked too much dinner, so we joined them again!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 2: Karma Police

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Ha! What a day! I’m barely able to write this post from unindented exhaustion!

I rode to work this morning and saw police on the other side of the street, doing speed checks. So as I saw cars approaching me I motioned for them to slow down. Surprisingly, people waved or acknowledged to say thank you. Very un-Swiss for a stranger to acknowledge you!

Driving on, I laughed to myself that the Karma Police will get me for telling the drivers the radar was ahead. And then five minutes later … I ran out of petrol …

Karma … and then some.

I pushed the Töffli, which I think shall stay called Bruce, for 10 minutes to work, went to work and then afterwards set off on foot to the nearest petrol station, two kilometers away. In 32 degree blazing sunshine (not complaining, love the warmth!). Lugging my bag with my computer, jacket and helmet was a bit bothersome.

The first petrol station didn’t have the special petrol needed for scooters, so I walked on. The second further on didn’t have it either. I asked at an auto shop. No joy there but they directed me to a motorcycle shop … Further. They didn’t have it but they said try the petrol station nearby. Further. No dice there so I called it quits and caught the tram back into town to meet Claudia to go swimming in the Aare. I needed that 20 degree water!

After a lovely swim, my first of the season, Claudia and I walked to the hospital where Rene is, and I visited him for about 20 minutes. He’s in good shape and wants to come home tomorrow. He told me the bike has a reserve tank for such occasions and after learning how to switch it on via explanations and hand gestures, I jumped on the bus to go back to the scene of the crime.

Ha! Not happening. Not even one stop down the road, the cable that attaches to the overhead wire came loose (we have some electric buses in Bern) so we all got off the bus. I figured stuff it, what’s another few kilometers. So I walked back to work.

The bike worked and I drove home, stopping at the local petrol station which has the special petrol.

Rene reckons the petrol must have been siphoned out of the tank because it should last longer than four days. I’ll keep a closer eye on it next week!

When I arrived home it was 6.40pm and I jumped straight into the pool to cool down again. What would we do without water?!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

June 27 and 28: Weekend wrap

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Saturday and Sunday served up plenty of sunshine so we made the most of it by being outdoors.

Saturday we worked in the garden and I did some small things around our house and Liliane and Rene’s too. Even though we’d spent the previous evening at dinner together, we all joined forces again in the afternoon for cards and dinner around the pool (for the first time ever, I didn’t lose a game!). I still find it so amazing to only turn the lantern on at 10.30pm.

Today there was an airshow in a neighbouring suburb, so we all stood in the garden and gawped at the heavens, watching the nine small planes do all their spectacular stunts. A forest blocked some of the view, over the Wohlensee, but all the loop-the-loops and high-up action kept us entertained for 20 minutes, and then they just all flew away again. It was almost sad – the way they couldn’t even wave goodbye!

We walked to Lotti’s house for her birthday gathering this afternoon, a good 40-minute wander in the sunshine on the path that I only ‘discovered’ earlier this year, that’s directly behind the house. Once home, a quick dip in the pool and a play on my new toy (see the last photo), ready for tomorrow’s commute to work, and two episodes of House of Cards wrapped it up.

Overall, it was a very social weekend, with maybe not the right sorts of foods consumed (Lotti’s birthday cake and a few other small sweeties) and not enough exercise completed to counteract the beer calories consumed, but wonderful fun.

In case you missed my post from yesterday, please click here to read the latest guest contribution to fitfor15in15, from personal trainer Richard Wheeler. He has some excellent tips, which I will be taking on board, for (re)starting your fitness!

Signing off with a mixture of photos from the week. Some wouldn’t load a few days ago, but most are from this weekend.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

June 24: Mixed bag of goodies

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I’m typing this again, because, for some reason, my original post went missing! Arrggghhhh! Not what you need at 11pm!

Didn’t fall asleep on the couch this afternoon, because I didn’t sit on it!

Came home from work, put on my daggy clothes and helped Rene in the garden. The two new front wheels for the lawnmower arrived last week, but the weather’s been terrible so no chance until today to put them to the test. Many trips to the compost were made, because the grass hadn’t been cut for two weeks (since I broke the front wheel).

After whipper-snippering around the edges, I finished off the mowing. Then I weeded around the garage (damn nettles!), dead-headed Liliane’s roses and the pots around the pool, and then I thought I’d have a rest. Sat on the terrace for two minutes and saw a plant which I really don’t like the look of, and never have, so I pulled it out. Then I had to give the soil a bit of a scratch to patch up the hole, then I thought I ‘mose well weed that garden bed too. Oh and why not my main garden bed as well, while I’m in the swing of things?! All up today, three hours in the garden and one hour of walking. Not too shabby.

I managed to snap a few pictures in Bern’s Botanical Gardens. After yesterday’s 30-Day Challenge plant name, my eye was drawn to another Allium strain, Allium fistulosum. In German it’s common name is Winterzwiebel, or winter onion. In English, it’s the Welsh onion. I thought the stems would smell oniony, but nothing.

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The Welsh onion in Bern’s Botanical Gardens

Even though I really didn’t feel like it, I cooked another I Quit Sugar 8-Week Program dinner and finally flopped on the couch for two episodes of House of Cards. Didn’t eat a sweet thing all day! After 2.5 weeks of much less sugar than normal, I’m finding it easier and easier. The natural yoghurt for breakfast seems sweet enough. Never thought I’d say that! Berliner doughnuts were on special today in the supermarket – six for the price of four – and I walked straight past (while shooting daggers at the man who grabbed a packet so nonchalantly!)

All up, a nice mixed bag of goodies today. I hope you achieved too. And as always …

Wishing you a wonderful day.