Auh houh houh huu Francois

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Bonjour, merci, jus d'orange (Good day, thankyou, orange juice - these are the only French words I know) from France, where we have had a short side trip from the UK to visit the lovely Susie (Jen's cousin) and her partner Marc, in their hometown of Village Neuf in the region of Alsace. From London we actually flew to Zurich, Switzerland. Here we had our first incident of lost luggage at the airport carousel. We figured this wasn't such a bad thing, with the Swiss renowned for their efficiency and timeliness in addressing such matters. Imagine if this had happened in India, we chuckled to ourselves. And yes, the whole process was typically Swiss - we walked straight to the help desk, where there was no queue, wrote down our address for the night and were assurred that we would receive our bag by 12 noon the following day. This is despite the fact that our address would be in another country (France), and the clerk having no idea where Village Neuf might be. And so we continued on, with the bonus of having no luggage to carry, by train, across Switzerland to Basel (20 mins across border from Village Neuf) where we were greeted by Susie and Marc. It wasn't until 11:55am the next day that we began to become concerned about the luggage. At which time the doorbell rang - needless to say, our bag had arrived!

We spent the next few days and evenings chilling out with Susie and Marc, enjoying very French delicacies like baguettes, multiple types of cheeses, salamis, French beer, German beer, wine, cognac and lots of coffee. We rode bikes around Village Neuf, over the bridge of the Rhine River into Germany and back again. I dont think the novelty of crossing national borders with such ease will ever wear off! We also lost several Euros at a poker party with Marc and Susie's group of friends, most of whom we had actually met when they came to Australia for a holiday a couple of years ago - if you're going to lose money, it may as well be to friends!

Driving on the right side of the road (or is it the wrong side?)

Marc was kind enough to let us take his car on a day trip up to Strasbourg while he was at work. Now here they drive on the right hand side of the road, and obviously drive right hand drive cars. After a quick practice changing gears with my right hand and setting up the GPS navigator, which would take us to our destination without a problem, we were on our way into the Basel morning traffic! Soon we were directed by the GPS to take our first turn. The reassuring GPS voice said "turn right now", followed by both Susie and Jen helpfully repeating its command in case I missed it. Here is a run-down of my thought processes taking that first corner:

ok, turning right. must stay in the right lane, the right lane. over the first set of tram lines (thats a bit odd). but its ok, just stay in the right lane. phew, we made it.. Wait, hang on a second, what's happening to our lane? Why is it disappearing??? Oh no, there's no choice but to drive in the left lane.. This is the wrong lane! Ohhhh noooo, there's a tram coming the other way, right for us! And now a policeman running toward us waving his hands erratically! Am I even allowed to drive in this country?? Will they send me to jail?? Quick, reverse, turn around, get out of here! Ahh how do I put it in reverse in this stupid European car?? Oh there it is,

now quick lets go.


Ok, all is fine and now we're facing the correct way. Good driving under pressure Jeffrey! Way to go! Now we just need to turn back onto the main road.. Indicate.. Argh, that's the windscreen wipers!! "SUSIE, HOW DO I TURN THESE STUPID THINGS OFF!??"


After this first mishap, driving for the rest of the day went exceptionally smoothly. Well, except for a small incident at the border control gates where I somehow ignored all the signage and decided to drive our small hatchback into the lane clearly marked for tourist buses only.

Our drive took us through countless beautiful villages on both sides of the Rhine River, which separates France and Germany. We stopped for a salami, cheese and bread breakfast (how very European!) in the small German town of Ettinheim, watching all the residents getting around on their bicycles, including kids on their way to Kindergarten. The next stop was the city of Strasbourg, where we admired the massive cathedral, the locks and canals, the beautiful old houses, and the tastiest Apple struddel-type-thing. The afternoon was then spent visiting a French castle from the outside. We had decided not to pay the 10 Euro entry fee, but instead walked around the perimeter, enjoying Jen's patchy descriptions of the interior from when she had visited some 11 years prior!

In one small town we were lucky enough to view the official emblem of the Alsace region, the stork. Yep this is the same one which supposedly delivers babies to expectant mothers. While we had a good view of their massive nest (perched proudly at the top of the town's church spire!) we were unable to see if there were any human babies inside.

Basking in Basel

We took a day trip to Basel with Susie (again while poor Marc worked) on a nice sunny Friday. We walked through the medieval parts of town, admired the crazy metal fountain sculptures and visited the Munster, another massive cathedral. Our guide book had stated that the square at the Munster was one of the most impressive in Europe. Unfortunately when we visited it was more like Europe's most impressive construction site. Oh well, it was still a nice place to laze about and enjoy views over the river. We soon had some better timing, however, as we stumbled upon a free, open air music festival in one of Basel's town squares. Throughout the afternoon we watched some Swiss hip-hop and beat boxing (from the well named Chocolococola), some indie rock, and some metal. Our favourite was actually an English act, Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, an electro and spoken word duo who we knew from Sydney radio ("radiohead, just a band; the beatles, just a band" - you know the song). By this time Marc had finished work, picked up his friend Cyril and headed in to join us. We partied through the night to a Krautrock band (for which it took a good 20 minutes for Susie and I to realise they were singing in English! Really, it was a super thick accent...). We then headed to an Irish pub, of course there's one in every city, and it was called Paddy Reillys. We woke up late and sore the next day, and began our trip to the alps!

A trip

to the Alps
A three hour drive from Village Neuf, past Lake Geneva, and we were in the French alps, in particular the ski town of Chamonix. We checked into a nice little cabin, and spent the long hours of the evening admiring the magnificent Glacier des Bossons and Mont Blanc (Mt White) from our verandah, over a campfire. The next day we caught a cable car up one of the mountains and did a lovely hike towards La Mer de Glace (the sea of ice). We made it to the mountain train with just minutes to spare before the final departure for the day. An overnight stay might have been quite chilly indeed. The next day was waterfall day, where we visited several cascades, flowing brilliantly with early summer ice melt. Very picturesque! Our final morning in Chamonix was spent at an alpine animal park, where we wandered through grasslands and small tracts of forest searching for deer, chamois, mouflon, cerfs and the ever elusive marmot. We managed to see all of these at very close range, with the exception of the marmot - but we did see a round ball of fluff dart across the grass, it must have been a marmot! All of this in the beautiful scenery of the alps - took a ridiculous number of photos.

Dinner in Germany with Rosemarie and Otto

Rosemarie and Otto (the parents of Martina who is Jen's sister-in-law) live in the town of Maulburg in the black forest region of Germany. This is not far over the border from Village Neuf, and so one evening we happily accepted the invitation to head over for dinner. Jen had stayed with Rosemarie and Otto for a few days on her trip to Germany in 1998, and had often acted as translator for us non-Deutsch speakers, during their stays in Sydney. Susie and I had both spent many hours over Christmas dinners and bbq's playing the broken english-broken Deutsch-wave your hands about conversation game with Rosemarie and Otto, and were looking forward to continuing the tradition tonight. Upon arriving we were given a tour first of Rosemarie's rose garden (including one plant which was featured in the local newspaper last year!), and then Otto's vegie garden (including cucumbers grown from seeds prodcued in Chris's Frenches Forest garden; Note to Chris: Quarantine Matters!). We were then given a tour of their beautiful house, complete with Otto's collection of over 150 clown dolls. Susie did particularly well here to smile politely, despite her small fear of clowns!

It was then time for dinner, which included a bbq and some fantastic German salads. We later found out that we were particularly fortunate to be treated to a bbq - there is a law in their village which states that each household can only have one bbq per month, as the smell of bbq's can be oppressive to neighbours. Is this town crazy? What could be better than the smell of a bbq?? Dinner was fantastic, but the dessert was amazing! Rosemarie had made not only a delicious strawberry tart from scratch, but also a marble cake. The latter we were informed is Martina's favourite, and Martina we can inform you that it was absolutely delectable!!


Many people travel the world to 'discover yourself' and find out 'who you really are'. Whilst Jen and I don't subscribe to this aim, tonight's dinner did provide some answers to these unasked questions for myself. And not suprisingly, these answers lay in a bottle of wine! I was studying the label of the German wine which Otto had brought out, when I noticed the brand name: Bezirks Kellerei. At first I laughed and mentioned that this sounded like my mum's name (Berneice Kelleway - mum, I am not implying that you are beserk!). It turns out that the German pronounciation of 'Kellerei' is pretty much identical to 'Kelleway'. And the German translation of Kellerei/Kelleway, I am happy to report, is 'wine cellar'!

Our last night in France was a lovely dinner in the local restaurant in the village. Apparently people come from all around to dine in Village Neuf, and after this feast we could see why! To start with, we both tried the obligatory snails, which were quite tasty, although this was probably the sauce as opposed to the actual snail - they tasted a bit like dirt. All food was delicious accompanied by delicious wines, and of course followed by coffee and cognac. Jen even had a cigarette in the restaurant - just because she could. All in all a lovely evening spent in good company, with sus, marc and several friends.

On that note we now say "au revoir" (apparently it means goodbye) to France, "auf wiedersehen" to Germany, and both of these to Switzerland. Next up is a return to the UK for the Glastonbury festival, some more catching up with the Londonites, my visiting parents, and some more sightseeing.

celebrity poem by susie

The visit
150 clowns with faces made of porceline
chamoix hiding munching on grass
four persons throwing down shots of armongac
flu type symptoms for everyone
aghh vacation with good old family and friends
c'est la vie this is life
xoxox

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Photos

Imagine Festival, Basel
by the end of the night this square was packed with party people

Comments

[Ann-Maree]

"heimweh"
Hi Guys this latest entry has made me "homesick". So familiar with all you chat about - except maybe the clown doll collection. Smiled all the way through reading about the euro exploits. thamks guys - stay safe - travel well. It's after the 30th June here so DECC is abuzz with report things.... yaya! Cheers A-M

[anonymous]

accent-free krautrock is the least you could ask for in switzerland... wish we were there with you XL