Advertisement
Published: July 10th 2011
Edit Blog Post
We left Grindelwald at 7.20am to go to the World Rowing Cup being held in Lucerne. Tomorrow is the better day to go because it's the finals, but getting a seat is 40CH and today is free. Since we're not exactly rowing fans and are going since it's accessible, today looked like a good bet with many New Zealand teams in the semi finals in the afternoon.
We arrived in Lucerne and had been told by the Information Office to get a No 18 bus to the Youth Hostel and then a No 1 bus. However, the website said get a No 1 bus with a stop to get off. We got a No 1 bus and found we were going the wrong way so got off and walked back to the station to try again. Off we went on the No 18 to the Youth Hostel but what now? There were no connecting buses and we didn't have a clue where we were. There was no-one at reception in the Hostel to ask so we stopped and asked some girls where the Rotsee was. Amazingly, it was just down the hill from where we were.
The small lake
Kiwi rowers
Rowing doubles. Can't remember which race. of Rotsee was abuzz with rowing lanes, officials, tents, a large constructed and covered grandstand, food places, rowing goods, spectators and many, many rowers from all over the world. The best thing was - all the commentary was in English! Wonderful. We could actually understand the lingo. In the remainder of the morning there wasn't much with NZ in it, but the afternoon program had singles, doubles, fours and eights with the NZ'ers getting through to the finals in most of their races. Tomorrow would be worth watching if we can get it on TV.
We found ourselves good seats close to the finish with uninterupted views of the lake. It was very well run with one race starting as another finished so there was always something to watch.
We found ourselves sitting next to an Irishman who was there because his son was rowing in the 8's for Ireland. He was a real laugh. A typical Irishman full of talk and Irish jokes. He had plenty to say about the Irish economy, Britain, the EU and life in general. It was nice to talk to someone else for a change. Then, the rain came. Big time. It belted
Upside down stacks of rowing skiffs
Many stacks of upside down rowing skiffs awaiting their crews for races down on the lake and we thought 'oh no, we haven't brought our rain gear'. I had. I had an umbrella, but, you know who refuses to buy a little one, so he can get wet. However, I did soften to give him a small portion of my shelter up the hill to the bus back to Lucerne Bahnhof for the train. The trains were only every hour back and we managed the 5pm one, duly arriving back in Interlaken and Grindelwald 13 hours later to rain. But, "thankyou, Lord" it stopped enough to walk up the hill to the house. A long day, but a different one.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.353s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 13; qc: 61; dbt: 0.1533s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb